How Duke Energy Built an Enterprise Preparedness Program Integrating Emergency Management and Business Continuity
By Russ Henderson – Director of Research
In a recent Chartwell webinar, Charles Poliseno, Director of Preparedness Services at Duke Energy, outlined how the company has built a mature enterprise preparedness program that integrates emergency management and business continuity into a single operating framework.
At many utilities, emergency management focuses on immediate response while business continuity addresses how critical functions continue during prolonged disruptions. Duke Energy treats both as part of one enterprise capability. This integrated approach helps ensure that essential operations – including payroll, customer service, vendor coordination, and financial processes – remain functional even during major storms, cyber incidents, or other large-scale events.
Poliseno described a structured preparedness cycle that begins with enterprise risk assessments and business impact analyses, followed by plan development, evaluation, and regular updates. Governance is organized through Duke’s GOSP model – Governance, Oversight, Support, and Perform – which clearly defines responsibilities between the central preparedness team and individual business units.
The company conducts approximately 200 drills and exercises annually and uses a quantitative scoring system to assess plan quality and readiness. Senior leaders, including the CEO, participate in annual tabletop exercises, reinforcing preparedness as a strategic priority rather than a compliance requirement.
Poliseno emphasized that preparedness is a multi-year journey. By integrating emergency management, business continuity, governance, and continuous improvement, Duke Energy has created a resilient framework designed to sustain both response operations and critical business functions during high-impact events.
Chartwell has also published a case study, Duke Energy Builds an Enterprise Preparedness Program Integrating Emergency Management and Business Continuity, which summarizes the key lessons and practical insights shared during the webinar. The report provides utility leaders with a concise overview of Duke Energy’s approach and highlights strategies that can help strengthen preparedness and operational resilience across the enterprise.
Read more about the Chartwell Utility Resilience Institute.
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