Riding the Wave-Project Management for Emergency Managers

In episode 13, we talked with Alexander Grijalva, who is an adjunct professor at New York City College of Technology, and owner of Security Hourglass, a cyber risk management consulting company. He is also the Chief Information Security Officer at VillageCare, a community healthcare provider, in New York City.

His 30-year cybersecurity career has covered the financial, retail, and healthcare sectors, from sole proprietorships to Fortune 500 organizations. Alexander focuses on cyber risk management and incident response. He assists individuals and organizations in understanding and remediating their cyber threats and risks, and helps them respond to hacking incidents and breaches.

He has presented at industry conferences in the United States. Aside from his college professorship, he also teaches a HIPAA privacy and security course at Columbia University in their Health IT certificate program.

We spoke about common lines of cybersecurity attacks, why medium sized businesses should take precautions and what they can do.

This podcast episode is a re-edited version of a conversation I had with Steve Gutkin, currently Senior Vice President of Global Crisis Management & Business Continuity at NBCUniversal Media. Steve was formerly the Acting Director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness. Prior to serving in that role, he was Deputy Director in charge of leading the State's counter-terrorism, cybersecurity, emergency preparedness, resilience, executive protection, and crisis management.

We discussed how the energy sector has increased it’s resiliency following Hurricane Sandy and how his agency plays a key role in building public/private partnerships, helping industry to respond to and recover from disasters, and the establishment of the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) that is the first its kind center in any US State to help increase cybersecurity through all sectors of society.

For more info, visit: www.cyber.nj.gov

I spoke with Jeff Schlegelmilch, a Research Scholar and the Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. In this role he oversees the operations and strategic planning for the center. Before becoming director, he served as the center's deputy director for more than five years. He also oversees projects related to the practice and policy of disaster preparedness, including the multi-award winning Resilient Children / Resilient Communities Initiative. He is also a Lecturer in the Sustainability Management Program at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies. His areas of expertise include public health preparedness, community resilience and the integration of private and public sector capabilities. Prior his work at Columbia, he was the Manager for the International and Non-Healthcare Business Sector for the Yale New Haven Health System Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response.

He was also previously an epidemiologist and emergency planner for the Boston Public Health Commission. He has advised leaders on preparedness systems and policy at all levels of government. He is an Opinion Contributor with The Hill and is frequently utilized as a subject matter expert for numerous media outlets. He is also the author Rethinking Readiness: A Brief Guide to Twenty-First-Century Megadisasters published by Columbia University Press. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from UMASS Amherst in Health Policy and Management, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Quinnipiac University.

We spoke about project and program management competencies in disaster planning, the challenges in managing different stakeholders, and measuring programs impacts. We also discussed the balance between emerging changes to emergency management and the diversity of community needs, given the increasing catastrophic disasters in the US.

Referenced links:

NCDP website

https://ncdp.columbia.edu/

His book: Rethinking Readiness: A Brief Guide to Twenty-First-Century Megadisasters

http://cup.columbia.edu/book/rethinking-readiness/9780231190411

Resilient Children/Resilient Communities

https://rcrctoolbox.org/

NCDP Guide: Is it OK to send my child to school

https://ncdp.columbia.edu/custom-content/uploads/2020/08/Covid-19_Back-To-School_Final.pdf

This episode features Mark Chubb, Chief Resilience Officer for ManitouNW LLC and Senior Fire Analyst at CODE LLC Corp.This is an extract from the webinar From Surviving to Thriving: How to Manage Crises and Create a Resilient Organization. Marks speaks about the application of agile crisis management in Bangladesh following the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013 and the Portland Oregon Police Department following a series of officer involved shootings in 2008.

I spoke with Dr. Daniel P. Aldrich who is a professor and director of the Security and Resilience Program at Northeastern University. He researches post-disaster recovery, countering violent extremism, the siting of controversial facilities and the interaction between civil society and the state. He has published five books, more than fifty peer reviewed articles, and written op-eds for The New York Times, CNN, Asahi Shinbun, along with appearing on popular media outlets such as CNBC, MSNBC, NPR, and HuffPost. His research has been funded by the Fulbright Foundation, the Abe Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, and he has carried out more than five years of fieldwork in Japan, India, Africa, and the Gulf Coast. Please see the following link for a longer bio: http://daldrich.weebly.com/bio--cv.html

We spoke about how social capital can bring people together both here in the USA and overseas to demonstrate greater resilience in the face of COVID-19 and how communities can establish stronger social ties while maintaining physical distance and stay-at-home measures. We also discussed the use of the term physical distancing vs. social distancing.

Dr. Aldrich’s website:

http://daldrich.weebly.com/

The Black Wave:

https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo40026774.html

Social capital's role in humanitarian crises

https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/19042

For the latest help with responding to COVID-19, catch us at www.pinnacleperformancemanagement.com

Since many of my guests on the podcast are professionals in emergency management and business continuity and have been going at full steam in response to COVID-19, it has been difficult to schedule interviews lately, and, to be clear, I have been jammed lately.

In this episode, once again the tables are turned, and I am interviewed by Dean Kameros, a friend, neighbor, and fan of the podcast. Dean works for a Fortune 500 Pharmaceutical company, and I want to thank him for playing host and allowing me to be the guest. We talked about what led up to this situation with COVID-19, how things are being handled, and what needs to be done in the immediate term, and what we might expect.

Links to sites that I reference in the podcast:

https://www.cdc.gov/

https://www.who.int/

https://www.nih.gov/

https://www.jhsph.edu/

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

Episode 7

In this episode, the table is turned on me, and your regular host, Andrew Boyarsky, is interviewed by Katherine Boyarsky , the host’s niece who is a healthcare specialist (both bios below).

In this episode we discuss how healthcare professionals and organizations need to prepare for handling COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus, in their operations and what they may expect in the near term.

Andrew Boyarsky, MSM, PMP, CBCP, is President of Pinnacle Performance Management, and an emergency management and disaster recovery specialist with 25 years of experience in project management and 18 years in emergency management, business continuity, and disaster recovery. He is also a Clinical Associate Professor in Project and Emergency Management at NYU and John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY).

Katherine Boyarsky is a registered nurse and oncology specialist at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston. She also co-owns CXD Studio, a creative marketing agency, where she is responsible for managing marketing and copywriting services. Katherine is a regular contributor for Florence Health, a site dedicated to sharing information from healthcare providers to fellow providers.

Links that we discuss in this episode:

Johns Hopkins CSSE Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases dashboard: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Information on COVID-19 for Healthcare Professionals: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/index.html

World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19) technical guidance for patient management: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/patient-management

In this episode, I spoke with Dante Disparte, who is the founder and CEO of Risk Cooperative, a strategy, risk and capital management firm focused on mid-market opportunities, market expansion and innovation on a global scale. He is the co-author of the book “Global Risk Agility and Decision Making” and was recently selected as one of the 40 leaders under 40 by the Washington Business Journal and among the top 100 most influential leaders in D.C., in the inaugural Powermeter 100 list. Prior to forming Risk Cooperative, Mr. Disparte served as the managing director of Clements Worldwide, a leading insurance brokerage with customers in more than 170 countries. He is also the Vice Chairman and Head of Policy and Communications for the Libra Association.

We talked about his proposed idea for a public/private initiative to fund bioterrorism and pandemic preparedness, the potential impacts to the insurance industry, and what risk managers can do to better prepare for a pandemic.

The World Needs a DARPA-Style Project to Prevent Pandemics by Tom Ridge and Dante Disparte

https://hbr.org/2017/04/the-world-needs-a-darpa-style-project-to-prevent-pandemics

I spoke with Jessica Cole, MA, the Senior Incident Specific Planner for the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response (OEPR) at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). In this role, Mrs. Cole is responsible for the coordination of planning for a wide variety of possible threats, such as novel disease outbreaks and radiological incidents. Prior to this position, Mrs. Cole was the Agency’s Pandemic Influenza Coordinator. In this capacity, she was responsible for the planning and revision of the Agency’s pandemic plan. Prior to her positions in DOHMH, Mrs. Cole was an Adjunct Professor in emergency management, a pandemic planner for a major financial institution, risk management consultant, and pandemic program manager for a private medical services company in addition to working for 4 years as an investigator for NYC’s Department of Investigation. She received two Masters, one from the University of Chicago in Social Sciences and another from John Jay College with a special certification in terrorism studies. She attended Barnard College as an undergraduate.

We spoke about what a pandemic influenza is, its potential impacts, and how the Dept. of Health and its partners in New York City are prepared, and how you can prepare. Here is a link to a checklist on how to prepare for pan-flu: https://www.pinnacleperformancemanagement.com/blog/dont-waste-a-crisis

I spoke by phone with Dr. Olivia A. Scriven at FEMA’s headquarters in Washington, DC. Dr. Scriven serves as the Academia Advisor for FEMA’s National Disaster Recovery Support (“NDRS”) cadre. Dr. Scriven has leveraged her background and experience to launch an initiative to link communities impacted by Hurricane Michael – a Category 5 storm which devastated the Florida Panhandle -- with technical expertise from colleges and universities to support long-term recovery. These efforts range from dual-use resiliency centers designed to support large-scale community gatherings during “blue skies” and serve as hardened shelters able to withstand catastrophic winds in times of disaster. Dr. Scriven continues to consult nationally, is regularly invited to serve on peer-review panels for the NSF, and her research exploring historically Black colleges and universities and pioneering African American women in the U.S. scientific enterprise has appeared in books published by Oxford University Press and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Dr. Scriven earned the master’s and doctoral degree in the history and sociological studies of science and technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She also holds a master’s in Educational Communication and Technology from New York University, where she also earned the bachelor’s degree.

She and I spoke about this program and the role project management methods and techniques play in engaging local communities and managing expectations. More info about FEMA’s assistance in the recovery following Hurricane Michael can be found at: https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2019/10/08/hurricane-michael-one-year-later-federal-aid-panhandle-nears-19b