The director of the Maine Emergency Management Agency has stepped down, the governor’s office announced Monday.
Suzanne J.M. Krauss was nominated to serve as the agency’s director in late 2017 by then-Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican. Krauss is leaving the agency to pursue a position in the private sector.
Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, called Krauss a “tremendous asset” to the state and a “leader in emergency management practices both at home and nationwide.”
“I am thankful for her service, and I wish her the very best,” Mills said.
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Krauss was a pilot in the U.S. Navy, and served in the Navy and Naval Reserve for 24 years.
She graduated in 1995 from Boston University’s International Relations program and in 2017 from the U.S. Naval War College, where she earned a master’s degree in national security strategy studies. She was a Navy pilot trained in helicopters, multi-engine prop aircraft and unmanned systems.
Before joining the Maine Emergency Management Agency, she also worked in management and business relations at Custom Composite Technologies in Bath and the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority in Brunswick.
“It has been an enormous privilege to have led MEMA, an organization with such a critical mission,” Krauss said. “My time here has been marked with building an incredibly talented and professional staff; improving whole-of-community and whole-of-government relationships with state, local, and federal partners; and focusing preparedness and mitigation efforts toward a ready and resilient Maine. I am confident that MEMA and the county and local emergency management agency partners across the state will continue to identify risk and advance Maine’s security and resilience posture.”
Mills has appointed Peter Rogers, the agency’s deputy director, to serve as acting director. Rogers previously served as acting director before Krauss took helm of the agency. He was appointed to the post under LePage following the resignation of Bruce Fitzgerald in September 2017.