Michael Grimm has been selected as the new associate director (AD) for the Natural Hazards Mission Area, effective May 7, 2023.

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In this role, Grimm will lead the USGS hazards planning and response activities and oversee the Coastal/Marine Hazards & Resources, Earthquake Hazards, Global Seismographic Network, Geomagnetism, Landslide Hazards, and Volcano Hazards Programs.    

Grimm comes to the USGS from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), where he previously served as the senior career executive in the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA), leading the delivery of the agency’s risk management, mitigation, and flood insurance programs. Before that role, he served as the head of FEMA's Risk Management Directorate and Mitigation Directorate. 

Throughout the years, Grimm has been a strong partner to the USGS, working with several of our mission areas. He represented FEMA on 3DEP and Alaska Mapping interagency bodies, collaborated with our Water Mission Area on floodplain mapping issues, and engaged with our Natural Hazards Mission Area on multiple fronts, including the Science for Disaster Reduction interagency working group, National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, and Mitigation Framework Leadership Group. He is well known in the hazard science community, representing FEMA as a board member of the University of Colorado's Natural Hazards Center and the National Academy of Sciences Disasters Roundtable. 

Early in his government career, Grimm spent two years with the USGS National Research Program studying hydrology while completing his master’s degree at Colorado State University's Department of Earth Resources focused on fluvial geomorphology. Grimm also holds a bachelor's degree in environmental studies from the University of Vermont with a minor in geology.