Doug Bellomo is a civil engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Institute for Water Resources in Fort Belvoir, Va. (and a member of the CRC Advisory Board). He helps lead the Corps National Flood Risk Management program and works within the USACE Levee Safety Program and on coastal activities. In these capacities, he seeks to develop and implement policies and business practices to better integrate USACE activities across the flood risk management life cycle and to promote shared responsibility for flood risk. He spoke to the Coastal Resilience Center about how his work and the Center’s work complement one another.
CRC: Can you tell us a little about your current position at the Army Corps Institute for Water Resources and about how your career led to this point?
Bellomo: I’m currently senior technical advisor for flood risk management. The Institute plays an interesting role within the Corps, not necessarily as an operational organization but one that looks out to the future and helps try and identify challenges and opportunities. Those include integrating water missions in the Corps including recreation, dam operation, flood risk reduction, infrastructure, hydropower operation, and navigation, among others.
I’m helping in a variety of areas, including levee safety and dam safety – we’re the owner and operator of 715 dams. Another area is policy development: There was an executive order that was released in January 2015, and I’m helping USACE headquarters in developing draft procedures for implementing it.
I work with a broader team on the National Flood Risk Management Program, which includes Silver Jackets – a program within the Corps where we use our convening power to pull together state and other federal agencies to form teams to tackle flood risk-related challenges. The states really make and carry the agenda and we help facilitate and provide some technical support where we can.
I have a bachelor’s of science degree in civil engineering and a master’s of science degree in civil engineering, and my thesis was on the impact of seawalls on beaches in 1992-93. After I got out of graduate school I got a job in the private sector. I worked there for about four years and then joined FEMA, where I stayed for about 18 years. As Director of the Risk Analysis Division, I had the pleasure of working with great professionals and oversaw the development of maps for the National Flood Insurance Program. I chaired the National Dam Safety Review Board and Interagency Committee on Dam Safety, and oversaw implementation of the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Planning function, Hazus and other activities.
