Romeo Lavarias has been the emergency manager for the City of Miramar, Florida (population 140,000+) since 2016. Before that he was Miramar's Public Information Officer, Emergency Management Coordinator and Public Works Coordinator. He has lectured at the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Emergency Management Institute Executive Academy on ethics and emergency management. He has completed FEMA's Advanced Academy and Executive Academy. Lavarias is also an adjunct professor teaching undergraduate and graduate classes in the public administration program at Barry University located in Miami Shores, Florida.
Lavarias has authored the chapter, The Recovery Process: The Standard Used to Measure EM Effectiveness in the Eyes of the Public in Emerging Voices in Natural Hazards Research, and authored the chapter, Local Governments and Crisis Management, in Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy and Governance.
Lavarias has a bachelor's in political science and master's in urban & regional planning from the University of Florida; a master's in public administration from Baruch College-CUNY (Urban & Rural Fellow); a master's in homeland security & defense from the Naval Postgraduate School; and a PhD in public administration from Nova Southeastern University.
Lavarias research interests are in emergency management, public administration, ethics, and performance measurement.