Outlined in an email to campus leadership on December 13, 2023, VC Administration, Marc Fisher, and AVC/Director of Business Services, Seamus Wilmot
officially announced Jason's appointment to Director of Emergency Management, effective January 2024. Here is more about Jason:
Establishing and continuously improving the plans, processes, and partnerships that promote the safety and well-being of UC Berkeley’s faculty, students, staff, and visitors are top priorities for the University. We are delighted to announce that Jason Ferguson has agreed to join UC Berkeley as its new Director of Emergency Management.
Jason is currently the Executive Director of Emergency Management at Tulane University and brings 20 years experience in a variety of roles in emergency preparedness, response, and management. Jason made a strong impression on the search committee for his experience in higher education, his background in training and stakeholder engagement, and his commitment to leveraging emergency management best practices to harness institutional strengths, all vital skills needed for success at Berkeley.
Jason is a graduate of Benedictine University in Illinois and holds his MS In Public Health from Benedictine. He also holds numerous emergency management certifications including Incident Command System Instructor, Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation, FEMA Professional Development, and more. Jason is an active member of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) and was recently elected by his peers to serve as Secretary for its Universities and Colleges Caucus (UCC). He will progressively serve as UCC Vice Chair and Chair over the next three years.
We express our thanks to the search committee and Berkeley Executive Search for finding an outstanding candidate for this role. We are also grateful to the numerous stakeholders on campus, the City of Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who participated in this search and selection process.
We encourage you to extend a warm welcome to Jason when he begins his new role in January. We look forward to the positive impact and contributions he will make in our emergency management and campus resilience efforts.