Darrin Punchard

Darrin Punchard is an urban planning and resilience strategy consultant who has spent his career working to prevent natural hazards from becoming disasters. For nearly 30 years he has combined his expertise in community planning, hazard mitigation, climate adaptation, and disaster recovery to help clients solve their greatest risk and resilience challenges. Through his work, Punchard has influenced policy and practice at local, state, and national levels by exemplifying the importance of applied research, innovation, and stakeholder engagement in disaster risk reduction. He prepared some of the nation’s first hazard mitigation plans in compliance with the U.S. Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and has since assisted hundreds of communities in similar efforts, with emphasis on integrated and participatory planning processes. He co-founded the American Planning Association’s Hazard Mitigation & Disaster Recovery Division, served six years on the board of directors for the National Hazard Mitigation Association, and currently serves as the Region 1 Director for the Association of State Floodplain Managers. In recognition of his contributions to the hazards planning field, Punchard was inducted into the American Institute of Certified Planners College of Fellows in 2022, the highest honor awarded in the urban planning profession.

Punchard earned a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Florida, and a bachelor’s degree in marine affairs from the University of Rhode Island. He is a native New Englander and lives in the Boston area with his wife and two daughters where he enjoys hiking, cycling, skiing, and coaching his girls’ sports teams.