Dr. Elizabeth Asche is the Deputy Director of the Individual Assistance (IA) Division, Recovery Directorate, at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. She has dedicated her career to helping people recover from disasters and mitigate the impacts of future disasters. Her passion and enthusiasm for public service and data-driven improvements have enhanced the IA disaster survivor experience over the past year, including a redesign of registration intake on disasterassistance.gov and the transitional sheltering assistance website.
Dr. Asche joined the IA Division in November of 2022 and has been championing equity in IA’s programs, the disaster survivor experience, and health and wellness for IA employees from day one. Prior to joining the Senior Executive Service, she served in several leadership roles within the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), including leading the development of the NFIP Affordability Framework. She also spent time leading in FEMA Mission Support, acting as the Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff, supporting the Mission Support Components, and leading the executive office through late 2021 and early 2022. Most recently, Dr. Asche was detailed to the Office of Personnel Management on a developmental assignment, directing a project to identify promising practices for aspiring leadership training and development across the federal government.
In her personal time, she enjoys going on adventures and spending time in her garden with her Navy Commander husband Mike, young daughter Natalie, and American Bulldog Cascadia.
Dr. Asche holds both a PhD and Masters in Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Bachelors in Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).