Part Two – Crisis Simulations and a Real Life Challenge Part One of this essay closed with a discussion of realistic and challenging training, which
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Brian is an internationally recognised risk professional. He has over 35 years of experience, predominately discharging roles in domestic and international financial services businesses, including senior roles with HSBC, Visa International and Lloyds Banking Group. He has additional consulting expertise in areas such as insurance, telecommunications, the public sector and across industries in a risk, authentication, data protection, cyber, continuity and resilience context. Furthermore, he has held senior positions with the decision management and analytic giant FICO (Fair Isaac) where he was the principal risk practitioner, and both led their global fraud consulting and was a leading contributor to their enterprise risk roadmap.
Brian is an innovator and thought leader and has co-authored potential patents in the first party fraud and payment tokenisation space. He was a founder of the Mobile Identity Authentication Standard (MIDAS) Alliance, a collaboration of Information Security professionals, which was responsible for the creation of the Publicly Available Specification (PAS 499) for digital authentication by the British Standards Institution, a seminal piece of work in preparation for the implications of the European Payment Services Directive 2.
He is also a leading figure for both the Business Continuity Institute where he founded what has become two of the UK Chapters, and where he remains on the management committee, and the Institute of Strategic Risk Management where he has roles on the Global Advisory Council and as Chair of the Oversight Committee.
Brian co-founded with his brother, almost a decade ago, his own firm, Knight360 Limited, where he acts as a dedicated security advisor and risk practitioner, enjoying helping clients embrace and overcome their greatest business challenges. The company specialises in areas of business development and regulatory compliance activity and offers a raft of business consulting and partner solution services including with and through GDS Link, a client of Knight360’s which Brian has gone on to serve as Managing Director in their Global Fraud Solutions area, and where he has been independently recognised as Managing Director of the Year 2022.
Currently Brian is also retained on an equity basis as Chief Advisor to KM2 Ethical Finance Ltd, a firm where he was the founding Chief Executive Officer and was independently awarded as one of the CEOs of the Year in 2021. The KM2 business is vested in assuring the robust identification and considered remediation of misappropriated losses which sit at the nexus of bad-debt and fraud.
Throughout his career Brian has proven equally adept at working alone, leading a small team, or overseeing multi-geography operations involving well over 1,000 people.
Maxine Herr has served as Public Information Officer for Morton County in North Dakota since 2017. She started her career as a TV news reporter and anchor for the CBS affiliate in Bismarck, ND before moving to Phoenix, AZ where she worked in marketing roles for a media company and a national engineering firm. After returning to North Dakota in 2009, she did freelance writing and public relations consulting. Maxine joined the North Dakota Emergency Management Support Team in 2016 and has helped lead communication efforts for a 234-day pipeline protest, regional flooding, and the state’s COVID-19 response. Maxine’s favorite thing about her 25-year career is finding ways to communicate effectively with creativity. Maxine is married and any gray hairs can be attributed to raising her three teenagers.
Master Sgt. US Army (retired)
Rob Keller was retired from the U.S. Army when he received a call from the ND Department of Emergency Services (NDDES) to return to full time Public Information Officer status to work a “small protest happening in southern Morton County” that would probably fizzle out in 2-3 months.” Nine months later he returned to retirement status. During the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protest, Rob was the lead Public Information Officer for the Morton County Sheriff Department and the ND Department of Emergency Services Joint Information Center. Rob and his team of over 15 PIOs worked over 500 media engagements during the 234-day protest that garnished the attention of the world.
“This was the most challenging and rewarding position that I have ever been involved in my entire career. I felt that I was the “right person in the right place at the right time for the right reasons.”
Rob’s previous career positions had in effect prepared him for his last public affairs mission.
He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Television Journalism, was a TV news reporter, TV anchor, a community relations officer for a police department, a television producer, marketing and advertising for the U.S. Army, worked multiple FEMA disasters in North Dakota to include floods, wildfires, snow storms and a Canadian Pacific railroad anhydrous ammonia spill. Not to mention during his 26-year Army career, he was deployed on two public affairs missions to Iraq, five PIO missions to Ghana, Africa and working with twelve Killed In Action (KIA) soldiers and their families.
He was the Deputy PIO for the ND COVID-19 response and formed a 50-persom Joint Information Center staff within two weeks.
He has been a FEMA Crisis Communication trainer for over 10 years having trained over 600 PIO practitioners.
Far from retiring, Rob and his colleague co-founded the ND Public Information Officer (NDPIO) Association this past year (2021). The 501c3 is a nonprofit statewide organization made up of professional communicators who work in local, state, tribal, federal, or other public safety venues. This organization is dedicated to the principles of open government.
Rob has left Morton County and back to semi-retirement but is training Public Information Officers from multiple agencies who may have a need for crisis communication and for their agency to be “Crises Ready”. He is married with a very understanding wife, a son who is following in his footsteps as a career military man and a daughter who is a “stay at home” mom. He has five grandchildren that now take up his entire time. He is also an “adventure motorcycle rider” who has traveled on journeys across Canada to the Arctic Ocean, South American and everything in between.
Mike Todd is the founder and CEO of Near-Life. He has experience in media and technology. Beginning his career in digital content, he has also worked in film and television: creating internationally acclaimed feature documentaries for the likes of BBC, ESPN and PBS.
Digital Training Solutions (now trading as Near-Life) was established in 2016 around an NGO learning project (Mission Ready), funded through the United States Aid department and the UK equivalent. The project garnered international recognition and its success prompted an invitation for Mike to speak at the UN World Humanitarian Summit, as well as to the UN in New York.
A related project, developed with the Norwegian Refugee Council, was recognised for 'Excellence in Learning Design' at the Learning and Technology Awards - Europe's top EdTech awards. He has extensive experience in dealing with the resilience and responder communities. He most recently led the delivery of a major immersive learning / Tech project with the World Health Organization’s Emergency Medical Teams programme.
As we get this membership off the ground, we’re looking to our 2022 inaugural members to be a part of helping us strengthen and tailor this program to meet your needs.
This will involve regular communication with the Crisis Ready Team to provide feedback, share requests for additional ways to support you and your business, etc.
Each Crisis Ready Course is designed to help you strengthen your Crisis Ready Expertise. Course subjects will include crisis communication, establishing governance, crisis leadership, storytelling for crisis comms, DEI integration, and more.
Each course is complete with:
$4,850.00 USD
Select your payment option below. You can choose to pay for your annual membership in full or in two equal instalments (50% due immediately and 50% due in three months).
Select your payment option below. You can choose to pay for your annual membership in full or in two equal instalments (50% due immediately and 50% due in three months).
If you:
... then you will benefit from Crisis Ready Institute's 1:1 coaching and support. This opportunity is retainer-based and is offered exclusively to our consultant and small agency members.
This offering provides personalized coaching and support in:
Monthly retainer*
Hours of support per month
$2,500 USD
Up to 5
$5,000 USD
Up to 10
* This is in addition to the annual membership fee.
Danny Langloss is a dynamic leadership motivational speaker specializing in creating leadership cultures, employee engagement, ownership, belonging, change leadership, and crisis leadership.
Danny’s leadership has been tested by the most difficult situations. Global pandemics, leading the City of Dixon back from the $54 million Rita Crundwell theft, homicide investigations, hostage situations, school shooter incidents, major legislative reform, and creating high performing cultures across very difficult professions are just some of the leadership challenges Danny and his teams have overcome in their pursuit of excellence. Danny has applied these skills to create great teams across many different leadership roles, including city manager, police chief, state task force chairman, legislative initiatives, not-for-profits, and private organizations.
Paul Damaren has worked as a Senior Executive in the Certification space for 17 years and has over 35 years’ experience in the hospitality, service and retail agri-food sectors. Damaren is skilled in sales, marketing, certification, operations and software applications. He possesses an MBA from McGill University.
Mr. Damaren is experienced managing full P&L and $100M in global sales. Across his career he has built a reputation as a professional undeterred by obstacles and committed to success. He is skilled in cultivating top performing teams that always exceed organizational objectives and is able to lead organizations out of challenges through improvement initiatives and change management. He is an expert in relationship building strategies to ensure metrics are always met or surpassed and is a technologically savvy professional that thrives with constantly evolving environments and guides growth with clear visions.
Damaren has worked with countless clients for their food safety, supply chain, health & wellness, brand protection, quality, environmental, health & safety, GMP, automotive, aerospace, medical and information technology requirements.
Damaren is a board member of the OFPA, Ontario Food Protection Association and has assumed the position of Treasurer for 2022. He is a current Advisory Council Member with The George Washington University, School of Business for their Digital Marketing Certificate Program. Mr. Damaren is also a Partner and CCO of StepUp Learning Company Inc., a consulting and advisory business. Further, Damaren also maintains an Executive Partner position with ReposiTrak, a global software company that provides an integrated platform for optimizing sales, sourcing & safety in the food supply chain.
Before working in the Certification industry, Damaren was a professional Chef/consultant for 20+ years working in major hotel chains, restaurants, private golf courses and food service organizations such as Aramark. Further, Damaren was a member of the National Canadian Federation of Chefs and Cooks (C.F.C.C.) for 14 years, member of the Region of Waterloo Culinary Association (R.W.C.A.) for 14 years, President of R.W.C.A. (Region of Waterloo Culinary Association) for 3 years, special Events chairman - R.W.C.A. – 1998 – 2000 and National Culinary Ambassador to Russia for 5 years.
Tarisa Shelton was born and raised in Arizona. She graduated with a Bachelors's in design studies and management from Arizona State University in 2015. After graduation, she traveled to multiple countries to try and learn from different cultures and perspectives. With being excited by what the world had to offer, she taught English in South Korea to elementary students for a little over a year.
After traveling and teaching in Korea, she worked as a production manager at an animation studio in DC. During that time, she committed herself to learning as much about finances as humanly possible. Through that journey, she found infinite banking, in 2018. Since then, she's been helping clients, family, friends implement this process to fundamentally set a financial foundation that is unshakable and sets them up for success not only today but for generations to come.
Emmie Saavedra is the President and Co-Founder of The Champions Institute, where she leads teams of expert coaches, trainers and consultants on Sales, Communication and Extreme Leadership. With more than 30 years in the medical and dental industries, and over a decade in entrepreneurship, her strengths lie in building deep relationships, elevating personal and team performance, and empowering strong leadership. She is an award-winning Certified Trainer and Coach with Codebreaker Technologies and masterfully trains the B.A.N.K. Methodology to teams and entrepreneurs to produce astronomical results, top revenues, and trusting relationships. Emmie is committed to empowering others to achieve phenomenal success both in life and in business because she believes that both are tightly integrated and hold the KEY to living a fulfilling and joyful life.
Cathy Compton truly is a coach of Champions. For over 20 years, Cathy has been coaching championship teams and building empowering leaders. With an extensive background in coaching world class athletes, Cathy has worked with, coached, and consulted top level CEO’s, corporate executives, Olympic Athletes, business owners, Major League Baseball players, and other elite professionals who are committed to peak performance. Cathy ranks as one of the most successful college coaches in NCAA Softball history and is a member of two college Halls of Fame. Her expertise is building winning teams, developing empowered leaders, and training top performers how to better communicate and collaborate for optimal results.
Career Highlights Include:
Certification/Awards:
Pragya Dubey is Vice President, Global Services & Media Analytics at Agility PR Solutions. Pragya has over 20 years of industry experience in consulting and executing public relations, communications, and media measurement programs. She has worked with a range of clients representing Fortune 500 companies, federal, provincial, and municipal government divisions, and small to medium sized businesses. The key focus of her work has been in tracking companies’ communication activities to measure, and correlate and connect how these activities are impacting business objectives. Pragya’s approach includes educating, consulting, problem solving for clients, and creating solutions that are objective-based programs with defined success metrics.
Pragya has taught at the Ottawa-based Algonquin College’s public relations program and given guest lecture at Carleton University. She was the speaker at the Public Relations Society of America's (PRSA) 2020 annual conference on the topic of measurement. She actively conducts measurement-related webinars for Agility PR Solutions and other PR forums.
Liam Kelly has worked in the field of church communications in the Catholic Church for more than forty years, including time in the Vatican and in London at the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. Since 2002 he has been working in the Abbot’s office at Ampleforth Abbey.
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Have experts review your crisis comms program prior to the course
1:1 Consultation time with a member of the Crisis Ready Team, post the course (per hour)
Shawna Bruce is a seasoned strategic communicator and trainer with 30 years of crisis communications, public information and public affairs experience and a passion for public safety.
After serving in the Canadian Forces as a Public Affairs Officer (27 years) and working in the petrochemical industry at Dow Canada as their national Public Affairs Manager (8 years), Shawna began putting her focus into crisis communication, community preparedness, public information and emergency management training when she began her own consulting business: M.D. Bruce and Associates Ltd in 2019.
Shawna considers herself "a life-long learner" and is a leader who specializes in developing teams and sharing her knowledge and experience on the critical role of public information in emergency management with an emphasis on how communications support operational objectives.
A self-identified "Master of Disaster" (RRU MA DEM) Shawna's goal is to support emergency managers and DEMs identify opportunities to communicate throughout all phases of an emergency management program, and works to prepare communications teams to respond in an emergency setting.
Currently, Shawna is also a part-time instructor for NAIT’s Disaster and Emergency Management program (Disaster and Crisis Communications), supports co-instructing the Public Information Officer course as part of NAIT's Centre of Applied Disaster and Emergency Management IMT Academy, develops curriculum for delivery in post-secondary school and Continuing Education programs and is the Public Member on the Board of Directors at NR CAER - a mutual aid emergency response organization in Alberta's Industrial Heartland.
An engaging speaker and trainer, Shawna delivers workshops for risk and crisis communications, emergency public information, how to use public notification systems effectively, on-camera media awareness training, and spokesperson training for industry, municipalities, organizations, first responders and anyone who is looking to build the skill sets of their teams to respond to fill the need of crisis communications and public information.
🍎 School district communicator @ Stoughton Area School District.
🏙 Belmont University grad.
Currently employed as the Director of Operations Support with Bidvest Noonan.
Having worked on several high profile contracts at Management level, I am a results driven and self-motivated professional. A wealth of practical security experience within the security industry and HM Forces. Well developed presentation and communication skills at all levels. Proven planning, organisational and administrative abilities.
Employee Services provides Compensation, Benefits and Wellness services to over 8000 employees represented by 14 Collective Agreements and professional associations.
I bring the most value when I'm given a "blank sheet" opportunity to develop solutions for complex, multifaceted, consumer-focused challenges. I am most passionate about identifying or creating opportunities to increase engagement, visibility, and revenue.
Understanding and advocating for memorable consumer experiences is at the heart of what I bring to any opportunity. While providing leadership and strategic vision is what I do best, focusing on what is relevant and important to target consumers is essential.
I am passionate about building brands that drive consumer insistence and loyalty. My experience in developing brands ranges from the core of strategy building and story creation to tactical activation and data assessment to measure success.
Whether leading enterprise integrated marketing strategies, creating content, or developing relationships as a business partner, I am a visionary and results-oriented collaborator with extensive experience in metrics-driven, brand-focused marketing and communications.
As an outstanding innovator, communicator, and relationship builder, my expertise in translating business objectives into strategies have proven to grow revenue and engagement especially in large organizations in which local market integration is essential.
My leadership style is based on a true coaching philosophy that encourages growth and trust for all team members. I am a highly-effective, hands-on team leader who enthusiastically influences and motivates teams to meet complex business challenges.
I specialize in communications (corporate, internal and external), digital and content marketing, brand awareness and reputation and public relations. I’ve advised individuals and businesses (small and large) on what steps they need to take to reach their target audience.
If you need help with content marketing strategy (blog writing, podcasting, YouTube), strategic communications strategies (internal communications, crisis communications, corporate communications), public relations, lead generation or even team building and relationship management – then please feel free to reach out to me.
Passionate communications professional with a diverse experience in public relations, social media, and leadership.
Founder of Preparedness Advisors LLC. I am an experienced emergency management and homeland security professional focused on providing innovative strategy and data analysis solutions, streamlined project management support, and straightforward consultation. Please visit the Preparedness Advisors website: www.preparednessadvisors.com for more information.
Elle Arlook serves as APCO’s Deputy Advisor on Equity & Justice and a senior associate director in the Corporate Communications practice. Elle has a depth of experience counseling clients through transformation rooted in efforts to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion. She has counseled clients through challenges that range from responding to external societal crises to racial discrimination lawsuits and boycotts. Her background includes experiences that sit at the intersection of DE&I and traditional corporate communications, stakeholder relationship development, non-profit strategic counsel, media relations and crisis management. Her clients have included one of the world's largest global health companies and household names such as Walgreens, Walmart, National Urban League, CarMax, and the University of North Carolina System's Racial Equity Taskforce.
I was fired. Sacked. My ideas were a little too radical for my new bosses. So I started writing books, speaking at events and advising emerging companies. That was in 2002 and since then my books have sold over a million copies in 29 languages.
Many new forms of social media have burst onto the scene over the years, including blogs, podcasts, video, virtual communities, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram, and many many others. But what’s the same about all the new Web tools and techniques is that together they are the best way to communicate directly with your marketplace.
My latest Wall Street Journal bestselling book "Fanocracy: Turning Fans into Customers and Customers into Fans" released from Portfolio / Penguin Random House. I wrote Fanocracy with my 26 year old daughter Reiko. The book is about Fandom culture and how any business can grow by cultivating fans.
My 2007 book "The New Rules of Marketing & PR" opened people's eyes to the new realities of marketing and public relations on the Web. Six months on the BusinessWeek bestseller list and now in a 7th edition with 400,000 copies sold in more than 29 languages from Albanian to Vietnamese, "New Rules" is now a modern business classic.
My other international bestsellers include "Real-Time Marketing & PR" and "Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead" (written with HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan) and my most recent books are "The New Rules of Sales & Service", and "Marketing the Moon" (written with Richard Jurek and with a foreword from Gene Cernan, the last man on the moon and now being made into a film).
I'm Go-to-Market LP at Stage 2 Capital where I invest in and advise some of the most promising new businesses in the world. I'm a co-founder and Partner in Signature Tones, a sonic branding studio.
I serve as an advisor and investor in emerging companies that are transforming their industries by delivering disruptive products and services.
Pre-pandemic, I delivered keynote speeches at in-person conferences and company meetings all over the world. Now I focus on virtual events.
I am the Social Media + Public Relations Coordinator for the Mountain View Police Department in northern California. I specialize in social media management, speaking across the country on social media best practices, crisis communications and forming positive working relationships between law enforcement and the media.
Before joining MVPD, I worked as a public safety reporter for papers including the San Jose Mercury News, the East Bay Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. Published nationally, I was an award-winning journalist for my breaking news coverage of the Asiana Airlines crash at San Francisco International Airport and my investigative work on the state Department of Social Services led to major legislative reform to protect elderly residents in California.
With over 30 years of communication, branding, marketing and entrepreneurial expertise in my hip pocket, I understand people, interpersonal dynamics, motivation, expression, business—and words, especially words!
I can't resist the chance to help professionals figure out if what they're putting out there—whether you can see it, hear it, read it or feel it—is getting them where they want to go OR if where they are is where they should be. I look for that delicious sweet spot of what they WANT to do, ARE BUILT to do and ARE MEANT to do. Then, I determine if their “message” is working for them, fix it if it needs fixing, adjust the volume so their world can hear them, and make a plan that helps them keep on keepin’ on as they stretch toward their goals.
As a career entrepreneur, founder of Presence Intelligence™, and licensed, specialty-certified coach with a neuroscience focus (wow!), I blend an understanding of brainpower, behavior, aesthetics and communication with business smarts to help professionals...
I am a bit of a firecracker who champions self-mastery, integrity, personal best and kindness. I am the consummate wordsmith with an energetic style, a quick wit and an expansive mindset. I am direct but diplomatic, dynamic and funny. I also have a very big heart.
My mission is to cultivate proactively safer communities.
Proactive risk management makes people less stressed, more comfortable, happier, and more productive. Cultivating proactive security operations desrisks and accelerates human progress, raising quality of life for everyone.
I cultivate proactively safer communities by arming Security Professionals with the data they've been missing for decades. Operations, Finance, Marketing & Supply Chain have been building metrics and KPIs based on real-time process control, outcomes, and projections. Security, especially physical security, has been left with: "Monthly Incidents and Annual Budget".
If you HAVE data, you can measure it. If you MEASURE data, you can IMPROVE it. I started Quill Security to provide risk data for security professionals.
Quill Security is building the inevitable future of the security industry. When you embrace risk data, you will:
Nothing like Quill has ever existed before. Protect your community with the future of security.
Alliancé [pronounced “aliya-n-say”] comes with a background in politics, leadership and education which speaks to her passion for people and positive change. Through her experiences she has learned first-hand the importance of having a unique voice, the value of authentic communication, being relatable with one's audiences, establishing relationships and working collaboratively to get things done.
She has worked in multiple political campaigns; a highlight being the successful election of two city councilors, one Member of Parliament and one Prime Minister.
As a crisis communications enthusiast, she came to the realization that the traditional crisis preparedness plan does not meet the demands and needs of today—the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath demonstrated the extent of this truth. She sought for a more proactive approach that would empower leaders and organizations to readily take on the new evolving challenges. It is her curiosity that grounded her interest in pursuit of crisis communication and led her to the Crisis Ready® Institute.
In 2020 and 2021, Alliancé grew her career with the Crisis Ready® Institute as the Marketing and Community Manager. Her portfolio included building and strengthening the Institute’s brand reach, visibility and engagement, and fostering the growth of the Crisis Ready® Community.
Alliancé holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of British Columbia, studied Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies at Uppsala University in Sweden, and recently completed the Public Relations Certificate program at Simon Fraser University.
Alliancé serves as Events Manager in the British Columbia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Regional VP Administration in the British Columbia chapter of the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce (CBCC) as well as Public Policy Coordinator on a Partisan National Women’s Commission.
Lisa has 20+ years both in Management of fortune 100 firms and in the Management Consulting Business. She specializes in security both physical and logical. Lisa utilizes a myriad of methodologies based on her clients needs, including: ISO 27001, ISO 20000, ISO 9001, ISO 22301, ANSI/ASIS-SPC.1, ANSI/ASIS-PSC.1 and ISO 18788.
She has a CPA, a CBCP (Certified Business Continuity Professional), and an MBCI.
Lisa teaches at George Mason University in their PTAC and she sits on the ASIS Standards and Guidelines Commission developing ANSI accredited standards.
Prior to becoming a Managing Partner at Radian Compliance, LLC, Lisa spent a number of years at Discover Card, where she held positions such as National Director Cardmember Service, National Director Business Continuity, Bank Operations and Regulatory Compliance and she assisted on the launch of their credit card in the UK market.
Her goals are to grow her own firm, Radian Compliance, LLC, over the next 5 years.
We're excited to be sharing Sustained Resilience: Building Tomorrow's Leaders with you. Fill in the form below to gain access to demo this course. Once you fill in this form, we'll send you an email with further instructions.
Thank you for the honor of considering this important course for your curriculum. We look forward to sharing in the experience with you!
BG Grant is an innovative Student Affairs thought-leader, currently based in Buffalo, New York, with over seventeen years of experience across the spectrum of higher education. Specializing in engaging, supporting, and challenging students and the implementation of “what if we…?” Having obtained his undergraduate degrees from Paul Smith’s College and his master’s degree in College Student Personnel Administration from the State University of New York College at Buffalo, BG is currently working on his Doctor of Educational Leadership degree at D’Youville. Outside of work, BG enjoys spending time with his partner Jason and their three furry housemates; Juneaux Bear, Chester B. Arthur, and Saint D’Youville.
Between the demands of our social impact economy, the divisiveness of society and the many other challenges in front of us, embedding a crisis ready culture is more important than ever before. Having a team that is trained, poised, and empowered to effectively respond to risk, controversy and other threats, will strengthen stakeholder relationships and increase the brand equity of your organization. This is a powerful opportunity. The Crisis Ready® Coaching Program is specifically designed to equip your team with the tools needed today for launching into a stronger tomorrow.
From best practices around re-opening, to diversity and inclusion, to managing through the impacts that 2020 has left on your business, the Crisis Ready® Coaching Program is designed to support you through the challenges of today, in order to recover faster and stronger for an even better tomorrow.
COVID-19 continues to affect a great majority of professionals and businesses, leaving them blindsided by its impact and all the uncertainty that came with it. The Crisis Ready® Coaching Program provides you with access to a diverse group of experts, each with unique areas of insight, to help provide you and your team with strengthened foresight to better anticipate and plan for both the risks and opportunities that lay ahead of us all.
With almost twenty years of marketing experience, thirteen of which was spent in the telecom industry, Shireen brings with her an experience toolkit which includes marketing, public relations, communications, training & development, fundraising and project management.
She started her career in a PR agency and her portfolio included retail promotions and events as well as various high-profile projects for the City of Cape Town. This position came only a few short years after apartheid was lifted in South Africa and it is what she claims toughened her up for the real world. She built tenacity, resilience and grit in those early years and more importantly, learnt the importance of building contingencies around all events and programs.
When she made the move to Canada in 2002 to join her mom and siblings, she was mentally ready for the challenge of starting a new life. Circumstances found her back at school studying part time, working full time in the PR division of an ad agency, and volunteering for a not-for-profit benefitting at-risk youth. It was in this latter portion of her journey that she found a passion for Sponsorship Marketing & Special Events.
Accepting an entry level marketing position at a large Canadian telco to get her foot in the door, Shireen quickly gained not only the North American experience she was lacking, but also credibility with internal and external stakeholders, with her strongest suite being that she was always prepared for whatever would prove to come. She enjoyed getting to see some of Canada while showcasing some of the biggest concerts, festivals, theme park & sports activations, along with a multitude of innovative product launches.
The personal pride of her career was finding non-traditional sales venues where she successfully “married” marketing tactics and sales with a profitable outcome for the organization.
Shireen’s bio is not complete without talking about her boxing life. Initially she started the sport to help her create a work-life balance, however in 2013, when she was asked to compete in her first sanctioned charity bout, she humbly obliged.
The Fight to End Cancer was founded in 2011 and has donated over $1.5M to date in support of cancer research with proceeds going directly to support the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. This didn’t come as a shock to her family, friends or colleagues as they knew she’d be all in for training and fundraising! Training like a fighter was no different from the day-to-day boardroom she was used to - only with gloves, her self-motivation and a will to win! She was the first female corporate fighter to enter the ring for this annual event and with her opponent, they set the stage for future female bouts in coming years as they claimed bragging rights for “fight of the night”.
Today she continues to support the initiative, pursuing the sport as an amateur boxer and boxing coach allowing her to share her passion for the sport that found her.
Shireen spreads the word that she is living proof that you can do whatever you set your mind to, no matter what stage you’re at in life. Her personal mantra - strong is my beautiful - has turned into the driving force that is behind the self- proclaimed “Machine”.
High Tech Professional with diverse,domestic and international background: Business Development, Operations Management, Program/Project Management, Partner Management, Process Improvement. Additional experience includes: asset and brand protection, threat/risk analysis.
Always interested in new challenges, dynamic work environment which provides intellectual stimulation and professional growth.
Specialties: Partner management, supply chain management, Operations Management, Latin American region, Public Safety, Risk/Threat Analysis, Leader / Talent Development
My gift is to help individuals and groups of people think wider and deeper together than they might otherwise, especially about matters of critical importance. My current work is to help decision-makers reflect on, and learn from, their response to crisis.
Specialities: Cryptography, Security, public key cryptography, range proof, set membership, certificate revocation.
Working on a future-proof crisis organization
✓ CRISIS MANAGEMENT IS CUSTOMIZATION A lot comes to your organization during a crisis. It is not always easy for employees to switch quickly from daily activities to the ‘crisis position’, with clearly defined roles, tasks, sharp processes and short consultations. Many employees are too little concerned with crisis on a daily basis to be really good at it. In short: crisis management is always tailor-made – and that is not always easy in a crisis situation, in which crisis consultations are often unstructured and go in all directions. I ensure that crisis organizations are better prepared for a crisis through advice, training, training and practice, so that they take the right actions more quickly, maintain confidence in the organization and thus prevent the crisis from becoming a ‘reputation crisis’.
✓ ANALYSIS AND YOUR ENVIRONMENT IN IMAGES A crisis places high demands on communication: the public and stakeholders expect a quick response (within an hour); the reaction must be visible among the thousands of messages on social media and one must take into account that the emotion wins over the ratio. I help organizations to set priorities and, in the midst of the complex playing field, to maintain good coordination with all stakeholders and to take on the role for which the organization is responsible.
✓ IMPACT ON YOUR ORGANIZATION In times of terrorism, (a growing number of) cyber attacks, coronavirus and other crises, knowledge of crisis management and crisis communication is crucial. After all, a crisis poses a risk of (image) damage. Most companies are therefore working on it, but despite the training, it turns out that it does not work well during an exercise. I guide and advise organizations in the transition to a more organized and partly automated information management system.
✓ROADMAP TO PERFECTION Compaijen Crisis Management and Communication has knowledge and experience at all levels: both national (Ministries), local (municipality of Amsterdam, security region) but also international (United Nations, EU consultation). As a trainer, I am one of the few with exceptional crisis experience. This allows me and we are able to convey a clear story with interesting cases and keep things simple. We always aim to make the organization truly better – and not just to complete training.
*Translated from Dutch
Andrea Bonime-Blanc, JD/PhD, is CEO and Founder of GEC Risk Advisory and a global governance, risk, ESG, ethics, cyber and crisis strategist, serving a broad cross-section of business, nonprofits, and government agencies. Since 2017, she has served as the Independent Ethics Advisor to the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico.
Dr. Bonime-Blanc spent two decades as a c-suite global corporate executive at Bertelsmann, Verint, and PSEG overseeing legal, governance, risk, ethics, corporate responsibility, crisis management, compliance, audit, InfoSec and environmental health and safety, among other functions. She began her career as an international corporate lawyer at Cleary Gottlieb, was born and raised in Europe and is multi-lingual.
She serves on several Boards and Advisory Boards including Greenward Partners (a Spanish green energy firm), Ethical Intelligence (an EU-based AI ethics firm), ProtectedBy.AI (A US based AI cybersecurity firm), Epic Theatre Ensemble (a NYC nonprofit), the NACD New Jersey Chapter and NYU Stern-based think tank, Ethical Systems. She also serves as a Governance Mentor at Plug & Play Tech Centre, a global start-up eco-system. She is a NACD Board Leadership Fellow and Governance faculty and holds the Carnegie Mellon CERT Certification in Cyber-Risk Oversight.
Andrea is a global speaker, including at Davos, and appears regularly on Bloomberg TV, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar and other media. She is faculty at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs Masters program teaching “Cyber Leadership, Risk Oversight and Resilience”. She is an extensively published author of many articles and several books including The Reputation Risk Handbook, Emerging Practices in Cyber-Risk Governance and The Artificial Intelligence Imperative. Her latest book, Gloom to Boom: How Leaders Transform Risk into Resilience and Value (Routledge 2020) debuted as an Amazon #1 Hot Release in Business Ethics and Game Theory. She lives in New York City with her family and is an avid photographer and artist.
Marylene is a Life Transformation Consultant, Trainer and Coach licensed with The Brave Thinking and HeartMath Institutes, premier training centers for transformational coaching in California. She also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Human Resources Administration and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Communications and Change Management.
Through her professional career and track record of over 20 years as a Coach, HR Executive Leader and Change Management expert in medium and large corporations, Marylène now shares her know-how & proficiencies through inspiring workshops and in-depth, proven and reliable transformational coaching tools and programs.
Marylene’s passion is to inspire in others self-reflection and greater awareness leading to growth mindsets and behavioural changes. As a result, individuals reach and sustain new heights in performance, success and vitality.
Licy Do Canto, is a veteran of public policy, corporate strategy, health care communications and diversity and inclusion, is managing director of APCO Worldwide’s Washington D.C. office headquarters and mid-Atlantic region lead. Licy is also a Global Advisory Council (GAC) member here at the Crisis Ready Institute and a highly recognized African-American public affairs, lobbyist and communications strategist— recognized by TheHill newspaper for the 11th consecutive year as one of the most influential leaders in Washington, DC.
Recognized globally as an expert, thought leader and visionary in the field of crisis management, Melissa Agnes has worked with global players, including NATO, the Pentagon (DoD), Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, financial firms, technology companies, healthcare organizations, cities and municipalities, law enforcement agencies, aviation organizations, global non-profits, and many others.
In 2020, Melissa founded Crisis Ready Institute, a public benefit corporate dedicated to creating a crisis ready, crisis-resilient world by elevating industry standards; providing training and certification programs to professionals that better protect people, brands, the environment, and the economy in times of crisis; and promoting and incentivizing organizations and leaders to invest in effective crisis readiness.
Her book, Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, is taught in dozens of universities around the world, including at Harvard University; is ranked amongst the leading crisis management books of all time, by Book Authority; and was named one of the top ten business books of 2018 by Forbes.
Melissa is the creator of the Crisis Ready® Model, which is recognized and being taught as leading industry best practice in the fields of crisis management and crisis communication.
As an in-demand international keynote speaker and a TEDx alumna, Melissa has traveled the world helping organizations and leaders further strengthen their crisis ready mindset, skills and capabilities.
In 2019, Melissa founded the Crisis Ready® Community, a space for professionals to come together to support one another, collaborate and strengthen their crisis ready skills.
Melissa sits on the Board of Trustees for D'Youville University, a private University in New York, where she also serves as a visiting scholar for the course she co-created and co-teaches on Crisis Leadership.
Melissa also sits on the Board of Directors for ZeroNow, a non-profit organization committed to ending harmful events in schools.
Passionate about serving law enforcement and bridging the trust divide between agencies and the communities they serve, Melissa is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). In 2021 she co-chaired a committee that was tasked with developing a strategy and plan of action to begin managing and overcoming the trust crisis in the U.S.
In 2019 and 2020, Melissa sat on the panel tasked with developing the International Standard for Crisis Management— ISO 22361, Guidelines for developing a strategic capability.
Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec (Canada), Melissa currently lives in New York City and enjoys traveling, rollerblading, sailing, and working out when she isn’t working.
Erick Anez is the Global Head of Business Resilience at Finastra. Erick is a proven leader with well over a decade of experience leading change and transformation in the Operational Resilience field.
His hands-on approach focuses on operational learning, culture, and reputational management. Erick holds a Bachelor of Emergency & Homeland Security, Graduate studies in Security and Disaster Management, is a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP), Certified Risk Management Professional (CRMP), graduate of the FEMA institute in Incident Management and Command, and is a respected member of Public-Private partnerships within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Some of his most notable achievements in the field include leading the private sector response to Hurricane Maria as well as working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Continuity of Operations (CCOP) projects for mission-critical facilities in the United States. Erick has also trained with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Infectious Disease Planning and community response, including Point of Dispensing initiatives.
From 2016 to 2019, Erick held several roles at Crowley and, most recently, was the company’s Managing Director of Safety & Resilience. During this time, he was responsible for resilience operations supporting all business segments as well as leading the organization’s safety culture improvement journey. At Crowley, he led the Occupational Health & Safety, Business Continuity, and Crisis Management teams.
Before joining Crowley, Erick held similar roles at Southwest Gas and Third Federal Savings & Loan.
Founder and Principal, One Thirty Nine Consulting
Global Advisory Council Member, Crisis Ready® Institute
Aaron Marks is the founder and principal of One Thirty Nine Consulting, providing services for small and large businesses in Risk, Crisis, and Consequence Management.
Supporting both domestic and international clients, he provides operational and subject matter expertise in readiness and preparedness, crisis and incident management, and business and operational continuity for complex systems and organizations.
Aaron has provided in-depth review, assessment, and analysis for technology, policy, and operational programs for clients in healthcare, critical manufacturing, and entertainment and hospitality, as well as for state, local, tribal, territorial, and federal governments in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. He is a recognized authority on the application of nontraditional techniques and methodologies to meet the unique requirements of training, evaluation, and analytic games and exercise.
Prior to entering the readiness and preparedness field, Aaron was the Director of Operations for a commercial ambulance and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) provider in western New York State where he participated in the integration of commercial EMS and medical transportation resources into the local Trauma System.
During his 30-year career, Aaron has worked in almost every aspect of EMS except fleet services. This includes experience in Hazardous Materials and Tactical Medicine, provision of prehospital care in urban, suburban, rural, and frontier environments, and acting as a team leader for both ground and aeromedical Critical Care Transport Teams.
Aaron is a FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner and received a B.A. in Psychology from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, and a master’s degree in Public Administration with a focus in Emergency Management from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. He is also a Nationally Registered Paramedic and currently practices as an Assistant Chief with the Amissville Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department, Amissville Virginia.
Chris is the 11th Police Chief of the Mountain View Police Department, located in the heart of Silicon Valley. For more than 25 years, he has served the Mountain View community, and as the department’s leader, is passionate about maintaining MVPD’s role as a progressive law enforcement organization in the 21st century.
Chris is an internationally recognized speaker and columnist on the areas of crisis communications, critical incident management, leadership, and engagement with stakeholder groups. In his time with Mountain View PD, Chris has held a variety of investigative, tactical, and leadership roles, serving in every division in the organization. He is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Senior Executives in State and Local Government program and has a master’s degree in eBusiness Management from Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont, CA.
Chris also serves in several leadership positions on multiple boards, including as president on the Government Social Media Leadership Council and committee member on the IACP's Professional Standards, Ethics, and Image Committee. Previously, Chris served as a board member for the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center and two terms as a commissioner on the City of San Mateo Community Relations Commission.
You can connect with him on Twitter @Chief_Hsiung or LinkedIn.
Ashley is a Brand and Marketing Strategist who partners with CEOs, executives and solopreneurs to grow their personal and professional brands. After spending over a decade working in strategic communications for multimillion dollar brands and startups, Ashley knows what truly drives conversations, builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their stakeholder groups and attracts strong strategic partnerships.
Ashley has helped organizations and leaders increase employee awareness and overall understanding of the company vision. She has strong experience / knowledge of social media tools and techniques for driving awareness, reputation and brand—and is known for advancing a company's messaging in the marketplace by growing the following of now multiple multimillion dollar brands and startups.
Ashley has served as the Editor of monthly all employee publications by managing the planning, writing and production. She is an integral part of new product launches and is frequently engaged to train entire sales teams along with channel / distribution partners on new product launches. In addition to her extensive experience, Ashley is a trained business coach.
Ashley holds a BA in Global Business Management from the University of Phoenix.
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