Neal Fudge
Deputy Director, Chief of Staff
Neal Fudge serves as the Deputy Director, Chief of Staff in the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) and was appointed in January 2024.
Prior to being appointed Deputy Director, Neal served as Assistant Deputy Director of Homeland Security and Interoperability, where he led the division and its related initiatives, which include cyber security, geographical information systems, Louisiana Wireless Information Network (LWIN), FirstNet, school safety, intelligence and information sharing, and critical infrastructure and key resources. He also Chairs the State Interoperability Executive Committee (SIEC).
Neal has spent the majority of his life in his hometown of St. Francisville. Married for the last twenty-seven wonderful years to Sarah Fudge, they have two children, Caroline and Hunter Fudge.
Neal obtained his undergraduate degree from Excelsior College in 2007 and his Master of Business Administration from Grantham University in 2017. With an already impressive education, Neal has continued to refine his emergency management career by completing numerous professional certifications, including his Louisiana Emergency Manager Professional, Certified Emergency Manager, and Master Exercise Planner.
Neal started his career in emergency management in 1998, working for the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness for 11 years. Neal then assumed the Deputy Director of Civil Affairs role at the Joint Directorate of Military Support (JDOMS) for 11 years prior to taking the Assistant Director of Homeland Security and Interoperability at GOHSEP in September 2020. During his time as an emergency management professional, he’s responded to approximately 60 major disasters that have affected the State of Louisiana.
As a Major with almost 32 years of distinguished military service in the Louisiana Army National Guard, Neal has completed numerous deployments overseas to the Middle East, once during Desert Storm and once during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Along with combat deployments, Neal has deployed in support of humanitarian missions to Honduras, as well as providing emergency management training to Louisiana’s partner in the State Partnership Program. As of 2022, Neal has been to Haiti 40 times to help with emergency management training, as well as in response to natural disasters.
