Philip J. Palin

Researcher, Author, Supply Chain Resilience Subject Matter Expert

Philip J. Palin is the son and grandson of grocers, a former college president, and serial entrepreneur who has served as a Supply Chain Resilience subject-matter-expert with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, and with several states and cities. He has researched and engaged a wide range of extreme events including the 2011 Triple Disaster in Japan, Superstorm Sandy in 2012, Hurricane Haiyan (Yolanda) in 2013, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria during 2017, and most named storms during the 2018 and 2019 hurricane seasons. In 2020 he was involved in pandemic response and preparedness, especially focused on flows of food and medical goods. He works with federal, state, local and private sector leaders to prepare for and respond to complex wide-area catastrophic events involving dense populations. He is the author of several books and articles, including Out of the Whirlwind: Supply and Demand After Hurricane Maria and He Looks at the Earth: Catastrophe, Recovery, and the Cascadia Earthquake. Phil is often introduced as a “researcher and writer.” NBC News has identified Phil as, “One of the world’s leading experts on getting supplies to catastrophe survivors.”