Crisis Management & Business Resiliency - Live Online

This comprehensive live virtual program provides important knowledge, up-to-date assessments, and several case studies on issues that affect you and your organization — regulations and standards, response strategies, cybersecurity, supply chain, crisis leadership, artificial intelligence, communications, news media, social media, federal/state/local government response, drills and exercises — from the experts involved with these efforts. We also examine strategies for your program, position, and career improvement. You will have the opportunity to interact with our lecturers and with your peers from industry, academia, and government.

Participants also practice what is learned - the course includes:
•    An executive ransomware tabletop exercise
•    A highly interactive crisis simulation in which participants take active response roles in a multiple-event crisis, including a realistic news media briefing.

By the end of the course, you will have the tools, knowledge, and understanding to benchmark, assess, and improve your business resiliency, cybersecurity, crisis management, and crisis communications programs. This includes the course manual (e-files), templates, and current articles. You will gain valuable contacts, have plenty of networking opportunities during and after class, and acquire insights/skills/knowledge for immediate implementation.

Questions or need additional information? Contact MIT Professional Education at shortprograms@mit.edu.

Certificate of Completion from MIT Professional Education

This dynamic live virtual course offers an effective combination of lecture, case studies, and class participation activities conducted by knowledgeable and experienced instructors who are leaders in their fields. Case studies of actual crisis situations are used to emphasize and enhance the concepts. Several interactive class activities provide additional hands-on experience. Participants can also practice what is learned: the course concludes with a highly interactive online crisis simulation in which participants take active roles in a multiple event crisis, including a realistic news media briefing.

Notes:

• Course days generally run from 12:00 Noon to 5:00 PM EDT, with generous breaks and optional networking time included.
• Topics, speakers, and schedule are subject to change.

MONDAY- October 19, 2026

• Welcome / Introductions; Course Information; Student/Faculty Online Reception
  • Steve Goldman, Dick Larson, Sandra Galletti (MIT)
• Crisis Management & Business Resiliency Overview and Issues
  • Dr. Steve Goldman, MIT
• Business Resiliency Laws, Standards, and Metrics
  • Don Byrne, President, Metrix411
• Day’s Review and Discussion; Class Breakout Rooms

TUESDAY- October 20

• Case Study: JetBlue - From aircraft incidents to hurricanes and beyond!
  • Penny Neferis, Director Emergency Response & Care, JetBlue

• Working with the FBI on Terrorism

  • Supervisory Special Agent Brian LeBlanc, US Federal Bureau of Investigation

  Working with the FBI on Cybersecurity

  • Supervisory Special Agent Doug Domin, US Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Day’s Review and Discussion; Faculty/Student Networking

WEDNESDAY - October 21

• Cyber Security: Threats, Recent Events, and Response
  • Dr. Abel Sanchez, Executive Director of MIT's Geospatial Data Center
• Cyber Crisis Exercise
  • Mike Barcomb and Dan King, SANS Institute
• Disaster Modeling
  • Dick Larson, MIT
• Day’s Review and Discussion; Faculty/Student Networking

THURSDAY- October 22

• Artificial Intelligence and Business Resiliency
  • Jason Hoss, Whirlybird Labs, Ltd.
• Small Organization Resiliency
  • Mark Carroll, Boston University
• Emergency Preparedness & the Dimensions of Meta-Leadership
  • Eric McNulty, National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, Harvard University
• Day’s Review and Discussion; Faculty/Student Networking

FRIDAY - October 23

• Local, State, and Federal Response
  • Bill VanSchalkwyk, City of Groton FD (ret); Director, Harvard University EHS
  • Justin Shrair,  State of MA Emergency Management Agency
  • Dan McElhinney, US Federal Emergency Management Agency / DHS
• Simulation Pre-Briefing and Homework Assignment

MONDAY - October 26

• Supply Chain Management: Before, During, and After your Crisis
  • Dr. Yossi Sheffi, Director, MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics
• Panel Session: The Los Angeles Wildfires – One Year Later
  • Darcy Noricks, Sony Pictures, 
  • Steven Lei, Los Angeles County Commissioner
  • Soraya Sutherlin, Disaster Mgt. Area Coord., LA County
  • Alex Silverman, KNX News Radio
• Day’s Review and Discussion; Faculty/Student Networking

TUESDAY - October 27

The News and Social Media: What we are going to do to you and how to prepare!

• Print and Web Media
  • Joe Sciacca, Editor-in-Chief (retired), The Boston Herald; Senior Enterprise Editor, WHDH-TV7 News
• Social Media
  • Katie Nelson, Social Media Manager, Aurora CO Police Department
• Television/Visual Media
  • Howard B. Price, News Editor and Producer (retired), NBC-TV New York
• Day’s Review and Discussion; Faculty/Student Networking

WEDNESDAY - October 28

• Industry Trends: Impact on your program and your career
  • Cheyene Marling, Resiliency 360 Advisory
• Leadership Insights for the BR Manager
  • Steve Goldman, MIT
• Simulation: Doing one online, Briefing, and Breakout Rooms
  • Sandra Galletti and Steve Goldman, MIT

THURSDAY - October 29

• Virtual crisis response simulation
  • Course instructors present an online realistic simulation of an unfolding, multi-incident crisis. Participants take active roles as facility, corporate, federal agency, local agency, news or social media, or other responders to manage and recover from the events, including a hazmat leak, workplace violence, and a cybersecurity attack. This simulation concludes with a realistic news media briefing, where the students become the reporters!
    • Steve Goldman, Sandra Galletti, Lou DiBerardinis, Meaghan Whalen,  Howard Price, Joe Sciacca, Katie Nelson, Mark Carroll, and Kathy Ekberg
• Course Review, Final Thoughts, Graduation!
  • Steve Goldman, Sandra Galletti

• Presentations by and discussions with industry and government leaders/subject matter experts
• Overview of the current status of issues that affect you and your organization and your career
• Interactions with peers from academia, industry, and government
• Lessons learned from multiple case studies
• Course manual e-files
• Various templates for your immediate use
• Current articles by industry authors
• Official MIT Professional Education Certificate of Completion
• Upon completion, course graduates will be eligible to enroll in the MIT Crisis Course Alumni LinkedIn group
• Upon completion, course graduates will be eligible to enroll in the MIT Professional Education Advanced Business Resiliency course.

This course is designed for professionals who work in Business Resiliency, Disaster Recovery, Cyber Security, Emergency Management, Crisis Management, or Crisis Communications. 

This course is valuable not only for experienced professionals but also for people starting in or wanting to learn about this dynamic field.

Participants who will also benefit from the curriculum also include:

• Corporate executives/directors who want to enhance the efficacy of their organization's business continuity, disaster recovery, cyber security, crisis management, and crisis communications programs
• Federal, state, and local government officials who need to assess and improve their department's crisis management planning to better protect and serve their constituents
• Human Resources and Legal professionals who are looking to understand the potential impact and response to certain threats on their organization's workforce, from COVID-19 to cybersecurity threats to data breaches 
• Anyone interested in acquiring knowledge and understanding to create, assess, or improve a business resiliency, disaster recovery, cyber security, crisis management, or crisis communications program.

Office hour sessions will be held several weeks after the program, providing the opportunity to ask in-depth questions after you have had a chance to reflect/implement the course material.