Governor Glenn Youngkin appointed Shawn Talmadge to serve as VDEM’s State Coordinator in
January 2022. Talmadge came to VDEM from the previous administration where he served as
Deputy Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security and the Governor’s Homeland
Security Advisor. In those roles, he also supervised the Secretariat’s Homeland Security
Division and the Departments of Emergency Management, Fire Programs, and State Police. His
work included leading the effort to expand COMLINC, provided to the localities as the
commonwealth’s emergency communications interoperability solution; expanding the use of
emerging technologies, including unmanned systems in the aerial and maritime domains; and
strengthening cyber resiliency statewide through response and recovery programs, policies, and
plans. He has served within the emergency response and homeland security field for over 25
years at the state and local level as an incident commander, critical care paramedic, firefighter,
and hazardous materials technician, ultimately achieving the rank of Battalion Chief in the
Hanover County Fire-EMS Department.

Throughout his career in the Virginia National Guard, Talmadge held a number of leadership
roles including Battalion Commander, Executive Officer, Chief of Joint Operations, and Deputy
Commander of the CBRNE Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP). He led a number of
initiatives including the development of CERFP training standards and doctrine, established
standardized response task forces to speed response to domestic emergencies, the
development of less than lethal technologies, and managed counter UAS and detection
operations. After two deployments to the Middle East, Shawn continues his service in the
Virginia National Guard as the Red Team Chief at the 29th Infantry Division. In 2015, Mr.
Talmadge was appointed as Virginia's first Director of the Homeland Security and Resilience
Staff Group where he re-established the Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee, led the
state's FirstNet evaluation process resulting in Virginia being the first to opt-in to the nationwide
wireless network dedicated to public safety users, and established a variety of new critical
infrastructure and cyber security initiatives designed to bolster the resilience of Virginia. Shawn
has coauthored national level, interagency response protocols to large-scale incidents,
responded to numerous regional and state level disasters, and presented at conferences on
various homeland security topics. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Virginia Tech in
Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise and a Master’s Degree from the Virginia Commonwealth
University in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. He also holds the Certified

Emergency Manager designation from the International Association of Emergency Managers.
Talmadge also previously served as VDEM’s Director of the Response Programs Division. In
this capacity, he directed the agency’s disaster logistics and special operations branches
including the following statewide response programs: hazardous materials, incident
management, radio cache, technical rescue, and search and rescue. Served on PSAC 2021-2025