Manuel works as a Continuity of Operations Planner for the NYC Emergency Management Department. He has been in that role for nearly 11 years. Over the years he has been involved in response operations for various incidents that have occurred in NYC. His biggest challenge has been the 4 months that he was deployed to Hurricane Sandy operations. The MCNY EDM program has been instrumental for help Manuel to be aware of basic emergency management concepts that provided him with the foundations for work during incidents that required EOC activations. The program also taught him about the Federal COOP program, which led him to have an interest in it when NYC started its COOP program. In addition, Manuel's previous experience in disaster recovery and continuity operations for a bank in the aftermath of 9/11 provided him with first-hand knowledge of business continuity and recovery operations.