Awards of Excellence Finalists Announced!

These coveted awards recognize individuals and organizations who have achieved a certain level of excellence in the fields of continuity management, technology recovery, and crisis management.
 
And don't forget to vote in the two online voting categories: Lifetime Achievement Award and Service Provider of the Year.  It's easy to vote.  Just log into your MyDRI account and click on the Awards of Excellence Voting Booth.  And if you need a hand with MyDRI, just call us at (866) 542-3744. You must be certified and in good standing to vote. Voting closes April 15, 2013.
 
 
STRATEGY & INITIATIVE

 

Continuity Awareness Award

• Booz Allen's Mission Assurance Service
• The HP GBS BCP & Risk Management Team
• DBS Bank, Ltd

 
Response and Recovery of the Year

• Colorado Springs Utilities Emergency Response Plan (CSU ERP)
• SunGard Availability Services
• Fried Frank            

 
Strategy of the Year

• John Hartnett, Alston & Bird
• Khalid Bahabri, NCB Capital
• The Security Stack for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning

 
SERVICE PROVIDERS

Planning Software of the Year

• RPX by RecoveryPlanner
• ResilienceONE BCM Software by Strategic BCP
• OpsPlanner by Paradigm Solutions International

 
IT Infrastructure Award

• Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
• Kaiser Permanente - Information Technology Resiliency Management organization

 
Notification System of the Year

• MIR3
• Send Word Now
• SunGard Availability Services

 
Service Provider of the Year

• Ernie Bryan, Engineering Solutions, Inc.
• Bruce Gillespie, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
• David Mahoney, Northrop Grumman

 
PEOPLE

Industry Newcomer of the Year

• Gina Manos, Kaiser Permanente
• Erin Parks, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
• Judy Rasnake, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)

 
Team of the Year

• Port of Long Beach
• DTI Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Team
• Delta Dental BCP Team

 
Consultant of the Year

• Neil Kaufman, Pricewaterhouse Coopers
• Howard Bandler, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
• Peter Renneker, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)

 
Lifetime Achievement Award

• Thomas Carroll, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
• Richard Fairlamb, Fairlamb Int'l LLC
• Sue Hornstra, GE Capital
• Frank Perlmutter, Strategic BCP
• Jeffrey Yu, DRI China

 

Program Leader of the Year (Non-Profit Sector)

• Irene Opendak, Drexel University
• Kelley Okolita, Cambia Health Solutions
• Angela Devlen, Mahilia Partnership

 
Program Leader of the Year (Public Sector)

• Connor Scott, NACCHO
• Mohammed Jenaibi, NCEMA

 
Program Leader of the Year (Private Sector)

• Todd Marumoto, Mattel
• Thomas Wagner, Direct Edge
• Daniel Mikulsky, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)

The alarms went off at The Cloud Factory yesterday afternoon.  The Cloud Factory is what my son calls the Limerick Generating Station, better known as the Limerick nuclear power plant.  And I'm one of about 300,000 people who live within 10 miles of it. Actually, our house is no more than two miles from The Cloud Factory, thus the interest from my son.

How did it come to be called The Cloud Factory?  Well, when he was much younger, my son asked me what it was, and I gave him the same response I give to all "tough" kid questions: "What do you think?" It buys me some time, gives me insight into what he already knows, and often makes further explanation completely unnecessary. He said, "I think it's where they make clouds, a cloud factory!"  It stuck. By the way, this tactic worked beautifully when he asked where babies come from. 

 

Me: What do you think?

When the local nuke goes big bad bells and whistles, it's not the kind of thing you ignore. The last time it happened, I was pretty close to panicking, but this time, I was ready because of the Patch. No, not the cigarette substitute (I don't smoke, but I wish they'd come up with a patch for chocolate!).  The Patch is the local Limerick online newspaper.  There are Patches springing up all over; click here to find yours.  

Patch is the ultimate in local news. It reports on everything you need to know about your town, from local government to school news to what to do with your family on the weekend. And your local Patch makes it easy for you and your neighbors to connect and post news and events too.
 
So, when something happens, I turn to the Patch. And they had the story: "Limerick will be performing a site evacuation alarm test today at 1 pm. This is a site wide test only; no emergency sirens will be sounded. However, due to the length (typically 90 sec to 2 minutes) and volume of the test, the sound may carry offsite, which could result in questions from residents." Whew! Kind of odd to do it on the anniversary of the Three Mile Island disaster, though.
 
My point in telling you this is to encourage you to check out your local Patch and tell your employees to do the same.  It's a great place to get information (like last week, when I discovered the town wasn't burning down, but the girls' basketball team had won states and were getting a police and fire escort). It's also a great place for businesses to share news about potentially scary exercises and simulations your organization may be conducting.  Patch also welcomes bloggers.  What a great -- and free -- way for some of you to get the word out on continuity and preparedness!
 
Thanks to the Patch, I'm sitting pretty and not panicking.  I also discovered that the country's largest alligator (14-foot-long, 800-pound Mighty Mike) is on loan to a nearby aquarium and that a 19,000-square-foot trampoline park just opened nearby.  It's a great weekend for living dangerously!

 

Buffy Rojas

Bidding for the Disaster Recovery International Foundation online auction opens Monday. The annual online auction is being held as a fundraiser to support the foundation. The auction will launch on Monday, April 1 and will close on Wednesday, May 15. We have lots of great items ranging from restaurant gift cards, to sports memorabilia, to electronics, to spas, to vacation packages, to theater and philharmonic tickets, and much more. Some items will continue past the online auction and be present at our silent auction at DRI2013 on June 6. Don't worry if you can't be present, as absentee bidding will be in place for these items. Click here to view items and bid.

Items include: Cocktail Cruise, Mets Tickets, Legoland, Spa Package, NY Skyride, Ritz Carlton, STOMP Tickets, Rock of Ages Tickets, Yankees Tickets, Disney.

Don't miss next week's announcements from DRI International!  We'll be sharing some huge industry news!

The announcement of this special project, which has long been in the works, has great significance for the industry as well as for attendees of DRI2013, who will be invited to participate. Click here for more information on DRI2013 or to register.  And stay tuned! We'll tell you all about it next week!

Need some examples of business disruption that aren't caused by Mother Nature? Well, the fashion world reported two BCP blunders recently  -- Lululemon and it's see-through yoga pants, and Kate Middleton's supply chain snafu.

Middleton nearly ruined a fashion designer by popularizing a dress.  Once worn by Kate, demand for the dress was so great that it nearly brought the small fashion house, Issa, to its knees.  According to Issa's current chairwoman, Camilla Al Fayed, the sudden increase in orders almost caused Issa to go under. "It absolutely sky-rocketed the brand on a global scale, but it was too much," she's quoted as saying by Vogue UK. "Demand was so huge the business couldn't cope. If Kate wears a Zara dress, these huge companies have the backing to follow through. Issa was basically run by interns, students and Daniella [Helayel, the label's founder and designer]. There was no business model." Issa recovered by shoring up its supply chain and now Kate's dress still sells out.  How's that for a success story?

We'll have to wait and see if Lululemon bounces back from its recent clothing crisis.  The popular, up-scale purveyors of yoga and workout gear had to recall its most popular yoga pants and offer refunds to complaining customers. What's the problem? The pants are practically see-through.

The recall is expected to cost the company about $60 million in lost sales.  According to this New York Times report, "the consequences could be significant for Lululemon," as once-loyal customers try competitors on for size.

What does business continuity have in common with Jimi Hendrix?  The answer is a question: Are you experienced?  

It was the title of Hendrix' 1967 debut album (minus the question mark) and it's something continuity professionals are often asked and wonder about each other.  You all plan, but how many of you have had to enact those plans, and how many of you have been in the field during a significant disaster?  Take this week's survey and let us know.  We'll report the results next week and on our LinkedIn.