ALARM Scotland seminar

Jim Dickie

Team Leader Resilience, Stirling Council

Jim has worked in risk and resilience related roles since 2001 as a practitioner and leader with significant experience in the emergency services, health care, local government, armed forces and civil protection. He was awarded prestigious Queen's Ambulance Medal (QAM) for distinguished service in the 2014 New Year’s Honours list.

Jim leads organisational resilience for Stirling Council, providing subject matter expertise to the senior leadership team on resilience best practice and preparedness, leading a team of resilience professionals and collaborating with internal and external stakeholders.

Jim and his team are responsible for the assessment of civil contingency risk, emergency planning, business continuity, corporate security, community resilience, multi-agency working, crisis management and recovery. The team support major event planning & preparedness and develop related policy, procedures, training and exercising products.

He has experience of working overseas in Kuwait, South Africa and Germany and is a part time Commissioned Officer with the Royal Air Force.

Jim is committed to working with colleagues to enhance the resilience and safety of communities and organisations and believes that risk management is a key ingredient in preparedness and wider organisational resilience.

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Alex Fitzharris

Team Manager (Risk & Insurance), North Ayrshire Council

Alex Fitzharris leads on Corporate Risk Management, Business Continuity, and Insurance at North Ayrshire Council and champions Resilience and Emergency Planning. Having supported Services in the response effort through the pandemic, Alex was keen to ensure North Ayrshire Council increased its future resilience capabilities, building on the success of working with key allies. The organisation is now on a journey with communities and key resilience partners to further enhance and test capabilities for resilience planning, putting North Ayrshire at the forefront of realising  a strong and effective resilience plan.

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Lynne Macfarlane

Partner & Solicitor Advocate, DWF

Lynne is a Partner, Solicitor Advocate and accredited specialist in personal injury law. Lynne joined DWF from Clyde & Co. in September 2019 to strengthen and develop the firm's technical expertise in complex and high value litigation. Lynne's depth of experience in the sector, combined with her knowledge of the market, and client contacts, significantly enhances DWF's Scottish offering. She has extensive experience acting for local authorities throughout Scotland and has defended a huge variety of local authority claims in her 20 year career.

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Michelle McMillan

Operations Manager (Risk), City of Edinburgh Council

Michelle has worked in local authority risk management for over 20 years. Having started her career with Shropshire County Council and now working as Chief Risk Officer at City of Edinburgh Council supporting colleagues in Risk Management as part of the Council Corporate Risk Management team.

Working as Module Coach for the Institute of Risk Management, Michelle supports students in the penultimate part of the Institute of Risk Management International Diploma in Risk Management (Resilience, Perception and Society module). Michelle has a particular interest in Resilience and Risk Culture in the workplace.

Michelle enjoys crafting as well as all the benefits of living in Edinburgh with great walks, restaurants and shopping there is always plenty to do!

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Donna Morrison

Community Resources Team Manager, North Ayrshire Council

Donna Morrison manages a range of community facilities across North Ayrshire and has led a transformation of the operational service. She is well-versed in the risks and opportunities that our communities can face. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Donna and her teams were at the forefront, coordinating and supporting the delivery of vital supplies such as PPE and food across a network of established response sites. In partnership with Alex Fitzharris, she has spearheaded and achieved buy-in from executive leadership on a program of investment to enhance the Council's preparedness for a National Power Outage. This proactive approach to mitigating the risk of a National Power Outage demonstrates the Council's commitment to ensuring the Council is well-equipped to handle such critical situations and safeguard the well-being of the most vulnerable while maintaining essential services during potential emergencies or disruptions.

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Anne Norrie

Regional Manager, Zurich Municipal

Anne is the Regional Manager for Zurich Municipal in Scotland and leads a team of risk and insurance consultants that provide insurance and risk management guidance for Scottish public service organisations. She joined ZM as a Risk and Insurance Consultant specialising in local authorities and housing in 2014 and was promoted to the position of Regional Manager in 2016. Prior to joining ZM Anne worked as a Commercial Underwriting Manager and Account Executive with a global insurer and broker – she has over 25 years' experience working in the insurance sector .

 

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Alex Sawers

Chartered Insurance Broker, Gallagher

Alex has over 30 years' experience working in the insurance sector and has worked with public sector clients since 1996, initially with Marsh and for the last 17 years with Gallagher. Alex brings his experience to a wide range of clients in Scotland including universities, local authorities, leisure trusts and other public bodies. In his role as Divisional Director within the Gallagher Glasgow office, he comes across many and varied opportunities to share his experience with his team that look after the needs of his clients.

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