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.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

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.

Bert “Bow-Thai” van Walbeek has 45 years’ experience in the Hotel and Tourism industry and has been a “Master of Disaster” in this space for 30 years and a University Lecturer for 20 years.

During his tenure as VP Marketing Middle East for ITT Sheraton, he had to face the crisis of the 1st Gulf War and developed the “Back to Normal” concepts for the Sheraton Hotels in the area and for the Egyptian General Authority for the Promotion of Tourism. During Thailand’s “Black May” crisis in May 1992, he was Chairman of the TAT Marketing Working Group for the 1992 Recovery Committee developed “The World, Our Guest” campaign.

Bert worked with PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) on Risk & Crisis Management publication “Expect the Unexpected” and developed PATA’s first educational & training module on that topic. He also co-authored with Dr. David Beirman the PATA publication “Bounce Back “.

Bert was part of the Bali Recovery Task Force and initiated with PATA the Tourism Crisis Recovery Communication Plan for Sichuan and Chengdu. He also worked with the Macau Government Tourism Office towards setting up a separate government entity called “Tourism Crisis Management Office”. Until recently, Bert was the Chairman of the PATA Rapid Recovery Taskforce where he developed the plans for proactive and reactive risk mitigation and crisis management advocacy, as well as for rapid recovery support. The task force’s efforts were tested during recent crises in India, Thailand, the Philippines, Guam and Fiji. Most recently, he was the Coordinator of the Nepal Tourism Rapid Recovery Task Force.

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.

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 also helped to develop Scotland’s national resilience guidance, “Preparing Scotland”. A move into emergency response and crisis management consultancy saw Andrew delivering services mainly to the oil and gas sector worldwide, enabling him to spend three years in South East Asia as a senior consultant.

On returning to the UK, Andrew moved back to the wider transport sector, becoming Head of Crisis Management for the world’s biggest travel company, TUI. Having successfully completed crisis management and incident response improvement projects involving TUI UK’s cruise ships, airline, tour operations and internal business continuity,

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.