Chris with Michael Gifford, President of the National Association of Contingency Planners

Michael Gifford, CBCP, MBCI, is an Assistant Vice President and Senior Manager for the Capital Group Companies Global’s (CGCG) Information Technology Group (ITG) where he is responsible for the Global Disaster Recovery Program and Access Administration. His responsibilities include crisis management, emergency response and recovery, risk assessments, recovery strategy development, recovery plans, and business continuity/disaster recovery exercises, access administration and periodic access reviews. Prior to joining CGCG in March 2005, Michael was the Director of Audit Assurance and Regulatory Programs for JPMorganChase's Global Technology Infrastructure team. He was the Director of Disaster Recovery for Bank One’s Infrastructure and Operations (I&O) team within Technology and Operations prior the merger of Bank One with JPMC in 2004. Michael also worked for State Farm Insurance for 21 years in a variety of leadership positions. He is the former component manager for State Farm's business continuity planning team, which is responsible for developing and maintaining the recovery strategy, business continuity and disaster recovery plans, and test exercises for State Farm's mission critical business units. His background also includes two years as manager of State Farm's Systems Catastrophe Services team, which supports the technology used at temporary claims offices following a major natural disaster. Michael completed his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of South Dakota’s School of Business. He is a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Certified Business Continuity Planner (CBCP) and Member Business Continuity Institute (MBCI). He currently is the Chairman / CEO for the Association of Contingency Planners (ACP) and he was the founding President of ACP’s Alamo Chapter. Michael also serves on the Board of Directors for the Bexar County Arts & Cultural Fund in San Antonio, Texas. ACP-international.com