Marisol Shankar gives us her analysis on her recent attendance at the 2012 FEMA Region IX Public / Private Sector Leadership Conference in Los Angeles  Marisol K. Shankar, ABCP, AMBCI – MHP, Inc. Structural Engineers, Firestorm® MHP 2012 FEMA Region IX Public / Private Sector Leadership Conference FEMA and existing Public/Private Partnership organizations encourage stakeholders to reach out and meet people; to seek out and develop the relationships with organizations that can support your efforts (as well as help your organization) after a crisis. These relationships can and should be sought out well in advance of the crisis (to the left of BANG so to speak), so that as you coordinate processes, understand how to communicate, and develop mutually supporting processes, organizations can widen the resource pool available. Understanding what resources are available from the federa...

Fiscal Compliance - Knight Capital  By Gary W. Patterson - Gary has more than 30 years of senior management experience with high growth technology, wireless, manufacturing and service companies. He has worked with more than 200 companies — from start-ups to Inc 500 to Fortune 500 — providing high level strategic guidance and expertise. His webinar, Find Your Million Dollar Blind Spots is on 8/15/2012 at 2- 3 PM EDT Jim Satterfield & Harry Rhulen will present a webinar on The ROI of a Crisis: $10 Million a Minute??? 8/14 2-3 PM EDT $10 Million a Minute – The Cost of What You Don’t Know Can Be the Company Knight Capital disclosed losing $440 MILLION from a computer software glitch, supposedly in less than an hour. Its survival in the prior form or even survival seems as risk. Just the day before, this appeared to be a prominent public company. (See Faster, Knight Capita...

LIBOR SCANDAL: Risks and Repercussions Analysis by Firestorm Expert Council Member Jerry Hudspeth LIBOR SCANDAL:  Risks and Repercussions Overview The Libor manipulation scandal has dominated the recent news with stories of a culture of corporate greed and bankers who don't know right from wrong.  Barclays Bank has been fined $453 million in settlements and politicians continue to be outraged at yet another corporate banking scandal.  Because of the Libor's influence in loan industries and markets around the world, however, repercussions go far beyond the halls of investment banks.  The LIBOR rate affects trillions of dollars of contracts around the world including mortgages, bonds and consumer loans. What is Libor? The London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) is the average interest rate estimated by leading banks in London that they would be charged if borrowing ...

How Safe are Your Schools? The Colorado Briefing on School Safety School Safety, an analysis by Firestorm Principal, Jennifer Freedman Several of the Firestorm family recently attended a symposium, titled “The Colorado Briefing…A National School Safety Leadership Symposium at Columbine.”  It was held in the auditorium of Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. It was an intense three days.  We heard detailed reports of four school shootings that occurred in Jefferson and Park counties in Colorado.  These shootings took place over a period of 11 years.  They all occurred within a 38-mile radius.  School district officials called it the “Bermuda Triangle” of school shootings.  Not a sobriquet they want to have, but they have it. We listened to school administrators, principals, county sheriffs and a member of the SWAT teams that were involved in t...

Business Webinars: Firestorm Upcoming Events Firestorm presents a variety of topical webinars each month for the business community presented by leading experts in their fields.  Join us. Wednesday, August 1st - 2-3 PM EDT The ROI of Crisis: Business as "Unusual" - Crisis Leadership Lessons from Penn State & Aurora Speaker: Harry Rhulen, CEO and Jim Satterfield, President, COO Firestorm Where: FIRESTORM WEBINAR When: 8/1/2012 at 2:00:00 PM to 3:00:00 PM   Wednesday, August 8 Prosperity and Crisis - Making Better Decisions Speaker: Firestorm Principals Guy Higgins and Jennifer Freedman Where: FIRESTORM WEBINAR When: 8/8/2012 at 2:00:00 PM to 3:00:00 PM   Wednesday, August 15 Find Your Million Dollar Blind Spots Speaker: Gary Patterson, The Fiscal Doctor Where: FIRESTORM WEBINAR When:...

My Business Paints an Overly Optimistic Financial Picture (to Our Customers, Vendors or Finance Sources) This article is the fifth and final in this series by Firestorm Expert Council member Gary W. Patterson exploring the Five Key Areas where Risk may be lurking in your company, an excerpt from his book Stick Out Your Balance Sheet and Cough Review Part 1 and take the Internal Exam Survey: The Internal Exam – Five Areas Where Risk Can Lurk Review Part 2: Question Today the Ongoing Value of Capitalized Items – Part 2 of 5 Review Part 3: When Your #1 Customer Loses Profitability – Risk Management – Part 3 of 5 Review Part 4: The Company Would Be Better Off Selling the Asset How many companies have painted an overly optimistic financial picture to a customer, vendor, or financing source? According to ADP Screening and Selection Services “44% of Americans lie about their work hi...

Why Measure Organizational Resiliency? Why PS-Prep Makes Sense By Jim Satterfield, Firestorm COO Considering the devastating straight-line winds and violent storms across the Midwest and East Coast over the past two weeks, the resulting loss of power for millions of businesses and homes, and the outage of numerous high-profile websites hosted on Amazon's Cloud, we've been thinking a lot about the Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Program or PS-Prep™. In March of this year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that AT&T Inc. became the first private sector company to be certified to DHS-selected standards under the PS-Prep™ Program. PS-Prep™ is a partnership between DHS and the private sector - enabling private entities to receive emergency preparedness certification. "Private organizations across the country play a vital role in bolstering our disaster prep...

The Company Would Be Better Off Selling the Asset This article is the fourth of five by Firestorm Expert Council member Gary W. Patterson exploring the Five Key Areas where Risk may be lurking in your company, an excerpt from his book Stick Out Your Balance Sheet and Cough Review Part 1 and take the Internal Exam Survey: The Internal Exam – Five Areas Where Risk Can Lurk Review Part 2: Question Today the Ongoing Value of Capitalized Items – Part 2 of 5 Review Part 3: When Your #1 Customer Loses Profitability – Risk Management - Part 3 of 5 The Company Would Be Better Off Selling the Asset Has your CEO, CFO, or financial department ever mentioned that the company has to keep losing money on a branch, service, or product because it can’t afford the financial loss it would have to record to dispose of the asset? I’ve been privy to such discussions many times in corporations of all si...

Crisis Management – Measuring Readiness Commentary by Security Management Expert Ed Levy, Firestorm Expert Council Member Edward M. Levy is a senior security executive with nearly 30-years in the corporate and government sectors. Mr. Levy was the VP & Global Head of Security for Thomson Reuters. He served in other corporate security positions with Pfizer, CIT Group, and the Empire State Building. Mr. Levy is also a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the US Army and former Assistant Professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. There has been much written on the importance of crisis management planning, and its significance for boards and the respective companies they govern. Crisis management plans are exactly that - a plan. A true measure of readiness to manage a crisis is to validate the plan and maintain a continuity of readiness. As Dwight D. Eisenhower stated...

Colorado Wildfires - Business Impact  Analysis by Firestorm Principal Guy Higgins Wildfires are frightening events.  The wildfire outside of Colorado Springs is one of three wildfires along Colorado’s Front Range.  Major fires are also burning outside Fort Collins and around Estes Park and a smaller, but uncontained, wildfire is burning just west of Boulder. On the Waldo Canyon Fire, Mayor Steve Bach released sobering news Thursday. "Hundreds of homes were destroyed," he said. A more precise number is expected later Wednesday. Bach said crews are meticulously going through addresses to make certain all information is accurate before releasing any further details. Information: Latest Updates on Evacuations    The media focus for these wildfires is largely on the loss of homes and the impact on families.  Then the media turns to immediate impact on b...