Ms. Seong Kim joined the Department of the Interior – Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) in March 2024 as the Assistant Director for Strategic Engagement. She leads the Offices of Public Affairs and Office of Congressional and International Affairs. Ms. Kim ensures mission critical issues, initiatives, and agency functions align with the Department and Administration’s energy goals. She represents BSEE as she develops and fosters partnerships with intergovernmental senior executives, congressional representatives, State, Tribal, and Local entities for collaboration on safety and environmental enforcement. Ms. Kim is also a key leader in working with industry stakeholders within the energy and environmental compliance space to support BSEE mission delivery.
Ms. Kim was previously at the Department of Homeland Security - Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for 11 years of service. Her last role at FEMA was the Director leading enterprise data and analytics modernization for the Enterprise Data and Analytics Modernization Initiative (EDAMI). A program focused on making improvements in people, process, and technology to advance the way data and business intelligence drives data-informed decisions at FEMA (and with our emergency management partners). Ms. Kim has extensive expertise in multiple disciplines including communications, stakeholder engagement, information technology, program management, financial and budget management, acquisition, change management, human capital, and governance. She led enterprise strategy to improve organizational effectiveness and enjoyed solutioning complex problems to drive greater performance and results.
Ms. Kim joined FEMA in 2013 where she started in the Field Operations Directorate enabling the ability to ready and deploy the incident workforce to support people before, during, and after disasters. She then moved to grants modernization efforts where she worked with programs, regions, states, and tribal nations to streamline grants management processes. With over a decade in her tenure at FEMA, Ms. Kim feels incredibly fortunate to work beside some of the most dedicated and passionate people in the federal workforce.
Ms. Kim is extremely passionate about fostering a culture focused on accountability, collaboration, innovation, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her engagement in the FEMA Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group (AANHPI FERG) was some of the most rewarding work she performed at the Agency. She believes in a leadership style that is accountable for demonstrating cultural competency and applying DEIA values and principles.
Before joining the public sector, Ms. Kim worked at Morgan Stanley in Southern California. She created and executed business development programs designed to increase revenue margins that brought in almost a billion dollars in assets, generating over $10M in revenue.
Ms. Kim lives in Virginia with her Husband. When she’s not working, she enjoys traveling, photography, cooking, movies, arts & crafts, and spending quality time with family and friends.