Manager, Crisis Management

Southern Company•Naperville, IL

39d•$99,663 - $156,613

About The Position

The purpose of this position is to manage the Crisis and Incident Management objectives for Southern Company Gas including Emergency Preparedness, Incident Investigations, and Business Continuity programs. With regards to Crisis Management, the position develops, trains, and executes the Crisis Management plan and Major Incident Support Team plan. These plans include incident specific actions for potential events such as hurricanes, mass outages, pandemics, gas system operations abnormalities, etc. The position coordinates the activities of the Incident Support Team (IST) and the Crisis Management Team (CMT) in real-time and tracks the Company's performance against the Crisis Management Plan. With regards to Emergency Preparedness, the position develops and conducts drills and exercises that test all plans and prepares participants for incidents. In addition, this manager is responsible for identifying trends/needs across the enterprise related to tools and technology that enhance company abilities to effectively respond to emergencies. With regards to Incident Investigations, the position leads event learning activities by tracking, investigating, and facilitating improvement plans involving incidents and crisis while working with subject matter experts. With regards to Business Continuity, the position supports the development and maintenance of Business Continuity plans developed by the functional experts and assesses implications of the proposed technological or organizational changes. Also, develops and supports alternative communication protocols and methods. Through these activities, the position, develops liaison with key internal and external groups including Southern Company Enterprise Resilience and counterparts at AGA, SGA, PHMSA, DOT, DHS, OSHA, FEMA or other related agencies

Requirements

BA/BS degree in Engineering, Loss Control, Occupational Safety or other related technical or science degree
Certification in one or more of the following - Professional Engineer, Emergency Management, Safety, Business Continuity, Incident Investigation or equivalent
Minimum of 6 years in natural gas operations, safety, and/or engineering experience including handling emergencies
Practical experience for field application of Crisis Management and Business Continuity programs
Experience training others and speaking to large groups
Experience managing crisis, investigating incidents, developing processes and improvements
Working knowledge of PHMSA, DOT, DHS, OSHA, FEMA or other related regulations and programs
Familiarity with API RP 1173
Ability to work with all levels of management
Ability to conduct confidential and sensitive inquiries
Ability to influence others to resolve issues appropriately
Ability to work in crisis situations, to work calmly under pressure and to be a logical thinker in ambiguous situations
Working knowledge of applicable Federal and State regulations (e.g. DOT, DHS, OSHA)
Competency to work independently, to be a self-starter, to be resourceful, and take initiative
Ability to understand and analyze legislation and regulation and translate into corporate summaries and policy as needed
Strong leadership skills
Must be able to work in the field under a variety of weather conditions
Strong verbal and written communication skills
Knowledge of safe work practices and procedures
Strong presentation and team facilitation skills
MS Office Suite - intermediate proficiency, ability to learn other databases and technology tools quickly
Project management skills
Strong organizational and time management skills

Responsibilities

Oversees the Business Continuity Programs (BCP) for Corporate Departments and other Business Units.
Serves as the Chief of Staff of the Incident Support Team (IST) in handling emergency situations according to the Crisis Management Plan (CMP). Also serves as back-up for the Crisis Mana t Team's CMT Chief of Staff.
Oversees the continual update Of the Crisis Management Plan for Southern Company Gas and its subsidiaries; ensures the full integration into these plans for newly acquired companies. Implements the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) to ensure key corporate services continue to be provided in the event of loss of systems, facilities, etc.
Facilitates information sharing where there are synergies between the Crisis Management and Operation Pipeline Safety Committee (OPSC).
Reviews prospective legislation and regulations pertaining to Crisis Management and Business Continuity and works with company representatives and appropriate industry groups to prepare and submit comments, and work with multi-stakeholder groups to guide development of relations.
Provides content for training of employees pertaining to Crisis Management, Business Continuity, Emergency Planning and Operations Risk Management, and other PSMS programs, and conducts training in some cases when a subject matter expert is needed.
Responds to Safety emergency situations or incidents that trigger IST support (e.g. OSHA or Other regulator field inspections, injuries, employee field hazards, natural disasters, customer outages, etc. to facilitate an investigation or corrective actions.
Provides 24x7 on-call support for any emergency which may require activation of all or part of the Business Continuity and/or Crisis Management plans.
Evaluates existing emergency response and safety compliance programs for the applicable regions within control and determines and implements any corrections/modifications/improvements as needed.
Serves as primary point of contact for sending or requesting mutual aid support with external peer utilities.
Provides emergency response and BCP/CMP -related statistics and best practices data to internal and external groups (e.g., American Gas Association (AGA)). Collaborates with industry peers to bring best practices to the company.
Represents the corporation at applicable association meetings on various Crisis Management, Business Continuity and other PSMS issues.
Formulates, recommends and tracks the annual operating budgets for services, travel, training and other expenses related to the Crisis Management.
Coordinates and facilitates both regulatory driven/mandated and proactive/best practice type Emergency Response Field Exercises and Tabletop Exercises. Documents the exercises, shares the lessons learned and tracks action items to completion.
Ensures all personnel with specific Business Continuity and Crisis Management responsibilities are adequately trained to fulfill those responsibilities; ensures all employees are familiar with the relevant revisions of the Business Continuity plans.
Partners with internal (i.e. Security, Emergency Response, HR) and external groups (Department of Homeland Security, TSA, Local Emergency Responding Agencies across AGLR footprint) to eliminate barriers and promote collaboration to help department and company to achieve results.
Develop and conduct presentations to support awareness and strengthening of the Crisis Management program, Business Continuity program and Other related PSMS programs.
Works with vendors of Business Continuity and/or Crisis Management services and facilities studies and recommends outside services for use during a disaster situation.
Educates the organization on the roles and responsibilities of serving as a Loss Control Leader serving as an IST member and serving as a CMT member.
Assists as needed with the Information Systems Disaster Recovery planning process.
Drives Business Unit Leaders to partner with their local emergency responders and to conduct periodic emergency response field exercises to ensure readiness in the event of a crisis.
Ensures that all technical components of the BCP and CMP are successfully tested at least annually, or whenever significant changes are made to those components; documents the results of all tests and exercises and identifies and recommends enhancements to the plans and procedures.
Conducts business impact analyses and assists company units to determine critical business processes; identifies acceptable recovery time periods, and establishes resources required for the successful resuming of operations in the event of a disaster.
Partners with Security to ensure the Department of Transportation (DOT) Research and Special Programs Administration's Office of Pipeline Safety (RSPA/OPS) guidelines for the identification and plan development of critical and key facilities (i.e., LNG plants) is maintained corporate wide.