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Awards of Excellence

DRI International Awards of Excellence Winners Announced

DRI International congratulates the winners of the 2018 DRI Awards of Excellence. 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.

Winners in the following awards categories are marked below in bold with an asterisk. Congratulations to all the finalists and winners for their exceptional contribution to the business continuity profession!

Program Leader of the Year (Private Sector)

Pauline Williams-Banta, The Energy Authority

John Liuzzi, Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits

Keith Cantando, Cisco Systems

Program Leader of the Year (Public Sector)

Michael Mastrangelo, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

Ryan Miller, Howard County Government

Kamroonbanu Mohideenbasha, City and County of San Francisco

Program Leader of the Year (Non-Profit Sector)

Rich Leonardo, OhioHealth

Nicolette Louissaint, Healthcare Ready

Rania Al-Maghraby, The EAITSM Inc.

Consultant of the Year

Dean Gallup, Advantaged Solutions, Inc.

Philip Bigge, Ripcord Solutions

Carlo Kelejian, Continuity Innovations, LLC

Newcomer of the Year

Robert Summerson, Continuity Logic

Alexandria Brennan, State Street Bank

Christopher Hucke, Barclays

Team of the Year

Cognizant Technology Solutions

ADP

TCF Bank

Response and Recovery of the Year

Gallagher

Cisco Services Business Continuity

First Data

Lifetime Achievement Award

Greg Holdburg

Tejas Katwala

Fred "Freddie" H. Sebren

Frank Perlmutter

R Vaidhyanath

Product/Service Provider of the Year

BC in the Cloud

Continuity Logic

Fusion Risk Management

GlobalSUITE - Business Continuity

Northrop Grumman

PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia

Rentsys Recovery Services

Strategic BCP ResilienceOne

Sungard Availability Services (Sungard AS)

The Social Simulator

Letter from AnneMarie Staley, Chair of DRI International Awards of Excellence Program

Our conference has been growing exponentially each year and that’s why we’re ecstatic to bring our 7th annual conference on February 11-14, 2018 to Nashville: Music City! Now's your chance to nominate your team, colleague, mentor, or yourself in the 2018 DRI International Awards of Excellence.

We strongly believe that as the premier accreditation organization in the business continuity arena it is our duty to recognize and celebrate excellence. DRI International honors individuals and organizations who are leaders and innovators within our profession and we recognize those who have achieved a level of excellence in the industry.

The call for nominations has begun and we are looking forward to receiving your nominations and reading your submissions. The DRI Awards of Excellence present a unique opportunity for professionals and organizations to be publicly acknowledged as leaders in their field amongst their peers in the industry.

The nomination process is easy. You can begin submitting your nominations here beginning August 1, 2017.

The awards will be presented at the Awards of Excellence Gala Dinner at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, TN on Tuesday evening, February 13, 2018.

Remember, to be considered, you must submit your nominations by December 8, 2017.

If you need help or more information, please contact us by calling (866) 542-3744 or send an email to driinfo@drii.org.

AnneMarie Staley

Chair
DRI International Awards of Excellence Program

DRI International Awards of Excellence Categories

Program Leader of the Year (Private Sector)

This award goes to the business continuity program leader who has demonstrated exceptional innovation and leadership within the private sector, as well as a deep understanding of the continuity issues most important to the field. Strategic thinking, collaborative teamwork, and exceptional communication skills are the benchmarks of an exceptional program leader, and nominations will be judged by these criteria.

Program Leader of the Year (Public Sector)

The winner of this award will have enhanced the business resilience of a public sector organization, while improving community preparedness as a champion of business continuity to local businesses. Nominations will be evaluated on experience and understanding of business continuity issues and best practices, promotion of BCM in the community, as well as the ability to successfully navigate organizational, legislative, or community challenges to achieve success.

Program Leader of the Year (Non-Profit Sector - 501(c)(3))

This award recognizes those practitioners working to make the non-profit sector more resilient, by strengthening relationships among service suppliers, insurers, and continuity professionals, as well as developing creative, effective approaches to continuity planning and promotion. Entries will be judged on experience, understanding of continuity issues and best practices, and creative problem-solving.

Consultant of the Year

This award recognizes consultants who excel in the field of business continuity program management, use creative problem solving to tackle difficult issues, and instill a culture of continuity in every organization with which they work. Among the deciding factors in the selection process: evidence of strong relationships with clients and other continuity professionals, as well as innovative ideas on the future of continuity planning.

Newcomer of the Year

This award welcomes and encourages those who are new to the profession and bring with them fresh ideas and perspectives. The award recognizes up-and-coming leaders who display ingenuity and understand the wider impact of business continuity within their organizations.

Lifetime Achievement Award (Voted online)

This award honors the most experienced professionals in the industry for the stellar work they have done over the course of their careers. The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award is well-regarded among continuity professionals and has a track record of professional success and respect from peers in the field. DRI Certified Professionals will have the opportunity to vote for the nominee of their choice.

Team of the Year

This award recognizes excellent business continuity teams, of which essential ingredients are collaboration and communication. Nominees will display exceptional teamwork within the business continuity department, in-house across the organization, and with external consultants and partners.

Response and Recovery of the Year

The ability to recover from a disaster – whether it was a hardware/software failure, a product recall, a natural disaster, or some other catastrophic event – is the foundation on which business continuity is built. This award recognizes those who have successfully bounced back from a major incident using their plans, skills, and creativity.

Product/Service Provider of the Year (Voted online)

Recognizing the best in products and services developed for business continuity providers, this award is decided by online votes from DRI Certified Professionals across all industry sectors. These providers show they are committed to promoting business continuity to both their core customer base and the wider consumer market. Judges award innovation and quality as well as customer service, staff awareness, training activities, and other strong efforts.

DRI International Awards of Excellence Judging Process

The awards judging process employs a secure online voting, submission and review mechanism, which ensures integrity and accountability at each level of submission and review:

  • Each potential finalist nominee and winner is reviewed entirely by a blind judging process.
  • All submissions are thoroughly scrubbed to guarantee that the judges do not see anyone’s name, identifying company or other personal identifying information so they may remain impartial.
  • A randomly generated number is assigned to each submission - this is the only identifier known to the judges.
  • Judges are only permitted to view the nominee's submission and any accompanying documentation that was provided.

The review process involves two rounds of judging:

First Round

  • In the first round, judges are responsible for selecting two or more finalists in each category. The submission by any nominee for a category must meet the Professional Practices standards and requirements of that category.
  • If an award category fails to garner a minimum of two nominees by the submission deadline date, that award category is suspended for that year and no award will be given for that particular award category.
  • If an award category does garner a minimum of two nominees by the submission deadline date, each selected finalist is reviewed twice, at a minimum, in this round.

Second Round

  • The second round of judging involves a further review of the finalist submissions and one winner in each category is selected.
  • At the discretion of the judges, finalists may be contacted to verify submitted information.
  • All winners are announced at the Awards of Excellence Gala Dinner.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's nominations for 2018. Good luck!

Traci O'Neal

DRI International Senior Director of Operations and Certification

DRI International Industry Awards and Gala Dinner FAQs
  1. What are the Awards of Excellence?

    The industry awards presented by DRI International are known as the Awards of Excellence and are awarded in categories that recognize those who have achieved a level of excellence in the fields of continuity management, technology recovery (DR), and crisis management through a nomination and judging process. The award presentations will be made at the Gala Dinner to be held at the culmination of the DRI2018 conference in Nashville, TN on Tuesday, February 13, 2018.

  2. What is the Gala Dinner?

    The Gala Dinner is an event that recognizes the finalists and winners of the Awards of Excellence. The Gala Dinner will be held during the DRI2018 conference at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, TN, on Tuesday evening, February 13, 2018.

  3. Where can I find information on the categories of the industry awards?

    Information on each of the categories can be found under the DRI International Awards of Excellence Categories tab.

  4. Can I nominate myself/ my own company/ my own product/ my strategy?

    Yes. Please note that some categories require customer/client endorsements. Please see individual category criteria for more details under the DRI International Awards of Excellence Categories tab.

  5. Can I submit more than one entry or be nominated for multiple categories?

    Yes. However, please ensure that you follow the entry criteria for each individual category to which you submit.

  6. Does an individual have to be DRI certified to be considered for an award?

    No. To be considered for an award, you need only meet the experience required in the entry criteria against the identified Professional Practices. Anyone may nominate you for any category - and the person nominating you does not have to be a DRI Certified Professional.

  7. Does an individual have to be DRI certified to be considered for an online award?

    No. To be considered for either of the online awards, you need only meet the experience required in the entry criteria.

  8. Does an individual have to be DRI certified to vote for an online award?

    Yes. In order to vote for either or both of the online categories (Lifetime Achievement and Service Provider of the Year), you must be a DRI Certified, current, active member. You can only vote once for each category.

  9. How do I submit a nomination?

    Please follow the instructions on the Submit a Nomination under the "Attend Events" tab in our website. If you need clarification about the nomination submission process, please contact us at 1-866-542-3744 or email driinfo@drii.org.

  10. How long do I have to submit a nomination?

    The period for submitting category or online nominations begins August 1, 2017 and ends on December 8, 2017.

  11. When can I vote for the online nominees?

    The voting period for the two online categories begins on December 9, 2017 and ends on January 2, 2018.

  12. When will I know if I, or my company, have been shortlisted?

    The shortlist of finalists for the 2018 Awards will be posted January 4, 2018, unless otherwise advised, on the www.drii.org website.

  13. If I send hard copies of my entry, can I expect to have them returned?

    We cannot guarantee the return of hard copies, but special circumstances may permit the return of some materials if you request to have them returned.

  14. Can I be assured that my nomination will be treated in strictest confidence?

    Yes. Each of our judges has signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

  15. I am not based in the United States. May I still submit an entry?

    Yes. The Awards are internationally recognized. We only ask that your entries be submitted in English.

  16. Is there a fee for submitting an entry?

    No, there is no cost for making a submission.

  17. May I send more than the recommended number of words (1,000) for my entry?

    You may send supporting material, but we cannot guarantee it will all be read by the judges. The focus of your submission should be on the 1,000 word online entry. The system does allow you to cut and paste information directly into the essay field.

  18. What happens if there is only one nomination for a category?

    If there is only one nomination entry for a category, that entry will not be selected/judged/voted upon for the DRI award. There must be at least two or more nominations for each category.

  19. What is the judging period for the 2018 Awards?

    • Submit nominations online: August 1, 2017 through December 8, 2017
    • Lifetime Achievement Award and Product/Service Provider of the Year online nominations are from August 1, 2017 to December 8, 2017
    • Lifetime Achievement Award and Product/Service Provider of the Year online voting opens to the DRI community from December 9, 2017 through January 2, 2018
    • Judges select Finalist Nominees: December 9, 2017 through January 2, 2018
    • Finalist Nominees shortlist published: January 4, 2018, unless otherwise stated
    • The winners revealed: Tuesday, February 13, 2018 at the Awards Gala Dinner
  20. When can I vote for the online categories of Lifetime Achievement and Service Provider of the Year?

    You will be able to vote for these two categories beginning December 9, 2017.

  21. I'm attending the conference, is there a fee to attend the Industry Awards and Gala Dinner?

    No. The cost for attending the Awards of Excellence and Gala Dinner is included in the conference package. Please make sure you indicate whether you are attending and make a food selection when you register for the conference.

  22. Can I bring a guest to the Industry Awards and Gala Dinner?

    Yes. If your guest is not a conference attendee, there will be a separate $125 fee. Remember, conference attendees can attend the Awards dinner free of charge. When registering for the conference, please indicate if you are bringing a guest(s) who is not a conference participant.

  23. What time does the Awards and Gala Dinner start?

    The evening will begin with a cocktail reception and Auction at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, TN, at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 13, 2018. The Awards and Dinner service will begin at 8:00 p.m.

  24. Is there assigned seating at the dinner?

    While there will be some assigned seating for sponsors, the rest of the seating will be open plan style.

  25. What is the dress code for this event?

    The dress code is evening attire - semi-formal, cocktail dress or dark business suit.

  26. Can we sponsor a category in the 2018 Awards?

    Yes. Please contact Russell Wooldridge at (410) 379-2101 or email rwooldridge@drii.org.

  27. Do you have a question that we haven't already answered?

    Please contact us at (866) 542-3744 or email driinfo@drii.org.

Past Award Winners
2017

Program Leader of the Year (Private Sector)

Almas A. Dhanani - Capgemini

Anthony Pizzitola - TOPS Surgical Specialty Hospital

Carla Glass - Northrop Grumman

Program Leader of the Year (Public Sector)

Dr. Shahram-Dehbozorgi - Iranian Ministry of Petroleum, Health Organization

Mudasar Nawaz - City of Toronto

Mary Jo Chafin – California Department of Technology

Program Leader of the Year (Non-Profit Sector)

Brian Whitlow – San Francisco Community Agencies Responding to Disaster

Dale Beech – AARP

Consultant of the Year

Joe Starzyk – IBM

Edward B. "Ted" Brown - KETCHConsulting

Christopher Rivera – Lootok, Ltd.

Newcomer of the Year

Purple Kumai – TELUS Communications, Inc.

Sarah Swanson – Peterbilt Motors Company

Tara Stroup – City of Port Coquitlam

Team of the Year

Colorado Springs Utilities

DBS Bank, Ltd.

McKesson

Response and Recovery of the Year

Aon

TELUS Communications

Exelon Corporation

Lifetime Achievement Award

Edward B. "Ted" Brown – KETCHConsulting

Sally Cohn – RecoveryPlanner.com, Inc.

Nina White – Chemical Bank

Jeffrey Yu – DRI China

Product/Service Provider of the Year

Continuity Logic

GlobalSUITE - Business Continuity

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Rave Mobile Safety

RecoveryPlanner.com, Inc.

Regroup Mass Notification

Send Word Now

Strategic BCP's ResilienceONE BCM Software

Sungard Availability Services

VirtualPBX

2017 DRI International Honor Roll Award Winner

Bobby Williams, MBCP - Director of IT Continuity and Risk Management, Fidelity Investments

2016

People

Program Leader of the Year (Private Sector)
Ashvin Parankusha, GalaxE Solutions Inc.

Ashvin Parankusha currently works as Director – Information Security at GalaxE Solutions Inc. He heads Business Continuity and Crisis Response teams for India operations along with Security and GRC Practices, whilst contributing to the Global Resilience strategies. He has won accolades for his contribution towards GRC initiatives, BCMS efforts and Executive Protection Tasks at GalaxE.

As an acknowledged leader in security and GRC industry, he is known for his capabilities that bring value to the businesses and industries he has been engaged with. A few of his works include having managed the GRC aspects for multiple business conglomerates and milestones involving managed business continuity and GRC for Asia's largest Tier 4 data-center, India's leading PayTV & subscription service provider, government entities in India and Middle East and other global organizations.

With an entrepreneurial instinct and immense passion towards knowledge building and wanting to contribute to Industry, Humanitarian and social initiatives, Parnakusha has been is an active participant with numerous bodies that closely work with Indian government against Anti-social and extremist activities. He is currently supporting the Global CSO office with his efforts in building the global BCMS frameworks and re-designed the ODC based continuity model with strategies, planning, testing and awareness creation of IT and operational resilience at GalaxE. He has been part of helping Fortune 100 companies with their related contingency and resilience activities and a pioneer contributor to business continuity and operational resilience sector along with his GRC leadership capabilities.

Program Leader of the Year (Non-Profit Sector)
Bennie R. Moore, CBCP, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

Bennie Moore joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in 1977 as an entry-level computer programmer and currently is the Assistant Vice President of Risk Mitigation, leading the Bank's Business Continuity and Records and Information Management. His area is responsible for the organization's crisis management planning, continuity of operations, relocation site readiness, crisis exercises, and assisting business areas with their business continuity planning.

Moore has evolved the Business Continuity Management Program within the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond since assuming responsibility for it in September 2001. He led efforts to systematically redevelop the program from a foundational level to include development, maintenance and testing of organizational and functional business continuity plans to ensure continuity of all mission-critical functions.

He formed a team of Business Continuity professionals to mature the program through a broad range of efforts including developing organizational policies and procedures, plans for senior leaders making up the Crisis Management Team, a Pandemic Response Plan, organizational emergency response procedures, standard content for functional business continuity plans, establishing a new relocation site with robust capabilities, and a comprehensive exercise program.

In addition, Bennie has been involved with multiple efforts at the Federal Reserve System level including serving as Secretary for the Subcommittee on Business Continuity, defining a set of System Business Continuity Principles, development of a System Crisis Management Handbook for senior leaders, developing and conducting multiple tabletop exercises for System senior leaders including Presidents and Board of Governors members, and First Vice Presidents, and implementing a standard business continuity planning applications used by all areas of the System. The results of Bennie's efforts have contributed to increased preparedness for both his organization and the Federal Reserve System to more effectively respond to events.

Consultant of the Year
Christopher Duffy, Strategic BCP

Christopher Duffy is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). He possesses more than 25 years of experience in IT management, disaster recovery, business impact analysis, and the development and creation of business continuity plans.

Duffy brings energy and excitement to business continuity, disaster recovery, and risk consulting. His non-invasive approach engages business and IT functions while minimizing interruption within individual departments. Duffy's real-world methodology includes a blend of Strategic BCP's award-winning ResilienceONE BCM software, whiteboards, and low-key departmental interviews. These enjoyable client interviews are sprinkled with humor and industry-relevant anecdotes. They bring high-level visibility of BC/DR to both planner and sponsor without ever relying on—or teaching—industry terminology. Duffy has developed these processes and programs to ensure that the BC/DR program remains a positive experience within client organizations—both during the initial engagement and afterward.

Industry Newcomer of the Year
William J Kearney, Cameron International

As the Cameron International Corporation and One Subsea's Global Business Continuity Manager, William Kearney is an expert in the full business continuity life cycle and crisis management with a wealth of global experience. He has had a distinguished career in the military and law enforcement.

Kearney is responsible for developing, maintaining and testing the company's business continuity program to comply with international standards. He also supports all business plan activities necessary to enable the Organization to manage a crisis event as well as meet compliance requirements for BCP planning. He provides guidance to the Gold, Silver, and Bronze level Incident management teams in preparing to deal with major incidents affecting the organization. With his senior management skills and intimate current knowledge of BC legislation and practices, he has personally led the company, which consists of a hugely cultural diverse international workforce of 20,000 in approximately three hundred locations globally, from zero to a full internal corporate BC program in 18 months.

Team of the Year
Aon Service Corporation - Global Business Continuity Management Team

Aon's 13-member GBCM team has 115+ years of collective experience in the Continuity field. Team members bring extensive experience developing business continuity, crisis management and disaster recovery plans, including delivering training and exercises to hundreds of teams.

The program leaders, each bring 15+ years of experience delivering continuity of service expertise and tactical crisis response support. During their careers at Aon and prior, GBCM team members have led and/or participated in high profile responses to catastrophic events, including Hurricane Katrina, H1N1, 9-11, Northeast Blackout 2003, the Japan earthquake, NATO and G-8 Summits. London Olympics, Superstorm Sandy, Papal visits, Chennai Flooding, Calgary Flooding, and severe weather in addition to other global events, both large and small.

Aon's Global Business Continuity Management (GBCM) team is passionate about protecting Aon's brand and people through a perpetual focus on contingency efforts to maximize preparedness, minimize impact and continue client delivery in the event of a business disruption, and contributing to empower results at Aon. The team is responsible for delivering continuity of service expertise and tactical crisis response support to 72,000+ colleagues and the clients they serve across 500+ locations in over 120 countries.


Team members:

  • Stacy Summers - VP, Global Business Continuity Management & Disaster Recovery
  • Barbara McAvenia, CBCP - Sr. Manager, GBCM - Global leadership team, Americas Regional Leader, and Colleague Development Program Leader
  • Josh Falcone, CBCP – Sr. Specialist
  • Noreen Campbell, CBCP – Sr. Specialist
  • Lorraine Suessenguth - Sr. Specialist
  • Theresa Enright, CBCP - Director, GBCM - Global leadership team and Operations Program Leader
  • Vickie Reuther, CBCP – Sr. Manager GBCM - Global leadership team and Awareness Program Leader
  • James Doswell – Interim UK/EMEA Regional Leader
  • David Lawlor – Business Continuity Manager
  • Joanna Chodur – Business Continuity Manager
  • Saurabh Dwivedi, CBCP – Manager and Interim APAC Regional Leader
  • Karun Mehta - Specialist III
  • Wayne Ong – Sr. Analyst
Lifetime Achievement Award
Brian Miller, CBCP, Vanguard EMC Inc.

Brian Miller is a partner at Vanguard EMC, a thriving consultancy delivering best practice guidance for all aspects of emergency management and business continuity to government and enterprise clients throughout Canada. He has more than 40 years of hands-on operational experience and management leadership in telecommunications, labor relations, emergency management and business continuity.

Brian Miller has been involved with several projects that have included large scale emergency management implementation, creation and realization of a business continuity program for a utility with 55,000 employees, research on exercise best practices with Public Safety Canada, Ontario EMO, Justice Institute of BC and FEMA. Miller has significantly influenced the development of the business continuity profession in Canada through insight, leadership and collaboration.

Miller has been an apostle and mentor of BCM since the profession first formalized in Canada. In a founder, visionary, builder, and/or instructor capacity, Miller has been involved with an array of organizations, including the Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness, the Canadian Telecommunications Emergency Preparedness Association, DRI Canada, DRIE Ottowa, Vanguard EMC, Bell Canada Emergency Management and Business Continuity, Canada School of Public Service, Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Sciences, and Development Dimensions International.

Strategy & Initiative

Response and Recovery of the Year
Exelon Corporation

The nation's leading competitive energy provider, Exelon Corporation is committed to maintaining the highest standards of safety and reliability for its people, customers and communities.

Following the death of Freddie Gray, a man who died while in Baltimore police custody, protest escalated to a city-wide disaster, causing the governor to implement a city-wide curfew. The unrest lasted for eight days, temporarily shutting down 11 Exelon facilities in its downtown location. This affected more than 4,000 Exelon employees within 3 critical operating companies. Downstream effects to operations were felt throughout the entire country, as Exelon provides energy services in 48 states.

With multiple operating companies impacted, effective and timely communication to foster responsive decisions was critical for successful recovery. Immediately following the emergency declaration, Exelon's Business Continuity Services (BCS) team mobilized 3 Crisis Management Teams comprised of leadership from the operating companies, Corporate and Information Security Services (CISS), Real Estate and Facilities (REF), Human Resources, IT, and Communications using the company's automated notification system. BCS facilitated these calls to provide an overview of the incident, review roles and responsibilities of each group, and ultimately prioritize critical functions and response actions. Immediately, executive leadership dismissed all employees within the city and 76 Business Continuity Plans were implemented to continue and recover time-sensitive processes.

This resulted in the best possible outcome – no negative impact to operations, continuity of energy reliability and the confirmed safety of over 4,000 employees.

Continuity Awareness Award
Amdocs Inc. Corporate BCM Team

Amdocs Corporate Business Continuity Management (BCM) team is committed to business continuity awareness.

The team wanted to ensure that all employees were aware that Amdocs possessed a business continuity plan, and they could help make this plan a success. It has worked to have all employees adopt a number of important practices. Working with HR to include BCM information in the "New Employee Orientation", these employees were exposed to BCM during their first meetings at the company.

The BCM team subsequently expanded our activities to participating in an annual Business Continuity Awareness Week Every year, working to make its activities more fun, exciting and meaningful, focusing on continuous improvement and better ways to present information to employees while staying within budget, including:

  • Posters highlighting the BCM activities
  • Emails explaining different activities and procedures related to BCM
  • Using cartoon superheroes to ask how they could be a BC superhero
  • A computer game highlighting BCM activities,
  • And more.

These steps increased participation and ownership in activities that everyone could do to ensure they were more prepared and able to assist the company to continue business, even if they were not part of the Business Continuity team.

Service Providers

Service Provider of the Year
Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman has assisted the Commonwealth of Virginia in developing a reliable and agile IT infrastructure for the state government, securing sensitive information and assets, and implementing best practices based on the ITIL framework.

Northrop Grumman has developed a robust service continuity plan for delivering disaster recovery services to Commonwealth of Virginia agencies based on identifying and assessing risks within the service areas that might impede the recovery of an IT service, determining the recovery requirements through a Business Impact Analysis and translating those recovery requirements into infrastructure options and data storage requirements.

Northrop Grumman Disaster Recovery subscription service allows the Commonwealth agencies to avoid the costs of purchasing the infrastructure, software and maintenance required for a disaster recovery site. Northrop Grumman in conjunction with the Commonwealth of Virginia executes a disaster recovery exercise on an annual basis. This exercise simulates a disaster at its primary data center, the Commonwealth Enterprise Solution Center (CESC). This simulation is an actual recovery exercise, not a tabletop exercise, which involves restoring services and data within contractually required RTOs and RPOs. This activity is paramount so that the Commonwealth can still perform their vital business functions for its citizens. Northrop Grumman is believed to be the only service provider that executes a full disaster recovery drill for any state in the country.

Planning Software of the Year
ClearView Continuity

ClearView is the world's latest generation of Business Continuity Management platform encompassing Risk Assessment, BIA, Planning, DR Plans, Exercising, Incident Management, Mass Notification, ISO 22301 Compliance, and Continual Resilience Improvement.

ClearView Continuity has led the way to embed continuity planning into the business; getting real engagement of the business users who are not BC trained; more 'ownership' of plans and a greater propensity to follow them in times of incident. Further, ClearView's open nature means that BC data can at last be viewed as a corporate asset. ClearView thus supports more engagement of non-BC staff, and greater exploitation of the BC dataset. Enhanced resilience and better value are the inevitable results.

Notification System of the Yearr
Send Word Now

Headquartered in New York City, Send Word Now is the leading worldwide provider of critical communications solutions for the enterprise.

For more than a decade, Send Word Now's cloud-based Alerting Service has set the standard for the business continuity industry. Send Word Now continues its unparalleled commitment to introducing new innovations that enhance business resilience for organizations across the globe, including recent advancements in mobile and geographically targeted alerting. Its investments in system security and reliability are unmatched in the industry. Despite the solution's power and flexibility, it offers the industry's simplest and most intuitive user interface. All of this gives resiliency professionals confidence and peace of mind when it comes to communicating during a crisis.

2015

People

Program Leader of the Year (Private Sector)
Larry Chase - Symantec Corporation, CA

Larry Chase is a decorated United States Air Force Veteran who served in the Intelligence Service and Strategic Air Command. His 25 year private sector career has earned him international acknowledgement for every program he has founded and/or led. As a pioneer in holistic enterprise risk and resiliency management, Chase has earned unprecedented success in executive support and programmatic business value. Throughout his career, he has built highly-touted BCM programs and cultures across Fortune 100 organizations in the banking, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, utility and security protection sectors. As a survivor of the 9.0 earthquake in Japan and Hurricane Katrina, Chase leverages lessons from these ground zero experiences in his "practice like you fight" methodologies and collaborative efforts to enhance BCM program maturity.

During his tenure as the Senior Director of Symantec Enterprise Resiliency Organization, global program maturity has increased three full levels and is becoming an emerging model to full scale international operational exercises. The program has also been driven by an historic executive level of visibility and budget allocations.

Chase continues to serve on numerous public and private sector boards and advisory committees, including acting as a current chair of the SunGard International User Group Board. Chase is a strong supporter of Wounded Warrior Project, Veterans Employee Resource Group Officer and an avid fund raiser for the Children's Organ Transplant Association. He is also passionate about music and is a performing musician.

Program Leader of the Year (Public Sector)
Brian Gray - United Nations, NY

Brian Gray joined the United Nations World Food Programme in 1999 after a career in the Canadian Army. Since then, he has worked in over 75 countries in the logistics, security, administration and programming fields, with field postings in Sierra Leone, Iraq andAfghanistan. Gray has been central to the development and implementation of business continuity and organizational resilience management in the United Nations. He regularly speaks at international conferences on risk management, organizational resilience and the application of social media in emergencies.

Program Leader of the Year (Non-Profit Sector)
Jill Frater - University of Southern California, CA

Jill Frater is the Business Continuity Specialist for the University of Southern California (USC) and has over 10 years of contingency planning and emergency management experience in the public and private sectors. In this role, Frater leads the university-wide continuity program and is responsible for the development, maintenance and testing of recovery plans to ensure continuity of teaching, research and patient care for all USC units in all locations. Frater also plans and executes training, drills and disaster simulations to ensure an ever-ready state of preparedness. Frater holds a Master's of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Management and Leadership from the University of La Verne and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business. She is a Master Business Continuity Professional (MBCP) through DRI International and is also a Member of the Business Continuity Institute (MBCI).

Frater is a member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Association of Contingency Planners organization (ACP), SunGard's Regional User Group, and volunteers with the American Red Cross Los Angeles Region. In addition, Frater is involved with the outreach and education of emergency preparedness for the local community in South Los Angeles.

Consultant of the Year
Arun Sharma - Control Risks, Washington D.C.

Arun Sharma is a Senior Consultant in the Crisis and Security Practice at the international risk consultancy, Control Risks. For over fifteen years, Sharma has been providing expertise in the areas of crisis management, business continuity and pandemic preparedness to multinational clients with vast global footprints. In 2014, Sharma spent six weeks in Saudi Arabia training health care workers on how to operationally respond to cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV). Later, as the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) emerged, Sharma worked with numerous multinational clients to enhance their contingency plans for mass workplace absenteeism and disruptions in the supply chain. Recently, Sharma's work has been highlighted on Marketplace where he provided listeners with basic advice on how employers can quell workplace anxiety and methodically overcome the risks associated with infectious diseases.

Sharma holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management and an MBA from the University of Maryland University College.

Team of the Year
Commercial International Bank - Shatssy Hassan, Egypt

Commercial International Bank (CIB) was established in 1975 as Chase National Bank, a joint venture between Chase Manhattan and National Bank of Egypt (NBE). In 1987, Chase divested its ownership stake due to a shift in international strategy, the stake was acquired by NBE, at which point the bank adopted the name Commercial International Bank.

CIB is the leading private sector bank in Egypt, offering a board range of financial products and services to its customers, which include enterprises of all sizes, institutions, households and high-net worth (HNW) individuals. In addition to traditional asset and liability products, we offer wealth management, securitization, direct investment & treasury services, all delivered through client-centric teams. CIB also owns a number of subsidiaries, including CICapital, Commercial International Insurance,Falcon Group, Egypt factors and CorpLease. The bank strives to provide clients with superior solutions to meet all of their financial needs. This enables the bank to maintain its leadership position in the market.

Our commitment to the country in which we live and operate in is an integral part of our business culture. It has always been among CIB's top priorities and responsibilities to contribute to our country's prosperity and welfare. CIB turns commitments into actions through its corporate social responsibility programs. The CIB team is firmly dedicated to supporting Egypt during these turbulent times and is proud of the impact our investment of time, effort and resources has had on our community.

Industry Newcomer of the Year
Emad Aziz - Department of Internal Services, Halifax Canada

Emad Aziz originates from Karachi, Pakistan and immigrated to Canada in 1999. A graduate from York University, he began his IT career at Canadian icon, BlackBerry, the preferred choice of business continuity and emergency response professionals. This exposure sparked his interest in business continuity. Through peers and self-study, Aziz grasped professional practices to support business continuity planning for BlackBerry's Halifax operations. Presently, Aziz works as Director, Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery at the Chief Information Office, Province of Nova Scotia.

Aziz is an active member of the Nova Scotia community supporting local initiatives such as Feed Nova Scotia, Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia and Immigrant Settlement Services. He also works with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Halifax Regional Police, promoting healthy working relationships and protecting communities through awareness campaigns. As a Canadian immigrant, his main focus is establishing a strong Canadian identity for immigrants through cooperation on inter-faith projects, active community involvement, and leadership mentoring for youth.

Strategy & Initiative

Strategy of the Year
Pauline Williams - Banta - The Energy Authority, FL

Pauline Williams-Banta is the enterprise continuity leader at The Energy Authority (TEA), a national energy trading and portfolio management firm for utilities. She is responsible for all things related to business continuity and disaster recovery management for TEA's environment, which includes bi-coastal offices that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Williams-Banta uses a risk management approach to design and implement technology-driven recovery strategies for the organization. She engages with business managers, engineers, database managers, and system administrators to develop strategic and day-to-day business continuity services that leverage TEA's sophisticated technology.

Williams-Banta has more than 20 years of business experience. She is a Master Business Continuity Professional (MBCP), a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), a Project Management Professional (PMP), and a Risk Management Professional. She earned her Master of Business Administration degree from the University of North Florida.

Williams-Banta serves as a board member for Jacksonville Women's Leadership Forum (JWLF), a non-profit designed to enhance leadership skills and broaden the professional network for the next generation of female leaders. She is an active participant in many professional organizations including InfraGard, ISACA and ISC2.

Response and Recovery of the Year
F. Edward Goetz - Exelon Corporation, MD

F. Edward Goetz joined Exelon (Constellation Energy) in August 2009 and has responsibility for cyber and physical security, as well as business continuity, across the enterprise. In this capacity, he was a contributing author to the 2011 National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) Study on Resilience. Prior to joining Exelon, he was the Chief Operating Officer of i2S, Inc., a professional services company whose clients included various agencies within the U.S. Intelligence Community from 2007 – 2009. After two years, he guided i2S through a successful M&A process, culminating in its sale. During a 20-plus-year tenure as a FBI Special Agent, Goetzwas detailed to the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Counterterrorism Center, where among other counterterrorism operations he led the CIA team in the response to the August 7, 1998, bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. He was chief of the FBI's Legal Attaché Office in Germany from 2000-2005 and was instrumental in the 9/11 investigation of the Al-Qaeda terrorist cells in Germany. Goetz also established and headed the FBI's Baghdad Office in 2005. Upon returning to the United States, he was put in charge of the FBI Baltimore Office's Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Cyber Programs. Before retiring, he was the Acting Section Chief of the Office of International Operations, FBI Headquarters, where he had responsibility for all FBI overseas offices.

As an active participant in the security community, Goetz is a member of the U.S. Department of States' Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC); the Nuclear Sector Coordinating Council; the International Chiefs of Police (IACP); the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS); the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA); and the International Security Management Association (ISMA). He was recently appointed to the Statewide (Maryland) Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Program Advisory Committee. In addition, Goetz is on the Board of Directors for The Frank J. Battaglia Signal 13 Foundation, a foundation for police officers and their families that offers grants to police personnel faced with personal emergencies and unexpected financial hardships.

Continuity Awareness Award
Gina Manos - Kaiser Permanente, CA

Gina Manos is one of Kaiser Permanente's biggest champions in rallying its employees to become Resiliency Leaders! Manos joined Kaiser Permanente (KP) and the IT Resiliency Management team four years ago. In that short time, Manos has been a key driver in transforming the message on preparedness. At KP, the focus of the employee awareness messaging is on empowering and engaging employees to embrace their role in being prepared. Manos has developed an innovative and pioneering employee awareness strategy to raise the bar on building a culture of continuity. Transforming complex procedures into simple, clear user-friendly tools has been the cornerstone to her success in gaining program support from employees and leadership.

In addition, Manos is becoming a strong advocate in the community on how to communicate about resiliency in a positive and passionate manner and avoid the "doom and gloom" approach so often used to scare people into taking action. Manos recently earned her MBA from Saint Mary's College of California and is dedicated to applying her knowledge and experience to help employees of Kaiser Permanente "Put a Little Pep in their Prep."

Armed with an in-depth knowledge of business continuity principles, along with her natural affinity for crafting content that resonates, Manos is well-equipped to achieve even greater success in building a resilient organization and inspiring a shared vision!

Service Providers

IT Infrastructure Award
Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA), VA

VITA is the Commonwealth of Virginia's consolidated technology services and solutions provider responsible for the state's technology infrastructure, governance, security and oversight of major information technology projects, and procurement of technology-related goods and services on behalf of state and local governments. Visit: www.vita.virginia.gov

Planning Software of the Year
ClearView Continuity, United Kingdom

ClearView is the world's latest generation of Business Continuity Management platform. It was designed from the ground up to help organizations nurture a culture of resilience without being an unwelcome intrusion upon the day-to-day work life of the business users who must contribute to the planning process. This tension between sophisticated plans based upon a deep understanding of the organization on the one hand; and simple, unobtrusive, intuitive planning on the other, is uniquely and brilliantly solved by ClearView.

Notification System of the Year
Regroup, CA

Regroup's cloud-based Emergency Notification & Mass Communications platform was designed to help strengthen organizations' resiliency and help maintain continuity of business activities during a crisis and on a day-to-day basis. Founded at Stanford University in 2006 to solve the university's need for easy, effective multi-modal messaging, Regroup effectively unifies communications with one-click messaging to mobile phones (text/voice), landlines, email, social media, websites, digital signage and more. Organizations wishing to further enhance their business continuity plan can leverage Regroup's robust automated alerting functionality to dramatically accelerate response times and reduce the margin for human error.

Through our work with ShakeAlert on behalf of the San Francisco Mayor's Office and Department of Emergency Management, Regroup developed a prototype system that when launched would be the first multilingual Early Earthquake Mass Notification System. The City & County of San Francisco was able to successfully utilize the prototype on a pro-bono basis during the 6.0 South Napa Earthquake on August 24, 2014.

What is the DRI International Honor Roll award?

The DRI International Honor Roll award was conceived in 2007 and is awarded annually to the person who has demonstrated exceptional service to DRI and the industry as a whole; has contributed to the growth of DRI and DRI's reputation; and is a prominent member of the BCP/DR/ERM community. The award is voted on by the DRI Board of Directors.

Honor Roll Nomination Criteria:

  • Demonstrates exceptional service to DRI and the industry as a whole
  • Contributes to the growth of DRI and DRI's reputation; and/or
  • Is a prominent member of the BCP/DR/ERM community.