Albert Gembara
Albert Gembara is a Humanitarian Assistance Advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development – Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA).
OFDA is the office that is responsible for leading and coordinating the U.S. Government’s response to international crises and disasters. He has been with USAID/OFDA since 2010 and has supported several humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations around the world, including OFDA’s portfolio management for the 2010 Haiti Earthquake and Cholera emergencies; 2011 on USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) during the drought crisis in the Horn of Africa; 2012 for the Sahel Food Insecurity and Complex emergency; 2013 for the Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda; support to the West Africa Ebola Outbreak in 2014, served on the DART for the 2015 Nepal Earthquake response; support to assistance efforts for the Middle East humanitarian crisis in 2015. While at OFDA, Albert held the position of Technology Integration Officer (TIO). As TIO, Albert served as OFDA’s lead advisor on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in humanitarian assistance and foreign disaster relief operations. Prior to this assuming this position, Albert first position at USAID/OFDA was as a disaster operations specialist (DOS), where he assisted in developing USG foreign disaster response strategies, and managed grants for humanitarian donor organizations. Before coming to USAID, Albert was on active and reserve duty as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy. Most notably, he served in the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, where he was a team leader for a Maritime Civil Affairs team (MCAT). As a Maritime Civil Affairs officer, he acted as a civil-military liaison, and supported foreign humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.