Mark Haimowitz CBCP, FBIC

Title: Board Member - (Former President)
Email: mhaimowitz@bnetinc.org

Mark Haimowitz is the most recent Past President of BNET and one its original founders. But even before then, as a Business Continuity Manager for some of Wall Street's biggest financial service companies, Mark had continually sought out the local, state and federal emergency response agencies to partner in response and relief efforts before it became popular. There was a new day dawning in the business continuity and disaster recovery industry and that was public/private partnerships. No longer could businesses build their recovery plans in a vacuum - there had to be collaboration with the public sector agencies.

Mark is now the Director of Business Continuity Management for Comcast in Philadelphia, PA. He is responsible for establishing the policy and guidelines for a best-in-class continuity and disaster recovery program at Comcast. In this role he worked with the local Office of Emergency Management in building emergency response plans for the City. Mark has also been on the city's team to bring the Corporate Emergency Access System (CEAS) to Philadelphia.

Prior to Comcast, Mark Haimowitz was the Business Continuity Senior Manager for Avaya, Inc. in Basking Ridge, NJ. He was responsible for ensuring Avaya and its customers were able to withstand any catastrophic event and could continue their critical functions. Avaya has responded to numerous disaster events in the past, such as 9/11 and most recently Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Avaya assisted the American Red Cross with building emergency telecommunications in their shelters and they continue to play a significant role in the rebuilding of the infrastructure in that region.

As the past Chairman of the Contingency Planning Exchange (CPE) user group in New York City, Mark championed an unprecedented partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). A new program was established to assist small businesses in the region with the development of emergency response and business continuity plans. As a Vice President for Merrill Lynch, he forged a relationship with the State Emergency Offices from New York and New Jersey and the Office of Emergency Management in New York City. Integral in his thinking was that businesses that must recover their critical operations after a disaster event would only be successful in unified planning program with emergency management officials. These partnerships proved invaluable during the response and recovery efforts following 9/11/2001.

Mark is one of a handful of US practitioners certified as a Fellow of the Business Continuity Institute (FBCI) and also certified as a CBCP from the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII). He has been a leader in the implementation of crisis management, business continuation management and disaster recovery programs, with over 20 years experience in major financial institutions. He has been a speaker at numerous business continuity planning conferences and has published various articles related to the field of business continuation management. Mark has served on several industry roundtables and planning committees sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, the National Emergency Management Associations (NEMA), New York State Emergency Management Office, the New Jersey State Office of Emergency Management, the City of New York Office of Emergency Management and the City of Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management.

Perhaps one of the most important committees Mark has served on was when he was a member of the New York State Joint Loss Reduction Partnership Committee from October 1997 to September 1998. Here is where businesses outlined their biggest concerns for the State Emergency Management Office and where the inspiration of BNET and the Corporate Emergency Access System (CEAS) was born. The rest as they say is history.