Rick Weiland

Richard Paul Weiland (born July 26, 1958) is an American businessman, politician and member of the Democratic Party from the state of South Dakota.

Weiland was the chief executive officer of the International Code Council, was appointed by Bill Clinton to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and served as senior advisor to former U.S. Senator Tom Daschle.

Weiland graduated from Madison High School in 1976, where he first met his wife, Stacy Newcomb.

He graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1980 with a degree in communications and political science.

Weiland and his wife have been married since 1981.

They have five children and live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where they are small-business owners.

After college, Weiland moved to Sioux Falls, where he started working for then-Congressman Tom Daschle.

Weiland married Stacy Newcomb in 1981, and in 1983 they moved to Rapid City, South Dakota where Weiland opened the first west-river field office for Daschle.

Weiland and his family then moved to Washington, D.C. in 1985 to serve as Tom Daschle's national finance director and senior advisor.

In 1989, Weiland returned to Sioux Falls to serve as then-Senator Daschle's state director.

Weiland stayed in that position until 1995, when he resigned to run for Congress.

He was the Democratic nominee for South Dakota's at-large congressional district in 1996 and a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the district in 2002.

In 1996, Weiland ran for South Dakota's at-large congressional district.

The seat was being vacated by Democrat Tim Johnson, who was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Weiland won the Democratic primary with 42%, defeating James Abbott (28%), Dennis Jones (17%) and Linda Stensland (13%).

In the general election, he lost to Republican John Thune by 58% to 37%.

After the 1996 election, Weiland was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as the Region VIII Director of FEMA, and the family, by then including daughters Taylor and Alexandra, moved to Evergreen, Colorado.

As Region VIII Director, Weiland oversaw several states, including South Dakota, Colorado, Utah, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.

In 1997, as Weiland was being installed as regional director of FEMA, the Red River swamped its banks, causing unprecedented flooding to North Dakota and Minnesota, inundating all of downtown Fargo and causing the evacuation of Grand Forks, North Dakota in an event known as the 1997 Red River flood.

He supervised the Federal recovery response, which served over 29,000 applicants in Grand Forks, alone.

In 1998, Weiland spearheaded the disaster relief response when Spencer, South Dakota was struck by a major tornado, wiping out the town in the event known as the Late-May 1998 tornado outbreak and derecho.

Weiland coordinated with then-Governor Bill Janklow to ensure that the residents of Spencer received food, shelter, and other necessities.

In 1998, Weiland assisted local officials in response to the Columbine tragedy.

Weiland and his staff helped to coordinate work among disparate agencies to provide public affairs support to local law enforcement.

In 1999, an F2 tornado devastated the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Weiland utilized federal aid freed up by President Clinton to assist the communities impacted by the tornado.

In 2000, Weiland again worked with then-Governor Bill Janklow to coordinate the Federal response to the Jasper fire in Black Hills, South Dakota.

Later in 2000, Weiland led a "historic" conference from 28 tribal nations within FEMA Region VIII.

At the conference, Weiland and FEMA worked to establish more effective emergency management and coordination to improve services to underprivileged communities on tribal reservations throughout FEMA Region VIII.

The conference established a Tribal Emergency Management Coordination Council with representatives from 21 of the 28 tribes present.

In 2001, Weiland returned to South Dakota, where he ran again for Congress in 2002, losing in the Democratic primary.

In 2002, with Thune giving up his seat in Congress to unsuccessfully run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Tim Johnson, Weiland ran again.

This time, he lost in the Democratic primary to Stephanie Herseth by 58% to 32%.

Following the campaign, Weiland took over as the state director for the AARP in 2002.

Weiland took responsibility for AARP's 85,000 South Dakota members, developed and implemented numerous successful statewide campaigns to increase membership, participation, value to members, awareness and advocacy, including the establishment of a Senior Bill of Rights protecting Social Security and Medicare.

Weiland left his position with the AARP to join the International Code Council, serving first as its chief operating officer and later as its chief executive officer.

Herseth went on to lose in the general election to former Republican governor Bill Janklow, but won a special election for the seat in 2004 after Janklow resigned.

He was the Democratic nominee the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Democrat Tim Johnson in the 2014 Senate election.

Weiland was born in Madison, South Dakota, to Thoreen and Donald Weiland.

Weiland's father and mother owned and operated a local ambulance service and funeral home, serving Madison and the surrounding communities.