Andrew Velasquez III was appointed Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) on March 16, 2007. As director, Mr. Velasquez oversees Illinois' disaster preparedness and response, nuclear safety and homeland security programs, as well as the agency's 250+ employees and a budget of more than $470 million. Since November 2007, he also has served as the Illinois Homeland Security Advisor.

At IEMA, Mr. Velasquez has directed the response and recovery effort to 97 Illinois counties declared State disaster areas. These efforts were in response to emergencies that included major flooding events throughout the State, severe storms, ice storms and the tragic campus shooting event at Northern Illinois University (NIU). Most recently, Mr. Velasquez directed the disaster response and recovery efforts for the record mid west flooding that impacted multiple regions in Illinois. He has helped secure federal disaster declarations and assistance for people, businesses and local governments affected by these disasters and tragedies. Mr. Velasquez has served as the state coordinating officer and the governor's authorized representative for eight presidential disaster declarations.

Mr. Velasquez served as chairman of the response committee for the Governor's Campus Safety Task Force (CSTF). Established in response to the shooting incident at Virginia Tech, the response committee was charged with the mission of developing and implementing comprehensive, coordinated policies and training programs to deter, prevent and significantly enhance response to, and recovery from, major public safety incidents at all public and private higher education institutions in Illinois.

Mr. Velasquez is on the Board of Directors for the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC), a partnership of the federal government and the eight states most affected by earthquakes in the central United States. He also is a member of the Regional Advisory Council for FEMA Region V, the Homeland Security Consortium for the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) and was most recently appointed as an Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) Commissioner representing NEMA on all matters related to EMAP accreditations.

Prior to becoming IEMA director, Mr. Velasquez was Executive Director of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC). Appointed on June 1, 2005, Mr. Velasquez was responsible for planning and executing the City's public safety initiatives to serve the city's 2.9 million residents. With an annual budget in excess of $91 million and approximately 2,200 City and contract employees, this critical responsibility included the dispatch of all emergency and non-emergency services, the management of a 24-hour City Operations Center to coordinate routine emergency and traffic services; and the oversight, development and execution of all City disaster and homeland security planning and operations.

Previous to serving as OEMC Executive Director, Mr. Velasquez served the Chicago Police Department in various capacities for ten years. He also served as a member of the U.S. Army Reserve for a total of six years.

A native Chicagoan from the Humboldt Park neighborhood and public school graduate, Andrew Velasquez III holds a Bachelor's degree and a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Illinois State University. He also received a Master of Business Administration in Management from Saint Xavier University. In 2009, Mr. Velasquez completed the Executive Leadership program at the Naval Post Graduate School - Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

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Mr. Chamness is Chairman of the Illinois Terrorism Task Force, and serves as policy advisor to the Director of Homeland Security in Illinois and to the Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, where he served as director from 1999-2003.

Mr. Chamness is past Vice President of Region V for the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), where he also served on the NEMA Terrorism Committee. Additionally, he served as past Vice Chairman of the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) and was a member of CUSEC's Board of Directors.

Prior to beginning his career in emergency management, Mr. Chamness served eight years as a director in the Office of the Secretary of State, where he also served as Chairman of the Graduated Drivers License Task Force, which developed legislation establishing a system of graduated driving privileges for teens based on training, age and a record of safe driving.

Mr. Chamness previously worked as a newspaper editor at the Southern Illinoisan newspaper in Carbondale and later at the State Journal-Register newspaper in Springfield. In the newspaper business, Mike won a national award for column writing and state awards for his series on Title IX and for coverage of the crash of an Air Illinois flight.

Mr. Chamness is a graduate of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications and won the Oldham Paisley Journalism Scholarship. He lives in Rochester with his wife, Peggy, and has two daughters, Angela and Cindy.

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