James Knox

As a Dynamic Technology Resiliency Gap Resolution Manager at Wells Fargo, I excel in continuity strategy and project management, achieving a remarkable 9000% increase in productivity through innovative process automation. My expertise in risk management and effective communication fosters high-performing teams, driving compliance and operational excellence in disaster recovery initiatives.

• Certified Cyber Resiliency Professional (CCRP), DRI International
• Master Business Continuity Professional (MBCP), DRI International
• Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP), DRI International
• Certified in Cybersecurity (CC), ISC2
• Fellow of The Business Continuity Institute (FBCI), The BCI
• ICS 800C (among multiple other incident response certifications), FEMA
• ITIL Foundations, AXIOS
• AZ-900 – Microsoft Azure Fundamentals, Microsoft
• Google Digital Leader, Google

• Business Continuity Program Manager, Alliant Energy
• Business Continuity Program & Disaster Recovery Program Manager, Fiserv Output Solutions
• Project Site Lead Exxon Mobile, Dell
• CEO, BC/DR Manager, KBS Computer Solutions Inc.

• Turned around disaster recovery plan effectiveness from 90% negative to 70% positive acceptability level. Northern Trust’s loosely organized DR plans process raised concerns. Initiated gap analysis and addressed requirements through policy changes, framework and tool alignment, improved processes, and training. Built assessment, measurement, and reporting methods. Consulted with stakeholders to clarify and document BC separately from DR policies, enabling succinct solutions for each. OCC released MRA status.
• Reconfigured and expeditiously delivered dependable life safety emergency notification system. Newly implemented Marathon Petroleum ENS system experienced failures. Independently documented all data feeds, settings and configurations to determine shortcomings. Researched potential systems for desirable features and compatibility with existing systems. Once approved, fast-walked RFP, selected and awarded product in 34 days. Collaborated with stakeholders to achieve MPC conversion in 92 days and remainder in three months.
• Saved $30M in response costs in first two years by creating employee personal preparedness plan. MPC required personnel availability in wake of disasters; proposed plan to mitigate personal impacts to aid support of company efforts. Collected trusted vendors offering discounted services, provided free planning software, created marketing campaign, internal website, and offered training. Employees’ possession of resources enabling safety, transportation, and communication facilitated abilities to help company and community in recovery efforts.
• Initiated changes reducing recovery time objectives (RTO) application failures from 40% to 2%; transformed culture to exceed deliverables expectations. Zions Bancorp lacked realistic testing and ability to provide required evidence to OCC. Performed gap analysis; drove project to implement running of exercises and responses providing insight, automated workflows, and measurable data. Developed actionable steps and clearly defined accurate reportable metrics. Testing in production ensured consistent customer experience.
• Created incident management program with consistent, measurable, and auditable processes; reduced response time 90%. MUFG Union Bank required effective plan to minimize outage delayed responses and customer impacts. Discovered 18 potential channels to report incidents with associated variables. Collaborated with teams to identify needed consistencies in playbooks and escalation models; captured data for root cause analysis. Developed centralized model reducing response times from up to an hour to five minutes or less.
• Built scalable system ensuring business accessibility and continuity from any location. Upon performing BC exercise for Marathon Petroleum, discovered system could not support over 48 VPN connections. Collaborated with multiple stakeholders and presented transformative solution to current DR model enabling remote work connectivity to daily work environment with options allowing recovery, cost savings, and adaptive resilience. Subsequent emergencies proved ease of connectivity and business continuance with 53K active connections.