Disaster Recovery

Brown & Root is one of the most trusted names in the Program Management business. With annual revenues of $800 Million and more than 6,000 employees, we are one of the largest construction and management organizations in the world.

Members of our Disaster Recovery Team have worked together on countless natural disasters over the past two decades, including Hurricane Frances, Hurricane Ivan, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Wilma, Hurricane Gustav, Superstorm Sandy, the Great Flood of 2016, Hurricane Harvey, and Hurricane Irma.

CHARLIE HESS is President of Brown & Root’s Disaster Recovery and Infrastructure Division. Charlie has more than 40 years of experience in leadership and program management of infrastructure, disaster recovery, and coastal recovery projects for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, and in the private sector.

His broad experience has focused on mega-program management and large-scale contingency operations in the United States and abroad, specifically targeting the water resources and coastal protection and restoration missions of the nation. He has a proven track record of starting and completing challenging projects and assignments through relationship building, open communications, transparency, and excellence in execution.

Charlie served as Program Manager for the Hurricane Sandy relief effort for the City of New York (see below). Additional experience includes:

• Program Manager for the Inner Harbor Navigational Channel (IHNC) Hurricane Protection Project, the largest Design-Build Civil Works project ever undertaken by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. The IHNC project consists of roughly two miles of hurricane and storm barrier wall, with flood gates which can be closed to navigation during storm events.
• Program Manager for the Barrier Berm Project, a $450 Million offshore barrier island project which followed the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This was the largest offshore dredging project in a single location in the history of the Gulf of Mexico.
• Director of the Project and Contracting Office (PCO) Iraq for the Department of Defense, responsible for more than $13 Billion in construction and non-construction activities of the 2003 Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund. The Fund paid for more than 3,000 infrastructure projects, including transportation, public buildings, schools, hospitals, water supply and treatment, electric power supply and distribution, and security facilities.

RAPID RESPONSE
The hallmark of our team’s successful approach to program development, management, and delivery is innovation and rapid resource mobilization. After Hurricane Sandy, key members of our team worked with New York City Recovery representatives to develop and apply an innovative and never-before implemented recovery approach following Hurricane Sandy, using the Sheltering and Temporary Essential Power (STEP) program. The STEP program provides removal of inundated home materials, temporary emergency repairs for electrical power, heat, and hot water, so that property owners can shelter in place in their own homes, rather than relocate to other properties, while permanent repairs were made.

UNPARALLELED EXPERIENCE
The Brown & Root Disaster Recovery Team is driven by unparalleled experience and a deep understanding of how to efficiently and effectively navigate within the disaster recovery environment. Besides our Hurricane Sandy experience, Brown & Root personnel led the “Blue Roof” temporary housing program in southern Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, following one of the costliest and most devastating disasters in U. S. History. Our team is strengthened by many professional partners who have worked together as a team on nearly every major natural disaster in the U. S. over the past 20 years.

A TEAM EFFORT
During times of immediate need, Relief is greater when approached as a Team. An important element of our Disaster Recovery approach is to partner with established, licensed, local contractors. The involvement of local citizens committed to the recovery of the communities in which they live, has been key to the successful execution of our programs.