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Welcome
Welcome to the Greater Houston Chapter of the Association of Continuity Professionals - the nation's leading non-profit association, comprised of professionals who are responsible for or have an interest in business continuity, preventing disasters, providing disaster recovery information and facilitating the resumption of normal business activities following a major disaster.
Members of ACP nationwide represent business, industry and government organizations at all levels. Included are executives, administrators, managers, directors, writers, legal staffs, accountants, engineers, sales-persons, records managers, archivists and many more professionals.
Synopsis: The federal government has identified numerous areas of strategic risk to the nation’s critical infrastructure and encourages the private sector to take action to mitigate risk. Unfortunately, the risks are poorly understood by the private sector due to lack of reliable information, sensationalized claims of destruction in fictional stories and a failure of the government to clarify and prioritize risk. Four specific areas of interest are:
overdependence on the global positioning system (GPS),
high altitude electromagnetic pulse or EMP,
space weather and
unrecognized risks associated with terrestrial infrastructure’s dependence on access to space-based systems.
Congressional testimony and federal reports on these issues have claimed impacts ranging from a billion dollars a day, to the death of two-thirds of Americans. As a result, each of these areas has been the subject of Presidential Executive Orders that have generally survived from one administration to the next. The Governor of Texas issued a state executive order to address risk from EMP and Space Weather. The initial findings were submitted to the Governor on January 15, 2025.
A basic understanding of these events, based on reliable information, enables risk managers and continuity professionals to integrate these events into the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) process. Understanding these hazards and basing risk management decisions on clearly defined scenarios is essential. Whenever possible, risk assessments must use precise language that enables a common understanding of the hazards and risk. This precise language also enables a common framework upon which to make decisions and enables more accurate cause and effect assessments of potential mitigations.
If interested in sponsoring ACP Greater Houston, please contact us by email.
Past Events:
March Meeting:
Ransomware Responses and more for Critical Infrastructure: Lessons Learned
Craig Wyatt, Chief Operating Officer, The Response Group
Date: Tuesday, March 11th, 11:30AM CDT
Location:Virtual via Zoom
Synopsis: Join us for an insightful presentation by Craig Wyatt, Chief Operating Officer at The Response Group, as he shares invaluable lessons learned from over seven years in emergency management and crisis response at a critical infrastructure company, bookended by his COO role on the services side with TRG. Craig will provide a comprehensive view of managing high-stakes incidents, including specific takeaways from a ransomware attack that tested resilience at every level. He will reveal strategies that bridged executive decision-making with on-the-ground operations, highlighting what worked, what didn’t, and why. Complementing this, he will reflect on his multi-year experience with TRG, offering perspectives on how service-side expertise enhances preparedness and response across industries. Expect actionable insights for continuity professionals navigating today’s complex threat landscape, delivered with the clarity of someone who’s led through crisis from both sides of the equation.
About our Speaker:Craig Wyatt Chief Operating Officer, The Response Group Craig Wyatt serves as the Chief Operating Officer at The Response Group, a position he rejoined in October 2024, bringing extensive experience in emergency management and crisis response. Previously, he spent over seven years at Colonial Pipeline Company, including nearly five years as Director of Crisis Management & Response, where he developed and improved emergency preparedness programs. Craig started his career with the US Coast Guard and closed that chapter after nearly 16 years as Chief, Contingency Palanning and Force Readiness.
If you missed our recent in-person events, click on each photo below to open the photo album in new tab:
2024 ACP Greater Houston Member Appreciation Holiday Luncheon - December 10, 2024! (Click on photo to open the photo album in new tab)
Happy Hour at Ducky McShweeney’s Pub - November 14, 2024! (Click on photo to open the photo album in new tab)
Field Trip to Harris County's Emergency Operations Center - April 16 (Click on photo to open the photo album in new tab)
Happy Hour at The Rustic (Post Oak) - March 28 (Click on photo to open the photo album in new tab)
Our Purpose
To promote a professional, educational association to continually increase the awareness and the importance of business continuity, contingency planning, disaster mitigation and disaster recovery throughout the public and private sectors.
Our Objectives
To promote greater awareness and understanding of disaster recovery and contingency planning.
To provide opportunities and forums for member growth through training, information exchange, certification programs, career opportunities awareness and conferences.
To contribute to the advancement of contingency and business recovery planning.
To promote increased cooperation and participation in contingency planning between the public and private sectors.
Please visit our Membership page for more details on how to become an ACP member.
Ed Schlichtenmyer (2012 - 2013)
StormGeo (formerly ImpactWeather)
Mike Thomson (2008 - 2011)
ALITEK CONSULTING, LTD; ImpactWeather
David Snyder (2007)
Shell Oil
Industry Events
Some great industry conferences, trainings and other events below:
3/18 12 noon - ISACA GHC March Member Meeting: Crowdstrike - Aaron Ausherman - Click to Register
3/20 12 noon - ISACA GHC March Education Webinar: CISM overview with Q&A - Dr. Joseph Ponnoly, DBA, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, CISSP - Click to Register
3/22 9 am - ISACA GHC March Privacy Saturday Session: Open forum on Data Privacy and Protection, Cybersecurity, and Data Governance - Jonathan Boyett and Kevin Hall - Click to Register
3/26 8 am to 4 pm - 16th Annual Texas Technology Summit Houston - Norris Conference Center - Houston/CityCentre (816 Town & Country Blvd, Houston, TX 77024) - Use code TTS25ACP for complimentary registration here
Check back for future industry events!
Chapter Programs
2025 Program Schedule
Date
Speaker/Event
January 14
Low-Code and Denver Health cyber preparations
Chuck Scully, CIO at Denver Health and President, LeaderFulcrum LLC
February 11
Business Continuity Planning -
Joseph Leonard, President & CEO, United Services Consulting Group
March 11
Ransomware Responses and more for Critical Infrastructure Lessons Learned
Craig Wyatt, Chief Operating Officer, The Response Group
April 8
Integrating national risk assessments with Enterprise Risk Management and Continuity Operations
James Platt, President, Strategic Risk Integration
May 13
TBD
June 10
TBD
July 8
TBD
August 12
TBD
September 9
TBD
October 14
TBD
November 11
TBD
December 9
TBD
2024 Program Schedule
Date
Speaker/Event
January 9
Identify Threats and Communicate Faster During Critical Events
Alex Pinder, AlertMedia
February 13
Using Artificial Intelligence as a force multiplier for your Resilience Program
Shane Mathew, Stone Risk Consulting
March 12
No Chapter Meeting to allow members
to attend industry conferences
March 28
Members-Only Happy Hour at The Rustic
April 16
Field trip to Harris County Emergency Operations Center
May 14
2024 Atlantic Season Outlook & Tabletop Exercise
Derek Ortt, StormGeo
June 11
Protecting Critical Infrastructure Organizations: “Political Polarization & Emerging Security Risks After the 2024 Elections in the US and Other Nations”
Scott McHugh, Program Executive for the Institute for Homeland Security at Sam Houston State University
July 9
Cancelled due to Hurricane Beryl
August 13
Business Continuity Metrics That Matter
Chuck Russell, ACP Greater Houston President & Sr. Specialist, Business Continuity and Crisis Management, TC Energy
September 10
Trends and Approaches to Building an Enterprise-wide Resilience Program
Michelle Uwasomba, Principal, Consulting Enterprise Risk, Ernst & Young LLP
October 8
Roundtable Discussion Reviewing 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season
November 12
Crisis Management The Whataburger Way
Ron Derrick, Senior Corporate Emergency Manager/Business Continuity for Whataburger Restaurants
November 14
Members-Only Happy Hour at Ducky McShweeney’s Pub
December 10
Annual Member Appreciation Holiday Luncheon
2023 Program Schedule
Date
Speaker/Event
January 10
Hacking Your Brain for Better Cybersecurity
Dr. George Finney
February 7
Paying It Forward…Or Backward?
The give and take of successful mentorship
James Mitchell
March 14
No Chapter Meeting to allow members
to attend DRJ Spring Conference
April 11
Educators Making a Difference –
Higher Learning for Business Continuity and Emergency Management Professionals
May 9
StormGeo 2023 Hurricane Season Outlook and
The Climate Has Changed: Are You Prepared For The New Reality?
Derek Ortt & Shannon Copeland, StormGeo
June 13
Event Weather Safety
Dr. Kevin Kloesel, University Of Oklahoma
July 11
Creating and Delivering Effective Tabletop Exercises
Robert Burton, PreparedEx
August 8
Exercise Pitfalls or How “NOT TO” Conduct an Exercise
Mark Carroll
September 12
Future Proofing America: A New Model for Disaster and Risk Mitigation
Richard Seline, Resilience Innovation Hub
October 10
Building Enterprise Resilience:
How Threat and Risk Detection Balance a Duty of Care Program
Brian Toolan, Everbridge
October 19
ACP Greater Houston Happy Hour!
The Rustic
November 14
Field Trip to Kenyon International Facilities
Spring, Texas
December 12
Annual Member Appreciation Holiday Luncheon
Career Opportunities
Welcome to the Career Opportunities area of the ACP Greater Houston Chapter Web site. Here, you can view descriptions of positions available in the field of business continuity planning, emergency management, and risk management in the Greater Houston area. This is a value-added service to the chapter members, guests and chapter affiliates in the local resilience community.
Employers and recruiters are invited to post positions available in Business Continuity, IT Disaster Recovery, Emergency Management, Risilience, Emergency Response, Risk Management and Corporate Crisis Management. Positions will be posted for up to 90 days at no cost.
To submit a listing, you must provide position title, position location, sector/industry, recruiter contact information, link to the job posting, and close date by email to the Education Director.
Emergency Management Program Manager (Public Information) - Partially Grant Funded
Employer: City of Houston
Position Location: Houston, TX
Sector: Government Click For More Information:
Emergency Management Specialist III (Emergency Public Information Systems) - Grant Funded
Employer: City of Houston
Position Location: Houston, TX
Sector: Government Click For More Information:
Emergency Management Specialist III (Crisis Information Systems) - Grant Funded
Employer: City of Houston
Position Location: Houston, TX
Sector: Government Click For More Information:
***The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) provides a comprehensive training registration and transcript service for FEMA, TDEM, TEEX, and other government approved emergency management and continuity courses. You can register and search courses across Texas at Preparing Texas.***
If anyone has an article/white paper/document they would like to share with the chapter, please send Information Director a copy to include on the website.
MS Cybersecurity degree with a technology specialization - The School of Computer Science
MS Cybersecurity degree with a cyber-physical and energy systems specialization - The School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)
MS Cybersecurity degree with a policy specialization - The School of Public Policy (PUBP)
Computer Information Systems degree with Cyber Security Programming specialization (Bachelor of Science - online or on-campus) - DeVry University (Vendor requested listing)
Membership Information
Thank you for your interest in the Greater Houston Chapter of the Association of Continuity Professionals (ACP).
ACP is a national organization of 2,000+ members with experience, expertise and a willingness to share unique perspectives. ACP provides a forum for members to network with peers in similar job roles across a wide variety of for profit businesses, non-profits, government, higher education, and NGO organizations.
In addition, benefits from becoming an ACP member are:
eligibility for discounts to conferences and trade publications,
quality webinars for members only,
CEU credits towards retaining your certification,
leadership opportunities in your local chapter and so much more
We believe you'll enjoy the networking opportunities and camaraderie available through ACP.
To become a member, simply click here to access the Association's national website. Once there, select the option to "Join Now!" at the top of the page.
Visit our chapter website for information on upcoming chapter meetings, events to help you get involved, resources for training, education, and job openings, and connect with us on Facebook,Twitter, and LinkedIn!
Don’t hesitate to reach out to our Membership Director at ACPSouthTexas@gmail.com should you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you at our next chapter meeting and/or event!
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Integrating national risk assessments with Enterprise Risk Management and Continuity Operations
If interested in sponsoring ACP Greater Houston, please contact us by email.
Ransomware Responses and more for Critical Infrastructure: Lessons Learned
