TranStar’s Brian Mason to Lead Emergency Management

In Mayor John Whitmire’s latest round of staff shakeups, Brian Mason, executive director of Houston TranStar, is taking over as head of the Houston Office of Emergency Management.

Mason will also replace Tom Muñoz, who currently leads the OEM office and the Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security. Muñoz will return to the Houston Fire Department to take over as director, replacing Sam Peña. Additionally, Robert Mock has resigned as director of the Houston Emergency Center, with India Summers taking over as interim director.

“Brian has demonstrated exemplary leadership as executive director of Houston TranStar and head of emergency management for Houston Public Works,” Whitmire said in a news release Friday.

Whitmire said the office will also be organized to work more closely with the Department of Public Works.

“This new organizational model will strengthen our ability to fund this critical public safety and disaster management function,” he said in the press release.

Mason held several positions at City Hall before joining TranStar in October 2022. In 2014, he was hired as the security administrator for Houston Airports and in 2018, he was the deputy assistant director of Houston Public Works. Mason became the deputy director of Public Works in 2020, juggling his duties there with those at TranStar.

During Hurricane Beryl, Mason made headlines for his calls to CenterPoint to get the city’s wastewater treatment plant back up and running. His pleas for help went unheeded, and 150,000 gallons of raw water ended up spilling into Brays Bayou.

John Lomax V contributed to this report.