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GeorgiaFIRST Regional Recovery Coalition

The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, along with the federal financial regulatory agencies, is encouraging all financial institutions to participate in the establishment of the GeorgiaFIRST Recovery Coalition (GeorgiaFIRST).  The Department of Homeland Security has identified the Financial Sector as one of eighteen critical infrastructures, and as such has encouraged the establishment of regional coalitions.  If you are responsible for Emergency Preparedness, Disaster Recovery, or Business Continuity within your organization, you will want to be involved in this initiative.

GeorgiaFIRST is currently in the formative stages.  This organization is dedicated to ensuring the resiliency and availability of Georgia's financial services community by:

• Establishing an alliance with local Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) offices and other public safety agencies of state and local government which have emergency preparedness responsibilities for exchange of information, ideas, and resources in order to act more quickly following a disaster or an event effecting financial services;
• Addressing homeland security issues which require a collective response on the part of Georgia's financial institutions to provide financial services;
• Protecting the people working in the Georgia financial community while they safeguard their families;
• Making certain the public sector is aware of the importance placed on financial services availability by Georgia's financial community; and
• Establishing the methods and procedures for credentialing the crisis management teams of Georgia's financial institutions.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Ted Hansen with Firestorm Solutions via e-mail at thansen@firestorm.com or phone at 770-664-4207 or Rick Kelly with Synovus via e-mail at richardkelly@synovus.com or by phone at 706-644-4316. 

The GeorgiaFIRST web site has been launched!  You can go to www.georgia1st.org to learn more about the coalition and to register as  a member of GeorgiaFIRST.  There is currently no membership fee. 

 

Related Resources of Interest:

The Treasury Department has created a brochure for regional recovery coalitions.  Access the brochure from our website HERE.  This brochure is intended to promote the public-private partnership and support the efforts of the regional coalitions throughout the country. 

In 2003, the U.S. Treasury Department directed the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee (FBIIC) and worked with the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council (FSSCC) to encourage the financial services sector to establish public and private partnerships across the country through the formation of regional coalitions.

Regional coalitions bring financial services sector organizations together to achieve a common goal of facilitating the recovery of the sector following a natural disaster or man-made attack. By fostering an environment of cooperation and building relationships with Federal, State, and local governments prior to a disaster, regional coalitions promote continuity of critical financial services to the communities they serve.

The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center – FS-ISAC

Associated Document(s):

	GARecoveryCoalitionSept2008FRB.ppt
	PowerPoint with Brief Overview of GeorgiaFIRST