Desi Matel-Anderson is the Chief Wrangler of the Field Innovation Team (FIT), 501(c)3, and CEO of the Global Disaster Innovation Group, LLC.

Desi is the first and former Chief Innovation Advisor at FEMA and Think Tank Strategic Vision Coordinator.

During her tenure at FEMA, she led the first innovation team down to Hurricane Sandy to provide real-time problem solving in disaster response and recovery and ran think tanks nation-wide to cultivate innovation in communities.

Her emergency management experience began when she volunteered in Northern Illinois University’s Office of Emergency Planning.

She then worked with the Southeast Wisconsin Urban Area Security Initiative, and the City of Milwaukee Homeland Security and Emergency Management Office.

In addition to her regional emergency management duties, she worked as an assessor of the Emergency Management Accreditation Program, nation-wide.

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