Robert J. Fenton

Robert Joseph Fenton Jr. is an American response worker who has served as the acting administrator of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) since 2026. Fenton served as the acting administrator of FEMA from January to April 2021 and from January 2017 to June 2017.

Fenton began working for FEMA in 1996. He was appointed Regional Administrator for FEMA Region IX: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific Islands in July 2015. He had a leadership role in the development of the National Incident Management System and the National Response Framework.

He was FEMA's acting administrator under President Donald Trump from January 26, 2017, until his successor Brock Long was confirmed on June 23, 2017. Fenton performed the duties of the FEMA administrator in January 2021, while Pete Gaynor was serving as the acting secretary of homeland security and was succeeded by New York Emergency Department Commissioner Deanne Criswell.

Career Fenton served as the Chief of Field Operations for Portable Water Supply System, based in Redwood City, California. In that capacity, he deployed to Central Africa as a lead member of the U.S. emergency response relief effort to bring lifesaving assistance to Rwandan refugees.

He then joined FEMA in 1996, where he has worked on large-scale response and recovery operations in the U.S. and has responded to more than 50 Federal disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, the four Florida Hurricanes of 2004, the Southern California Wildfires of 2003 and 2007, the Typhoon Pongsona in Guam, and the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attacks.