SCAFP News Feb 2004

Take a tour of a business recovery facility with SCAFP members

Living and working in Southern California, we take for granted the environment in which we live. The occasional news story of a wildfire or earthquake has become commonplace in Southern California.  What we seem to forget, however, is how truly devastating these events can be.  Earthquakes, floods, fires and other natural and unnatural disasters can threaten not only our personal well being but also pose a danger to our very important data on which we rely to ensure the financial viability of the companies we work for.  In addition, events such as 9/11 pose an equally dangerous threat to the safety of this valuable information.  What would your organization do if all your information were lost?  How would you recover?

In the spirit of keeping our members informed, the SCAFP Education Committee, chaired by Susan Bredbenner, CTP (SunGard Treasury Systems), has organized a visit to SunGard Availability Services' business recovery center in Cypress.

If you attend this tour, you'll learn about:

• The basics of disaster recovery and business contingency planning for your organization.

• The recent legislation and regulatory changes dictated by Sarbanes-Oxley, and how they affect business continuity planning.

• How other companies have implemented disaster recovery programs and how important those programs have proven to be.

SunGard is the largest provider of data storage and disaster recovery services in the world, besides being a leading provider of treasury workstations and institutional financial systems. 

Please join us on Thursday, March 18 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM at the SunGard Availability Services Center in Cypress, CA.  Space is limited, so log on now to www.scafp.net and click on the link to obtain further information and to sign up for the tour, or call the Association's office at (818) 843-5660!

 EXPO L.A. Symposium 2004 Coming May 12 & 13

So put it on your calendar now - EXPO L.A. Symposium, May 12 & 13, 2004!

 SCAFP Recruitment Challenge

If you have any questions regarding the Recruitment Challenge, contact the Membership Chair, Tiffany Lemieux (Fidelity Investments), at (310) 843-3326 or Amber in the Association Office at (818) 843-5660. The success of this campaign requires the participation of every existing member.  Happy recruiting!

 SONY Bets Their Cash and Wins!

The annual holiday luncheon in December was highlighted once again by the now nationally-famous "You Bet Your Cash" game show. The show was emceed by the venerable Bill Luehrmann (Occidental Petroleum), who always can be counted on to excite the crowd with trivial questions from "It's A Wonderful Life." (In what year was this movie released?*) The competition among the players at eight tables was fierce.

Proving that smaller can be better, the under-sized Sony Pictures Entertainment team of four players walked away with the grand prize, a basket of holiday cheer for each player, when they answered correctly the question, "In what month and year did the Dow Jones Industrials last (prior to December 12, 2003) hit the 10,000 level? (Answer:  May 2002) The Sony team was composed of Mark Celaya, Winston Fan, Sunny Lee, and Sandra Ruckdaschel.

Big "Thank You's" go to Bill Luehrmann for editing the questions (not to mention the answers!), and to Janine Newell and Amber Ardizone, of the Association's office, for bringing together the many elements that made this year's program more fun than ever! Also, many of the questions were developed by SCAFP directors and assembled by Michael Hards, CTP (JP Morgan).

Incidentally, "You Bet Your Cash" has indeed become nationally famous. At each of the past three annual AFP Regional Officers Meetings in Washington, D.C., our officers have been asked by other regionals to share the format and questions with them. Ours has been a winning formula that is now being emulated around the country.

*  "It's A Wonderful Life" was released in 1946