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 CAT4 plus storms since. In 2020 and 2021 Phil was involved in pandemic response and preparedness, especially focused on flows of food and medical goods. In more recent years he has worked with both private and public organizations on Supply Chain Resilience issues related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Israeli military operations in Gaza. Over the years Phil has worked with federal, state, local and private sector leaders to prepare for and respond to complex wide-area catastrophic events involving dense populations. NBC News has identified Phil as, “One of the world’s leading experts on getting supplies to catastrophe survivors.”
On August 1, 2025 Phil retired from active engagement in real-time Supply Chain Resilience work. He intends to write a few concluding thoughts on what this career has taught him and crucial questions that have, so far, remained unanswered.
Phil is the author of several books and articles, including Out of the Whirlwind: Supply and Demand After Hurricane Maria, He Looks at the Earth: Catastrophe, Recovery, and the Cascadia Earthquake, and Vital Flows: Supply Chain Resilience for Treacherous Times. Other recent publications or presentations include:
Fundamentals of Private Sector Grocery Flows (A twenty-minute FEMA instructional video of a grocery distribution center to assist public sector emergency managers build relationships with crucial sources of food serving their communities, 2024)
Private-Public Collaboration to Facilitate Flows: The Experience of Puget Sound Early in the Pandemic (A case study published by the Institute for Public Research at CNA, 2022)
Supply Chain Strain: Four Examples and Strategic Implications (An online seminar for the Maryland-National Capital Region Emergency Response System Virtual Symposium, starts about the 3:35 mark, 2022)
Supply Chain Resilience (Self-study course commissioned by the Center for Homeland Defense and Security, 2021)
Avoiding Catastrophe: Strategies for Enhancing Supply Chain Resilience (Webinar hosted on November 16, 2021)
Seven Steps to Counter Catastrophe (Supply Chain Quarterly, 2020)
Food and other Flows in case of Catastrophe (Journal of Critical Infrastructure Policy, 2020)
Supply Chain Resilience: Push and Pull in Catastrophes. (Journal of Critical Infrastructure Policy, 2020)
Multiple Threats, Consistent Strategic Factors (Presentation to San Diego Fleet Week, 2020)