John Scrivani, a longtime emergency management leader with decades of experience spanning local, state, and federal response operations, has been appointed as the State Coordinator of the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
Scrivani has been serving as VDEM’s acting state coordinator since December 2024, overseeing statewide preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation efforts. His appointment formalizes a role he has already been performing during a period marked by increasingly complex disaster and infrastructure risks.
Before stepping into the acting coordinator position, Scrivani built deep institutional experience within Virginia government, including multiple leadership roles at the Virginia Department of Transportation. As director of VDOT’s Office of Safety, Security, and Emergency Management, he was responsible for employee safety, transportation critical infrastructure protection, agency security, and emergency management operations. His portfolio included oversight of the VDOT Operations Center, staffing the State Emergency Operations Center’s ESF-1 Transportation desk, coordinating FEMA and Federal Highway Administration disaster reimbursement, and managing statewide emergency response efforts.
Scrivani also previously served as deputy state coordinator for VDEM’s Disaster Services Bureau, giving him direct experience with Virginia’s emergency management structure well before assuming its top role.
His career extends well beyond Virginia. In 2021, Scrivani served as commissioner of the New York City Emergency Management Department, following earlier senior leadership roles with NYC Office of Emergency Management and the Mayor’s Office. He played a central role in Hurricane Sandy recovery operations, leading a multi-agency debris removal task force and managing a $250 million beach restoration effort across New York City.
Scrivani’s background also includes more than a decade with the NYPD Emergency Service Unit, where he rose to sergeant and commanded Hazardous Materials and WMD response teams. He responded to major incidents nationwide as part of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue program and served in operational and planning roles during the response and recovery from the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center.
In addition to government service, Scrivani has worked as a public safety consultant and subject matter expert for the Department of Defense’s Technical Support Working Group, evaluating tools and technologies for first responders and military personnel. He also currently serves as a vice president at HAZTECH Systems.
Announcing the appointment, Gov.-elect Spanberger said she looked forward to working alongside leaders she described as “exceptional Virginians” who will help guide state government.
(AI was used in part to facilitate this article.)
