Kevin McGowan serves as the Director of the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management. Leading an all-hazards emergency management program, Kevin is responsible for countywide emergency preparedness, planning, coordination, training, response, recovery, and mitigation efforts. Throughout his career, Kevin has led preparedness, response, and recovery efforts for multiple presidential major disaster declarations and for numerous natural, technological and human-caused disasters including wildland fires, debris flows, severe winter storms, hazardous materials events, and a mass fatality shooting.
Kevin has participated in a variety of emergency management leadership programs, including FEMA’s National Emergency Management Executive Academy, the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security Executive Leaders Program, and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government Leadership in Crises. He earned a BA in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) from Pepperdine University.