Elliot Consulting Services - Business Resiliency Solutions - Business Continuity and Disaster Preparedness, Communications and Technology Solutions, Business Process Outsourcing

Elliot Consulting Services (ECS) is a full-service consulting firm providing organizations with the following services:

A disaster can be the smallest setback that disrupts normal operations such as a disruption to a critical computer application, or an unavoidable catastrophic event such as a regional weather disaster. These events can shut down day-to-day operations in a matter of moments. But when companies plan for the continuity of their business operations under less-than-ideal circumstances and take adequate protective measures, they can survive even major incidents.

Being prepared for the unexpected is the key to the resiliency of one's business. It is not just about the process of recovering from a disaster - it is also about maintaining continuous daily operations and protecting critical business functions, systems, and procedures. A resilient business is prepared to help prevent or minimize loss or damage to life and property, quickly return employees to work, restore essential services, and resume business operations.

ECS provides our clients with a program known as Business Resiliency Planning, which is a process which helps companies protect their information, their people, their physical infrastructure, and their means of doing business before, during, and after a time of crisis. A solid Business Resiliency Plan starts with a thorough understanding of critical business functions and then explores the risks and vulnerabilities which could impact those procedures. The ultimate goal of this plan is to ensure the stability and continued success of a business.

Companies that choose to develop an in-house business continuity plan oftentimes omit critical pieces of information which are vital to the strategic planning and business resumption processes. Many of these firms also struggle with managing the project because of lack of time and skill in building an all-hazards crisis management and disaster recovery plan. The reasonable alternative is to outsource the project to the business resiliency experts at Elliot Consulting to create a customized plan for your business, and then to train the crisis management team at your firm to implement the procedures needed to protect the business during an emergency situation.

ECS functions as a third party advocate and facilitator to help companies create, develop, and implement all-hazards business resiliency and crisis management plans, pandemic response strategies, and effective disaster recovery programs which are designed to protect vital business resources and operational processes.

ECS can also review, audit, and help modify existing disaster recovery and business continuity programs to ensure that the essential components of the organization will continue to function in the event of an unplanned disruptive incident.

The team from Elliot Consulting will assist with staff training and simulation exercises, and regular plan validations and updates to test the thoroughness of a company's preparedness model.

The ECS consultants are professionally-certified business continuity planners and business resiliency specialists with Fortune 200 experience. Our consultants are trained in the Incident Command System as developed by the National Incident Management System (NIMS); and a variety of technical recovery, restoration, and resiliency strategies. Elliot Consulting is a vendor-neutral organization and does not re-sell any services or products.

Elliot Consulting offers a wide variety of educational seminars, hands-on workshops, and end-to-end consulting engagements.

Steve Elliot – President and CEO

Steve Elliot founded Elliot Consulting Services in 2003 after a highly successful career as a global account manager, corporate trainer, and senior sales executive from the communications and high-tech industries. Steve’s broad professional experience includes sales, marketing, business development, operations, project management, business continuity planning, emergency preparedness, and disaster recovery positions with AT&T, Control Data, Westinghouse, and ABC/Capitol Cities.

During his tenure at AT&T, Mr. Elliot’s responsibilities included the management of large global enterprise accounts. He focused on performing detailed assessments of the technological and communications needs of his clients, and then proposing solutions to help them operate more efficiently and effectively. Steve was involved with the development of emergency response and disaster recovery plans for several of his former clients including Precision Response Corporation, Home Shopping Network, Expedia, Ticketmaster, Hotels.com, LendingTree.com, Sports Authority, and Racal-Milgo, to name a few.

Steve has participated in numerous seminars and conferences relating to business continuity, emergency preparedness planning, hazardous materials management, homeland security, pandemic planning, and data recovery issues. Mr. Elliot has been a featured presenter at hurricane awareness seminars and hazardous material management seminars around the state of Florida. Steve is a Certified Business Resiliency Manager (CBRM), and FEMA-certified in Emergency Management, Incident Command System (ICS), and the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Steve is also an officer within the Greater Tampa Bay Chapter of the Association of Contingency Planners, and a member of the Tampa Bay area’s Local Emergency Planning Committee’s Facilities Disaster Planning Team, the Institute of Management Consultants, and the American Meteorological Society. Steve is also a FEMA-certified Disaster Housing Inspector.

With over thirty years of contingency planning and disaster recovery experience for the United States Navy and Raytheon Company, William “Bill” Hastings brings to ECS a wealth of knowledge including severe weather planning, risk analysis, incident response planning, operational logistics, vital records identification and protection, and human resources management.

Recently retired from prominent defense contracting company, Raytheon (and legacy E-Systems), Bill was the Manager of Administrative Services for the company’s St. Petersburg and Largo, Florida facilities. Raytheon is an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business aviation and special mission aircraft. While at Raytheon, Bill was responsible for converting Raytheon/E-Systems disaster recovery plan into their first Business Continuity Plan in 1991. Since its inception, Bill served on Raytheon’s corporate business continuity planning team.

Prior to his 20-year career at Raytheon, Bill Hastings served in the U.S. Navy. His naval career included assignments ranging from ships at sea to the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Tours of duty at the United States European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, and the United States Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, highlighted his distinguished 20-year naval career.

Bill Hastings is FEMA-certified in the Incident Command System (ICS), and the National Incident Management System (NIMS). He was elected as the President of the Greater Tampa Bay Chapter of the Association of Contingency Planners at the beginning of 2006, and his focus for the organization is shared learning experiences from the members plus continual education on the many facets of business continuity planning.

Jerry B. Bock, CBCP, CBRM – Chief Consultant

Jerry Bock is a long-standing industry veteran with over thirty-five years experience in providing business continuity and disaster recovery services to the financial services and information technology industries. Mr. Bock brings to Elliot Consulting a deep hands-on knowledge of the entire gamut of business contingency planning functions, including risk assessment, business impact analysis, disaster preparedness, business resiliency and continuity, data security and recovery, backup systems management, crisis management and disaster recovery.

Over the years, Mr. Bock has held a series of critical senior positions at multi-national corporations, including Morgan Stanley Inc., Electronic Data Systems, Inc., Equifax Inc., Chase Manhattan Bank N.A., Bank of America Corporation N.A. and General Dynamics, Inc. Mr. Bock is a Past-President of the Greater Tampa Bay Chapter of the Association of Contingency Planners, former Director for the National Association of Contingency Planners and a former BCP Business Technical Advisor for the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council’s BCP Steering Committee. Mr. Bock is well-known in the Tampa Bay area as a major contributor to disaster preparedness and business continuity efforts within both Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.

Jerry Bock holds a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) certificate from the Disaster Recovery Institute International, and a Certified Business Resiliency Manager (CBRM) certificate from the Business Resilience Certification Consortium International.

Michael K. Connolly is a highly regarded partner and consultant to Elliot Consulting Services, and the President / Founder of Business and Technology Strategies, LLC (BTS), a Florida-based private consultation company that offers independent, third-party solution recommendations, cost expectations, and development services through its direct experience and large network of reputable partners in the areas of business continuity and disaster recovery (BC / DR), collocation, managed services, telecommunications, equipment procurement, and business development.

Prior to founding BTS, Mr. Connolly’s successful career experience spans 25 years in worldwide business development and sales, BC / DR consulting solutions and services, large scale product training, and the delivery of managed Information Technology (IT) services and solutions. Traveling extensively throughout the world, Mr. Connolly has introduced emerging and existing services and technologies to major corporations on every continent while holding senior level and subject expert positions with a number of key technology organizations including SunGard Availability Services, Qwest Communications, Wang Laboratories, Exodus Communications, Conner Software Products, and Archive Corporation as well as operating his own private international development organization in the late 1990s. During his career tenure, Mr. Connolly developed and negotiated plans, solutions, partnerships, and multimillion dollar contracts with some of the largest and most recognized organizations in the world including IBM, Marubeni Hytech Corporation, Hard Rock Café, Sony Germany, Hewlett-Packard, Outback Steakhouse, EMC, Scotland Yard, Wyndham Resorts, and Tracfone Wireless; to name just a few.

Mr. Connolly holds a Masters of Business Administration in Technology and a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Information Systems from the University of Phoenix, Arizona as well as a Diploma in Business Continuity Planning from the Institute for Business Continuity Training. In addition, Mr. Connolly maintains high levels of engagement expertise and knowledge in BC/DR standards and practices including a professional industry certification as a Certified Continuity Manager (CCM) as well as being a regular guest speaker at industry events including Chapters of the Association of Contingency Planners (ACP), Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), FBI Security Seminars, trade show events, and various storage/security user groups.

Kelly Oliver, PMP - Consultant

Kelly Oliver brings over twenty years experience in the fields of technology, project management, business continuity, and disaster recovery. Prior to joining Elliot Consulting Services, Ms. Oliver worked on developing IT strategies for today’s complex technology-driven environment. Ms. Oliver's provided leadership in networking, tel/data communications, data center management, logistics, security, project management, audit, compliance, business continuity planning, disaster recovery, system integration and implementation services for a variety of infrastructure systems across the US. She recently held the position of Director of Technology of a known multi-billion electronic retailer and she understands how BCP/DR affects the bottom-line from inside the business during and after a disaster.

Mrs. Oliver is a high energy, results-oriented strategic planner with a strong record of managing P&L, and she consistently drives project success. In her career, she achieved exciting turnarounds with the top tier organizations such as Home Shopping Network and PriceWaterHouseCoopers. She continues to be repeatedly recognized for her success in delivering high performance, cost effective solutions by combining creative and operational strengths. Her exceptional track record of business improvement is based on a philosophy of “Doing It Right the First Time.” It is her personal goal to quickly identify and diagnose problems, whether they are technical or procedural, then work with each division to refine their approach to tough topics, such as: technology integration, service delivery, project planning, in/out sourcing, and setting C-level expectations.

Don Bromley is a long-standing industry veteran with over twenty-five years experience in providing business continuity and disaster recovery services primarily to the financial services, retail, utilities, transportation and information technology industries. Mr. Bromley brings to Elliot Consulting a deep hands-on knowledge of the entire gamut of business contingency planning functions, including risk assessment, business impact analysis, disaster preparedness, business resiliency and continuity, data security and recovery, backup systems management, crisis management and disaster recovery.

Over the years, Mr. Bromley has held a series of critical senior positions at multi-national corporations, including Electronic Data Systems, Inc., IBM Inc., Barnett Bank NA, and MassMutual. In addition, Mr. Bromley has been a leader in the Technology Risk Management practices of EDS, Ernst & Young and Deloitte and Touché.

Mr. Bromley has worked with two large utility companies ATMOS Energy and Dominion Power in the creation of enterprise business continuity strategies and plans. He has also consulted with many other companies including American Airlines, General Motors, Nationwide Insurance, The Home Depot, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Best Buy, The Dial Corporation, Western Union, The Hartford, Corporate Express and many others. Mr. Bromley currently resides in the Tampa Bay area but is a native of Western Massachusetts.

Mr. Bromley holds a Masters of Business Administration in Finance from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Bachelor's of Science in Finance from Central Connecticut State University. Mr. Bromley also holds a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) certificate from the Disaster Recovery Institute International, Inc., and a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) certificate from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association.

Jack Hipple – Consultant, Predictive Failure Analyses

Jack Hipple, President of Innovation-TRIZ, has joined forces with Elliot Consulting Services (ECS) to offer predictive failure analyses to the business continuity planning services of ECS.

Hipple, a nationally recognized expert in innovation and problem solving, has developed a system which utilizes the TRIZ thinking tools in a "reverse" or saboteurial fashion. This predictive failure analysis is specifically directed at identifying critical failure points and vulnerabilities in systems, processes, emergency plans, and organizational systems. These tools include cause and effect modeling software that identifies concerns beyond what is possible to achieve with standard industry hazard analysis techniques.

TRIZ (a Russian algorithm for Theory of Inventive Problems Solving) is the only scientifically based inventive problem solving process and tool kit. Its basis is the study of the global patent literature and the identification of the most inventive patents. Analyzing these patents yields consistent patterns of invention and lines of technological evolution that are constantly used across all areas of science and technology. These generic inventive principles can then be applied to all other areas of technology, greatly reducing the time to produce breakthrough ideas and inventions.

Jack Hipple is a chemical engineer, receiving his degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 1967. After a 30-year career in the chemical industry, where he spent significant time in the innovation and creativity area, he became involved with innovation and creativity methods full time in 1998. His industrial career included responsibility for the Discovery Research program in Dow Chemical’s largest division as well as its corporate chemical engineering research program. During this time, many new commercial products were launched which were outside the existing business’ focus.

At Cabot Corporation and Ansell Edmont, he was responsible for major new technology programs in specialty inorganics, and breakthrough process technology for protective equipment. Jack has published articles, given presentations, and led major workshops for the Technology Transfer Society, the TRIZ Journal, the Altshuller Institute, the European TRIZ Association, the American Creativity Association, the World Future Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, the American Supplier Institute, the Licensing Executive Society, and the EPA.

Dr. Robert H. Weisberg - Consultant/Storm Surge Expert

Dr. Weisberg is an experimental physical oceanographer engaged in ocean circulation and ocean-atmosphere interaction studies in the tropics, on continental shelves, and in estuaries. He is an author on more than 100 refereed professional journal articles. As director of the USF Ocean Circulation Group and co-director of the USF Coastal Ocean Modeling and Prediction System his research presently emphasizes real-time in-situ measurements, analyses, and models of the West Florida Shelf circulation and the interactions between the shelf and the deep-ocean and between the shelf and the estuaries.

He maintains a coordinated observing and modeling system through his Ocean Circulation Group. Observations consist of surface moorings for real time surface meteorology, water column ocean currents, and temperature/salinity (T/S), some inclusive of waves; subsurface moorings for currents; HF-radar for surface currents; profilers for T/S (in collaboration with the CMS-COT); analyses of satellite data for SST, SSH, and geostrophic currents; and occasionally surface drifters. Models consist of WFS regional applications of ROMS nested in the 1/12th degree North Atlantic HYCOM (to study the WFS and deep-ocean interactions) and the FVCOM (to study the WFS and estuary interactions) and sub-regional FVCOM applications to individual estuaries. Additional FVCOM applications, making use of its high resolution and flooding/drying capabilities, is for coastal inundation by hurricane storm surge.

Dr. Robert H. Weisberg
University of South Florida
College of Marine Science
140 7th Avenue South
St. Petersburg, Florida 33701
(727) 553-1568
E-mail: weisberg@marine.usf.edu

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