It’s a scary world out there — our 2019 Predictions Report reads like a horror movie script, forecasting a coordinated cyberattack on national critical infrastructure, a supply chain disruption of telecomm components in Asia, and an increase in terrorist acts on Western targets. If our 10 dire predictions have left you feeling glum, here are 10 ways that we at DRI are helping you prepare for whatever 2019 might throw your way:

1. Introducing Cyber-Resilience
According to our Global Trends Report, resilience professionals have consistently rated technology problems like IT failure and cyberattacks as their top concern. We hear you and are excited to bring you a new training and certification program in cyber resilience. For more details about what you can expect from this highly anticipated program, watch the video of our recent webinar and read the accompanying white paper.

2. Sharing Information at our Conference

DRI2018 had a record number of participants with over 600 in attendance. Even better, the feedback on our program content was overwhelmingly positive, with a stunning 86% of our attendees rating our conference as excellent. DRI2019 in Las Vegas will surely be even more thrilling with tracks in technology and cyber risk, women in BCM, Fortune 500 case studies, and a workshop-only track.

3. Recognizing Excellence at Your Organization
Long the leader in certifying individuals, our program for accrediting organizations also is growing, including awarding the very first Resilient Enterprise designation in Asia in 2018. The first step toward becoming a DRI-certified Resilient Enterprise is completing the Resilient Enterprise Assessment Program (REAP), a comprehensive program assessment that is tailored to identifying areas that can be strengthened by using your organization’s own resources.

4. Celebrating Your Accomplishments
We are always looking for innovative ways to increase the value of your certification, create opportunities for professional advancement, and add programs that both anticipate and exceed your needs. In 2018, we launched our popular digital badging program to provide you with a better way to brag about your accomplishments online. Thousands of badges were unlocked in just the first week, and it is now a standard part of announcing your achievement to the world.

5. Meeting You Where You Are…Online
To continue to serve you, we continue to create innovative programs to better serve the profession. In 2018, we launched two popular online courses to help you polish your skill set: a self-led supply chain course and an instructor-led skills gap course to help ensure you’re up-to-date.

6. Finding the Right Words with a New Glossary
We launched a 2018 version of one of our top resources, making the glossary more readable, accessible, and useful for both Certified Professionals and students. Use this resource to help get your team, including your vendors, speaking the same language.

7. Serving Up the Resources You Crave

We know that you’re hungry for information, so we are constantly serving up new white papers, webinars, and resilience news. And now there’s one website for all things DRI. We merged conference and foundation sites into our main site to make finding what you need and getting involved easy. To help bring the conversation to a broader audience, I will also be writing a regular column for Forbes on all things risk and resilience. Keep an eye on our social media and Drive blog for the latest.

8. Saving You Money with Group Discounts
U.S.-based Certified Professionals can now access exclusive DRI group discounts on everything from hotel rates to office supplies directly through your DRI account. Whether it saves money for your organization or for you personally, it is a great added benefit of keeping your certification current.

9. Offering Our Events in Your Community
We continue to bring regional events to local communities by working with institutions of higher learning to bring professionals and students together and foster the pipeline of talent moving into the profession. We also serve our growing global community by expanding our courses to new markets, diversifying our training offerings in all markets, and offering customized training and continuing education opportunities like webinars and online courses in various languages. We also hosted or spoke at more than 15 events around the world in 2018, including South Africa, the Philippines, Japan, Turkey, Switzerland, Germany, Colombia, and Brazil.

10. Giving Back with the Foundation
Your warm and generous response to the DRI Foundation reflects the giving spirit of this dedicated professional community. You can get an in-depth look from our latest Annual Review, but here are a few amazing ways that we are building a resilient future together:

• Veterans Outreach: Our Veterans Outreach Program continues its excellent work awarding DRI training scholarships to those who have served so bravely. In 2018, we awarded a record 55 scholarships worth $168,000.
• Women in BCM (WBCM): Our research revealed that lack of a mentor is one of the biggest challenges to women entering the field. To fill that gap, our Women in BCM Committee established a mentorship program in 2018. The first cohort of mentors/mentees is working together now. And the WBCM Committee is hosting an educational track and a reception at DRI2019.
• Scholarships: We award two student scholarships each year to the children of Certified Professionals who express their take on resilience in their own words.
• Donations after Disasters: We donated nearly $15,000 to communities impacted by disasters including Puerto Rico, Houston, Mexico, and Canada.

Our vision is of a resilient world, and we strive for it in more ways than I can squeeze into this list. I’d love to hear from each and every one of you as you write your own top 10 list for professional advancement this year. What has DRI done to help you, and how can we do even more? After all, that’s what we’re here for.

Chloe Demrovsky
President and CEO
DRI International