Robert Samaan serves as the Regional Administrator for FEMA Region 4. Appointed in November 2023, he leads and coordinates all activities in support of FEMA’s mission with state and tribal partners in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Previously, Samaan served nine years as Region 4’s Deputy Regional Administrator, overseeing FEMA operations for nearly 200 presidentially declared disasters including some of the most complex in the agency’s history.
He has also helped initiate a variety of programs and events to improve cooperation and coordination between FEMA and its stakeholders to streamline disaster response and recovery operations. Samaan oversees the Mission Support, Grants Management, National Preparedness, Response, Recovery and Mitigation Divisions and associated program delivery to the eight southeastern states. Previously, Samaan served as the FEMA Region 4 National Preparedness Division Director overseeing several national preparedness programs. Samaan joined FEMA in 2010, serving as the Senior Policy Advisor to the Deputy Administrator for Protection and National Preparedness at FEMA headquarters.
Prior to joining FEMA, Samaan served multiple roles in California Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Prior to his work in California, Samaan served in the Office of State and Local Government Coordination at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Samaan also volunteers as a Cubmaster in the Northeast Georgia Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
Samaan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Lee University in Tennessee and a Master of Arts degree in Political Management from the George Washington University. He is a graduate of both the Executive Leadership Program at the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School and the National Emergency Management Executive Academy at the Emergency Management Institute.