In 1986, Todd transitioned to the Washington, DC area. Initially Todd had the great opportunity to work with Rebecca Quinn and others at the Maryland DNR on floodplain management and land preservation programs. Another great ASFPM 1986 Conference in Pittsburg followed. This meeting furthered Todd’s professional relationships and inspired and reinforced his career decisions. Todd attributes this conference to key opportunities that would lead to his employment with FEMA and work with the NFIP.

For the next 10 years, Todd worked at technical and management levels at FEMA’s HQ on floodplain management and disasters operations. Todd first worked on the gnarly NFIP issue of Substantial Damage and Improvement. He had the opportunity to partner with ASFPM Committee Chairs Bill Trakimas and Mike Borengasser to develop a number of white papers to help bring implementation clarity on this complex issue. Through FEMA’s Congressional Fellowship program, Todd worked 18 months with Congressman Doug Bereuter, who was the ranking member of the House Banking Subcommittee with jurisdiction over the NFIP. ASFPM was actively involved in this Congressional formulation process, which would ultimately result in much needed NFIP reforms, including Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage. In 1992, Todd led FEMA’s Building Performance Assessment Team in Hawaii following Hurricane Iniki. Based on findings after Iniki and a similar assessment following Hurricane Andrew, Todd and others worked closely with the ASFPM Coastal Issues Committee, led by Mark Mauriello, to help improve NFIP coastal construction standards. After the historic 1993 Midwest Floods on the Mississippi, Missouri, and other rivers, Todd gained great experience working with the ASFPM and all the Midwest state and federal floodplain management and mitigation programs as part of the significant “Buy-Out” efforts.

In 1996, Todd became the mitigation division director for FEMA Region 4 in Atlanta. A top priority for Region 4 for the next decade was to help Southeastern states and communities enhance their floodplain management capacity through a variety of training, funding, and technical assistance efforts. These included a CFM campaign, promotion of CRS, creation and support for ASFPM state chapters, Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE) staff support after disasters, invitational travel, and other creative funding enhancements. During the late 1990s, a succession of major hurricanes (Bertha, Fran, Bonnie and Floyd, among others) caused significant and repetitive flood damage to hundreds of North Carolina communities. Todd and his Region 4 team worked very closely with The State of North Carolina, including Drs. Gavin Smith and Jae Park, to effect the acquisition of tens of thousands of damaged and destroyed homes. For these and other efforts, ASFPM recognized FEMA Region 4 Mitigation Division in 2000 with the John R. Sheaffer Award for Excellence in Floodproofing Programs. During these hurricane disasters, FEMA Region 4 made great strides to operationalize mitigation after disasters, including recruiting many retired state and local officials with floodplain management experience. ASFPM and the Region 4 ASFPM state chapters were key in assisting with this DAE Floodplain Manager credentialing and recruitment effort.

Another key partnership effort with ASFPM members in the Southeast was implementing NFIP Map Modernization and ‘Managing State’ programs in North Carolina, Alabama, and Florida (Water Management Districts). John Dorman from NC was a national leader and catalyst for other states in this initiative. The Florida Hurricanes in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 further solidified FEMA Region 4 efforts to implement mitigation and floodplain management and mapping programs as an integrated part of federal/state disaster operations. ASFPM, its state chapters and members partnered and assisted throughout this effort.

From 2006-2017 Todd had an incredible opportunity to work under the dynamic leadership of Margaret Davidson at NOAA where he managed the SE Region for NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management. Building state and local capacity for coastal resilience and the impacts of climate change on flooding were key efforts. During this period, ASFPM played and continues to play an integral role in assisting with these coastal resilience efforts under the umbrella of the Digital Coast partnership.

In 2009, Todd received the ASFPM Pioneer Award for his work in the formative years of the association. Before his retirement in 2017, Todd was humbled and honored to receive the Larry Larson Meritorious Lifetime Achievement in Floodplain Management. Looking back, Todd notes that his career and life have been profoundly shaped and enhanced through his participation in the ASFPM. “For young and aspiring floodplain managers, ASFPM is a stellar organization for career development,” he said. “For retired floodplain managers reflecting back—there is no finer group to have helped leave a legacy and build meaningful life-long relationships along the way.”