Aaron Levy

Division Chief for Outreach and External Affairs

Aaron Levy is the NIST MEP Division Chief for Outreach and External Affairs where he leads communications and legislative affairs efforts.

Aaron previously served as the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Individual and Community Preparedness Division (ICPD) where he oversaw programs that partner at all levels of government, the private sector, and community organizations to increase citizen and community preparedness.

Aaron joined FEMA in December 2010 as a Congressional Affairs Specialist where he managed the agency’s relationship with the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. During his tenure at FEMA, Aaron also served as the Senior Liaison to the Senate and House Appropriations Committees where he was responsible for negotiating FEMA’s multibillion-dollar annual budget with Congress. 

Prior to leading ICPD, Aaron was the Executive Officer (XO) of FEMA’s National Preparedness Directorate (NPD). As XO, Aaron was the de facto Chief Operating Officer of a business line consisting of 400 full-time employees, across three geographical locations, with an annual budget of $400 million. He provided counsel to NPD’s Assistant and Deputy Assistant Administrators on the directorate’s strategic, budgetary, and operational priorities while managing the staff of the Office of the Assistant Administrator. From January-April 2020, Aaron served on temporary assignment as Senior Advisor to the Acting FEMA Administrator where he provided executive counsel on the whole of government efforts to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to the American people.

Aaron began his career as a Legislative Assistant, focused on foreign policy and national security issues, in the office of Congressman Jim Saxton of New Jersey. Prior to joining FEMA, he served as the Manager of Security Policy at the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies.

Aaron graduated from Richmond, The American International University in London, with a Bachelor of Arts in international relations and subsequently received his Master of Arts in global security studies from Johns Hopkins University. Aaron also completed the Executive Leaders Program at the Naval Post Graduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security.