You do not have the roles required to access this portlet.

 

Courtney Draggon

Director

301-427-9046

courtney.draggon@noaa.gov

As Director of the National Weather Service International Affairs Office, Courtney Draggon is responsible for supporting the NWS mission and operations through international engagement. The International Activities Office mission is to provide significant strategic and technical leadership to the global weather, climate, and water community so that the community can make increasingly well-informed social and economic decisions. It also provides leadership in facilitating the agency’s collaboration with the global hydro-meteorological community.

Ms. Draggon holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from American University’s School of International Service. Prior to joining the federal government, Ms. Draggon worked for the State Department as well as in the non-profit sector doing conflict resolution training for water engineers in resource-scarce countries. Most of this work was conducted in Turkey and Cyprus.

Ms. Draggon has worked for the NWS since 2004, starting as a Presidential Management Fellow. During her tenure at NWS, Ms. Draggon has served as regional focal point for Asia, Central American, and the Caribbean. In this capacity, she negotiated bilateral agreements and activities with China, Korea, and Mexico. As the focal point for the Americas, she coordinated and led preparations for several World Meteorological Organization (WMO) meetings in the region, including the WMO Hurricane Committee and the WMO Quadrennial Regional Association IV (North America, Central America, and the Caribbean) meeting.

Prior to becoming the International Activities Office Director, Ms. Draggon was the office Deputy Director. She worked on a variety of international hydro-meteorological issues, ranging from disaster preparedness activities in hurricane-prone regions, to education and training to build forecaster competencies in developing country hydro-meteorological services.

As Deputy Director, Courtney served as the overall WMO focal point. She has participated in and led many U.S. delegations to a variety of WMO meetings, including the World Meteorological Congress and WMO Executive Council (EC) sessions. She has served as Alternate Head of Delegation to the WMO Congress and EC and has represented the WMO Permanent Representative at various EC working group meetings. In her role as Director, Courtney also serves on two WMO working groups for capacity development.

Ms. Draggon was raised in the Washington, DC, area and has lived with her family in Chile, Brazil, and the Republic of South Korea. She is married with two children.