Business Continuity and Organization Resilience

We'll kick off our "Expert Perspectives on Careers in Resilience" series and welcome Michele Turner from Amazon and Megan Epperson from IHS Markit. They'll share personal thoughts on how they established themselves in Business Continuity (BC) and Organizational Resilience, the nature of roles within these fields, and how people can begin to explore a future in BC / Resilience!

Emergency Management & Public Private Partnerships

Unfortunately, disaster events are increasing in frequency, complexity, and intensity and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a vivid example of a complex global disaster.  The field of Emergency Management (EM) continues to need innovative new professionals to help tackle this ever-changing global disaster landscape!  EM is a dynamic and rewarding career to engage in, as EM professionals are vital in helping prepare for and respond to disasters. This webinar will feature professionals discussing EM from both private and public sector perspectives.  The important topic of public-private partnerships in disaster preparedness and response will be discussed as well.  

Exercises and Simulations

Imagine reading a critic’s review of an opening night Broadway play you invested in if the Director never called any dress rehearsals, assigned any understudies, or told the stage crew when to show up. It would be a flop with comments like: confusing, disturbing, disappointing. Just as with a play, resiliency programs are destined to fail if they are not properly tested to ensure players know the plan, where to be, how to improve, what to say, when to be there, and how to back up key people. At this session our guest speakers will share their personal views on the importance of conducting regular testing and their knowledge of what can happen if you do not.

Personal Journeys in Resilience

Focusing on developing a career within a risk and/or resilience field, our speakers will share the varied paths they've taken in education, jobs, networking, and external activities to arrive at where they are today. We'll welcome Chet Bojarski, President of the ACP chapter of North Texas; Scott Baldwin from Netflix; Cheyenne Marling from BC Management; and Jeremy Gudgeon from Chubb Insurance. 

Technology and Cyber Resilience 

From the beginning of mainframe computing, it was imperative to have a traditional Disaster Recovery (DR) plan in place to ensure critical businesses processes were supported during system failures. Today, the necessity of having high availability systems continues to evolve with the advances in technology, backups, and the expansion of cloud computing. Anywhere and anytime access continues to expand around us in everything we do, driving enhanced planning and response in all areas of the business. Threats such as ransomware jeopardize clients’ access to any online system, fueling the enhanced risk areas of Cyber and Information Security. Our panel will share their experiences, insights, and thoughts on the future of these interconnected and critical areas in support of the Organizational Resiliency umbrella.

Supply Chain and Supplier Resiliency

The resiliency community recognizes that up to 80% of all supply chain activity occurs outside a company’s four walls and relies on a multi-layered and globally interconnected set of systems. The benefit of cost effectiveness must be examined against the risks of increased disruptions across the supply chain business models rely upon. From events such as extreme weather, border and port congestion, financial conditions, production impacts, force majeure events, infrastructure failures, cyber attacks, and even product shortages, volatility is increasing.