Michael
G. Courton
Chief Executive Officer
As CEO of The Courton Group, Michael Courton consults
on a variety of risk assessment, information security, policy &
procedure development, solution implementation, and testing of business
continuity plans and data security issues. He has worked with many companies
in the financial services industry including insurance companies, brokerage
houses, banks, and credit unions. He has also worked with clients in
academia (major research university) and the power generation, distribution,
and utility industry.
Prior to becoming a consultant and starting his own company Mr. Courton
worked for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company where he was responsible
for automating the data analysis phase of disaster recovery planning
for the MIS division. His unit was also responsible for the central
coordination of disaster recovery planning for the entire company. While
there he developed plans for the MIS division as well as writing and
performing ongoing maintenance on the plans for subsidiaries of Metlife.
From 1986 to 1989, he was a systems analyst and project leader for
the disaster recovery unit at the Depository Trust Company. There he
was responsible for conducting some of the largest tests ever undertaken
at commercial hotsites, He was also responsible for integrating the
automated back office functions into the overall company recovery plans.
These functions included settlement for same-day and next-day funds,
The Fed-wire system, and the Reconciliation department for trades and
trading positions.
Mr. Courton has over 23 years in the information systems field with
21 of those years focusing on business continuity planning, disaster
recovery testing, and information security management. Mr. Courton has
developed disaster recovery methodologies, conducted analysis of commercial
hotsites, offsite storage facilities, and plan development software.
He has audited existing plans, data security policies, data center hardware,
software and telecommunications infrastructures.
Mr. Courton served on the Executive Committee of the New York Contingency
Planning Exchange from 1988 to 1997 and was Chairman of that organization
from 1991 to 1993. Mr. Courton is an honored member of the
2002' Swarthmore's ' Who's Who. He previously taught a seminar on Best Practices in
Business Continuity Management for the AICPA. Mr. Courton is also a member of The Project Management
Institute, International Association of Emergency Managers, and the Information Systems Security Association.
Mr. Courton earned his Bachelors degree in Computer Science from Lock
Haven University of Pennsylvania with major work in Management Science.
He is currently pursuing additional certifications in the fields of
Business Continuity, Information Security and Project Management.
Mr. Courton is a contributing author to the 'highly' successful book "Disaster Recovery Testing:
Exercising your Contingency Plan" published by Rothstein Associates.
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