Women in Resilience (WiR) Spotlight: Candice Croydon
Candice Croydon was working in aviation as an Emergency Planner when she discovered Business Continuity. The initial introduction to Business Continuity was supported by her enthusiastic line manager, who as a Business Continuity practitioner herself, saw the skills in Candice that she felt would be great for working in this area.
She had always been “passionate about emergency and disaster management” and Business Continuity was an opportunity to support departments with solving resilience issues and, as a solution-orientated worker, this quickly became her main passion.
Over the course of her career, Candice has worked in both emergency planning and Business Continuity across numerous private sector industries. Following this, she decided that she wanted a new challenge in the public sector. Candice explains that this move helped her to develop “innovative approaches to the implementation of Business Continuity and a greater knowledge of organisational priorities.” In this new role, support was also provided by her colleagues to help Candice achieve her MBCI, while these colleagues have continued to be influential in the development of the BC programme and additional strategies.
When considering BC leadership in this field, Candice says that leadership to her is about being able to support department subject-matter experts with her expertise in BC planning, solutions and risk management. She finds that “the best skills of a leader are patience, empowerment of document writers and flexibility of thinking.”
Candice also notes the importance and influence of the WiR group. She joined after following its posts on LinkedIn and was excited to see it encourage other women working within the sector to be supported and to upskill. Candice believes that by sharing knowledge and experiences of senior BC practitioners, the WiR “can speed up the development of those who are new to the industry and encourage those who have experience to consider new approaches.”
With regards to the future, Candice would like to see the continued promotion of women in the sector and honest conversations about the challenges faced by women looking to achieve more senior roles.
Indeed, Candice believes that everyone should join the resilience community as everyone has valuable skills and information to share. “By being accountable to each other, for development, learning and new methodologies we can make resilience the best industry with the most effective practitioners, leading to a greater acknowledgement of resilience in organizations.”
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About the author
Candice Croydon
Emergency Management and Business Continuity Officer
I've historically worked in Emergency Planning and Business Continuity in aviation and the utilities sector. Now, I am enjoying the public sector sphere, as an EMBC Officer for a London local authority. Business Continuity and Emergency Management are true passions of mine, and I have been blessed with supportive and enthusiastic colleagues and managers in my career journey. I am also a member of the Women in Resilience Committee, supporting the delivery of webinars. It's great to be a part of a group focused on developing the opportunies for women in the field of Resilience.
