Jeffrey Giering is the state hazard mitigation officer (SHMO) for the state of Louisiana. He has served in this role since 2011. Giering has worked in the mitigation arena since starting his public service career in 1998. Earning a degree in biology, he started out by managing reforestation and water restoration projects for the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. In 2002, Giering began working for the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness, now the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. He has assisted with implementing mitigation funding with every presidentially declared event in Louisiana since Tropical Storm Allison, as well as all Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) non-disaster related programs. Among his duties, Giering is responsible for providing technical assistance to communities specifically with regards to benefit cost analysis, flood plain management, project application development and mitigation planning. Jeffrey has served as the SHMO representative on FEMA’s Technical Mapping and Advisory Council. In addition to his SHMO duties, he is a certified floodplain manger. In his spare time, Giering continues a 20-year military career by serving as a lieutenant colonel in the Louisiana Army National Guard. Giering is a 1997 graduate of Northwestern State University and completed his Master of Business Administration in project management in 2017 from University of Arkansas-Grantham.