Eric McNulty, MA

Eric J. McNulty holds an appointment as Associate Director and Program Faculty at the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI), at Harvard University and as an Instructor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His work centers on leadership in high-stakes, high-stress situations including crisis and transformational change. McNulty also works with the Program for Health Care Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Harvard Chan School.

In addition to his work with the NPLI, McNulty teaches in executive and physician education programs as the Harvard Chan School, Harvard Medical School, MIT, and the University of California/San Diego. He has led executive trainings in North and South America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. He has spoken at conferences and symposia worldwide.

He is the co-author of the books You’re It: Crisis, Change, and How to Lead When it Matters Most and the second edition of Renegotiating Health Care: Resolving Conflict to Build Collaboration. He is the author or co-author of numerous academic papers and more than 200 bylined articles in publications such as Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, and others.

McNulty is the principal author of the NPLI’s case studies on leadership of the US response to mpox in 2022, leadership decision making in the Boston Marathon bombing response, innovation in the response Hurricane Sandy and the professional/political interface in the Deepwater Horizon response drawing upon his firsthand research as well as extensive interviews with leaders involved in the responses. 

McNulty is a member of the Leadership Communications Council at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, the Future Vision Committee at Disaster Recovery Institute International, and the Advisory Board of the Crisis Response Journal.

Previously, McNulty held management and communications roles in the private sector.

McNulty holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics (with honors) from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Master of Arts degree in Leadership from Lesley University. He is a board member at Massachusetts for Elephants, a Community Advocacy Leader with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and a member of the Advisory Council at Manoment Conservation Sciences.