Mr. Thomas C. Sivak is the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region 5 Administrator. Mr. Sivak leads and coordinates all activities to further FEMA’s mission in partnership with the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin as well as 36 federally recognized tribes within the region.
Since joining FEMA in 2022, Mr. Sivak has led the response to more than 15 presidential disasters and non-Stafford Act events across the region’s six Great Lakes states, including the second largest disaster in Illinois history and the East Palestine train derailment. He directed FEMA’s consequence management mission in the planning for and support of the 2024 Republican and Democratic National Conventions-- two National Special Security Events held in Region 5 states. Mr. Sivak also hosted the first-in-the-agency Extreme Heat Summit in 2023, followed by a second, more expanded iteration and an Urban Flood Summit in 2024. Each engagement brought national experts together to collaborate and combat these climate risks that increasingly threaten the Midwest and the country. Additionally, Mr. Sivak was selected as the Regional Administrator Champion for Resilience, and he was appointed to the agency’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Executive Council.
Prior to his role at FEMA, Mr. Sivak was the Deputy Director of Operations for Cook County, Illinois Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security, where his areas of focus included preparedness, planning, logistical response capabilities, information sharing and operational coordination across 135 municipalities.
Mr. Sivak also served as the Deputy Director for Emergency Management at Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communication for six years, managing the incident coordination of the city’s emergency operations center and directing the comprehensive emergency planning for the city of Chicago including response, recovery, mitigation and planning for emerging threats related to emergency management and homeland security.
Throughout his 15-year emergency management and public safety career, Mr. Sivak has proudly worked for private, urban area and county public sector organizations and filled leadership roles for several major incident and event activations including the 2012 Super Bowl, 2018 Mercy Hospital active shooter situation, COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest in May and August 2020, and presidential election consequence management.
Recognized as a subject matter expert in safety, security, emergency management, disaster relief, pandemic response, and coordination, Mr. Sivak is a Certified Emergency Manager through the International Association of Emergency Managers and a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program at the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He holds a Master of Science in Public Service Leadership from DePaul University, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Marquette University and is originally from East Cleveland, Ohio.