Meet the Executive Staff

Christina Farrell, Commissioner

Christina Farrell is a lifelong public servant with more than 23 years of experience working to improve the lives of New Yorkers before, during, and after emergencies. As First Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Emergency Management Department (NYCEM), she helped to lead the City’s emergency preparedness, response, and recovery efforts and collaborated with City leadership and regional, state, and federal partners on emergency management matters. Farrell has served in senior leadership roles during some of the most complex crises of the past two decades, coordinating emergency operations during the citywide blackout of 2003, Hurricane Sandy, blizzards, the COVID-19 pandemic, power outages, transportation disruptions, extreme heat, steam pipe explosions, building collapses, significant fires, and other emergencies. Since 2021, Farrell has set the strategic direction for emergency management and prioritized employee engagement, wellness, and retention and equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts for more than 300 staff.
 
Farrell joined NYCEM in 2003 as the department’s first director of grants. She created the department’s external affairs division, first serving as the assistant commissioner of the division and then as deputy commissioner. During her tenure in external affairs, she oversaw programs including Community Emergency Response Teams and Ready NY, created initiatives to educate the public, and enhanced partnerships with elected officials, community organizations, neighborhood leaders, and private and non-profit sector partners.
 
Farrell began serving the City of New York in 1994 as a coordinator in the Mayor’s Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator. She also served as the deputy director of the NYC High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and the deputy director and director of the Mayor’s Office of Grants Administration, where she worked on the creation of the Twin Towers Fund after 9/11.
 
Farrell holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and economics from Colgate University and a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also a graduate of the executive leaders program at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

NYC Emergency Management Executive Staff

• Tori Ajibade, Chief Equity and Diversity Officer and EEO Officer
• Chris Blanco, Chief Financial Officer
• Craig Bonney, Deputy Chief Operating Officer
  
• Johanna Conroy, Assistant Commissioner, Interagency Coordination
• Jacob Cooper, Deputy Commissioner, Readiness
• Aries Dela Cruz, Executive Director, Public Information
• Wessley Doskocil, Executive Director, Response
  
• Yokarina Duarte-Medina, Chief of Staff
• Joshua Friedman, Executive Director, GIS
• John Grimm, Deputy Commissioner, Logistics
• Natalie Grybauskas, Assistant Commissioner, Response
• Henry Jackson, Chief Operating Officer
• Iskra Killgore, Assistant Commissioner, Community Engagement
  
• Alex Lam, Chief of Security
• Ray Noble, Executive Director, Strategic Operations 
• Sonja Orgias, Chief Counsel
  
• Beth Pappas, Chief Human Capital Officer
  
• Deputy Inspector Eric Robinson, Deputy Commissioner, Response
• Heather Roiter, Deputy Commissioner, Risk Reduction & Recovery
  
• Herman Schaffer, Deputy Commissioner, Community Engagement
• David Schmid, Deputy Commissioner, External Affairs
• Anita Sher, Assistant Commissioner, Readiness
  
• Eric Smalls, Chief Technology Officer
• Rachel Sulaymanov, Executive Director, Government Relations
• Ira Tannenbaum, Assistant Commissioner, External Affairs & Strategic Partnerships
• Melissa Umberger, Assistant Commissioner, Resiliency and Recovery
  
• Elisa Urena, Deputy Chief Financial Officer
• Traci Wheelwright, Deputy Chief Counsel
• Joseph Whitney, Assistant Commissioner, Logistics