Lunch and Learn: Crisis Management – The Whataburger Way
Presentation Overview:
In this presentation, you will get an in-depth understanding of how one man’s dream of opening a hamburger stand in Corpus Christi, TX has turned into over one thousand restaurants in sixteen states. Whataburger currently employs over 55,000 employees, called “family members,” and has approximately 140 franchise units across the enterprise. Along with serving tens of thousands of burgers a day, comes numerous issues and incidents that must be dealt with by the emergency management team and the Whataburger Command Center.
These incidents can range from Boil Water Advisories at one of our units in Arizona, to responding to a hurricane that closes down over 100 units at one time in Houston or an ice storm in Texas that closed over 300 restaurants. The Whataburger crisis management team assesses all incidents occurring around each and every location by the use of Threat Intelligence, severe weather vendors and a social media monitoring tool. The Command Center team is dedicated to the mission of identifying potential threats and incidents that could impact or threaten family members (employees), customers, units or brand reputation. Once the threat or crisis develops, the Command Center team activates a larger Core team to respond and recover from the incident. Learn how a small, “high level” team prepares, assesses, responds and recovers from numerous threats everyday while keeping brand reputation and safety front of mind.
About Our Speaker:
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Speaker - Ron Derrick While spending over 30 years in fire, EMS, and emergency management, Ron received degrees in Business and Emergency Management from Schreiner University and Jacksonville State University, respectively. Ron then transitioned into private Emergency Management and Business Continuity. He spent numerous years as emergency manager directing emergency response for several cities and counties in Texas when he decided to hang up his boots and radio and went into hospital Safety and Emergency Management for the Baptist Health System in San Antonio. This incorporated the environment of care and emergency management for five large hospitals and one teaching center. After being at Baptist, Ron then took his talents to the military insurance giant USAA as a Senior Business Continuity Advisor stationed in the company Command Center. This included world-wide emergency management and business continuity ensuring the safety and emergency needs of military officers and families. Then six years ago, Ron came over to his current job as the Senior Corporate Emergency Manager for Whataburger Restaurants. In this position, he manages all Crisis Management and Business Continuity incidents for over one thousand restaurants in sixteen states. Ron continues to hold multiple certifications in emergency services including firefighter and a licensed paramedic. He also has certifications as a CBCP and has been a certified Texas Emergency Manager. Ron is also on the National Board of Directors of the Association of Continuity Professionals (ACP). Ron is married and loves to play golf and do DIY projects at home. He volunteers a large amount of time to charities, including the San Antonio Food Bank and the Valero Texas Open golf tournament, which contributes an extraordinary amount of its proceeds to pediatric charities. |
