DRI Senior Director of Operations and Conferences Michele Ostler, CBCV, was recognized at the DRI Awards of Excellence Gala in Jacksonville, FL, on Feb. 24, 2026 as she was named this year’s recipient of the prestigious Honor Roll Award.

The DRI International Honor Roll Award goes to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional service to DRI and materially contributed to its growth and reputation, made a significant and lasting impact on the field of resilience through their professional accomplishments, earned the respect and admiration of their professional colleagues, and served the profession over an extended period of time.

As Senior Director of Operations and Conference, Ostler supports the delivery of education, international, certification, awards of excellence and foundation programs.

Prior to her work with DRI, she spent four years at Goldman Sachs as a Human Resources Generalist and In-House Event Planner. Following her tenure there, she has served as the Founder and Event Planner for Penta Dynamic Solutions – a full service association management and event planning firm.

This prior experience helped DRI’s conferences flourish.

“I can’t help but reflect on how far our conferences have come – we are now the most attended conference in business continuity, and we accomplished this without compromising our principles,” said Al Berman, DRI Treasurer and Foundation President.

“While this has been a team effort, clearly the captain of this team has been Michele Ostler.  From selecting venues, to negotiating contracts, to finding exhibition, audio visual, security, flowers, vendors, Michele has been at the forefront of it all.”

Additionally, Ostler serves on the Board of The Disaster Recovery International Foundation, where she has assumed responsibility for its Volunteer Day program, key to the Foundation’s outreach at the conferences. In this role she has located activities that are not only engaging for volunteers but work to better people’s lives.

The Honor Roll Award represents the DRI Board of Directors’ appreciation of Ostler’s many successes in expanding and enriching DRI as an organization, and the resilience community as a result.

“My work with DRI has been deeply rewarding and I’m so proud of what my team and I have accomplished,” said Ostler. “I truly appreciate this recognition by the DRI Board.”