In this episode we speak with Anne Bink, MSW '04, about her work in the disaster response area. Since June, Anne Bink has served as Director of Mitigation and Resilience at Innovative Emergency Management, or IEM, where she collaborates with state, tribal, territorial and local governments to build resilience in infrastructure and communities before and after disasters. From 2021 through May 2024, Ms. Bink served as the Associate Administrator of Response and Recovery at FEMA, where she led a team of 12,000 to deliver national response and recovery operations in an increasingly complex risk landscape. She oversaw a $200 billion portfolio of disaster recovery grants, including Public Assistance and Individual Assistance grant programs. Some highlights include: Leading complex and high-profile response and recovery operations, including Hurricane Ian, a Category 4 Atlantic hurricane in 2022, and Typhoon Mawar, a Category 4 Pacific typhoon in 2023, in a highly effective and collaborative manner;Managing an unprecedented pace of disasters – approximately one declaration every three days in CY 2023 alone – while evolving our policies and practices in alignment and coordination with state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) partners to ensure integrated response and recovery operations;Developing and implementing the Individual Assistance Equity Interim Final Rule;Modernizing the Individual Assistance registration process;Implementing Enhanced Applicant Services for Individual Assistance, resulting in over 250,000 outreach calls and over $60 million in additional assistance provided as of October 2023;Leveraging technology, including Artificial Intelligence, for response and recovery operations to enhance situational awareness, and expedite assistance to survivors and communities;Advancing culture change within ORR through structural and process changes to maximize eligibility within FEMA authorities to expedite resilient recovery, with a focus on 406 mitigation; and,Driving federal interagency, SLTT, and cross-sector collaboration, including a pre-disaster housing planning pilot, in coordination with HUD across four states.As Deputy Commissioner for Disaster Recovery for New York State from 2018 through 2021, Anne Bink oversaw a portfolio of over $20 billion in active disasters. During her tenure, she secured six Major Disaster Declarations and led New York’s legacy disaster closeout effort, resulting in the closure of approximately 8,000 projects and nine disasters. Under her leadership, New York State received the first Major Disaster Declaration for a pandemic event (COVID-19). Ms. Bink collaborated closely with FEMA to enhance existing guidance and policies under the Public Assistance and Individual Assistance programs throughout the pandemic, helping New Yorkers and the communities in which they reside recover. Ms. Bink also led New York State's development of new virtual outreach and educational methods under the Public Assistance Program, ensuring all eligible applicants had access to available assistance given the everchanging nature of the disaster and evolving eligibility criteria. Ms. Bink oversaw the development of major wastewater system resiliency projects through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, including their complex financing structure of multiple federal, state and local funding streams. Two such projects, the Bay Park Conveyance Project and the Suffolk County Coastal Resiliency Initiative, will reduce nitrogen along Long Island’s shoreline and protect against storm surge in extreme weather events. Ms. Bink first joined the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) in 2016 and served as the Deputy Commissioner of Administration and Finance prior to her work in Disaster Recovery programs. In her role in Administration and Finance, she led the development and implementation of a new state grant program protecting private non-profit entities from hate crimes and created a new risk management unit to strengthen agency operations and fiscal compliance. Before joining the DHSES leadership team, Ms. Bink served in various leadership roles within the New York State Division of the Budget, including Unit Chief for Public Protection and General Government from 2014 to 2016, Assistant Unit Chief for Education from 2012-2014, and Associate Budget Examiner for Human Services from 2008-2012. In these roles, enacted budget proposals developed under Ms. Bink’s leadership resulted in improved core services and agency operations while saving New York taxpayers over $2 billion. Ms. Bink served as the lead in developing and negotiating key budget initiatives and policies, including an expansion of pre-kindergarten programs, a new Paid Family Leave program, Kinship Care program for youth in foster care, and re-entry programs for formerly incarcerated individuals. Ms. Bink holds a Master of Social Work, a Master of Arts, and a Bachelor of Arts from The State University of Albany in Albany, New York. She lives in Loudonville, New York with her partner Laura and their four children.
