DRI International Announces 2018 Awards of Excellence Winners

AWARDS HONOR INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS DEMONSTRATING EXCELLENCE IN BUSINESS CONTINUITY, DISASTER RECOVERY, CRISIS MANAGEMENT
NEW YORK — Feb. 14 -- DRI International ('DRI'), the world's leading business continuity and disaster recovery training organization, is pleased to recognize the outstanding organizations and individuals listed below as the winners of the 2018 DRI Awards of Excellence for their achievements in the business continuity, disaster recovery, and crisis management fields.
“We could not be more proud of this year’s winning professionals and organizations,” said Chloe Demrovsky, President and CEO of DRI International. “All of our award recipients and finalists are the lifeblood of the resilience industry, and it’s our pleasure to join together as a community to celebrate their accomplishments.”
The 2018 Awards of Excellence were presented during the Gala Dinner at the DRI annual conference, DRI2018, on February 13, 2018 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, TN. This year’s winners and finalists are:
Program Leader of the Year (Private Sector):
- Pauline Williams-Banta, The Energy Authority - WINNER
- 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 - WINNER
- Kamroonbanu Mohideenbasha, City and County of San Francisco

Program Leader of the Year (Non-Profit Sector)
- Rich Leonardo, OhioHealth - WINNER
- 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 - WINNER

Newcomer of the Year
- Robert Summerson, Continuity Logic
- Alexandria Brennan, State Street Bank – WINNER
- Christopher Hucke, Barclays

Team of the Year
- Cognizant Technology Solutions
- ADP
- TCF Bank – WINNER

Response and Recovery of the Year
- Gallagher – WINNER
- Cisco Services Business Continuity
- First Data

Product/Service Provider of the Year
- BC in the Cloud
- Continuity Logic
- Fusion Risk Management – WINNER
- GlobalSUITE – Business Continuity
- Northrop Grumman
- PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia
- Rentsys Recovery Services
- Strategic BCP ResilienceOne
- Sungard Availability Services (Sungard AS)
- The Social Simulator

Lifetime Achievement Award
- Greg Holdburg
- Tejas Katwala
- Fred “Freddie” H. Sebren - WINNER
- Frank Perlmutter
- R Vaidhyanath

About DRI International
DRI International is the non-profit that helps organizations prepare for and recover from disasters. We achieve this through education, accreditation, and thought leadership in business continuity and related fields.
Founded in 1988, DRI International has more than 15,000 certified individuals in over 100 countries, and 94 percent of all Fortune 100 companies employ DRI certified professionals. In fact, more individuals are certified by DRI International than by all other organizations in our profession combined. In addition to certifying individuals, DRI assesses organizations to determine resilience and offers organizational accreditation.
DRI also serves continuity professionals through conferencing, outreach, and volunteerism. The annual DRI Conference brings resilience professionals together to network with experts and collaborate with their peers. Through its Collegiate Conferences series, DRI partners with universities to introduce students and faculty to this rapidly-growing profession. To further its outreach efforts, DRI introduced the 501(c)(3) non-profit Disaster Recovery International (DRI) Foundation. The Foundation's mission is to promote disaster risk reduction through partnership and education, as well as aid recovery efforts through fundraising and volunteerism. The Foundation is also committed to supporting veterans through the Veterans Outreach Program.
As a recognized expert resource, DRI acts in an advisory capacity to organizations and government institutions worldwide, helping to develop professional standards and promote greater resilience. DRI is a member of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction's (UNISDR) Private Sector Working Group ARISE Initiative and was on the business and industry delegation to the negotiations of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. DRI is also an ANSI-accredited Standards Development Organization, a CQI and IRCA Approved Training Partner, and an International Organization Liaison Observer to ISO/TC 292 for standardization in the field of security to enhance the safety and resilience of society.