Jerry Parra is a Texas native, who’s journey in IT began while serving in the USMC, where he supported Marine Aviation from an IT perspective. Today, he is a Senior Solutions Engineer at Cohesity, drawing on three decades of IT experience. Since 2001, Jerry has focused on Data Management, Fault Tolerance, Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, and Cyber Resiliency—always with the same mission: ensuring organizations can continue to operate during and after disasters, cyber-attacks, or emergencies. For 15 years, Jerry supported some of the world’s most complex IT environments across both government and commercial sectors, while at Veritas (now Cohesity). This exposure has allowed him to recognize recurring gaps in organizational preparedness. Jerry’s opinion and experience have led him to recognize; IT threats have come full circle during his time in the industry. Business continuity and disaster recovery have always been a priority for organizations, but the landscape has evolved. Twenty-five years ago, he joined a start-up, The Kernel Group, specializing in automating disaster recovery and delivering the industry’s first true BareMetal Restore solution—still in existence today, now offered through Cohesity. The events of 9/11 in 2001 highlighted the critical importance of disaster recovery, casting a new light on its necessity. Fast forward to today, IT faces a unique challenge: cyber threats. While both disaster recovery and cyber-attacks impact an organization’s ability to deliver services and affect revenue, cyber threats are fundamentally different and demand a distinct approach.