DIVER CERTIFICATION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Inshore Diving Safety Specialist
Aaron is an Inshore Diving Safety Specialist, having graduated from Seneca's UWS program in 1994. He completed a Red Seal Millwright apprenticeship while working on the Mechanical/Dive team at the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation's Welland Canal Operations, completing it in 2000.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Chief Executive Officer of DCBC
- Chief Executive Officer of the DCBC
David Parkes is the Chief Executive Officer of the DCBC. He retired from the Canadian Coast Guard in October 2000 following a 35-year career during which he served in a number of positions including Senior Examiner of Marine Engineers in Ottawa and, for seven years, Director of the Canadian Coast Guard College in Sydney, Nova Scotia. For the final four years of his career he was Director of Technical Services for the Maritimes Region of the Coast Guard. David was hired as a consultant in early 2001 to create the DCBC and in 2002 he agreed to stay on as the first Executive Director. In 2009, during the development of a policy-based governance structure for the board, David's title was changed to CEO.
Jean-Luc Ward, from Montreal, Quebec, has been in the diving industry for over 34 years, beginning as an air diver in 1985 after graduating from Canadian Underwater Training Center. During the first 13 years he worked in the civil inshore construction diving industry, he also held a position as a paramedic in Montreal, as well as eventually becoming an instructor for Canadian Working Diver's Institute. In 1998, Jean-Luc entered the offshore oil and gas industry as an air diver, and in 2000 decided to advance his career by continuing his training at the Underwater Centre and became a Closed Bell Diver. In 2014, Jean-Luc stepped up his education and became an IMCA Bell Diving Supervisor and subsequently a DCBC Offshore Diving Safety Specialist (Bell Diving). He primarily works in the Offshore Industry of Southeast Asia. He has recently been involved with contributing to the CSA Z275 Standards.
During his distinguished 30-year U.S. Navy career as a Saturation (SAT) diver, John Paul was a member of the Navy's deepest diving team, reaching a record depth of 1800 feet at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit in Panama City, Florida. He participated in several major diving and salvage projects and commanded one of the Navy's largest diving and salvage ships, the USS Edenton (ATS-1). While in command, the USS Edenton conducted the first efforts towards salvaging pieces of the Civil War Ironclad USS Monitor. Additionally, he completed several assignments involving research, development, testing and evaluation of new diving equipment and systems. John Paul's educational experience includes teaching navigation, ship handling and composite warfare concepts at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He is a retired Navy commander with command at sea and ashore. He has served as director of Divers Institute of Technology since 2000.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- Member of the Ontario Provincial Police
Kevin Gorman has been a member of the Ontario Provincial Police since 2000. He began his Commercial Diving career in 2007 as a member of the Ontario Provincial Police Underwater Search and Recovery Unit (USRU) holding positions as a Restricted SCUBA / Surface Supplied Diver and Supervisor, Team Leader and currently holds the rank of Staff Sergeant, Unit Commander USRU. In that time he has participated in hundreds of searches related to missing persons, evidence, and major incidents involving underwater expertise including Presidential visits, G20 and Multi National Security Exercises. He is a graduate of the Seneca College Underwater Skills Program and participates in numerous CSA Committees related to the Z275 group of Standards.
Shawn MacPhail commenced his career as a diver in 1986. By 1992 he received his Air Diving Supervisors certificate from the NEB. In 1994 Shawn completed his saturation diving course and second CSWIP weld inspection certificate. He has been involved in offshore diving programs since 1991, in every aspect from Diver (Air/Saturation), Lead Diver, Air/Gas Supervisor, Offshore Construction Manager (OCM), Diving Safety Specialist (DSS) and Client Rep. Shawn is Operations Manager at Dominion Diving Ltd, writing offshore job procedures, attending Hazard/Risk assessments for major oil operators and in-house assessments. He is also responsible for the safety and review of diving/work procedures, company diving manual and for compiling and submitting several diving program applications. He currently provides independent marine consultant services through his company Blackwater Safety Consultants Services to contractors and operators worldwide.
Stu has a background as a mechanical pipe fitter and industrial systems designer, which evolved to commercial diving, completing the Seneca program in 1992. He worked as a freelance diver in various disciplines from aquaculture, seafood harvesting, to construction, which granted an opportunity with the Canadian Coast Guard in 1996. Through this tenure became instrumental in creating a recognized Rescue Diving Program within the Canadian Coast Guard which was monumental in becoming the very first Canadian Federal Organization to have a diver training program accredited by the DCBC in 2009.
Continuing to work on various inshore diving projects in the private sector, involvement with hyperbaric systems became a more prolific activity and focus. In 2014 he was offered to assist with supporting a transportation tunnel project in British Columbia where Stu helped inject the diving skillset and disciplines to support soft ground tunneling in Canada for the very first time.
With the prospect of supporting future tunneling projects, helped an existing Canadian Diving company springboard into the market of Western Canada. Through a few years of success, providing a suite of marine, and hyperbaric support services, Stu is now able to focus entirely on hyperbarics in support of tunneling.
Having started diving in the 70's, Warren attended his first occupational dive course with the Canadian Navy as a Naval Reservist in 1982 in Esquimalt. Having found his passion for the work, 1983 saw him in Toronto attending the Canadian Underwater Training Centre to become a Commercial Diver. While on a Naval Reserve course in 1985, Warren was given the opportunity to enroll in the Regular Force and attended the Canadian Navy's Clearance Diver Course at Fleet Diving Unit Pacific. After serving for over 21 years as Clearance Diver on both coasts traveling and diving the world, Warren retired from the Navy in 2006 and went to work for WorkSafeBC as a Diving and Blasting Certification Officer. He became WorkSafeBC's representative at CSA in 2007 and participated in numerous working groups over the years. In spring of 2018 Warren was appointed subcommittee chair of the Z275.2 Occupational Safety Code for Diving Operations, and in the fall of the same year he was elected to the DCBC Board of Directors.