Ms. Lori A. Ehrlich was sworn in as the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region I Administrator on January 31, 2022. She is a graduate of the newly created FEMA Vanguard Executive Crisis Leadership Program and is currently leading initiatives for the region on climate resilience, disaster preparedness and hazard mitigation. She is also serving as the Federal Coordinating Officer for several disasters in the region, continuing to build relationships with state and local emergency management agencies and working closely with other federal agencies to ensure timely and effective disaster response. Ms. Ehrlich is also focused on equity initiatives to ensure the fair and equitable delivery of FEMA programs in the region.
Prior to her appointment, Ms. Ehrlich had a 14-year tenure as a Massachusetts State Representative, serving in leadership roles as Chair of the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government and the Joint Committee on Export Development. She filed and passed numerous bills into law on topics ranging from clean energy, climate change and local journalism to animal protection and reforming restrictive employment contracts. Ms. Ehrlich was appointed to serve on a U.S. Department of Energy Commission on Energy Preparedness.
Prior to her elected service, Ms. Ehrlich founded two environmental non-profit organizations that brokered the closure of a 1950s-era coal-burning power plant and the remediation of a contaminated drinking water supply for 80,000 local residents.
Ms. Ehrlich earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Lehigh University and after three decades of work in her own accounting firm, was the only CPA serving in the legislature.