Sarah Custer, who previously led Clemson University’s Office of Emergency Management for nearly seven years, is set to return to the University as the Executive Director of Emergency Management.
“I’m honored to step into this role and truly grateful for the opportunity to serve Clemson University in this new capacity. I look forward to building on the strong foundation already in place and working alongside an exceptional team and our partners to continue advancing preparedness, compliance and public safety across the institution.”
Sarah Custer
Custer returns to Clemson after serving as Vice President of Emergency Solutions at Safe Industries. There, she created and provided executive leadership for the Emergency Response division, which focused on delivering a variety of support services for response operations during emergencies or disasters, with 12 sites serving six states.
She also founded The Resilience Advisory Group in February this year, which provides executive-level advisory services in emergency management governance and institutional resilience.
“I am excited to have Sarah Custer back at Clemson University as our Executive Director of Emergency Management,” said Associate Vice President for Public Safety Kimberly Spears-McNatt. “Sarah’s strong leadership skills, collaborative approach and extensive emergency management experience will all serve her well in this role. I look forward to her continued efforts to foster a resilient Clemson University.”
In her previous tenure, Custer not only led the expansion and restructuring of the Office of Emergency Management, but also spearheaded a number of significant projects that helped the University prepare for, respond to, recover from and mitigate against emergencies or disasters.
She helped lead Clemson through the COVID-19 pandemic, serving as Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Manager and coordinating a cross-divisional response to support the health and safety of the University community and ensure continuity of core programs.
She reorganized the Emergency Management Council and Emergency Operations Center governance structure to enhance coordination across 75+ departments and state-wide locations. This helped establish an annual planning framework to address emerging risks, operational continuity, and corrective action reporting.
Custer directed multi-level exercises involving 150+ participants and 25 partner organizations, including a full-scale active threat exercise in October 2023, strengthening executive readiness, multi-agency response, and institutional crisis communications.
She implemented the University’s first common operating picture to enhance incident management, shared situational awareness, and corrective action tracking processes.
Custer and her team developed and implemented a five-year Emergency Management Strategic Plan aligned with Clemson Elevate, Finance and Operations, and Public Safety priorities, elevating national accreditation readiness (EMAP), governance standards, and continuous program improvement.
She helped facilitate Clemson’s first FEMA-compliant risk and preparedness assessment and coordinated emergency and major-event planning across 70+ departments. Additionally, she advocated for and sponsored the formation of a 40+ member Family and Friends Assistance Center team, as well as securing contract support to reinforce mass-casualty response capability.
Under her watch, Emergency Management developed a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) and Family and Friends Assistance Center Plan, formalizing protocols into institutional response standards.
Custer’s first tenure at Clemson was preceded by a distinguished military career. She served as an emergency management craftsman with the Air Force from 2001-08, before serving a combined 11 years as a Navy and Air Force civilian, first at Naval Weapons Station in Goose Creek, S.C. and later at Joint Base Charleston (S.C.), leading emergency management efforts.
Custer earned a B.A. in emergency and disaster management from the American Military University in 2010.
