James mitchell - chief of staff, rapiddeploy
James brings nearly 20 years of experience developing and deploying large, complex programs for the government. James recently left the Federal government to work at Verizon, where he served as Executive Program Manager for Public Safety, where he managed a number of go-to-market initiatives focused on Public Safety. Prior to joining Verizon, he spent 6 years at the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), where he delivered the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network public private partnership with AT&T, a 40 billion dollar venture ensuring dedicated mission critical broadband for public safety everywhere.
Prior to FirstNet James spent 9 years at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), where he served first as a contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton supporting grants policy and legislative affairs, then as the lead Program Manager for Program Development and Information Management for FEMA’s grant programs, working with members of public safety at all levels to ensure that FEMA’s core constituency’s needs were addressed across its multi-billion dollar financial assistance portfolio. After several years in the grants field, James went to support FEMA’s Chief Procurement Officer as the Executive Officer, managing day to day operations for $1.5 billion in both disaster response and steady state contracting activities.
Prior to his service with FEMA, James worked for the Florida Association of Community Health Centers, assisting in the establishment of emergency management training for medical professionals serving Florida’s most vulnerable communities. James holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Florida State University.