James “Jim” Featherstone is a crisis management veteran with over three decades of experience. He is the Principal Consultant at Themata Strategic LLC, providing crisis management consulting and executive training services to business, government, non-profit, and higher education clients. He served as Local Disaster Recovery Manager (LDRM) in 2025, a role designated in FEMA’s National Disaster Recovery Framework, and he led the coordinated multi-agency debris-removal mission for the Pacific Palisades Fire. Previously, Jim served as the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Homeland Security Advisory Council. His leadership strengthened the greater Los Angeles region’s crisis readiness, response, and resilience by convening and connecting the private, public, and civic sectors through collaborative partnerships, strategic alliances, research, and emerging technology. Following his appointment as General Manager of the Los Angeles Emergency Management Department, he led a successful departmental reorganization and restructuring of the city’s emergency management protocols and processes. Jim chaired FEMA’s National Advisory Council from 2008-2018. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Jim began his public service with the Los Angeles Fire Department, where he earned the rank of Interim Fire Chief.
Jim holds a BS in public administration from Union Institute and University and earned an Executive Master of Leadership (EML) from the University of Southern California. He is an alumnus of the Executive Leaders Program at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security and a Senior Fellow in the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government’s Program on Crisis Leadership.
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