Lester L. Ingol is the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Assistant Administrator for the Resilience Office of Business Management (OBM). He entered this position in August 2023. In this position, Mr. Ingol leads the Resilience-wide portfolio on budget operations, human resources, procurement and asset management, workforce/employee development, and Resilience employee readiness. Mr. Ingol ensures Resilience accountability for an approximately $10 billion annual budget and guides Resilience through the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) process that includes annual resource allocation planning development, the President’s Budget Request, and Congressional appropriations matters. He also provides enterprise-wide direction on major mission support initiatives across Resilience.
Prior to this position, Mr. Ingol served as the Acting Chief Security Officer from January 2023 to August 2023. He was responsible for directing the development and execution of FEMA’s security programs, including the security of classified information and programs, the protection of FEMA facilities including regional, field and outlying installations/offices, investigations of security concerns, enforcement of security requirements, development of security policies, identification of security initiatives, and establishing and ensuring compliance with security standards for the Agency.
Previously, Mr. Ingol served as FEMA’s Deputy Head of the Contracting Activity within the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer. He was responsible for the management and oversight of acquisition operations, policy, and programs totaling approximately $3.76B and 9,800 transactions, annually.
Throughout his tenure with FEMA, Mr. Ingol has served in multiple leadership positions that included Director, Acquisition Operations Division; Deputy Director, Preparedness and Internal Operations; and Branch Chief for Recovery, Information Technology, and Mission Support. Mr. Ingol, also served in major disaster operational leadership positions within the Agency, such as serving as the Resource Support Section Chief in the FEMA National Response Coordination Center where he was responsible for the oversight of Mission Assignments, Finance, Acquisitions, and numerous emergency support functions in 2017 during Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. He also led acquisitions for response and recovery in support of numerous presidentially declared emergencies and disasters, including the COVID-19 response, Hurricanes Sandy, Michael, Matthew, Laura and Ida.
Prior to his tenure with FEMA, Mr. Ingol began his acquisition career as a Logistician while serving on active duty in the US Marine Corps where he served for 10 years. Soon after his military service he became a contract officer for the Department of the Army where he was a member of the team that implemented contracts for linguistic services in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and the Army’s linguist training centers. He was awarded the Army’s Civilian Commendation Medal.
Mr. Ingol received a MA in Management and Leadership from Webster University, and a BS in Management from Park University. Mr. Ingol is a Senior Executive Fellow of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and has also attended The Brookings Institution Executive Leadership program.