Keith Cranford

Keith is a Senior Program Manager with 30 years of experience in leading federal disaster programs and front-line experience with the Public Safety and Homeland Security. He has expertise in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation, FEMA Public Assistance, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Housing, Small Rental, and Mitigation, as well as Emergency Management, Planning, and Operations. Before joining us, Keith developed and managed large-scale recovery programs in the public and private sector supporting communities across the country.

After 14 years in local law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services, Keith was appointed as the assistant director for the East Baton Rouge Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. In addition to Homeland Security programs, he ran the first large mitigation program in parish history with the acquisition of over 50 homes affected by repetitive flooding.

Once in the private sector, and in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Keith was called upon to lead the development of the State of Louisiana Hazard Mitigation Grant Program application for the elevation, pilot reconstruction, and Individual Mitigation Measures applied to over 30,000 Louisiana homes using a global match approach to HUD CDBG funding. This $1.2B grant application was approved in weeks and was the largest mitigation award in U.S. history to date. He later led divisions of the Louisiana Small Rental Property Program, benefitting residents impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Later, Keith spent significant time coordinating with state and local resources throughout the areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy in the northeast. Ultimately, the team he established was selected to design and execute the State of New York Infrastructure program. With over $1.5B in allocated CDBG-DR funding, Keith served as the program manager and was later selected to manage sections of the $1B New York Rising Housing Recovery program.

Upon returning to Louisiana, Keith provided oversight on private contract support to the Office of Community Development – Disaster Recovery Unit’s (OCD-DRU) administration of approximately $1.4 billion in CDBG-DR-funded projects in parishes affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Additionally, he managed contractor support to Parish Implemented Hurricanes Gustav & Ike Recovery Programs totaling over $123M in CDBG-DR infrastructure projects.

Concurrent to his public and private sector roles, Keith is a retired major who served in the Louisiana Army National Guard for over 20 years supporting global security operations as well as significant roles in Louisiana’s response and recovery operations in every major event since 1998. He has a Criminal Justice degree and is a graduate of numerous military leadership and specialized career courses.