James (Jim) Featherstone is a Principal Consultant at Themata Strategic LLC, a crisis management consultant agency. Previously, he was the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), a position he assumed in March 2016 after serving the City of Los Angeles for thirty years. At HSAC, Jim worked to strengthen the greater Los Angeles region’s crisis readiness and resilience by convening and connecting the private, public, and civic sectors through collaborative partnerships, strategic alliances, emerging technology, and research.
A native of Washington D.C. and a veteran of the United States Navy, Jim began his public service to the City of Los Angeles in 1986 with the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD). He was later appointed Interim Fire Chief (2013-2014). In 2007, Jim was appointed General Manager of the Los Angeles Emergency Management Department, where he led a successful departmental reorganization and restructuring of Los Angeles’ emergency management protocols and processes. From 2008 to 2018, Jim chaired FEMA’s National Advisory Council. From 2004 to 2008, Jim was on the instructional cadre that delivered the DHS sponsored nationally recognized Enhanced Incident Management and Unified Command (MGT-314) course at the National Emergency Rescue and Response Training Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
In 2018, Jim was selected to chair the FEMA commissioned National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Consensus Report Study: Strengthening Post-Hurricane Supply Chain Resilience: Observations from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Jim holds a Master of Leadership degree from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Public Administration from Union Institute and University. He is an alumnus of the Executive Leaders Program at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security. Jim is also a Senior Fellow in the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government’s Program on Crisis Leadership.
