Christy Gibney

Christy Gibney began her career in disaster human services and emergency management at Safe Horizon, the nation’s largest not-for-profit victim assistance provider, located in New York City.

As the Senior Director of Emergency Planning and Preparedness during the aftermath of 9/11, she helped develop and implement numerous successful relief programs including the distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars in direct financial assistance from the September 11th Fund to over 55,000 surviving family members and displaced/injured workers and residents. She also created and supervised survivor mental health programs and coordinated access to employment and health care assistance for individuals ineligible for other available 9/11 relief programs.

During this time, she worked closely with the 9/11 United Services Group which was established by and designed to coordinate social service organizations providing relief. This consortium established an innovative, collaborative approach to disaster case management and information sharing that has since been a model for service providers after Hurricane Katrina and in other large-scale recovery operations across the country. These service provision models led the federal government to recognize coordinated case management as an integral part of disaster recovery systems. In 2008, Ms. Gibney was invited to participate on an advisory group with FEMA and National VOAD, in their partnership with the Council on Accreditation, to develop national standards for disaster case management.

In 2003, Ms. Gibney was selected as a liaison to the New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM) where she assisted the Human Services department for three years. In this role, she helped develop plans for disaster/family assistance centers and worked on the design and facilitation of citywide drills and exercises. She also helped lead the launch and operation of the NYC Hurricane Katrina Disaster Assistance Service Center in 2005.

Ms. Gibney’s disaster planning work extends to the national level, and she is a founding member of the Coordinated Assistance Network (CAN), a collaboration of not-for-profit and faith-based organizations working to improve information sharing and service coordination systems to better support clients during disaster recovery. Over several years, she helped to implement CAN pilot programs across the country and shared lessons learned with local planning networks in Oklahoma City, Washington DC, San Francisco and Seattle.

Ms. Gibney is an experienced public speaker and trainer and has presented at many forums and conferences nationwide. She is also an instructor with the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Professional Studies NYC Coastal Storm Plan initiative which has trained thousands of city government employees to prepare them for their role as managers of evacuation centers and hurricane shelters.

Ms. Gibney’s past volunteer work includes positions as a member of the Boards of the New York City Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) and the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS). She is currently an active volunteer at New York Cares and the American Red Cross in Greater New York, and a member of the International Association of Emergency Managers.

Ms. Gibney graduated with a degree in Political Science from Villanova University in 1991 and received her law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1995. Her work in disaster and emergency management was preceded by a career as a passionate legal advocate for women. She practiced family law and worked extensively with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in her home state of New Jersey for over seven years. She now resides in Manhattan with Jake and Willow.