Jennifer Lazo

Jennifer Lazo is an emergency management coordinator II for the City of Los Angeles Emergency Management Department, and is the division chief of the Innovation and Development Division. The division covers alert and warning, access and functional needs, public health, grant management, climate adaptation, and connections with the business community and other lifeline organizations.

She has been with the Emergency Management Department since July 2019, working in both the Operational Readiness Division and Community Preparedness and Engagement Division. She previously spent five years as an Emergency Services Coordinator with the City of Berkeley, where she created the Community Resilience Center program and was responsible for emergency management planning and preparedness in the city, focusing on people with disabilities and seniors. During her time with the City of Los Angeles, Jennifer has responded in the Emergency Operations Center to COVID-19, wildfires including the Getty and Saddleridge Fires, the Protests for Racial Justice, and many planned events including the 2022 Super Bowl.

Jennifer is a certified emergency manager with the International Association Emergency Management (IAEM) and the past vice chair of the IAEM Emerging Technology Committee. In addition, she is a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) VIII Federal Advisory Committee Working Group. In 2013 she received her MS in disaster science and management from the University of Delaware. Jennifer’s Master’s thesis was titled “Framing Disaster Planning for People with Disabilities.”