Totalfloodriskmanagement.org

Meet the Founder

Brian Rast is a water resources project manager in Overland Park, KS. He has two adopted sons and dog. His experience as a floodplain leader, connector, and mentor to guide interagency teams has helped communities in flood risk management, analysis and modeling since 1993. He transitioned to consulting from a 21-year career at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Kansas City District.

Brian is a registered professional engineer, graduating in 1994 from Kansas State University with a B.S. in Civil Engineering and a minor in natural resources and environmental science. He received an Engineering Management M.S. degree from the University of Kansas. He began work in civil site development doing grading plans and engineering for stormwater systems and detention basins. Also, while consulting, he specialized in HEC-2, HEC-RAS, and HEC-HMS modeling between 1993-2004.

His work at the USACE diversified into planning. This led to feasibility studies, decision documents, and various water resources projects for flood risk management. He was selected for the year-long Planning Associates Program training in 2007 at the USACE Institute for Water Resources (IWR). Following that he had his first Headquarters assignment, assisting with the roll-out of the USACE National Flood Risk Management Program. In 2011, the USACE established the Silver Jackets Program partnering with state and federal agencies to improve flood resilience, and Brian served as the Lead Silver Jackets Coordinator for two teams in Kansas and Missouri. The Kansas team won Team of the Year in 2011.

In the second half of is tenure, his work focused less on General Investigations and much more on Silver Jackets. Between 2014-2017 he was a board member of the USACE National Nonstructural Committee. He served on the USACE Levee Safety Committee, Public Awareness and Communication Team for almost 2 years as well. He developed a variety of flood awareness and flood mitigation tools that led to selection as the 2019 Silver Jackets Coordinator of the Year. In 2022 he served on the Department of Defense Climate Action Team. In 2023, he was selected as the first Endowed Chair for the National Flood Risk Management Program at USACE IWR. The following year, Brian made a difficult decision to take the Deferred Resignation Program, as flexible benefits were taken away from federal civil servants. He left USACE to provide more care for his autistic son. Later, he was awarded the Civilian Service Commendation Medal in 2025. The USACE was an extremely valuable experience and one that he shares whenever possible.

He continues his work with several initiatives. The Total Flood Risk Management (FRM) initiative is one of several work projects, including illustrative graphics, media, and technical writing. Brian is a frequent presenter at floodplain manager conferences, including ASFPM, and serves on committees for the National Hazard Mitigation Association. He also serves the Anthropocene Alliance, such as their state team initiatives. Brian also does consulting with engineering firms, as well.