The next series speaker is scheduled for Nov. 12.

The program featured business continuity specialists Arnold Mendelsohn, senior project manager, Fortent, Inc., New York, N.Y., and Marc Gonzalez, Chief Operating Officer, Site2, LLC, of Scranton, Pa. Both are members of the Misericordia University Executives in Residence program, a group of experts in their respective fields who serve as mentors, speakers, and occasionally adjunct faculty in the university’s expanding business program. Select students in MU’s newly formed Business Professional Association attended the event.

Mendelsohn, who has more than 20 years experience in network infrastructure and has headed several business continuity initiatives, urged all business owners to develop a disaster recovery plan that includes all aspects of their business, including any communication and interaction with vendors worldwide.

“Companies today have multiple facilities, people working from home and vendors and suppliers around the world,” Mendelsohn said. “Not only do you need a succession plan, who is next in line should one office become disabled, but you need to establish a list of priorities for information and communications recovery. Planning ahead can save you weeks and even months of time if a back-up strategy is in place.”

He recommends businesses include an assessment of what each department does, knowledge of projects each individual is assigned and what applications they use as part of any disaster recovery plan. “Having a data recovery plan is crucial,’’ Mendelsohn said. “Yet sometimes the low-tech stuff is what works the best in a bad situation. Not only do you need generators, but also keep paper lists of contact information including phone numbers. What happened after 9/11 is that Internet and cell phone service went down immediately, but telephone landlines in some cases were still operational.”

Gonzalez, an information systems and risk management specialist with more than 16 years of experience, is a principal partner of Site2, LLC, a Scranton-based company that offers its clients comprehensive disaster recovery/business continuity management services. He urged companies to take a holistic approach — not just in the area of disaster recovery — but also in how they handle every phase of their business operation.

“Companies take calculated risks every day,” Gonzalez said. “Yet there is a lot of money to be lost from a natural disaster. What we learned from Hurricane Katrina: it took the big players, such as the larger banks, one year to recover their services in the region. It was the smaller companies, those without any investment in business continuity or disaster recovery, who were not able to recover at all.”

The roundtable discussion included remarks from respondents Joe Fisne, vice president and chief information officer of Community Medical Center, Scranton, Pa., and Tom Dougher, corporate technology manager for Prudential Financial, Scranton, Pa., regarding how their organizations insure best practices for disaster planning and business continuity.

Developed to offer area business leaders an ongoing opportunity to address some of the day’s most pressing economics topics, The Misericordia University Economics Forum Series is being presented by the university’s business department, under the direction of John M. Sumansky, Ph.D., professor and department chairman, with support of Wall Street West. Guests represented a variety of businesses including Merrill Lynch, Lackawanna College, Community Medical Center, Luzerne Bank, Northampton Community College, Chestnut Ridge Communications, First General Services of NEPA, Frontier Communications, Ben Franklin Technology, Northeastern Pennsylvania Technology Institute, The Prudential Insurance Company America, Verizon Wireless, Lackawanna Workforce Investment Board and Misericordia University.

The next forum, “Corporate Finance for the New Millennium,” will feature Wayne Chau, vice president of finance and corporate treasurer, Toshiba America, Inc., New York, N.Y. That session will be held Thursday, Nov. 12, from 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. in the Huntzinger and Alden Rooms 218-219, Sandy and Marlene Insalaco Hall at Misericordia University. To make reservations, please contact Christine Stevens Slacktish, director of Financial Services Education and Outreach Projects, Misericordia University, 570-674-8183 or email her at cslackti@misericordia.edu.

Caption:

Misericordia’s inaugural Economics Forum for Business Leaders, sponsored in part by Wall Street West, featured four of the university’s Executives In Residence and drew business leaders from across northeastern Pennsylvania. Participants at the program on disaster recovery and business continuity included, shown first row, seated from left: Greg Morgan and Susan Shaffer, Wall Street West; Lucyann Vierling, Luzerne/Schuylkill Workforce Investment Board, Inc.; Christie Stevens Slacktish and John Sumansky, Ph.D., Misericordia University. Second row, standing: Jim Ryan, Wall Street West; Chris Haran, Northeastern Pennsylvania Technology Institute; Arnold Mendelsohn and Marc Gonzales, keynote speakers; Tom Dougher, Prudential Financial, panel respondent; Tom O’Neill and Robert Williams, Misericordia University; and Jerry Ephault, Ben Franklin Technology.