Invited Speakers
John Hamilton CNZM, MVO
Director of Civil Defence & Emergency Management
John Hamilton assumed the appointment of Director Civil Defence Emergency Management in 2006.
John comes from Hawke’s Bay and was educated at Christ’s College and Canterbury University. He joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1971 and qualified as a pilot and subsequently flew helicopters. John’s career with the RNZAF spanned 35 years and saw him complete command courses in the United Kingdom and the United States and an exchange in Australia flying helicopters. He held command and leadership appointments at all levels of the RNZAF including command of the helicopter squadron, No 3 Squadron, RNZAF Base Ohakea, and the RNZAF’s Operations Group. His career culminated with a four year period from 2002-2006 as Chief of Air Force in the rank of Air Vice-Marshal.
In his current appointment he leads a small team responsible for facilitating improvements in New Zealand’s disaster resilience and its ability to prepare for an emergency, and manage the response and recovery activities. In a national emergency he is responsible for the control and co-ordination of the response.
John was made a member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in 1981 for his service to the Queen. He was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of his leadership of the joint planning for the initial New Zealand deployment to East Timor, and in 2006 he was promoted to become a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in recognition of his leadership as Chief of Air Force.
Neil Gibbins
International President 2014/15, Institution of Fire Engineers, UK
Neil’s 35 year operational fire service career spanned all roles from firefighter to Acting Chief Fire Officer. He has over twenty years of senior management experience and practical application of incident command, fire investigation, training and development and fire prevention/protection. He became Deputy Chief Fire Officer of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service following the successful merger of the two services. Neil was project co-director for the combination, which is still the only voluntary fire- fire merger in the UK. As Deputy CFO, Neil had the responsibility for day to day running of one of the UK’s largest fire services with specific responsibility for performance and improvement.
In 2005 to 2007 Neil chaired the working group that managed the implementation of the Fire Safety Order by English and Welsh fire services, the most fundamental change to UK fire law in decades. Neil was lead officer for fire protection within the UK Chief Fire Officers Association from 2007 to 2013. These roles involved a wide range of fire protection challenges, from chairing a national cross sector timber frame building group through to designing data capture systems to aid future targeting and evaluation.
Neil was awarded the Queen’s Fire Service Medal in the 2010 Queen’s Birthday Honours list and is a Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers. He is a Director of the Institution of Fire Engineers, is chair of IFE (Publications) Ltd and is a Director of his own company, GIB Fire Risk Services Ltd.
José Santiago
Commissioner, Chicago Fire Department, USA
Commissioner José Santiago joined the Chicago Fire Department (CFD) in 1979, and in 2012, Mayor Emanuel appointed him Fire Commissioner of the CFD. Commissioner Santiago manages over 5,000 sworn members and an annual budget of over $$567.7M. He has made the CFD a leader in the fire service industry by implementing several best practices, including sweeping changes to the CFD’s incident command policies. These and other safety reforms established the CFD as an innovator in high-rise life safety.
Previous to his position as Fire Commissioner, José was Executive Director of the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC). As Executive Director, Santiago had the critical responsibility of overseeing the multiple disciplines that comprise the OEMC, which include the dispatch of all police, fire and emergency medical services and non-emergency services, the management of a 24-hour City Operations Center that coordinates routine emergency and traffic services; the oversight, development, and execution of all City of Chicago disaster and homeland security planning and operations, and, the oversight and maintenance of the City of Chicago’s video surveillance network.
Santiago also served in the United States Marine Corp for over 31 years, both in active duty and the Reserves. He worked his way through the ranks from Private to Commanding Officer of H & S Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division.
He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Southern Illinois University.
Paul Fuller
Chief Fire Officer, Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, UK
Paul Fuller joined Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service as Chief Fire Officer in February 2002. Since joining The Fire Service in 1978, Paul’s career path has taken him to West Midlands, West Sussex, Staffordshire and Wiltshire, where he has spent time in Operations, Staff, Fire Prevention, Training and command functions. Paul qualified as a Member of the Institution of Fire Engineers in 1984, completed a Master of Science in Human Resources Management in 1996, the Brigade Command Course in 1997, and a Batchelor of Science in Fire Safety Technology and Management in 2003 and became Fellow of the Institute of Fire Engineers in 2008.
Paul currently serves on a number of national bodies including Chair of CFOA Services Limited, deputy Chair of Fire Sector Federation, CFOA President and Trustee of the national charity the Children’s Burns Trust.
He is a member of the former Bedfordshire St John Council, the Police Partnership Board and the Strategic Steering group for the Regional and World Children’s Burns Camp, and Chair of the Bedfordshire and Luton Chief Executive Forum. Paul was also made a Freeman of the City of London in 2012.
Chief Officer Fuller was awarded Queens Fire Service Medal for exemplary service in the Birthday Honours 2008.
Daniel Neely
Manager, Community Resilience, Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (WREMO), NZ
Daniel Neely is a Manager, Community Resilience for the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office and has a long history in community development and disaster management around the world.
Dan served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch and was a Site Manager in Sri Lanka with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.
In New Zealand, Dan wrote WREMO’s Community Resilience Strategy which has since become the foundation document for an International Centre of Excellence in Community Resilience through the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Dan originally hails from the Sonoran Desert of Arizona.
Peter Townsend
CEO, Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce, NZ
Peter is the Chief Executive of the Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce and has held the position since 1996. The Employers’ Chamber, as the largest business support agency in the South Island, concentrates on assisting members to improve their enterprises; ensuring members can operate in a business friendly environment; and encouraging new levels of business activity.
Peter holds several corporate directorships including being a Board member of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and the Callaghan Grants Committee. He is also a Board member of Pegasus Health (Charitable) Ltd and the Air Force Museum Trust. He is involved with a range of community groups and initiatives in this region that are in harmony with the objectives of the Employers’ Chamber.
Since 4 September 2010, and especially since 22 February 2011, Peter has been actively involved in earthquake recovery issues.
In September 2013, Peter received the Individual Leadership Award at the AUT Business School Excellence in Business Support Awards.
Peter is the Honorary Consul for Chile for the South Island, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and a Fellow of the Institute of Management. Peter has a BSc (Hons) and a post Graduate Diploma in Business.
Professor Charles Fleischmann
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury, NZ
Charles Fleischmann is a Professor at the University of Canterbury where he has been a major contributor to the Graduate Fire Engineering Program since it’s inception in 1994.
Charles received his Bachelors degree in Fire Protection Engineering from the University of Maryland and his Masters and PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. Much of his research focuses on fire modelling both experimentally and numerically with particular interest in compartment fire phenomena including backdraft and flashover.
Charles has over 25 years of experience in fire engineering research and practice. His consulting work includes fire cause, origin, and development as well as specialist consulting on fire design issues. He has given expert witness testimony in civil, criminal, and family court. Since 2004, he has served on the Fire Advisory Panel for the New Zealand Department of Building and Housing. In 2006 he was engaged as a consultant to work on developing a Verification Method for performance-based design for fire safety in New Zealand.
He is a Fellow of SFPE and in 2011 received the Arthur B Guise medal for eminent achievement in the advancement of the science and technology of fire protection engineering. Charles has over 100 academic and professional publications and has presented many invited and keynote presentations around the world.