Lauren Morgan

Experience

Mrs. Morgan serves as the Associate Director of the Stephenson Disaster Management Institute (SDMI) which she joined in 2012. As Associate Director of SDMI, Mrs. Morgan is responsible for oversight and project management of all six (6) institute mission areas; Academic Research, Application Development, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), Cybersecurity, Disaster Management and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). She serves as the main liaison between local, state and federal agency partners in projects related to homeland security and emergency management.

Mrs. Morgan's Hazard Mitigation Team at SDMI developed and implemented a statewide hazard mitigation planning program, providing streamlined technical support for 60 of the 64 parish plan updates. The statewide initiative nests all parish plans into the State of Louisiana Statewide Hazard Mitigation Plan, one of the first successful streamlined true statewide mitigation planning programs in the country. She has overseen similar initiatives for statewide Emergency Operations Plans (EOPS) and also aided GOHSEP with the stand up of the newly created Louisiana Center for Safe Schools and its awarding millions of dollars in school safety grants throughout Louisiana. In times of emergency, at SDMI Mrs. Morgan has provided subject matter expertise and support to statewide responses to COVID-19, Hurricanes Harvey, Barry, Laura, Delta, Zeta, Ida, and most recently Francine and the 2023 Southwest Louisiana Wildfires.

Prior to her position at the Stephenson Disaster Management Institute (SDMI) LSU, Mrs. Morgan served as Preparedness Section Chief for the Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (GOHSEP) under three administrations and four agency directors. Her responsibilities included statewide planning, training, exercise, critical infrastructure, intelligence, cybersecurity and radiological programs. Under her leadership, Louisiana developed and implemented the most robust statewide exercise program to date. She coordinated with the Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) for the first ever Louisiana Governor's Executive Education Seminar, previously known as the Mobile Education Team (MET), delivery in 2007, with many more to follow. Her time at GOHSEP also included response and recovery roles for Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike, Ida, Isaac, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, River Flooding of 2011 and the 2016 Statewide Flooding events.

Before her transition into emergency management, Mrs. Morgan served as Director of Operations at the Southern Anti-Terrorist Regional Training Academy in Carville, LA, training thousands of law enforcement personnel nationwide.

Mrs. Morgan served as a Lieutenant in the United States Army Transportation Corps following her graduation from The Florida State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. She serves as a Subject Matter Expert for the Naval Post Graduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS), is a certified Master Exercise Practitioner through FEMA/EMI and an active member of the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) and the Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Association (LEPA).

Certifications

• HSEEP Train the Trainer
• ICS 300/400 Train the Trainer
• ICS/IS 100/200/700/800
• FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner, MEP
• FEMA Advanced PIO Train the Trainer
• FEMA Professional Development Certificate
• Fluent in Sign Language