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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Leadership

Leadership

Director Kevin M. Sligh Sr.

Kevin M. Sligh, Sr. is the Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. He joined BSEE on March 28, 2022, and is responsible for promoting safety, protecting the environment, and conserving resources through the regulatory oversight and enforcement of energy operations on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. The Director is supported by senior executives who manage national programs, policies, operations and budgets for regulated oil & gas and offshore wind industries.

Most recently, Sligh served as Deputy Regional Administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region V. In this position, he provided oversight for operational aspects of preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation activities in support of the region’s six Great Lakes states, as well as 34 federally recognized tribal nations.

Prior to that, Sligh was Deputy Director of the Office of Marine Environmental Response Policy at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters. There, he served as principal advisor to the Director and oversaw human resources, budget, and acquisitions; national spill response planning and policy; and industry, interagency, and international coordination. Sligh served a seven-month detail at the White House in 2017 as the Director for Response Policy within the National Security Council Resilience Directorate focusing on the Executive Office of the President response during Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.

Additional assignments include Chief, Incident Management & Crisis Response Division at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, and he also provided support to the Coast Guard’s Office of Marine Environmental Response as the nation’s Area Contingency Plan program manager and worked for Booz Allen Hamilton in support of USCG Headquarters from 2012-2013.

Sligh concluded a 24-year active duty and reserve military career, where he gained extensive incident management and oil spill response experience, including serving as Deputy Incident Commander for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2011, as well as holding key leadership roles in response to Hurricanes Katrina, Ike and Gustav, and several other various deployments.

Sligh – a Certified Emergency Manager since 2008 – holds a bachelor’s degree from Excelsior College and a Master of Business Administration degree from Northcentral University.

Deputy Director Paul Huang

Paul Huang is the Deputy Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement in Washington, D.C. Huang helps oversee a staff of more than 850 federal employees and directly oversees BSEE’s National Program Offices and Divisions. As BSEE Deputy Director, he is responsible for promoting safety, protecting the environment, and conserving resources through the regulatory oversight and enforcement of energy industry operations on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.

Huang is formerly the Assistant Administrator of Federal Insurance for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which is within the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA) at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The NFIP has over 4.5 million policyholders across the Nation and collects over $4B in revenue annually. Huang also founded and served as the Executive Sponsor for FEMA’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group.

Most recently, Huang served as the Acting Associate Administrator for Resilience and helped stand up the Climate Adaptation and Equity Enterprise Steering Committees for the Agency, as well as helped establish FEMA’s new Strategic Plan. Additionally, he helped bring improved program management, collaboration, and integration across the Resilience portfolio.

Huang previously served as the Director of the Risk Analysis Division within FIMA where he helped modernize the Nation’s flood map inventory and stand-up the successful $200M+ Risk Mapping, Assessment and Planning (Risk MAP) program which integrates the hazard mitigation planning program and the dam safety program with a goal of providing quality data that increases risk awareness that ultimately drives mitigation actions in communities resulting in long term resiliency.

Huang is a Department of Homeland Security level III program manager and holds a B.S. in Management Science and Information Systems as well as a Master’s in Business Administration. He has been working in the field of flood hazard mapping, insurance, and mitigation for over 15 years; previously he was an information technology consultant.

Program Directors