Award Winners
DRI International congratulates the winners of the 2026 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 contributions to the business continuity profession.
2026 Awards of Excellence FINALISTS and winners
CONSULTANT OF THE YEAR
Quinn Einck, CBCP - BDO USA
Katie Koetke, MBCP - Resilienz*
Hannah Suiter - 4C Strategies
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Dual Shepherd, CBCP - Coralisle Group Ltd.
Kyle Shinn, CBCP - MHA Consulting
Joshua Wilson - Central Piedmont Community College*
PROGRAM LEADER OF THE YEAR - NON PROFIT SECTOR
Haley Cifizzari - University of Maryland, Baltimore - Emergency Management*
Meda Gurudutt Prasad - CADME - Coastal Area Disaster Mitigation Efforts
Efraim Wielgus - Columbia University Information Technology
PROGRAM LEADER OF THE YEAR - PRIVATE SECTOR
Kenneth Bloom - FM*
Michael Hayes, MBCP - Gallagher
Reigna Zeigler, CBCP - Johnson Controls International
PROGRAM LEADER OF THE YEAR - PUBLIC SECTOR
Khaled Abouzeid - Environment Agency Abu Dhabi
Melissa Hedgecoth - Tennessee Valley Authority*
RESPONSE AND RECOVERY OF THE YEAR
Bank of America, LA Rebuild Council
Constellation Energy Company, Business Continuity & Crisis Management
e& Group, Business Continuity & Crisis Management
Southwest Airlines, Business Continuity Team*
TEAM OF THE YEAR
e& Group, Business Continuity & Crisis Management
LTM, Business Continuity and Resilience*
Syneos Health, Corporate Business Continuity Team
PRODUCT/SERVICE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR
4C Strategies
CLDigital
Continuity Innovations*
Everbridge
Fusion Risk Management
Horizonscan Limited
iluminr
NCS Pte Ltd
Noggin, a Motorola Solutions Company
Preparing for the Unexpected
Ripcord Solutions
Riskonnect
The Resiliency Initiative
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Rich Cooper
Alex Fullick, CBCP
Lorenzo Gallo
Barry Gorelick, CBCP (Ret.)
Venkata Ramana Krothapalli, ABCP (Ret.)
Bob Nakao*
Daman Dev Sood
Idamie Vincent
DRI INTERNATIONAL RESILIENT ENTERPRISE
Motiva*
Motiva, Brazil’s largest mobility infrastructure company, has achieved three unprecedented milestones in its corporate resilience strategy. The Company became the first organization in South America to receive the Resilient Enterprise Award, granted by DRI International (Disaster Recovery Institute International), a global leading nonprofit in business continuity and resilience education and certification. The Company also obtained the ISO 22301 certification, the international standard for Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS), as well as the Resilient Enterprise Assessment Program (REAP) certification, the latter granted by DRI International.
For more information on the Awards of Excellence, see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page.
PAST AWARD WINNERS