Frank DeAngelis, retired principal of Columbine High School, served as an educator for the Jeffco School District in Littleton Colorado, since 1979. A national-level speaker, Frank has addressed numerous professional and school audiences on the topic of recovery after a school-based tragedy. Frank received numerous awards and recognitions throughout his lifetime of service as an educator.

Bonnie has worked with The City of Calgary for 31 years in a variety of roles. CEMA provided her the opportunity to create a municipal ESS program and obtain an Associate Business Continuity Professional designation from the Disaster Recovery Institute. Bonnie was the Chair of the Emergency Social Services Network of Alberta and is the co-founder of the Social Work and Disaster Network. 

For 20+ years, Perron has been engaged in disaster and emergency management, with experience in public and private sectors as well as NGOs. In addition to founding Goodyear Emergency Management Consulting, Perron is a sessional instructor in the School of Public Safety, Emergency Management Division at the Justice Institute of British Columbia, and a Senior Policy Advisor at Public Safety Canada.

Jay Shaw is the Deputy Chief of Safety, Emergency Management and Public Information with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service. Shaw was responsible for developing the city’s Office of Emergency Management in 2017 and has led the City of Winnipeg through several major disasters and emergencies including the global COVID-19 pandemic. Jay is a graduate of Harvard University’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative studying Crisis Leadership.

Discover how authentic leaders navigate crises, build trust, engage teams, and foster resilience to inspire others amid challenges. When the foundation is set, even critics cannot dispute the credibility, it’s the type of authority that position and title cannot provide. Based on his second bestseller book, this session defines the leadership character that can lead your team follow through the challenging times, building trust, and respect with one another and with those outside the community or organization.

Dr. Jeff Donaldson is the CEO of Preparedness Labs Inc, a Canadian risk, resilience & preparedness research and education firm. He is an associate faculty member in the Disaster and Emergency Management program at Royal Roads University, and a 28 year Canadian Army veteran. He is the voice of Canada’s premier podcast in the field, Inside My Canoehead, and has authored two books on risk and preparedness.

A former journalist and government press secretary, Suzanne is now an international, multi-certified, award-winning crisis management trainer, speaker, and author, who has helped governments, communities and companies plan for, respond to, and recover from disasters for nearly 30 years. She is currently the Vice President of the Resilience Information Exchange (RIE) - Toronto Chapter and is a current faculty member of both DRI International and DRI Canada.

Heather Crozier brings over a decade of frontline and emergency management experience to the conversation on building trust across sectors. A former member of the fire service, Heather responded to everything from structure fires to large-scale community evacuations, working shoulder-to-shoulder with mutual aid departments, the RCMP, and BC Emergency Health Services. Her leadership extended beyond the front lines—serving as a Resiliency Centre Manager during mass evacuations, and as Deputy Director of Emergency Support Services, where she supported displaced residents, including Lytton Wildfire evacuees who were forced to evacuate a second time during the 2021 Atmospheric River in Merritt.

For nearly thirty years, Sharon has been an emergency responder, starting as a volunteer with the Pass Lake Volunteer Fire Protection Team & then moving on to the Canadian Red Cross. She has been employed as a Field Officer for Emergency Management Ontario and supported multiple municipalities, unincorporated areas, and First Nations communities with various emergencies and evacuations. Her passion is to put people first in all aspects of emergency planning as well as focus on the needs of those left most vulnerable due to a disaster.

Recognized by the Canadian and Nova Scotia Association of Social Work with a 2020 Distinguished Service Award, Serena Lewis is a social worker, consultant and educator committed to values of social change. Her career in Nova Scotia has been diverse in non-profit, provincial, and federal systems. She has been a champion in each of these sectors advocating for, and with the people she engages. As a clinician who has specialized in the field of dying, death and grief, she has mentored, educated and case consulted with teams locally, provincially and nationally.

Grant Durfey is a professional emergency manager currently serving as the Manager of Emergency Management and Community Emergency Management Coordinator (CEMC) for the County of Simcoe. He began his career as a frontline paramedic, where he developed a deep appreciation for emergency response and community resilience. Motivated to make a broader impact, Grant pursued part-time studies in emergency management, earning both a certificate and a graduate diploma in the field. In 2019, he transitioned into full-time emergency management, where he has focused on enhancing municipal preparedness through practical programming and the strategic use of community-based resources. Most recently, Grant completed a Master of Arts in Disaster and Emergency Management from Royal Roads University. Grant is passionate about building resilient communities from the ground up, combining frontline experience with academic insight to drive meaningful change.

Mark Emrick is the founder of Dynam-ICS™ Training Solutions and a retired emergency services professional with over 30 years of experience in incident response, emergency management, and municipal leadership. Known on LinkedIn as “Mark, the ICS Rebel,” he challenges outdated approaches to ICS training and promotes simple, real-world application across an “All-Kinds ICS™” audience. Mark holds a Certificate in Adult Education (Honours), has taught ICS Canada courses nationally for over a decade, and has contributed as a Subject Matter Specialist on national ICS program and doctrine advisory groups. Through Dynam-ICS™, he delivers modern, scenario-based training focused on how ICS actually works in the real world—not how it’s written in a script. His sessions are engaging, practical, and challenge conventional thinking—because, as he says, “If you’re not laughing, you’re not learning.”

Dr. Sara Walsh is a disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation specialist with over 12 years of experience working in Canada, the UK, Nepal, and west Asia. She has held senior roles with the Canadian Red Cross, the City of Victoria, the Government of Alberta, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), where she led climate and resilience work across 17 countries. She holds a PhD focused on disaster risk reduction and is the founder of Oxbow Adaptation & Resilience, an Edmonton-based consultancy helping communities and organisations prepare for and adapt to climate-related risks.