Tina Allmark, ESAC Director

Tina Allmark is a Senior Operations Manager with three decades of experience in live television and live production environments. At the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, she leads a team of media professionals with a focus on multi-camera television production. Tina manages the activities of crew and facilities for video production across multiple studio sound stages, control rooms, and digital spaces as well as supporting requirements for staging & lighting installations across the country.

Tina is the co-chair of the CBC Health and Safety Committee and is a current representative on the Environmental Lead Team Working Group, leading the organization in implementing and maintaining environmental practices. She makes a personal commitment to inclusive leadership by creating and fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace: one where all staff feel like they belong and their opinions matter.

Passionate about creating a culture of workplace safety, Tina challenges her teams to make safety everyone’s priority and work together to minimize risk. She has prioritized safety training within her department with the belief that knowledge and skills help to create a culture of trust.

Charlotte Brookes

Charlotte Brookes is the National Event Director of the Canada Running Series. With more than 17 years of event experience, she manages the planning and production of seven races in four cities for 70,000 participants annually, including the World Athletics Elite Label TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon. 

On race day, Charlotte runs the show. In addition to being in charge of Emergency Management and Crisis Communication, Charlotte also leads their Event Operation Centre with a team of Event Dispatchers, key stakeholders and vendors to ensure a smooth event. 

In 2017, Charlotte received an Industry Leader Under 40 Award from the National Center for Spectator Sports, Safety and Security and in 2019 was part of a Safety and Security Task Force facilitated by the Office of Emergency Management with ten other major events in the City of Toronto. 

When she’s not planning races, Charlotte loves running, drinking craft beer and volunteering her time at the Parkdale Community Foodbank!

Teresa Byrne

Teresa Byrne is an Arts & Culture Strategist specializing in Festivals and Events for The City of Calgary. Her primary responsibility is the development and implementation of The City’s ‘Eventful City Strategy’. A born and raised Calgarian, she joined The City of Calgary’s Arts & Culture Division in 1992, where she developed through her career as a strong supporter and advocate for the festival and event industry. During her time at The City, she has taken on a variety of roles from facilitator, collaborator, leader and producer of a range of local, regional, national and international events.

Autumn Coppaway

Autumn Coppaway is the Founding Director of the Miikana Project and currently the Consulting Director of Production at Edmonton Opera. Originally from the Curve Lake First Nations Reservation area; she currently resides on the unceded homelands of xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueum), sḵwx̱ wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Her past credits include Technical Director for Vancouver Opera; Technical Director for the Banff Centre’s Opera Program; Assistant Technical Director for the Canadian Opera Company; and Production Manager for Against the Grain Theatre.

Autumn is a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Circle of Artists and sits as the Board President for Lucky Penny Opera. She is a National Director for CITT/ICTS, co-creating their Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Committee. Graduating this year with a Master’s in Public Safety, Autumn continues to work as a leadership mentor and indigenous advocate through a variety of educational, cultural and community projects.

Lindsay Goldsney

Lindsay Goldsney is a 20-year veteran of the hospitality and public assembly management industry. Currently, Lindsay holds the position of Director of Fan Experience and Security at Oilers Entertainment Group in Edmonton, Alberta. Throughout her career, she has led security, safety and customer focused teams in arenas, convention centers, festival sites and at the Edmonton International Airport. Lindsay is a Certified Venue Professional (CVP) accredited through the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM). Lindsay is committed to safe reemergence of the events industry and currently serves on the Professional Sports Facilities Advisory Committee for the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4).

Superintendent Allison Good

Superintendent Allison Good brings with her 25 years of policing service throughout British Columbia commencing her policing career with the RCMP in 1997. She is presently the Superintendent of the Community Policing Bureau overseeing all frontline, proactive uniform teams, and community engagement/partnerships with the Surrey Police Service (SPS). Before moving to SPS, Superintendent Good was the Inspector in-charge of operations at the Ridge Meadows RCMP detachment.

Prior to transferring back to the Lower Mainland of British Columbia in 2014, Allison spent over12 years in the North and South-East Districts of BC, working in a variety of communities including remote rural locations. Allison has extensive experience in managing major events at a municipal, regional, and provincial level. She is a gold commander and recognized as a subject matter expert in major event planning and public safety. She led the Emergency & Operational Planning Unit and the Diversity & Indigenous Peoples Unit at the Surrey RCMP detachment organizing the police response to multiple large events including the annual Vaisakhi celebration, Cloverdale Rodeo, FVDED music festival and Remembrance Day ceremonies to name but a few.

Superintendent Good has a B.A. from Simon Fraser University where she met her husband to whom she has been married for over 20 years and shares two daughters.

Jason Gordon, ESAC Director

With almost 25 years of experience in Occupational Safety, Jason has developed confidence in interpreting and implementing Health & Safety Legislation, Management Systems, and Health & Safety Programs. From 2004 to 2014, Jason worked as an Inspector and Inspectorate Peer Trainer for the Ministry of Labour, where he headed the "Tower Crane Initiative".

In 2011, after investigating a serious incident in the Event Sector, Jason became a leader in Occupational Safety in the Event Sector. During this time, Jason recognized that he could better serve the industry as a Consultant, and, in 2014, followed that dream. Today, as the Director of Operations and Event Sector Lead for the Eastern division of Cobalt Safety, Jason focuses on fostering a safe work environment for all his clients but, admittedly has an increased focus on growing the Safety Culture of the Event Sector and is proud to be involved as a Board Member of the Event Safety Alliance Canada as well as the Scott Johnson Working Group.

Shannon Inniss, ESAC Board Secretary & Fundraising Committee Chair

Shannon spent the first portion of her career gaining an extensive background in technical theatre production and corporate audio-visual. She specialized in technical systems design and onsite management until broadening into overall event technical direction/management. Throughout this journey, the consistent driving force was a desire to seek change and innovation in an industry with varying degrees of health and safety considerations. 

Shannon later transitioned into managing event operations for outdoor festivals which broadened her skill range and knowledge, from tents to propane and everything between. Writing extensive risk assessments, emergency safety management plans, contracts, and working alongside key authorities are some of the core job functions she provides events. She has also worked alongside professionals in the industry from around the world in an effort discover best practices and open dialogue for improvement in global standards. She has recently started a Master of Science degree at the University of Manchester Metropolitan in Crowd Safety and Risk Analysis.

Ken Johnson

Ken Johnson is Scott Johnson’s father and a passionate safety advocate. He retired two years ago from his role as Technical and Health and Safety Advisor to the National Access and Scaffolding Confederation (NASC), a role he held for eight years. He represented them at the British Standards Institute, Temporary Works Forum, Build UK, the Health and Safety Executive, CEN (the European Committee for Standardization) and UEG (a European group of scaffolding organizations).

He currently represents the Small Business Standard in Brussels, and as an expert on Scaffolding Standards at CEN in Berlin. He has spent a lifetime in manufacturing and business development in the UK and internationally, as well as creating and managing two companies for almost 20 years.

Ken is a trustee at No Falls Foundation, a charity advising on Work at Height and supporting people who have fallen, and a member of the Scott Johnson Working Group here in Canada.

Kevin Jones, ESAC Director

Kevin is Odyssey Medical’s Executive Director of Event Operations nationally – call-sign Ops Kilo. Kevin is the ‘go-to’ Ops Man. His tenure with Odyssey goes back to the beginning. Kevin’s passions are in the tactical and operational event delivery. He is committed to crew, patients, and customer positive outcomes. 

“Working at Odyssey is a natural culmination of everything that I love to do – working with people, working outside and being the centre of chaos.” Kevin has extensive experience in risk management, emergency communication and event operations. Kevin’s experience spans from remote wilderness expeditions to large scale urban sporting events and multi-day, 24/7 music festivals. He has led event medical programs for many large obstacle course events. Building on a background in insurance and education, he is committed to evidence based decision-making and systems development.

Chris Kerr, ESAC Board Vice Chair

Chris Kerr is the President and Co-Founder of XA, one of Alberta's most visible security and staffing companies specializing in live events. The XA Security division is a recognized leader in crowd management, mass gatherings, physical screening, and nonviolent de-escalation. The XA Live division supplies technical personnel, production management, and planning services to the live event industry.

He is a Live Event Producer and Festival Operations Director with global touring experience that has represented promoters, artists, venues, and service providers in nearly every aspect of live event production in locations around the world. He volunteers on the boards of several not-for-profit organizations and is the Vice Chair of the Event Safety Alliance Canada (ESAC), the Treasurer of the Global Crowd Management Alliance (GMCA), the Learning Chair of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Calgary Chapter (EO), and board member of Kidzinc School Age Care Society of Alberta (Kidzinc).

Petrina Nash

I have been with the AGLC for 23 years in varying roles. I started out as a General Duty Inspector looking into gaming, liquor and eligibility matters. I then moved into a specialized role dealing with eligibility investigations pertaining to groups that received gaming funds. I am currently a Supervisor for a the Special Projects Team which focuses on inducement related matters involving liquor and cannabis and also the Public Safety Compliance Team. The Public Safety Compliance Team is a multi-agency task force  that works together to address public safety related issues. The team has had much success through education and working with licensees and stakeholders to ensure they operate safe businesses for both patrons and staff.

Daryl O'Dowd - ACM, CO

Daryl O'Dowd – senior meteorologist for Weatherdyne International – has over 30 years of meteorological experience, holding degrees from Queen's University and the University of Alberta. He is accredited by the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS), sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Weather Modification, and has numerous interviews and publications dealing with cloud-seeding, radar, severe storms and weather safety. 

He was an investigator into the weather conditions leading up to the 2009 Camrose stage collapse, and currently provides forensic services to insurance, law enforcement and legal firms, acting as expert witness in the reconstruction of weather events associated with accidents and fatalities. 

In addition he has provided weather safety guidance to outdoor event operators including the Banff Centre, the Calgary Stampede, Parks Canada, Union Events and many others. In 2011 he was the NHL's on-site meteorologist for the Tim Hortons Heritage Classic outdoor hockey game held in February in Calgary. He also offers classroom and corporate lectures on weather basics (Meteorology 101) and topical issues including the chemtrail-contrail debate.

Suzannah Patmios

Suzannah has been involved in the corporate management world for the last 20 years in various operational and strategic management roles. Starting in 2013 she began producing boutique events across North America. Since 2018, she has been studying and working in crowd safety and management which is now her professional passion and work focus. Having undertaken safety auditing and policy recommendation work pre pandemic, when Canada turned the post covid switch back on in 2022 there was lots of event safety and crowd management work waiting. With the increased demand for live events, 2022 was a learning experience for many of us; and learning to adapt to the new demands of the crowd has been both rewarding as well as challenging.

Don Parman

Don Parman is the Manager Performing Arts & Live Events at Actsafe Safety Association. Don’s twenty five-year career has taken him from student, to crew, to supervisor and manager. Along the way he has worked with some amazing organizations, The Massey Theatre, Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Royal City Musical Theatre, The Canadian Institute for Theatre Technology to name just a few.  Don now brings all that experience and love for live performance to Actsafe Safety Association. From ladder safety to air quality, Don has experienced it first hand and can help you navigate the world of Performing Arts safety.

Scott Pollard, ESAC Director

Scott is the President of Palmer Audio Inc. located in Cambridge Ontario and has been since its inception in 1980.

Scott’s primary area of expertise is the technical design and implementation of large special events. His experiences include; Technical Director of World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto, that hosted over 500,000 visitors to Toronto, as the Public Safety Planner & Manager for the Rolling Stones SARS Concert in Toronto in 2003 with 500,000 attendees.

In 2008 Scott took on the role of Director of Operations for the Inaugural Pemberton Festival and more recently became the Senior Site Director & Public Safety Planner of the 2014 & 2015 Squamish Valley Music Festivals.

Scott’s more recent interesting events were mounting the Opening Ceremonies on the One Young World Conference on Parliament Hill in September of 2016 and again working on Parliament Hill in 2017 Scott provided Technical consulting and execution of the Canada 150 Skating Rink.

Scott has numerous ongoing projects such as the RBC Ottawa Bluesfest, CityFolk Festival and numerous motorsport events across North America where he acts as Production Manager / Technical Director.

Scott’s experience in Production Management, worker and public safety planning provides him with a well-balanced view of all aspects of the special events industry.

Tony Potestio, ESAC Director

Having over twenty years of professional experience in the live entertainment industry, Tony is grateful that he has found success in an industry he loves.  He was fortunate that his grandfather, a traditional Italian folk singer, gave him the experience of live music from the technical side at an early age. After which Tony attended Humber College’s technical theatre program. 

Tony spent the formative part of his career at The Creative Reality Group Inc (CRGI). In which he was given the opportunity to hone his skills in all aspects of the event process from both the technical production and venue management side. Progressing from freelancer to principle, with years of onsite management at the Rogers Centre and supporting client events across Canada. Tony has been recognized for his preproduction in large scale events and festivals.

Currently, Tony is the Director of Live Production at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE). Having oversight over the technical production portfolio, managing the live technical production department and technical labour requirements at all MLSE venues. Including Scotiabank Arena, Canada’s premiere sports and entertainment venue that is consistently ranked in the top ten in North America, and globally, for live entertainment.  When not dealing with an event directly, Tony has been busy helping to develop site specific systems and practices with a focus on event safety and efficiency.

Jourdan Rosell, ESAC Director

Jourdan Rosell is a live events & production professional with over 12 years of international experience in managing live performances, events, theatre productions, festivals, installations and global partnerships.

He started his career in the events industry in Singapore where he honed his skills in event coordination, event management, pre and post production coordination, client and vendor relations, as well as in building and facility maintenance operations. Singapore being a regional and global events hub has given him a solid exposure to Asian and international acts, campaigns, projects and partnerships.

Jourdan holds a degree in Technical Theatre from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde's School of Design and Arts in the Philippines, and recently completed his graduate studies with honours in Project Management at George Brown College.  Jourdan is currently based in Toronto and works as a Manager of Event Productions at Artscape.

Mike Rouleau

Mike Rouleau is currently the Director of Operations at RBC Bluesfest and CityFolk music festival. He has been working with the organization since 2004. Mike has held positions in the Sponsorship and Programming departments at Bluesfest but has maintained his current role since late 2005. He graduated in Business Marketing from Algonquin College after eight years in the banking and financial industry. Mike has been married for 12 years and is the proud father of a nine-year-old son. Born and raised in Ottawa, Mike enjoys giving back to the community through the many Bluesfest youth education programs he’s been involved in and by his commitment of more than 20 years coaching minor-league sports in Ottawa’s east end.

Paul Runnals, ESAC Director

With a career spanning over three decades Paul is widely regarded as one of Canada’s premiere producers of major festivals, concerts, and celebrity events.

After starting out as a technical director for live events and festivals in Vancouver, he went on to manage production on numerous worldwide concert tours by Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne, Dido, Prince, INXS, and many others. He is a founding partner of Vancouver based BRANDLIVE Management Group, where he led creation and delivery of the critically acclaimed Squamish Valley Music Festival from 2010-15.  

In 2012, he oversaw the creation and delivery of “Voices in the Park”; the first major ticketed concert event in Stanley Park which helped raise over $1 million for the Sarah McLachlan School of Music and laid the foundation for the multi-stage SKOOKUM festival that he produced there in 2018. Paul is the ongoing Executive Producer on the Honda Celebration of Light and leads all licensing and public safety / contingency planning for the event which draws 1.2m attendees annually.

He is a former board member of kids up front, and a member of the performing arts standing committee for Actsafe.

Clark Saundh

Clark Saundh an Event Security Supervisor at XA Security – an industry leader in providing crowd safety solutions in Western Canada. Clark is currently the longest serving employee of XA Security after joining the team in 2005. Clark began as a security guard and rose in the ranks of the company all the way to XA's Regional Operations Manager before recently stepping down from the position. Clark has spent the last 17 years managing diverse teams in hectic environments during ever changing circumstances. Clark has overseen all aspects of XA’s operations with the goal of cultivating an industry-leading team that can provide the highest level of service in any situation.

Janet Sellery, ESAC Board Chair & Programming Committee Chair

Janet Sellery is one of Canada’s leading experts in health and safety and the arts. She started her career in stage management and moved into health and safety after a critical injury involving an actor. Janet pioneered the health and safety program at the Stratford Festival, Canada’s largest repertory theatre, and one of her favourite projects was working as the Health & Safety Manager for the Opening, Closing and Victory Ceremonies at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Prior to her work with Event Safety Alliance Canada, Janet was a co-founder of the Canadian Event Safety Summit (2016-2018).

Janet is an active volunteer with the Ontario Ministry of Labour Live Performance Health & Safety Advisory Committee, the Scott Johnson Working Group, the Board of Directors for the Event Safety Alliance and the Event Safety Working Group. Janet is a graduate of the Theatre Technical/Production program at the Ryerson Theatre School in Toronto and certified as both a Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP) and a Certified Health and Safety Consultant (CHSC).

She has been awarded the “Ron Epp Memorial Award for Professional Achievement” (Canadian Institute for Theatre Technology) and “Canada’s Safety Manager of the Year” (Canadian Occupational Safety Magazine). As a Health & Safety Consultant (Sellery Health + Safety), Janet focuses on customizing programs, training, and resources to reflect the constantly evolving and unique demands of the live event environment.

Adam Stewart

Adam Stewart worked as a Paramedic EMS from 1996 to 2004, then joined the Calgary Fire Department. He became a Fire Safety Code officer in 2015, and is currently a Fire Inspector focusing on Special Events.

Cindy Sypher

Cindy Sypher is a Designated Consulting Engineer and the President of Sypher & Associates Field Engineering Ltd. She has a bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Waterloo. Her consulting interests include amusement rides, risk management, temporary structures, mechanical and structural design, fire and life safety, machine guarding, playground design and inspection, emergency preparedness, rigging and general public safety initiatives. She has consulted to major fairs and event promoters.

Stevie Tea

Stevie is one of the founding members of The New People (TNP), who blend Multimedia Theatre and Future-Pop with interactive storytelling, soundscaping, and dynamic choreography. In early 2021, Stevie began working with The Awesome Music Project (AMP) and is now leading their Partnerships and Community Team.

Jill Volker

Jill Volker is the Regional Manager of People & Culture for Paladin Security Group Inc. Since 2011, she has filled critical roles in training and development within Alberta’s security sector, specializing in concerts, festivals, sporting events, and mass gatherings. She has managed teams of over 800, drawing from her diverse educational background and field level experience. Jill spends her summers as the Director of Safety and Security for Live Nation’s festivals in Alberta. 

She has a BA in Criminal Justice, a background in EMS, a PgDip in Crowd Safety and Risk Analysis as well as a certificate in Occupational Health & Safety and another in Adult Learning and Community Education. Future goals include a law degree, and a practice focused on her passion: public safety.

It is this passion, along with her continuous drive for improvement, that motivates her to constantly push boundaries in search of better processes. Jill embraces the dynamic nature of society, and strives to exceed industry standards in both crowd and risk management, by continuously looking for ways to enhance public safety at events.