James K. Joseph

James K. Joseph oversees growth initiatives and strategic expansion efforts for the Mitigation, Environmental, Response, Recovery & Resiliency (MER3) business vertical, which brings together Tidal Basin Group, MLU Services and Michael Baker International’s Emergency Management and Response professionals into a single, united team focused on end-to-end contingency operations and resilience solutions.

During his tenure at Tidal Basin, Mr. Joseph has served in several senior leadership roles, including President of the State, Local & Commercial Division. In that capacity, he led large-scale public sector and commercial programs nationwide and oversaw complex, high-visibility client engagements.

His experience also includes:

• Senior Executive on multiple operational deployments to hurricanes, wildfires and other emergencies and disasters for clients, including the State of Hawaii with the Maui Wildfires and the State of Florida with emergency sheltering programs in response to Hurricanes Ian, Idalia, Helene and Milton.
• Advisor to governors and state emergency management directors nationwide.
• Chief of Staff to Tidal Basin’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), where he executed and directed the CEO’s administrative, financial and operational activities, and he organized and prioritized critical issues to facilitate and execute efficient decision-making for the company.
• Vice President of Response, where he oversaw operational deployments of personnel for response programs, including the States of Florida and Georgia COVID-19 vaccine programs, federal assistance contracts and other national deployments. While in this role, he also supported growth strategies for multiple business units within Tidal Basin and represented the organization at national events.

Mr. Joseph has two decades of management experience in the public and private sectors. Before joining Tidal Basin, he was a Presidential appointee serving as Regional Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region 5, as well as FEMA’s Director of External Affairs during the Whole-of-America response to COVID-19 and the historic hurricane and wildfire season in 2020-2021. He also served as a Senate-confirmed cabinet member of the Illinois governor in two capacities: 1) Illinois State Director of Emergency Management; and 2) Illinois Deputy State Homeland Security Advisor.

Prior, Mr. Joseph served as the Director of Homeland Security in DuPage County, Illinois, Vice President of Security and Fraud for HSBC North America, Chairman of the Police and Fire Commission, and Chairman Pro-Tem of the Building and Zoning Commission in Carol Stream, Illinois.

Mr. Joseph is a nationally recognized thought leader and public speaker. He also volunteers his professional time on several industry association councils and boards, including previously serving as Co-Chairman of the National Homeland Security Consortium, Executive Board Member of the National Emergency Management Association and as a member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security State and Local Intelligence Council.