concerns.

and, most important, meaning — that is, how their actions matter

personally and professionally.

to customers and others who depend on you.

experienced anything like these horrors. If you take care of the

people,

the business can follow.

Top Of Page
Prepare for Anything Write Continuity Plans

In the aftermath of the World Trade Center disaster,

hundreds of businesses have stories to tell about how they

reestablished

operations quickly. Some were more prepared than others, and their

stories are an example to the ostriches, the business owners who

always

assumed that "the worst" could never happen, that they would

never need to reconstitute their entire business from the ground up.

Financial services companies were well prepared. They are so highly

regulated that their level of audits surpasses any other private

sector,

says Robert B. Kennedy of TextExcellence. Last year he wrote

corporate security policies and business continuity plans for a major

financial services firm in New York. He offers this outline as a

benchmark

for any business worried about security or continuity.

Kennedy and his wife, Monica Sebald-Kennedy started their

company

at the Trenton Business and Technology Center last summer

(609-989-5999;

fax, 866-511-3175, www.textexcellence.com). It does online or print

documentation for external or internal audiences — user manuals,

training modules, and policies and procedures manuals. Among its

projects

have been internal documentation for a Reuters company, Radiance;

a software user manual for a firm in Mendham; and documentation for

Cravath, Swaine, and Moore in New York City.

The first step in planning for the worst is to know your pain

threshold,

says Kennedy. On a personal level, if you are buying life insurance,

you would figure out how much (or how little) your family needs in

order to survive. On a corporate level, if you are buying security

systems, measure your pain threshold by the length of time your

business

can survive without systems, services, and facilities and exist

against

escalating expenses.

"Continuity planning is a multi-phase, multi-level process that

needs to engage the entire company," says Kennedy. "The first

phase is Business Impact Analysis (BIA), a management-level analysis

that identifies critical functions and resources; calculates the

impact

of losing these functions and resources; and measures the pain

threshold."

With a BIA in hand, top executives can calculate how to mitigate their

risks and determine their priorities — which systems to rescue

first.

Next comes the disaster recovery plan (DRP). "This is the plan

that will be used in the event of an emergency. It contains detailed

contact information, data on emergency procedures, and a breakdown

of responsibilities for all personnel," says Kennedy.

"Support for business continuity must come from the highest levels

of management to be effective," he warns, "otherwise plans

will not be created and executed."

Testing is vital. "It’s not enough to draw up plans and send out

information bulletins; plans need to be thoroughly tested and updated

to maintain their effectiveness."

Business continuity planning can be broken down into the following

phases.

manufacturer’s

representative, and he is the 11th of 13 children, all with a college

degree. He graduated from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia

and has worked for Dow Jones, Hyperion Solutions, and the German

Federal

Bank in positions of technical writer and technical translator.

Sebald-Kennedy is the daughter of a master bookbinder; she earned

a communications degree in 1994 from Wuerzburg University in Germany;

with a Spanish mother and German father, she is fluent in three

languages

and an accomplished watercolorist with separate website for that

(www.monicapaints).

This is the second company Kennedy has started; the first was in

Germany.

"I knew there was an opportunity here for a technical writing

business; this area has many freelancers, and agencies that employ

technical writers, but not many companies are branding themselves

primarily as technical writing services. We are building our

foundation

in the Route 1 corridor and plan to expand later."

He chose the Trenton-based incubator as his first location because,

"For what I do, people don’t need me to have a Princeton address.

They want good quality work. After I spoke with Al Spiewak, we were

convinced, because he is both an attorney and an entrepreneur, and

we thought his skills could help us."

He feels confident in his own success: "Companies today are

looking

for content support, for someone who knows the subject matter, or

can learn and adapt quickly."

Top Of Page
Don’t Cancel Fundraisers

When to cancel, when to keep going, that’s the dilemma

for many organizations who scheduled fund raisers for the weeks

following

the World Trade Center disaster. Jerry Fennelly decided to push

full speed ahead with his event. This is the third year for his

Parkinson

Alliance 5K race, set for Saturday, October 6, at 10 a.m. at the

Carnegie

Center 101 parking lot. "We saw it as a great opportunity to

help,"

says Fennelly. "For every dollar we get we’re giving 75 cents

to cure Parkinson’s Disease and 25 cents to a disaster relief

fund."

The length is 5 kilometers or 3.1 miles, which turns out to be one

round-trip around the Carnegie Center. Preregistration costs $20,

$22 on race day starting at 8:30 a.m., and the one-mile fun run at

9:30 a.m. is $10. Register online at www.active.com or call

609-631-9211.

"I see a lot of people cancel events," says Fennelly, real

estate broker with NAI Fennelly Associates. "But I think it’s

an opportunity. You’ve got the momentum going. You go with the event

and turn some of that money over to a disaster relief fund. You turn

it, you spin it, you make it a positive event."

He decided that for this year’s race, 75 percent of the proceeds will

got to cure Parkinson’s disease, and 25 percent will go to a disaster

fund. He has $25,000 in the bank even before the race starts and if

he has 400 runners (last year he had 321) that would bring in another

$10,000, a good piece of change for both causes.

It’s a professionally conducted and sanctioned race, with Baldasari

& Leestma timers and scoring by Compuscore. The finish line is being

decorated by the locally famous Arnie the Balloon man, and prizes

will be awarded in five-year age categories. Up to 400 runners will

get T-shirts, and children get McDonald’s Happy Meals and kid-size

T-shirts, as long as they last. Other refreshments will be pizzas,

bagels, and fruit.

The primary sponsor is Pharmacia Corporation. Others include American

Express Corp. Services, Bloomberg, Boston Properties Inc., College

Road Associates, Continental Airlines, Future Signs, Hyatt Regency

Princeton, Interpool Inc., KickStart! Mailing Services, Leigh Photo

& Imagine, Lenox, Mack-Cali Realty Corp, Taylor Technology, the Eagle

Group, and Yardley National Bank.

"My six-year-old daughter and my 78-year-old father are going

to do the full race," says Fennelly. He is giving out red white

and blue scarves in addition to the race T-shirts. "We’re going

to make it a patriotic event and show the runners a good time,"

he says. "We are trying to make a difference."

Top Of Page
Fundraising Event

Dine at Sunny Garden on Farber Road on Tuesday, October

2, and the owner, Yu-Lien Yen, will turn over the amount of

your check to the American Red Cross. "If you come in and spend

$50, that 50 bucks goes to the Red Cross," says Frank Yuen,

the manager. Tips will nevertheless be distributed to the staff. A

full house for dining (200 seats) might yield $6,000 or $7,000 in

receipts.

"We want people to come in and eat so they can share

solidarity,"

says Yuen. "And if people and want to donate something extra,

there is a box there to do that." A spouse of one of the waiters

escaped from the 81st floor where she worked for the Port Authority,

and some of restaurant’s regular customers are still missing.

"This

country and this community has been good to us and we need to do

something

back," says Yuen. For reservations call 609-520-1881.

Top Of Page
Red Cross Counseling

Support for the grief, anger, and anxiety following

the destruction of the World Trade Center is available from many

sources.

Preeminent in offering help is the American Red Cross, which has

refined

its emotional health counseling to a science. In the days following

the tragedy, volunteers from the Central New Jersey chapter were at

the Princeton Junction train station handing out brochures on how

to deal with trauma and how to talk to children (see sidebar, page

6).

Last week Red Cross trained therapists conducted

"debriefings,"

sessions for exhausted volunteer workers and staff members who were

so busy caring for others that they might have forgotten to tend to

their own emotional needs. Red Cross counselors can bring these

"debriefings"

to any workplace that lost an employee or a relative of an employee

on September 11. Call 609-951-8550 or go to www.njredcross.org.

Many specialized counseling organizations are emphasizing that they

offer post-trauma counseling, for free or scaled according to

someone’s

ability to pay. Most of these groups operate on a fee-scale basis

anyway, but they are reaching out during this tragic time to be sure

that everyone who needs services will feel comfortable about asking

for them. Call the United Way at 609-896-1912 for a referral.

Corrections or additions?

— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.