Institute Insider

Hugh Parmer has joined the Institute as a research fellow with the regional planning and policy area. Parmer will explore disaster relief issues, such as the interaction of nongovernmental agencies with local jurisdictions in the event of natural catastrophes.

Parmer is the immediate past president of the American Refugee Committee, a Twin Cities-based international humanitarian relief agency that serves nearly 3 million refugees and displaced people in Africa and Asia annually. His vast experience at the city, county, state, and federal levels of government includes serving as mayor of Fort Worth, Texas; President Pro Tem of the Texas State Senate; Assistant Administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); and staff in the Office of Emergency Management within the Office of the President during the Clinton Administration.