Peter Ahlström is an experienced leader with an extensive background in the travel and airline industry and crisis management. He is an operations, communications and security specialist.
He started his working career on the Cruise ships between Finland and Sweden and went on to study political science and international relations. His next step was to join the flying crowd, where he worked in several airlines based in Denmark, Finland, USA and Germany to finally land in Sweden.
His career in crisis management began when he became the Head of Ground Handling in the airline TUIfly Nordic, one of six airlines part of the TUI Airlines Group in Europe, the largest leisure company in the world. He was part of the management team for 19 years and the role included the task as Emergency Manager and Crisis Manager for the airline, in close cooperation with the nordic tour operator TUI and all the TUI companies worldwide. The role included building manuals, doing training, exercises and managing the daily global operation of the airline for many years. The incidents handled were the tsunami disaster in Thailand and the ash cloud challenge in Iceland/Europe, to mention a couple.
His next step was to head the Emergency Response of the largest Scandinavian Airline SAS. The role contained all aspects of crisis management – procedures, training , exercises and continuous contact with all levels of the company. Peter was a significant provider of the plans for SAS handling the pandemic crisis.
He has been part of crisis training, both attending and lecturing in several conutries. Airline and travel is the background, but the experience can be of use in any crisis where strategic support and the humanitarian aspect needs to be achieved.

Peter is of Finnish origin and speaks Finnish, Swedish, Danish, English and German.

Nicky has over 20 years’ corporate experience, ranging from legal to humanitarian development.

She is currently head of the False Bay base for National Sea Rescue Institute in South Africa. In her role,  she has been involved in multiple rescue operations, body recoveries and multi-sector training and scenario exercises.

Her qualifications include Health & Safety, Risk Assessments, Confined Spaces Training, Hazard Communications, Incident Command Systems, Search & Rescue Techniques, Maritime Emergency Care, Emergency Response Planning & Family Assistance.

She also Freelances as a Medic and after successfully completing her Tactical Operative course she further qualified as a Firearms Instructor & Assessor.

Michele Derry is a Senior Canadian Airline Executive with over 30 years of experience in the aviation industry. Her leadership expertise includes areas such as Emergency Response, Family Assistance, Operations Control, Commercial Operations, Inflight, Dispatch, Load Planning, Crew Pay, Crew Planning, Crew Scheduling, and Operational Manuals. Her speciality is in working with airline start-ups that use low-cost or ultra-low-cost business models. During her lengthy career, she’s assisted airlines such as Canadian Regional, WestJet, Enerjet, Encore, Swoop, Air North, Virgin Blue, and Lynx Air.
Michele’s focus with each organization she’s assisted has centered around people, operations, preparedness, and response. Her technical skills have also been recognized by Transport Canada for excellence in the development of manuals for regulatory requirements, including Emergency Response, Safety, Company Operations, Company Procedures, Dispatch and Dangerous Goods.
As Vice President at WestJet, in addition to her oversite of daily operations, she held the role of Incident Director for any major emergency and provided oversight of the Emergency Response and Family Assistance programs there. Together with the Manager of Emergency Response, she developed an industry-leading and internationally recognized Family Assistance Team and has continued to enhance her expertise by actively participating in advanced courses, exercises, and training sessions held in Canada, the United States, and the UK.
GoCrisis is thrilled to have Michele Derry as a Senior Associate. Her expertise in all facets of airline operations, coupled with her advanced technical skills, and her leadership in Emergency Response and Family Assistance, bring invaluable support to our clients around the world.

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).

Simon joined the Royal Navy in September 1984 directly from school. His first years were spent at sea in Her Majesty’s Ships CATTISTOCK, NOTTINGHAM, LINDISFARNE and ALACRITY. Whilst on the latter, the Ship, when on deployment to the West Indies, provided humanitarian support to Hurricane-Hugo devastated island of Montserrat.

Having completed a ten-month tour as the Executive Officer of the Northern Ireland patrol vessel HMS CUXTON, he joined the staff of Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland as the Flag Lieutenant in May 1991. Returning to sea for a short tour as the Navigating Officer of the Type 23 frigate HMS LANCASTER, he qualified as a Warfare Officer in December 1995. He assumed Command of the Sandown class mine-hunter HMS WALNEY. Promoted to Lieutenant Commander in November 1996, his final year with the Ship was spent deployed with NATO’s Standing Naval Force Channel.

Following a short period as the Operations Officer of the Type 22 frigate HMS BEAVER, he attended the Joint Services Command and Staff College in September 1998. Graduating from the Advanced Command and Staff Course with an MA in Defence Studies, he joined the Headquarters of the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic based in Norfolk, Virginia as the Military Assistant to the US 4* Commander. He received the US Department of Defense Meritorious Service Medal for his services before, and after, the tragic events of 9/11.

He returned to the UK in October 2001 and led, for a short period, the Royal Naval Presentation Team. Assuming command of the frigate HMS KENT in April 2002, his time included a nine-month deployment to the north Indian Ocean and Arabian Gulf as part of the UK’s effort with the Global War on Terrorism. Joining the Ministry of Defence in early 2004, he first had responsibilities for the planning and programming of all major logistics-related equipment procurement programmes and then, in 2007, as the Military Assistant to Chief of the Defence Staff for Personnel.

Promoted to Captain in September 2008, he became Secretary to the three Single-Service Chiefs of Staff and Ministerial Team. His final 8 years were spent working at NATO as: the Chief Staff Officer to Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe; Secretary to the Military Committee and Chief of Staff for the International Military Staff; and, finally, as a Rear Admiral, Deputy Chief of Staff Plans, Exercises and Partnerships.

In June 2018, Simon joined a large Crisis and Disaster Management company as CEO. With dedicated full-time resources spread across the world, he ensured the provision of personnel and equipment as well as the incident response, particularly those involving major loss of life. This included directly supporting two aviation disasters in the USA and the southern Pacific Ocean.

Simon joined the UK Hydrographic Office in April 2020 as the Head of Partnering and Engagement; based in Washington DC, he has a roving brief covering all the Americas.

Wilfred has 20 years’ airport operations experience. He has serviced flagship carriers such as British Airways, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Egypt Air, FlyBe and Malaysian Airlines. His ground handling experience over the years included roles as station head, load controller, turnaround coordinator and flight manager.

Wilfred was Station Head for Malaysia Airlines during the MH17 tragedy where he supported the airline’s response in Amsterdam as the Airport Crisis Centre Coordinator, field manager and logistics manager.

With almost 30 years of global communications experience in mobility, technology and luxury industries, including 15 years in Asia (11 in mainland China), Trevor is a seasoned strategic counsellor for C-suite executives, with a track record of leadership, entrepreneurship, creative storytelling, public affairs and crisis management. In addition to leading communications in North America, he has helped numerous multinational companies establish and grow their presence in China, India, Southeast Asia, Middle East and Africa.

He has extensive corporate experience, having led communications for Fortune 100 companies and brands including Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Jeep, INFINITI, Chrysler and others, as well as serving as press chief for the Olympic Games. He helped establish Daimler Northeast Asia in Beijing at the beginning of China’s auto boom. He was the architect of Ford’s Asia expansion communications plan while leading communications for Ford in Asia Pacific in Shanghai during unprecedented growth in China, India and Southeast Asia. He helped establish Ford’s Middle East and Africa region in Dubai – a startup at a 120-year-old company – spanning 63 countries across the region. He also served as global Chief Communications Officer for INFINITI through three chairmen and significant upheaval at parent Nissan.

He was a finalist for PR Week’s global in-house professional of the year in 2020 as well as the top PR executive in Asia Pacific. He is an active member of The Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club and The Explorers Club. He began his career as a journalist at a small daily newspaper in Alabama and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

Tresslyn has 28 years of experience working in the Department of Consumer Protection where she was Senior Regional Officer and spokesperson for the Department. Prior to her role as SRO, she held the position of Investigations Officer for Consumer Protection and Office of Industrial Relations. Tresslyn has experience and wide-ranging knowledge across multiple sectors. She has extensive knowledge of relevant consumer legislation and has provided advice for both consumers and traders. Tresslyn has a Bachelor of Arts Degree, Majoring in History & Literature.

Tom has a reputation as a successful and versatile airline operations professional, with more than 16 years’ increasingly senior experience in front line, operational leadership, corporate resilience, business continuity and crisis management roles at Virgin Atlantic in London and Virgin Australia in Sydney, as well as the utilities industry.

An accomplished corporate crisis leader, Tom held the role of Crisis Management Centre Commander (‘Silver Commander’) and played a pivotal role in his airline’s response to incidents including the aftermath of a category five hurricane, internal and third-party industrial action, the prolonged closure of a major hub airport and the collapse of an affiliated business. He represented his airline at the UK Civil Aviation Authority command centre during the delivery stage of ‘Project Matterhorn’; the largest ever peace-time repatriation of British citizens, following the collapse of a major British tour operator.

More recently, Tom led the airline’s crisis team through the outbreak of Covid-19, balancing a complex operational environment with rapidly changing global health requirements and implementing proportionate consumer and staff confidence measures in order to continue essential flight operations.

Tom takes a global view of airline emergency response, having held a coveted position on the organising committee of the IATA Airline Emergency Response Forum, through which in 2019, in Montreal, he shared best practice response to handling to two simultaneous crisis incidents with ERP practitioners and industry experts assembled from more than eighty major international airlines. He was a member of the United Kingdom Airline Emergency Planning Group, custodian of the emergency response manual at Virgin Atlantic and responsible for continuous improvement and training delivery of the ‘in-house’ family assistance team.

Tom is an avid traveller, holds a Private Pilot’s Licence, and is based in London.

Teresita resides in Medellin, Colombia and is an experienced aviation professional and Clinical Psychologist with more than 26 years of experience at Avianca and its associated airlines, 18 of which were in Emergency Response. She has responded to several major air accidents and incidents and provided support to passengers and families directly affected as a result of a hijacked aircraft.

Teresita’s experience and knowledge in psychological intervention during crisis situations from a clinical and educational psychological perspective have helped her to develop Emergency Response Plans that complied with industry-leading standards, that were easy to follow, tested in the real world, and aimed at managing and reducing the biopsychosocial consequences of family members and others affected by a traumatic incident or accident.

In addition, Teresita has held administrative and leadership positions in programs aimed at psychological assistance and adaptation to change, with special consideration given to empathy when dealing with people, organizations, especially those involved with Humanitarian Assistance.