Sam Medlock

White House Office of Management and Budget
Washington, DC

Samantha A. Medlock is Senior Vice President and North America Lead for the Capital, Science and Policy Practice with Willis Towers Watson, the leading global advisory, broking, and solutions company. In this role, she leads the North America campaign to advance re/insurance related capabilities, capital, and policy to address large scale risk and resilience requirements across public and corporate sectors. Previously, Ms. Medlock was Senior Advisor in the White House Office of Management and Budget, coordinating across the Executive Office of the President and the administration to reduce the risks and costs of disasters by strengthening standards, leveraging capital, and creating incentives for cross-sector innovations. Ms. Medlock launched the White House Insurance Partnership, driving initiatives to increase data sharing and private sector participation in disaster risk reduction. She also staffed President Obama's State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force and led the Council on Environmental Quality's work on the Flood Risk Management Standard, the first update to US flood policy in nearly 40 years. Prior to her White House appointments, Ms. Medlock served as Policy Counsel for the Association of State Floodplain Managers, as a state and local government official, and led flood programs for the largest water and power utility in Texas. Ms. Medlock has more than twenty years of experience in land use and disaster law, and has testified in Congress on flood risk, levee safety, and resilient recovery from disasters. She has provided expert testimony and authored amicus briefs on private property rights and the National Flood Insurance Program. Ms. Medlock is a recipient of the Army Commander’s Award for Public Service in recognition of her service on the National Committee on Levee Safety created by Congress after Hurricane Katrina. In addition to supporting U.S. domestic resilience policy and practice, Ms. Medlock has participated in numerous bi- and multilateral technical exchanges, including with the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, the UK Environment Agency, and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. Ms. Medlock is a Juris Doctor graduate with honors of Vermont Law School and earned a Bachelor of Science summa cum laude from Texas Woman’s University.

Paper:
2 The Confluence of Operations, Policies, and Finances Related To More Effective Flood Mitigation
Paper:
Sam Medlock