The American Red Cross has announced that former FEMA official Carlos J. Castillo has taken the helm of Red Cross disaster services programs across South Florida, effective Dec. 9.
“Carlos has the leadership skills, the local knowledge and the community relationships to best serve the people in our eight county region, from Key West to Vero Beach,” said Rob Levine, CEO for the South Florida Region. “We are very excited to have Carlos join the Red Cross.”
Castillo, a former Miami-Dade deputy fire chief and county emergency manager, brings a unique mix of skills to this role with a record of accomplishment in related fields at the municipal, county and federal level as well as Red Cross volunteer experience.A South Florida native, he served in a number of roles in the Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue Department including division chief of Special Operations and was recognized as “Firefighter of the Year” from the State of Florida for his work responding to Hurricane Andrew. Castillo later was appointed assistant fire chief leading 1,541 uniformed firefighters across five divisions in Miami-Dade.
From 2003 to 2006 he was director of Emergency Management for Miami-Dade County and led the response to seven hurricanes, a tornado and a host of local events. In 2007 he moved to FEMA in Washington, DC, and served as assistant administrator for Disaster Assistance. For the past four years Castillo has been a senior advisor at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he provided homeland security and disaster management advisory services to a broad range of clients all the while keeping ties with Red Cross. Castillo served on Red Cross boards in Miami and Washington, DC.
“I am confident Carlos will prepare our neighbors in the face of disaster and work with our partners to support community preparedness and resiliency,” Levine said.
For more information, visit www.redcross.org or on Twitter at @RedCross.
