Administrator for the Office of Civil Defense, Charles V. Esteves

Charles V. Esteves is currently the Administrator for the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and has been working as the island's State Emergency Management Director since 2015. Throughout his time with OCD, he concurrently served as the Mariana Regional Fusion Center director from 2015 to 2018 and the Governor's Homeland Security Advisor in 2017. Before coming to OCD, he worked in the Federal government in the training and education series.

As the OCD Administrator, he is responsible for coordinating the activities of all organizations related to protecting Guam and its people from natural and human-caused disasters and emergencies. He was the Territorial Coordinating Officer for five presidentially declared major disaster declarations.

Esteves has over 23 years of military service and is a Major in the Guam Army National Guard. He enlisted at the age of 17 as an Intelligence Analyst. After completing Officer Candidate School in 2007, he was commissioned as an Infantry Officer. During his military career, he completed three combat tours: one in the Horn of Africa and two tours in Afghanistan. He is a 2022 graduate of the U.S. Command and General Staff College 10-month resident course. Esteves holds the following additional skill identifiers: 3H – Joint Planner, 3Z – Mortar Unit Officer, 5U – Air Operations Course, 6Z – Strategist, and S7 – Simulations and has the professional development skill identifier D7A – Defense Support of Civil Authorities Specialist. His top awards and decorations include two Bronze Star Medals and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

Since 2016, Esteves has worked as an Adjunct Professor in the University of Guam’s School of Business and Public Administration’s Masters of Public Administration program. During his time with the program, he assisted the Chair with developing 1-year accelerated MPA programs focused on emergency management, domestic operations, and public safety.

He has a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and Economics and a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Guam. He also has a Master of Arts in Intelligence Studies from American Military University. He is completing his dissertation and is expected to graduate with a Doctor in Business Administration by the end of 2023. He graduated from the Naval Post Graduate School - Center for Homeland Defense and Security's Executive Leaders Program and Pacific Executive Leader's Program. He is a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society, Pi Gamma Mu - International Honor Society in Social Sciences, Alpha Phi Sigma Criminal Justice Honor Society, and Epsilon Pi Phi Honor Society. Esteves is a Certified Manager (CM#14269) credentialed by the Institute of Certified Professional Managers.

In 2019, Esteves was appointed to serve on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Advisory Council and advised the FEMA Administrator on all aspects of emergency management. He is the former Region 9 Vice-President for the National Emergency Management Agency.

Esteves has three daughters Aurora-Lex, Lana, and Nevaeh. They enjoy playing video games, watching movies, and singing.