Every Crisis is a Human Crisis
In the process of working with many organizations in crisis, Firestorm came to understand that “every crisis is a human crisis.” In order for an organization to perform at its highest level in the aftermath of an occurrence, everyone within the organization must understand their part and be prepared. The concept of building Disaster Ready People® is one that is at the heart of what Firestorm does.
Our Mission
To empower people to manage risk and crises.
We achieve this mission through our services and products that focus on establishing readiness before crisis strikes.
Our Team
Jim Satterfield
Founder
Harry Rhulen
Founder
Suzy Loughlin
Founder
Since our founding in 2005, Firestorm has adopted a philosophy of providing critical decision support services through our proven management consulting skills. Our Senior team brings unparalleled expertise in the delivery of our products and services.
- Our team is built with senior-level staff who are accustomed to working with executives and first-line managers across all sizes of organizations, institutions, and companies. In addition, Firestorm expertise is enhanced by its Expert Council, which includes senior level experts from the public and private sectors who may participate in advisement to our clients, and whose thought leadership is integrated throughout the methodologies and approaches utilized on all projects.
- Our team has significant practical experience in our defined areas of specialty and decades of executive leadership and management experience throughout multiple organizations. This management experience provides practical knowledge of challenges and best practices for driving maximum performance from teams.
Together, these talented individuals bring a level of credibility and skill to risk and crisis which is unmatched by any other organization.
It is this breadth and depth of Firestorm’s human capital that distinguishes Firestorm from other consulting firms. Firestorm staff and Expert Council are available to our partner organizations and their insureds, members, and clients at any moment, to prevent, mitigate and respond to any occurrence/crisis.
The Firestorm Approach is Based on the Predict.Plan.Perform® Methodology
The Predict.Plan.Perform®. methodology is simple in concept, and one which invariably improves results when followed. When analyzing any situation, the first step which Firestorm recommends is that an organization or individual analyze their vulnerabilities and threats, as well as the opportunities which present. This predictive work allows detailed planning to follow which addresses as many of the concerns as possible. Execution of the plan should then result in the best outcome. Often, Firestorm displays this methodology in a circular fashion, as once performance has occurred, review of the outcome should result in new predictive results and adjustments to future plans.
This methodology is useful even in crisis situations where no previous predictive or planning work has occurred, and it has consistently produced exceptional results for clients in crisis.
Jim Satterfield, Founder Firestorm
James (Jim) W. Satterfield has experience as President, CEO, and COO of various public and private companies in business continuity, communications, crisis management, environmental, insurance, reinsurance, risk management, communicable illness, and technology. Jim has extensive expertise in the identification and quantification of risks along with solution design.
Jim led in the development of national standards for pollution prevention, risk management, and environmental due diligence.
He is a nationally recognized expert in crisis management and led the team that provided the crisis and media management support at Virginia Tech in response to the shootings, as well as hundreds of other client crisis engagements.
He has spoken to hundreds of groups on crisis management, risk management, governance, and disaster planning.
Jim is co-author of the book Disaster Ready People for a Disaster Ready America.
Harry Rhulen, Founder Firestorm
Harry has three decades of experience in the insurance industry. As a former insurance group CEO, he led several public offerings and participated in over thirty M&A transactions.
He is an attorney who serves as a trusted advisor, bringing critical decision support to many insurers, brokers, CEOs, board members, school superintendents, and government officials.
He has served on the boards of several profit and not-for-profit entities, receiving humanitarian awards for many of his efforts, including the “Quality of Human Life” Award from the American Red Cross.
Harry is a member of the ASIS Crisis Management & Business Continuity Council and a Board Advisory Services faculty member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).
He is a co-author of Disaster Ready People for A Disaster Ready America.
Suzy Loughlin, Founder Firestorm
Suzanne has extensive consultative experience in crisis management and crisis communications planning and response on behalf of clients ranging from some of the world’s largest global companies to educational institutions (P-12 and higher education, public and private) and governmental entities.
Suzanne’s hands-on crisis management experience, combined with her training and practice in legal exposures, enables her to provide critical decision support to clients in urgent crisis events. Suzanne is a regularly requested speaker by associations and organizations in all industry sectors, and she has inspired hundreds of groups and thousands of listeners.
Before founding Firestorm Solutions in 2005, Suzanne served as Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel of a NASDAQ company, Director and Chief Administrative Officer of a NYSE insurance holding company, a litigator with a major New City law firm handling professional liability matters and Managing Attorney of a law firm with multiple offices throughout the country.
A licensed attorney in New York, she has also completed extensive Emergency Management Institute training, including Emergency Management Professional Development Series Certification from FEMA.
Very active in the New York Hudson Valley region, Suzanne serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations. She has received numerous awards for her service, including the Anti-Defamation League’s prestigious ‘Americanism Award’.
Suzy is co-author of the book Disaster Ready People for A Disaster Ready America.
“What should we do now?” “What should we say?”