Mr. Powers served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Disaster Operations in a post-Katrina Federal Emergency Management Agency where he significantly improved national-level disaster response operations and the integration of federal interagency response with state and local governments. He also held a number of other senior positions within the federal government including directing the accession and deployment of 55,000 new security officers in a five-month period as part of the establishment of the Transportation Security Administration. Before joining the federal government, Mr. Powers was the chief operating officer and principal consultant for a small consulting firm.