EPBC Virtual 2020 
Conference Committee

Steering Committee

John Oakley
Co-Chair
EPBC Conference


John Oakley has worked in public safety in British Columbia since 1988 and retired in March 2019. He temporarily returned to Emergency Management British Columbia (EMBC) in March 2020 to support operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, floods and forest fires in B.C. Mr. Oakley’s former positions include: Senior Regional Manager, Emergency Management British Columbia (EMBC); Director, Integrated Public Safety, 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics Games (seconded from EMBC); Organizational Resiliency Strategist, TransLink, South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority; Director, Office of Emergency Management, City of Vancouver; and Coordinator/Instructor, Emergency Management Division, Justice Institute of British Columbia. He worked as an emergency paramedic in Edmonton before moving to Vancouver. 

Glen Magel
Co-Chair
Emergency Preparedness for
Industry and Commerce Council

Glen Magel is the Director of Safety, Security and Emergency Management at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, where is has been situated since March 1998. The department is responsible for policy and procedures related to security, occupational health and safety, emergency management, business continuity, and life-safety programs  Glen co-chairs the Post Secondary Emergency Planners Group for British Columbia, is on the Board of Directors for the Emergency Preparedness for Industry and Commerce Council (EPICC), and is a member of the Regional Emergency Planning Committee for Metro Vancouver.  He has the Degree in Emergency and Security Management, Certificate in Emergency Management at the Justice Institute of BC and is also a Certified Business Continuity Professional with the Disaster Recovery Institute.

Lesley Carew
Administrator
EPBC Conference


Lesley has been employed with the Emergency Preparedness for Industry and Commerce Council (E.P.I.C.C.) as their  Executive Administrator for 13 years. She enjoys event planning and has been involved in planning a few different conferences over the years. She took on the EPBC Conference when the two societies PNWPS and EPICC joined over 6 years ago. She previously worked in private healthcare, is also a Licensed Real Estate Agent and enjoys spending time outdoors with her twin boys, dog and husband.

               

Ian Cunnings
Advisor
Emergency Management BC


Ian has been involved in the public service for the past 30 years. His Emergency Management experiences has included responses in Emergency Social Services, working in community Emergency Operation Centres and participating in numerous Provincial Regional Emergency Operations Centre (PREOC) activations as part of the management team, including overseeing the operational response and readiness of the South West PREOC in support of the 2010 Winter Olympics. In addition to his paid professional experience Ian has been an active Ground and Search and Rescue volunteer for 40 years and was a B.C. RCMP Auxiliary Constable for 10 years. Currently Ian is the Senior Regional Manager for Emergency Management BC, South West Region.


Karen Collins
Advisor
Vancouver Police Department

Karen Collins is currently the Emergency Planning Coordinator for the Vancouver Police Department. She graduated with a B.A. in Archaeology and Criminology from Simon Fraser University in 1997, a Bachelor of Technology (Honour’s) from the BC Institute of Technology in 2007, a M.A in Disaster and Emergency Management (Chancellor’s Award) from Royal Roads University in 2010, and Emergency Management, Exercise Design and Critical Incident Stress Management Certificates from the Justice Institute of BC. Karen is also an Associate Business Continuity Professional (ABCP) and has her Canadian Risk Management designation. Over the past 25 years, she has worked as a sworn police constable, coroner, emergency manager and risk manager. In her spare time, Karen teaches emergency management courses at the JIBC, forensic courses at BCIT, and co-teaches annual mission essential DVI training to international military with the BC Forensic Odontology Response Team. She proudly joined the EPBC Conference Team 3 years ago. 

Bob Black
Advisor
Black Shield Preparedness Solutions Inc.

RA (Bob) Black is a professional emergency manager and is the President and CEO of Black Shield Preparedness Solutions Inc, a consulting company located in Saanichton, BC, specializing in emergency preparedness, risk management and business continuity planning. From 2002 to 2009 Bob was the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness for the City of Edmonton, Canada’s sixth largest city. Prior to joining the City of Edmonton, Bob served as a senior officer in the Canadian Forces. During a 32-year career he served in a number of senior leadership positions both in Canada and abroad. 

Cam Kowalski
Advisor
Ally Emergency Management


Cam spent over three decades serving in municipal and federal policing roles throughout the country.  During his career, he led some of the largest and most complex security operations in Canadian history, including his role as lead aviation security planner for both the 2010 Olympics as well as the G8/G20 Summits.  He served as the airspace security commander for the multi-agency (NORAD, FAA, Transport Canada, NAVCANADA, CBSA, and CATSA), multi-national effort responsible for the execution of both aviation plans.  Cam received multiple awards for his leadership of these operations which included a personal letter of thanks from President Barack Obama.  Following his retirement from the RCMP in 2018, Cam led the safety and security operations for the Great Canadian Railtour Company, Ltd. (Rocky Mountaineer), which included strategic oversight of all safety, security and emergency management initiatives for the largest private rail company in the world. 

Paul Edmonds
Advisor
Red Dragon Consulting


Paul Edmonds, has over 25-year federal equivalent incident response and policy experience from the UK, working for the government in responding to International, National and Regional emergencies including taking part in serious crime investigations and counter-terrorism. Paul was previously the lead for incident management and flood risk strategy for a Government Body responsible for flood warning, response and mitigation; air, land and water contamination, public health consequences, forest and land use, fisheries, water resources, complex industrial regulation, radiation and nuclear incident sectors. Paul is a qualified UK Chief of Police Officers Strategic Incident Commander and has taken part or led the incident response to industrial explosions, pipeline security breaches, coastal and river flooding, contamination events, maritime incidents, counter terrorism, and many more. Since January 2018, Paul has been in British Columbia and is the Principal of Red Dragon Consulting Emergency Management which provides all-hazard emergency management preparedness as well as subject matter expertise and is recognized by Public Safety Canada as a Qualified Supplier.   


Program Subcommittee

 

Karen Collins
Program Chair
Vancouver Police Department

 

Ian Cunnings
Emergency Management BC

Margaretha Lundh
Health Emergency Management

Photo and Bio coming soon...



 

Lisa Benini
Benini Consulting

Lisa Benini is a practitioner in Business Continuity, Risk Management and Emergency Management since 1991. She is certified as Master Business Continuity Professional (MBCP) from DRI International, Associated Fellow from Business Continuity Institute (AFBCI).  Lisa has been certified as an ISO 22301 Implementer and she holds an Emergency Management Certificate from JIBC.  Lisa is a certified instructor for DRI Canada since 2002.  She has her own consulting company since 2000 and has worked with both public and private sectors mainly in BC.  Lisa’s major achievements were developing the Business Continuity Management Program for the BC Government in the early 2000s. She is actively involved communities across BC by providing workshops to special interest groups, local government and associations.

 

Christine Trefanenko
CCME Strategies

Christine Trefanenko is the Director and Co-founder of CCEM Strategies with a team who develops practical solutions to help organizations prepare for, respond to and recover from, emergencies. Christine oversees the development and implementation of business continuity strategies and emergency preparedness programs. Christine has led the implementation of plans, systems, and processes in compliance with regulatory requirements in multiple sectors, including oil and gas, transportation, utilities, tourism, and government.  Christine is a member of multiple Canadian Standard Association technical committees with a focus on business continuity and emergency management, including the CSA standard Emergency and Continuity Management Program (Z1600) for more than 10 years. 

Bettina Williams
Justice Institute of BC

Bettina Williams is a Program Manager in the Emergency Management Division within the Justice Institute of BC’s School of Public Safety, where she is responsible for the management, coordination, delivery and development of emergency management courses, workshops and exercises. From 2008-2015 Bettina was the executive assistant/emergency program coordinator for the Village of Pemberton where she re-established the emergency management program, facilitated the Joint Hazard Risk Vulnerability Assessment in collaboration with neighbouring jurisdictions and coordinated many operational activations. Prior to becoming the emergency program coordinator, Bettina was the Pemberton Fire Rescue head dispatcher for 17 years.  She is a Board of Director, Chair of the Symposium Committee and the Co-Chair of the Emerging Professionals Committee with the Canadian Risk and Hazard Network (CRHNet).



Administrative Subcommittee

John Oakley
EPBC Conference

Glen Magel
Emergency Preparedness for Industry and Commerce Council



Exhibitors and Sponsors

Lesley Carew
EPBC Conference

Bob Black
Black Shield Preparedness Solutions Inc.



Marketing and Communications

 

Glen Magel
Emergency Preparedness for Industry and Commerce Council

 

Lesley Carew
EPBC Conference

Bob Black
Black Shield Preparedness Solutions Inc.



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