Tessi adds FEMA, insurance and restoration veterans to advisory board

By AI, Created 9:38 AM UTC, May 20, 2026, /AGP/ – Tessi named three founding advisory board members from FEMA, insurance and disaster restoration as it pushes to speed post-disaster home repairs. The Boston startup says the group will help strengthen damage assessment, funding and labor coordination across the recovery process.

Why it matters: - Post-disaster home repair often stalls because damage assessment, funding and labor dispatch happen in separate systems. - Tessi is positioning its platform as infrastructure to connect those steps faster, with the goal of getting homes repaired more quickly and cost-effectively. - The advisory board adds credibility in federal response, claims and field restoration, which could help the company work across insurers, contractors, homeowners, nonprofits and public agencies.

What happened: - Tessi announced three founding Advisory Board members on April 28, 2026. - The new advisors are Brock Long, former FEMA Administrator; Todd Benson, a former senior leader at BELFOR Property Restoration; and Jeffery Magoon, an insurance agency owner with prior executive roles at ATI Restoration, BELFOR and First Onsite Property Restoration. - Tessi is based in Boston. - Susan Hunt Stevens and Ben Greene founded Tessi after helping people navigate disasters at prior companies.

The details: - Tessi describes itself as an AI-native coordination platform for disaster housing repair. - The platform connects damage assessment, funding and labor dispatch for post-disaster housing repair. - Tessi says its system generates rapid, defensible damage assessments and cost estimates. - Those estimates are designed to unlock funding and trigger immediate dispatch of qualified, vetted labor. - Tessi says the platform serves as a neutral orchestration engine across insurers, contractors, homeowners, nonprofits and public agencies. - Long said the industry needs to break down silos and automate cumbersome processes so people can get home faster and more cost effectively. - Benson said delays and scope or pricing misalignment drive friction and cost in restoration work. - Benson said a credible, data-driven starting point can reduce disputes and move projects forward more rapidly. - Magoon said the lack of transparent data between claims, funds and restoration slows the process. - Magoon said Tessi links a verified scope of losses to a funded job and a ready crew. - Magoon said that connection can move a project from first notice of loss to the first nail in the wall faster. - Tessi’s founders say the company is addressing gaps in a post-disaster home repair system that was not built for the current frequency and severity of disasters. - Tessi says its platform helps homeowners, insurers, contractors, governments and nonprofits repair homes more quickly, efficiently and safely. - Tessi directs readers to more information. - The company also provided a LinkedIn page at its social profile.

Between the lines: - The board composition suggests Tessi is trying to bridge the gap between public disaster response, insurance decision-making and on-the-ground restoration. - Bringing in a former FEMA chief and restoration-industry veterans may help the startup build trust around a process that depends on neutral estimates and coordination. - The pitch is less about a single software tool and more about becoming the workflow layer that ties together repair, payment and labor.

What’s next: - Tessi is likely to use the advisory board to refine product, partnerships and market access across the disaster recovery ecosystem. - The company will need to prove that its assessments and coordination tools can work at speed and at scale during real disaster events. - Adoption across insurers, contractors and public agencies will be the key test of whether Tessi can reduce repair delays in practice.

The bottom line: - Tessi is betting that faster, neutral coordination of damage, money and labor can make post-disaster housing repair work better than the fragmented system now in place.