2024 ACP Chapter of the Year

Take a moment to explore and support our valued 40th Anniversary Sponsors and Partners featured below. Their contributions help make our celebration possible!

40 years of Building Resiliency through Engagement in North Texas

Four decades ago, 1986 was a year of bold beginnings — not just for a new computer called the Apple Macintosh Plus, which was turning heads with its “cutting-edge” 1MB of memory, but also for a visionary group of North Texas professionals who recognized the growing need for preparedness, resilience, and collaboration. That year, The Association of Continuity Professionals (ACP) North Texas Chapter was born, committed to helping organizations stay strong through disruption and build a foundation for resilience that would stand the test of time.

Forty years later, that legacy has grown into the nation’s largest ACP chapter, with members who are leaders in business continuity, emergency management, and crisis response. The chapter proudly earned the 2024 Chapter of the Year recognition — a reflection of the energy, innovation, and community spirit that continues to define North Texas. Each month, members gather for meetings featuring compelling keynote speakers, case studies, and lively exchanges of best practices, always with an eye on the future while honoring the lessons of the past.

As the North Texas Chapter celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2026, it stands as both a witness to and a driver of progress — from the dawn of desktop computing to the age of AI-driven resilience. Much like that little beige Macintosh that changed how the world worked, ACP North Texas continues to redefine how resilience professionals connect, collaborate, and create a safer, more prepared future together.

As we celebrate four decades of resilience, leadership, and innovation, we invite you to become part of the next chapter in the #NorthTXACP story.  Step forward, join our community of visionaries, and help chart the path for the next 40 years of continuity excellence. 

Together, we won’t just honor our legacy — we’ll redefine the future of preparedness, one connection, one breakthrough, and one leader at a time.

Events are generally held on the first Tuesday of every month, but may vary due to holidays or speaker schedules. Events are for current members and invited guests only.  If you are not yet a member but would like to attend one of our events, please contact us, or consider joining the chapter.  Select - TX: North Texas (Dallas)

ACP Thought Leadership – Think Tank Thursdays

This quarter’s topic will be around the upcoming FIFA World Cup in June and July. Deb Michaels from FIFA, is in charge of D/FW security preparations, and gave a fantastic overview at our February Chapter meeting. Since we will all be impacted by the World Cup (both organizationally and personally), this is a great opportunity to share preparation activities, information sources, and other intelligence we gather as the Event approaches.

We will have three, one hour calls, with the first scheduled for next Thursday, February 26, 11:00AM Central time. We can use this time to cover the schedule and published FIFA resources, then go around the table so everyone can share their activities, questions, and ideas with the team. I’ll record everyone’s thoughts so we can put together into a final report for the Chapter Membership.

Please sign up at Signup Genius, #20, or e-mail me directly at swaken@att.net and I’ll send you the Zoom details

Thank you for participating in the Think Tank, and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone!

Upcoming Chapter Event 

April 14, 2026 (CJ Cup Byron Nelson) - *** Meeting Canceled ***

Topic:  This previously scheduled meeting has been canceled

April 21, 2026 - 4:30-6:30 PM  Special 40th Anniversary Member Event

Topic:  Happy Hour Celebration of the Chapter's 40th Anniversary

Appetizers and drinks will be provided, and all attendees will receive special 40th anniversary commemorative gifts.

Presenter:  Gather and Collect 40th Anniversary Commemorative Gifts

Registration deadline: Thursday, April 16th at 5 PM CT.

Location:   Yard House

Address:  5100 Belt Line Rd, Dallas, TX 75254

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April 27-29, 2026  Continuity Insights Management Conference

Info Link

Location: Gila River Resorts & Casinos in Phoenix, Arizona

President's Address

Hello ACP Members,

If there’s one thing recent events have made clear, it’s that some of the biggest disruptions we face don’t start inside our organizations. They start with someone we depend on, third party vendors.

Think about what we’ve all seen in the last few years. The Change Healthcare incident took down claims processing across the country. The CDK outage brought thousands of dealerships to a standstill.  And the CrowdStrike issue showed how fast a single vendor problem can ripple across industries like the airlines, banks, healthcare and many other industries.

These aren’t just outages. These are real-world tests of operational resilience. And they all raise the same question we have to answer as continuity professionals…can our organizations keep delivering critical business services when a key third party goes down?

That’s where I think we need to shift our mindset a bit. It’s not enough to say, “we’ve vetted the vendor” or “they have a plan.” The real question we have to answer is what do you do when they fail?

So, here’s what I’d challenge you to think about this month. Do you know which vendors actually support your most critical business services? Not just systems, but end-to-end delivery. Do you have a realistic workaround if one of them goes offline? And have you ever actually tested that scenario?

One of the most valuable exercises you can run right now is a vendor failure plausible scenario. Not a system outage or a building issue but a third-party disruption where your team has to figure out how to keep things running anyway.

Because at the end of the day, operational resilience is about continuity through disruption. We can’t wait for someone else to fix it.

Wishing you a strong and resilient month,

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Chapter Event Information

Our events are 90-minutes.  Please join us for our next event!  Events (unless indicated) are also available to attend virtually.  However, we invite you to attend in person if possible.  Virtual event information will be provided with each event invitation.

Anyone interested in hosting an event or speaking at an upcoming event, please contact our Programs Director or President.

Note: Additional information for regular event locations can be found on the Events page.