"Our annual reports are built around the vital input of our community," said Michelle Cross, DRI President and CEO. "They provide a roadmap for what we've experienced in the past year and how we can move forward."

Disaster Recovery Institute (DRI) International, the leading nonprofit in business continuity and resilience education and certification, has published its Eleventh Annual Global Risk and Resilience Trends Report. The report provides an independent analysis of current and emerging risks as viewed by those directly involved in resilience management.

(DEARBORN) April 24, 2025 – DRI International and RIMS have forged a partnership to accelerate resilience professionals’ ability to drive business continuity, strengthen risk programs, and advance professionally. The collaboration provides professionals with the opportunity to earn both the RIMS-CRMP and the DRI’s Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) certifications via the Exam Prep Bootcamp.

Taught live, online by expert instructors, the four-day bootcamp is a joint initiative offering professionals the resources to prepare for both examinations – the RIMS-CRMP Prep Workshop and the DRI Qualifying Examination – the path toward obtaining the sought-after RIMS-CRMP and CBCP certifications. This opportunity also includes exam fees for both certifications. To start this two-certification journey, professionals can visit this site.

“I am thrilled about DRI International and RIMS partnership, combining best-in-class business continuity from DRI International and unsurpassed risk management from RIMS. With one bootcamp, risk and business continuity professionals gain expertise from each other, expanding the scope of their knowledge. Best of all is the opportunity to obtain dual certifications from the top organizations in their respective disciplines,” said DRI President and CEO Michelle Cross, MBCP, CCRP.

“Central to RIMS mission is its commitment to providing risk professionals with career-advancing opportunities that allow them to showcase their expertise and the value they add to their organizations,” said RIMS CEO Gary A. LaBranche, FASAE, CAE. “RIMS is thrilled to team up with DRI International to advance risk management, keep businesses resilient, and help make the world a more sustainable and safer place.”

About DRI Business Continuity Certifications
DRI Business Continuity Certifications test professionals on the DRI International Professional Practices for Business Continuity Management: (1) Program Management (2) Risk Assessment (3) Business Impact Analysis (4) Business Continuity Strategies (5) Incident Preparedness and Response (6) Plan Development and Implementation (7) Awareness and Training Programs (8) Business Continuity Plan Exercise/Test, Assessment, and Maintenance (9) Crisis
Communications (10) Coordination with External Agencies and Resources. Business Continuity Certifications include the CBCP (Certified Business Continuity Professional), and well as the ABCP (Associate Business Continuity Professional), CBCV (Certified Business Continuity Vendor), and CFCP (Certified Functional Continuity Professional). DRI also offers the MBCP (Master Business Continuity Professional) certification, along with credentials in Cyber Resilience and other resilience disciplines. DRI has certified more than 20,000 professionals.

About DRI International
Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI) is the oldest and largest nonprofit that helps organizations around the world prepare for and recover from disasters by providing education, accreditation, and thought leadership in business continuity, disaster recovery, cyber resilience and related fields. Founded in 1988, DRI has certified 20,000+ resilience professionals in 110+ countries and at 95 percent of Fortune 100 companies. DRI offers 15 individual certifications, including the globally-recognized CBCP certification, and certifies organizations as resilient enterprises. DRI offers training programs ranging from introductory to masters level across a variety of specialties in multiple languages; online and in-person continuing education opportunities; and an annual conference dedicated to the resilience profession. DRI supports charitable activities through the DRI Foundation. To learn more, visit www.DRII.org.

About the RIMS-CRMP and RIMS-CRMP-FED Certification
The RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional certification (RIMS-CRMP) is the only accredited risk management certification in the world. The certification is accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) under ISO/IEC 17024:2012. Unlike insurance focused professional credentials, the RIMS-CRMP tests qualifying risk professionals on the following five domains: (1) Analyzing the Organizational Model (2) Designing Organizational Risk Strategies (3) Implementing the Risk Process (4) Developing Organizational Risk Competency (5) Supporting Decision Making. The RIMS-CRMP-FED tests three additional domains specific to the federal government (1) Understanding the ERM Environment (2) ERM Implementation and (3) ERM Reporting. Today, more than 1,500 risk leaders hold the certification. To learn more about the RIMS-CRMP and RIMS-CRMP-FED certification, visit www.RIMS.org/certification.

About RIMS
RIMS, the risk management society®️, empowers risk professionals to make the world safer, more secure, and more sustainable. Through networking, professional development, certification, advocacy, and research, RIMS and its 80 chapters serves more than 200,000 risk practitioners and business leaders from over 75 countries. Founded in 1950, the Society publishes the award-winning Risk Management Magazine and produces RISKWORLD®️, the largest annual gathering of global risk professionals. RIMS embraces diversity, equity and inclusion and welcomes all risk professionals to connect and learn, explore the online Risk Knowledge library, tune into the RIMScast podcast series, and engage with the global risk community via RIMS social media channels. To learn more, visit https://www.RIMS.org.

DRI International Announces Michelle Cross, MBCP, as New President and CEO

DRI International is proud to announce its new President and CEO, Michelle Cross. A seasoned resilience professional, longtime board member, and DRI Certified Professional, Cross brings decades of experience to the role.

“I am incredibly honored to join DRI International – the world’s most prestigious resilience organization,” said Cross, who holds Master Business Continuity Professional (MBCP) and Certified Cyber Resilience Professional (CCRP) credentials. “I am proud to work for an organization that puts the Certified Professional first. I look forward to creating even greater value for DRI Certified Professionals by working to expand our offerings through cooperative ventures and by bringing new focus to global outreach.”

“Michelle Cross is a seasoned resilience professional with over 25 years of experience,” said Al Berman, DRI Treasurer and past President and CEO. “She is the perfect person to lead DRI International into its very promising future.”

Cross has been working in the risk management and business continuity field for over 25 years, with 10 years as a member of the DRI International Board of Directors.

Prior to DRI, she was a Vice President with Fidelity Investments. While with Fidelity, Cross led the Business Continuity Center of Excellence and Vendor Resiliency Program, where she was responsible for operational resiliency of Fidelity’s global business operations, distribution channels, broker dealers, and legal entities. She developed strategic planning for increased resiliency, orchestrated global testing and exercising, and created metrics to assess program successes and measure organizational resiliency to drive continuous improvement. Her role involved the integration and coordination of multiple stakeholders including business operations, enterprise technology, and strategic supplier management to ensure a uniform and complete preparedness approach.

Most recently, Cross was the Vice President, Quantitative Data Optimization and Measurement for Fidelity, where she led diverse initiatives including data optimization and data enablement and governance service recovery – a complex and collaborative process to identify root causes and remediation for incidents impacting institutional customers and account holders. Before joining Fidelity in 2016, she spent 11 years as the National Practice Leader for Wells Fargo’s Business Continuity Consulting Practice after providing risk consulting services for Marsh & McLennan.

Cross is nationally recognized in the areas of business continuity, vendor resiliency, violence prevention, and ergonomics, and has spoken at regional and national conferences on these topics. She is a Master Business Continuity Professional (MBCP), Certified Cyber Resiliency Professional (CCRP), a Board Certified Professional Ergonomist (BCPE), and holds the Certification in Cyber Security from ISC2 (CC) as well as multiple licenses and services in financial services.

Cross has a B.S. from Northeast University, an M.S. from Northeastern University, and an M.S. from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

DRI International is proud to announce the winners of the 2025 DRI Awards of Excellence for their achievements in the business continuity, disaster recovery, and crisis management fields.