Owen is a current senior leader and strategic commander in the ambulance service, as well as a senior associate with the Cabinet Office Emergency Planning College.
An experienced emergency planner and responder, Owen spent over 30 years in the fire and rescue service, rising to Assistant Chief Fire Officer, before moving to one of the largest acute teaching hospital trusts to take on the role of Head of Resilience, during the early stages of the COVID pandemic.
Owen is passionate about collaboration in the planning, testing, responding and recovery stages of emergency management. He has been closely involved with work the local resilience forums, previously chairing management and training and exercising groups. Currently he sits on the strategic groups of the four LRFs in Yorkshire and the Humber, and is the Strategic JESIP lead for Yorkshire Ambulance Service.
During his time in the fire and rescue service, he was able to put command theory into practice in command roles at a wide variety of incidents. These ranged from major train crashes to chemical incidents, as well as widespread flooding, requiring national resilience assets and which attracted significant political interest. He has the unusual distinction of having been Strategic (Gold) Commander for major incidents in both fire and ambulance services.
In his spare time, he enjoys climbing and general fitness, albeit the benefits of those are offset somewhat by his love of cooking and eating out.
Qualifications
- Master of Public Administration
- Post Graduate Certificate, Emergency Preparedness and Management
- Member of the Business Continuity Institute (MBCI)
- National multi-agency CBRN Strategic Commanders Course
- Level 3 Award in Education and Training