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President Donald Trump on Monday appointed 13 members to his newly formed Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council—including one prominent Louisianan.
That Louisianan is Mark Cooper, who brings over 30 years of emergency management experience to his post on the council. He previously served as chief of staff for former Gov. John Bel Edwards and currently serves as a partner at Baton Rouge-based crisis leadership and government relations consulting firm Five Score Partners.
During his tenure in Edwards’ office, Cooper helped lead Louisiana’s emergency responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and five hurricanes, among other crises. Prior to joining Edwards’ staff, he served as Walmart’s senior director of global emergency management for over five years.
He also served on the Cabinet of former Gov. Bobby Jindal as the director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness and as Louisiana’s homeland security adviser. In those roles, he led Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts and responded to other historic events like the BP oil spill and Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
The FEMA Review Council, which will be co-chaired by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, is described by the Trump administration as a “bipartisan group tasked with reforming and streamlining the nation’s emergency management and disaster response system.” Trump created the council days after taking office as he publicly considered abolishing FEMA.
Cooper was appointed to the council alongside notable names like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. View a full list of appointees here.
