David Maurstad
The Honorable David I. Maurstad has more than 30 years of private and public sector experience and serves as senior vice president for Optimal Solutions and Technologies, Inc. (OST) and consultant to STARR a joint venture supporting FEMA’s Risk MAP effort.Maurstad leads the OST Homeland Security Solutions consulting practice where he has extensive leadership experience focused on federal, state, and local public policy including evacuation and mitigation planning and grants, emergency preparedness, risk engineering, flood hazard mapping, debris management, and recovery.
Prior to joining OST, Maurstad served as assistant administrator for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He was appointed in June 2004 by President George W. Bush to provide leadership for some of the nation’s leading multi-hazard risk reduction grant programs. In this role he was the federal insurance administrator charged with the overall management of FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program where he was responsible for the implementation of the $1 billion Flood Map Modernization initiative and led the development of the subsequent FEMA RiskMAP. He directed the mitigation response to Hurricane Katrina, Rita and Wilma with over $16 billion in claim payments to over a quarter of million policyholders and more than $3 billion in HMGP grants.
Maurstad previously served as the Director of FEMA Region VIII coordinating federal, state, tribal, and local management of emergencies through planning, preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery for CO, MT, ND, SD, UT and WY. He has extensive experience in risk assessment, risk communication and intergovernmental and private sector relations.
Maurstad served as Mayor of Beatrice, NE (a Project Impact Community), NE State Senator and Lieutenant Governor. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and an MBA from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
