The Glossary Committee is responsible for developing, maintaining, and updating DRI’s International Glossary for Resilience in accordance with the DRI Professional Practices. The Committee regularly reviews resilience-based terms and definitions for inclusion, update or removal from the Glossary. The Glossary is currently available in five (5) languages, and is free to download. To be eligible to serve on the Glossary Committee, the candidate must be a DRI Certified Professional in good standing who is willing to volunteer their time. Committee meetings normally occur quarterly and time is required for research and review of terms. Multilingual candidates are welcome. If you are interested in volunteering, please email kacevedo@drii.org. 

The International Glossary for Resilience and its translations are maintained by their respective committees.

Andrea Abrams, MBCP
Chair

Andrea Abrams, MBCP is a DRI instructor and chair of the DRI Glossary Committee. Abrams hosted the DRI webinar series Profiles in Resilience, featuring interviews with compelling and inspirational global leaders in the resilience community. Abrams also represented the financial industry on our most recent DRI Professional Practices workgroup, a national group of volunteers dedicated to ensuring the professional practices continue to reflect the evolving resilience industry.

Abrams is Lead Business Analyst for the Operations & Safety area of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco where she has been employed for over 25 years. She also provides communications consulting through her LLC.

Abrams earned a Master’s degree in English Literature from San Francisco State University, a Bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in Spanish from the University of California, Berkeley, and in addition to her MBCP is a Prosci certified Change Management Practitioner. Abrams also completed a certificate course in Diversity + Inclusion through Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Abrams prioritizes community and serves as a proctor for the California State Bar examination and The College Board’s SAT exam, along with Advanced Placement exams at Arcadia High School in Arcadia, California. Prior to currently serving as vice president of her homeowners association for the past nine years, Abrams has held several appointed roles including both Library Commissioner and Commissioner on the Status of Women for the City of Pasadena, California and volunteer with Buffalo Field Campaign completing the annual census of wild bison at Yellowstone National Park.

Rob Alaniz, MBCP

Rob Alaniz, MBCP, is a U.S. Air Force veteran and seasoned business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) professional with over 15 years of experience leading resilience efforts across the public and private sectors. He brings a sharp focus on risk mitigation, crisis communication, and recovery strategy development—often bridging the gap between IT and executive leadership.

A former IT Project Management Advisor at Dell, Alaniz honed his ability to lead cross-functional teams through complex, high-stakes environments. His disciplined, mission-driven approach is backed by deep experience in BIA facilitation, CMDB development, DR testing, and operational recovery planning.

Alaniz currently serves as a senior DR analyst, where he is driving program maturity through governance frameworks, capability mapping, and stakeholder alignment. Known for his clear communication style and a bit of well-placed humor under pressure, Alaniz is passionate about educating others on the importance of continuity and disaster preparedness.

When he’s not building recovery frameworks or preparing organizations for the “what if,” Alaniz enjoys music production, faith-based service, and encouraging others living with pulmonary fibrosis through his journey of hope, health, and resilience.

Gayle Anders, MBCI, CBCP

Gayle Anders, MBCI, CBCP, is a resilience professional with 15 years of experience leading global resilience and continuity programs, having developed innovative frameworks at both Netflix and the United States Marine Corps. During his impactful Marine Corps career, Anders served in diverse leadership roles from tactical team lead to senior director, managing over 250 personnel directly.

Anders developed emergency management and disaster recovery (FEMA) plans, and led complex operations in challenging environments, including multi-country recovery efforts for natural disasters that provided emergency assistance to 250,000 people. As a global business continuity program manager at Netflix, Anders has scaled an innovative business continuity and enterprise resilience model and established a resilience as a service (RaaS) model that provides quantifiable metrics for what resilience health is for teams, departments, and products. His expertise spans operational resilience, crisis management, threat assessment, and executive partnership, consistently delivering impressive results and fostering effective leadership across diverse teams.

Kelvin A. Brim, CBCP

Kelvin A. Brim, CBCP, is the Founder & Chief Consultant of Stoic Resilience, a crisis preparedness and organizational resilience firm dedicated to ensuring that businesses remain “Ready for Anything. Resilient Through Everything.” With 25 years of distinguished service in the Charlotte Fire Department—culminating in his role as Division Chief—Brim brings unparalleled expertise in emergency response, operational leadership, and strategic crisis management. Throughout his career, he has commanded large-scale operations, developed high-performing teams, and spearheaded initiatives that fortified both personnel readiness and community safety under the most demanding conditions.

Holding a Master of Science in Fire Service Administration from Arizona State University and a Bachelor of Science in Fire Engineering Technology from UNC Charlotte, Brim combines rigorous academic insight with real-world experience. His Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) accreditation underscores his comprehensive mastery of business continuity planning and disaster recovery processes. As a forward-thinking thought leader, Brim leverages innovative frameworks and best-practice methodologies to help organizations anticipate risks, strengthen resilience protocols, and sustain operational continuity in the face of uncertainty. His practical, results-driven approach empowers clients to transform vulnerability into opportunity and to navigate tomorrow’s challenges with confidence.

Susan Lounsbury, MBCP

Susan Lounsbury, MBCP, is a Principal for BCDR at N-able Technologies, where she manages the Global Business Continuity Program for the company.  Susan has over 20 years of experience in the BCDR arena and is also a CCRO in cyber resilience.

Prior to working at N-able, Lounsbury was with PepsiCo working in business continuity, disaster recovery, and cyber resilience. She developed PepsiCo’s IT business continuity program and ensured over 300 facilities in North America were on-boarded. Additionally, she handled disaster recovery for their datacenters and all major applications and services. She was also a member of the team that initiated and built their cyber resilience program.

In addition to the DRI Glossary Committee, Lounsbury is also the Treasurer of the North Carolina Chapter of the ACP (Association of Continuity Professionals). Lounsbury also dedicated over 30 years volunteering in emergency services beginning in Cornwall, NY, in as an EMT with volunteer ambulance/EMS. She then added technical rescue to her resume in Winston-Salem, NC, as an advanced rescue technician, and later became a certified Fire Fighter II with the Fire Department in Winston-Salem. Lounsbury served as an officer in many capacities, ultimately rising to Chief of Forsyth Rescue Squad in North Carolina.

Lounsbury is the mother of 20-year-old triplets – Alex, Anna, and Morgan – and has one cat (Poppy) and three dogs (Katie, Reba, and Pebbles). In her spare time she enjoys reading thrillers.

Sarah Gucciardo, CBCP

Sarah Gucciardo, CBCP, leads third-party resilience efforts within the enterprise governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) function at Morgan Street Holdings and its operating companies, where she has formalized and scaled a cross-functional third-party risk management program. Her work focuses on building practical governance frameworks that align security, vendor oversight, and operational continuity across a diverse organizational structure. By combining structured workflows, automation, and strong stakeholder engagement, she ensures that vendor risk management actively supports broader resilience goals.

She also contributes to enterprise-wide initiatives including policy development and security awareness training. Gucciardo draws on frameworks such as ISO/IEC 27001, NIST CSF, and the ISF Standard of Good Practice, and holds the Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) credential. She is also a recipient of the DRI International Women in Business Continuity Management (WBCM) Scholarship and is committed to advancing clarity, collaboration, and resilience across complex ecosystems.

Steven Lei, CBCP

Steven Lei, CBCP, is a strategic business leader with over 15 years of cross-functional experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. He is currently Vice President for Enterprise Business Continuity at East West Bank (NASDAQ: EWBC), a full service commercial bank with total assets of over $75 billion and over 110 locations in U.S. and Asia. Previously, Lei has held strategic roles in finance and business operations at the Federal Reserve Bank and the University of California System, and served as a business resilience consultant at Facebook (Meta).

In 2025, Lei was named to a Committee of 100 Next Generation Leaders, a group of distinguished young leaders committed to promoting Chinese American interests and U.S.-China relations. Since 2023, Lei has served on the Los Angeles County Economy and Efficiency Commission, representing the 3rd Supervisorial District.

His current and previous board service includes Opera Parallèle, Pony Barnes Foundation (a private foundation), BluPeak Credit Union ($1B+ in assets), the Institute of Human Behavior, Research, and Education (The Phillips Academy in Alameda, CA), and the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (London, UK).

Lei earned his Bachelor’s degree at the University of California, San Diego, Master’s degree at the London School of Economics, and has completed the Accelerated Management Program at the Yale School of Management.

In addition to serving on the DRI International Glossary Committee, Lei is also a member of the Future Vision Committee.

Doniella McKoy, MBCI, CBCP

Doniella McKoy, MBCI, CBCP, is a distinguished professional in the field of resilience, holding a master’s degree in healthcare emergency management. With a robust career spanning over a decade, she has accumulated extensive experience in public, private, higher education, and non-profit sectors, demonstrating her expertise and commitment to resilience across the globe.

McKoy is the founder of the Global Resilience Exchange and the Continuity Coffee & Chat, which has served the global resilience profession since 2021. This platform fosters a community of practice, encouraging knowledge exchange and networking among professionals dedicated to enhancing resilience worldwide and includes a YouTube Channel, @‌GlobalResilienceX.

She currently serves as the Corporate Business Continuity Manager at Syneos Health, specifically overseeing Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and the U.S. McKoy’s has been nominated for the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) 2025 Business Continuity Team of the Year award.

McKoy dedicated a portion of her career to academia, teaching emergency management and business continuity at higher education institutions in New York and Alaska , before teaching full time in Abu Dhabi, UAE. She was nominated to serve as the Chair of the BCI UAE chapter during her time abroad and now serves as an advisor.

McKoy was the Business Continuity Program Administrator for nonprofit, Health Partners Plans in Philadelphia, PA.  She led business continuity development efforts and worked with department management to ensure understanding of business continuity while maturing the business continuity program and planning documents. She was responsible for the business continuity software, the crisis communications system, and disaster recovery initiatives. McKoy’s program impacted 280, 000 members.

Previously she was a continuity of operations (COOP) planner at New York City Emergency Management (OEM). She managed a portfolio of over a dozen New York City agencies and offices, communicating the importance of planning to sustain their operations during an emergency that affected millions of people who worked and lived in New York City. During an emergency, she served as a public health and medical coordinator (ESF # 8 Coordinator) in the emergency operations center. McKoy worked with various hospital associations, New York City Department of Health, and New York State officials, among others, during severe weather emergencies, power outages, and public health outbreaks, including Legionnaire’s disease and Zika virus.
 
McKoy also has experience with FEMA, where she worked on a FEMA Corps planning team dealing with the unaccompanied minors in 2014 and the Medical Countermeasures plan in FEMA Region VI during the Ebola outbreak in Texas. She is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and is a certified business continuity professional through DRI International and the BCI.

Gayle Mitcham, MBCP, MBCI, CCCP, CBCA, SCRA

Gayle Mitcham, MBCP, MBCI, CCCP, CBCA, SCRA is a risk management professional with a master’s certification in business continuity and other risk disciplines. Mitcham has operational and consulting experience in all areas of business continuity management. She is a proven leader, skilled communicator, and project manager with expertise in the following risk related disciplines: governance, enterprise risk, operational resilience, emergency response planning, crisis management planning/communications, business continuity planning, IT disaster recovery planning, third-party risk, and pandemic planning.

Mitcham currently works for Sun Life Financial providing governance oversight for their global business continuity program.

Mitcham has been active in a number of volunteer roles related to the business continuity profession. She is a past member of the DRI Canada Certification Committee and served a term on the DRI Canada Board.  She has been an active member of the CRT Planning Committee since inception and has served as a director and treasurer of the Resiliency Information Exchange Board (RIE, formerly DRIE) a, not-for-profit association dedicated to providing opportunities for learning and networking for resilience and business continuity professionals.

Michelle Noah, CBCP

Michelle Noah, CBCP, is a seasoned business continuity and operational resilience practitioner with more than six years of experience driving resilience efforts across highly regulated industries, including financial services and fintech. She holds a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) designation and has led programs focused on business impact analysis (BIA), continuity planning, crisis management, and third-party risk.

Since entering the field in 2019, Noah has helped organizations build and mature continuity programs that align with ISO 22301 and FFIEC frameworks. She has facilitated cross-functional tabletop exercises, developed enterprise-level continuity documentation, and worked closely with leadership to identify critical processes, applications, and vendors.

Noah is passionate about embedding resilience into everyday operations and helping organizations prepare for both foreseeable and emerging risks. Her work reflects a balance of strategic insight and practical implementation, informed by evolving regulatory and industry standards.

Sheila Starnes, CBCP

Sheila Starnes, CBCP, serves on the DRI Glossary Committee. She has worked in business resilience for approximately 10 years, with additional engagements in adjacent areas of risk management including third-party risk and the insurance industry. Starnes is a former treasurer of the Washington State Chapter of the ACP, and is currently in a business resilience risk governance role for Edward Jones, a financial services company serving Canada and the United States.

Kyle Shinn, CBCP

Kyle Shinn, CBCP, is a senior business continuity specialist at PNC Bank. As a DRI International Certified Professional and a member of the Association of Continuity Professionals (ACP), he brings multiple years of experience in resilience field, specializing in business continuity planning, exercising, and consulting.

Shinn develops, implements, and exercises resilience strategies for clients across the globe. He contributed as a panelist at the Disaster Recovery Journal’s Spring 2024 Conference, participating in a discussion titled “Generational Views on Building a Career in Resilience.” He began his career as a Compliance Consultant at Altus Group and MHA Consulting after previously serving in a project management role at an S&P 500 organization.

Passionate about expanding the resilience profession, Shinn mentors newcomers, sharing insights to help them enter the field. In 2023, inspired by resilience’s critical role in the post-COVID-19 era, he transitioned into the field, completing DRI International’s BCLE 2000 course and earning the Associate Business Continuity Professional (ABCP) certification. This achievement laid the foundation for his growing expertise, despite no prior formal resilience background.

Actively engaged beyond his professional roles, Shinn participates in the Association of Continuity Professionals’ (ACP) Early Careerist Special Interest Group, fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing among early-career professionals in business continuity and organizational/risk and resilience. In 2026, Shinn was a finalist for the DRI Awards of Excellence in the Newcomer of the Year category.