Tribute – Kathleen Lucey FBCI
The BCI is saddened to hear of the passing of Kathleen Lucey FBCI, a former Board Member of the BCI and founding member of the BCI’s USA Chapter. Kathleen was a Fellow of the BCI and was viewed by many in the sector as a true pioneer in the field of Business Continuity.
From its origin in 2008 and for several years afterwards, she also served as President of the USA Chapter.
Kathleen had initially worked as a programmer for the Bank of America and Amdahl, before moving to SRI International and taking on assignments in France through the 1980s. In 1994, Kathleen founded Montague Risk Management, where she led international assignments across a multitude of sectors.
Throughout her career in the field, Kathleen received awards which included IBM’s inaugural Business Continuity Practitioner of the Year Award. Other contributions to the BC industry included her many publications and industry presentations. For more on her distinguished career and life, Kathleen’s full obituary can be found here.
Please find some tributes to her memory below, which highlight some of Kathleen’s many achievements in the industry:
My memories of Kathleen Lucey - Frank Leonetti, FBCI:
“I became a member of the BCI in 2008 and attended several of the US Chapter meetings and conferences, where I first met Kathleen Lucey. She was the US Chapter President and I spent time learning from her and the other board members about the BCI and its role in our industry. In 2010, I ran and won a seat on the US Chapter Board and became more acquainted with Kathleen as we worked to grow the Chapter. At that time I was also on the National Board of the Association of Contingency Planners (ACP) and Kathleen was a member of the NYC Chapter. We worked to create a great synergy between the ACP and the BCI US Chapter with regional events and cross membership drives. We also shared time staffing the BCI Booth at the DRJ and Continuity Insights Conferences, and I was always amazed at how many people Kathleen knew at these events. Kathleen was truly a pioneer in the BC profession and the countless lives she touched because of her dedication. She will truly be missed by so many!”
Doug Weldon, FBCI:
“Kathleen was a wonderful, highly intelligent, energetic, and unique person. She was both an esteemed colleague and close personal friend. I learned so much from her while always enjoying our times together. She was a giant in our profession and worked tirelessly to advance it! She is a terrible loss for our profession now, while we try to sail through the rough waters of Resilience. She possessed deep skill sets in BCM, Information Security, Physical Security/Health/Safety, and Crisis Management — the very skills needed to provide the profession with invaluable guidance as she always did and is so needed now. I will miss her greatly as it seems many people will. Her favourite Scotch - Lagavulin 16; her favourite food - of course, French; and she loved relaxing near the water - both beach and boat. She was a visionary, but always ready to help anyone that asked. She will be sorely missed. Rest well my good and faithful friend!”
Alice Kaltenmark, Hon FBCI:
“She was a BCI approved instructor and taught many CBCI candidates throughout the years. She also provided an American version of the CBCI course materials for the 2018 edition of the GPG course. She was a firecracker and fearless in blazing new trails.”
Margaret Millett, Hon FBCI:
“I knew her for many years. I had the pleasure of serving with Kathleen Lucey on the first USA BCI Chapter Board in 2008. She was an amazing lady and a passionate driving force within the industry. She was heavily involved with the BCI Board and was a BCI instructor. She was a fun lady and a personal friend.”
Brian Zawada, FBCI:
“Like so many in our profession that knew Kathleen, I was deeply saddened to learn of her passing last week. Not only was she one of the earliest influencers on my career when I began my work in business continuity, she was one of the first people that introduced me to the important work performed by the Business Continuity Institute. She helped me understand the importance of mentoring and giving back, and years later, we even had the opportunity to work together in support of mutual clients, where I learned so much from her. Her contributions and influence will be felt by all in our profession for so many years to come. My sincerest condolences to Kathleen’s family and many friends.”
Paul Kirvan, Hon FBCI:
“I've known Kathleen for decades and was honored to welcome her as a Fellow of the Business Continuity Institute many years ago. As a consultant, presenter, advisor and mentor, Kathleen had few equals. She was able to cut through the fog and get to the heart of an issue. I was on the dais with Kathleen on various occasions, and always learned from her. She was one of the founding members of the BCI's USA Chapter and served as Chapter President in those early years. She also served on the BCI international board and many other initiatives. I always enjoyed meeting and chatting with her, because I knew I was going to come out better than when I entered. She gave every ounce of herself to the profession, and we are much better today for her efforts.”