April Geruso is the director of advisory services at CDP. In this role, she leads CDP’s efforts to provide philanthropic organizations with strategic and practical solutions for disaster-related giving.
April brings over 20 years of professional experience – five in urban planning and 15 in domestic disaster preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation. Before joining CDP, she served as director of resilience at Hagerty Consulting, where she partnered with federal, state and local partners in the private, public and nonprofit sectors on pre- and post-disaster recovery and mitigation planning. Additionally, April held leadership roles for the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Emergency Management and the City of Austin’s Planning Department.
Over the course of her career, April has managed teams supporting numerous disaster efforts, both anticipated and actual, in response, recovery and resilience. Her work includes support for localized fires in Philadelphia, temporary housing support after a gas line explosion in Massachusetts, statewide flood recovery planning in Nebraska, and pre-disaster recovery planning for Coastal Georgia, New Hampshire and California.
She also led the cost-recovery planning effort for New York City following Hurricane Sandy, and her planning work was mobilized in California following the 2018 wildfire season. In both pre- and post-disaster contexts, April has advised clients on disaster-focused grantmaking strategies, effective funding coordination with government efforts, and equitable recovery investments.
April holds a bachelor’s from Virginia Tech and a master’s in community and regional planning from the University of Texas at Austin. Based in Austin, Texas, she spends her free time enjoying live music, heading to the mountains, and playing cooperative strategy games or spending time outdoors with her family.