Paul Manno
Founder and President
Paul is a respected and proven industry leader, management consultant, entrepreneur and community leader who has dedicated more than 25 years to assisting public and private sector clients plan for and recover from natural and man-made disasters. He has supported some of the nation’s largest, most complex, and most successful recovery efforts including the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster, Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy. He has led teams of multi-disciplined professionals, managing and directly supervising more than $8B in FEMA Public Assistance grants written by FEMA or contractor staff encompassing hazards including flood, hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms, and terrorist attacks.
Since his first disaster deployment in 1998, through the subsequent 50+ disaster recovery operations he has supported, Paul has built a reputation as a conscientious problem-solver, strategic planner, sought after protégé…then mentor, process improvement and management consultant.
Paul is recognized as a national leader in debris management planning and operations. He has deployed as a Debris Advisor on numerous assignments in support of FEMA Public Assistance, including the attack on the World Trade Center, where he led a team responsible for capturing all debris-related costs associated with the removal and processing of 1.6M tons of debris. He has also served as a Debris Advisor to FEMA on the 2004 Hurricanes in FL, Hurricane Isabel in VA and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In 2013 following Superstorm Sandy in NJ, Paul served as the FEMA Compliance Manager for NJ Department of Environmental Protection, responsible for the management of waterway debris removal in NJ state waters, the largest waterway debris removal operation in our country’s history.
Paul has supported FEMA in developing doctrine and policies which are implemented across the US and its territories. Paul was the primary author for several FEMA documents, including FEMA 325, Debris Management Guide; FEMA 327 Debris Monitoring Guide and He is a FEMA-certified trainer and has developed and delivered disaster recovery training for jurisdictions across the country.
Paul lives in the Richmond, VA area. He thrives on spending time with his two children and supporting their activities and growth. In his “spare time”, he is a high school varsity soccer coach and volunteers his time and resources at several non-profits in the community, including a local food bank as well as the Goochland Education Foundation.
