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Crisis Management

Most crisis management plans have never been opened outside of an audit. This practice has run the actual incident, not just written the plan for one.

Crisis management plan development, simulation and tabletop exercise design, and executive crisis management training, built on six years directing real incident and evacuation response across more than 40 countries, not a template pulled from a course.

Quick answer: This practice delivers crisis management plan development, crisis simulation and tabletop exercise design, and executive crisis management training, grounded in direct command of real incident and mass evacuation response, not a course-derived template. A crisis management plan starts from A$7,500, simulation and tabletop exercise design is scoped and priced at engagement, and a standing crisis advisory or on-call retainer is available from A$3,500 per month.

Most crisis management plans are written by people who have never had to open one during an actual crisis. This practice's crisis management work is built on the opposite: six years as Regional Security Director, Asia Pacific, for International SOS, directing crisis and incident response across more than 40 countries for millions of assistance-company customers. That tenure included personally addressing the Mumbai terror attack (more than 3,000 clients affected), the Bali and Jakarta hotel bombings, the Islamabad and Colombo hotel bombings, the Sichuan earthquake, security for the Beijing Olympics (50-plus sponsors), a coup and sustained political violence in Thailand, a hotel hostage event and bus hijacking in Manila, and the Mumbai floods, alongside mass evacuation operations run for multinational clients across the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Thailand, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Myanmar. Since then, this practice has delivered dozens of crisis management plans, executive crisis management training programmes and simulation exercises for multinational banking, energy, maritime, aviation, insurance, technology and manufacturing clients. The plans built here have already been tested against what an actual crisis demands.

Responded to the real incident, not just the exercise

The Mumbai terror attack, the Bali and Jakarta hotel bombings, the Sichuan earthquake, a coup in Thailand, and the Beijing Olympics security operation, personally addressed, not studied afterward.

Evacuation operations run, not just planned

Mass evacuation operations for multinational clients led across eight countries: Solomon Islands, Fiji, Thailand, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Myanmar.

Crisis capability built and exercised at scale

Dozens of crisis management plans, executive training programmes and simulation exercises delivered for multinational clients across banking, energy, maritime, aviation and manufacturing.

Track record

  • Regional crisis and incident response, six years: Regional Security Director, Asia Pacific, International SOS, directing crisis response across more than 40 countries for millions of assistance-company customers.
  • Major incidents personally addressed: the Mumbai terror attack (3,000-plus clients affected), the Bali and Jakarta hotel bombings, the Islamabad and Colombo hotel bombings, the Sichuan earthquake, security for the Beijing Olympics, a coup and sustained political violence in Thailand, a hotel hostage event and bus hijacking in Manila, and the Mumbai floods.
  • Mass evacuation operations led: for multinational clients across the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Thailand, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Myanmar.
  • Crisis capability built for multinational clients: dozens of crisis management plans, executive crisis management training programmes and simulation exercises delivered across banking, energy, maritime, aviation, insurance, technology and manufacturing sectors.
  • Findings tested at board and tribunal level: crisis-relevant risk judgement argued on the record against an opposing expert in a major international investment arbitration (Tethyan Copper Company v Islamic Republic of Pakistan), and it held.

How this relates to Contested Assurance, Enterprise Risk Governance and Board & Executive Advisory

Crisis Management is the foundational discipline: writing the plan, training the team, designing and running the exercise, grounded in having personally directed real incident and evacuation response, not a course-derived template. Contested Assurance is the specific, adjudicated exercise product that tests whether a crisis response, once built, actually holds under a real incident, rated ASSURANCE, PARTIAL or THEATRE. Critical incident response exercising inside an Enterprise Risk Governance uplift, and crisis scenario planning delivered through Board & Executive Advisory, both draw directly on this discipline. A typical sequence runs crisis plan development and training here, adjudicated testing through Contested Assurance, and board-level scenario briefing through Board & Executive Advisory, each doing a distinct job.

Generic crisis management consulting vs this practice

DimensionGeneric crisis management consultingThis practice
Real incident command experienceTrained on case studies, not lived incidentsPersonally addressed major terror attacks, natural disasters, civil unrest and Olympic-scale security operations
Evacuation operations runRarely, if ever, executedMass evacuation operations led across eight countries
Geographic and incident breadthSingle-market, narrow incident-type focus40+ countries, incident types spanning terrorism, natural disaster, civil unrest and political crisis
Exercise designTemplated scenario, generic injectsGrounded in lived command of the incident types being exercised
Governance and board linkageDelivered as a standalone workshopConnects directly into Contested Assurance, Enterprise Risk Governance and Board & Executive Advisory

This is where it started

The Crisis Management channel on LinkedIn is where this practice's real incident and evacuation experience is discussed directly, the highest-engagement of the three specialist channels, built from decades of frontline crisis response.

Follow Crisis Management on LinkedIn (12,000+ followers) →

How this is engaged

A templated plan build, a scoped exercise, or standing crisis advisory coverage.

1. Crisis Management Plan Development

From A$7,500

A crisis management plan built for a single site or organisation, grounded in lived incident and evacuation command, not a generic downloadable template.

2. Crisis Simulation, Tabletop Exercise & Scenario Design

Scoped and priced at engagement

Design and facilitation of a crisis simulation or tabletop exercise. Not templated: participant numbers, scenario complexity and site count vary too widely to publish a fixed rate.

3. Standing Crisis Advisory / On-Call Retainer

From A$3,500 / month

Retained access to a senior crisis practitioner for plan currency, training delivery and on-call advisory support, scoped and confirmed in writing before it begins.

All fees in Australian dollars (AUD), indicative and exclude GST. Final scope and fee confirmed against your requirements.

30+
years enterprise risk leadership
40+
countries, crisis response directed
$104B+
in assets under risk oversight
1
independent practice, no panel seat to protect

If your crisis management plan has never been opened outside of an audit, that is worth fixing before a real incident opens it for you.

To commission a crisis management plan, scope a simulation or tabletop exercise, or discuss a standing advisory retainer:

Start a scoping conversation

Tony Ridley MSc CSyP FSyI SRMCP