Colin Simpson (Chairman)

Colin is a founding member of the IAFPA and was a Station Officer within a Local Authority Fire Brigade in the UK. He had 30 years service and served his last 20 years of service within a Fire Safety roll with operational and Fire Investigation commitments.

Colin's present role is Associate Director - Risk Management with Kingfell plc who are a big supporter of the IAFPA.

Colin's comments are the same today as they were in the beginning " The main purpose of the IAFPA is to establish a coming together of all the services throughout the World that may find themselves at an incident involving a crashed aircraft. This is not just for the Airport Fire Fighters but also the Local/Municipal Fire Departments, Law Enforcement and National/Local Governments".

Gillies Crichton (Vice Chairman)

Gillies joined the BAA Airport Fire Service at Edinburgh Airport in June 1988 and gained several promotions till reaching the position of Station Officer in August 1994.

He was promoted to Senior Airport Fire Officer at Glasgow Airport in March 1998 where he served in that position till 2005 when he took up his current role as Head of Assurance for Glasgow Airport. He has a wealth of experience and knowledge in command & control and crisis management having led the Glasgow Airport Crisis Team during the Terrorist Attack on the Airport in June 2007. He is in great demand as a speaker at conferences worldwide on various topics including the terrorist attack, emergency planning, risk & business continuity.

In his off-duty time, he spent 9 years as a retained firefighter in Lothian & Borders Fire & Rescue, attending a wide variety of incidents including aircraft accidents. His main hobby is playing the piano accordion and has entertained IAFPA delegates at conferences in Glasgow with traditional "Scottish Hospitality". About the IAFPA, Gillies says, " I feel that IAFPA helps to broaden the network of aviation related firefighting as a truly international organisation committed to sharing the knowledge and expertise which is in abundance throughout the world."

John Trew (Director)

Cletus Packiam (Director)

Cletus Packiam is presently the Chief, Airport Emergency Service (AES) at Changi Airport Group.

The AES provides rescue and airfield fire protection services to the highest international standards for both the civilian and military airfields in the Singapore. It is staffed by over 500 trained specialists. Cletus assumed leadership of the AES from 5 May 2008.

Prior to this appointment, he was the Chief at Abu Dhabi airport emergency service from 28 Aug 2006 till May 2008. Cletus has been actively involved in IAFPA matters since 2005 and has recently accepted the appointment of Executive Director

Peter Stephenson (Director)

Andrew Werner (Director) 

Andrew Werner is currently Airservices Australia's ARFF StationCommander at Canberra International Airport, Australian CapitalTerritory. Previously, Andrew was in the role of Operational Capability and Standards Manager (Deputy Chief Fire Officer)and has been with Airservices Australia for 15 years. Airservices operates at 21 locations around Australia and is committed to ensuring that IAFPA remains at the forefront of all activities associated with Aviation Fire Protection. Andrew sees the key benefits presented by Airservices involvement withIAFPA are the benchmarking and networking opportunities that exist between similarly focussed organisations.

Colin Murray (Director)

Colin has worked for the BAA Airport Fire Service for 15 years and has held the position of AFM at both Aberdeen and currently at Edinburgh Airport. Colin brings a wealth of knowledge from his 16 years in the retained service working for Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service as well as being a long standing member of IAFPA. More recently Colin has worked closely with the CAA and has successfully delivered approval for Edinburgh Airport Fire Training Centre to deliver Aviation Firefighter Courses as an Approved Training Provider. Colin is also responsible for Emergency Planning and Resilience at Edinburgh Airport and understands the importance and need for good communications and networking with other organisations. Colin is firm believer in sharing best practice throughout the aviation industry and fully support this ethos through my involvement with IAFPA.