Dries has over 55 years of experience in all the facets of the aviation industry. He has held positions as Squadron Commander, Head of Advanced Management Training as well as Head of Aviation Safety of the SA Air Force, Director of Flight Operations, Head of Flight Operations Training, Safety Manager and Emergency Response Planning Manager. He is certified as a Safety Professional with the Institute of Safety Management and is a qualified military pilot, instructor and trainer. Before his retirement Dries was the Executive Manager Aviation Safety and Emergency Response Planning with South African Airways.

His leadership and management expertise includes areas such as Advance Management Training, Strategic Management, Aviation Safety, Flight Operations, Operational Control, Training Management, Quality Assurance, Cargo Handling, Ground Handling, Accident Investigations, Risk Management, Continuous Airworthiness Management (CAMO) and Emergency Response Planning.

Dries assists Companies, Flight Operations Departments, Safety Departments, Airports, Training Organisations and Maintenance Organisations to conduct their business safely and effectively. He assists Companies in preparation for CAA, IOSA, BARS and other related audit standards. He provides legal compliance assistance and guidance to Civil Aviation Authorities, Companies, Operators, Maintenance and Training Organisations. He has developed and successfully implemented several flight operations, aviation safety, occupational health and safety (OHAS), integrated safety risk management systems, cargo handling, CAMO, emergency response plans and formal safety culture, in various Companies.

As a qualified aircraft accident investigator and has conducted several major aircraft accident investigations. He is also a qualified Lead Auditor and has led and conducted a number of operations, quality, aviation safety, OHAS, airports, training, maintenance organisation, emergency response and related aviation audits.

He develops Emergency Response Plans and provide training for scheduled and charter operators. He has directed several emergency response incidents and facilitates tabletop and full functional emergency response exercises.

Dries develops and compiles a variety of required manuals and provides similar training to help Companies to operate and function at world best practices and standards and thereby ensures that their business is effective and safe. To achieve this, he supports Companies to develop and optimize required management, operational and safety management processes and then articulates the associated procedures in the respective manuals. He subscribes to the concept of “Document what you do, and then do what you have documented”.

Vince has over 15 years of aviation experience working in a variety of both operational, safety and emergency management roles, most recently leading the Emergency Response and Humanitarian Assistance Team at United Airlines.

Vince began his aviation career as a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps where he was trained as an Aviation Safety Officer. He led an aviation mishap investigation and mishap board following a major accident. He is also a trained Casualty Assistance Calls Officer. 

Following his military service, Vince joined United Airlines where he led United’s Emergency Response Team. During his time at United he responded to several minor aviation incidents and major man-made and natural disasters. Vince deployed United’s Special Assistance Team to Houston, Texas following Hurricane Harvey providing humanitarian assistance to several hundred employees experiencing total loss of property. Immediately upon return he directed United’s EOC in supporting victims of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. As part of the star Alliance Emergency Steering Committee he co-developed a common disaster site plan used by all member airlines. 

Vince graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy where he studied Aeronautical Engineering. He currently resides in the Chicagoland area. 

Steve has 30 years of policing and emergency response experience in the London Metropolitan Police Service, during which he specialised in the multi-agency management of major incidents and as a result Steve spent the last 5 years of his police service seconded to the National Centre for Policing Excellence as Head of the Disaster Management Team. He was an advisor to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and to the Home Office and Interpol regarding Major Incidents, Disaster Victim Identification (DVI), Mass Fatalities Management and the Humanitarian Aspects of Disaster. Steve was commended numerous times during his police career, including a Metropolitan Police Commissioners’ Commendation for his response to the London Bombings in 2005.

Over the last 15 years, Steve has worked in the commercial sector emergency response environment, including five years with the UK Cabinet Office Emergency Planning College as a Lecturer and Assessor in incident management, counter terrorism, and safety at sports grounds and events. He was also a Safety Officer for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

Working in multiple sectors throughout his career, including aviation, transport, and oil & gas industries, Steve has delivered strategic, tactical and operational advice, as well as training to key sector stakeholders. He has responded to incidents in the UK, North Africa, Namibia, France, Russia, and has provided training and participated in exercises in the UK, UAE, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and Somaliland.

Steve holds a Master of Science Degree, MSc., in Emergency Planning and Disaster Management and is a visiting lecturer in Major Incident and Mass Fatality Management at several UK Universities. He is a former Fellow of the Institute of Civil Protection and Emergency Management (FICPEM), and is a Member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (TechIOSH), the Security Institute (MSyI), and an Associate Member of the UK Emergency Planning Society (AEPS)

As a professional Crisis Management Expert, with extensive years of working experience in the field, Selwyn is facilitated with the knowledge, skills and experience that involves the design, establishment, execution and management of a wide array of Crisis Management and Business Continuity strategies, policies and procedures.

Over the last 28 years, he has worked with organizations within the Aviation Industry, including the Emirates Airline group and Airports in the UAE, and helped them effectively manage crises, minimize the effects of disruption and enable the recovery and continuation of critical business functions, through effective development, training and exercising of Crisis Management Frameworks.

Selwyn is a certified member (AMBCI) of the Business Continuity Institute in UK.

Saroj is a highly experienced senior leader with over 30 years of experience in Aviation, she has represented the airline/aviation for resilience at key regulatory and industry groups in the UK and internationally. Shej has led business resilience, operations performance improvement, customer service development, and airline consultation, demonstrating excellent stakeholder management skills in a complex airport environment.
An experienced Senior Leader with a track record of transformational delivery. She has a vast breadth of expertise across all aspects of business including; business resilience, safety management, frontline customer operations, airport operations, and corporate programs. Her valuable cross-functional insight uniquely positions her to successfully develop, advise on and implement effective plans and response to business continuity and crisis management. She set up the business resilience capabilities in British Airways and as Gold Incident Commander, has led crisis response worldwide for endemic and pandemic, industrial action, political unrest, IT failures, major weather events, natural disasters (Icelandic volcanic ash) grounding of aircraft fleets, aircraft incidents , and more. She also led the operational and humanitarian response on the ground too; for example in New York for Hurricane Sandy.
Saroj is flexible, reliable and customer-focused, and has a proven track record of delivering pragmatic solutions that are aligned to the business strategy. She is a strong and experienced people manager of culturally diverse and remote teams.

Peter has worked in aviation for 40 years, 35 of which were with British Airways in Manchester, Gatwick, Heathrow and China. He has held senior roles in Strategy, Engineering and Operations culminating in a 5-year stint as Head of Global Operations during which period he masterminded BA’s response to various crises, including the 2010 Icelandic Volcanic Eruption, for which he designed the plan which triggered the reopening of UK airspace after a week’s closure, and for a major snowstorm in southern England the same year. As Gold Incident Commander, he took the pre-emptive step to halt all of the BA’s operation just before the snow started, despite heavy criticism from other airlines and airports who were taking a more optimistic view (which did not materialise!).
Peter coordinated mergers with other airlines (British Caledonian, DanAir and British Midland), and implemented best practices from alliance partners such as Qantas, American Airlines, and US Airways. He also coordinated the kick-offs for joint ventures with China Southern/GAMECO, Gulf Air/GAMCO etc.
Since leaving British Airways, he has advised C-suite executives of airports and airlines around the world on planning, process, organisation, and systems. He has also conducted engagements to overhaul the crisis management procedures at a major low-cost airline in SE Asia, and the disruption escalation procedures at a low-cost carrier in Central America.
GoCrisis is thrilled to have such an experienced professional as part of our team to support our global clients.

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).