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Biography:

Kayed Lakhia is the Director of the National Dam Safety Program. He served as the Deputy Division Director for Risk Reduction from 2012, when he joined FEMA until his appointment as Division Director of Hazard Mitigation Assistance in January 2016. As the Director, Mr. Lakhia managed a portfolio of over $10B in both disaster and non- disaster grants. These included the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), the Post-Fire HMGP, the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) grant program and the PDM (Pre-Disaster Mitigation) grant program. His leadership saw FEMA release its newest grant program, Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. Mr. Lakhia has nearly twenty years’ experience in emergency management at the federal level and in the private sector. He has also acted in the position of FEMA’s Deputy Assistant Administrator for Recovery.

Mr. Lakhia has significant experience in disaster operations including Grants Management, Floodplain Management, Building Sciences, and the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program. As the Director of National Dam Safety, he oversees about $1B for two grant programs and leads the Interagency Committee on Dam Safety (ICODS) and the National Dam Safety Review Board (NDSRB), comprised of other Federal agencies and State partners. He has previously been the executive sponsor for the External Stakeholders Workgroup (ESWG), a group consisting of State, Local and Tribal members, advising FEMA on its programs. Mr. Lakhia was the Source Selection Authority and led FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Technical Assistance Program (HMTAP) contract. He also provided oversight and held the Authority to Operate for two grant IT systems.

Prior to his Federal Service, Mr. Lakhia was a Program Director and Principal at a global Engineering firm where he led large multi-year Capital Improvement Programs. He served as a Technical Assistance Contractor to FEMA from 2008 to 2012 where he assisted in disaster recovery in multiple States. Mr. Lakhia holds a Master of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Masters in Homeland Security from the Naval Postgraduate School. He is a Registered Architect in New York and Florida, a Certified Floodplain Manager, and a LEED Accredited Professional. He has completed post-graduate studies at Harvard’s National Preparedness Leadership Institute and the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Mr. Lakhia is an OPM certified member of the Senior Executive Service (SES).