An Experienced City Planner Who Understands Local Government

Eric Jenkins is an experienced Shawnee city planner and strategist who brings fresh, prudent thinking to Shawnee government. He’s also retired, and able to work full-time on helping businesses and families grow and thrive in Shawnee.

Eric Jenkins is a:
  • a 21-year veteran of the Shawnee Planning Commission
  • a small business owner in Shawnee
  • a retired Colonel, US Army Reserves with 34 years of service, including active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan
  • a 30-year veteran of FEMA, with expertise in community preparedness, mitigation and emergency response
  • a member of Northwest Advisory Board to the Board of Education
  • a long-time member of St. Joseph Church
  • a native of Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas
Full Biography

Mr. Jenkins is a 30 year veteran of the Federal Emergency Mangement Agency (FEMA). Additionally he is a retired Colonel, US Army Reserves with over 34 years of Active and Reserve service.

During his tenure with FEMA, Mr. Jenkins served in all operational programs of the Agency. He made contributions as a manager and worker in the key areas of preparedness, mitigation and response.

In mitigation, Mr. Jenkins managed the National Flood Insurance Program and FEMA mitigation grant programs. In addition to floodplain management, he managed FEMA Region VII’s National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program and National Dam Safety Program.

In Preparedness, Mr. Jenkins successfully managed the Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program, Hazardous Materials Program, Fire Grant Program, FEMA State grants, and training and exercise programs. Mr. Jenkins chaired the Regional Radiological Assistance Committee.

While assigned to Disaster Response & Recovery Division, Mr. Jenkins served in several capacities. He was Chief of Operations, responsible for the FEMA Region’s response plans, training and regional ops center. He served as Federal Coordinating Officer for two Presidential Disasters and served as Deputy or Operations Officer on countless others. In this capacity, Mr. Jenkins delivered the Individual and Public Assistance Programs, Public Affairs, Legislative Affairs, Community Relations and other disaster response activities and programs. Leadership in the Federal response required frequent and close coordination with multiple Federal and State agencies and non-governmental agencies. During his time as Operations Officer and Executive Officer of the Division, Mr. Jenkins chaired the Regional Interagency Steering Committee.

In addition to his Regional Office responsibilities, Mr. Jenkins was an adjunct faculty to the Emergency Management Institute, instructed the Agency’s Customer Service Program and sat on the National Federal Radiological Preparedness Coordinating Committee in Washington, DC.

Mr. Jenkins had a very complementary military career. He has branch qualification in Infantry, Intelligence, Special Forces and Military Police and is a certified instructor. He commanded a Special Forces A-Team, a Military Police Battalion, served in a number of Intelligence, operations and training positions at all levels of staff and taught Command & General Staff College curricula. He is a graduate of the prestigious US Army War College. Colonel Jenkins’ FEMA background was extremely useful to 5th United States Army while he served as an Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer to the State of Missouri. In addition, COL Jenkins assisted in training the staff and wrote deployment exercises for 5th Army’s newly created civil-military response Task Force Warrior. After completing 30 years of service, COL Jenkins was brought back as a retiree recall for service in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was assigned to Multi-National Force-Iraq Headquarters and the Joint Center for Operations Analysis (JCOA) at US Joint Forces Command. Later assigned by JCOA to the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, COL Jenkins led multiple lessons learned teams to various stateside locations, Germany, Iraq and Afghanistan. After four additional years of active duty, COL Jenkins again retired in November 2009 to pursue his long-held dream of establishing his own emergency management consulting business.

Locally, Eric Jenkins has served for 21 years on the Shawnee Planning Commission and in 2011, served on the Johnson County Charter Commission. In his personal life, Mr. Jenkins is married with five children. He has served his community of Shawnee, Kansas since 1988 with four years on the Northwest Advisory Board to the Board of Education and since 1992 on the Planning Commission. He holds a B.A. from Missouri State and a M.A. from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.