Meet the Speakers
Meet the Speakers
Meet the speakers for the WMRC 2023. In order to learn more about each individual speaker, please click on the Read Bio button below.

Henk Spanjer
Henk Spanjer is currently Chair of the International Association for Safety and Survival Training (IASST), having served as a Board Member for many years. Originally from Terschelling – an island in the Northern part of the Netherlands – Henk graduated as a nautical officer and engineer in 1985 and then spent four years at sea. In 1993, he began work at the Maritime Institute Willem Barentsz (MIWB) on Terschelling Island, lecturing in maritime radio communication (GMDSS) and running several maritime safety training courses. In 1997, Henk joined KNRM lifeboat station Paal 8, as a volunteer crew member, becoming a relief lifeboat coxswain in 2004. From 2011 – 2022, he was the station’s lead-coxswain, responsible for keeping the lifeboat station operational and trained 24/7 year-round. Henk was part of the lifeboat crew who won the IMRF Team Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Maritime SAR in 2018 for their part in two particularly challenging rescue operations, both in very difficult weather conditions.
Over the years, Henk has trained many cadets and other maritime professionals in GMDSS and safety and survival. He has also participated in several maritime safety-related EU educational projects and, as part of the IASST, is part of a wider effort to improve maritime safety and survival training, through sharing knowledge and expertise between the members, and by organizing seminars and conferences.
In recognition of his work in improving maritime safety training and his contribution to maritime SAR as a volunteer KNRM lifeboat crew member, Henk was presented with the 2022 IMRF Vladimir Maksimov Award for Lifetime Achievement in Maritime SAR.

Justin Allan
Justin Allan – General Manager RCCNZ and Safety Systems
Justin has been with RCCNZ and Safety Systems for just over a year and is responsible for ensuring delivery of the teams critical Search and Rescue responsibilities, safety systems functions and the support and development of communications, navigational safety and distress alerting infrastructure.
Justin joined Maritime New Zealand from New Zealand Customs where he led the Strategic Coordination Unit. Justin has held senior advisor roles in the National Security Systems Directorate in DPMC and the Police Policy Group. Justin also spent time working on NZDF capability projects as an analyst in Army General Staff and has served overseas with the NZ Police as a mentor and performance advisor (Solomon Islands) and two operational tours with the NZ Army (Timor Leste and Solomon Islands).
Justin has a Master of Arts (Hons) in Strategy and Defence from the Australian National University and BA(Hons) in Political Science from Canterbury University.
Justin enjoys his family life with his wife Karen and their two young children and Schnoodle (schnauzer-poodle cross) named… Noodle (Justin’s choice of dog name was overruled by his children). He is a keen scuba-diver (provided the water isn’t too cold…) and journeyman deer-stalker with a voracious appetite for books, articles and the occasional pale ale.

Hugo Ammerlaan

Orlando Avis
Orlando Max Avis
I develop safe, effective systems for mass casualty rescue. Volunteering as crew for the RNLI at 18 provided me with a valuable foundation for further efforts.
After a masters at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, I returned to lifeboats in Lesvos (2016) working as project
coordinator and helm in periods with daily crossings of over 6,000 people.
Moving offshore to the central Mediterranean (2016) onboard M/V Aquarius, I managed the rescue of roughly 7,500 people, facing shipwrecks with over 80 people in the water, crushing events, and single rescues of more than 2,000 people.
Pre-existing techniques and equipment did not adequately mitigate the risks faced, so I led the development of novel risk reduction interventions. Team cohesion and competence are key in mass casualty rescue, so we developed a Competency-Based Training program.
Back on shore as SAR and fleet manager for SOS MEDITERRANEE, work continued in the development of our online Learning Management Systems enabling pre-embarkation team training. Equipment needed to be adapted to mitigate risks faced. I led the design, procurement, and deployment of 2 unique rescue boats while managing a fleet of 8 rescue boats with no operational downtime over 4 years in service.

Alex Barrell
Alex Barrell is currently the Commissioner of Marine Rescue NSW situated on the east coast of Australia. Alex graduated from the NSW Police Academy in 1994 following a career as a professional lifeguard in Australia and Jersey in the Channel Islands. Alex’s Policing career spanned over 24 years where he served as a general duties officer before specialising as a Police Diver and then a Water Police master, holding senior roles within the NSW Marine Area Command including leading the States Marine SAR responsibilities.
Upon leaving the NSW Police Force, Alex took up senior executive roles within government in NSW Maritime leading operational regulatory and compliance teams, and overseeing the State’s marine pollution response capabilities. In 2020 Alex took up the role of Deputy Commissioner of Operations and Capability at Marine Rescue NSW before being promoted to Commissioner in April 2023. Alex maintains commercial seafaring, SAR and Incident Controller qualifications, and is currently a member of various SAR, emergency management and maritime committees within NSW. Over the last 30 years Alex has participated in and lead multiple maritime rescue and large scale operations and is a passionate advocate for the professional and volunteer members of the SAR
sector within Australia.

Frederike Bensch
Frederike is a final year medical student and volunteer rescue boat driver from Lübeck, Northern Germany. She learned to swim at her local volunteer Surf Lifesaving Club (DLRG), became a lifeguard and has participated in inflatable rescue boat competitions. After graduating high school, she spent a year as a volunteer lifeguard in New Zealand where she accompanied the crew of a Coastguard NZ rescue vessel and SAR aircraft on some rescue missions. During her holidays she has a job as a co-instructor and safety swimmer for sea survival and working at heights trainings for offshore wind farm technicians. With the goal of becoming an offshore emergency physician, she completed a helicopter underwater rescue training and industrial rope access courses. Whenever possible she combines her medical internships either with the sea (Internal Medicine in an island hospital, General Medicine with a medical officer on a Navy ship) or with traveling (Traditional Chinese Medicine in Australia, Autoimmune Diagnostics in Singapore, Cardiology in India). Last year she participated in the „Women in SAR training“ in Finland and volunteered as safety swimmer for the „G5 mass rescue conference“. She loves to write about inspiring experiences and people in her blog: https://chasinthesun16.wordpress.com.

Joost Bierens
Joost Bierens (MD, PhD, MCPM) is a retired anesthesiologist, with previous academic positions as (visiting) professor in emergency medicine at the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam, the research group emergency and disaster medicine of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), and the doctoral school in global health, humanitarian aid and disaster medicine at the University of Piemonte (Italy). In addition to activities related to emergency and disaster medicine research, he has had a lifetime involvement in the field of drowning research and education. He currently still holds assignments as professional or volunteer for several national (including KNRM) and international organisations (including ILS, IDRA, WHO) related to these topics.

Pieter Blank
Alex Barrell is currently the Commissioner of Marine Rescue NSW situated on the east coast of Australia. Alex graduated from the NSW Police Academy in 1994 following a career as a professional lifeguard in Australia and Jersey in the Channel Islands. Alex’s Policing career spanned over 24 years where he served as a general duties officer before specialising as a Police Diver and then a Water Police master, holding senior roles within the NSW Marine Area Command including leading the States Marine SAR responsibilities.
Upon leaving the NSW Police Force, Alex took up senior executive roles within government in NSW Maritime leading operational regulatory and compliance teams, and overseeing the State’s marine pollution response capabilities. In 2020 Alex took up the role of Deputy Commissioner of Operations and Capability at Marine Rescue NSW before being promoted to Commissioner in April 2023. Alex maintains commercial seafaring, SAR and Incident Controller qualifications, and is currently a member of various SAR, emergency management and maritime committees within NSW. Over the last 30 years Alex has participated in and lead multiple maritime rescue and large scale operations and is a passionate advocate for the professional and volunteer members of the SAR
sector within Australia.

Phil Bostock
Born in Kassel / Germany, Phil joined the German Navy in 1995 as a Warfare Officer and graduated from the German Armed Forces University Munich in 2001 with a master’s degree in political and social sciences. After leaving the navy in 2009, he joined His Majesty’s Coastguard at the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Dover, followed by roles as a Subject Matter Expert at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s (MCA) Headquarters and as a Technical Trainer before taking on a command role at the National Maritime Operations Centre (Joint Rescue Coordination Centre) with specific responsibilities for Vessel Traffic Services and Monitoring. This role also saw him being operationally deployed as Search and Rescue Advisor to the Royal Navy, providing assistance during the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean. Taking over as the Head of International Liaison in 2017, he has been actively involved in various coast guard fora and search and rescue working groups and he is currently the UK’s maritime member of the ICAO-IMO Joint Working Group on Search and Rescue. Other parts of his role include leading the UK’s Search and Rescue Capability Project for the Oversees Territories, as well as other capacity building activities and international research projects.

Robert Brown
Rob is a professional engineer (naval architecture) with a Ph.D. in Computing and Mathematics from the University of Greenwich in London (human behaviour during passenger ship evacuation). For the past 20 years, Rob’s research has focussed on measurement and modelling of human behaviour and equipment performance for emergency situations at sea, in fires and in the Arctic. Rob has spent thousands of hours conducting field experiments at sea and in the Arctic, and has contributed to the development of international regulations and standards that govern passenger ship evacuation; personal protective equipment for helicopter transportation; life-saving appliances in the Arctic; and group and personal survival equipment for the Arctic. Rob is currently co/supervising 4 PhD and 4 Master’s students who are examining the performance and usability of personal floatation devices and personal locator beacons; probabilistic modelling of search and rescue in remote regions, evacuation behaviour of naval personnel and the effectiveness of new methods for fire fighter training.

Jonas Carlsson
I’m Jonas, 33 years old and I’m head of newbuilding department at SSRS since three years back. I have been a volunteer at SSRS for almost 20 years. I have previously worked 8 years onboard a 130m+ yacht as Chief Officer before moving ashore to start a family. I now live on the Swedish west coast together with my fiancee and 2 kids.

Michael Collier
Following a 20 year engineering career in the UK Royal Navy, I have been involved in a national command and control project for fire and rescue, surveillance equipment and worked 7 years in the cruise industry with a particular responsibility for man overboard detection for the world’s largest cruise company. During that time I was the project lead for ISO21195:2020 a standard for the detection of persons falling from ships. I am currently employed by MARSS, who have a world leading MOB detection technology.

Conrad James Shaw Cowan
Conrad James Shaw Cowan – graduated from the University of Manitoba with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Master of Arts degree in Disaster in Emergency Management from Royal Roads University and certificates in Government Administration, Emergency Operations and Executive Leadership Phycology from Cornell University. He has over 35 years of domestic & international experience in humanitarian and disaster response operations, including large-scale strategic management in natural disaster environments. Including deployments in the Provincial declared state of emergency wildfire command in British Columbia, the Quebec Ice storm; famine relief in Somalia and United Nations observations & Peacekeeping in post-conflict zones including Israel, Golan Heights, Syria & Croatia. In his present role as Executive Director, he manages Coastal Nations Coast Guard Auxiliary to provide effective marine SAR services for people in distress throughout BC’s coastline region.

Brendan Curtin
Operations Officer – Coast Guard Operations, with specific responsibility for the preparedness of emergency plans, Incident Command System development and conduct of regional and national maritime response exercises.

John Dalziel
Fifty plus years experience in the maritime industries. Sea time as an engineer with Canadian Coast Guard (including two North-West Passage transits), and the offshore fishing industry. Most of career was in the supervision of ship construction, refits and repairs. Also significant experience in regulatory safety inspections, for Class (LR) and for Flag State (Transport Canada Marine Safety, up to level of Acting National Manager of Small (Commercial) Vessel Safety). Involved in construction, refit and repair of several SAR vessels. Final employment was Senior Coast Guard onsite representative (Deputy Project Manager) for construction of nine Canadian Coast Guard 42 M Mid-Shore Patrol Vessels (Damen 42-07 design).
Currently Adjunct Professor in Industrial Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. working on SAR and Maritime Safety issues.
Involvement with SAR organizations goes back to 1971 (worked during the summer for RNLI in their design office), travel up the Norwegian Coast on NSSR recue cruiser ‘Jorgen Amundsen’. B.Sc. University Project was on the various ‘Lifeboat Societies’, and a comparison of their vessels. Spoke internationally on Maritime Safety and SAR issues, including WMRC 2015 & 2019, IMRF Mass Rescue Conference Gothenburg, 2012, IMO/Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Fiji, 2012 and others.
Honours B.Sc. Naval Architecture (Strathclyde, 1972 with two years credit from University of Michigan); M.Sc. (Distinction) Management Science, Imperial College, London, 1979, Fourth Class Marine Engineer’s Certificate (Transport Canada, 1974).

Fredrik Falkman
Industrial designer mfa, heading R, D & I

Duncan Ferner
Operations Officer – Coast Guard Operations, with specific responsibility for the preparedness of emergency plans, Incident Command System development and conduct of regional and national maritime response exercises.

Cristina Forbes
Dr. Cristina Forbes is the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Office of Search and Rescue oceanographer. She received her Ph.D. in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography from the University of Miami, Florida, USA. Through her career she has worked in academia, private companies and government agencies developing algorithms for atmospheric, ocean and storm surge numerical prediction models, processing large geophysical datasets, performing statistical analysis, and model verifications. For the past years she has applied her expertise, knowledge and skills to support several aspects of the USCG search and rescue. She works with national and international government agencies, institutions and universities to improve SAR and serves as Advisory Board Member in various oceanographic and meterological projects for the benefit of the USCG SAR mission.

Jill Fortuin
Jill Fortuin qualified as a surf lifeguard in 1993. She has a Bachelors in Oral Health (UWC), a Master in eHealthcare and Telemedicine (University of Queensland) and a PhD from UWC. She is passionate about appropriate health technologies specifically the use of information, communication and technologies (ICT) in health. Prior to joining NSRI in 2021, she held a position as a Senior Lecturer in the Division of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town. She served on the Ministerial Advisory Committee on eHealth, National Department of Health. She now combines her knowledge and experience from both academia and lifesaving to advance the Drowning Prevention efforts in South Africa and beyond.

Floris Goerlandt
Dr. Floris Goerlandt is an Associate Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering at Dalhousie University. He is also the Canada Research Chair in Risk Management and Resource Optimization for Marine Industries. He received his PhD degree in Maritime Risk and Safety in 2015 from Aalto University (Espoo, Finland). He also obtained a MSc. degree in Maritime Sciences from the University of Antwerp (Antwerp, Belgium) in 2006, and an MSc. degree in Marine Technology from Ghent University (Ghent, Belgium) in 2005. His expertise and research interests include risk analysis and management, safety engineering and management, modeling and analysis of maritime transportation systems, and maritime disaster preparedness planning and emergency response. He has published about 70 co-authored journal articles, 40 conference papers, several book chapters, and a co-edited book. Dr. Goerlandt serves on the editorial board of Safety Science, Transport Safety and Environment, and Multimodal Transportation, is board member of the Canadian Shipping Risk Forum, and serves as an external expert to the Risk Management Working Group of the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities. In recognition of his impactful research, he was awarded the Dalhousie University President’s Research Excellence Award for Emerging Investigators in 2020.

Eelco Harmsen

Jaakko Heikkilä
Head of Training at the Finnish Lifeboat Institution. Licentiate of Science by training. Volunteer lifeboat crew in FLBI Helsinki Station.

Robin Jenkins
Robin Jenkins is Co-Founder and CEO of Atlantic Pacific International Rescue Ltd (AP). Based in South Wales, London and Northern Japan, AP is focussed on reducing global drowning by providing crew, assets and training to areas of need.
Robin has been a volunteer with the RNLI since the age of 16, working on the lifeboat at UWC Atlantic in South Wales, and then on RNLI Tower in London until 2020. Over the last 7 years, Robin has volunteered with various NGOs working to help save lives in the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea.

Ullman Johan
Dr. Cristina Forbes is the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Office of Search and Rescue oceanographer. She received her Ph.D. in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography from the University of Miami, Florida, USA. Through her career she has worked in academia, private companies and government agencies developing algorithms for atmospheric, ocean and storm surge numerical prediction models, processing large geophysical datasets, performing statistical analysis, and model verifications. For the past years she has applied her expertise, knowledge and skills to support several aspects of the USCG search and rescue. She works with national and international government agencies, institutions and universities to improve SAR and serves as Advisory Board Member in various oceanographic and meterological projects for the benefit of the USCG SAR mission.

Richard Jonker
Sam is the Founder and CEO of Zelim, a company bringing novel unmanned search and rescue technologies into the maritime sector. Sam has spent his life working at sea, starting out as a dinghy instructor, then joining the Merchant Navy, working for several years as a Deck Officer on platform supply vessels. It was during this time the idea of remotely operated rescue came to fruition, Sam was on duty when tasked to a Mayday call, only to arrive on scene too late to find the person drowned. There began the journey to make the world’s first unmanned search and rescue vessel. Since founding Zelim the company has gone from strength to strength, completing a number of world’s firsts, whilst taking the idea from concept to proven technology.

Magnus Þor Jonsson

Caroline Jupe
Robin Jenkins is Co-Founder and CEO of Atlantic Pacific International Rescue Ltd (AP). Based in South Wales, London and Northern Japan, AP is focussed on reducing global drowning by providing crew, assets and training to areas of need.
Robin has been a volunteer with the RNLI since the age of 16, working on the lifeboat at UWC Atlantic in South Wales, and then on RNLI Tower in London until 2020. Over the last 7 years, Robin has volunteered with various NGOs working to help save lives in the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea.

Jeroen Kodde

Berit Letting
Berit Letting holds a Master of Science degree in Naval Architecture/Marine Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. She has a heart that beats for safety at sea, from boarding the tall ship “Christian Radich” 30 years ago, still an active sailor. She has additional education and experience within crisis management and emergency preparedness.
Berit has more than 20 years of expertise from working in the cross-section between maritime technology, strategy, and management in the maritime industries. Berit has worked in both private, public and NGO sectors, focusing on maritime safety – people, ships and the environment. Through her interest in business development, technical innovasion and digital transformation, she is driven by the thought that together we can achieve greater good.
Berit has significant experience from development projects, with a strong interest in technology development and novel ship design. She is currently the Project Director for our portfolio of new SAR vessels focusing on innovation and future-oriented solutions, with sustainability and smart operation at the forefront. These are projects stacked with new smart and innovative technology, challenging the supplier industry in joining us in achieving the ambitious sustainability goals we have set.

Simon Ling
Simon has been working in operational roles within the RNLI for 8 years and is now in the appointment of Head of Lifeboats.

Doug Lothian
Doug started his career in precision engineering before moving into technology delivery having spent the last 20 years developing and implementing latest’s generation technology on behalf of companies of Microsoft and Intel. Doug is responsible for all of Zelim’s technology lines. Doug is passionate about saving lives at sea as in his spare time Doug is an experienced sailor, diver, and multi-disciplined instructor.

Caroline Lukaszyk
Thomas Lübcke is Head of Research & Development at the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS). After completing his studies with a focus on organizational science (sociology/adult education), he conducted research on unifying patterns of high-performance teams in different domains. With his change to DGzRS in 2012, he primarily works on topics related to the management of major maritime incidents. For this, he mainly uses qualitative approaches, for example to investigate decision-making processes or sensemaking in the context of international real-life exercises. Further work deals with the development of simulations as well as the development and integration of mission support systems, such as drones and AI-based assistance systems for rescue operations.

Thomas Lübcke
Thomas Lübcke is Head of Research & Development at the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS). After completing his studies with a focus on organizational science (sociology/adult education), he conducted research on unifying patterns of high-performance teams in different domains. With his change to DGzRS in 2012, he primarily works on topics related to the management of major maritime incidents. For this, he mainly uses qualitative approaches, for example to investigate decision-making processes or sensemaking in the context of international real-life exercises. Further work deals with the development of simulations as well as the development and integration of mission support systems, such as drones and AI-based assistance systems for rescue operations.

Miltiadis Meliadis
Mr. Miltiadis Meliadis holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography, an MSc in Design and Development of Natural Resources, a second MSc in analysis and management of Manmade and natural disasters, and is a Ph.D. Candidate in Geoinformatics, UAVs, and disaster management of manmade, natural, and Na-tech disasters in Polytechnic School of A.U.Th.
Miltiadis has been a volunteer rescuer since 2010 with expertise at the Water Rescue Department.
To add more on that, Miltiadis has participated in plenty of training programs and exercises with the Hellenic Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, and Fire Service, including other European rescue organizations such as RS+(Norway), SSRS (Sweden), and RNLI (UK).
Currently, he works at the General Secretariat of Civil Protection of Greece in the Disaster Management Team in Thessaloniki.

Matthew Mitchell
Commander Matthew J. Mitchell assumed duties of Policy Division Chief for the Coast Guard’s Office of Search and Rescue in 2022, where he coordinates the promulgation of national doctrine and policy for the Coast Guard’s SAR system, as well as oversees maintenance and improvement of the Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System (SAROPS).

Paddy Morgan
Medical Director HM Coastguard, and UK Search And Rescue (UKSAR) medical advisory group. His current clinical roles are as a Consultant Anaesthetist in Southmead Hospital, (Bristol, UK), and Pre-hospital Critical Care Doctor with the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS) Cymru. He has been Medical Director to several commercial entities providing medical care in remote and/or austere conditions including the renewable and offshore energy industry, and the maritime sector. In addition he is a member of the International Lifesaving Society (ILS) medical advisory committee; invited honorary member of the International Drowning Research Alliance; and subject matter expert to several other government agencies and emergency service bodies. His current research interests include cold water immersion and drowning with the Extreme Environment Laboratory at the University of Portsmouth, where he is also an Independent Medical Officer. Most recently with his colleagues from ILS and IDRA he contributed to the ILCOR systematic reviews and CoSTR statements.

Dave Morris
Mr. Miltiadis Meliadis holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography, an MSc in Design and Development of Natural Resources, a second MSc in analysis and management of Manmade and natural disasters, and is a Ph.D. Candidate in Geoinformatics, UAVs, and disaster management of manmade, natural, and Na-tech disasters in Polytechnic School of A.U.Th.
Miltiadis has been a volunteer rescuer since 2010 with expertise at the Water Rescue Department.
To add more on that, Miltiadis has participated in plenty of training programs and exercises with the Hellenic Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, and Fire Service, including other European rescue organizations such as RS+(Norway), SSRS (Sweden), and RNLI (UK).
Currently, he works at the General Secretariat of Civil Protection of Greece in the Disaster Management Team in Thessaloniki.

Cleeve Robertson
Commander Matthew J. Mitchell assumed duties of Policy Division Chief for the Coast Guard’s Office of Search and Rescue in 2022, where he coordinates the promulgation of national doctrine and policy for the Coast Guard’s SAR system, as well as oversees maintenance and improvement of the Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System (SAROPS).

Anneke Salden
Anneke Salden (aged, 53) joined the KNRM in august 2019 as head of marketing, communications and fundraising (CMO) and member of the Management Team.
After graduation, in 1993, as Master in Business Administration (MBA) at Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University in Rotterdam), she started her career as a management trainee in food retail working for international retail company AHOLD. In 1998 she switched to marketing and brand management in Fast Moving Consumer Goods in 1998 (working for Kimberly Clark and Beiersdorf/NIVEA), and in 2006 to the consumer banking sector.
In 2011 she left the commercial sector and switched to the world of charities, working as project manager marketing and fundraising for INGO UNICEF and as head of individual giving for INGO Plan International, before she started in her current role at the KNRM in the Netherlands.
Anneke loves being on the water practicing hobbies like rowing, sailing and spending time on her little motorboat. Anneke is married and has two sons (18 and 19 years old) and two cats.

Lars Samuelsson
Lars is director of the maritime department in the Swedish Sea Rescue Society and started his career within the organization at 15 years of age as a volunteer. After working as a mate in the merchant shipping, he started as an instructor in SSRS in 2014 and after that taking the responsibility for all training in 2015. Since 2017 he is in current position where all of SSRS’s 270 SAR-units, the development of new SAR-vessels, all the volunteers, all training and all rescue stations lies. SSRS has been part of the SAR in Sweden since 1907 and has 74 rescue station with boats ready for deployment within 15 minutes from alarm.

Tom Scott
Tom Scott is an Public Relations Account Manager at Navigate PR in London, with more than 10 years of experience in corporate communications. He works with the IMRF to support the organisation’s communications and media strategy, in addition to other sectors in the wider shipping industry including technology, insurance, ports and logistics.

Justin Sherman
LT Sherman is a mathematics instructor at the United States Coast Guard Academy and holds a Data Science Masters of Science in Engineering (MSE) degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He has served onboard three Coast Guard cutters, most notably as the Commanding Officer of USCGC ADAK, stationed in Manama, Bahrain. He hails from Columbus, Ohio and enjoys running and photography.

Caroline Six
Caroline Six is currently director of ARQ National Psychotrauma Center, the Dutch organization that offers psychosocial support for the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution (KNRM). ARQ supports professionals and their organizations before, during and after distressing events and crises. The focus is on so-called high-risk professions such as first responders, healthcare institutions and threatened elderly, public officers and judges. ARQ also supports the Dutch municipal health services with guidelines, toolkits, research and advice when a disaster occurs.
The common thread in Caroline’s work experience is the psychological support of employees in high-risk professions. After studying Work and Organizational Psychology, she had roles in the application of psychology as a selection advisor for pilots and for the Dutch National Railways, as a management advisor at Hay Group and as a trainer for the MBTI, amongst others. Subsequently she contributed to innovation of mental healthcare for the Ministry of Defense and the Dutch National Police as a program leader, business developer and research manager for 11 years. She now has been working as director for ARQ during the past six years.

Jaap Smit

Anika Sprakel
Anika Sprakel (B.Sc.) is a research assistant working for AMARIS—Aeronautical and Maritime Innovation Environment for Interorganizational Simulations—at the Reinhard Mohn Institute of Management at Witten/Herdecke University, Germany. She will complete her Master of Science degree in 2023. Anika is a passionate and experienced sailor who successfully competed in multiple offshore races, including ocean crossings, and holds licenses in offshore rescue and medicine.

Emma Valham
Communications manager

Niels van Campen
After almost drowning while windsurfing in 2018, I went looking for the ultimate rescue tool for water sports enthusiasts at sea. This search brought me through the KNRM to SafeTrx, where I turned my hobby into my profession and now work as a Business Developer. Our mission: Taking the Rescue out of Search and Rescue.

Allard Vegter
Allard Vegter is a Partner with Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm.
He has more than 23 years of consulting experience, developing practical, action-oriented insights to deliver enduring results for his clients. In those years he has worked across a range of industries, from semiconductors and telecom to consumer products, with clients from across Europe, Africa, North America and Asia.
While he has focused on a range of topics, his main area of expertise is Supply Chain and Operations, including how to make those operations more sustainable.
He holds a Master of Science in Offshore Technology from the Delft University of Technology.
In his free time, besides devoting time to his family, Allard is an avid sailor and an active contributor to the Search And Rescue organization in the Netherlands.

Dominika Wanczyk
Dominika Wanczyk is the Medical Manager for SOS Mediterranee, an organization that conducts SAR activities in the central Mediterraneanꟷ the world’s most deadly migration route. Dominika is responsible for coordinating mental health support for both crew and survivors while directing medical operations from shore. In the past, she also worked onboard as part of the medical team.
Dominika’s background is as an emergency nurse and she holds a master’s in global public health and conducted research on Psychological First Aid (PFA) in the SAR context. Since 2014, she has been working in different humanitarian emergenices around the world.

Lei WANG
Mr. Wang Lei, a professor-level senior engineer, is the Deputy Director General of China Maritime Search and Rescue Center and the Director General of the Rescue and Salvage Bureau of Ministry of Transport. He has been working in the maritime search and rescue, marine salvage, and marine pollution prevention industries for many years with extensive professional experiences. He has been in leadership roles in many marine casualty response projects, including the salvage of the chemical vessel ACCORD and the removal operation of the container ship CMA CGM BARELI. He has also directed and coordinated the emergency response to many high-profile incidents such as the search and rescue of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the salvage of the sunken passenger ship SEWOL of South Korea and the emergency response to the distressed Iranian oil tanker SANCHI which suffered serious collision, fire and explosions.

Katie Young
Performance and Sustainability Manager at the RNLI, I have a varied portfolio supporting the Engineering and Supply team to deliver the asset management and through life support of our boats, kit and equipment and buildings. We also have the responsibility of running the Environmental Sustainability Programme for the whole of the RNLI to reduce our negative impacts on the environment.