Berl D. Jones, Jr. is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) with more than thirty-five years of experience in emergency management at the local, state, federal and voluntary agency levels, and was selected into the Federal Government’s Senior Executive Service in 2008. Before joining FEMA in 2002, he was a Senior Program Manager for America Online. Prior to that, he was the American National Red Cross’ Liaison to FEMA Region II and a Disaster Specialist for the American Red Cross in Greater New York. Berl served as the Division Director for the FEMA Headquarters' Individual Assistance Programs until his assignment to the MWEOC in 2010.
As the Executive Administrator for the MWEOC, Berl provides executive leadership in the management of FEMA’s MWEOC to effectively implement and support emergency management and national programs. He advises the Assistant Administrator of National Continuity Programs on the operation of the MWEOC, including the oversight of the multi-year strategic plan, multi-million dollar operating budget, and coordination with numerous Federal, state and local departments and agencies.
Berl brings extensive national emergency management experience to his position in FEMA. He has worked and supported numerous disaster operations, national level exercises and events, including Hurricanes Hugo, Andrew, Marilyn, Katrina, Rita, Winter Storm Sandy, the 1993 Midwest Floods, the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, the TWA Flight 800 explosion, Space Shuttle Columbia, Haitian Earthquake and the September 11, 2001 operations.
Berl holds a Master’s in Public Health (M.P.H.) from New York University and a Bachelor’s of Science in Community Health from Southern Illinois University. Berl is a Gold Life member of the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company. As did many, his responsibilities as a firefighter brought him to the Pentagon and to the World Trade Center the week of September 11. He is a native New Yorker and currently resides in Northern Virginia with his family.