As part of the DFES Corporate Leadership Team Chris is responsible for Governance & Risk, Strategic Direction, Business Performance, Change Management, Public Policy, Service Delivery Planning.Until a recent rotation of Assistant Commissioners Chris was head of 'Country Operations' for 5 years, There he was responsibile for all hazards service delivery across regional WA; incorporating readiness and response of SES, Fire & Rescue Service, Bush Fire Service and Marine Rescue, some 30,000 volunteer and career personnel. His current portfolio 'Hazard Planning & Response' incorporates the following Divisions: State Operations & Communications, Community Engagement, Bushfire & Environmental Protection, Hazard Planning and Advisory ServicesPrior to moving west Chris was an executive fire officer with the Tasmania Fire Service where his career spanned almost 25 years. He has been deployed operationally interstate and overseas on a number of occasions and was in the first contingent of Australian firefighters deployed to the USA to fight forest fires in 2000. He played a lead role in establishing Tasmania’s the Vertical Rescue and Road Crash Rescue capability and while state manager for Training Chris helped develop the national Public Safety Training Package that emergency services use today.Since coming to Western Australia Chris has been actively driving the significant reform agenda that his organisation is undertaking. His attention has been on service delivery planning, integrated operating systems and implementing recommendations from major bushfire reviews. Chris has a Master’s Degree in Public Management (Flinders) a Graduate Certificate in Applied Management (Sturt) is a Member of the Institute of Fire Engineers. He is a qualified Company Director, has completed the Crisis Leadership Program at Harvard University, the AFAC Strategic Command program and was awarded a Churchill Fellowship for studies into urban interface firefighting in 2007.
Listed skills include Emergency Services, Public Safety, Rescue, Fire Management, and 27 others.