1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Grand Ballroom A
speakers

Cyber Resilience Tabletop Exercise

Join us for a special cyber resilience tabletop event on Sunday, Mar. 3, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., immediately before the opening of the DRI2024 Expo Hall! With cyber-attacks on the rise and creating a more challenging threat landscape, it’s clear this isn’t just an IT problem – ...
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Grand Ballroom A
speakers

Welcome Remarks and OSSNHS Induction

Join DRI President and CEO Chloe Demrovsky as she welcomes DRI2024 attendees to New Orleans. She will address key updates from DRI International and our profession as a whole as she sets the tone for our annual event. At this time, we are also proud to induct DRI’s newest ...
9:15 AM - 10:15 AM
Grand Ballroom A
speakers

Lessons Learned from Navy SEAL to Corporate Executive

Consultant/Rear Admiral SEAL Donald M. Plummer will join us as a keynote speaker. He will reflect on his 30 years in the military as an admiral, Navy SEAL, and a corporate executive responsible for global operations and business continuity. He will identify similarities across all organizations and how preparation ...
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Grand Salon A: Section 3 & 6
speakers

DRI2024 Newcomer Session!

Are you new to DRI, DRI Conferences, our profession? This session is for you! Based on feedback from previous attendees, newbies need a place to kick off their conference experience, and this is it! Led by DRI’s resident expert in certification and customer care, Maria Loduca, and DRI Instructor ...
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Grand Salon B: Section 9 & 12
speakers

Business Continuity as Strategic Connector: Leading Up, Across, and Beyond

When the worst-case scenario becomes reality, your organization needs to respond as one. It requires more than functional expertise from Business Continuity professionals. It calls on you to orchestrate coordinated and collaborative action across organizational and hierarchical boundaries—often wielding influence beyond your formal authority. That does not happen by ...
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Grand Salon D: Section 21 & 24
speakers

WBCM Power Panel

Join the members of DRI Foundation’s Women in Business Continuity Management Executive Committee for an interactive panel discussion focused on identifying and sustaining your strengths, which are paramount to achieving your personal and professional goals. As our industry evolves, we’ll discuss how we, as women, can zero in on ...
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Grand Salon C: Section 13, 14, 16, & 17
speakers

People First: Examining the Rise of Human Capital Risk and Implications for Business Continuity Programs

Have you ever experienced higher volumes of unexpected leaves of absence that negatively impacted operations? How is human capital integrated into your business continuity program? Going beyond tracking employee residential zip codes, are you integrating this essential part of your enterprise in more than a perfunctory way? Whether your ...
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Grand Salon B: Section 7 & 10
speakers

Unveiling the Crucial Role of Third-Party Risk Management in Business Continuity

This session will explore how effective third-party risk management protects against unforeseen vulnerabilities in your business ecosystem. Attendees will gain an understanding of the pivotal role third-party risk management plays in amplifying overall business resilience, ensuring continuity in the face of disruptions. Discover the role of cutting-edge technologies in ...
1:45 PM - 2:45 PM
Grand Salon B: Section 9 & 12
speakers

Cyber-Resilient Power Grid Control Systems: Tales from the Bleeding Edge

Modern society depends on critical infrastructure – the power grid, the water system, the oil and gas infrastructure. Over the last two decades, OT and IT infrastructures coalesced, with control systems such as SCADA for the power grid transitioning from proprietary communication protocols to IP (the internet protocol) for ...
1:45 PM - 2:45 PM
Grand Salon A: Section 3 & 6
speakers

Operationalizing the Professional Practices for the Public Sector

Attend this session to learn how DRI’s Professional Practices have been operationalized across the Maryland State Government and hear details on how the private sector’s best practices have been repackaged to build a robust continuity program, implement an integrated operationalize framework, and to make Maryland more resilient. The Maryland ...
1:45 PM - 2:45 PM
Grand Salon C: Section 13, 14, 16, & 17
speakers

Standing With Versus Standing For: Using Your Voice For Change

Join us to build your toolkit for addressing uncomfortable workplace situations. In this session, we will examine these uncomfortable moments impact women’s behavior and career progress in the workplace. We will also share key phrases and resources to use during these situations, discuss the key role of advocates and ...
1:45 PM - 2:45 PM
Grand Salon D: Section 21 & 24
speakers

Tails of Crisis Response and Resilience in Mass Casualty Events

We all know that dogs are man’s best friend, but did you know that they can be a resilience professional’s BFF too? Attend this session to explore a little-known resource that could benefit your organization’s program and people. Members of the Tri-State Canine Response Team (the humans) will take ...
1:45 PM - 2:45 PM
Grand Salon B: Section 7 & 10
speakers

Preparing US Financial Service Providers for DORA Compliance

How prepared is your organization to respond to Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) requirements? MorganFranklin Consulting will discuss how financial institutions that serve companies in Europe might prepare for this mandatory regulation with which they must be compliant by Q1 2025. This session is part of our Sponsor Track. ...
2:50 PM - 3:50 PM
Grand Salon A: Section 3 & 6
speakers

Science Advice and Guidance for Emergencies (SAGE)

Science and scientific research & development are a crucial, yet underutilized resource for emergency management. The Science Advice and Guidance for Emergencies program, better known as SAGE, aims to normalize the use of science advice in the emergency management community. SAGE, the premier emergency management framework for S&T, is ...
2:50 PM - 3:50 PM
Grand Salon B: Section 9 & 12
speakers

Crisis Leadership: Rebuilding, Rebranding, and Expanding Enterprise Resilience By Leveraging Cybersecurity and Geo-Political Events

Join Jim Kinsman as he shares his experiences rebuilding, rebranding, and expanding traditional business continuity and disaster recovery approaches toward enterprise operational resilience leveraging third-party cybersecurity incidents and geo-political events impacting, or threatening to impact, business operations. He will also share lessons learned from these events, and other incidents, ...
2:50 PM - 3:50 PM
Grand Salon C: Section 13, 14, 16 & 17
speakers

The Evolution of Business Continuity in a Hybrid World

In a post-pandemic era, new ways of working require business continuity professionals to reconsider recovery strategies, which have traditionally weighed loss of location heavily. The pandemic revealed abilities to perform and sustain critical workflows at home, with many organizations shifting to a hybrid work environment. Hybrid work patterns and ...
2:50 PM - 3:50 PM
Grand Salon D: Section 21 & 24
speakers

Critical Incident Stress Management 101

Attend this session to learn some Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) basics as applied to your people – your number one recovery resource. You’re not going to become a CISM expert in an hour. But this presentation will open your eyes to the need for and principles of this ...
2:50 PM - 3:50 PM
Grand Salon B: Section 7 & 10
speakers

Building Blocks to Resilience: Five Steps to Success

Every organization must protect its information and ensure data needed to run the business is accurate and available, but knowing how to design effective continuity plans isn’t easy. Those that are successful start by intentionally coordinating teams of risk, compliance, security, and business continuity professionals. Standout teams then take ...
4:10 PM - 5:10 PM
Grand Ballroom A
speakers

This Is DRI Jeopardy!

Hosts: Mike Janko, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Jerome Ryan, Carbonaires Contestants: YOU! Here’s your chance to be a Jeopardy Champion…DRI Jeopardy that is. Co-hosted by DRI Board Members Mike Janko and Jerome Ryan, DRI2024 attendees will test their knowledge of all things business continuity in pursuit of ...
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Grand Ballroom A
speakers

Resilience in Crisis: Lessons from Former FEMA Director Craig Fugate

In times of crisis, the ability to respond effectively and recover swiftly is crucial. As the world faces increasingly complex challenges, it is imperative to learn from experts who have navigated the storm and demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of adversity. The DRI2024 conference is honored to host ...
9:15 AM - 10:15 AM
Grand Ballroom A
speakers

Leading Resilient Organizations in a Changing Climate

Lolita Jackson, MBE, Executive Director of Sustainable Cities, Sustainable Development Capital LLP, will share her insights on how businesses can build resilience to climate change. With more than 20 years of experience in climate policy and emergency management, Jackson has been at the forefront of New York City’s response to ...
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Grand Salon B: Section 9 & 12
speakers

How Katrina Exposed the Underbelly of Disaster Recovery

For the Greater New Orleans Area, Katrina will always be remembered as a life altering experience for both the community at large and every aspect of people’s lives. This interactive session will offer insights from some of the best minds in understanding how this happened to NOLA and what ...
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Grand Salon C: Section 13, 14, 16 & 17
speakers

Advantages and Adversities of AI: A Risk-based Approach to the Future of Resilience

This session will emphasize the importance of understanding the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in risk and resilience. We will cover why AI is good for our profession using present case studies and examples of AI-driven successes in resilience. We will also look at the potential risks and drawbacks ...
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Grand Salon A: Section 3 & 6
speakers

A Business Continuity Manager, an Emergency Manager, and a Crisis Manager Walk Into a Session…

Join us for a candid chat among 3 professionals whose roles are the same but different — a business continuity manager, an emergency manager, and a crisis manager. Coming from similar but diverse backgrounds, they will share their interchangeable skills, relatable stories and distinct perspectives from each discipline and ...
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Grand Salon D: Section 21 & 24
speakers

Tackling Large-Scale Business Continuity Through Tabletop Exercises

Explore the essential elements of crafting and executing impactful tabletop exercises designed to enhance organizational resilience. Join the Comcast Corporate Business Continuity team as they dive into real-world case studies, discuss the integration of emerging technologies, and engage in an interactive session to elevate your understanding of business continuity ...
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Grand Salon B: Sections 7 & 10
speakers

Stop Being a Buzzkill and Start Cultivating Real Engagement

The most critical part of any resilience program is the ability to cultivate and retain the interest of stakeholders, but more often than not, risk management and resilience programs are associated with lengthy policies, pessimistic people talking about everything that could go wrong,  and complex jargon—the buzzkill of the ...
1:45 PM - 2:45 PM
Grand Salon A: Section 3 & 6
speakers

Diversity and Inclusion Panel Discussion

For decades, DRI and the DRI Foundation have maintained a set of core values and core behaviors that uphold those values as a resource for developing and maintaining an environment where diversity and inclusion are the norm. We have and will continue to support diversity and inclusion through action. ...
1:45 PM - 2:45 PM
Grand Salon B: Sections 9 & 12
speakers

The Intersection of AI and Business Continuity

This session explores AI’s transformative impact on business continuity & crisis management. Covering AI significance into business continuity principles, crisis management, real-world scenarios, AI’s rise, defense applications, benefits, and challenges. Synergy, case studies, ethical considerations, and future trends are also discussed. The presentation fosters engagement through informative material, Q&A ...
1:45 PM - 2:45 PM
Grand Salon D: Section 21 & 24
speakers

Excellence in Operational Resilience

Operational resilience is a goal every organization strives for to maximize their value to employees, shareholders, and customers. Join us for an overview of Goodyear’s operational resilience journey spanning over two decades. This session will help you to evaluate your current program and practices and focus on the most ...
1:45 PM - 2:45 PM
Grand Salon C: Section 13, 14, 16 & 17
speakers

Crisis Management – A Team Sport (Part 1)

Crisis management is one of the most important parts of the company/organization response to emergency incidents. Crises must be handled correctly or the risk of the crisis getting out of control can have a severe impact. It is important to note, that crisis management is a learned skill. That ...
1:45 PM - 2:45 PM
Grand Salon B: Sections 7 & 10
speakers

Follow The Money: A Path To Resilience and C-Suite Support

You have been tasked to lead your organization’s risk management efforts. Your goal is to increase your organization’s resilience to the various risks it faces and provide recommendations to your Executive team on how to manage these risks. How do you do this? Through effective risk quantification. During this ...
2:50 PM - 3:50 PM
Grand Salon D: Section 21 & 24
speakers

Why the Space You Occupy Matters and How to Protect It: Lessons from Katrina and Adapting to Living with Water Today

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, over 400 of the City’s almost 500 school facilities were damaged, over half catastrophically. We will walk through keys lessons from the $2B schools recovery program that shaped equitable and resilient rebuilding and brought back public education to 48,000 students and then pivot ...
2:50 PM - 3:50 PM
Grand Salon A: Section 3 & 6
speakers

Integrating and Enhancing Healthcare Resilience: A Journey from Fragmented Recovery Plans to Unified Cyber Resilience

Attend this session to hear how one healthcare organization moved from having isolated recovery and continuity plans across departments toward implementing a unified continuity and cyber resilience program. From initial challenges and the need for a more integrated approach, to conducting 67 BIAs across 67 department and engaging with ...
2:50 PM - 3:50 PM
Grand Salon B: Sections 9 & 12
speakers

Thinking like a CBRO – Weaponizing Resilience

In an era where uncertainty is the only certainty, businesses are increasingly recognizing the critical need for resilience – not just as a defensive mechanism, but as a strategic asset. In this presentation David Young will delve into the transformative potential of the Chief Business Resilience Officer (CBRO) – ...
2:50 PM - 3:50 PM
Grand Salon C: Section 13, 14, 16 & 17
speakers

Crisis Management – A Team Sport (Part 2)

Crisis management is one of the most important parts of the company/organization response to emergency incidents. Crises must be handled correctly or the risk of the crisis getting out of control can have a severe impact. It is important to note, that crisis management is a learned skill. That ...
2:50 PM - 3:50 PM
Grand Salon B: Sections 7 & 10
speakers

The Resilience Leader’s AI Toolkit

Join us for a comprehensive session tailored to empower you with the tools and insights necessary to prepare for the dynamic AI landscape. From navigating the intricacies of the EU AI Act to identifying and mitigating emerging threats, our session offers a strategic roadmap to harness AI’s potential while ...
4:10 PM - 5:10 PM
Grand Salon D: Section 21 & 24
speakers

Corporate Security and Business Continuity: A Symbiotic Relationship

Recently organizations have dedicated more resources to cyber security while exposing physical security and threat gaps. The interdependencies and failure of one can impact another. Understanding threats, risk of traveling employees and executives, employee safety training, and succession in an organization is critical to developing a BC program. Fostering ...
4:10 PM - 5:10 PM
Grand Salon A: Section 3 & 6
speakers

Managing the Second Wave of Disasters: A Case Study Following a Tornado’s Impact on a Manufacturing Facility

During this discussion, we will examine what impacts a disaster makes on the everyday supply chains of a manufacturing facility. This topic will provide a baseline understanding of normal distribution models and dive into a real-world event and how an organization was forced to change its model. Participants will ...
4:10 PM - 5:10 PM
Grand Salon C: Section 13, 14, 16 & 17
speakers

Crisis Management – A Team Sport (Part 3)

Crisis management is one of the most important parts of the company/organization response to emergency incidents. Crises must be handled correctly or the risk of the crisis getting out of control can have a severe impact. It is important to note, that crisis management is a learned skill. That ...
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Grand Salon A: Section 3 & 6
speakers

Basics We Missed When Cyber Blew Past Us

Cyber snuck up and sort of exploded on the scene, blowing past many of us, and it continues to move way too fast to stay ignorant. When it comes to cyber proficiency, cyber concepts remain consistent. Whether you missed some foundational cyber building blocks and are wondering what cyber ...
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Grand Salon C: Section 13, 14, 16 & 17
speakers

Not Your Average Disaster Tabletop: New Perspectives, New Insights (Part 1)

There probably isn’t a resilience professional who hasn’t participated or facilitated tabletops and other exercises. As resilience professionals and functional experts, that’s an important part of your job. This session isn’t your average tabletop; here you’ll be asked to work through a disaster scenario in a new way. How ...
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Grand Salon B: Sections 9 & 12
speakers

Acceptable Risk? Or Acceptable Risk!

Acceptable Risk – a term that should be at the foundation of your corporate risk program. When it comes to organizational risk management it should be foundational that a clear and singular definition of acceptable risk has been established that can be used to evaluate risk to the business. ...
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Grand Salon D: Section 21 & 24
speakers

Organizational Resilience – The Missing X Factor

Resilience has become a somewhat elusive concept, often defined with intricate jargon, akin to a magical word that promises to guide organizations through challenging situations. A fascinating concept, indeed. If we go back to the basics, BCM enables an organization to recover from planned events/incidents. However, the term resilience ...
9:45 AM - 10:45 AM
Grand Salon A: Section 3 & 6
speakers

Planning for a Black Swan Event: How to Run Your Organization When You Can’t Deliver Your Primary Product or Service

Traditional business continuity planning generally covers the most likely and most probable disruptions that organizations may face. Black Swan events, highly impactful, low probability events are excluded from the planning process. While this is often justified due to limited resource constraints, there have been recent events that are proving ...
9:45 AM - 10:45 AM
Grand Salon C: Section 13, 14, 16 & 17
speakers

Not Your Average Disaster Tabletop: New Perspectives, New Insights (Part 2)

There probably isn’t a resilience professional who hasn’t participated or facilitated tabletops and other exercises. As resilience professionals and functional experts, that’s an important part of your job. This session isn’t your average tabletop; here you’ll be asked to work through a disaster scenario in a new way. How ...
9:45 AM - 10:45 AM
Grand Salon B: Sections 9 & 12
speakers

Trends and Predictions for Our Profession

What risks are you most concerned about? How well prepared are you to manage them? How do you think our profession will change over the next few years? How does corporate ESG demands change your priorities? These are just a few of the questions the DRI Future Vision Committee ...
9:45 AM - 10:45 AM
Grand Salon D: Section 21 & 24
speakers

Network Isolation for Disaster Recovery Test – Bubbled Environment

The presentation provides an overview of how Columbia University built a bubbled disaster recovery (DR) environment. All DR tests are performed during business hours in a bubbled environment without shutting down the production environments or staff coming in on the weekends to complete the tests. The various production application ...
11:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Grand Salon D
speakers

Conference Wrap-Up and Resilience Across Industries Panel Discussion

Wrap up your DRI2024 experience with a lively panel discussion of resilience in a variety of industries. With representatives from financial services, tech, manufacturing, and more, this diverse group – comprised of DRI International Board of Directors members – will share insights into how various aspects of resilience — ...