Clint Dunford
The Honourable Clint Dunford, MLA Lethbridge-West, is Minister of Human Resources and Employment, Workplace Health & Safety and is responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board. Mr. Dunford has served as Minister of Advanced Education and Career Development, as well as Minister Responsible for Students Finance Board and Personnel Administration Office. As Minister of Advanced Education and Career Development, Clint Dunford led significant change in the adult learning system. He directed the transition of Alberta vocational Colleges from departmental entities to autonomous Board-governed post-secondary institutions. He launched Youth Connections in Edmonton and Calgary; bringing new learning and employment opportunities to Albertans aged 16-24. He introduced the Alberta Opportunities Bursary, which matches the funds which institutions raise on behalf of high-needs students. He also introduced Campus Alberta, a vision of post-secondary collaboration to provide a seamless learning system across the province. Behind each of those initiatives is his belief that government has greatest impact when it gives people the tools they need to make their own career, life, and education decisions. That same principle continues to guide Clint's work as Minister of Human Resources and Employment. He agrees with Albertans who identified people development as a priority at the Growth Summit, and is committed to the spirit of consultation and good sense which brought the Summit about.

Larry Flak
Larry Flak is Vice President - Engineering of Boots & Coots International Well Control Inc. Larry started his career in the oilfield as a floorman and derrick hand on a drilling rig. Highlights of his well control experience include: developing the first hyper-linked and interactive well control manual and blowout contingency plan; controlling several underground blowouts world-wide; controlling and killing two wells and successfully drilling relief wells for each, offshore Louisiana; assisted in control efforts on California's largest blowout; successfully drilled and killed a high volume geothermal well where a rig had cratered; managed public and regulatory contacts for operators on blowouts; set up and project managed engineering aspects of the Pedernales old well abandonment project in Venezuela; managed relief well planning and kill implementation on one of the world's largest blowouts (60,000 BOPD & 500 MMscfpd) in Syria; coordinated all oil well firefighting in Kuwait in 1991 - pre-planned and contracted for required services, equipment, and personnel, and served as a technical consultant for the U.S. military on oil well fires, managing day-to-day operations.

Mike Mullane
Colonel Mike Mullane graduated from West Point in 1967, and was commissioned in the U.S. Air Force. As a Weapon Systems Operator aboard RF-4C Phantom aircraft, he completed 150 combat missions in Vietnam. He holds a Master's of Science Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology and is also a graduate of the Air Force Flight Test Engineer School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. In 1978 Mullane was selected as a Mission Specialist in the first group of Space Shuttle Astronauts. He completed three space missions and logged 356 hours in space aboard the Shuttles Discovery and Atlantis before retiring from NASA and the Air Force in 1990. Mullane has been inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame and is the recipient of many awards, including the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Merit and the NASA Space Flight Medal. Since his retirement from NASA, Colonel Mullane has written and published a number of books and produced a video: The Ten Thousand Nights Dream, that uniquely documents the human drama associated with spaceflight. Colonel Mullane has also served as a host for Inside Space, a nationally syndicated cable television program of the USA Network. Colonel Mullane will speak on "Lessons from Challenger" and how the "normalization of deviance" at NASA ultimately contributed to the Challenger disaster. Safety professionals with an interest in both individual and corporate responsibility wont' want to miss this session!

Peter M. Sandman
Peter M. Sandman is the preeminent risk communication speaker and consultant in the United States today, and has also worked extensively in Europe, Australia, and elsewhere. His unique and effective approach to managing risk controversies has made him much in demand for other sorts of reputation management as well. Dr. Sandman has helped his clients through a wide range of public controversies that threatened corporate or government reputation - from oil spills to labour-management battles; from E. coli contamination, to the siting of hazardous waste facilities. He also works on the other side of risk issues, helping activists arouse concern about serious hazards, for example, and helping companies persuade employees to take safety rules seriously. Whatever their perspective, his clients and seminar participants learn the dynamics of outrage: how to reduce it, how to prevent it, how to provoke it. Dr. Sandman's sense of humour, his sense of realism, and his ability to help people understand all sides of risk controversies make him much in demand for both jobs. A Rutgers University professor since 1977, Dr. Sandman founded the Environmental Communication Research Program (ECRP) at Rutgers in 1986, and was its Director until 1992. During that time, ECRP published over 80 articles and books on various aspects of risk communication. Now based in Massachusetts, Dr. Sandman retains his academic affiliation as Professor of Environmental and Community Medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He received his Ph.D. in Communication from Stanford University in 1971.

Michael Topf
Michael D. Topf is the founder and president of the Topf Organization, established in 1980. Mr. Topf has extensive experience in consulting as well as designing and conducting training courses in executive leadership, management development and other areas of organizational effectiveness. He has developed leading edge technology to assist all levels of employees in developing safe attitudes and behaviors to prevent accidents, injuries, and environmental incidents. Mr. Topf has a BS degree in biology and chemistry, he holds a master's degree in applied psychology, and has completed course work for a master's degree in theology. He is also an instructor for the Masters degree program in Health and Safety Administration at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. He has worked as a medical researcher, a hospital administrator, and as a Pennsylvania and New Jersey state-certified counselor.

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