Lindsey Anderson is a Technical Writer for Aspen Digital and the founder of Groundline Strategy, a consulting firm that helps public organizations improve people’s lives. Lindsey has 20 years of experience leading operations strategy, program design, and reform initiatives in government and nonprofit organizations.
Lindsey served most recently as the Chief Strategy Officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Office of Response and Recovery where she led an assets and risks based approach to transforming an organization of 14,000 people. Lindsey also served as Director of Strategy and Policy in FEMA’s Office of Policy and Program Analysis where she led national initiatives including implementation of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act, revision of foundational doctrine, and studies on scalable approaches to reduce disaster risk.
Lindsey served for five years as Deputy to FEMA’s Assistant Administrator for Field Leadership where she was responsible for more than 400 individuals within FEMA’s field leadership cadre and Incident Management Assistance Teams. She led revision of the Directorate’s governing policies, overhauled recruitment and training programs and oversaw operational deployments for disasters such as COVID-19, Hurricanes Helene and Ian, and catastrophic wildfires. Lindsey was also activated in various leadership roles in FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center during the Federal responses to COVID-19; Hurricanes Dorian, Florence, Matthew, Sandy, and Irene; and catastrophic flooding in the southeast U.S.
In 2017, Lindsey was selected to serve as an Executive in Residence at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public and International Affairs, also serving as Executive Director of its Center for Disaster Management. She led research on the behaviors of leaders who are effective in crisis, taught three graduate-level management courses, and championed research on decision-making in uncertainty.
Lindsey has also held management roles in community nonprofit organizations in Pittsburgh, PA and served as a consultant on nonprofit governance and performance management. She holds a Master of Public and International Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts in Writing from the University of Pittsburgh.
