Mike Sprayberry

Michael A. Sprayberry is an American emergency manager who served as the Director of Emergency Management in the North Carolina Department of Public Safety from 2013 to 2021. He oversaw the state's emergency response to several major disasters including Hurricane Matthew, Hurricane Florence, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, he took college courses at night and earned two years of college credit. He enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte as a junior and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration in 1979. He later earned a Master of Arts degree in history from UNC Charlotte in 1987.

North Carolina Director of Emergency Management Sprayberry joined the Division of Emergency Management in the North Carolina Department of Public Safety as deputy director and logistics section chief in 2005. In this role, he oversees the state's response to, and recovery from, natural and man-made disasters.

Sprayberry is the director of the North Carolina Office of Resilience and Recovery, which was created by Cooper in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence to protect the state against future storms. Since then, the Office of Resilience and Recovery has expanded its scope to include rent assistance to people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2015, Sprayberry was appointed to the National Advisory Council of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a three-year term by then-FEMA administrator Craig Fugate. In August 2017, then-FEMA administrator Brock Long named Sprayberry as Vice Chair of the council. He was elected to a one-year term as president of the National Emergency Management Association in 2017, after serving as the organization's vice president.

In December 2020, it was reported that Sprayberry was under consideration by President-elect Joe Biden to become the next FEMA administrator; however, Biden ultimately announced Deanne Criswell as his nominee for the position.

In November 2021, Sprayberry joined Hagerty Consulting, an emergency management consulting firm.

Personal life Sprayberry lives in Raleigh with his wife Laura. They have two daughters.