Darrin Punchard
Darrin Punchard is an urban planner and floodplain manager who has spent his entire career working with local communities to become more resilient to disaster. He has more than 15 years of applied experience in hazard mitigation planning with specialized expertise in GIS-based risk assessment, benefit-cost analysis, and the development of actionable mitigation strategies to include structural and non-structural measures for risk reduction. Since 2001 he has served as a consultant to federal, state, regional, tribal and local government agencies across the United States to assess and reduce their jurisdiction’s vulnerability to natural and technological hazards. He was responsible for preparing some of the nation’s first FEMA-approved local hazard mitigation plans and has assisted more than 500 communities gain compliance with the federal Stafford Act as amended by the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000).
Punchard’s public service career includes serving as State Hazard Mitigation Officer for North Carolina where he coordinated FEMA’s Project Impact program and launched the State’s Hazard Mitigation Planning Initiative, a statewide effort to promote the voluntary development of local hazard mitigation plans prior to DMA 2000. His career began in Florida where he worked as a local hazard mitigation planner for Alachua County, and later as a state mitigation planner for the Florida Division of Emergency Management where he helped launch the Local Mitigation Strategy initiative, the first statewide program requiring the preparation of community-based hazard mitigation plans.
Punchard currently volunteers on the Board of Directors for the Natural Hazard Mitigation Association (NHMA) and serves as co-chair of NHMA’s Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee. He also serves as an advisory member for APA’s Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Recovery Planning Interest Group.
He earned a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Florida, and a Bachelor’s degree in Coastal Zone Management from the University of Rhode Island.
