2025 Resilience Conference
Empower, Evolve, Elevate: Unleashing Resilience
Friday, January 24, 2025
8:00am - 4:30pm
Thank
The Greater Tampa Bay ACP Chapter extends our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who made this conference possible, especially with the adjustments we made due to Hurricane Milton.
To Our Attendees: Thank you for your understanding, flexibility, and continued support. Your presence makes this event truly meaningful.
To Our Sponsors and Exhibitors: We deeply appreciate your generous contributions, which have been vital in bringing this event to life and supporting our shared mission.
To Our Speakers: Thank you for sharing your time, insights, and expertise, which enriched our program and inspired all attendees.
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To Our Vendors: A special thanks to U.S. Tent Rental, Air Culinaire Worldwide, LLC, and Printing Depot for your exceptional service and partnership in ensuring our event ran smoothly.
To The Conference Planning Committee: Your tireless dedication and countless hours of behindthe-scenes effort made this event a success, and we are immensely grateful.
To Tampa International Airport: Thank you for your understanding and graciousness in accommodating the date change, and for providing the stunning Event Space that set the perfect stage for our conference. We are incredibly thankful for your continued commitment and partnership!
GTBACP 2024 CHAPTER BOARD
BRANDON EDWARDS
KATIE GODWIN
POLLY JAMES
KILEY STINSON
LINDA CROW
TERRIE BARBAROSSA
GAIL MORATON
LISA SMALLWOOD
PAUL LATHAM
BARRY BALLINGER
CARINDA MICKELSEN
JAVEN WATTS
GTBACP 2025 CHAPTER BOARD
POLLY JAMES
AIMEE PIDGEON
CARINDA MICKELSEN
KILEY STINSON
LINDA CROW
TERRIE BARBAROSSA
GAIL MORATON
LISA SMALLWOOD
JAVEN
PLATINUM
SILVER BRONZE SPONSORS
Program Agenda
8:00am - 8:30am
8:30am - 8:45am
Welcome Address
8:45am - 9:30am
Communication Strategies to Build Community Resilience
Dr. Sarah Smith-Frigerio
Assistant Professor, Communications, University of Tampa
We often think of resilience as an individual trait, but communities who work to build their resilience capacity are able to navigate crises and disasters effectively, and “bounce forward” quickly following a crisis. In this presentation, Sarah will describe how communication plays a major role in community resilience, explore the communication framework for community resilience, and share examples of communication strategies that promote community resilience.
9:35am - 10:20am
Predicting Impact - Cognitive AI for Business and Communications
Resilience
Chad Latz
Chief Innovation Officer, Burson
As business leaders we are navigating the most volatile and complex geopolitical, social and communications environment in history for which technology and artificial intelligence creates threats, but can also allow us to see around corners. Join us as Chad Latz, Chief Innovation Officer at Burson, offers his perspective on the future of communications and risk management and the opportunity and impact that AI can bring to building business resilience.
https://acp-international.com/greater-tampa-bay
Program Agenda
10:20am - 10:40am Morning Break Network
Visit Exhibitors & Sponsors
10:40am - 11:25am
Domino Threats - CrowdStrike and Beyond
Christopher Britton
Founding Executive & General Manager, RockDove Solutions
In a world that is becoming increasingly connected and reliant on technology the CrowdStrike IT outage event on July 19, 2024 is an example of a growing class of threats - domino threats. We will explore Domino Threats and the impact of AI. How these threats are impacting organizations from a planning and operations perspective. The growing vulnerability of supply chain disruptions. Rising tension in the labor force. We will discuss technology trends that can help improve operational preparedness.
11:30am - 12:15pm
The Interconnectivity of Risk Exposures in a Global Economy
Kevin Sandelin
Senior Risk Consulting Engineer, Allianz Risk Consulting, North America
Mr. Sandelin will share the top risks in the 2025 Allianz Risk Barometer. This reflects the feedback from thousands of professionals globally on top risk trends facing companies right now. In recent years, these risks have included digitalization, climate change, and an uncertain geopolitical environment. Many of these risks are already hitting home, with extreme weather, ransomware attacks, and regional conflicts testing the resilience of organizations. Companies, Brokers, and Insurance carriers need to understand how to best minimize the potential impacts of these ever changing and interwoven exposures.
Program Agenda
12:15pm - 1:15pm Lunch Network
Visit Exhibitors & Sponsors
1:15pm - 1:30pm
Cyber Florida Update by Emilio Salabarria
1:35pm - 2:20pm
Resiliency in the Face of Disaster
Celeste Fournier
Deputy Chief of Preparedness, Lee County Emergency Management
In 2022, residents, visitors, and business owners in Lee County faced the consequences of a catastrophic hurricane. This presentation focuses on Hurricane Ian's impacts and outlines the emergency management, resiliency planning, disaster response, and recovery efforts in Lee County. Key highlights include Emergency Management Framework, Public Communication, Planning for Resiliency, Disaster Response Activities, Business Recovery Support, and Commercial Property Insurance Tips.
2:25pm - 3:10pm
The New Resilience: Learning from 2024’s Biggest Cyber Disruptions and Vendor Risks
Tejas Katwala
Co-Founder & CEO, CLDigital
The cyber disruptions of 2024, including ransomware attacks and service outages, exposed vulnerabilities across industries globally and locally, affecting sectors from healthcare to aviation. Tejas will explore how businesses, such as those impacted by CrowdStrike and Change Healthcare’s ransomware breach, faced cascading effects, with Tampa’s aviation sector and hospitals being particularly affected. This session will focus on vendor risk, service dependency, and the need for a new resilience approach, offering strategies to adapt risk management and cyber incident response plans. Attendees will learn how proactive risk management and operational resilience are key to thriving in today's volatile cyber landscape.
Program Agenda
3:10pm - 3:30pm Afternoon Break
Network
Visit Exhibitors & Sponsors
3:30pm - 4:15pm
Business Continuity, Cyber Security and Resilience: Preparation, Protection and Bouncing Forward
Michele L. Turner, MBCP, FBCI, CISA, CRISC, CCRP, CRMP
Head of Global Business Resilience, Marriott International
Business Continuity, Cybersecurity, and Resilience are words that organizations tend to use somewhat interchangeably, and yet when it comes to leveraging techniques required to reduce risks, that’s when the walls go up in these respective areas, and the propensity to share info and controls goes down. Even threat actors are working together to infiltrate systems as we’ve seen in recent ransomware attacks. How then can we expect to strengthen and guard against these and other risks to our environment if we don’t do the same? During this session, we will take a look at not only definitions and distinctions across these areas, but specific examples of areas where there are alignments across these and related areas to support not only your organizations preparation, protection from a cyber perspective, but the overall support necessary as your organization seeks to bounce forward NOT back from disruption!
4:15pm - 4:30pm Chapter Award Presentation
Raffle Drawings
Closing Remarks
Keynote Speaker
Michele L. Turner
Michele L. Turner, MBCP, FBCI, CISA, CRISC, CCRP, CRMP is an Amazon #1bestselling author and resiliency leader with over 30 years’ experience in the areas of Governance, Risk, and Compliance. She is the Chairperson of Directors for the Disaster Recovery Institute (DRI) International, and the Head of Global Business Resilience for Marriott International. This global role includes Above Property- Business Continuity with Operational Resilience Planning, Emergency Response- with Property Crisis Management Planning for Marriot managed properties, Risk Mitigation, and Product Management. Prior roles include Head of Global Business Resiliency for Amazon Corporate, as well as Governance, Risk, Compliance and Business Continuity roles within Microsoft. Michele has a Master of Science degree in Business Continuity from Norwich University and is an international speaker on the topics of Business Continuity, Risk Management, Governance, and related areas. In addition, she is a Senior Fellow of the Center for Global Resilience & Security for Norwich University, a course instructor for DRI, and the 2022 Disaster Recovery Institute (DRI) International Lifetime Achievement award winner.
Available on Amazon: Lessons Learned: Short Stories of Continuity and Resilience
Speakers
Christopher Britton Founding Executive & General Manager, RockDove Solutions
Christopher Britton is a founding executive and General
Manager of RockDove Solutions, the creator of award-winning solutions for critical event management. Mr. Britton oversees the revenue, product roadmap, partnerships, client success, and operations of the business serving hundreds of leading global institutions today. Mr. Britton has decades of leadership and technology experience, including many years working with critical event management, emergency management, business continuity, and crisis communications. He was a founding executive with Vocus, acquired by Cision, and has held leadership positions with AT&T, Rosetta Stone, and Interfolio. Mr. Britton has published several articles and given numerous presentations on technology and all aspects of critical event management. He is a graduate of the University of Dayton School of Business Administration.
Celeste Fournier
Deputy Chief of Preparedness, Lee County Emergency Management
Celeste Fournier, Deputy Chief of Preparedness for Lee
County Emergency Management, oversees planning, training, and disaster response. A certified Florida Professional Emergency Manager, she has served in 10 presidentially declared disasters, most recently Hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton. Ms. Fournier holds a master’s in Project Management and contributes to professional conferences and publications.
Speakers
Tejas Katwala Co-Founder & CEO, CLDigital
Tejas Katwala is the Co-Founder and CEO of CLDigital, a
pioneering software company focused on automating risk, compliance, business continuity, disaster recovery, and crisis management across enterprises. At CLDigital, Tejas leads the development of innovative solutions that integrate governance, risk, & compliance (GRC); business process management; and data-centricity to enhance operational efficiency and compliance.
Chad Latz Chief Innovation Officer, Burson
Chad identifies innovative technologies to enhance brand engagement and stakeholder communication. He leads a team of AI-focused professionals across data, technology, and academia, driving award-winning work in the communications industry. In 2023, Chad launched BCW Decipher, an AI-powered platform revolutionizing communications strategy across reputation management, consumer marketing, and healthcare. Recognized among the industry's top 50 global professionals by PRWeek, he was also featured in the 2024 "Dashboard 25: AI Edition." A frequent speaker and published thought leader, Chad is known for his insights on AI, misinformation, and emerging technologies. His creative background in visual design informs his innovative approach to integrated marketing and communications.
Speakers
Emilio Salabarria
Sr. Program Manager Cybersecurity, Cyber Florida at USF
In 2022, Emilio joined the Florida Center for Cybersecurity,
Allianz Risk Consulting providing advanced knowledge and expertise that supports Cyber Florida's mission. He has worked for TECO as the EM & BC Director; DTCC as the Global Life Safety Mngr; the Tampa Port Authority as the Dir of Safety & Training; and Tampa Fire Rescue where he advanced to Div Fire Chief of Special Operations, supervising TFR Specialty Teams. At TFR, he took part in Gasparilla parades, the 2012 Republican National Convention, and Super Bowl 43. Emilio holds an A.S. in EMS & Fire Science (HCC), a B.A. in Business Administration (Northwood University), and an M.S. in Critical Incident Management (Saint Leo University).
Kevin Sandelin
Senior Risk Consulting Engineer
Kevin Sandelin is a risk engineering and loss control professional. He has worked in risk engineering, loss control, and insurance on both the client and carrier side, including property, workers compensation, liability, construction, and marine coverages. He facilitated development and implementation of a first of its kind digital risk management tool for commercial insurance clients, and continues to advance solutions that help insured clients remove and reduce risk in their operations.
Speakers
Dr. Sarah Smith-Frigerio
Assistant Professor, Communications University of Tampa
Smith-Frigerio’s research focuses on health and crisis
communication, a class she enjoys teaching to undergraduates. Since 2006, after helping undergraduates volunteer in Arabi, Louisiana post-Hurricane Katrina, she has provided experiential learning opportunities. Before joining the University of Tampa in 2022, she taught at Columbus State University and the University of Missouri. She recently co-edited Crisis Communication Case Studies on COVID-19: Multidimensional Perspectives and Applications with Mildred Perreault (USF) and has published in Health Communication, Qualitative Health Research, and Journalism & Mass Communication Educator.
Last Day to Donate: Support the American Red Cross Fundraiser*
As we continue to recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, we invite you to make a difference for those in our Tampa Bay community who need it most. Every dollar matters in helping families rebuild their lives.
�� Triple Your Impact ��
Thanks to generous matching pledges from the Chapter and Chapter President Brandon Edwards, your donation will be tripled up to $2,000 combined!
✨ Special Incentive ✨
Donations of $50 or more will get entered into a raffle to win conference passes for:
DRJ Spring 2025 (March 23-26 in Orlando)
DRI 2025 (Winner was announced at the November Holiday Luncheon)
Continuity Insights 2025 (April 28-30 in Texas)
*Day of Conference Donations: Attendees will earn one additional drawing entry for every $25 donated on conference day. Limit 6 total entries. Prizes consist of various gift cards.
Let’s stand together to rebuild, recover, and rise stronger.
Make your gift today!
Visit: bit.ly/49DMF8X or scan the QR Code
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