GOCRISIS - Key Persons

Adrian Rodgers

Job Titles:

Vice President of Response Support
VP, Response Readiness

Adrian is Vice President of Response Support at GoCrisis. He is part of the GoCrisis team that ensures our clients are supported and remain closely connected with us throughout our partnership. With 27 years experience in mitigating risk for businesses in a variety of industries such as agriculture, logistics, insurance and aviation, Adrian is passionate about engaging with our clients to help ensure their business is prepared for any possible crisis event.

Alexander Dimitrevich

Job Titles:

Associate
Senior Associate UK & EU

Alison Anderson

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate UK & EU

Alison has 33 years' experience, in the National Health Service, providing the highest standard of bereavement care in both adult and paediatric pathology services. She has contributed to the development of the recently published Scottish Government guidance: Standards for Mortuary Services. Alison has a specific interest in the mortuary management of fatalities in disasters and until 2020 was the Emergency and Preparedness Lead for the Association of Anatomical Pathology Technology (AAPT). Whilst in this role Alison worked on Home Office projects such as Developing Specification for Emergency/Temporary Mortuaries and Safe handling of Contaminated Fatalities. Alison set up the AAPT DVI Response Team which activated in response to incidents in the UK and she was awarded a Metropolitan Police OCU Commander's Commendation for her DVI work. She has provided training to key stakeholders in the field of Disaster Management and Victim Identification including facilitating training on Mortuary Management in Iraq. Her NHS career has been interspersed with several field roles including deployments in Bosnia and Kosovo as part of Forensic Teams formed by the United Nations. She deployed as part of the British Military Operation at RAF Brize Norton managing the repatriation and autopsies of those killed in the conflict in Iraq. She was a first responder to Thailand after the Asian Tsunami, providing support for the victim identification process. In 2009 Alison was seconded by Oxford Archaeology as part of the Fromelles Project in Northern France to recover & identify (where possible) WW1 soldiers buried in a mass grave and re inter them in individual plots in a newly constructed, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, cemetery. Her role was to advise on mortuary design, set up and then manage the mortuary/anthropology laboratory complex. In June 2011 Alison was awarded, in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, an MBE for Services to Anatomical Pathology Technology.

Alistair Nicholas

Job Titles:

Associate
Senior Associate
Senior Associate Oceania

Alistair Nicholas has more than 25 years' experience in crisis management communications, crisis planning, and crisis training covering Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, China and the United States. Alistair has written crisis communications manuals and crisis management plans for major multinational corporations and government agencies and provided crisis training programs to them. He has counselled many organisations during their responses to crises, including acting as an official spokesperson for organisations during live crisis situations. Alistair has worked on crises ranging from accidental deaths and injuries through to pharmaceutical and consumer product market recalls, fraud and embezzlement, and government corruption cases. He has provided communication counsel and support during media inquiries, coronial inquests, court trials, and government inquiries. Alistair's career of more than 30 years also includes senior roles in government, politics, diplomacy, and the media. Alistair holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Science from the University of New South Wales and a Certificate in Executive Leadership from Cornell University. He is based in Sydney, Australia.

Amy Cann

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate Americas

With over 10 years' experience in Emergency Response Planning and Crisis Support, Amy has worked with clients in the aviation, maritime, energy, rail, retail, healthcare, and manufacturing industries. Amy's areas of expertise include Emergency Preparedness and Family Assistance, with her core strength being in Call Center Operations. Previously, as Vice President, Client Services & Call Center Operations for a disaster response company, Amy managed call center services for many US Fortune 100-500 level clients, overseeing 500+ call center agents, training clients on software, creating customized phone scripts, conducting emergency exercises, managing the technical side of call center operations, and leading countless call center activations. She has held a leadership role in numerous responses including aviation accidents, cruise ship incidents, train derailments, oil/gas fires & explosions, natural disasters, mass shootings, tour/excursion incidents, employee injuries & deaths, piracy/hijackings, criminal acts, and business disruptions. Amy holds a BS in both Psychology & Sociology and previously held trainer certifications in Care Team Response and QPR Suicide Prevention. She currently resides in Atlanta, GA.

Amy Poehler

Job Titles:

Associate

Andrew Couper

Job Titles:

Associate
Senior Associate
Senior Associate UK & EU, Middle East

Andrew began his career of over 35 years in crisis response operations and training with the British Army, specialising in; transportation, the movement of personnel and equipment around the world and Army landing craft. On leaving the Army he initially worked on short term projects supporting young people, first in the voluntary sector on sail training ships, then with Aberdeen City Council Children's Services. The partnership working on these projects led to a Scottish Government appointment within Grampian Police, coordinating all joint agency emergency response plans for the Grampian Police area, which included the North Sea and its oil and gas operations. Andrew decided it was time for the next big challenge and established his own consultancy company. He has been delighted to find so many likeminded people within the GoCrisis family and thoroughly enjoys working with them on projects. When he's not doing work for GoCrisis, Andrew currently lectures on Emergency & Crisis Management to students from Qatar's emergency services.

Barbara Kracht

Job Titles:

Associate
Senior Associate
Senior Associate UK & EU

Having held the prestigious position of Vice President of Media Relations for Airbus, Barbara has exceptional experience in Media Relations, Communications and Crisis communications. Barbara built and led the Airbus Commercial Aircraft Media Relations department during most of her career, and then the Airbus Military Communications for four years prior to her retirement. Barbara is a true leader in the PR and Communications world, having had to advise, manage, and master many types of crises, including multiple aircraft accidents. She has extensive experience and a vast knowledge of what is required by companies in terms of their public relations and communications post-accident. Barbara is based in Toulouse and speaks fluent English, French, German and Spanish.

Barbara Webster - EVP

Job Titles:

Executive Vice President

Barbara Webster is Executive Vice President at GoCrisis, overseeing North America, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Barbara is a renowned Crisis, Family Assistance, and Business Continuity expert. She was most recently the Senior Director of Emergency Response and Business Continuity at Spirit Airlines for nine years before joining GoCrisis. She has over 30 years of experience in the field of emergency management, which began in the oil & gas sector in Canada. Prior to her career at Spirit Airlines in Florida, she successfully developed and led WestJet Airlines' Emergency Response and Family Assistance programs for nine years in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She has extensive domestic and international response experience which includes a fatal hotel explosion in Playa del Carmen Mexico and aviation accidents in Tripoli, Libya and Dillingham, Alaska. She has also responded to numerous aircraft-related incidents, a tall ship sinking off the coast of Brazil with high school students, three mass shootings, and multiple hurricanes requiring full facility evacuations. Barbara also led Spirit's partnership with Operation Puerto Rico Care-Lift, where she coordinated over 160 tons of relief supplies to Puerto Rico during the 2017/18 Hurricane Season. Barbara is a citizen of both the United States and Canada, and is currently based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She is one of the Founding Board Members and former Chair of AERO, the Aviation Emergency Response Organization, and has provided guidance to air carriers and airports around the world.

Bert van Walbeek

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate UK & EU

Blakely Webster

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate Americas

Blakely Webster has over 15 years of business operations experience. She has spent the past 10 years in operations management overseeing analytics, HR coordination, bookkeeping and accounting. She has always taken great pride in looking after the wellbeing of her team and has taken numerous courses in family assistance training over the past 13 years. Throughout her roles in business, she has excelled in the creative aspects of presentation and training design, template creation, social media management, web design, and music creation and video editing. She participates in a weekly podcast promoting women's golf, with accompanying social media to support it. Blakely obtained a degree in Business Administration (General Management) from Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta in 2015 and a Business Administration diploma with a focus in Entrepreneurship from SAIT Polytechnic in 2013. She is a community volunteer, having been a mentor for Big Brothers and Big Sisters for three years, and assisted in the response to major flooding in Calgary in 2013. She was also instrumental in assisting Spirit Airlines during their evacuation response to the 2017/2018 hurricane season

Bob Palestrant

Job Titles:

SVP Response, Americas

Charlie Miller

Job Titles:

Associate
Senior Associate
Senior Associate Americas

Charlie Miller brings decades of global experience helping major companies and organisations across more than 40 markets to successfully navigate reputation issues, challenges, and crises. A highly regarded communications professional and award-winning journalist, he has been involved in the response to a significant number of crises around the world including airline accidents, engineering issues, and business challenges. He has exceptional experience in the fields of media relations, reputation and issues management, and crisis communications. Charlie previously led aerospace giant Boeing's highly diverse global communications team with the mission to support global business growth and protect the company by optimising reputation and mitigating risk with comprehensive issues and crisis management. Prior to Boeing, Charlie jointly led Corporate Media Relations as Head of News at Europe's biggest defence company BAE Systems. Charlie forged a successful 20-year career as a journalist, primarily covering Foreign Affairs and Defence for the UK national news agency, the Press Association. He reported extensively from conflict zones, including the 1991 Gulf War and the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. He was awarded "UK Scoop of the Year" for breaking the news of the death of Princess Diana in 1997. Charlie is based in Chicago and speaks English and French.

Charlotte Hurley

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate UK & EU

Charlotte brings a wealth of experience and expertise to her role in disaster management, with a focus on training responders and leading personal effects operations worldwide. With a strong moral compass guiding her work, Charlotte has dedicated her career to supporting disaster response efforts and managing personal effects with precision and compassion. While not a sworn officer, she has immersed herself in the world of policing, working closely with senior officers during various disaster incidents, where she honed her skills and understanding of effective crisis management. Charlotte's academic background in Crime and Investigative Studies has equipped her with a comprehensive understanding of critical subjects such as Major Investigations, Anthropology, Crime Scene Analysis, Mass Disasters, and Forensic Management. Her dissertation on policing, which she presented at a prestigious industry seminar in Cambridge, earned her a First Class degree, showcasing her commitment to excellence and her ability to contribute valuable insights to the field. Throughout her career, Charlotte has successfully managed numerous major projects involving mass fatalities, including nine Personal Effects Incidents. Her presence in Crisis Management Centers during eight live incidents over a decade underscores her ability to thrive in high-pressure environments and provide effective leadership during times of crisis. In addition to her extensive experience in disaster management, Charlotte brings 18 years of banking experience to the table, where she specialised in identifying and managing risk. Her background in emotionally and physically challenging work has equipped her with the resilience and focus necessary to see projects through to completion within tight timeframes and budgets. Charlotte's unique blend of academic knowledge, hands-on experience, and leadership skills makes her an invaluable asset in the field of disaster management. With her dedication to excellence and her unwavering commitment to supporting communities in times of need, she is well-prepared to make a meaningful impact in her role.

Chris Gray

Job Titles:

Associate
Senior Associate
Managing Director of Australian
Senior Associate Oceania

Chris Gray is Managing Director of Australian-based public relations agency and a Senior Associate with GoCrisis. A highly experienced crisis communications practitioner, he regularly advises clients and helps them manage complex, difficult and confronting issues so they can communicate with speed and clarity to key stakeholders. As a former journalist with leading news organisations, he brings his knowledge of newsroom environments to the fore to equip clients to deal confidently and persuasively with media in order to manage their messaging in both benign and hostile scenarios. He has trained more than 500 executives over the past two decades in the art of media relations and crisis communications across both the private and public sectors. Chris is often called on to speak on reputational matters and undertakes training of senior executives in the areas of crisis, media and presentation skills. He provides ‘on-call' support to organisations and has responded to major crises in Australia and overseas.

Dave Fothergill

Job Titles:

Senior Associate, Response Leadership

Dave is a specialist in Emergency and Crisis Management, Incident Command, Crisis Training, and Business Continuity Planning. Having served over 31 years in the UK Fire and Rescue Service, retiring as an Assistant Chief Fire Officer in October 2014, Dave has extensive skills, knowledge, and experience in many different roles as a professional fire practitioner, senior commander and search and recovery specialist. During his career, Dave served in many different roles, including Operations, Emergency Response Support, Training, Community and Fire Safety and the Emergency Fire Control Room. Dave served as a Senior and Principal Officer operating at Tactical (Silver) and Strategic (Gold) levels for over 10 years, in both day-to-day management of the Service as well as operationally at multiple types of emergency incidents. These roles included command of the Operational Response Function for the Service with responsibility for all the Emergency Fire Stations in the County and the Emergency Fire Control Call Handling Centre with over 500 operational personnel, equipment, and assets. In 2010 he was seconded to undertake a project to introduce Civil Resilience Planning and a Fire Special Operations Team into the Service, capable of operating alongside the Police and other first responders, following the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist attacks. Dave has deployed around the world to multiple mass fatality incidents, including air crashes, natural disasters, large building fires, and building collapses. Dave has led large teams as an Incident Director and Team Leader, managing search and recovery, logistics, family and government liaison, personal effects, and family assistance. Dave is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management and has attended the Warwickshire University Executive Leadership and Gold Commander Programme.

David Bushman

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate Americas

David Bushman has 30+ years involved in safety, disaster preparedness, and response during his career in aerospace. Highlights include safety diver for underwater training of astronauts for space walks; safety engineer on the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor; Director of Engineering responsible for all safety and OSHA compliance for rocket testing; Mission Manager responsible for safety on test aircraft and research aircraft as well as crew wellness and safety on deployments; development of Next Generation Air Traffic Control System; and safety compliance for launch customers and aircraft operators at Spaceport America. David has served as the Safety Officer for two aerospace companies, and as an elected Airport Commissioner at a community airport. David has also volunteered with the American Red Cross for 10+ years and participated in shelter management for fires in California, Utah, and New Mexico. He has participated in the performance evaluation of first responders on an aircraft crash simulation at the Norma Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport, and served on the public relations team in a weeklong statewide pandemic outbreak drill in New Mexico. In addition, David has served on a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in New Mexico, and in the City of San Jose, California. He was also a bilingual instructor of Emergency Preparedness for the City of San Jose, California. David developed a course for the Department of Homeland Security to train incident responders to properly select and use PPE for chemical, biological, and radiological events. David has served as a certified instructor for the American Heart Association for retraining medical personnel in basic first aid and life support, and is certified as a Wilderness First Responder. He holds a Mechanical Engineering degree and an MBA.

David Doull

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate Africa
Risk Management Specialist

David Doull is a Human Factors and Risk Management specialist, with over 25 years of experience in high-risk industries in the areas of operational and management roles. He spent nine years in the healthcare industry where he started as a paramedic, and 16 years in the aviation industry, first as a pilot and later as a Human Factors Specialist. Within healthcare, David gained experience in emergency service operations, medical care, and helicopter emergency service management within South Africa. As a pilot, he gained experience in training, charter, and flying doctor service operations within South Africa. David also flew in Afghanistan under contract to the US Department of State and, for ten years, was in short and long-range airline operations at South African Airways (SAA). David managed SAA's human factors and CRM (Crew Resource Management) training and led major safety incident investigations. Through his involvement in the safety department, when applying the ICAO Annex 13 standard, he dealt with international safety agencies, aircraft manufacturers, regulating authorities, unions, academics and large investigation teams. David holds a Bachelor's Degree in Emergency Medical Care from the Durban University of Technology, a Masters Degree in Human Factors in Aviation with Coventry University (UK) and is currently undergoing certification to apply systems engineering to safety and risk management.

David Eades

Job Titles:

Associate
Senior Associate
Senior Associate UK & EU

For the last three decades, David has worked as a frontline presenter and broadcaster for the BBC. He has been Europe Correspondent, Ireland Correspondent, Senior Sports News Correspondent and Transport Correspondent, covering stories as wide-ranging as the death of Princess Diana, the construction of the Channel Tunnel, the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, the launch of the Euro, Brexit, the deaths of Nelson Mandela and Queen Elizabeth. David has interviewed figures including President Clinton, Prime Ministers John Major and Tony Blair, as well as stars like David Beckham and Pele, Sir Clive Woodward, Andrew Flintoff and industry giants from Central Bank Governors to Sir Martin Sorrell and Michael Evans of Ali Baba. As a presenter, David has focused overwhelmingly on both television and radio, fronting election coverage, flagship news and business shows as well as many other debates and programmes. He has also developed his own ‘Climate Critical' show, focusing on key issues around energy, transport and construction. David has also worked on countless conferences, building specialist knowledge on issues including engineering, sustainability and climate. David is a fluent French speaker, having lived in both France and Belgium, and he is also fluent in German.

David Rimmer

Job Titles:

Associate
Business Aviation Executive
Senior Associate Americas

David Rimmer is a veteran business aviation executive and entrepreneur. He is CEO of the AB Aviation Group and serves on the Board of Advisors at Hopscotch Air. Based in New York City, David is the former President of ExcelAire, Alerion and Talon Air, three prominent aircraft management, maintenance and charter providers. He is a battle tested leader with an intense focus on high standards and safety. In 2006, David was one of seven survivors of a major midair accident between a Gol Airlines Boeing 737-800 and an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet. The accident was the deadliest in Brazilian aviation history at the time, killing 154 people on the airliner, while the occupants of the smaller jet landed safely. As a result of the accident and its aftermath, he became a leading aviation safety proponent, speaking about his experience to groups around the world. David has also incorporated this experience into his professional responsibilities, serving as both an Emergency Response Manager and Accountable Executive. Before beginning his aviation career, David was a media professional. He has served in programming and marketing positions at several national radio networks and local radio stations, including ABC, NBC, Sony and Bloomberg LP and has written for Business and Commercial Aviation, Resilient Aviation/Blue Sky News, Airliners, Airways and FORTUNE Custom Publishing. David remains committed to personal and professional growth. He became an NBAA Certified Aviation Manager in 2020, is a Fellow at the Royal Aeronautical Society and previously served as Chairman of the NATA Air Charter Committee, on the Air Charter Safety Foundation Board of Governors, and as a member of the NBAA Corporate Aviation Management Committee.

David Tindley

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate Americas

David started his aviation career in the construction of aircraft with British Aerospace, then made the transition into maintenance with Monarch Airlines. After many years in overalls, he moved into quality assurance with Lufthansa Technik and then into corporate safety with Cathay Pacific. David joined IATA in 2010 and managed the ground services portfolio, including the production of the AHM and delivery of the annual IGHC conference. After moving into the safety department, he took over the ERP portfolio and worked extensively with ICAO on regulations for aerodrome safety and ERP. David has degrees in humanities and business management and professional qualifications in maintenance, QA, Safety and OH&S. He is also a published author, and teaches yoga. David is bilingual in English and French and currently resides in Quebec, Canada.

Dries Wehmeyer

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate Africa

Elmarie Marais - CEO, Founder

Job Titles:

Chief Executive Officer
Founder

Elmarie Marais is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of GoCrisis. When she founded the company, her vision was simple: to build an organisation with global reach, that can provide excellent regional support at rapid speed with the best people. She started with the people she'd responded alongside in her career - those with the best front-line crisis experience, can-do attitude and those who uphold the company values of diversity and inclusiveness. Today, she is proud to lead the most experienced, diverse and passionate crisis management team in the world. Her career in crisis management began in London where she managed a UK Government initiative to develop a Business Continuity Toolkit for London businesses to prepare, respond and recover from the aftermath of a disaster. Following that, she worked for several years for a global disaster response company in the UK, of which she later was a Company Director in Australia. With over 18 years' experience in crisis and emergency management, she has worked with global brands (including FTSE 100 companies), assisted multiple sector organisations (aviation, oil and gas, mining, bus and rail, maritime, manufacturing, education etc), NGOs and governments to review their corporate crisis management plans, build their crisis response capacity and trained crisis leaders. Her work has supported some companies to become leaders in their industry with their approach to organisational resilience. She has extensive front-line crisis and disaster response experience having responded to aviation accidents, natural disasters (fires, tsunami, cyclones, pandemics), high profile corporate crises, political unrest, corporate evacuations, mass product recalls and data breaches. Elmarie believes strongly in giving back and is an Incident Commander for the Red Cross where she has led interstate humanitarian responses to natural disaster, involving multiple evacuation centres. Her passion for emergency and crisis management started in the aviation industry where she travelled the world as Senior Cabin Crew while she completed her Bachelor of Commerce degree, later studying Disaster Response and Relief at Harvard University.

Emad Fahem

Job Titles:

VP, Client Relationships

Erla Coetzee

Job Titles:

Associate
Senior Associate
Senior Associate Africa

Erla qualified as a social worker in 1995 with a BA Soc Sc Hons degree and started working with the Child and Family Care Court and counselling cases. After five years, she left social work for the corporate world, but the profession called her back and she continued her work within the Child and Family-care field at St George's Children's Home for almost two years. Thereafter, she specialised in addiction counselling at Elim Clinic Professional Treatment Centre and supported in- and outpatients for six years. The next five years were spent as a behavioural-risk manager in the EAP at Icas Southern Africa, providing telephonic counselling to employees of client companies. She is also a wellness specialist, providing on-site counselling, mediation, stress management, trauma debriefing, retrenchment counselling, and coaching. Erla's other passion is training and facilitation on a variety of topics, making her a valued contributor on the GoCrisis Associate team.

Fuat Çelebi

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate Middle East

Fuat has been in the security and aviation industry for the last 18 years and is a certified and active member of American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS). Fuat has extensive experience in passenger and airport security and was involved in multiple signature airport designs and project in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). He has extensive experience in training security specialists in the use of biometric and A.I. technologies in security operations and post-incident investigations. Fuat is trained and experienced in family assistance during disasters and has supported people of different faiths, ethnicities, and backgrounds during past crises. He is multilingual, speaking Arabic, English and Turkish, as well as basic Spanish. He has assisted in writing forensic reports, collection and management of personal effects, and worked with Disaster Victim Identification officials from multiple countries in the repatriation of their citizens involved in aircraft accidents. Fuat received an award and was specifically honored by the Dutch National Police (Politie) and Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, for his efforts with the Dutch DVI team. Fuat Celebi has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and an ASIS Physical Security Professional (PSP). He is currently working on achieving his Payment Card Industry Compliance Certification (PCI).

Gillean Parrish

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate Americas

With nearly 20 years of aviation experience with the Canadian carrier, WestJet Airlines, Gillean specializes in crisis management, trauma first-aid, and Special Assistance Teams. She has worked extensively with airport authorities around the world planning in executing disaster response exercises, corporate and airport drills, and tabletop exercises. Gillean has been activated for countless complex Special Assistance Team assignments throughout her career, both domestically and internationally. Having participated in all facets of the airline's emergency response program, she has responded to aircraft incidents, serious passenger medicals, and responses involving team members or passenger deaths. She was a member of the response team that deployed to the Grand Riviera Princess Hotel in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, as a result of a natural gas explosion in 2010, for which her airline received a corporate humanitarian response award. Gillean has also participated in highly successful aviation program audits by regulatory agencies, codeshare partners, and aviation organizations, and has worked with global community partners, including Transport Canada, Transportation Safety Board, National Transportation Safety Board, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Red Cross. Gillean is qualified to ensure a Special Assistance Team program maintains compliance with the Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act (US) 1996 and the Foreign Air Carriers Family Assistance Act (US) 1997. She has attended numerous aviation conferences and events and is well-respected by her airline peers around the world. She is certified in grief counseling, trauma first aid; and is also a Red Cross Standard C First Aid & CPR Instructor. In addition to her response and humanitarian skills, Gillean is a skilled Doula who has assisted women of all ages, cultures, and religions through labor and delivery. Gillean resides in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where she enjoys spending time with her family, riding horses, and enjoying the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Greg Phillips

Job Titles:

Associate
Senior Associate
Senior Associate Americas

Greg Phillips has over 40 years of aviation experience. He has been involved in designing general aviation and military aircraft and has over 30 years' experience in aircraft accident investigation, accident prevention, liaison with domestic and international governmental agencies, aircraft and component manufacturers, airports, and aircraft operators. Greg consults with Willis Towers Watson (a major international insurance brokerage) as their National Aviation Safety Consultant, and acts as an aviation safety and emergency response program advisor for airlines, corporate flight departments, airports, and aviation industry leaders. Greg also instructs aviation incident and accident investigation, aviation emergency response, and safety management systems courses for the University of Southern California (USC) Aviation Safety and Security Program through the Viterbi School of Engineering. He has provided accident and incident investigation training both domestically and internationally to many airlines, government agencies, and corporate flight departments. Greg was an Aerospace Engineer, Senior Air Safety Investigator, Investigator-in-Charge (IIC), and United States Accredited Representative for the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, DC from 1988 to 2004. He was involved in many major accident investigations including USAir flight 427, United Airlines flights 232 and 585, and Egypt Air flight 990. Greg also was an investigator for the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation Board team. He has appeared in several aviation accident investigation documentary programs. Prior to joining the NTSB, Greg held engineering positions for over 9 years with Northrop Grumman (formerly Northrop Aircraft) in Los Angeles, CA and Cessna Aircraft in Wichita, KS. He is a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators. Greg holds a commercial pilot certificate with instrument, multi-engine, and seaplane ratings. Greg resides in Southern Maryland and South Carolina and is a graduate of the University of Evansville (IN) School of Engineering (1979) and holds a Master of Arts degree in Management (1985). He completed the George Washington University/Brookings Institution joint certificate program in Advanced Public Policy Leadership while with the NTSB.

Guy Borowski

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate Americas

An aviation leader with forty years of maintenance and engineering experience, Guy has benefited from assignments in engineering, quality assurance, planning, line and base maintenance, and component/engine shop management. He recently retired as VP Maintenance at Flair Airlines.

Hennie Crous

Job Titles:

Manager, Infrastructure & Resources

Hennie is a highly experienced resource, infrastructure, and senior-level network support systems specialist with a demonstrated history in the Aviation, Management Consulting, Project Management and Information Technology Industries. He has worked on multiple fatality accidents and serious incidents, focusing on Family Assistance Support Operations, Data Management and Contact Centre Operations. As the "Keeper of Keys", Hennie develops and maintains all information and IT resources within GoCrisis, focusing on the security of all information and GDPR requirements. He also manages and maintains all GoCrisis social media pages and the branding and design of all related media. In addition, he serves as the first point of contact for all website enquiries and is the technical lead for all webinars and virtual training to ensure stability and a positive customer experience. Hennie oversees the GoCrisis GoResponder Program, which includes training requirements, work assignments, and scheduling of all 1200+ GoResponders, pre-, during, and post-emergency response deployments. During activations, he serves as the Contact Centre Director, monitoring call volumes, system resources, and the quality of service provided by all GoCrisis Contact Centre Agents across all communication platforms.

Intan Darlina Muhammad

Job Titles:

Associate
Senior Associate, Family Assistance

Darlina completed a BA (Hons) English Studies in University of Kent, Canterbury, UK and started her career with lecturing English and Drama to International Baccalaureate students for two years before venturing into the hospitality and media industry. Darlina was also a news presenter for several years on Traxx.fm.

Irisaida Mendez

Job Titles:

Associate

Jade D'Costa

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate Americas
Registered Social Worker

Jade D'Costa has nearly 20 years of experience in Aviation Emergency Response, Crisis Management and Corporate Safety working for WestJet Airlines and Pacific Coastal Airlines. She has written, implemented and audited various Station Response Plans, and corporate Incident Command structures. Jade played an integral part in training both Station Response and Family Assistance as well as coordinating and commanding Emergency Response exercises for various levels of organization. Jade was a member of the Incident Command Team who responded to the 2010 Hotel explosion at the Grand Princess in the Riviera Maya, and she also led the Covid-19 response for Pacific Coastal Airlines. Jade is a registered Social Worker, holding her BSW from the University of Calgary, she is a certified trainer of Incident Command Structures level 100-400, and holds various training certifications from the National Transportation Safety Board. Jade is fluent in English and French.

Jana Thomas

Job Titles:

Associate
Senior Associate
Senior Associate Americas

Jana Thomas is the former General Manager of Emergency Operations and Business Continuity for Delta Airlines, having retired in 2020 with over 29 years of experience in the aviation industry. As an emergency response professional, Jana has extensive experience in planning, training, logistics, deployment, response, and after-action analysis. During her career, Jana has successfully prepared for and responded to crisis events including natural and manmade disasters, security incidents and aircraft accidents. During the late 90's Jana was responsible for Delta's Reservations Operation Center in Atlanta which focused primarily on irregular operations and crisis management for Reservations. During a crisis event, she and her team were responsible for manifest verification, passenger inquiry and family assistance. In 2007 Jana assumed responsibility for Delta's Corporate Emergency Program, including oversite of Delta's Emergency Command Center and all response teams. During a crisis event requiring activation of the Go Team, Jana became the Go Team Incident Commander. Jana was a 2010 recipient of Delta's most prestigious honor, the Chairman's Club Award. It is a peer-to-peer employee recognition program, honoring women and men across the company's worldwide operation of over 80,000 employees who embody reliability, innovation, thoughtfulness, and servant leadership, and who demonstrate the highest standards of service to customers. In addition, Jana was also North America's IATA Representative and later became the ER Group's Chair. She was also the Chair of both the SkyTeam ER Board and A4A while Delta was a member. In her career, Jana has responded to five major Delta/Delta Connection accidents, 2 foreign carrier accidents, a terrorist bombing, an active shooter, severe weather events, and numerous lesser emergencies. She is also certified in Project Management and Change Management, and has a Six Sigma Black Belt and Green Belt.

Jean Riehl

Job Titles:

Associate
Associate Americas

Jean has 35+ years of experience as an aviation professional with Western Airlines and Delta. She held positions of increasing responsibility in Reservations, Airport Operation, Operations Control and Emergency Planning and Response. Her response experience includes Go Team and Immediate Crisis Team leadership for aircraft accidents, bombings, and terrorist events and Command Center activations for emergencies as well as other business continuity events. She has been a training developer, facilitator and training leader for human services and airport emergency response drills and exercises. She was instrumental in the development of standardized station emergency plans for Delta and is passionate about providing training and hands-on exercises to best prepare responders for their roles in crisis situations. Additionally, she is a professional Voice Actor and has provided voiceovers for online training and book narrations.

Jeanine Burt

Job Titles:

VP, Asia Pacific

Jeanine has extensive frontline leadership experience in crisis response and has led several GoCrisis incident activations for our oil and gas, manufacturing, aviation and university clients. She has responded to major product recalls, multiple cyclone evacuations, the Myanmar Coup, COVID-19, major data breaches, Hurricane Katrina, the South East Asian Tsunami and British Airways flight BA38. Prior to joining GoCrisis, she had 15 years of experience in events management and 8 years of business management in the tourism industry. Jeanine has a Bachelor of Business from Southern Cross University and a Project Management Diploma from Varsity College.

Jennifer Bartenstein

Job Titles:

Associate
Senior Associate
Safety Executive
Senior Associate Americas
Vice President, Quality, Health

Jennifer Bartenstein is a Safety Executive with over 15 years of experience in international Aviation Safety. Her career as a leader in the safety industry has extended across both airline operations as well as business and general aviation. Jennifer has expertise in Aviation Safety Management Systems (SMS) including internal evaluation and quality assurance, human and organizational performance, safety reporting programs, emergency response and more. Jennifer is the current Vice President, Quality, Health, Safety & Environmental at Swissport. She has held positions with Signature Flight Support, Allegiant Air, Spirit Airlines, Compass Airlines, and Mesa Air Group. As Signature's Vice President of Health, Safety, Security, and Environmental Programs she implemented numerous programs including risk-based Human and Organizational Performance Learning Teams and ‘Just Culture' initiatives driving safety improvements as well as the COVID-19 strategy keeping 200+ international bases open ensuring the safety of 5,000+ employees. At Allegiant Air she held the position of the Director of SMS and the FAR 119 Director of Safety role during which she implement Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) and oversaw numerous safety programs including 5 Aviation Safety Action Programs, Internal Evaluation, Environmental Compliance and Emergency Response. During her career she has led the response to numerous incidents including being the Lead Airline Investigator for an NTSB reportable accident, the Family Assistance Center on-site representative for the 2017 Harvest Festival shooting in Las Vegas, and for numerous hurricanes and storms. She's recently participated as a board member of the National Air Carrier Association Safety and Security Council, National Air Transportation Association's Safety Committee and Global Safety Alliance groups, as well as International Standards for Business Aircraft Handling.

Jim Antoni

Job Titles:

Associate
Senior Associate
Senior Associate Oceania

Jim is a Senior Associate at GoCrisis based in Sydney, Australia. He is a highly qualified, motivated and innovative senior professional with an extensive knowledge base and experience in emergency planning, business resilience, organisational resilience, business continuity, training, exercise drills, policy and procedures, document management, and communications. Since 1984, Jim has worked in various roles including sales, customer service, operations, office administration, reservations, marketing, document writing, training, regulatory, and for the most part, Crisis Management. Jim's career with Qantas commenced as an aspiring reservations consultant and from here worked his way through various roles before finding his niche in Crisis Management. Whilst at Qantas, Jim was involved in responding to 21 events in 18 months including Bali Bombings, Thailand Tsunami, Middle east unrest, QF30 oxygen tank explosion, QF72 depressurisation, BKK Unrest, Volcanic Ash eruption, and Swine Influenza. Most of this time was spent coordinating and deploying relief teams to the site as well as Care Team/Family Assistance responsibilities.