Top FEMA Flack Racusen Departs for SKDKnickerbocker

FEMA's Director of Public Affairs Rachel Racusen announced that she will be joining SKDKnickerbocker as a Vice President.

Rachel Racusen comes to the after serving nearly two years at FEMA, where she acted as the agency’s chief national spokesperson, developing and executing all external and internal communications for the agency while simultaneously running their national press office. Racusen directed crisis communications efforts for some of the worst weather disasters in recent history including Hurricane Irene and the deadly tornadoes that struck the southeast and Joplin last spring and helped coordinate rapid response efforts for high-profile incidents such as the Japan earthquake and the Gulfwater Horizon BP oil spill.

Prior to FEMA, Racusen was at the House Education and Labor Committee on Capitol Hill, where she served as the Communications Director for the democratic staff of the committee and its chairman, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA). There she devised the media strategies for key legislative priorities of the Democratic Congress and the Obama administration.

Prior to her stint on Capitol Hill, Rachel worked for Dittus Communications, a bipartisan public affairs firm, where she helped develop strategies for clients with a number of different crisis communications needs on issues ranging from retirement security to law enforcement to internet gaming rights. She has also done press work on several campaigns, including the Obama presidential campaign, as well as Senate and House races.

She graduated from Union College with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and is a native of Boston, Massachusetts. (PF tipster)