Beth Gooding worked in the federal public service for twenty years in the fields of emergency management and national security, before joining the City of Ottawa in 2021. She has been deployed to a wide range of emergencies both in Canada and abroad, and has had the opportunity to work directly on Disaster Risk Reduction.

As the Director of the Public Safety Service within the City of Ottawa, Beth is responsible for the Office of Emergency Management, the Corporate Security Program, and the Corporate Radio System. She is also the City’s 9-1-1 Authority.

Ryan Smith is a climatologist and climate service specialist with the Canadian Centre for climate services, a division of environment and climate change Canada. Ryan works in the outreach and engagement team and contributes to the development of the CCCS’ online data services, including ClimateData.ca which we’ll be hearing a bit more about today. Ryan’s been working in the climate services space for the past 15 years and joins us today from his home office in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Scott Vaughan is the International Chief Advisor to the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) and an IISD Senior Fellow. Until early 2019, he was president and CEO of IISD and chair of the IISD Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA) board. Before his work at IISD, Scott served as Canada’s federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development; director of the Department of Sustainable Development, Organization of American States (OAS); Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; head of Economics and Trade, NAFTA Environment Commission; and counsellor, World Trade Organization (WTO).

At UN Environment, he initiated the UNEP Financial Initiative (UNEP FI), headed the UNEP Environment and Trade work, and worked in the office of the UNEP executive director. Scott has also worked in economic and corporate affairs in the head office at RBC Financial Group and in the office of the Canadian federal Minister of the Environment. Current affiliations include associate with the Loyola Sustainability Research Centre, associate editor of the Chinese Journal of Urban and Environment Studies and member of the advisory committee of the Global Development Center, Boston University. He is a graduate of Mount Allison University, Dalhousie University, the University of Edinburgh and the London School of Economics.

Ann’s global business continuity, emergency management, and pandemic planning experience with people, culture, environments and risks includes working with teams in numerous countries across Europe and Asia, Canada, USA, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and The Bahamas. Ann worked as the pandemic planning consultant to numerous critical infrastructure providers, all levels of government and type of industry and managed actual incidents through SARS, H1N1, and COVID19 internationally supporting numerous clients.

Ann was a member of the Disaster Recovery Institute Canada’s Board for 6 years, was a President and past President of the Toronto Disaster Recovery Information Exchange for many years and was a member of the Advisory Board to the World Conference on Disaster Management. Ann chaired the Emergency Management and Public Safety Institute at Centennial College (guiding them through the development of a degree program in Emergency Management and Business Continuity) and the Great Toronto Incident Management Exercise (GTIME). Ann also assisted George Brown College in the development of their IT Network and Systems Security Program.

Ann works with large global corporations, all levels of government, small businesses, critical infrastructure, numerous business sectors, and charitable organizations on business continuity, emergency planning, and IT DR plans. She recently retired as a member of George Brown College’s Faculty teaching IT Disaster Recovery Planning.

Ann Wyganowski is an instructor for DRI Canada teaching the industry certification course and numerous other industry topics.

In 2019 DRI Canada presented Ann with an award to recognize significant commitment to the Board of Directors; The DRI CANADA Builder award was presented to Ann for her significant contribution to the development and growth of DRI CANADA in 2020; The Disaster Recovery Information Exchange Professional Association presented Ann’s company with an award recognizing ongoing sponsorship at their 30th anniversary.

You can find out more about Ann and her team at bcphelp.com