BRPA - In The Loop

Vol. 3, No. 2, April,  2010

Welcome

Jason Merante (Accenture) – BRPA Newsletter Editor

Welcome, BRPA members, to your latest edition of BRPA – In the Loop.  As we all continue to be cautiously optimistic about economic recovery, our professional community is refocused on creating, updating, and running business continuity/disaster recovery programs that create value for our companies and clients.  Spring is here, signifying the rebirth of nature around us as well as the renewal of budgets, staff, and hope for BC/DR.  Take advantage of this opportunity to showcase the value you can provide to your company.

BRPA will continue to offer programs that will leave you with new ideas to share with your company and your clients.  Dan Johnson highlights some of our exciting upcoming events this summer and fall.

The newest BRPA board member, Secretary Alina Rubin, has contributed a testimonial on the value she receives from BRPA and by being a member of the Board.  President Tom Dziurgot also makes an appeal for volunteers, and Membership Director Chris Sarcletti highlights some of our newest members.

It is never too early to plan for a round of golf this summer.  Vice President John Mantsch gives you the scoop on this year’s outing.

Finally, as always, we welcome your insights as we are committed to serving our fellow members.  Please contact me by emailing newsletter@brpa-chicago.org.  Thank you in advance for your comments.

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A Word From our President

Tom Dziurgot (Grainger) – BRPA President

What a great year!  We have almost 100 member companies and independents with well over 300 individual members.  You have been really responsive to our BRPA programs.  You should have received a survey asking you how BRPA could add even more value to you.

BRPA is all about its membership.  You, our members, drive every decision the board makes.  We focus on how we can provide more value to you.  We are looking for members who are interested in being decision makers and creating the direction of our organization. If you are interested please contact me so we discuss ways you can help the organization.  A couple of ways you can help is by being on the BRPA Board or by volunteering at BRPA functions.

Speaking of volunteers, I want to thank all of our volunteers who helped with the Sponsor Showcase last month.  They really made a difference.  We were lucky to have enough volunteers that each person only had to work an hour or two at the event.  The volunteers helped with everything including blowing up balloons (using helium), preparing the auditorium, putting out breakfast, welcoming members at the registration table, putting lunch together, taking pictures, putting out afternoon snacks, and helping with post event survey. Thanks for a job well done.

I was looking ahead and realized we need at least dozen volunteers to help with the golf outing.  We need help throughout the entire process. We need help filling goodie bags, running the registration table, working the putting contest, preparing the banquet room by exhibiting prizes and silent auction items, directing table set up, setting up plaques, taking photographs, setting up AV equipment, and being a general helper.

If you are golfing, we can find things for you to do before or after your round. If you are not golfing, we have things that need to be done while others are golfing. If you have any interest in helping please contact me.

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Summary of Last Meeting

Dan Johnson (Bank of America) – BRPA Program Director

The theme for this meeting was “BRPA Sponsor Showcase” which took place at JC Restoration in Rolling Meadows. Mike Collins hosted the meeting and SunGard sponsored the breakfast. The lunch was sponsored by Ahead, Atrato and Latisys.

This meeting was the first BRPA Sponsor Showcase meeting which enabled many of the BRPA sponsors to showcase their materials in an Exhibit Hall, just outside of the auditorium, where the standard BRPA meeting was conducted. The meeting consisted of four morning presentations from BRPA sponsors.  Fusion Risk Management started things off, then viaForensics, Atrato and Laurus Technologies presented. The afternoon featured four more BRPA sponsor presentations from Ahead, Latisys, SunGard and Laurus Technologies. There was also a breakout session conducted by Maria Vergara (RBS & BPRA Past President) on how to prepare to be a BRPA leader. All of the sessions that were presented were very educational and informative. It was a great opportunity for BRPA sponsors to educate the members in the Exhibit Hall and during the meeting presentations.

The meeting also featured over $2,000 worth of raffle prizes! Each participating sponsor brought a raffle prize worth at least $100 and BRPA raffled off four $50 gift certificates, eligible for those members that visited every sponsor booth in the Exhibit Hall.

Mike Collins and his wonderful staff worked with BRPA weeks before the meeting and especially on the day of the meeting. Their tireless effort to ensure a successful event cannot be understated. They were attentive to our every need and we can’t thank them enough for their efforts!

Lastly, the BRPA board would like to thank the volunteers that gave up their time to help make the meeting a memorable one, they were:

• Jim Christensen
• Nikki Domanus
• Ron McKay
• Eva Swiss
• Tahiti Weaver

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BRPA Event Schedule

Dan Johnson (Bank of America) – BRPA Program Director

April 20 Meeting:  All Day Annual Training Session

Join BRPA for this unique training opportunity lead by Denis Goulet, BCCE, CBCP, MBCI of ContinuityLink, a globally experienced BCM educator from Canada, who has trained BCM professionals throughout North America, Europe and the Middle-East.

The Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is the foundation on which to build an organization-wide Business Continuity Management Program.  In this full day session, you will learn the critical steps for completing a BIA that works, whether applied in North America or abroad.  This is considered an advanced discussion, but applicable to all levels of Business Continuity.

 May 18 Meeting:  BRPA/ACP Collaborative Meeting

This meeting will be a full day session at Deloitte & Touche in downtown Chicago. 

This meeting will be the second combined meeting with the Association of Contingency Planners (ACP). Our two organizations will collaborate once again, allowing a great Network opportunity for all who attend!

There will be four presentations for this meeting. The first presentation will feature Damian Walch from Deloitte & Touche who will describe a specific method of aligning risk intelligence to business continuity. The second presentation will feature Roberta Witty from Gartner who will describe key performance indicators as a means of getting management attention. The third presentation will come from David Gervino of the American Red Cross who will present their response to the earthquake in Haiti and also discuss the Chicagoland chapter response, how local chapters were staffed and what the public can do to assist when events like this occur.

Last year there were over 100 attendees at the BRPA / ACP meeting and we expect another large turnout again this year. This will be a wonderful opportunity to sponsor the breakfast or lunch. When you sponsor a meal, you will have the opportunity to address the members by giving an overview of your company and explain to the attendees the benefits of using your services. If you are interested in sponsoring the breakfast or lunch for this event or a future event in 2010, please contact dan.johnson@bankofamerica.com.

BRPA 2010 Program Calendar*

Apr 20          BRPA Training Session: Blue Cross Blue Shield, Downtown Chicago (full day)

May 18         Combined meeting with ACP:  Deloitte & Touche, Downtown Chicago (full day)

July 20          Allstate, Northbrook (morning – half day)

Aug 17          Annual Golf Outing – Chevy Chase Country Club

Sept 28         BRPA Appreciation Luncheon:  JC Restoration, Rolling Meadows (full day)

Nov 16          TBD (morning – half day)

Dec 7            Holiday Luncheon

*Meeting Locations subject to change

Supporting BRPA / Speakers

If you are interested in supporting the BRPA organization, you may host or sponsor a breakfast or lunch at an upcoming meeting. All sponsors will have the opportunity to address our membership and tell everyone about your company and services that you can provide.

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Guest Column

Alina Rubin, BRPA Secretary (Emergency Preparedness, Exelon)

A Call to Serve

For this month’s newsletter, I thought I will share with everyone what a great opportunity it is to serve on BRPA board.  I became the BRPA secretary earlier this year, and so far it has been a fantastic experience. 

I started going to BRPA meetings 3 years ago, when I was transferred from application support to the disaster recovery team at Exelon.  I was focused on learning everything I could about my new role, and BRPA had the best training available.  The speakers were knowledgeable and inspiring, and I felt great interest toward my new profession.

While I acquired great deal of information from presentations and training sessions, I was not taking full advantage of the networking opportunities in front of me.  Speaking to strangers was outside my comfort zone; while some faces became familiar, I would speak to very few people and often bring just one new business card home. I had a hunch that being too quiet is not good for me; after all I am now expected to speak at meetings and presentations, not write code all day.  The idea of doing more for BRPA came into my head a few times, but I dismissed it, thinking I am too busy.

Then, last fall, I received the invite to the fall training session on Pandemic Planning, which asked for volunteers to facilitate.  The invite promised a great opportunity to develop leadership skills in a safe environment.  Something told me that I had to try.  The workshop was a good experience; I felt pleased with my effort.  After the meeting a board member approached me with encouragement to run for board position.  School memories popped into my head; I ran for class office every year in high school and always lost.  But since I made a commitment to develop myself, I decided to pursue this opportunity, and applied for the secretary role.

Within a short time in my role, my BRPA experience has gone to a new level.  As soon as I was introduced as secretary at the BRPA holiday lunch, several members approached me thanking me for being on the board and such response blew me away.  At the BRPA meetings, I now stand at the registration table and greet everyone who comes in.  I also create the nametags, and thus know most names and companies. I feel confident approaching any member to say hello. But the best part is working with the BRPA board.  It’s a terrific group of people that has become my new family.  Their commitment to the organization, enthusiasm, and creativity is amazing and inspiring.  They create a wonderful environment of encouragement and respect, listen to everyone’s ideas, and synergize to hit a home run with each event.  Seeing a BRPA board meeting on my calendar immediately brightens my day (not just because that often means delicious food!).  Serving on the board has allowed me so much more than meeting people and suring up my resume; it developed me as communicator and a leader. 

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Member Benefits

John Mantsch (RJ O’Brien) – BRPA Vice President

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Other Announcements

Alane Waktins (Kraft Foods) – BRPA Communications Director

Upcoming Events from our Collaborative Partners

A valued benefit of your BRPA membership is the free passes we give out each month to CAMP IT conferences.  CAMP IT is a BRPA collaborative partner and provides a member benefit valued at $219 for each pass.  It includes a full day of high quality training and a complimentary lunch. This is a great way to complete your educational credits for certification.  Many BRPA members are taking advantage of these great opportunities with CAMP IT.  Be sure to check your inbox for the email that details the monthly conferences and how to request a pass.

CAMP IT will hold 17 conferences this year.  These conferences target many topics of value to BRPA members, including security, project management, risk management, disaster recovery, and business continuity management.  Take advantage of this great opportunity and remember all employees of a BRPA member company are eligible.  If the conference topic is not of interest to you, it may be to one of your colleagues!

1. Upcoming CAMP IT Conferences:

VDI/Desktop Virtualization Strategies – Implementation & Management – April 22, 2010

http://www.campconferences.com/events/2010/virtualization1.htm

Business Intelligence & Analytics – May 6, 2010

http://www.campconferences.com/events/2010/analytics.htm

IT PMO Leadership:  Delivering Business Value – May 19, 2010

http://www.campconferences.com/events/2010/Managing.htm

Enterprise Risk/Security Management – Leakage/Loss/Metrics – June 10, 2010

http://www.campconferences.com/events/2010/enterprise_risk2.htm

2. ICOR University offers courses in BCM, Crisis Management & Communications, Data Center Management, Organizational Resilience, Social & Personal Resilience (including Pandemic Planning), and Supply Chain Risk Management – many courses offered online and as self study as well.  BRPA Members receive a 10% discount on ICOR courses.  Use Voucher #BRPA-09010 when registering.  http://www.theicor.org/

3. DRJ Fall World 2010 September 19-22 in San Diego, CA – “Conquering the Tough Challenges” http://www.drj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4085&Itemid=1039

4. ATAP Presents:  “Early Warnings:  Violence Prevention Through Detection & Intervention” – May 3-4, Chicago, IL.  Register at:  http://www.atapworldwide.org/

5. ContinuityLink offers multiple Business Continuity Management public or in-house training opportunities in North America & Europe.  BRPA Members receive a 10% discount on all ContinuityLink courses.  Specifically, for the Chicago area:

Business Impacts Analysis training on September 2-3, 2010

http://www.continuitylink.com/En/Description-BCM-BIA.htm

BCM Audit training on August 31-September 1, 2010

http://www.continuitylink.com/logistics/Chicago.htm

For more information and our complete training calendar:

http://www.continuitylink.com/En/training.htm

6. Lake-Cook Regional Critical Incident Partnership: May 6, 2010 - Planning For 2010 Full Scale Exercise (on June 19, 2010).  Location for this will be Motorola, Libertyville, IL.  For information visit www.lcrcip.org.  To register contact Roxann Message:  rmessage@pactiv.com.

7. Technology Executives Club: “Best Practices in Business Intelligence including Business Analytics & Data Warehousing” Chicago, IL, April 20, 2010 1:00 - 5:00 pm.  Register at:   http://www.technologyexecutivesclub.com/Events/2010/0410.php#register

8. World Conference on Disaster Management WCDM 2010 Toronto is June 20-23, 2010.  Register at http://www.wcdm.org/

9. 2010 Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Forum July 26, 2010, The United Club at Soldier Field, Chicago.  Register:  http://forumnetworkingevents.com/site/reservations.aspx

10. SunGard Availability Midwest Client Connection- SAMCC will be held May 6, 2010 at the Itasca Country Club.  For event information, visit SunGard here.

11. Community Emergency Response Training – CERT

For CERT training in the NW Suburbs, Palatine offers several CERT classes in 2010. (To view dates and times, go to www.palatine-ema.org and click CERT Classes) Most sessions are being held at 200 E. Wood (Village Hall Building) in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located in the lower level on the West End of the building.  For Registration contact Tom Smith tsmith@palatine.il.us.

For CERT Training in the city of Chicago (will start in late March/early April), email chicagocitizencorps@cityofchicago.org.  Registration is 30 days in advance.

For other area CERT information, visit http://www.citizencorps.gov/

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Member Highlights

Chris Sarcletti (CME Group) – BRPA Membership Director

Please welcome our new BRPA members and sponsors and find out more about their business by reading an overview of what they do below.

AHD Associates

• AHD Associates provides quality Security and Compliance consulting services.  We bring experienced certified consultants (CISSP, CISA, CBCP, etc.) that understand business, security, and compliance to projects to provide our clients with the help they need.  Our consultants have worked on a variety of projects for customers ranging from small to Fortune 100 companies across many industries and government organizations.  We are experienced with most of the regulatory compliance requirements (SOX, HIPAA, PCI, GLBA, etc.) and the major security frameworks (NIST, ISO, COBIT, ITIL, etc.)  We provide security & regulatory compliance assessments and risk assessments leading to gap analysis and then remediation of identified issues.  AHD consultants provide services (including strategy, policy, procedures, training and awareness, developing controls, disaster recovery, business continuity, penetration testing, etc) first by reviewing business needs and only then developing and implementing the appropriate strategic and technical solutions.

Atrato Inc.

• There is no stopping the data explosion. Businesses today are overwhelmed by video, audio, pictures, email, documents, spreadsheets - all growing in size exponentially - not to mention compliance laws and regulations. At Atrato we strive to transform the way our customers store, manage and access their data.

BMS CAT

• BMS CAT® is a global restoration company specializing in the restoration of commercial properties. BMS CAT® is a full service company in the areas of structural and content cleaning and can provide all of the restoration services needed.

Enterprise Recovery Systems, Inc.

• Enterprise Recovery Systems, Inc. are specialists in the recovery and resolution of delinquent educational loans and institutional accounts for colleges, universities and state guarantee programs.

Hewitt Associates LLC

• Hewitt is one of the world's leading HR consulting and outsourcing companies. Our mission is both simple and ambitious—making the world a better place to work.

IG2 Data Security, Inc.

• IG2 Data Security, Inc. provides off-site data storage and litigation data discovery services to organizations throughout the world. IG2 is unique in the data protection industry. We possess a keen understanding of the specific data protection requirements of our clients, gained from years of being on the client side of the business ourselves prior to founding IG2.

Milliman, Inc.

• Independent for over 60 years, Milliman delivers market-leading services and solutions to clients worldwide.  With no agenda, other than getting it right.  Through a team of professionals ranging from actuaries to clinicians, technology specialists to plan administrators, we offer unparalleled expertise in Employee Benefits, Investment Counseling, Healthcare, Life Insurance and Financial Services and Property and Casualty Insurance.

RedLegg

• RedLegg’s mission is to partner with clients on a strategic level to identify advanced technologies helping to reduce operational and capital expenses.  Redlegg’s goal is to understand your Enterprise’s objective & help you maximize your resources to procure, implement and support your technology investments the most cost effective & strategic way.

SWN Communications Inc.

• As companies become more concerned about business and operational continuity, regulatory compliance, security and the ability to audit information flow, the need for swift, appropriate, and documented communications becomes more urgent.  Send Word Now is successfully transforming the way organizations and government agencies are solving the problem of on-demand alerting and response for both emergency situations as well as for everyday, time-sensitive organizational communications.

ServerCentral

• ServerCentral is a managed data center solutions provider specializing in bandwidth-intensive colocation applications. With data centers strategically located worldwide, we serve a diverse roster of clients, including content delivery companies, webhosting and application service providers, hardware vendors and enterprise-level clients.

Vanguard Archives

• Vanguard Archives helps organizations manage both documents and data at all stages of the information lifecycle - from the time information is created until it requires secure disposal.  Companies use our services to free up office space, reduce time spent managing documents and data, and protect their information from loss or unauthorized access.

viaForensics

• viaForensics is an e-discovery and computer forensic company that focuses on providing consulting services, backed by experience and knowledge, for law firms, corporations and law enforcement.

Thanks

Members In The News

DeVry Inc. is a finalist for the category of 2010 Crisis Strategy of the Year in the international CIR Business Continuity Awards.  The Business Continuity Awards hosted by Continuity, Insurance and Risk (CIR) magazine based in the UK, recognizes excellence within the field of business continuity and operational risk management.  Cynthia Berry, CBCP manager of Business Continuity and Security for DeVry Inc., states, “Being a finalist for such a respected industry award is truly an honor.”  She notes that the contributions of her team, support of DeVry Inc. leadership and consultant Marcia Kittler, CBCP of MK Business Solutions Inc. were instrumental in developing a notable Crisis Strategy. Winners will be announced on May 12, 2010 in London.  http://businesscontinuityawards.com.

DeVry Inc. is a global provider of educational services and the parent organization of Advanced Academics, Apollo College, Becker Professional Education, Chamberlain College of Nursing, DeVry Brasil, DeVry University, Ross University Schools of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, and Western Career College. www.devryinc.com 

Please let us know if you have any important milestones to share.

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Special Events

David Pomerantz (Latisys) – BRPA Special Events Director

John Mantsch (R.J. O’Brien) – BRPA Vice President

Remember to mark your calendar.  The Annual BRPA golf outing is being held on August 17, at the Chevy Chase C.C. in Wheeling, IL.  Here’s their website; www.chevychasecountryclub.com.  Come on out and enjoy one of the best networking opportunities of the year along with a chance to win some great prizes. If you are not a golfer you can still enjoy the fun and will prizes by participating in our very popular "Lunch Only Option".

This golf outing will be based on a scramble format. This is where each foursome will play the best ball from the tee box to holing out.  Every year we have a number of events that get everyone involved in the match (putting contest, closest to the pin, longest drive, strategically using string and a mulligan book to lower your score) and this year it will be more of the same.  So come out as an individual, with your friend or as a foursome and enjoy a great day of golf and a great networking opportunity.

Your registration fee will include; green fee, golf cart, continental breakfast, lunch, and entry into the raffle.  This event is open to all BRPA members, ACP, other associations, co-workers, friends as well as the clients or customers of our sponsors.  Pass the word!

Remember for those who don’t play golf but want the chance to network, we have a lunch only option. This has been a success for the past few years and we will continue to make this option available. 

You’ll receive another flyer on the golf outing by the end of April but we wanted to make sure that everyone had the date (August 17, 2010) for this year’s golf outing.

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Closing Thoughts

Thanks again for reading our newsletter.  We welcome your feedback as we continue to update this newsletter based on the needs and suggestions of our BRPA members.  As always, we are only an email away: newsletter@brpa-chicago.org.

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