Lyndon Bird

Lyndon Bird is currently Chief Knowledge Officer for the Disaster Recovery Institute (DRI). In this role he leads the Future Vision Committee, which provides innovative thought leadership on behalf of DRI management and its certified practitioners. This includes producing the Institute’s flagship annual reports on Resilience Trends and Predictions.
In addition he provides insight and expertise into the Glossary, Certification and Professional Practices committees. He has worked exclusively in Business Continuity since 1986 as a consultant, educator, author, business owner and more recently as a professional institute executive.
Impressed by Disaster Recovery (DR) initiatives in the United States, he and two partners founded the first niche Continuity Planning consultancy in Europe. He brought this company and concept to the UK two years later and helped convince the embryonic DR industry of the need for a wider business driven approach.
He was one of a few senior practitioners who helped found the Business Continuity Institute in 1994 to promote and develop the emerging BC discipline. He served as Institute Chairman for 3 years, helping guide it through a period of growth and reorganisation. During this period he oversaw the launch of a new education syllabus, the development of an official Body of Knowledge and the start of a mentoring programme that has helped hundreds of professionals develop their careers.
The world faced new challenges following the 911 attack, and the BCI once again had to reflect on its mission and direction. The Board asked him to instigate a new role of International Technical Director. He held this role for nine years, helping the Institute quadruple its membership, launch a global certification programme, introduce its annual BCI World Event in London and engage actively with government, academia and the media. He has spoken at and chaired conferences throughout the world and has contributed features, articles and interviews to many leading business and specialist publications. He has been interviewed by a wide range of broadcasters, including the BBC, ITV, CNN, Channel 4, Sky News, Bloomberg TV and CNBC on continuity and resilience topics.
Academically he holds a Bachelors honours degree in Chemistry and a Masters degree in Management from the University of Manchester. His early business experience was within the petrochemical and plastics industries before moving into Information Systems. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Business Continuity Institute (FBCI), a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufacture and Commerce (FRSA) and a member of the Institute of Directors.
He has edited The Journal of Business Continuity and Emergency Planning (Henry Stewart Publications) for over 13 years. He was the Editor in Chief and main author of the BCI’s Global Good Practice Guidelines for both the 2010 and 2013 versions. He was an original member of the BS25999 (Business Continuity Management System Standard) Technical Committee. He is an Advisory Board Member for the US publications Disaster Resource Guide. He writes regularly for the Risk and Resilience on-line publication. His edited book “Operational Resilience in the Financial Sector” was published in 2014. He has also lectured and advised on Business Continuity content for a number of universities and business schools in the UK and abroad.