Episode 167: The Culture Shifts That Will Increase Employee Retention & Profitability Today we are joined by Vanessa’s friend, coach, and mentor: Ron Harvey, the VP and chief operating officer of Global Core Strategies & Consulting. Harvey and his team work with leaders to develop strong work cultures within their organizations, build diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and retain top talent. In this episode, Harvey is sharing his expertise on the culture shifts that will...

Episode 166: The Impact of ESG on Business Continuity ESG – which stands for environmental, social, and governance investing – is a way for investors to evaluate risk and social responsibility before investing in companies. In this episode, we’ll be sharing some specifics of ESG, how it can affect your organization’s business continuity practices and decisions, and why you might consider becoming an ESG-compliant organization. Source: Global Risk Management Institute: What Is ESG? Some key...

Episode 165: Best Practices to Land Your Next Big Role | Resumes, Interview Tips, & More If you find yourself looking for a new role, you might be wondering how to set yourself apart in the application and interview process. Enter Kim Hooper, an HR manager for Asfalis and an award-winning security professional with more than 20 years of experience at companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon. In this episode, Kim is sharing her best tips and practices for polishing your resume, nailing the...

Episode 164: Should Brands Take a Political Stance? In 2024, we are entering election season, which in the U.S. has become more and more divisive over the last several years. In this episode, we are going to dig into whether businesses or brands should take political stances on divisive issues, and how you can choose to navigate this going into 2024. Some key takeaways from this episode include: There are two ways to approach conversations about politics at work. One, if a conversation...

Episode 163: The Joy of Metrics + Training the Next Generation of Professionals Metrics are a huge factor in business continuity and allow us to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of our strategies. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Bernard Jones, professor of homeland security and emergency management at St. John’s University. Throughout his career, he’s worked in several industries, including tech and data, healthcare, security, and higher education. Some key takeaways from...

Episode 162: Artificial Intelligence in Business Continuity | Use Cases, Risks, and Our Favorite AI Tools At the recent DRJ conference in Phoenix, the topic everyone wanted to talk about was AI (artificial intelligence). As tools like ChatGPT become more mainstream, the conversation is shifting to how we can actually use these tools in our industry. In this episode, we’re sharing some of the ways we’re using AI in our business, and how you can better leverage it as a tool for your own...

Episode 161: Supply Chain Resilience in the Wine & Spirits Industry Supply chains continue to be a trending topic, and in this episode, we’re digging into managing and troubleshooting supply chains for the wine and spirits industry. We’re joined by John Liuzzi, the national director for business continuity for Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, who is running a “dream team” of business continuity professionals in his industry to share his insights, plus how business continuity...

Episode 160: Leadership Risks You Need to Prepare For Leadership is a major factor in how smoothly your emergency management and business continuity plans are created and implemented, so in this episode, we are sharing some of the top leadership risks to prepare for in order to have a stronger team. The article Vanessa references for this episode is from Forbes on “Navigating Leadership Challenges in a Rapidly Changing World.” Some key takeaways from this episode include: Your ability...

Episode 159: Wildfire Preparedness and Emergency Management While the top disaster threat in California is still earthquakes, wildfires have gotten a lot of attention over the last few years. We’re seeing wildfires affect more of North America recently, so in this episode, Leslie Luke, the deputy director of the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office at the Office of Emergency Management, is here to share his expertise. Leslie covers the training and exercise objectives, communication...

Episode 158: How Prepared Is Your Business? | 5 Metrics & KPIs You Should Be Tracking for Business Resilience We’ve spent years helping businesses rethink how to measure the effectiveness of their resiliency program. In fact, we have a 200 question input form that examines just this. While this podcast episode is not long enough to share all 200 questions, we’d like to offer five metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) you can use to help you assess your business resilience. Some...

If your team is running exercises where everyone is just going through the motions, you’re missing some key blind spots in your processes. In this replay episode, Rick Christ, a senior consultant at Crisis Prevention and Response, Inc. and a FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner, lays out his seven deadly sins of crisis management exercises. From focusing on shiny objects to exercising too big, Rick covers the mistakes you might be making and how to avoid each one moving forward. Resources...

In light of the Supreme Court recently ruling against affirmative action, in this episode we’re sharing clips from our past episodes on higher education. From the experience of leaders and students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), to the future of security and DEI efforts on college campuses, we hope this episode spotlights the forward progress we’ve seen in higher education despite the SCOTUS ruling. Episodes referenced: Ep. 103: The Future of HBCUs and Higher...

Episode 155: Answering the Tricky Questions and Critics about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion In this episode, we are continuing the conversation from our DEI Microsimulation at the DRJ Spring 2023 conference and addressing some lingering questions from the audience. Vanessa is joined by Lisa Jones, the BC general manager at Control Risks, and James Green, the co-founder of Illuminate Advisory. Together, Lisa and James are co-founders of the Resilience Think Tank Advisory.  Some of the key...

Episode 154: What We Can Learn from the Silicon Valley Bank Failure and Leadership in Risk Management The Silicon Valley Bank failure sent a strong ripple effect through the financials of several prominent companies, and instilled some fear that other banks might fail as well. In this episode, we’re joined by Chris Holmes, the co-founder and CEO of RiskVersity, to explain what happened with SVB, where we’re still feeling the effects, and what you need to know to protect yourself. Connect...

Episode 153: Growing and Developing the Leaders in Your Organization Developing leaders in your organization is mutually beneficial for your employees and the organization. In this episode, Debbie Maples, the VP of global safety and security at Salesforce, joins us to share why developing leaders is more important than ever, and how you can empower the leaders in your organization. Some of the key takeaways include:  Leaders can be born or made, it’s not necessarily one or the other....

Episode 152: Behind the Scenes of a Human Resources Case Study for a Retail Organization Vernetta Purcell-Morrow, the director of human resources for the Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board is back to share her experience hiring Asfalis Advisors to conduct an human resources audit. We’ll cover why Asfalis Advisors was selected, the findings from Vanessa’s team, and the results of their proposed solutions. Some of the key takeaways include:  Audits can incite some...

Episode 151: Retail Industry Challenges – Staffing, Employee Burnout, Customer Behavior, and Community Engagement Today we’re joined by Vernetta Purcell-Morrow, the director of human resources for the Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board. In this episode, Vernetta shares her experience with supporting community engagement programs as a company, and the unique challenges that came with being an essential retail business during the pandemic, staffing shortages, and...

Episode 150:  The Top Rising Risks You Need to Prepare For with Chris Hurst of OnSolve In this episode, we are unpacking data from the 2023 OnSolve Global Risk Impact Report, which details the most prominent risks and what to do with the data we’re seeing about these risks. To discuss these findings, we’re joined by Chris Hurst, vice president of value engineering at OnSolve. Resources: DRJ Spring 2023: What Will an Effective, Efficient Operational Risk and Resiliency Program Look Like...

Episode 149:  Vanessa Mathews’ Origin Story – Growing a Business Resilience Company, Emergency Management Programs, and More! In this episode, we’re putting Vanessa in the hot seat! This week, her colleague Michelle Myrie from Asfalis Advisors interviews her on her education, building Asfalis Advisors, how the industry is shifting, and more. There are some incredible stories in this episode you don’t want to miss. Some of the key takeaways include:  Business resilience is needed in every...

Episode 148:  Supporting the Next Generation of Hazard & Disaster Researchers We are looking to fill roles in our organizations with talented, diverse individuals. In this episode, Dr. Nnenia Campbell, a disaster sociologist and deputy director of the Bill Anderson Fund, is sharing how this organization provides mentorship and training for the next generation of hazard and disaster researchers. Learn more about The Bill Anderson Fund Connect with Nnenia Campbell on LinkedIn Some...

Episode 147:  What Train Derailments in the U.S. Can Teach Us About Data, Workers, and the Risk of Cutting Costs On Feb. 3, 2023, a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio spilled thousands of gallons of toxic vinyl chloride into the town. NPR states that there are an average of three train derailments in the U.S. per day. In this episode, we’re unpacking what’s behind these derailments and what we can all take away from them regardless of your industry.  Resources: WSJ Article 1 WSJ...

Episode 146:  Human Resources Strategies for Building Culture and Acquiring Talent Over the last few years, trends in recruiting, hiring, and retaining talent have changed drastically. In this episode, Marie Mann, an executive partner at Gartner and former chief HR officer and C-suite advisor, is sharing her perspective on what we can expect from a hiring perspective and how to make sure we’re following best practices for retaining talent. Mann has more than 20 years of executive-level HR...

Episode 145:  Preparing for Global Conflicts, Insider Threats, and Other Things You Can’t Predict If there’s one thing we can all agree on in business, it’s that sometimes things happen that are unpredictable. In this episode, we’re looking at some of the most pressing threats from a 50-foot view and discussing all the factors that might present a risk to your organization. This episode is more about the “what” than the “how,” and we’d love to hear how you’re thinking through these issues...

Episode 144: Evaluating the Safety, Hazards, and Risks in Your Organization’s Physical Environments When was the last time you evaluated the threats to your physical environment? There is so much to consider beyond processes and security. In this episode, we’re sharing how to evaluate the safety, hazards, and risks of the physical environments of your organization, and how to eliminate those vulnerabilities. Some of the key takeaways include:  You need to be able to see your risks in...