Michael Armstrong Bio

Michael Armstrong became the seventh executive officer of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards in June 2011. During his short tenure at NCARB, he has already launched new outreach initiatives with state licensing boards and the AIA including its state and local components, a broadening of the NCARB communications activities, business planning for organizational efficiency, and the implementation of the NCARB Strategic Plan and Long-Range Strategic Initiatives. 

Mike served for four and half years as a senior vice president at the International Code Council where his oversight included departments charged with certification and testing administration, training and education, membership, communications, marketing, and chapter relations. Prior to his time at the ICC, he served for six years as a vice president at ICF International managing contracts for federal, state, and local government clients including multi-disciplinary homeland security planning efforts for the metropolitan areas of Seattle, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC.

Mike received two appointments from President Bill Clinton to serve in senior positions at the Federal Emergency Management Agency over a seven-year period. His FEMA tenure included confirmation by the U.S. Senate as associate director for Hazard Mitigation involving pre- and post-disaster risk reduction programs ranging from floodplain management to seismic and wind-resistant initiatives. He also served as the deputy director of the Colorado Governor’s Office of Energy Conservation and began his career with a decade as an assistant city attorney in Aurora, CO, specializing in land use, code enforcement, historic preservation, and human resource management.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Juris Doctorate from the Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, CA. Mike is an adjunct professor at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., instructing graduate students in hazard mitigation and disaster management. He is a trustee for the Association of State Floodplain Managers Foundation and volunteers with the District of Columbia Preservation League.