Her Story
About Trish
Trish Glees is a Master Business Continuity Practitioner with over 30 years of experience preparing organizations for operational resilience. She holds a master's degree from the Disaster Recovery Institute, a degree in military science from the Illinois Institute of Technology where she began her undergraduate studies, an associate's degree, and additional technical credentials from the EC Council. A veteran of the United States Navy, Trish facilitates plan exercises, acts in an auditor-like role to ensure conformance, and leads recovery efforts during actual incidents to return organizations to normal operations. She attributes her career path to a childhood fascination with disaster scenarios sparked by films in the 1970s. Trish values respect as foundational to trust and integrity in both professional and personal spheres, and she emphasizes the importance of work-life balance. She regularly publishes articles and white papers on industry topics and mentors through veterans groups.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Trish
01What do you attribute your success to?
As a very young child in the 70s, my grandmother took me to see three of the largest disaster movies: The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and Towering Inferno. I left all 3 of those movies as a child, going, how would I get out of that scenario? And through my life, when it comes to incidents or events, I'm always prepared to get out of an incident.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Be able to balance your professional life with your personal life. No matter what.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't be afraid to push the boundaries or the doors. Don't let somebody else dictate it. You dictate it. You can have a professional career and a family if you work for the right organization that believes in a real work-life balance.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Enterprise organizations may not understand operational resilience but know why they have to do it. Mid-market is getting there, but small business still thinks this could never happen to me. We haven't matured as much as predicted after the pandemic.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Respect is a major value, because without it, nothing really works, because if you don't have respect, you don't have trust. If you don't have trust, you don't have integrity, so it all just falls down that way. And that would be the same in my personal life.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.