Allan Bullock is a Critical Communication Specialist with 15 years’ experience working in the communications industry, working with customers from both private and public sectors including Central Government, Blue Light, Security Services and financial organizations. He currently works across EMEA helping customers understand how Critical Event Management and Crisis Communications fits in to their business, and how it can work with Business Continuity Planning to improve communications using the latest technologies.

Over 35 years of Law Enforcement Experience

Past 13 years was Sergeant in charge of Emergency Management training with Toronto Police

Trained Police Services in preparation for G-20 as well as Incident Management

Involved with large scale incidents/events such as 200 Wellesley Fire/Evacuation, G-20, Pan-Am Games, York University Crane Collapse, Yonge/St. Clair fire (initial IC) as well as involved in developing incident action plans for large scale events such as dignitary visits as well as response

Incident Commander for 1997 GO train crash at Union Station

Member of Provincial IMS Steering Committee

Co-Chair of Provincial IMS Training Working Group

Member of IMS 400 working group

Trained and certified in Incident Management (Ontario) ICS (ICS Canada, FEMA and JIBC) up to 400 level

Special Events Certified, Pasadena  (UCLA)

Officer In Charge of Emergency Management for a regional transportation agency for 3.5 years

• Led in developing emergency management program, policy and plan
• Led 3 multi-agency full functioning major exercises involving over 100 participants
• Facilitated and supported several rail fatalities
• Trained over several hundred Emergency Services in IMS 100-300.
• Involved with Command Team in Sudbury during First Nations evacuation as well as Deputy Commander in Cornwall, Ontario.

Recipient of Chief of Police Excellence Award

• OPP Commissioner Letter of Appreciation
• Prime Minister of Canada Letter of Appreciation for 9/11
• Governor of New York Letter of Appreciation for 911
• Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Recipient
• Several letters of appreciation/recognition for major event contributions

Dr. Quentin Chiotti has been working in the field of climate change risk and resiliency for almost 30 years, as an academic, for the not-for-profit sector, different levels of government, and for the private sector. Currently Dr. Chiotti is Practice Lead, Climate Risk and Resilience at Matrix-Solutions, and teaches a climate risk course at the University of Toronto, Scarborough Campus.

A contributor to four national climate change assessment reports, Quentin has over 50 publications, and has experience in the fields of climate change and agriculture, energy, human health, watershed management, and public transit. Over his career he has participated in an advisory/stakeholder role for various agencies on climate change and air quality issues, including the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, the Ontario Expert Panel on Climate Change Adaptation, and the F/P/T Air Quality Management System.

Before joining Matrix-Solutions, Quentin was Senior Advisor, Sustainability and Subject Matter Expert, Climate Risk and Resiliency at Metrolinx from 2015-2021, where he supported business units in asset lifecycle management, design and construction, risk reporting, and operations, including emergency response planning and business continuity management.

Inspector Kevin Cyr is a Critical Incident Commander with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and is the officer in charge of the Lower Mainland District Integrated Emergency Response Team which is one of the largest SWAT teams in North America.  His team responds to crisis events over 200 times per year across the Greater Vancouver area.   Inspector Cyr has worked with the RCMP for over 20 years and he has worked in SWAT, organized crime, homicide, and drug investigations.  He has an undergraduate degree in Mathematics, a Master’s of Criminal Law from Osgoode Hall Law School, and his academic work has been published internationally in law and policing journals.

David Etkin is a Professor of Disaster and Emergency Management at York University. Previously, he worked for Environment Canada from 1977-2005. During his career, he has been a weather forecaster in Nova Scotia and Ontario, taught meteorology to new forecasters, and done applied research in the Arctic and Industrial Climatology Divisions of the Canadian Climate Centre. In 1993 he joined the Adaptation and Impacts Research Group of the Meteorological Service of Canada, specializing in the interdisciplinary study of natural hazards and disasters, and climate change. From 1996-2005 he worked at the University of Toronto with the Institute for Environmental Studies doing research on natural hazards and disasters. He has contributed to several national and international natural hazard projects including the 2nd U.S. national assessment of natural hazards, the IPCC, was Principal Investigator of the Canadian National Assessment of Natural Hazards and is Past President of the Canadian Risk and Hazards Network. His current areas of research are disaster risk assessment and disaster ethics. He has 90 publications including two textbooks and 6 edited volumes.

Sheila Gordon has worked for more than a decade at Public Safety Canada. Her expertise includes federal emergency management operations; training, exercises, and lessons learned; and most recently federal disaster recovery policy. She has worked on financial recovery and flood resilience files since 2016, and is now a manager in the Resilience and Economic Integration Division. Sheila is passionate about emergency management and committed to designing policy that builds resilience for people, communities, and the natural world in a climate-impacted future. Outside of her work at Public Safety she has worked in search and rescue on the Great Lakes with the Canadian Coast Guard and volunteered with the UNEP and the Canadian Red Cross. Sheila holds a Master’s degree in Environment and International Development from King’s College London.

Elaine Kanasewich is presently the Acting Director for the Emergency Management and Programs Divisions at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). Prior to this, Elaine was a Senior Advisor in Nuclear Non-Proliferation at the CNSC where she has worked since 2010. Combined, Elaine uses here expertise to advance Canada’s nuclear emergency preparedness capabilities as well as Canada’s nuclear non-proliferation and export control policies. She has an Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Relations from the University of Toronto and a Master’s in Strategic Affairs from the Australian National University.

Vito Mangialardi is an award winning  Certified Business Continuity Leader and Professional (CBCP) with over 23 years direct experience with Business Continuity, Incident and Emergency Management.

Currently, Vito is the Senior Manager of Business Continuity Management Office for Metrolinx (Ontario’s transit agency)  Vito is in a leadership role providing overall strategy, development and maturity management for Metrolinx’s business continuity management (BCM) program which enhances organizational resiliency to adequately prepare to respond and recovery from significant disruptions ensuring safe staff and passenger transit operations.

Vito is also Metrolinx COVID -19 (pandemic) Incident Command Team Commander, appointed to manage plan for and coordinate the response strategies for safe transit operations.

Vito’s experience spans  both public and private sector positions delivering technology, facilities and operational initiatives in support business protection and resiliency when unfavorable disruptions are occurring. Sectors include nuclear, telecommunications, transportation, insurance automotive and environment.

Norma McCormick is founder and principal of Corporate Health Works, Inc.  She has worked in the fields of human services, systems evaluation and planning, occupational health and safety and environmental management.  She has participated in standards development at the national and international level for more than 30 years. She contributed to several CSA Technical Committees: CSA Z1000 – Occupational Health and Safety Management System,  Z1600 – Emergency and Continuity Management, Z1005 Incident Prevention and Investigation and Z1004 responsible for developing a General Workplace Ergonomics standard. At the international level, Norma heads the Canadian delegations to two ISO Technical Committees: TC 283 that developed ISO 45001 – Occupational Health and Safety Management System and TC 292 – Security and Resilience. As Convenor of TC 283, Working Group 2, Norma led the work on ISO 45003, Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace published in March 2021. For her volunteer contribution to standards development to CSA, Norma received CSA’s Award of Merit in June 2006.

Des O’Callaghan is a well-known Business Continuity Management professional, dividing his time between education and supporting industry associations and events. He retired from full-time work in 2010 after devoting 21 years to leading BCM programs in several financial institutions. Since then he has been a consultant, teacher and board member for the Business Continuity Institute (BCI). He holds the highest level of professional certification as a Fellow of the Institute (Canada’s first FBCI). He has been recognized for his many contributions to the profession, receiving the 2009 National Award of Excellence for Business Continuity from the CCEP and a Global Achievement Award from the BCI in 2015.

Randy joined the Vancouver Police Department in 1997 and spent four years in the Operations Division; as a member of the Bicycle Unit, walking the beat on Granville Street and as a member of the Public Order (Crowd Control) Unit. From 2002 through 2008, he served as an Operator with the Emergency Response Team, resolving high risk critical incidents. He spent three years as a Detective in the Major Crime Section, Robbery Assault and Arson Unit, investigating complex cases, including robberies and kidnappings. In 2009, he was seconded to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Integrated Security Unit (ISU) where he served as a Commander for the Olympic Torch Relay, managing security operations for the Olympic Flame, and 12,000 torch bearers as the flame made its 106-day, 45,000 kilometer journey across Canada. Randy was promoted in 2011, and as a Sergeant, returned to the Operations Division, where he led a squad of patrol officers in south/east Vancouver.

In 2012, Randy transferred to the Public Affairs Section, where he spent three years as a Media Relations Officer and two years as the Interim Director, protecting and enhancing the reputation of the VPD, and leading the VPD’s internal and external communications strategies.

Randy was promoted to Staff Sergeant in 2017, and served in south/east Vancouver in the Operations Division, and as a Section Leader with the Public Order Unit. In 2018, he moved to the Youth Services Section/Mental Health Unit, where he was responsible for developing, leading and managing the VPD’s youth engagement programs and mental health initiatives.

Randy returned to the Operations Division as an Inspector in 2020, where he served as a Duty Officer and as a Critical Incident Commander, leading the VPD’s critical incident response. In 2021, Randy returned to the VPD’s Youth Services Section/Mental Health Unit, where he continues to lead the VPD’s youth engagement programs and mental health initiatives, including police/health partnership programs; Car 87/88, the Assertive Outreach Team (AOT) and Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams.

Randy continues to provide input into the VPD’s internal and external communication strategies and public engagement. Randy teaches crisis communications at the Critical Incident Manager (CIM) program at the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) and the Public Order Unit Gold Commander program, as well as a number of private initiatives. Randy also instructs critical incident management provincially at the JIBC, nationally at the Canadian Police College, and within his own police organization.

One of Canada’s leading employment and labour lawyers, Michael is recognized by Chambers Global®, Who’s Who Legal® (Global Elite Thought Leader & Most Highly Regarded), Legal 500®, Best Lawyers® and Lexpert®.  He is former Chair of the National Labour and Employment Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, and the Labour and Employment Law Section of the Ontario Bar Association.  In October, 2020, the Government of Ontario appointed Michael as Chair of the Skilled Trades Panel.

Acclaimed for his broad range of expertise, strategic excellence, and ability to identify and broker agreement in the most difficult and acrimonious of circumstances, Chambers Global® says, “Michael draws praise for satisfying the needs of even the most demanding clients and his specialist knowledge of union contract and negotiation issues, where he is described as “exceptional,” and impresses with his “phenomenal” work.” 

Michael is frequently published and asked to chair or speak at international and national conferences.  He is the recipient of several awards including the Construction Institute of Canada’s Chancellor’s Award of Excellence, University of New Brunswick Alumni Award of Distinction, Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Lester B. Pearson Award, and Canadian Franchise Association Volunteer Leadership Excellence Award.