Full Name
Joel Thomas
Job Title
CEO
Company
SPIN Global
Speaking At
Speaker Bio
Joel Thomas is the Founder and CEO of SPIN Global, a public benefit company that exists to disrupt disasters from neighborhoods to nations.
Mr. Thomas is an internationally recognized expert on private-public partnerships, focused on the nexus of societal resilience, peace and security, economic development, and emergency management. He routinely provides national-level PPP expertise, institutional capacity building and regional security cooperation support to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Allies and Partners in support of the U.S. Government. In his capacity as a NATO Civil Expert, he advises Allies and Partner nations on matters pertaining to civil protection, disaster-oriented private-public partnerships, emergency management, and national resilience policy and practice. In his capacity as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense he provides strategic policy and program expertise focused on disaster preparedness, geopolitical risks, national resilience capacities, crisis management, and host nation support.
He served as a principal author and contributor to U.S. national policy, guidance and doctrine related to disaster-oriented PPPs. This has included publication of “Building Private-Public Partnerships”, published by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2021. He also authored several national-level PPP guides and management-level courses published by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FEMA focused on building resilience through supply chains, information sharing, economic resilience, business emergency operations, restoration and recovery, risk reduction, equity and inclusion. He is a senior contributor to DHS/FEMA National Training Program Courses such as “Managing Public, Private, and NGO Partnerships to Prepare for and Solve Critical Logistics and Supply Chain Challenges During Large Scale Disasters (2022)” and “Whole Community Inclusive Economic Recovery Course (2021)”. Since 2019, he has advised FEMA’s Office of Business, Industry and Infrastructure Integration on the development of a national business and economic analysis capability. Mr. Thomas also led development of “Building Operational Public Private Partnerships”, published by the National Emergency Management Association in 2017.
His disaster consulting work is rooted in operational experience, as Mr. Thomas served as an urban campus first responder in Washington D.C. at The George Washington University where he responded to hundreds of incidents. He has also participated in numerous domestic and international response and recovery operations (e.g. COVID19, Hurricane Maria, Thailand/Indonesia Tsunami, Deepwater Horizon, Haiti Earthquake, et al). In his capacity and support to FEMA he has supported response to dozens of Presidentially declared disasters.
His small business perspectives have been shaped through his ownership and successful sale of several small businesses that created hundreds of jobs, including multiple “main street” restaurants, and a patented technology company.
Mr. Thomas is a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Faculty at Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy, where he teaches on the “Economics of Disaster Recovery”. He previously earned a Masters in Public Administration from The George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Business/Non-Profit Management from Trinity International University. To learn more, you may connect at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeldavidthomas or contact Mr. Thomas at jthomas@spinglobal.org.
Mr. Thomas is an internationally recognized expert on private-public partnerships, focused on the nexus of societal resilience, peace and security, economic development, and emergency management. He routinely provides national-level PPP expertise, institutional capacity building and regional security cooperation support to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Allies and Partners in support of the U.S. Government. In his capacity as a NATO Civil Expert, he advises Allies and Partner nations on matters pertaining to civil protection, disaster-oriented private-public partnerships, emergency management, and national resilience policy and practice. In his capacity as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense he provides strategic policy and program expertise focused on disaster preparedness, geopolitical risks, national resilience capacities, crisis management, and host nation support.
He served as a principal author and contributor to U.S. national policy, guidance and doctrine related to disaster-oriented PPPs. This has included publication of “Building Private-Public Partnerships”, published by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2021. He also authored several national-level PPP guides and management-level courses published by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FEMA focused on building resilience through supply chains, information sharing, economic resilience, business emergency operations, restoration and recovery, risk reduction, equity and inclusion. He is a senior contributor to DHS/FEMA National Training Program Courses such as “Managing Public, Private, and NGO Partnerships to Prepare for and Solve Critical Logistics and Supply Chain Challenges During Large Scale Disasters (2022)” and “Whole Community Inclusive Economic Recovery Course (2021)”. Since 2019, he has advised FEMA’s Office of Business, Industry and Infrastructure Integration on the development of a national business and economic analysis capability. Mr. Thomas also led development of “Building Operational Public Private Partnerships”, published by the National Emergency Management Association in 2017.
His disaster consulting work is rooted in operational experience, as Mr. Thomas served as an urban campus first responder in Washington D.C. at The George Washington University where he responded to hundreds of incidents. He has also participated in numerous domestic and international response and recovery operations (e.g. COVID19, Hurricane Maria, Thailand/Indonesia Tsunami, Deepwater Horizon, Haiti Earthquake, et al). In his capacity and support to FEMA he has supported response to dozens of Presidentially declared disasters.
His small business perspectives have been shaped through his ownership and successful sale of several small businesses that created hundreds of jobs, including multiple “main street” restaurants, and a patented technology company.
Mr. Thomas is a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Faculty at Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy, where he teaches on the “Economics of Disaster Recovery”. He previously earned a Masters in Public Administration from The George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Business/Non-Profit Management from Trinity International University. To learn more, you may connect at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeldavidthomas or contact Mr. Thomas at jthomas@spinglobal.org.
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