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A Fond Farewell:
DRI Canada's Grant Whittaker Retires
Grant Whittaker will be missed. Whittaker has been the Executive Director of the Disaster Recovery Institute of Canada (DRIC) for the past 10 years. Under his guidance DRIC has successfully served the interests of its members, the BCM community, and the many organizations in Canada have benefited from DRIC training and the professional certification provided their BCM employees. He is both a pioneer founding member of DRIC and one of its key leaders for the past two decades. DRI International President Al Berman praised Whittaker's dedication and many achievements, including "creative programming" and "irreplaceable contributions to growth." Says Berman, "Grant Whittaker will be missed. His energy, enthusiasm, and dedication to our industry are worthy of our recognition and our gratitude." Whittaker started his career in 1958, working for the Canadian Pacific Railroad at Union Station, Toronto. Throughout his career he has been in the fields of data processing, information processing, communications technology, and business continuity management.  He says he has been fortunate to be in a growth field, like information technology, that has changed and grown as its importance to industry has evolved and as technology has blossomed. "It has been an exciting and rewarding time," says Whittaker, adding that he feels that he has contributed "in a positive way." As he steps down from routine day to day business activities, he looks forward to spending more time working on his farm and in supporting the Shriners Children's Hospital programs in Canada. "While I will find it hard to believe we won't hear from Grant again, his contribution to DRIC, to our careers and the business continuity profession deserves our recognition and gratitude for a job well done," says DRI Canada President Malcolm Smeaton. "Please join me in congratulating Grant on his retirement." |
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DRI International Awards of Excellence:
Nominate Now!
You are invited to participate in DRI International's Awards of Excellence Program and Awards Gala Dinner to honor individuals and corporations who are leaders and innovators within our profession. This event will recognize those who have achieved a level of excellence in the fields of continuity management, technology recovery (DR), and crisis management. The challenges associated with building a successful business continuity management program are many and we strongly believe that as a global continuity management training and certification organization, it is our duty to recognize and celebrate excellence. For a list of awards categories, click here. To nominate, click here. And here is a list of FAQs. The awards will be presented as the culmination of the DRI International Conference at the Awards of Excellence Gala Dinner to be held at the Downtown Philadelphia Marriott Hotel in Philadelphia, on Thursday, June 6, 2013. Nominations are due by February 15, 2013. To assure a fair and unbiased assessment of all applicants, we have established a process that allows for blind judging by senior industry professionals drawn from amongst the most highly respected organizations, to independently judge the nominees in each category. For more information, contact the Awards Team by calling (866) 542-3744 or via email at info@drii.org. |
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| Register Now for DRI2013 in Philadelphia!
You know you want to go to our second annual conference, to be held June 4-7 in Philadelphia, PA. So, why not register for DRI2013 right now? Start the New Year right by making plans to attend a truly outstanding industry event, featuring a truly international conference program, superior networking, meaningful volunteer opportunities, and innovative interaction with the provider community. Register today at www.DRIconference.com! |
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Issue #49
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January 18, 2013
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Greetings!
My parents were hardcore hippies. We didn't just have a VW microbus; we lived in it -- travelling hither and yon, camping and campfire singing and collecting shells on the beach. Their idea of "settling down" was to buy a small farm where we'd grow our own food. The first year, we ate a lot of tomato sandwiches. But the next year was when it happened.
I was nine, my brother seven. And as the school bus creaked to a stop at the end of the unpaved road that led to our farm, there was a man waiting to pick us up. I grabbed my brother, screamed "Stranger!" and the bus driver slammed the doors shut. It took a little while to sort it all out. But it turns out the guy wasn't a stranger at all; he was my dad. And that day he'd gotten the bright idea to cut his long hair short and shave off his bushy beard. He wasn't even wearing a necklace or a dashiki! How was I supposed to know?
We joke about it to this day. But on that day, it was no laughing matter, and it took quite some time for me and my brother to be comfortable around him, to trust him, to accept the change. Change is what brought that story to mind today. As I scanned the headlines and dug into the articles that caught my fancy, I noticed a common thread - change. Climate change. This piece about how when technology platforms change, old leaders are seldom the new leaders. This fascinating article examining how changes in energy, communication, an information technology will shape businesses (some very cool concepts for forward-thinking continuity professionals!). Even this one about changes in the way tea is traded and what could result (Did you know tea is the most-consumed beverage in the world, after water?).
Some changes we can prepare for; other surprise us. But how we handle change is what determines our success or failure - sometimes even our survival. So, here's one more article for you. This one talks about helping your team deal with change and what you can do to ease the blow, grease the wheels, and ensure that they'll continue to trust you - even when things get scary.
Buffy Rojas
DRI International Director of Communications
brojas@drii.org
(610) 792-4802
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The Walking Dead Escape:
Take Your Team to the Ultimate Exercise!
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 Climb, crawl, hide, and slide your way through a mile-long zombie apocalypse simulation. Fans of "The Walking Dead" may have an advantage when it comes to avoiding the undead, but who wouldn't want to hone BCP skills while having some fun at The Walking Dead Escape? Official events are scheduled in Philadelphia (March 3) and San Diego (July 19 and 20). There are three ways to participate: Survivor: Navigate through zombie-infected Evacuation Zone. Walker: Embrace the inevitable and become one of the undead. Spectator: Watch the apocalypse from the sidelines at the Escape Party. It takes 35 to 45 minutes to complete the course, but The Walking Dead Escape is not a race. No one is timed, and you are not required to run (but the slow usually die for a reason). Participants should be prepared to climb, crawl, and slide. Depending on the encountered Walker, you may need to move briskly or lightly jog in an effort to avoid infection. The course has been specifically designed for participants with a wide range of abilities. Each obstacle is created to include an "easier route" for participants with limited physical abilities. And for those of you who aren't near an official event, why not create your own? |
UPI Disaster Photos Slideshow:
Are These Shots Worth 20,000 Words? |
A UPI photo collection called "20 Striking Natural Disasters" features photos of natural disasters "throughout the past century, spanning from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to the recent devastating tornadoes in Alabama. The photos of earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, mudslides, etc. are breathtaking reminders of the strength of nature and the fragility of manmade structures," according to the UPI site. This image by UPI photographer Carlos Gutierrez shows a volcano erupting during storms in the middle of the night on May 3, 2008 in Chaiten, Chile. The Chaiten volcano, located some 800 miles south of the capital Santiago, was considered dormant since it had not erupted for hundreds of years. Thousands of people were been evacuated from the area. |
BCP Whistleblower Makes Headlines
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 According to a report in yesterday's Daily Mail, a "senior Lloyds executive was forced out of his job because he blew the whistle on 'shocking' failures in the bank's IT systems that would have cost £200 million to fix." The executive, Stephen Clements, is the former head of the business continuity at Lloyds Banking Group. the Daily Mail reports that Clements "alleges there was a deliberate cover-up to stop the flaws being dealt with due to the cost of repairing the problem and the potential damage to the bank's reputation. Mr. Clements claims he discovered 'startling' failures in the bank's IT Disaster Recovery back-up system that left the bank vulnerable to failures that could bring it down." Clements claims he was told to "burn the paper" his report was written on in order to bury the issue and that he was "forced from his job just four months later. The bank denies Clements' allegations, which also include age and sex discrimination. From the Daily Mail report: "In documents submitted to the Central London Employment Tribunal, the 51-year-old said he was 'startled' to discover that only a third of the bank's systems had undergone crucial testing, leaving 'very serious gaps in our ability to recover critical IT systems'." "Mr Clements added: 'Effectively this issue was buried. Jonathon had responsibility for ensuring these [assessments] were carried out. The statistic that only 37 per cent of systems had a BIA (business impact assessment) completed is both startling and shocking. 'It was the responsibility of information risk to ensure that these essential risk assessments were being carried out and it had failed to do so.'" Read the full article here. |
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NYIT Business Continuity Information Session to be Held Jan. 22, Berman to Speak
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The NYIT Risk Management Center is partnering with DRI International to offer a course designed for professionals who are seeking certification and guidance in building business continuity plans for their organizations. The course, BCLE 1500, prepares students for the DRI International Qualifying Examination and enables them to take the test at no extra cost upon course completion. An information session, featuring DRI President Al Berman, is scheduled for Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 8 a.m. in the School of Management's Financial Technology Center at 26 West 61st Street, 5th Floor, Room 504, New York, NY. For information, contact Professor Steven Shapiro at 646-273-6086 or via e-mail sshapi01@nyit.edu.
The course will be held 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the following weekends: Feb 23-24, March 9-10, and March 23-24.
NYIT's 14,000 students represent a diverse student body, hailing from all 50 states and more than 100 countries. With campuses in North America, China, and the Middle East as well as online, NYIT
offers a unique, 21st-century learning experience. The university is guided by its mission to provide career-oriented professional education, offer access to opportunity to all qualified students, and support applications-oriented research that benefits the larger world.
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