Allison Farole

Allison Farole was appointed Director of Minnesota’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) Division in May 2025. In this role, she leads statewide efforts to strengthen community resilience and ensure Minnesota is prepared for, able to respond to, and capable of recovering from all types of disasters — natural, human-caused, or technological.

Before joining Minnesota, Allison served as the Emergency Management Administrator for the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan. There, she established the city’s first Office of Emergency Management, coordinated large-scale responses to severe weather, the COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest, and multiple presidential elections, and launched the city’s first Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

Earlier in her career, Allison was the Emergency Management Coordinator in the Charlottesville-University of Virginia-Albemarle County Office of Emergency Management in Virginia. While in Virginia, she gained extensive experience in complex event coordination, interagency partnerships, and supporting communities during times of crisis.

Allison has a bachelor's degree in communications from the University of La Verne and a Master of Public Administration and Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness from Virginia Commonwealth University. Allison is also a Certified Emergency Manager through the International Association of Emergency Managers.