Introducing new PCI Board Member, Linton Wells II

“There will always be more interesting projects for PCI than we can do, so we’ll need to focus on a few initiatives that can make a difference,” he said. Lin envisions that PCI will “develop a stable core network of partnerships that can generate resources and link to established standards.”  Initiatives that build resilience will be the most important, he added.

“The demand for humanitarian assistance and disaster response is only going to increase, often in ways for which we’re not prepared.  For example, megacities close to coastlines are likely to impose unprecedented demands on responders, especially as climate changes. This will make resilience a core concept, because you won’t be able to protect against everything.” 

Lin likes the definition of resilience from Judith Rodin, former head of the Rockefeller Foundation, who said that resilience is more than bouncing back from disaster to pre-disruption status quo. It means becoming prepared to bounce forward better: “Resilience is the capacity of any entity—an individual, a community, an organization, or a natural system—to prepare for disruptions, to recover from shocks and stresses, and then to adapt and grow from a disruptive experience.”

Lin is encouraged by the work of organizations including George Mason University’s new Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities” (C-RASC) to help build sustainable resilience at community levels.

“The nation often is too big, and the family too small. The idea is to reduce pressures for migration and marginalization by improving social, cultural and economic opportunities as close to the source of a problem as possible,” he said.

Toward resilience capacity-building, PCI could leverage its impact by bringing emerging technologies to innovative community efforts. 

“I think one of the major breakthroughs in the next few years will be the deployment of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) internet, such as SpaceX’s Starlink. It will have a huge impact on HADR, connectivity in rural areas, economic development, and telemedicine. This is exactly the sort of thing PCI should be able to leverage,” he said.

As a military, government, and academic leader, Lin has convened large international networks to tackle complex global security problems; for example, the STAR-TIDES consortium of global knowledge sharing, now in its fourteenth year, has brought together several thousand global nodes comprising agencies, organizations, institutions and individuals in 40+ countries that promote the free exchange of research results on global issues of human security.

“We’ve been able to continue a significant interest. Now we need to marshal resources,” Lin said. He is interested in the optimistic approach of Peter Diamandis and Steve Kottler as outlined in their book, “Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think.”