Annie Mack Vest

Annie Mack Vest is the vice president of the National Hazard Mitigation Association. She currently serves as a subject matter expert to the Department of Homeland Security CISA, Resilient Investment Planning, and Development Working Group. Vest is the former state hazard mitigation officer (SHMO) for Oklahoma. She has extensive, real-world experience in hazard mitigation, pre- and post-disaster, and emergency management. As SHMO, Vest was directly responsible for $130 million in Federal Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) funds and the review and approval of local hazard mitigation plans.

In 2016 she received the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region VI Regional Administrators Award for streamlining Hazard Mitigation and Hazard Mitigation Planning throughout FEMA Region VI. She has conducted the FEMA G318 Local Hazard Mitigation Planning workshop throughout Oklahoma on several occasions. Vest was a key contributing member of the first formal FEMA Region VI Regional Advisory Council subcommittee for mitigation planning. She assisted in developing streamlined planning tools now being used throughout FEMA Region VI. She is a proven leader and is often invited to participate in policy discussions at the national level, specifically in flood buyout policy to practice. Professionally, Vest assists various clients in achieving community resilience. In 2020 she assisted the City of Tulsa in achieving a Class 1 status through FEMA's Community Rating System. She remains actively involved in the Oklahoma Floodplain Management Association, where she serves as the mitigation committee chair.