David Y. Ige

HONOLULU — The State Department of Defense today announced the appointment of Toby Clairmont as executive officer for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA), formerly known as State Civil Defense. He began serving in this official capacity on January 11. Clairmont will report directly to Administrator of Emergency Management Vern Miyagi, who was appointed by Gov. David Ige following the resignation of Doug Mayne in September 2015.

“We are fortunate to have such a strong pair of experienced and committed emergency management professionals leading the charge to prepare the people of Hawaii for disasters and overseeing the response to emergencies in our state,” said Maj. Gen. Arthur “Joe” Logan, Adjutant General and Director of Emergency Management.

“It is a pleasure to welcome Toby to our emergency management team,” said Miyagi. “I am confident that Toby’s extensive experience, both in Hawaii and abroad, is sure to be a great asset to our emergency preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery efforts statewide.”

Vern T. Miyagi, Administrator of Emergency Management
Miyagi is responsible for the oversight of day-to-day operations of HI-EMA’s three branches – Plans and Operations; Training, Education and Information; and, Telecommunications – as well as other special staff working in the agency. As administrator, Miyagi assumes the role of the director in his absence. Before he was appointed to lead HI-EMA, Miyagi had served as its executive officer since 2012.

Miyagi is a retired U.S. Army Major General with over 37 years of service and has experience in domestic and international humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) operations and exercises. During the 1992 Hurricane Iniki operation, he served as operations officer for the deployed Hawaii National Guard joint task force on the island of Kauai. At U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), he was the senior advisor for military support to civil authorities operations and for reserve and National Guard affairs, where he participated in a variety of disaster relief operations and exercises.

A graduate of McKinley High School in Honolulu, Miyagi holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Hawaii. Before serving in the military full-time, he worked as a certified public accountant for 11 years with Alexander Grant & Co. Miyagi is also a graduate of the U.S. Marine Corps Command and General Staff College in Quantico, VA, and completed a U.S. Army War College fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh’s Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies.

Toby Clairmont, RN, CEM, Executive Officer
Clairmont’s primary responsibility will be to act as deputy to the administrator by assisting him to ensure that daily operations are running effectively and efficiently. In this role, he will also direct activities of support staff working in the Finance and Administrative Section and Logistics Section. Additionally, Clairmont will be responsible for drafting and implementing HI-EMA’s internal administrative policies, and assisting the administrator to prepare biennial and supplemental operating budgets for the agency.

Prior to joining HI-EMA’s senior staff, Clairmont served as director of emergency services for the Healthcare Association of Hawaii since 2002. He was responsible for the healthcare system emergency program’s development, planning and operations, which supports more than 130 organizations in Hawaii and the across the Pacific. Since 2004, Clairmont has led the Hawaii Disaster Medical Assistance Team on numerous deployments as its team commander, and will remain in this position during his tenure at HI-EMA.

Raised in Hawaii and a University of Hawaii at Manoa alumnus, Clairmont holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing. He also received advanced leadership training at the University of North Carolina, and is a board Certified Emergency Manager. In 2000, Clairmont retired from the U.S. Army Nurse Corps following 25 years of active and reserve military service. He is a recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal (four awards) and various other awards and special skill badges.

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