Women in Resilience (WiR) Spotlight: Lisa Jones MBCI
This month the BCI WiR shed a spotlight on a gifted communicator with over 14 years’ experience promoting resiliency and elevating contingency planning visibility: Lisa Jones MBCI.
Throughout her career, Lisa has led comprehensive programs within healthcare, education, and manufacturing industries. She shares insight on planning awareness, recovery strategies and industry trends, through presentations, articles and thought leadership projects. Lisa is the Chapter Leader of the BCI US Chapter, and co-founder and Partner of the Resilience Think Tank.
Lisa started her career journey as an administrative assistant in an information technology department of a health insurance organization. Here, she was introduced to the Business Continuity (BC) /Resilience discipline. She says, “The organization purchased a BC software tool and assigned me the task of updating employee information into the system. I had no idea what BC was, nor did I consider myself to be tech savvy, yet I was sent to a two-day training class to learn the system.” Attending the training not only exposed Lisa to the BC profession, it also attracted her interest in pursuing a career in within the industry.
Networking has played a big role in growing Lisa’s career. She says, “I am involved in local, national, and regional organizations where I love to share ideas and connect with others. I’ve also been fortunate to forge informal mentorships with colleagues who fostered my growth through encouragement, advice, and industry expertise.”
At the early stages of her career, Lisa admits that she faced challenges, she says “I navigated moments of being the only woman in a group or team. At times it was daunting because I felt I had to prove my expertise more than my male counterparts. This would cause me to question my own abilities.” However, Lisa quickly realised that her administrative background was leverage for identifying the right people to talk to when building a program.
A turning point in Lisa’s career was when she did her presentation at a National conference. Encouraged by her manager, she applied to speak at the conference to defer the attendance cost. She says, “although I enjoyed presenting within my organization, I didn’t think I had the experience to share with a wider audience. Not only was my submission accepted, but I also received great feedback from attendees about my expertise which really boosted my confidence.” That experience taught Lisa that all resiliency professionals can share great insights within the profession, “I encourage everyone to share with others by presenting, writing a blog or article, mentoring or through volunteerism. As the Chapter Leader of the BCI USA Chapter, these are ways we encourage our members to participate” she says.
According to Lisa, “Leaders need to be supportive of the people they are leading and open to ideas. The best leaders I had are ones who supported me to grow whether it was through training or allowing me to lead a project or initiative.” She also thinks that leaders should not be afraid to question the ‘status quo’.
When it comes to initiatives like The BCI Women in Resilience (WiR), Lisa says, “I’m inspired by the women I see, who are involved and share their stories. Although some think we should not single out women or want to be identified as a ‘woman BC professional’, we have a uniqueness which should be celebrated.”
As per future changes in the profession, Lisa hopes to see “equal pay and opportunity for women. I also would like to see more professionals actively mentoring and engaging others to join our great industry.” Lisa is a strong believer that within the Resilience industry “opportunities are endless.” Sharing her experience of starting as an administrative assistant, she says, “it’s a testament to where this career can lead to. I encourage others to take the journey.”
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About the author
Lisa Jones
Sr. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Consultant
Lisa Jones has 13+ years promoting resiliency and elevating contingency planning visibility. She readily shares insight on planning awareness, recovery strategies and industry trends through thought leadership projects. She is the Secretary for BCI’s USA Chapter. She’s currently leading collaborative efforts in building dynamic relationships between operations and technology for a global Life Sciences distribution and manufacturing organization.
Lisa’s goal is to ensure organizations recognize the value business continuity professionals provide.
