James H. H. Fleming serves as the Acting Deputy Assistant to the Administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), the U.S. Government lead for international disaster response. With a mandate to save lives, alleviate human suffering, and reduce the impact of disasters, BHA monitors, mitigates, and responds to global hazards and humanitarian needs. The Bureau also promotes resilience by preparing communities for disasters before they strike, and by helping people recover and move beyond crises.   

Prior to this role, Mr. Fleming served as the Office Director for BHA’s Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Division Chief for the Asia, Latin America, and Eurasia Response Division in the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) for eight years. Mr. Fleming has guided response program and contingency planning for disaster responses, as well as disaster risk reduction and resilience initiatives.

Mr. Fleming also served ten years as OFDA’s Operations Division Chief, where he was responsible for managing issues including: Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) readiness; Response Management Team (RMT) systems and operations centers; response logistics and global warehousing; urban search and rescue; staff safety and security; interagency coordination on international disaster response; field administration; and surge capacity.

Mr. Fleming has worked on over twenty major international disasters during his career at USAID, including extended field assignments in Africa and the Middle East. Most recently, Mr. Fleming served as the USAID Response Director for the provision of U.S. humanitarian assistance to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other responses include the Venezuela Regional Humanitarian Crisis, Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, the Syria Complex Humanitarian Emergency Responses, the Nepal Earthquake in 2015, the Haiti earthquake in 2010, and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

Prior to USAID, Mr. Fleming spent four years at the International Organization for Migration in Washington leading its Africa development and emergency programs, and two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon, serving as a high school mathematics and science instructor. Mr. Fleming holds a degree in Physics from Kenyon College.