Javier I. Marques

Biography

Javier I. Marques serves as Executive Director of the Academy for International Disaster Preparedness. He also serves as the Vice President for Operations and Safety & Chief of Staff at Florida International University and is a member of the President’s Executive Committee. He advises the President on organizational and policy decisions, and develops, coordinates and implements a wide variety of presidential initiatives.

Mr. Marques, has over 23 years of experience in public administration, higher education administration, and public safety. He oversees the Office of the President and all ancillary units that report to the office to include the Board of Trustees Office, the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential House and has administrative oversight for the Chief Audit Executive and the Chief Compliance Officer (which also includes Athletics Compliance) and serves as the Board of Trustees’ Liaison for the Audit and Compliance Committee. Additionally, Mr. Marques oversees the Division of Operations and Safety which includes the FIU Police Department, the Department of Emergency Management and its ancillary units and the Department of Parking, Transportation, and Sustainability. Mr. Marques is also an Adjunct Professor at the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs and serves as Executive Director of the Academy for International Disaster Preparedness within the Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work.

Mr. Marques has been instrumental in the development of FIU’s Emergency Management program to include the recruitment of its leadership team. The department has developed from a single coordinator position almost ten years ago, to a fully accredited Emergency Management operation. In addition, he has worked collaboratively with university leadership to assure that all our public safety areas are well equipped and funded to ably carry out their respective missions of keeping our university community safe and prepared. He works with appropriate leadership to assure that there is operational collaboration between units, sites, and campuses as well as advancing university initiatives with governmental affairs to include local, state, and federal policy matters. He is responsible for implementing strategic and tactical objectives of the Office of the President and the Division of Operations and Safety while working across the institution to identify, facilitate, and coordinate opportunities and initiatives which involve multiple university units.

Prior to joining FIU in 2008, Mr. Marques was Chief of Staff at Miami-Dade County where for over eight years he oversaw the Office of the County Commission Chairman and Commission Offices and the management of district and downtown commission offices. Among his many accomplishments with the Office of the Chairman, he successfully organized and developed the Board of County Commission Office of Intergovernmental Affairs with offices in Tallahassee and Washington D.C., while strengthening local relationships with the Dade Delegation and local elected officials. He also administratively organized and developed the Office of the Commission Auditor and Legislative Analysis, the Divisions of Protocol, Employee Recognition and Media Relations, Commission Support Staff, and the Sergeant at Arms. He also established a Commission Command Center at the County’s Emergency Operations Center which serves to help local elected officials address the needs of their individual constituencies during county emergencies. He has been credited for organizing and directing several hurricane relief missions within Florida in the aftermath of numerous hurricanes, as well as the largest organized relief effort to Mississippi in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Marques has also held senior positions within the Miami Dade Board of County Commissioners and the City of Miami.

A lifetime member of the Florida International University Alumni Association, Javier I. Marques earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from FIU and an MBA from Lynn University. He has also attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Executive Education Program at Harvard University, the Center for Leadership’s Leading Decisions Program at Florida International University, the Leadership Judgement Program at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and the Center for Creative Leadership Management Program in Colorado. He is also a graduate of Christopher Columbus High School in Miami.