R. Samuel Winningham
R. Samuel Winningham is a senior operations planner for the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region IV. With more than 30 years experience in management and finance, he has hands-on disaster experience at the local, state, federal, and international levels; working over 50 presidentially declared disasters in five different FEMA Regions. He served as an acting federal coordinating officer in Florida, hazards mitigation director for numerous disasters nationwide and the hazard mitigation specialist for the State of Georgia.
Before joining FEMA, Winningham was Iowa’s hazard mitigation coordinator where, in conjunction with FEMA, he developed an emergency management exchange program between Iowa and EMERCOM - Stavropol, Russia. Winningham began his civilian emergency management experience as authorized representative and project manager for the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and PA Program during the 1993 Midwest floods for the City of Nevada, Iowa.
Winningham received an undergraduate degree with honors in International Relations from Roosevelt University in Chicago and a master’s degree from Iowa State University.