Let's compare the FEMA leaders for the last two New Orleans hurricanes.

[trumad]

Mike "Brownie" Brown

While he was in college, from 1975 to 1978, he handled "labor and budget matters"[2] as an assistant to the city manager of Edmond, Oklahoma (1980 population of 58,123). His White House biography states that he had emergency services oversight in this position. However, the head of public relations for the city was quoted as denying that Brown had oversight over anybody and that "the assistant is more like an intern."[3] However, Claudia Deakins, the spokesperson for the City of Edmond, submitted information to the House Committee investigating Hurricane Katrina that Time Magazine had taken her quotes out of context. Time erroneously reported Brown's position at the City of Edmond, and the former Mayor of Edmond, Carl Reherman, and the former City Attorney, Mary Ann Karns, each submitted affidavits[4] to the House investigating committee showing that Brown did have emergency management experience.

Before joining the DHS/FEMA, Brown was the Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association, (IAHA), from 1989-2001. After numerous lawsuits were filed against the organization over disciplinary actions that Brown took against members violating the Association's code of ethics,[6] Brown resigned and negotiated a buy-out of his contract.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Brown

Current leader: William Craig Fugate

W. Craig Fugate began serving in the position of Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in May 2009.

Prior to coming to FEMA, Fugate served as Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. In that role since 2001, he managed 138 full-time staff and a budget of $745 million. His agency coordinated disaster response, recovery, preparedness and mitigation efforts with each of the state's 67 counties and local governments.

Fugate began his emergency management career as a volunteer firefighter, Emergency Paramedic, and finally as a Lieutenant with the Alachua County Fire Rescue. Eventually, he moved from exclusive fire rescue operations to serving as the Emergency Manager for Alachua County in Gainesville, Fla. He spent a decade in that role until May 1997 when he was appointed Bureau Chief for Preparedness and Response for FDEM.

Within FDEM, Fugate's role as Chief of the State Emergency Response Team kept him busy during 1998. That year, the SERT team was active for more than 200 days as a result of numerous floods, tornadoes, wildfires, and Hurricane Georges.

In September 2003, again under Fugate's stewardship, the Florida Emergency Management Program became the first statewide emergency management program in the nation to receive full accreditation from the Emergency Management Accreditation Program.

During his years at FDEM, Fugate served as the State Coordinating Officer in Florida for 11 Presidentially-declared disasters and the management of $4.5 billion in federal disaster assistance.
http://www.fema.gov/leadership/william-craig-fugate