Mr. Matthew Payne currently serves as the Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Response Directorate. In this role, he helps lead an organization that provides the core, coordinated Federal operational response capabilities needed to save and sustain lives, minimize suffering, and protect property in a timely and effective manner. Response program activities encompass the coordination of Federal emergency management response operations and planning.
Prior to this role, Mr. Payne served as the Deputy Associate Administrator for Policy and Program Analysis at FEMA. In this role, Matt supported the Associate Administrator in leading the Agency’s strategic and resource planning, data analytics, policy, audit, and international affairs functions. Matt also served as the Director of the Policy Division within FEMA’s Office of Policy and Program Analysis where he was responsible for the coordination, review, and approval of Agency, Departmental and national policies.
Prior to joining FEMA, Matt held numerous positions at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Over a fourteen-year career at HHS, he served as the Director of the Division of Policy and Strategic Planning, responsible for the development of the first National Health Security Strategy; Deputy Director for Operations overseeing the HHS Secretary’s Operations Center during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita; deployed to New York City to support the National Disaster Medical System response to the attacks of September 11, 2001; provided medical screening for Congressional staff members exposed to anthrax in 2001; and served as a Program Manager for the Metropolitan Medical Response System program. Matt entered federal service in 1997 as a Presidential Management Intern in the HHS Office of Emergency Response.
Prior to his federal service, Matt worked as a paramedic, emergency call-taker, and emergency medical dispatcher in Syracuse, New York. Matt holds a Master in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Syracuse University. He lives in Alexandria, VA, with his wife and their two daughters.