Corporate Pandemic Planning and Preparedness:

What Is, and Is Not, Being Done?

A senior WHO official recently declared that, in his opinion, the risk that a pandemic will emerge from the current outbreaks of avian influenza in Asia is now greater than 50 percent. In view of these risks, some global corporations have begun to review and improve their preparedness planning. This call will discuss approaches taken by leading companies to prepare for a possible pandemic, and possible gaps in private sector pandemic planning and integration with corporate strategies.

Program:

11:50 AM e.s.t. --  Registered participants and speakers dial into call.
12:00 AM noon --  Call introduction by Stephen Aldrich, President, bio-era
12:10 AM e.s.t. --  Presentation by James Newcomb: 

"The Challenge of Corporate Pandemic Planning and Preparedness: 
Integrating Low Probability, High Consequence Events into Corporate Planning and Strategy”

12:40 PM e.s.t. --  Comments from the Floor
  1:10 PM e.s.t. --  Questions & Discussion
  1:30 PM e.s.t. --  Adjournment

Speakers and Commentators Include:

Mr. James Newcomb, Managing Director, is an accomplished economic and strategic analyst, and an experienced authority on the application of scenario planning to business planning and decision-making. He is the principal author of the bio-era reports, “SARS and the New Economics of BioSecurity”, and “Avian Flu: New Responses to Emerging Disease”.  Jim studied scenario planning under Ted Newland in the 1980s, the co-inventor of scenario planning at Royal Dutch Shell.

Mr. Stephen C. Aldrich, President, is the founder and President bio-era and functions as the company's head of business operations. He studied evolutionary biology at Harvard before entering business, where he has over a 20 year career in the research and advisory industry. He joined Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) in 1984, shortly after the firm's inception, and played a major role in building and managing the company, working closely with senior management teams and Boards of Directors at major client companies on scenario planning and other strategic matters. 

Key questions to be answered:

• What are the major areas of preparedness planning: supply chain, employee health and travel policies, workplace health and safety, vaccination and antiviral drugs, market impacts, financial contingencies?
  
• How are companies gathering information, and how are they planning to disseminate information to employees, customers, and other stakeholders in the event of a pandemic?
  
• How does this relate to broader assessment, mitigation, and planning for other biosecurity risks?
  
• What would an integrated biosecurity risk management system encompassing influenza pandemic and other risks look like?

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