Business Resilience DECODED

Episode 169: The Finale of Business Resilience DECODED This podcast is bittersweet for our team, but after six years and almost 170 episodes, we are officially ending the Business Resilience DECODED. To wrap up the show, Vanessa sat down with her Co-Producer Kristen Stegall, CEO of the podcast production company Novice Studios in Charlotte, to reflect on what the show has meant to her, what’s next...

Episode 168: Generative AI | How to Write Thorough Policies for GenAI in Your Organization One of the biggest trends across all industries is the use of AI tools, specifically Generative AI or GenAI. The World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Risk Impact Report lists misinformation, societal polarization, and cyber insecurity among the top risks to watch over the next two years, and GenAI can have an...

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...

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...

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 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: T...

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, incl...

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...

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 con...

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...

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 he...

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 ke...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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 ke...

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 resul...

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...

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 Sprin...

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 do...

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...

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...

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 fo...

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 ab...