New Leadership for the BCI North East England Chapter
The BCI North East England Chapter has welcomed a new leader and undertaken a restructure of its committee. We spoke to the new Chapter Leader Jenny Wilkinson MBCI, who describes herself as a relationship‑driven operational resilience and business continuity leader.
On her new leadership role Jenny says she put herself forward because of how valuable a local professional community can be when people are trying to implement continuity and resilience programmes.
‘It’s easy to feel like you’re the only one having certain challenges,’ she says, ‘and a chapter gives people a space to share the successes and the struggles. I also wanted to help raise the profile of the BCI in the North East and Yorkshire, and make it simple for people at all stages of their careers to get involved, learn from each other and feel part of something local as well as global.’
Jenny wants the Chapter to feel like a practical, welcoming hub for anyone working in or alongside business continuity and resilience in the region. ‘We’ll focus on creating regular opportunities to connect through events, peer‑to‑peer learning and shared experiences,’ she says, ‘so members can strengthen their practice, build confidence and develop their careers. By sharing real‑world examples, signposting BCI resources and building links with local partners, we want to make it easier for organisations here to plan for, respond to and recover from disruption.’
Across the North East and Yorkshire, many organisations are dealing with familiar pressures: increasing operational and cyber risk, tight budgets, stretched teams and a lot of change all happening at once. That can make it hard for continuity and resilience work to move beyond ‘tick‑box’ activity and into something that’s genuinely embedded.
‘The Chapter can’t solve those challenges on its own,’ says Jenny, ‘but it can help by creating a supportive space to share ideas, tools and lessons learned, and by showcasing what good looks like in different sectors.’
For the long-term, Jenny aims to keep the momentum of previous leaders going by providing in‑person and virtual events, and clear ways for people to step up and volunteer when they’re ready.
Says Jenny: ‘I’d love the Chapter to be known as a friendly, active community that adds real value to members and continues to thrive. I also want us to strengthen relationships with local stakeholders, from resilience forums and public bodies to universities and business networks.’
Committee restructure
The committee itself has also been restructured, and has a clear vision for the region. New Vice Leader Michelle Kiddy-Broadbelt MSyl MBCI wants to elevate physical security as a key business continuity consideration.
Martin Fenlon FBCI hopes to help promote resilience across the area; Sara Waterall MBCI is passionate about advancing professional standards; Vicky Kitching MBCI is committed to strengthening resilience and supporting professional standards across the community; Amy Smart, values the chance to learn from others, share what’s worked in her own practice, and help to build a strong, connected resilience community across the North East; and James Elliott MBCI want to give back to a profession that has shaped who he is and the work he cares about.
More on
About the author
Jennifer Wilkinson
Director
Jenny is the Founder of Rule28 with over 10 years’ experience in financial services and the healthcare sector, working across the business continuity, operational resilience and emergency planning disciplines.
North East based with significant experience in the development and delivery of business continuity and operational resilience programmes. Experienced in operational resilience, Business Impact Assessments (BIA), business continuity strategy and planning (BCP), incident management, third party supplier resilience, resilience in change, training & exercising, and business continuity & resilience system implementation. Supporting organisations to effectively implement continuity and resilience programmes across the strategic, tactical and operational levels.
An MBCI member who is a certified ISO22301 Lead Auditor and Practitioner, with a MSc in Emergency Planning, Resilience and Response. Jenny has a breadth of experience in the analysis, planning, and validation of continuity and resilience activities, ensures the delivery of quality outputs to support the continuous improvement of resilience capabilities within any organisation.
