Justin Otto, Assistant County Administrator and Public Information Officer for Campbell County, has graduated from FEMA’s Executive Public Information Officer Program, the agency’s highest level of public information officer training. Otto completed the program with the 10th class at the National Disaster and Emergency Management University in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Otto was one of 24 public information professionals in the class, representing 14 states, the District of Columbia, and several federal and national organizations. Fewer than 225 public information professionals nationwide have completed the program since it launched in 2015. Otto is only the fourth Kentuckian to complete the program and the first from Northern Kentucky.
Over 10 months, the program prepared participants for executive leadership, strategic decision- making, and trusted advisor roles. Participants completed three resident courses totaling 13 days of classroom learning, and each wrote a research paper designed to advance the public information profession. Otto’s classmates selected him to serve as class representative and to speak on their behalf at graduation.
Otto’s capstone paper, From Sirens to Showers: Closing Rural Kentucky’s Recovery Information Gap, grew directly out of his service as lead Public Information Officer for the Incident Management Team during the July 2022 Eastern Kentucky floods. His research examined why critical recovery information, such as where to get clean water, a hot meal, a shower, supplies, or help applying for aid, was not always reaching the people who needed it. In Eastern Kentucky, that information often existed at the local level and was known to county officials, churches, and relief groups, but it did not consistently reach the state public information officers responsible for sharing it with the public.
The paper scored among the highest in the class, exceeding the threshold FEMA requires for permanent inclusion in the National Emergency Training Center Library in Emmitsburg. The library holds more than 200,000 volumes, reports, and studies and serves as the nation’s research foundation for emergency management. Otto’s paper is now permanently cataloged in that collection, where public information officers and researchers nationwide can cite it for years to come.
“Justin has spent his career making sure people get the information they need when it matters most, and this program has sharpened that work at the national level,” said Judge/Executive Steve Pendery. “His research now sits permanently in a national library, carrying the names of Campbell County and Kentucky, and we are proud of what he brings back to our community.”
“Completing this program alongside such a talented group of public information leaders is one of the great honors of my career,” Otto said. “What I saw in Eastern Kentucky in 2022 stayed with me, and this paper is my way of making sure the next community, and every survivor in it, gets the recovery information they need.”
Otto brings more than 20 years of communication experience to his role, overseeing public information, public affairs, community development, and economic development for Campbell County. He has served as lead Public Information Officer for the Incident Management Team during two of Kentucky’s most catastrophic disasters: the Western Kentucky tornado outbreak in 2021 and the Eastern Kentucky floods in 2022. He also coordinated countywide messaging during major flooding in February and April 2025.
Otto is a graduate of Culver Military Academy. He earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Missouri, a Master of Public Administration from Northern Kentucky University, and a Master of Business Administration from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
The Executive Public Information Officer Program is the final component of FEMA’s public information training series, offered through NDEMU. Applicants must first complete the Advanced Public Information Officer Program and are chosen by a formal selection board.