James Lee Witt#Post-FEMA management and consulting
{{short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = James Witt
|image = James Lee Witt, official FEMA photo portrait.jpg
|office = Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
|president = Bill Clinton
|term_start = April 5, 1993
|term_end = January 20, 2001
|successor = John Magaw {{small|(Acting)}}
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1944|1|6}}
|birth_place = Paris, Arkansas, U.S.
|death_date =
|death_place =
|party = Democratic
|module = {{Listen
|embed = yes
|title = Witt's voice
|filename = James Lee Witt 1996.ogg
|type = speech
|description = Recorded in 1996}}
}}
James Lee Witt (born January 6, 1944) is a former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during the tenure of U.S. President Bill Clinton, and is often credited with raising the agency's level of professionalism and ability to respond to disasters.
Early life
Witt was born in Paris, Arkansas, and was raised in Dardanelle, in Yell County, Arkansas. He and Clinton met as boys in Little League.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/22/us/is-arkansas-still-friendly-to-bill-clinton-tests-it.html|title=Is Arkansas Still Friendly to Bill? Clinton Tests It|last=Martin|first=Jonathan|date=2013-12-21|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-10-12}} He founded a construction business in 1968. At 34, he was elected County Judge of Yell County. Witt was re-elected to the post six times and was recognized by the National Association of Counties for his work. Witt was a charter Board Chairman of Child Development Inc., which works to advance Head Start programs.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}
Government career
In 1988, shortly after being reelected county Judge, an administrative position he had held for ten years, Witt was appointed by then-Governor Bill Clinton to be the head of the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services. There he reorganized the state's emergency management process. Clinton subsequently moved the new Fire Protection Services Program to OES, including the board and the grant program, which was administered in conjunction with the state Insurance Department."[http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/ Witt, James Lee], Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
When Clinton was elected president, he appointed Witt to head FEMA, for which Witt was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 1993. In 1996, FEMA was given cabinet rank.{{cite press release|title=President Clinton Raises FEMA Director to Cabinet Status |publisher=Federal Emergency Management Agency |date=1996-02-26 |url=http://www.fema.gov/home/NWZ96/cabinet.htm |access-date=2010-03-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970116185236/http://www.fema.gov/home/NWZ96/cabinet.htm |archive-date=January 16, 1997 }}
During his tenure Witt was able to overcome FEMA's previously poor reputation. A 1992 interim report by the Congress (prior to Hurricane Andrew, which led to further criticism of FEMA) had said, "FEMA is widely viewed as a political dumping ground, a turkey farm, if you will, where large numbers of positions exist that can be conveniently and quietly filled by political appointment ..." The comment had been provoked by the appointment of Wallace Stickney, described in the report as "weak" and "uninterested in the substantive programs of FEMA" owing his post to his relationship with former White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu.[https://web.archive.org/web/20100327123432/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1992-09-04/news/9201190607_1_fema-report-patronage Fema`s Effectiveness Falls Short], Washington Times, Bill Gertz, September 4, 1992. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
By 1996, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial said, "FEMA has developed a sterling reputation for delivering disaster-relief services, a far cry from its abysmal standing before James Lee Witt took its helm in 1993. How did Witt turn FEMA around so quickly? Well, he is the first director of the agency to have emergency-management experience. He stopped the staffing of the agency by political patronage. He removed layers of bureaucracy. Most important, he instilled in the agency a spirit of preparedness, of service to the customer, of willingness to listen to ideas of local and state officials to make the system work better."Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 12, 1996, "Short Takes; Quick Witt helps"
Witt's eight-year term in office saw approximately 348 Presidentially declared disaster areas in more than 6,500 counties and in all 50 states and the U.S. territories. Witt supervised the response to the 1997 Red River flood— a devastating flood in the Dakotas—the most costly earthquake, and a dozen serious hurricanes.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}
Post-FEMA management and consulting
On September 3, 2005, he was hired by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco to oversee reconstruction efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20050903/APN/509030885&cachetime=3&template=dateline In December 2005, the University of Texas System hired his firm to prepare, process, and recover claims for damages from FEMA related to natural disasters. Witt served as CEO of the International Code Council, which sets international standards for building construction, 2003-06.
By August 2007, Witt was serving on the management team of Global Options Group LLC and as President of James Lee Witt Associates LLC, which provided consulting on emergency and disaster preparedness to local and state governments. In 2013, the firm merged with O'Brien's Response Management to become Witt|O'Brien's, with Witt as Executive Board Chair. In 2015, it was acquired by SEACOR.[https://www.wittobriens.com/about-us "Witt O'Brien's/Seacor: About Us"]. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
In 2016, Witt formed Witt Global Partners, a Little Rock-based Government Relations and Disaster Consulting Firm. Witt is the CEO and Managing Partner of the firm.{{cite web |url=http://www.wittglobalpartners.com/ |title=Home |website=wittglobalpartners.com}}
Electoral career
Witt was mentioned as a potential candidate for Governor of Arkansas in 1997 but took himself out of consideration and stayed at FEMA until he was replaced by Joe Allbaugh, the first appointee of President George W. Bush. Witt announced in October 2013 that he expected to run for Congress in 2014 in Arkansas's 4th congressional district.{{cite news|last=Brantley|first=Max|title=James Lee Witt '80 percent' decided on 4th District congressional run|url=http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2013/10/11/james-lee-witt-80-percent-decided-on-4th-district-congressional-run|access-date=14 October 2013|newspaper=Arkansas Times|date=11 October 2013}}{{cite web| url = https://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/james-lee-witt-arkansas-house-race-2014-99417.html| title = Witt announces for Arkansas seat - POLITICO| website = Politico| date = 5 November 2013}} On November 4, 2014 Witt lost the race to GOP candidate Bruce Westerman 53.7-42.6%.[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/house/ar/arkansas_4th_district_westerman_vs_witt-5062.html Arkansas 4th District - Westerman vs. Witt], Real Clear Politics, 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
References
External links
{{Commons category|James Lee Witt}}
- http://www.wittpartners.com/ Witt Global Partners, a comprehensive bipartisan lobbying, strategic business consulting, and disaster advisory services firm website
- {{C-SPAN|30242}}
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{{s-bef|before=William Tidball
{{small|Acting}}}}
{{s-ttl|title=Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency|years=1993–2001}}
{{s-aft|after=John Magaw
{{small|Acting}}}}
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{{FEMA administrators}}
{{Clinton cabinet}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Witt, James Lee}}
Category:20th-century Arkansas politicians
Category:21st-century Arkansas politicians
Category:Clinton administration cabinet members
Category:County judges in Arkansas
Category:Federal Emergency Management Agency officials
Category:People from Dardanelle, Arkansas