Christina Baxter is the CEO of Emergency Response TIPS, LLC and a partner in Hazard3, LLC which provide practical, evidence-based solutions for emergency response through the development of next generation tools for enhanced responder safety and education in the areas of CBRNE, hazardous materials, and clandestine laboratory response. Prior to forming Emergency Response TIPS, LLC, Dr. Baxter was the CBRNE Program Manager for the U.S. Department of Defense (CTTSO) where she was responsible for developing and fielding next generation capabilities for the CBRNE response elements. Dr. Baxter holds a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has over 25 years of experience in the hazardous materials/CBRN response community.

Mathieu Prévost has been a Firefighter/Hazmat Technician since 2004 and a Paramedic since 2005. He is currently serving with the Ottawa Fire Services (Canada) hazardous material response team as their instrumentation coordinator. Prevost has been involved with the federal CBRNE First Responder Training Program (FRTP) since 2010 and has been instructing hazardous material response since 2011.

Adam is a Hazmat Technician, Shift Training Instructor and Former Recruit Training Officer for Canada's Largest Fire Service; as well as a member of the Joint Response CBRNE Team. He is also the owner of Firehouse Training, a private-industry fire service training company, developing various programs in the areas of spill response, terrorism awareness and flammable liquids training. Adam has completed Cargo Tank Hazmat Specialist Training, & Hazardous Materials Incident Command Company Safety Officer training programs with the Michigan State Police Academy. He was also a participant at the Tracking Terrorism: Countering the Threat 2016 Symposium in Durham Region.

Rick Brown has over 32 years experience in the fire service, including 30 years of Hazmat response with Toronto Fire Services. He is also experienced with spill response contractors, working part time with numerous companies, starting over 23 years ago. Rick has been sharing his knowledge, through facilitation of instructional programs to all disciplines of emergency services, industry and commercial organizations.

David has been working at Levitt-Safety for twenty-two years with the last five as the National Product Manager resperesnting Prevor Toxicology & Chemical Risk Management. David has worked with some of Canada largest industries, hospital burn centres and emergency responders helping to educate them on best practice for the management of chemical burn injuries and the principals of active rinsing. David also helped to guide the changes to the emergency rinsing section to the Ontario Ministry of Labour handbook which now includes the importance of having active rinsing agents available for workplace chemical exposures.

In college I studied Chemical Engineering technology. I soon changed my direction and made it into firefighting as a volunteer in Greater Sudbury. Later, I was hired by Mississauga Fire and then went back north, and Joined Sudbury Fire. I have been in firefighting for 20 years now. I am a tech rescue instructor in all disciplines, recieved my NFPA 1041 instructor and am now a Training Officer with Greater Sudbury specifically focused on creating and developing the Hazmat program.

Glen Rudner recently retired as a Manager, Environmental Operations, for the Norfolk Southern Railway with environmental compliance and operations responsibilities. Prior to moving over to Environmental Operations, he was the Hazardous Materials Compliance Officer for NS’ Alabama Division. Prior to NS, Glen served as one of the General Managers at the Security and Emergency Response Training Center in Pueblo, Colorado. Has worked as a private consultant and retired as a Hazardous Materials Response Officer for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. Glen has nearly 46 years of experience in public safety. He spent 12 years as a career firefighter/hazardous materials specialist for the City of Alexandria Fire Department, as well as a former volunteer firefighter, emergency medical technician, and officer.

Louis-Philippe Ethier Worked as a Paramedic and a professional Firefighter for more than 25 years and has extensive experience in health, safety, security, risk, and management. As a Regional Manager with ERAC, Louis-Philippe is responsible for coordinating effective emergency preparedness and response-related activities on behalf of ERAC's Plan Participant members. During his eight years tenure with ERAC, he has trained hundreds of emergency response team members and firefighters and responded to countless incidents. Louis-Philippe holds a degree in risk assessment, management, and mitigation from University du Quebec in Montreal, and a certificate in health and safety and buisness continuity

Mitchell is a Certified Environmental Specialist, a Certified Environmental Consultant, and Certified Air Quality Specialist. Mitchell has been in the Emergency Response Business for over 35 years and has been to most of the major incidents in Ontario. Namely the Plastimet Fire, the huge USE Hickson Fire and the Sunrise Propane incident, along with the Air France Crash. Mitchell has supplied extensive services to most of the Law Enforcement agencies in Ontario for Decontamination and Clandestine Lab Response. First Response is currently under contract to numerous Police Services from Niagara to Durham Region for response. Mitchell is also the President of the Ontario Trauma and Crime Scene Responders Association and regularly attends Trauma and Crime Scenes. Mitchell is also Bloodborne Pathogen Certified and a Certified Trauma Technician, Mr. Gibbs has written articles in the Canadian publications of Hazardous Materials Management magazine and Environmental Science and Engineering. He has also supplied the front cover to these well-respected publications for the over 12 years. Gibbs authored the ISBN Published book called “Another Day in Paradise”. Of late, Gibbs has published another book called “Another Day in Paradise: California Edition” and attended a 3-month stint in Malibu California dealing with the fall out and devastation of the California Wildfires. Following that, Gibbs spent hundreds of hours in the wake of Hurricane Dorian in the BHA. Gibbs expertise assisted all with the massive loss of life, recovery and emergency mitigation of the devastated areas. Currently Mitchell is stationed out of the Hamilton Hazardous Waste Disposal Site which has the most extensive waste acceptance in Ontario. FRE is approved to receive Explosives, Radioactive and Pathological (312P) materials. Our Mississauga location is used for the storage of Police Evidence.

Dawn Clinch has over 17 years' experience in healthcare and supporting emergency services related to Health & Safety, Emergency Disaster Preparedness and Occupational Health (including communicable disease exposure follow-up, and lead for COVID-19 safety response for a hospital, 2020-2022). Dawn is a currently a Health & Safety consultant with Public Services Health & Safety Association (PSHSA) supporting Ontario Emergency Services. Prior to joining PSHSA she worked as a Health & Safety Officer, with primary focus on worker safety, hospital emergency/disaster preparedness and response lead, including work with community emergency services. Dawn has a Diploma of Occupational Health & Safety with honours and is working towards obtaining a Certified Health & Safety Consultant (CHSC) designation by spring 2023

Dr. Chris Weber is a Field Forensic Applications Scientist for 908 Devices in Boston, Massachusetts. He holds a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology and Biological Chemistry from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He has been training emergency responders for over twenty five years for a variety of agencies. His past experience includes serving on the Washtenaw County (Michigan) Hazardous Materials Response Team for more than a decade in positions that include hazmat technician, training officer and deputy director. He has also served as a subject matter expert with the Longmont (Colorado) Fire Department's Hazardous Materials Response Team. He has been a firefighter for more than 30 years and is currently a member of the Hygiene (Colorado) Volunteer Fire Department. Chris has authored the following books: Pocket Reference for Hazardous Materials Response; Hazardous Materials Operations (textbook); and Hazardous Materials Technician (textbook) and is a regular speaker at emergency response conferences around the world.

Michael Heeringa is an Emergency Response National Technical Advisor with over 30 years of experience in Hazardous Materials and ERAP response. He has responded to many Chlorine events across Canada. He has extensive experience in the Operations Section of Incident Management Teams (IMT’s) in exercises and incidents. He has been in the fire service as a training officer and the railway as the Dangerous Goods Officer. Inimitably qualified in practical skill instruction, demonstration, and evaluation for ERAP response tactics. Michael has been an instructor for the Chlorine institute

Fady Al Zarka has been with CANUTEC since 2017, first as an Emergency Response Advisor and now as the Manager of Research and Publishing Services. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering, and an Honours Bachelor of Sciences with Specialization in Biochemistry. Fady plays a lead role in the development, publication, and distribution of the 2020 Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG2020).

Dennis has been with Kappler, a world leader in the development and manufacturing of CBRN protection, for over 35 years. He was plant manager and oversaw the first commercial production of Level A suits from Life-Guard, a division of Kappler, from 1987-1990. His responsibilities for Kappler have included Eastern Regional Sales Manager, Sr. Product Manager and Business Development Manager leading up to his current position with global responsibility. Dennis has provided guest PPE training over his career for a number of key institutions including TEEX, TTC Pueblo, Georgia Tech, CDP Anniston, and University of Reno-Nevada. Dennis is also a lead instructor for Kappler University held on the Kappler Campus 4-5 times annually. Kappler University attendees consist of end-users, Fire/Safety distributors, Trainers, and Academia from around the world. Dennis works very closely with end-users and the Kappler R&D team to improve performance of the variety of suits Kappler offers.

Randy has 28 years of experience with the London Fire Department and currently services as the Captain on Rescue 2. In addition to his suppression duties, Randy is a member of the London Professional Fire Firefighters Association's Executive Board and is ardent supporter of the union's many charities.

Julie Grainger works as a Tactical Advanced Care Paramedic in one of Ontario's largest Paramedic Services. With over 25 years' experience as a paramedic, 15 of these specializing in austere care and specialty response, she has gained a wealth of knowledge. Currently employed by Ontario's Emergency Medical Assistance Team (EMAT) as a CBRNE Specialist and as an Ontario Provincial Police TEMS with UCRT, Julie is a valuable member of the Special Operations community. With a keen interest in education, Julie continues to share knowledge and experience and has helped to build training programs and content for the paramedic service she supports. Julie is not one to sit on the sidelines and stays engaged in current issues and operational deployments, thus maintaining a high level of clinical excellence.

Brett Bigger is a Senior Trainer/SME for Noble with a focus on CBRNE Equipment and Response. In addition to training with Noble, Brett has spent the past 24 out of his 25 year career with Renton Fire Department as a HazMat Team leader. Brett serves on the Washington Task Force 1, a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team, and is a Plan Team Manager/HazMat Specialist. Brett joined the HazMatIQ (Noble) Training Team in 2014, where he is a lead instructor/SME in Above the Line/Below the Line, First Response Offensive, Air Monitoring, AdvancedIQ, Air Monitoring of Flammable Liquids and Crude Oil, and Custom Scenario Training. Brett is the lead developer of our newest training program; BatteryIQ: Awareness and Operations Response to Li-ION Battery Emergencies.

Mayram has been a Paramedic with Niagara EMS for over 25 years. She is currently the Psychological Wellness Facilitator supporting staff and developing programs for a service of over 500 staff. In addition to her role at Niagara EMS, Mayram has worked for over 23 years in the field of mental health and specialized in all emergency services including military (currently serving and veterans). She is committed to addressing head-on the myriad mental health issues resulting from critical incident crisis response, crisis, and providing resiliency education and training. She also works with Disaster Management International providing crisis response and is a trained family assistant specialist, currently is Chair of the Ontario Association of Paramedic Chiefs Psychological Health and Wellness committee providing guidance and recommendations to all 56 Paramedic Organizations in the Province. She has coordinated many peer support and crisis responses, including the provincial peer support response to the Goderich tornado. Mayram also has designation as a Psychological Health and Safety Advisor and a certified trauma informed specialist through the University of Buffalo. With an impressive background, her work has touched the lives of so many, from first responders, leadership teams, and to the families. She shares her in-depth comprehension of pertinent global concerns, adapting her focus as needed to include emerging contemporary issues using an evidence-based approach. This is evident in some of her new program development in the area of societal and workplace reintegration of first responders.

Justin is a paramedic in the Niagara Region. He began his career in 2005 and joined the Region's Hazardous Materials/CBRN Team a short time later in 2007. He has endeavoured to stay current in his knowledge of emergency response. In 2010 he was successful in joining Ontario's Emergency Medical Assistance Team in the Logistics Section. He has grown with the organization and now functions as a Logistics Supervisor and Communications Unit Leader. His prior experience in transportation and movement of hazardous materials has provided a well rounded and unique career path.

Steve is an Acting Captain with his Fire Department and was a member of his departments Hazardous Materials team for nearly 10 years. Previous to that, he worked in the private sector as a hazmat responder for a national spill response contractor. Steve has been in the fire service for approximately 15 years, and has taught, written, and spoken on Hazardous Materials and CBRNE response internationally. He is currently the RPAS (Drone) program coordinator for his Fire Service.

Jason Whitelaw is a 24-year part time firefighter with Alnwick Haldimand, holding the rank of captain for 10 years. He is 27-year industrial firefighter with Port Hope Cameco Conversion Facility where he holds the title of resource planning and emergency response supervisor.During his career at Cameco Jason has had the roles including security guard, fire system inspector, security supervisor, security and emergency response supervisor and resource planning and emergency response supervisor. His current role focuses on training both the ERT and security in current policies standards including site specific medical training for chemical burns, radiological treatment, inhalation, NFPA 600, NFPA 1072, confined space and high angle rope rescue. Addition skills include maintaining facility fire inspections, inspection testing and maintenance of all fire apparatus, gear and the design, development, and implementation of site-specific training packages.

Brian Bernard is a skilled Fire Protection/Security professional with a demonstrated history of excellence in the nuclear industry for the past 21 years. Throughout Brian's career at Cameco's Port Hope Conversion Facility (PHCF), he has conducted countless facility fire inspections, completed training on the Maintenance & Inspection of Fire Protection Systems, and had a key role on the Fire Response Needs Analysis and Fire Hazard Analysis teams. Brian also participated as a vital resource for the successful Fire Systems Upgrades project completed at the facility as required by the CNSC. In addition to his work at Cameco, Brian is a District Chief and Trainer for Port Hope Fire and Emergency Services Department (PHFES) . Over the last 20 years he has completed his certification in NFPA 1072 Hazmat Technician and Tank Car Specialist, NFPA 1006 Rescue Technician, Water, high angle, confined space, NFPA 1001 Firefighter II, NFPA 1041 Fire Service Instructor Level II, NFPA 1021 Fire Officer Level II and NFPA 921 Fire and Explosion Investigations. Additional skills include Emergency Management, Crisis Management, Threat Vulnerability Assessments, Physical Security, and Self Defense. Brian completed Law Enforcement Education focused in Security, Law Enforcement, and Related Protective Services from Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology.

Toby Deutsch has been a paramedic in the Niagara Region for the last 21 years. She has endeavoured to remain a paramedic that adapts with new equipment, ever changing protocols and ways of doing things. Her adaptability saw her recruited for the IPAC Coaching and Support Team during the COVID-19 Pandemic. In that role she led a team where she delivered training to over 3000 people. In 2022 she became a welcomed addition to Niagara Region's CBRN Team.

Peter has over 37 years of fire protection experience, including 23 years with Toronto Fire Services, 14 of which were as District Chief of Professional Development. Peter has worked for the past 13 years as a Fire Protection Management Consultant, providing strategic planning and operational consultancy to emergency response organizations across Ontario, in the Canadian Arctic, and in the Middle East. He has contributed to many fire service textbooks, has authored dozens of magazine articles and blogs for fire service industry publications, and has spoken to industry and academic audiences across Canada, the USA, Europe and the Middle East. Peter is one of the Founders of FireRein.

David has over 30 years of technology development and research management experience. He has lead technology development projects with companies such as Alcan International, Lafarge Canada and Performance Plants. David has managed academic research and training facilities with Queen’s University. Prior to joining FireRein, David facilitated the development of industry and academic collaborations, and supported the Kingston start-up ecosystem through his role with the Industry Partnerships unit located at Queen’s Innovation Park. He is leading FireRein’s technology development mandate for their flagship product, Eco-Gel™, and other products in development.

Brandon Gayle began his fire service career in 1997 with the City of Raleigh Fire Department and has served as a HazMat Specialist for the department since 1999. He became a certified Fire Service Instructor in the field of Hazardous Materials Response in 2006 and has been training emergency responders ever since. Mr. Gayle is also the Owner of Gayle Training Solutions, LLC which opened in 2011 and provides training and consulting services for several instrument manufacturers and distributors. Mr. Gayle has had the privilege of training Fire, EMS, LE, EOD, and HazMat responders as well as DOD, both nationally and internationally, in most disciplines of hazardous materials and CBRNE response with a focus on detection and identification technology. Mr. Gayle is OEM certified to teach air monitor maintenance, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (solid, liquid, and gas), Raman Spectroscopy, Ion Mobility Spectrometry, High Pressure Mass Spectrometry, Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry and radiological monitoring and isotope identification technologies. His specialty is teaching how to integrate data from modern technologies and apply it to risk assessment, making for safer and faster incident mitigation.

Sharlotte Stevens worked as a private contactor for 14 years in various roles from Team Leader to management positions working in the environmental services industry. Skilled in emergency response capabilities specific to the transportation of dangerous goods, and risk assessment. As a Regional Manager (Ontario) with ERAC, Sharlotte is responsible coordinating effective emergency preparedness and response-related activities on behalf of ERAC's Plan Participant members. Sharlotte is a graduate of TEEX Recruit Academy with her NFPA 1001 Fire Fighter I & II and is working towards a certificate in Emergency Management from Algonquin College.

As a 15-year member of the London Fire Department, Reid has served as a first-class firefighter, the Department's Hazmat Coordinator and currently works as the Assistant Director of Training. Reid has a passion for air monitoring with a focus on developing simple yet effective procedures.

20 year member of Salt Lake City Fire. Joined the Hazmat team in 2006 as a Technician. Promoted to Captain 2016 and became the department's Special Operations Captain. Returned to operations in 2018 as a Hazmat Station Captain. Member of FEMA Utah Task Force one since 2010 as a Hazmat specialist and Hazmat team Manager. Hazmat instructor since 2009 teaching classes across the US.

I am a Forensic Scientist of 21 years with the Chemistry Section of the Centre of Forensic Sciences. I work in the areas of explosives, fire debris analysis, riot control agents and chemical identification and comparison. In explosives and chemical identification cases, I routinely advise police and other investigative agencies on the safe handling and submission of hazardous materials to the laboratory for analysis. I am also involved in the training of bomb techs, emergency responders and police/military canine handlers in the properties and handling of explosive materials.

Montserrat Zidan has been with CANUTEC since 2022 as an Emergency Response Advisor. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Doctorate in Chemistry from the University of Ottawa. Montserrat specialized in synthetic organic chemistry and photochemistry research before joining CANUTEC.

Mr. Gardiner is a Hazmat and Emergency response officer for CPKC with over 25 years of experience responding to hazardous materials incidents across North America. Mr. Gardiner started his career in the hazardous waste business focusing on waste collection, packaging, processing, and disposal which quickly advanced into hazardous materials emergency response, environmental remediation, and specialized industrial services. In his current role, Mr. Gardiner provides mentorship and advanced training to contractors, fire departments, and other various emergency services.

Richard Borger is the faculty lead for URSIC and a full time Professor in the faculty of Building and Construction Sciences at Mohawk College. Richard has almost a decade of experience in operating remotely piloted systems, including terrestrial rovers and aircraft systems. Mr. Borger's specialty is regulatory compliance and integration, and he has applied this skill to innovatively apply remote sensing technologies such as LiDAR, photogrammetry, and other customized solutions to meet the needs of industry partners. Richard holds his RPAS Pilot Certificate for Advanced Operations with Flight Reviewer status. Additionally, he has successfully earned more than a dozen SFOCs for exceptional flight operations including RPA flights at advertised events, flights involving more than five RPAs controlled from a single control station, and RPA flights carrying explosive materials. He has also repeatedly navigated the regulatory compliance structure to fly in restricted, congested airspace over Niagara Falls and on the apron of an active international airport.

Prior to joining ProSpect Scientific, Bill developed and managed a solar energy distribution business. Bill was at Nortel Networks between 1985 and 2008. Throughout the years at Nortel, Bill led vertical business development, finance marketing, customer excellence programs, large account sales and IT teams. Highlights include the introduction of innovative electronic banking services in cooperation with CIBC and service as Canada's representative to INTUG (CCITT observer) for a number of years. Earlier in his career, Bill was a founder and managing principal of Vocatel Inc. which offered the first voice mail services in Canada in the early '80's. Bill began his career at Shell Canada with 9 years in their IT department, leading their Data Communications organization when he departed. Bill graduated from the Aerospace Engineering (BASc) program at University of Toronto in 1975.

Dr. Kelly Akers founded ProSpect Scientific in 1996 to equip university research labs with a new generation of Raman spectroscopy solutions. Dr. Akers continues to be the face of the company today, as ProSpect Scientific has grown to embrace consultative supply relationships with a large number of universities, law enforcement organizations, chemical companies and technology companies. Dr. Akers completed her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at the University of Toronto, following graduate studies at the University of Windsor. Raman spectroscopy was a primary tool in her doctoral research. Dr. Akers is well known in the Raman spectroscopy field and has published in many refereed journals including “Science” and the "Journal of Physical Chemistry". She expanded her knowledge of industrial applications of Raman spectroscopy in her post-doctoral work in Devon, Alberta at the CANMET Laboratory (Natural Resources Canada).

Throughout Gordon's 30 year career, he has been involved with the research, development and testing of advanced energy technologies including gas turbines, high temperature fuel cells, catalytic fuel reforming systems and other energy generation/storage systems. With an educational background in mechanical engineering and combustion, his work experiences have crossed over many technical disciplines. At St. Lawrence College (SLC), he works on collaborative industry-college applied research projects as a technical advisor, project leader and student mentor with the Research Engineering Group. In this capacity, Gordon has been involved with a number of product improvement and demonstration projects with FireRein since 2016. Gordon will provide a summary of recent testing of FireRein’s Eco-Gel as a means to extinguish and cool Li-Ion Battery fires.