Teresa L. Guzman is a Senior Consultant with over twenty-five years of experience in business continuity planning (BCP)/continuity of operations (COOP), emergency response and crisis management for the U.S. government and private sectors at all organizational levels from tactical response to senior leadership.
Ms. Guzman has extensive experience identifying preparedness needs and developing, implementing and maintaining enterprise-wide integrated emergency response and continuity programs that meet strategic priorities, government regulations and industry standards. She provides business contingency planning, specialized training and exercise support compliant with the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP). She currently serves on public school district’s Safety Committee as subject matter expert and a School Board of Education member addressing recent pandemic response and business continuity issues.
Ms. Guzman served at the Project Manager and Technical Lead for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Integrated Emergency Management Plan (IEMP) Program. In this role she also worked closely with the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) and Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry (ATSDR). Her vulnerability and risk assessments and recommendations led directly to the development of the CDC’s IEMP COOP Program, and Humanitarian Assistance (Family Support) and Crisis Communications Plans, Training and Exercises. She supported conducted numerous strategic planning sessions, executive briefings, trainings sessions and HSEEP exercises including Pandemic preparedness activities under the COOP Program. H1N1 response, capabilities of State Public Health laboratories and the Strategic National Stockpile Program were part of pandemic preparedness efforts. Ms. Guzman also developed Emergency Management and Business Continuity Plans (EM/BCP) and conducted tabletop exercises for CDC’s Office in Abuja, Nigeria and supported CDC’s Humanitarian Assistance (Family Support) response during the Haiti Earthquake. Her efforts in the CDC IEMP Program and participation in the accreditation process where instrumental in CDC receiving accreditation for excellence in emergency management from Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP). The Project ran for 16 years and Ms. Guzman continued to identify emerging priorities and addressed customer needs throughout the life of the project. This required close coordination of CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia as well as field locations in Morgantown, West Virginia; Cincinnati, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Spokane, Washington; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Anchorage, Alaska.
Ms. Guzman provided exercise support for the Olympic Security Command Center for the XXVIII Olympic Summer Games in Athens, Greece. She has worked with private industry to develop a Business Continuity Plan for a pharmaceutical company, supported emergency management tabletop and full-scale exercises for a large financial company and two major international petrochemical companies, and developed an integrated emergency management program for major manufacturing company.
She provided exercise support for the National Y2K Information Coordination Center (ICC) and provided Contingency Plan reviews for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (OASD) Y2K Office. She developed and conducted tabletop exercises and large-scale Area Exercises under the Department of Transportation (DOT) RSPA contract throughout the United States and was the primary instructor for Crisis and Emergency Management course presented nationally at each Office of Pipeline Safety. She also managed a large-scale exercise for U.S. EPA Region VIII.
Ms. Guzman has provided real-time emergency response to hazardous material incidents; oversight at waste remediation projects (EPA Superfund sites); conducted facility Chemical Safety Audits (CSAs), Facility Response Plans (FRP) review, Area Contingency Plans (ACPs) development and conducted numerous HAZMAT and Incident Command System trainings, tabletop exercises and large-scale Area Exercises under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contract. She developed, facilitated and evaluated U.S. Region IX, Regional Response Team (RRT) tabletop exercises in Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and Saipan. She worked closely with local, state and Federal government representatives together with private industry to conduct the first large-scale National Preparedness and Response Exercise Program (NPREP) Area-Exercise in Guam. She has also represented a county Health Department as a member of the Local Emergency Planning Community (LEPC).
Ms. Guzman has a Graduate Level Certificate in Crisis, Risk and Emergency Management from George Washington University and B.A. in Environmental Science and Communications from Berea, College. She has completed FEMA courses in Incident Command, the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) and Contingency Planning. She has held U.S Top Secret Clearance, Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) certification and completed specialized training in emergency response and incident command.