Allison Plyer, BA, MBA, ScD

Chief Demographer

Allison Plyer is Chief Demographer. Dr. Plyer is co-author of Pandemic to Prosperity, developed in collaboration with National Conference on Citizenship, to track the impact and ongoing recovery from the COVID health and economic crises. And Dr. Plyer is co-author of The New Orleans Prosperity Index which examines the extent to which economic outcomes have improved for black New Orleanians since the end of the Civil Rights era. She is also author of The New Orleans Index series, developed in collaboration with the Brookings Institution to analyze the state of the New Orleans recovery and later to track the region’s progress toward prosperity. She served as an editor for the Brookings Institution Press volume entitled “Resilience and Opportunity: Lessons from the U.S. Gulf Coast after Katrina and Rita.” Allison is recognized as an international expert in post–Katrina demographics and disaster recovery trends. Allison spearheaded the City of New Orleans’ challenge to the Census Bureau’s 2007 and 2008 population estimate, resulting in an upward revision of nearly 75,000 to the Bureau’s estimate of the city’s population — ultimately bringing the estimate for New Orleans within 6 percent of the 2010 Census count. She frequently provides commentary on regional recovery and development to local and national media such as Fox8 television, WBOK radio, the New Orleans Times Picayune, NPR, the Associated Press, and the New York Times.

Allison joined The Data Center in 2001 with 8 years experience developing the management capacity of nonprofit and micro–enterprise organizations in New Orleans, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Guatemala. Additionally, she has almost a decade of experience in the for–profit sector as a marketing and data mining consultant to large and small companies including AT&T, Barnes and Noble, Lexus, and Inc. Magazine. Allison received her Doctorate in Science from Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine with a dissertation entitled “An analysis of administrative data for measuring population displacement and resettlement following a catastrophic U.S. event.” She has an MBA in marketing and organizational behavior from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, a BA in religious studies and Spanish from Vanderbilt University, magna cum laude, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Plyer is most recent past Chair of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Scientific Advisory Committee (CSAC). She served on CSAC from 2015-2021 and as Chair from 2018-2021. Allison served as Racial Reconciliation Co-Chair for the 2018 Tricentennial Commission of the City of New Orleans, appointed by then Mayor Mitch Landrieu. She is also a Life Fellow of the Louisiana Effective Leadership Program.

Expertise

Applied demography
Disaster recovery
Coastal population movements
Editing scientific findings to optimize relevance and impact

Experience

Director of Grant Seekers Assistance, Center for Nonprofit Resources
Business Support Services Specialist, Women’s Initiative for Self Employment
Consultant, Rxiin Tnamet
Consultant, Kestnbaum & Company

Education

ScD in Health Systems Management, Tulane University
MBA in Marketing and Organizational Behavior, Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University
BA in Religious Studies and Spanish, Vanderbilt University

Select Publications

Plyer, A., & Gardere, L. (2018). The New Orleans Prosperity Index: Tricentennial Edition. The Data Center. Retrieved from https://next.datacenterresearch.org/reports_analysis/prosperity-index/
Plyer, A., Shrinath, N., & Mack, V. (2015). The New Orleans Index at Ten: Measuring Greater New Orleans’ Progress Toward Prosperity. The Data Center. Retrieved from https://next.datacenterresearch.org/reports_analysis/new-orleans-index-at-ten/
Plyer, A. (2013). Tracking disaster impact and recovery in post–Katrina New Orleans. Benefits, burdens, and prospects of the American Community Survey: Summary of a workshop. Daniel L. Cork, rapporteur. Committee on National Statistics, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Research Council. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18259.
Liu, A., Anglin, R., Mizelle, R., & Plyer, A. (Eds.). (2011). Resilience and opportunity: Lessons from the U.S. Gulf Coast after Katrina and Rita. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.
Plyer, A. & Colten, C. (2011). New Orleans before and after Katrina. Increasing national resilience to hazards and disasters: The Perspective from the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi: Summary of a workshop. Steve Olson, rapporteur. Committee on Increasing National Resilience to Hazards and Disasters, National Research Council. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13178.
Plyer, A., Pettit, K., & Ortiz, E. (2010). Optimizing blight strategies: Deploying limited resources in different neighborhood housing markets. The Data Center. Retrieved from https://next.datacenterresearch.org/reports_analysis/optimizing-blight-strategies/
Plyer, A., Bonaguro, J., & Hodges, K. (2010). Using administrative data to estimate population displacement and resettlement following a catastrophic U.S. disaster. Population & Environment, 31(1), 150–175. doi:10.1007/s11111-009-0091-3.

Select Presentations

Plyer, A. (2018). High Impact Data Analysis to Forward Recovery. Presented at Funders Networks for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, Houston, TX.
Plyer, A. (2017). Katrina and Sandy: Lessons and Opportunities. Presented at Puerto Rico Diaspora Summit, Washington, D.C.
Plyer, A. (2013). Hurricanes, damned hurricanes, and statistics. Presented at Joint Statistical Meeting, Montreal, Canada.
Plyer, A. (2012). Resilience and opportunity. Presented at Organisation for Economic Co–operation and Development, L’Aquila, Italy.
Plyer, A. (2012). How will the ACS help us respond to disasters and plan social services in the future? Presented at National Research Council, Washington, D.C.
Plyer, A. (2010). The New Orleans Index at Five. Presented at The White House, Washington, D.C.
Plyer, A. (2010). Disaster data 101. Presented at TEDxNOLA, New Orleans, Louisiana. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjADd9zlEP0.

Awards

Phi Beta Kappa
The Power Generation 2001. CityBusiness, New Orleans.