Name: Alan Kwok
Pronouns: He/Him
Title: Senior Fellow

Alan Kwok, PhD, is Director of Climate and Disaster Resilience at Northern California Grantmakers and Philanthropy California, a statewide alliance among Northern California Grantmakers, SoCal Grantmakers, and Catalyst of San Diego and Imperial Counties. He develops and leads regional and statewide climate and disaster strategies around funders coordination, education, advocacy, and public/private partnerships, with a particular focus on accelerating climate justice and equitable disaster resilience and recovery. Since 2018, he has led statewide efforts in creating a statewide disaster resilience and recovery fund, advocated for equitable climate and disaster resilience policies at the state and national levels, coordinated philanthropic responses to California wildfires and other natural hazards, and supported funders coordination across the state and in the Western US around wildfire, drought, and climate resilience.

Alan’s research, writings, and work on climate and disaster resilience have been published and showcased in San Francisco Business Times, Alliance Magazine, Inside Philanthropy, Chronicle of Philanthropy, peer-reviewed journals, and government publications. He has been a featured speaker on climate and disaster issues in corporate, government, and nonprofit events.

Alan earned his PhD in emergency management (with a focus on assessing and evaluating community resilience) at the Joint Centre for Disaster Research at Massey University in Wellington, New Zealand. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology at Washington University in St. Louis and master’s degree in geography at San Francisco State University.

Based in San Diego, Alan is passionate about being outdoors and is an avid surfer.