Our Team

Greg is an experienced marine operations and risk management professional with over thirty-five (35) years of experience in the emergency management, defence, marine operations/transportation, security and project management fields. Fluently bilingual, Greg was the Commanding Officer of two Navy frigates and On-Scene Commander for the Swiss Air Flight 111 response (except land-based operations),  the largest interdepartmental marine operation to date in Canada. 

Greg is experienced in inter-agency emergency planning, assisting large organizations transition to ICS, and developing emergency response plans and exercise planning & delivery. He is also certified as an ICS instructor and exercise designer. Greg has developed and led exercises of varying degrees of complexity and interaction including; both discussion and operations–based exercises, and was the exercise manager for the largest marine safety and security exercise held in Canada (Exercise Harbour Siren).

 Recognized nationally as a leader in emergency management and training. Since 1988 has taught the incident command system to a variety of organizations and agencies throughout Canada and internationally including; Canadian Coast Guard (CCG), Transport Canada (TC), Halifax Port Authority (HPA), Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Halifax International Airport Authority (HIAA), Canadian Armed Forces, Parks Canada (PC), Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Bermuda Electric Light Company.

Directly involved in the management of multiple ground search and rescue operations ranging from single operational period and jurisdictional events to major, multi-day events involving different agencies and jurisdictions. He was also involved in the recovery efforts for the tragic Swiss Air flight 111 and MK Airlines Limited Boeing 747-244SF air crashes.

Mike the prestigious 2016 Public Safety Canada, National Search and Rescue Program Award of Excellence for Education and Training. 

Larry is an experienced marine operations and security professional with over thirty-five (35) years of experience in the emergency management, defence, marine operations/transportation, security and project management fields. Larry was the Commanding Officer of Canadian Forces Station St John’s NFLD, also of a Navy Supply Vessel and of the Maritime Operational Support and Intelligence Centre, Trinity.  

Larry is experienced in inter-agency emergency planning, developing emergency response plans and exercise planning. He has developed exercises of varying degrees of complexity and interaction including; both discussion and operations–based exercises, and continues to be one of the principle exercise designers for the Port of Halifax series of Annual Security Exercises

Prior to joining Kildoon, Glen was employed by Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for 33 years before retiring as District Supervisor. During this period he was heavily involved in all-hazard emergency management using the Incident Command System (ICS). In 2004 Glen was selected to represent Nova Scotia as a member of a Canada / US Incident Management Team (IMT) filling the roles of Operations Section Chief and Planning Section Chief. Glen was also the Incident Commander on DNR’s Provincial IMT. As a member of these IMT’s, Glen participated in incident response management and teaching assignments throughout Canada and the United States.

Glen is certified by ICS Canada to teach to the ICS 400 level as well as the following position-specific courses: Incident Commander, Operations Section Chief, Planning Section Chief, Logistics Section Chief, Safety Officer, Liaison Officer, Strike Team /Task Force Leader and Division / Group Supervisor.

In addition to teaching ICS courses Glen also specializes in the design, development and facilitation of ICS-based training exercises. He has created and delivered ICS exercises for all levels of government and the private sector, as part of their various training programs designed to implement or strengthen the use of ICS.

Suzie has more than 23 years of experience in emergency management. She worked for Parks Canada as an incident commander for search and rescue, wildfires and environmental emergencies missions. At Public Safety Canada, she was involved in many national incidents like the repatriation following the earthquake in Haiti and H1N1 pandemic. Suzie also works with Indigenous Services Canada where she is responsible for assistance to First Nations during emergencies and was in-charge of the COVID-19 Emergency Coordination Center. 

Suzie is an experienced ICS instructor providing training and exercise support to private and public sector clients. Fluently bilingual with extensive emergency management experience (with significant focus on the marine side), her tremendous people skills and experience make her an effective coach in classroom and exercise settings.

Chuck is the Assistant Chief of Operations with Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency. Currently the Task Force leader for Canada TF-5 part of the Canadian frame work for Heavy Urban Search and Rescue. With over 37 years of operational experience in the fire sector, including 2 years as Division Chief of Training, Chuck brings a tremendous amount of experience to the classroom and field. Chuck is qualified to teach to the I-400 level as well as the Incident Commander and Planning Section Chief  courses. Chuck is a leader in the use of ICS across multiple municipal units to help ensure a comprehensive and integrated response to incidents. Most recently Chuck worked with Halifax Regional Police to develop three short films displaying the use of ICS and the formation of an Incident Management Team.

Magdi retired from the RCMP in 2017, as an Inspector, with over 36 years of policing experience in Federal Enforcement, Protective Policing and International Peacekeeping. He is certified as an ICS instructor from the Province of Ontario, accredited as an Associate BCP planner from DRI and has JIBC certification in Exercise Design.

From 2005 to 2017, when he retired, Magdi was the RCMP Critical Incident Commander Coordinator for the National Capitol Region (NCR). He managed large-scale operations in the NCR for major events/ incidents such as Royal Visits, Canada Day and Oct 22 Parliament Hill shooting. Magdi is bilingual and has strong interpersonal skills that make him a natural facilitator and consensus builder.

Sam Roberts is a Sergeant with the Ottawa Police Service and has been a Police Officer for over 20 years.  During his policing career he has worked in general police patrol duties as well as being a tactical emergency response team member, aerial surveillance, a search and rescue manager, a Forensic Identification investigator and a member of the chemical biological radiological nuclear explosives (CBRNe) investigation team.   He is also a former commercial airline pilot and Marine Mechanical Engineer; having served in the Canadian Navy.  He is presently the Emergency Management Coordinator for the Ottawa Police.  He is both an ICS and IMS instructor, an emergency management exercise designer, a Risk Manager as well as a Forensic Post disaster victim identification specialist.  His experience ranges from natural disasters such as floods and tornadoes to human caused disasters such as the terror attack on Parliament Hill and mass casualty bus collision incidents.

Sergeant Roberts holds a Bachelor of Policing and a Master of Emergency Management where his research revolved around active attacker and active threat incidents.  He is also a facilitator of the Emergency Management Exercise design program, the Hazard Identification Risk Assessment Program the and the Incident Management Systems Program as part of the Algonquin College Post Graduate Emergency Management Certificate program.

Paola Parenti has been working in Municipal government since 1997. Her current position, since 2009, is with the City of Ottawa, Office of Emergency Management, as an Emergency Management Program Coordinator, where her responsibilities have included coordinating the following programs: Training and Exercise; Emergency Social Services; Plans and Procedures Development and Maintenance; Corrective Action; Capacity Building; and Public Education and Awareness. Paola is also an Emergency Management, Exercise Design, Incident Management System (IMS) and Incident Command System (ICS) instructor.

Paola has filled various ICS/IMS functional roles, including Commander, Liaison Officer, Planning Section (Chief and Unit Leader), and Operations Section (Chief, Branch Director and Task Force Leader), in the Emergency Operations Centre and at an Incident Site, during planned and unplanned simple and complex situations.

Paola has been an Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP), Emergency Management Standard, Assessor, since 2018, and is also an Assessment Team Leader and an Instructor for EMAP.

Scott Grakist is a Platoon Chief with the Ottawa Fire Services (OFS) with over 3 decades of experience as a career firefighter.  In addition to his supervisory role in Suppression Division, he currently the Planning Section Chief for Ontario’s MUSAR ONT TF-4 in Ottawa, ON and an instructor at the OFS Fire Academy teaching emergency management and officer development courses. He has filled various operational roles with Ottawa Fire Services within Suppression, Special Operations, and the Office of Emergency Management, including Incident Command, Operations, Planning and Logistics at numerous incidents (Fires, Floods, Tornados, CBRN) and major planned events (Special Operations, Canada Day, VIP visits). During his firefighting career, he was also a member of the OFS Hazmat/CBRN response team, CBRN Task Force (City of Ottawa), and Emergency Services Unit with Ottawa Police Service, reinforcing his commitment to interagency, interjurisdictional and interdepartmental cooperation, training, and response.

Scott is a certified and qualified Level 4 Instructor with the Ontario Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management, instructing both the Incident Management System, up to the IMS 300 (OFMEM), and the Incident Command System (ICS Canada), up to the 400 level, as well as the Incident Commander, Liaison Officer and Planning Section Chief courses.

Scott is also certified in both NFPA 1021 Fire Officer and NFPA 1041 Instructor and has designed, developed, and facilitated ICS-based training exercises in Incident Management for First Responders, Emergency Operations Centres, and in Hazmat and CBRNe recognition, mitigation, response, and recovery to various first responders, government agencies and private industry.