Timothy P. Butters

Timothy P. Butters is serving as the coordinator for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and Complex Coordinated Attack (CCA) for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM). This building WMD/CCA in the Northern Virginia/National Capital Region (NOVA/NCR), working with federal, state and local agencies, private sector organizations to assure response readiness and resilience. He is also providing his expertise to VDEM related to the use and operation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) by public safety, emergency management and transportation agencies in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Mr. Butters recently served as a senior executive with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Washington D.C., serving as a senior adviser to the Associate Administrator for Airports, from June 2015 to January 2017. During his tenure with FAA, he provided policy and public safety/emergency response expertise to the FAA in several major programs including Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (UAS), Commercial Space Transportation (AST), including improving the emergency response plan requirements for air shows and other aviation events. He received several awards and recognitions while with FAA.

As a political appointee with USDOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Mr. Butters served as the deputy administrator from 2010-2014, and acting administrator in 2015. PHMSA is the lead federal regulatory agency overseeing the safety of the nation’s 2.6 million miles of hazardous gas and liquid pipelines; and the safe transportation of hazardous materials by rail, highway, marine, and air, both domestically and internationally.

During his tenure at PHMSA, Mr. Butters was engaged in several high profile efforts including the radioactive contamination transportation issues associated with Fukashima disaster, Super Storm Sandy response and recovery, safe transportation of medical waste during Ebola incident, neutralized chemical weapons material from Syria, lithium batteries, West Texas Ammonium Nitrate explosion, and most recently the safety issues involving the transportation of Bakken crude oil by rail and pipeline. He was the recipient of several individual and team awards during his tenure with PHMSA.

Previous executive positions also include assistant fire chief of operations/ acting fire Chief for the City of Fairfax (Virginia) Fire Department; managing director of the Chemical Transportation Emergency Center (CHEMTREC); director of government affairs for the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC); and program manager with United States Fire Administration (USFA)/ Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Mr Butters has over 35 years of operational service as certified firefighter/EMT and command officer, including 15 years of serving in several senior chief fire officer positions. He served as the chairman of the Hazardous Materials Committee for the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and participated on several NFPA Technical Committees. As a member of the National Capitol Region Incident Management team (NCR IMT), has deployed to several disaster sites to support local emergency management operations, including Hurricane’s Katrina (MS) and Ike (TX). Mr. Butters holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Economics from James Madison University.