- Pritzker Fellows
- Current Fellows
- Justin Ángel Knighten
Justin Ángel Knighten
Former Associate Administrator with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Biography
Justin is a nationally recognized crisis, risk and political communications expert, strategist, storyteller, and advocate for solutions to address the climate crisis. With a career based on cross-sector and issue area experience, Justin is driven by navigating complex challenges through establishing innovative partnerships, leading teams, and leveraging cutting-edge communications trends to yield results.
As a former senior official in the Biden-Harris Administration, Justin led FEMA’s Office of External Affairs, a nearly 200-person team with several divisions including communications, disaster operations, public affairs, intergovernmental affairs, tribal affairs, congressional affairs, private sector engagement, as well as the Ready and Listo Campaign, the nation’s all-hazard preparedness public outreach and education initiative. Additionally, his office managed a nearly 500-person cadre of external affairs reservists who deployed year-round into communities impacted by disasters declared by the President of the United States.
Previously, Justin served as co-chair of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s groundbreaking $50 million disaster preparedness campaign, called Listos California, which transformed how government engages and prepares historically vulnerable populations. Housed within the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), the campaign continues to ready at-risk Californians statewide for wildfires, earthquakes, and beyond.
In 2024, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) named Justin the national Public Relations Professional of the Year. A lifelong advocate for equity and human rights, Justin’s expertise has earned him recognition as a leading LGBTQ+ figure in national security and foreign policy. After leading communications at FEMA to support President Biden’s ambitious and successful goal to vaccinate the nation from COVID-19, he was recognized by PRWeek as a 40 under 40 forward-thinking current and future leader of the PR industry. Justin is currently a Truman National Security Project Fellow. Finally, as a California native and the grandson of immigrants from Mexico, Justin brings his experience, background, and culture into every aspect of solving big problems for the nation.
Seminars
“The Fire Next Time: Restoring Our Faith in Democracy Through the Natural Disaster Lifecycle”
In 2024, the U.S. government issued 154 declarations for wildfire and other major disasters - roughly one occurring every other day - across 46 states, tribal regions and territories. Well managed, disasters can spur unity in the face of great political division, portray effective adaptation efforts and showcase the very best of government and democracy working for people. Managed poorly, disasters foster further distrust in government, end careers and leave a community grappling with generational impacts. Justin Ángel Knighten, former Associate Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will take us through an in-depth look at service, politics and policy actions needed to effectively manage the onset of the increasingly more expensive, life-threatening and frequent natural disasters that threaten lives, communities and trust in one another. What political leaders and cross-sector partners at all levels do next is urgent, but will they - will we - have the fortitude to get it right? How can we ensure trust, confidence and the actions needed to combat the climate crisis and our security threat landscape?
Fellows seminars are off the record and open to current UChicago students only.
Justin will share stories, challenges and learnings from his career journey as a communicator, storyteller and advocate on the frontline of a climate crisis. He will explain what inspired his path to pursue a profession within hazards that threaten American life today. With an emergency management career that began responding to wildfire and transforming how the State of California engages and prepared the most vulnerable populations for flood, earthquakes, and wildfire, Justin was tapped by President Biden to lead all communications and external affairs for the nation to help people before, during, and after disaster. This session will feature the most urgent part of the disaster lifecycle: actions to boost resilience, mitigate risk and prepare communities from the recent hurricane wildfires.
A response to disaster is at the epicenter of how a community unifies and comes together to put differences aside to help people…or not. Let’s test your capacity for swift, ethical and sound decisions made early that yield successful outcomes with local, state and national emergency managers for a group discussion on disaster response. The group will share examples of some recent disasters like tornadoes that have impacted the American South and midwestern states; Hurricane Helene that hit six states including North Carolina, and even historic disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Would you make the right decision under extreme pressure? Or would you crack?
How does malign influence lead to misinformation and chaos in disasters? Past responses to catastrophic events, such as the 2023 train derailment in Ohio and the Maui wildfire, triggered overwhelming levels of misinformation from foreign adversaries like Russia and China. Hurricanes Helene and Milton responses had some of the most extreme examples of false and misleading information by these bad actors that manifested into real-world consequences. I will lead a tabletop exercise with communications, national security and intelligence experts to give students the same real-world experience for how to think about the plan for misinformation. Do you have what it takes to go up against technology like AI used by bad actors? Are you ready to fight back against foreign adversaries looking to hurt Americans with online chaos? Are you savvy enough to navigate a political machine pushing lies for selfish gain regardless of the damage caused? Let’s find out!
Recovery is the last step in the disaster life cycle. How a community recovers from disaster will forever shape every aspect of life going forward. The pace of recovery is slow, but leaders must also move at the speed of trust, and that takes time. The recent wildfires in Los Angeles were the last crisis Justin Ángel Knighten faced while at FEMA and likely to be the nation’s most costly and complicated disaster recovery effort. Justin will join together with other experts in disaster recovery to share stories from the front-line of the Los Angeles wildfires to offer perspective on what happened, where there was a breakdown in political leadership and what local, state and federal leaders have in store for the recovery with a White House that has already proven to be antagonistic. What do you think local and state leaders should take away from what just happened in Los Angeles? What do you think needs to change? What immediate next steps would you take?