Leslie Chapman-Henderson is respected in the disaster safety movement as a leader, trusted voice, and driver of change. As the President and CEO of the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH), she has been strengthening homes and safeguarding families for more than 25 years. She has created consumer demand and social value for loss mitigation through several disaster preparedness programs and initiatives centered on building science.

In 2002, in partnership with the State of Florida, she created the Blueprint for Safety (BFS) program, which provided multi-hazard, beyond-code construction practices. Many of the program’s code-plus recommendations were incorporated into the International Residential Code. After the 2004 Hurricane Season, she partnered with Home Improvement guru Bob Vila to showcase building science best practices in a 13-episode series. In 2006, she led a $25 million pilot that established the $250 million My Safe Florida Home retrofitting program, inspiring the South Carolina Safe Home Program.

Since 2009, Leslie and FLASH have partnered with FEMA Building Science to provide technology transfer projects and services that promote agency engineering programs and guidance to stakeholder audiences and the public. Additional technology transfer partnerships have included the Department of Homeland Security, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Savannah River National Laboratory, and the University of Florida NHERI Experimental Facility.

She has been a visionary in finding new ways to educate the public and promote life safety, property protection, and resilience by strengthening homes from natural and man-made disasters. Between 2008 and 2015, more than 5.8 million Disney guests learned beyond-code high wind practices to protect roofs, windows, doors, garage doors, and much more through the FLASH-sponsored StormStruck: A Tale of Two Homes, an interactive, educational weather experience located in Epcot® at Walt Disney World Resort®. In 2019, she envisioned and launched No Code. No Confidence. – Inspect2Protect.org, which allows consumers to identify building codes used in their community by inputting their zip code or street address. In 2025, she and her team developed and launched “No Fuel. No Fire.TM” a new wildfire safety initiative.

Her achievements have earned her a national reputation as a consumer advocate and expert on disaster mitigation. Leaders at The White House, all levels of government, and major corporations seek her professional counsel, allowing FLASH to promote building science and positively impact business strategies, public policy, and public safety. She has promoted building science best practices in hundreds of news interviews, including television and radio appearances on AccuWeather, ABC News, CNN, FOX News, Good Morning America, HGTV, MSNBC, This New House, The Weather Channel, and more.

Her creativity, enthusiasm, and vision have led to strategic partnerships with award-winning results, such as the National Hurricane Resilience Initiative – #HurricaneStrong. This campaign, along with many others, highlights Leslie’s ability to attract national attention, which motivates homeowners to implement mitigation activities. Throughout her career, she has steadily promoted building science as the foundation for legislation, policy, and programs to protect all Americans.

During the 2023 National Hurricane Conference, Leslie was honored with the prestigious Neil Frank Award, the conference’s highest recognition, for her exceptional contributions to advancing hurricane preparedness. She made history as the first woman to receive this award. In 2025, she was named the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) Exceptional Woman in Building—a prestigious accolade that honors dynamic and trailblazing women who have made outstanding contributions to the built environment, further recognizing her leadership and impact in the field.