Please save this new site in your browser favorites!
Welcome
Welcome to the Greater Houston Chapter of the Association of Continuity Professionals - the nation's leading non-profit association, comprised of professionals who are responsible for or have an interest in business continuity, preventing disasters, providing disaster recovery information and facilitating the resumption of normal business activities following a major disaster.
Members of ACP nationwide represent business, industry and government organizations at all levels. Included are executives, administrators, managers, directors, writers, legal staffs, accountants, engineers, sales-persons, records managers, archivists and many more professionals.
Note: We welcome everyone to attend our exceptional networking and educational events. Your first in-person program event is free and without obligation. There is a nominal fee for returning guests and nonmembers. Your support of the growth of our profession and the chapter is truly appreciated.
ACPGH Members: We hope you enjoyed our August event: From Compliance to Operational Resilience: Engineering Critical Infrastructure for an Era of Persistent Cyber Threats
Next Meeting:
From Whataburger to Wheels Up: Building Resilience at Scale
Date: Tuesday, September 8th, 11:30AM CST
Location: Virtual via Zoom
The Free Virtual Option deadline is Tuesday 9/8 at 1130AM CDT. Zoom will automatically email connection details.
From managing crisis response for more than 1,200 Whataburger restaurants across 17 states to leading emergency management efforts at one of the nation’s fastest-growing airports, Ron Derrick has spent over three decades helping organizations prepare for the unexpected.
In this engaging session, Ron will share practical lessons learned from building resilience programs across emergency services, healthcare, financial services, hospitality, and aviation. Drawing from his recent presentation at the ACP Texas Symposium hosted at AlertMedia in Austin, Ron will discuss what it takes to build, sustain, and scale emergency management and business continuity programs in complex, rapidly changing environments.
Attendees will gain an inside look at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport’s emergency management program during a period of unprecedented growth, including the challenges of supporting a multi-billion-dollar expansion while maintaining day-to-day operational readiness. Ron will also share real-world experiences from Whataburger’s command center operations, highlighting how preparedness, situational awareness, crisis communications, exercises, and strong partnerships enable organizations to respond effectively when incidents occur.
Whether your organization operates restaurants, critical infrastructure, corporate offices, or transportation hubs, attendees will leave with practical ideas for strengthening resilience, improving coordination, and preparing their organizations for the next disruption.
About our Speakers:
Ron Derrick, CEM, CBCP, LP
Emergency Management Officer, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
is an accomplished resilience and emergency management professional with more than three decades of experience leading preparedness, response, recovery, business continuity, and crisis management programs across the public and private sectors.
Throughout a career spanning aviation, healthcare, hospitality, corporate emergency management, and emergency services, Ron has built and matured resilience programs that enable organizations to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptive events. Prior to joining Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Ron served as the Senior Emergency Manager for Whataburger, where he led enterprise preparedness, business continuity, and emergency management initiatives supporting a large, geographically dispersed operation.
Today, Ron supports emergency management and resilience efforts at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport during a period of significant growth and infrastructure expansion. A frequent speaker and advocate for organizational resilience, Ron brings practical lessons learned from real-world incidents, exercises, and program development efforts, helping organizations strengthen their readiness and adaptability in an increasingly complex risk environment.
The Free Virtual Option deadline is Tuesday 9/8 at 1130AM CDT. Zoom will automatically email connection details.
If you missed our recent in-person events, click on each photo below to open the photo album in new tab:
Happy Hour at Ducky McShweeney’s Pub - June 12, 2025! (Sorry, no photo album for this event.)
2024 ACP Greater Houston Member Appreciation Holiday Luncheon - December 10, 2024! (Click on photo to open the photo album in new tab)
Happy Hour at Ducky McShweeney’s Pub - November 14, 2024! (Click on photo to open the photo album in new tab)
Field Trip to Harris County's Emergency Operations Center - April 16, 2024 (Click on photo to open the photo album in new tab)
Happy Hour at The Rustic (Post Oak) - March 28, 2024 (Click on photo to open the photo album in new tab)
Our Purpose
To promote a professional, educational association to continually increase the awareness and the importance of business continuity, contingency planning, disaster mitigation and disaster recovery throughout the public and private sectors.
Our Objectives
To promote greater awareness and understanding of disaster recovery and contingency planning.
To provide opportunities and forums for member growth through training, information exchange, certification programs, career opportunities awareness and conferences.
To contribute to the advancement of contingency and business recovery planning.
To promote increased cooperation and participation in contingency planning between the public and private sectors.
Please visit our Membership page for more details on how to become an ACP member.
MIT Professional Education: Crisis Management & Business Resiliency - Live Online. Steve Goldman, Dick Larson, Sandra Galletti. October 19-23 and October 26-29. Click for more information and to register
Check back for future industry events!
Chapter Programs
2026 Program Schedule
Date
Speaker/Event
January 13
(Zero) Trust the Process
George Finney, Chief Information Security Officer, The University of Texas System
February 10
Exercises on Demand
Jason Hoss, Founder and CEO, Whirlybird Labs, Ltd
March 10
No scheduled meeting to allow members to attend industry events
April 14
Cognitive Biases and Why We Do What We Do in Emergencies
Ken Jones of TC Energy
May 12
2025 Hurricane Season Learnings & 2026 Season Forecast:
What’s Mother Nature Brewing This Year?
Derek Ortt, Senior Tropical Meteorologist / Business Continuity Manager, StormGeo
June 29
ACPGH Member's Only Event! Amazon HOU2 Tour!
July 14
Staying Connected When It Matters Most: External Trends Shaping Emergency and Field Communications
Bill Perkoski and Andy Cool of All Over Communications
July 16
Texas ACP Symposium - Alert Media Headquarters (401 S 1st St Suite 1400, Austin, TX 78704)
August 11
Operational Resilience Engineering
Chuck Russell and Israel Reyes
September 8
From Whataburger to Wheels Up: Building Resilience at Scale
Ron Derrick, Emergency Management Officer, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
October 13
3rd Party Resilience and Attestation
Stuart Murray
November 10
TBD
TBD
December 8
Annual Member Appreciation Holiday Luncheon
Location TBD
2025 Program Schedule
Date
Speaker/Event
January 14
Low-Code and Denver Health cyber preparations
Chuck Scully, CIO at Denver Health and President, LeaderFulcrum LLC
February 11
Business Continuity Planning -
Joseph Leonard, President & CEO, United Services Consulting Group
March 11
Ransomware Responses and more for Critical Infrastructure Lessons Learned
Craig Wyatt, Chief Operating Officer, The Response Group
April 8
Integrating national risk assessments with Enterprise Risk Management and Continuity Operations
James Platt, President, Strategic Risk Integration
May 13
What Business Continuity Planners Need to Know About Enterprise Risk Management
Mark Carroll, Founder – Boston University's Enterprise Risk Management Master’s Program
June 10
StormGeo 2025 Hurricane Season Outlook
Derek Ortt, Senior Tropical Meteorologist / Business Continuity Manager, StormGeo
June 12
ACP Houston Happy Hour
4PM at Ducky McShweeney’s Pub
2025 Post Oak Blvd Ste B
July 8
Case Studies in the Use of AI in Business Continuity: Vendor and Customer Perspectives
Mikael Grape, President and Managing Director, 4C North America, and Chris McLaughin, Senior Solutions Engineer, Veoci
August 12
What Business Continuity Planners Need to Know About Quantum Computing Risk and Opportunity
Nick Reese, Founder and CEO at Triantha
September 9
20 Years Later - Hurricane Katrina and the Houston Megashelter Success
Stephen Kastensmidt – President, K10 Consulting
October 14
Crisis Communications – The Good, The Bad, The Ugly!
Dr. Steve Goldman, Director, Crisis Courses, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
November 11
Operational Technology Risk - How to Mitigate through BC
Dr. Israel Reyes
December 9
Annual Member Appreciation Holiday Luncheon
Location: The Chifley Houston, Tapestry Collection by Hilton (2400 W Loop S)
2024 Program Schedule
Date
Speaker/Event
January 9
Identify Threats and Communicate Faster During Critical Events
Alex Pinder, AlertMedia
February 13
Using Artificial Intelligence as a force multiplier for your Resilience Program
Shane Mathew, Stone Risk Consulting
March 12
No Chapter Meeting to allow members
to attend industry conferences
March 28
Members-Only Happy Hour at The Rustic
April 16
Field trip to Harris County Emergency Operations Center
May 14
2024 Atlantic Season Outlook & Tabletop Exercise
Derek Ortt, StormGeo
June 11
Protecting Critical Infrastructure Organizations: “Political Polarization & Emerging Security Risks After the 2024 Elections in the US and Other Nations”
Scott McHugh, Program Executive for the Institute for Homeland Security at Sam Houston State University
July 9
Cancelled due to Hurricane Beryl
August 13
Business Continuity Metrics That Matter
Chuck Russell, ACP Greater Houston President & Sr. Specialist, Business Continuity and Crisis Management, TC Energy
September 10
Trends and Approaches to Building an Enterprise-wide Resilience Program
Michelle Uwasomba, Principal, Consulting Enterprise Risk, Ernst & Young LLP
October 8
Roundtable Discussion Reviewing 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season
November 12
Crisis Management The Whataburger Way
Ron Derrick, Senior Corporate Emergency Manager/Business Continuity for Whataburger Restaurants
November 14
Members-Only Happy Hour at Ducky McShweeney’s Pub
December 10
Annual Member Appreciation Holiday Luncheon
2023 Program Schedule
Date
Speaker/Event
January 10
Hacking Your Brain for Better Cybersecurity
Dr. George Finney
February 7
Paying It Forward…Or Backward?
The give and take of successful mentorship
James Mitchell
March 14
No Chapter Meeting to allow members
to attend DRJ Spring Conference
April 11
Educators Making a Difference –
Higher Learning for Business Continuity and Emergency Management Professionals
May 9
StormGeo 2023 Hurricane Season Outlook and
The Climate Has Changed: Are You Prepared For The New Reality?
Derek Ortt & Shannon Copeland, StormGeo
June 13
Event Weather Safety
Dr. Kevin Kloesel, University Of Oklahoma
July 11
Creating and Delivering Effective Tabletop Exercises
Robert Burton, PreparedEx
August 8
Exercise Pitfalls or How “NOT TO” Conduct an Exercise
Mark Carroll
September 12
Future Proofing America: A New Model for Disaster and Risk Mitigation
Richard Seline, Resilience Innovation Hub
October 10
Building Enterprise Resilience:
How Threat and Risk Detection Balance a Duty of Care Program
Brian Toolan, Everbridge
October 19
ACP Greater Houston Happy Hour!
The Rustic
November 14
Field Trip to Kenyon International Facilities
Spring, Texas
December 12
Annual Member Appreciation Holiday Luncheon
Career Opportunities
Welcome to the Career Opportunities area of the ACP Greater Houston Chapter Web site. Here, you can view descriptions of positions available in the field of business continuity planning, emergency management, and risk management in the Greater Houston area. This is a value-added service to the chapter members, guests and chapter affiliates in the local resilience community.
Employers and recruiters are invited to post positions available in Business Continuity, IT Disaster Recovery, Emergency Management, Risilience, Emergency Response, Risk Management and Corporate Crisis Management. Positions will be posted for up to 90 days at no cost.
To submit a listing, you must provide position title, position location, sector/industry, recruiter contact information, link to the job posting, and close date by email to the Education Director.
Emergency Management Program Manager (Public Information) - Partially Grant Funded
Employer: City of Houston
Position Location: Houston, TX
Sector: Government Click For More Information:
Emergency Management Specialist III (Emergency Public Information Systems) - Grant Funded
Employer: City of Houston
Position Location: Houston, TX
Sector: Government Click For More Information:
Emergency Management Specialist III (Crisis Information Systems) - Grant Funded
Employer: City of Houston
Position Location: Houston, TX
Sector: Government Click For More Information:
***The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) provides a comprehensive training registration and transcript service for FEMA, TDEM, TEEX, and other government approved emergency management and continuity courses. You can register and search courses across Texas at Preparing Texas.***
If anyone has an article/white paper/document they would like to share with the chapter, please send Information Director a copy to include on the website.
MS Cybersecurity degree with a technology specialization - The School of Computer Science
MS Cybersecurity degree with a cyber-physical and energy systems specialization - The School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)
MS Cybersecurity degree with a policy specialization - The School of Public Policy (PUBP)
Computer Information Systems degree with Cyber Security Programming specialization (Bachelor of Science - online or on-campus) - DeVry University (Vendor requested listing)
Membership Information
Thank you for your interest in the Greater Houston Chapter of the Association of Continuity Professionals (ACP).
ACP is a national organization of 2,000+ members with experience, expertise and a willingness to share unique perspectives. ACP provides a forum for members to network with peers in similar job roles across a wide variety of for profit businesses, non-profits, government, higher education, and NGO organizations.
In addition, benefits from becoming an ACP member are:
eligibility for discounts to conferences and trade publications,
quality webinars for members only,
CEU credits towards retaining your certification,
leadership opportunities in your local chapter and so much more
We believe you'll enjoy the networking opportunities and camaraderie available through ACP.
To become a member, simply click here to access the Association's national website. Once there, select the option to "Join Now!" at the top of the page.
Visit our chapter website for information on upcoming chapter meetings, events to help you get involved, resources for training, education, and job openings, and connect with us on Facebook,Twitter, and LinkedIn!
Don’t hesitate to reach out to our Membership Director at ACPSouthTexas@gmail.com should you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you at our next chapter meeting and/or event!
.png){kind=icon}
 600x257.png)
If interested in sponsoring ACP Greater Houston, please contact us by email.
