DRI CANADA Collegiate Conference Series

Date: October 21, 2016
Venue: Centennial College, Progress Campus, 941 Progress Ave, Toronto, ON M1K 5E9
Room: Centennial Residence and Culinary Arts Centre (top floor)

Theme: Education Through Lessons Learned

Agenda

Chloe Demrovsky, Executive Director – DRI International

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Speaker Biographies
 
Richard Kinchlea – Chair Emergency Management & Public Safety, Centennial College
Richard Kinchlea is the Chair of Emergency Management and Public Safety at Centennial College has over 15 years of experience in emergency management and business continuity as a practitioner, educator and advocate.  He currently manages the Emergency Management and Public Safety Institute as well as leading the Police, Firefighter and Paramedic programs at the College.

Mr. Kinchlea has served as Emergency Management Coordinator for Hamilton and as Director of Operations for the Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness.  His many industry building initiatives include: serving as President of the Ontario Association of Emergency Managers; Program Advisory Board Member for the World Conference on Disaster Management; member of the Ontario Critical Infrastructure Assurance Program, and; as a long serving member of the Canadian Standard’s Association Technical Committee for CSA Z1600 - Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs.  Mr. Kinchlea continues to work within the industry as Vice Chair for CSA’s Technical Committee for N1600 - General Requirements for Nuclear Emergency Management Programs. 

Brock Holowachuck, President DRI Canada
Brock Holowachuk began working in emergency management in 1998 as part of the Y2K project for a major Canadian data processing company. He has held emergency and continuity management positions with the Government of Manitoba (Transportation and Government Services, Office of the Fire Commissioner, and Emergency Measures Organization) and Government of Canada (Public Safety Canada, and Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada). He is presently a firefighter and Emergency Operations Manager with Springfield Fire and Rescue Service, stationed in Oakbank, Manitoba. Holowachuk is a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) and a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM), and is a graduate of the communications programs at Red River College and the University of Leicester. He is serving his second term as Director, Central Region for DRI Canada, and was elected as its President in 2013.
 
Chloe Demrovsky – Executive Director, DRI International
Chloe Demrovsky is the Executive Director of DRI International. She is widely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on disaster recovery and preparedness. She is a regular commentator on Bloomberg TV, MSNBC and Fox and has served as an expert source for The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, and many more. She designed DRI's international market development strategy and manages its global network that conducts courses in over 50 countries on 6 continents. She is responsible for DRI's global education growth, which resulted in DRI teaching more people outside the United States than inside every year since 2009 and in 2011 resulted in a certification increase of 72%. She has presented at dozens of industry conferences and events on four continents and conducts on-site briefings for government bodies and international organizations as well as for visiting delegations, including the European Commission and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. She is a Board Director for the DRI Foundation, the coordinator for DRI's International Glossary for Resiliency, a Certified Business Continuity Vendor (CBCV), and the International Editor for Thrive International Blog and Thrive Iberoamerica, DRI's premier publication of original content in the Spanish language. She is on the adjunct faculty at New York University, teaching at the graduate level. She holds a Master's of Science in International Business from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts from Bard College at Simon's Rock.
 
Suzanne Bernier, CEM, CBCP, MBCI, President, SB Crisis Consulting
Suzanne is an award-winning and internationally-recognized emergency management and business continuity consultant, instructor and speaker, who has helped governments, communities and companies plan for and respond to disasters for nearly twenty years. Her company, SB Crisis Consulting, was recently awarded the prestigious global 2015 Innovation & Excellence Award – Excellence in Emergency Management (Canada), as well as the 2014 International Business Excellence Award – Crisis Communications Consultant of the Year (Canada). She is also the recipient of the 2014 Alumni Achievement Award from her alma mater, Cambrian College.

Throughout her career, Suzanne has been personally involved in crises such as the 1998 “Ice Storm of the Century” in Eastern Canada, 9/11, the 2003 Northeast Blackout, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy, as well as numerous floods, fires, severe storms and reputational crises. One of Suzanne’s key career achievements was being commissioned by the United Nations Headquarters in 2008 to help them review, test and evaluate the UN’s pandemic plans and procedures.

Suzanne is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) through the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), as well as a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) through Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII) and a certified Member of the Business Continuity Institute (MBCI).
A self-professed “voluntourist”, Suzanne has been a volunteer with "Continuity Cares" since 2007, returning to New Orleans regularly to help rebuild critical infrastructure, schools and homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. She also participated in Hurricane Sandy relief efforts both on Staten Island.

Suzanne’s first book, Disaster Heroes, was released in 2015 and tells the stories of ordinary men, women and children who have done extraordinary things to help respond, recover and rebuild following some of the world’s most significant disasters.
 
Donald Ross, Investigator in Charge, Lac-Megantic, Transportation Safety Board
Don was lead investigator on the Lac-Megantic rail disaster investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB).   The July 2013 accident took the lives of 47 people and caused massive property and environmental damage.  Don is a seasoned investigator who has investigated other major railway accidents across Canada, and will share with you some of his personal insights and learnings about investigating the Lac Megantic rail disaster.

Don joined the TSB in Hull, Quebec, as a safety analyst in the Accident Prevention Branch.  In April 1996, he joined the Investigations Division and worked out of the TSB Head Office for seven years.  During this time, he led a number of major rail investigations.  In 2000, he started working in Halifax/Dartmouth as a senior investigator for the Atlantic Region.  He began his railway career in 1975 and since then has worked in numerous management positions right across Canada, in six different provinces.

In 2013, Don received a Citation Award from the TSB for Exceptional Efforts and Teamwork, and in 2014 received the Excellence in Leadership Award from the TSB for leading the Lac-Megantic accident investigation.  And later the same year, received the Public Service Award of Excellence from the Governor General of Canada in recognition of the exemplary contribution made by the investigation extraordinary circumstances.  Don is a member of the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering (CSSE) and holds his Certified Health and Safety Consultants (CHSC) certification and is a Professional member of the CSSE.
 
Shane Schreiber, Managing Director, Alberta Emergency Management Agency
Born and raised in Alberta, Shane Schreiber joined the Canadian Forces and served Canada for 28 years in the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI).  He spent the bulk of his career in command appointments in field units, including tours with the PPCLI Parachute Company and eventually commanding the Second Battalion PPCLI.  He completed operational tours in Cyprus, Bosnia, and two tours in Afghanistan (2002, 2006), for which he received the Canadian and NATO Meritorious Service and the US Army Bronze Star medals.  He also led units in disaster response in Manitoba (Floods, 1997 and 2011) and in complex security operations (Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics).

After retiring from the Canadian Army in 2012, Schreiber joined the Government of Alberta, working at the Alberta Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) and then the Flood Recovery Task Force.   He was appointed to lead the Province’s efforts in response to the devastating floods in High River in June / July 2013.  He is currently the Managing Director of AEMA, where he led Alberta’s response to the Wood Buffalo Wildfires in May 2016, the largest and most costly disaster of its kind in Canada.

Academically, Schreiber is a critically acclaimed historian and author.  He attended the Royal Military College of Canada, from which he holds an undergraduate and two Master’s degrees, as well as several awards.  His work on the Canadian Corps in 1918, Shock Army of the British Empire, is highly regarded by military historians, and he has appeared in numerous television documentaries on the Great War.
Schreiber lives with his long suffering wife, Kelly, his three wonderful children, two cats and two dogs in a very busy house in St Albert, Alberta.
 
Taylan Tatli, CPA, CMA, Executive Director, Corporate Planning & Institutional Research, Centennial College
Taylan Tatli is Executive Director of Corporate Planning and Institutional Research Office is responsible from planning and institutional research functions at Centennial. He is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), a member of the Canadian Institutional Research and Planning Association (CIRPA), and has a Bachelor of Science, Economics from Dokuz Eylul University in Turkey.
 
Ron White, Manager - Safety & Security - Planning & Operations, Centennial College