Canadian Red Cross Conference on Disaster Management

	Dr. David Butler-Jones Chief Public Health Officer Public Health Agency of Canada Dr. David Butler-Jones was appointed Canada's first Chief Public Health Officer in September 2004 and heads the Public Health Agency of Canada. From 1995 to 2002, Dr. Butler-Jones was Chief Medical Health Officer for the Province of Saskatchewan. He has also worked throughout Canada and consulted internationally in both public health and clinical medicine. He is a professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba and a clinical professor with the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan. He has served in a number of national and international organizations, including as President of the Canadian Public Health Association and Vice President of the American Public Health Association. In 2007, in recognition of his years of service in public health, Dr. Butler-Jones received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from York University's Faculty of Health. In 2010, Dr. Butler-Jones was the recipient of the Robert Davies Defries award, the highest honor presented by the Canadian Public Health Association, recognizing outstanding contributions in the field of public health.

	Dr. Joe Byrne Professor and Director, Dalhousie University School of Health Administration, and President and CEO of Executivefunction Dalhousie University Joseph is currently Professor and Director, Dalhousie University School of Health Administration, and President and CEO of Executivefunction, a private corporate consulting firm. Previously, he served as President and CEO of Halifax Neuropsychology Clinic, and Chief of Psychology at the IWK Health Centre. Joseph has held numerous leadership positions in professional organizations at the national and provincial level. He has been the recipient of numerous professional awards from Canadian and USA organizations. Joseph holds a doctoral degree in psychology, and a master’s degree in administration. With this academic training and 30 years of clinical and administrative experience, Joseph brings rare and highly valued expertise to the areas of Decision Making, Designed Change, Effective Communication and Conflict Resolution.

	John L. Byrne Director General, Disaster Manager Canadian Red Cross John Byrne's more than 37 years with the Canadian Red Cross includes serving as provincial director in his home province of Newfoundland and Labrador until 1996 and in Nova Scotia until 2003 when he was appointed Director General for Atlantic Canada. He guided Red Cross responses to events as diverse as the Swissair crash in 1998, the thousands of passengers stranded at Atlantic airports after the 9/11 attacks in the USA in 2001, hurricanes Juan in 2003 and Igor in 2010. Internationally, John oversaw delivery of medical supplies in 1989 to areas devastated by what remains Russia's worst rail disaster, and led an evaluation team for Canadian Red Cross recovery operations in Indonesia following the 2004 tsunami. In 2010, he was appointed national Director General, Disaster Management, where he has focused on improving disaster response capacity coast to coast while also overseeing Red Cross responses ranging from the Slave Lake, AB wildfire in 2011 to this year's rail tragedy in Lac-Mégantic, QC, and what has become the costliest disaster in Canadian history - and largest response ever by the Canadian Red Cross - the June 2013 flooding in southern Alberta. His vision of offering affordable but world-class professional development in Atlantic Canada led to creation in 2007 of what is now the annual Disaster Management conference.

	Amanda Dean VP Atlantic Insurance Bureau of Canada Amanda has a background in communications and public relations in the private and public sectors, along with experience in both provincial and federal levels of government. She joined IBC in 2006 and was promoted to her current role in 2013. As Vice-President, Atlantic, Amanda oversees all government relations in Atlantic Canada, representing the positions of the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry to government officials. She is also responsible for developing and implementing an effective advocacy strategy for the P&C insurance industry, including key industry policy priorities such as coordinating consumer outreach programs and working on adaptation to severe weather initiatives. Amanda holds a BPR from Mount Saint Vincent University and an MBA from Saint Mary’s University.

	Dominic Fewer Emergency Management Planning Officer EMO Nova Scotia Dominic currently holds the position of Emergency Management Planning Officer with the Emergency Management Office of Nova Scotia. Dominic has extensive experience in emergency operations management. He has been involved on events such as the Nova Scotia provincial floods of 2003, Hurricane Juan, White Juan, the Lunenburg County floods of 2005, Pictou County Train derailments, Porters Lake and Herring Cove forest fires and the Truro floods. Dominic was a member of the National Emergency Management Training Standards Committee and assisted in the writing of the National Emergency Management Training Program. He has facilitated the federal/provincial and territorial committee responsible for the establishment of the National Emergency Response System in Canada. Dominic is an ICS400 level Instructor for the Incident Command System and is an Internationally Certified Professional Facilitator.

	Melanie Goodchild National Director for Aboriginal Programs Canadian Red Cross Melanie is a Band member of the Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation in northern Ontario. She is a former National Youth Business Advisor for Aboriginal Business Canada and the former Director of Health Policy and Planning at Nishnawbe-Aski Nation. Melanie has a Master of Arts degree in Sociology from Lakehead University and is a former faculty member of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and the Department of Indigenous Learning at Lakehead. Her master’s thesis was about the impact of social inequality on the experience of a natural disaster in a First Nation community, Roseau River Ashinishabe First Nation in southern Manitoba during the flood of the century. Melanie has been with the Canadian Red Cross for three and a half years and brings a tremendous amount of experience and insight into First Nations’ community development and capacity building. In her spare time, she enjoys riding her Harley Davidson motorcycle.

	Bill Hatter Disaster Adjustment Service ‎Coordinator Emergency Management Office, Nova Scotia Bill has over 30 years multi-line claims adjusting experience, working throughout Canada as an independent and a staff adjuster. He has worked for the Government of Nova Scotia for the last 10 years as the Provincial Coordinator for Emergency Programs working on the last 12 provincial DFAA programs. Bill has completed programs from Meat Cove to Seal Island and points in between, handling provincial, municipal, not for profit, farm, fishers, small business and residential files.

	Bruce Langille Director of Risk Management and Security Services Government of Nova Scotia Bruce is the Director of Risk Management and Security Services for the Government of Nova Scotia. Within that role Bruce provides over site of all Risk Identification, Risk Financing, Loss control and Claims Management. In addition, Bruce manages all matters of corporate security and all security investigation. Bruce has a fellowship in Risk Management and is past President of the Insurance Institute of Nova Scotia, Past President of the Maritime Risk Management Society and past Governor of the North America Risk Management Society. Bruce is also a NFPA certified Hazardous Materials Technician and recently retired after 20 years as Chief as the Northern Nova Scotia Regional Volunteer Hazardous Materials Response Team.

	Barry Manuel

	Dr. Ian Mauro Canada Research Chair in “Human Dimensions of Environmental Change” Mount Allison University Dr. Ian J. Mauro is a Canada Research Chair in “human dimensions of environmental change” at Mount Allison University. As both a community-based researcher and filmmaker, he works at the interface of the social and ecological sciences, and is a pioneer of multi-media methodologies, scholarship and education. Mauro’s films have focused on a number of pressing issues – such as biotechnology, sustainable agriculture, food security and climate change – and have been translated into numerous languages and screened globally at academic conferences and film festivals. He co-directed Qapirangajuq: Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change (www.isuma.tv/ikcc) with acclaimed Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk and they have a new interactive spatial video project coming out soon focused on Arctic industrial development. Mauro also directed Climate Change in Atlantic Canada (www.climatechangeatlantic.com), one of the largest studies of its kind in the region, which consulted over 100 stakeholders using video. In collaboration with the Cape Farewell Foundation, Mauro will have a major exhibition of his multi-media climate change research presented at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), which will run for five months commencing in the fall of 2013.

	Dr. David Persaud Professor School of Health Administration at Dalhousie University David Persaud is a professor in the School of Health Administration at Dalhousie University. His areas of research are related to the utilization of performance management systems to enhance organizational learning, adaptation and change; leadership in health systems redesign, and the optimal functioning of multi-disciplinary teams. David received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, where he was trained in health systems research and organization theory at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, and the Rotman School of Management.

	Trevor Riggen Vice President, Disaster Operations & Logistics American Red Cross Mr. Trevor Riggen is the Vice President, Disaster Operations & Logistics at the American Red Cross. He has been with the Red Cross for 6 years and has worked in Mass Care and as the Senior Director of Direct Services before he was promoted to the Vice President of Operations in 2012 and in 2013, was appointed as the Vice President, Disaster Operations and Logistics. Trevor is accountable for staffing, logistics, operations and information management and situational awareness. He is also responsible for planning, implementing and managing scalable relief operations to meet the direct needs of disaster clients for all domestic events, including those in the U.S. Territories of Guam, the United States Virgin Islands and American Samoa as well as the Commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianna Islands. He works closely with the Division Disaster Executives in ensuring the Red Cross meets the needs of disaster clients, assists in their recovery and provides support for preparedness activities. Prior to coming to Red Cross, Trevor served in the Peace Corps in Morocco from 1998 – 2000 where he developed local agricultural cooperatives. He has served as the national coordinator for congressional involvement for Habitat for Humanity International. He has also served in leadership positions with community based organizations in both Illinois and the Washington, DC metro area focused on literacy, crime prevention, poverty reduction, education and emergency planning for public school districts. Trevor earned his B.S. in Political Science from the University of Illinois and a Masters in Public Policy and Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University. Trevor participated in the sixth cohort in the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard University. Trevor grew up in the small town of Chrisman, Illinois. He now lives with his wife, Christine, in Alexandria. He is an avid photographer and enjoys boating on the Potomac River.

	Jim Stanton President Stanton Associates A graduate of Simon Fraser University, Jim worked for as number of years as a journalist with the CTV network. He was the Director of Communications and Director General of Government Relations for Canada Post before setting up Stanton Associates in 1990, a communications and training company with offices in Canada and the USA. He has taught at Royal Roads University, University of Victoria, Canadian Police College, Ontario Police Academy and has worked closely with various police agencies across Canada and the USA. Jim’s credentials are well known in the communications and emergency preparedness community. Jim and his team have assisted in developing proactive communications strategies to deal with floods, plane crashes, forest fires, the Kananaskis G8 Summit, Toronto SARS incident, fires in BC and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. He continues to offer crisis communications workshops across Canada and the USA and is sought after as a keynote speaker for his insights into the role of social media in times of crisis. He assisted the US Department of Homeland Security in Washington, DC in setting up their first social media sites. Dr. Sheela Basrur, the late Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health, asked Jim to sit on the blue ribbon SARS Panel to examine strategic communications considerations for Ontario's new health programs. Dr. Basrur said: "I asked Jim Stanton to join our SARS Experts Panel because he is one of the leading minds in crisis communications & media relations in Canada."

	Ravi Tangri CSP Chief Rocket Scientist Chrysalis Strategies Ravi Tangri is the Chief Rocket Scientist for Chrysalis Strategies and the author of 'Leading Authentically' and 'StressCosts Stress-Cures'. He's an expert in helping leaders navigate the complex challenges they face today. The secret to working in complex and chaotic environments is not to get lost in the complexity, but rather to find the simple, often-hidden leverage points that, with very little effort transform the whole system. Ravi mastered this skill in working with complex and chaotic systems in his first career as a nuclear physicist and has used this 'lens' to help leaders navigate their complex worlds and generate solid results for over two decades. Ravi has earned the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, the highest earned designation for the speaking industry and he was the 2011 national president of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS). Ravi has an M.Sc. in nuclear physics and an M.B.A.