The National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) has presented its Lacy E. Suiter Distinguished Service Award to Michael (Mike) Sprayberry.
The award is presented annually in recognition of the men and women who have dedicated their careers and lives to make citizens and communities safer from both natural disasters and terrorist events. It is named in honor of Lacy E. Suiter, one of the nation’s most experienced and respected emergency management and homeland security leaders.
Awardees have made outstanding contributions throughout his or her career to any or all facets of emergency management. This includes the areas of preparedness, mitigation, response, or recovery at a local, state, regional, or national level. The career accomplishments should be of unusual merit.
Mike Sprayberry retired in August as the Executive Director of North Carolina Emergency Management (NCEM). He was appointed director of Emergency Management in 2013 and also served as director of the Office of Recovery and Resiliency. He has managed the state’s preparation for, response to, recovery from and mitigation of natural and man-made disasters including the recent COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Sprayberry has been the state’s deputy homeland security advisor and a member of the State Emergency Response Commission.
Sprayberry began his emergency management career in 2005 as the deputy director and logistics chief and later assumed the duties of the deputy director and operations chief. During his tenure with NCEM, he also has served as president of the National Emergency Management Association and as a member of the FEMA National Advisory Council. Prior to joining state government, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps and the N.C. Army National Guard.