International

Managing Director, Consultant, Author, Speaker

StoneRoad

MBCI, CBCP, CBRA, v3ITIL, aBCF, CORS, ISO22301 Lead Implementer

PROJECT & PROGRAM MANAGEMNENT – “The Successes and Failures of Managing Projects”: Project Management is more than just delivering a final end product on time, in scope, and on budget. There are many other collaborative team facets that help create project success; understanding how to effectively manage these aspects can mean the difference between project success…and project failure. A good project manager doesn’t do all the work but creates an environment where team members thrive and work together to create a sense of empowerment, achievement, and accomplishment – for themselves and each other.
Topics include (but not limited to):
i. Managing RAID Logs (Risk, Action, Issue, Decision),
ii. Stakeholder Identification and Mgmt.,
iii. Executive Status Reporting,
iv. Schedule Development and Mgmt.,
v. Lessons Learned,
vi. Resource Mgmt.,
vii. Financial Mgmt.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT (BCM - “Pardon the Interruption, But Please Continue”: Business Continuity Management (BCM) is only ever referenced when something has ‘hit-the-fan’ and at that stage it's usually too late to reverse the damage. To respond effectively and resourcefully to a disaster or crisis, an organization must prepare itself for adverse situations. This means going beyond creating a documented response plan as situations never seem to adhere to what was documented and the result is an exercise in futility. BCM means creating a robust program that isn’t just able to respond to a disaster, but has people, processes, and facilities prepared for a disaster; where everyone understands ‘the plan’ and knows their part in it. It’s not just creating a long list of deliverables (e.g., Business Impact Assessment, Risk Assessments, Executive Buy-in, etc.), it’s utilizing aspects of resilience, project management, and soft skills to manage business when continuing may be a struggle.
Topics include (but not limited to):
i. Program positioning,
ii. Exercising and testing,
iii. Business Impact Assessment (BIA),
iv. Risk Assessments,
v. Business Continuity Plans (BCP),
vi. Program Management,
vii. Lessons Learned,
viii. Continuous Improvement,

RESILIENCE – “Resilience is a Chameleon”: There is the misconception that to be resilient an individual, an organization, or a community, must face an adverse situation, overcome that situation and then ‘bounce back’ to a pre-disaster state. But, resilience isn’t an end-state; it’s a state of being, a state of mind. Traditionally, resilience has focused on response mechanisms – Incident Mgmt., Business Continuity, IT Disaster Recovery etc. –but creating true Organizational Resilience it requires a more comprehensive and interdependent approach. Building Organizational Resilience means individuals need to be resilient and all organizational departments must contribute and adapt to their changing surroundings of client needs, customer wants, or employees. Leadership must create a culture whose every actions align with their organization’s mission and vision, allowing for input, innovation, and empowerment. It’s resilient people that contribute to the creation of resilient organizations.
Topics include (but not limited to):
i. Diversity and Inclusion,
ii. Personal Resilience,
iii. Operational Resilience,
iv. Organizational Resilience,
v. Soft (Human) Skills,
vi. Motivation,
vii. Leadership.

I've been working in the Business Continuity (BC), Resilience, and Project Management field for over twenty-five years and worked with companies in the Financial, Insurance, Human Resources, and Marketing industries. I've been involved from everything related to BC from program initiation to Business Impact Assessments (BIA) to developing/documenting contingency strategies and plans to exercising and auditing of programs.
I'm also the host and creator of globally recognized podcast 'Preparing for the Unexpected' on the VoiceAmerica talk radio network (the very first podcast on Disaster Recovery, Resilience, and Business Continuity Management) and also the host and creator of the YouTube channel of the same name due to the popularity of the radio VoiceAmerica show, and the volume of experts, researchers, authors, and professionals wanting to be apart of the show.

- Creator/host of the internationally recognized VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network show 'Preparing for the Unexpected' - https://www.voiceamerica.com/show/2682/preparing-for-the-unexpected
- Creator/host of the YouTube channel 'Preparing for the Unexpected' - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMRXa7gKlXD1j7L6UKk-y6g
- Author of 8 published books on the topic of Business Continuity / Resilience
- Disaster Recovery Institute Canada (DRIC) Certification Commissioner
- Founder of Stone Road Inc (StoneRoad), a consulting firm
- Creator of the online BOAST application (Business Continuity Online Self-assessment Tool)

Yes

Flexible: Full refund up to 3 day prior to event, except fees (travel and service)