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How has Sept. 11, 2001, changed the way we live and work? Baseline asked three information-technology managers whose organizations were affected by the attacks in New York City to share their personal and professional experiences from that day and the months that followed.
- Ellen Clarke, then CIO of Marsh, an insurance broker with offices on floors 94 through 100 of 1 World Trade Center. Of 425 members on her I.T. staff, 130 died. “We not only lost the physical building, we lost the brain trust of the organization.”
- Verizons David Rosenzweig, VP of network operations for the state of New York. He led the team that restored phone service to lower Manhattan. “It was an extraordinary situation. At the time, we were just enraged and consumed and devoted at the same time. For six weeks, you can actually operate that way.”
- Dennis ODonovan, director of information services for Sidley Austin, a law firm with offices in 1 World Trade Center. He helped get the firms New York computer systems back online in six days. “All of the disaster recovery training typically focuses on technology but always pays lip service to the human factor. For the first 48 hours, the human factor was much more in the forefront for everybody.”