About PAI Consulting
We exist because the resilience industry has a credibility problem. Too many consultants selling frameworks. Too many vendors selling shelfware. Too many programs that look good on paper but collapse under real pressure.
We're here to fix that — and we focus on the industries that get left behind: manufacturing, cannabis, corrections, timber, and other complex operations where resilience planning actually matters.
Our Team
Decades of combined experience in building resilience programs that work when things break.
Nathan Shoptaw
CBCP, CRMP
Founder & Principal Consultant
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John Hill
MBA, CBCP, ITIL
Partner & IT Consultant
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Chris Kale
Resilience Professional
Sales Manager
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Why We're Different
Most resilience consulting follows a predictable pattern: conduct a Business Impact Analysis, write some recovery plans, run a tabletop exercise, hand over a binder, and move on to the next client. The plans look professional. They pass audits. And they sit untouched until the next audit cycle.
We don't work that way.
We start by understanding how your organization actually manages disruptions today — the informal networks, the workarounds, the people who really make decisions when things break. Then we build a resilience program that fits that reality instead of fighting it.
Most consultants focus on banking, healthcare, and tech, and leave industries like manufacturing, cannabis, corrections, and timber with generic frameworks that don't reflect how those operations actually run. We focus on those industries because that's where resilience planning gets ignored — and where it matters most.
Experience That Matters
Our consultants have decades of combined experience building resilience programs — not just talking about them. We've worked at every level from entry-level analyst to senior management. We've responded to real disasters: hurricanes, snowstorms, application outages, vendor failures, and infrastructure collapses.
We know what works because we've lived it. And we know what doesn't work because we've cleaned up after it failed.
We treat our clients with respect and charge reasonable fees. No inflated day rates. No unnecessary project scope creep. No selling you services you don't need. We're here to help you build resilience programs that work — not to maximize billable hours.
What We Believe
- Plans don't manage incidents — people do. We design programs around how your teams actually communicate, decide, and recover under pressure.
- Compliance is the floor, not the ceiling. Meeting ISO 22301 or SOC 2 requirements is table stakes. Real resilience means your organization can actually execute when things break.
- One-size-fits-all doesn't work. Your culture, systems, and constraints are unique. Cookie-cutter frameworks create cookie-cutter failures.
- Resilience programs fail because of broken relationships, not bad documentation. We help you build the cross-functional alliances that determine whether a program succeeds or stalls.
Consultants First, Software Builders Second
We build resilience software (Resilience Planner 360, Navigator, CrisisForge, ReadyState EM), but we're consultants first. We only recommend our applications when they're the right fit for your needs.
We regularly work with clients using ServiceNow, Fusion, Castellan, and other platforms. Our value isn't selling you tools — it's helping you build resilience programs that work, regardless of what platform you use.
If our software fits your needs, great. If not, we'll help you make the most of what you have.
Partners & Friends
Nathan Shoptaw
CBCP, CRMP
Founder & Principal Consultant
The Journey
After losing family members in a preventable accident, Nathan returned to school for a degree in Emergency Management in 2011. That personal experience drives his commitment to helping organizations prepare for the unexpected.
He started his resilience career at FIS Global, where he learned the fundamentals of BC/DR planning and discovered that interview-style assessments produced far better results than sending departments templates to fill out.
In 2013, Jack Henry & Associates hired Nathan to rebuild their BC/DR program after Hurricane Sandy exposed critical gaps. They were under a federal regulatory agreement, and the stakes were high. That experience taught him that most resilience programs are built for auditors instead of responders — and that the tools available to practitioners are either too expensive, too rigid, or too disconnected from how BC/DR work actually gets done.
From 2015 to 2021, Nathan worked as a consultant across multiple sectors — helping Fortune 500 companies in healthcare, financial services, aerospace, retail, and entertainment build resilience programs. He learned how to design programs tailored to organizational culture instead of forcing frameworks onto unwilling clients. He led ISO 22301 audits, maturity assessments, and crisis exercises, and navigated the political realities that no certification course prepares you for.
In 2021, Nathan took over as VP of Crisis Management at Bank OZK. This role fundamentally changed how he thinks about resilience. He learned what BC/DR information actually helps during real incidents — and what's just compliance theater. He saw firsthand why RTOs are theoretical targets that don't reflect operational reality. He learned about work shifting, absorption periods, and the difference between discomfort and disruption. This experience became the foundation for the Realistic Resilience methodology.
During his time at Bank OZK, Nathan also developed Power Apps and other SaaS applications to solve real operational problems. He got tired of watching organizations waste money on expensive platforms that don't match how practitioners actually work.
In 2023, Nathan founded PAI Consulting to bring two things to the resilience industry: real practitioner expertise at reasonable rates (not inflated consulting fees), and software that practitioners actually want to use. Over the past decade, he's built multiple resilience applications — Business Resilience Navigator, CrisisForge, Resilience Planner 360, and ReadyState EM — all designed by someone who's done the work, not just sold it.
PAI Consulting exists to give organizations access to resilience expertise that's grounded in real-world experience, not theory. And to build software that practitioners actually want to use.
John Hill
MBA, CBCP, ITIL
Partner & IT Consultant
John Hill is a seasoned resiliency expert with over 30 years of technical experience in developing, leading, and enhancing enterprise Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, Crisis Management, Incident Management, and Cyber Security Response strategies for Fortune 500 companies.
He is recognized for his expertise in implementing robust technical infrastructure, systems, and staffing solutions that safeguard organizations against business interruptions and disasters. What sets John apart is his exceptional ability to simplify complex technical concepts, enabling effective collaboration with IT teams to create actionable recovery plans that ensure long-term business sustainability.
John holds ITIL certification and is a Certified Business Continuity Professional.
Chris Kale
Resilience Professional
Sales Manager
Chris Kale is a resilience professional who leads sales at PAI Consulting. He brings a practitioner's understanding of business continuity, crisis management, and disaster recovery to every client conversation — helping organizations figure out what they actually need instead of selling them more than that.
Chris is often the first person you'll talk to about working with PAI. He focuses on understanding where your resilience program stands today and making sure you end up with the right engagement, not the biggest one.