Crisis Management & Business Resiliency - Live Online

This comprehensive course provides up-to-date assessments and knowledge on issues that affect you and your organization — the COVID-19 Pandemic, cyber security, supply chain, leadership, data breach, communications, news media, social media — from the experts involved with these efforts. We also examine strategies for job and career improvement. You will have the opportunity to interact online with our lecturers and with your peers from industry, academia, and government.

By the end of the course, you will have the tools, knowledge, and understanding to benchmark, assess, and improve your business continuity, disaster recovery, and crisis management program. This includes the course manual (e-files), templates, and current articles. You will gain valuable contacts, have plenty of online networking opportunities, and acquire insights for immediate implementation.

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

• 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
• 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 dynamic 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 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 20, 2025

• Welcome / Introductions / Course Information / Online Student/Faculty Reception
  • Steve Goldman, Dick Larson, Sandra Galletti (MIT)
• Crisis Management & Business Resiliency Overview and Issues
  • Dr. Steve Goldman, MIT
• Day’s Review and Discussion; Faculty/Student Networking

TUESDAY- October 21

• Business Resiliency Laws, Standards, and Metrics
  • Don Byrne, President, Metrix411
• Case Study: JetBlue - From aircraft incidents to hurricanes and beyond!
  • Penny Neferis, Director Emergency Response & Care, JetBlue
• Day’s Review and Discussion; Faculty/Student Networking

WEDNESDAY - October 22

• Cyber Security: Threats, Recent Events, and Response
  • Dr. Abel Sanchez, Executive Director, Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity, MIT
• Working with the FBI on Cybersecurity and Terrorism
  • Special Agents Brian LeBlanc and Doug Domin, US Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Day’s Review and Discussion; Faculty/Student Networking

THURSDAY- October 23

• Supply Chain Management
  • Dr. Yossi Sheffi, Director, MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics 
• Small Organization Resilience
  • 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 24

• Local, State, and Federal Response
  • Bill VanSchalkwyk, City of Groton FD (ret); Director, Harvard University EHS
  • Allen Phillips,  State of MA Emergency Management Agency
  • John McGough, US Federal Emergency Management Agency / DHS
• Simulation Briefing; Day’s Review and Discussion

MONDAY - October 27

The News 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, Mountain View CA 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

TUESDAY - October 28

• Executive Cyber Security Exercise
  • Mike Barcomb and ChrisWilkes, SANS Institute
• Disaster Modeling
  • Dick Larson, MIT
• Artificial Intelligence and Business Resiliency  
  • Jason Hoss, Open Technology Solutions, LLC
• Day’s Review and Discussion; Faculty/Student Networking

WEDNESDAY - October 29

• Developing a Successful Public Disaster Awareness Program in Mexico – With No Budget!
  • Angelica Enriquez, Government of Mexico
• Industry Trends: Impact on your program and your career
  • Cheyene Marling, Witt-O’Brien’s
• Leadership Insights for the BR Manager
  • Steve Goldman
• Simulation Briefing
  • Steve Goldman, Sandra Galletti

Thursday- October 30

• 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. These events, including hazmat leak, workplace violence, and cybersecurity events.
    • Steve Goldman, Sandra Galletti, Howard Price, Joe Sciacca, Mark Carroll, Donna Speckhard, Don Byrne, and others
• Course Review, Final  Thoughts, Graduation!
  • Steve Goldman, Sandra Galletti

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.