Mariyam Syed joins Emergency Management & Continuity Planning in the Advisor role, bringing over a decade of emergency and continuity planning expertise. Mariyam has been involved in response and recovery efforts for numerous emergency events with the Government of Alberta including the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic, 2013 Southern Alberta Floods, 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire, and the 2020 COVID-19 Response. She was recognized by the Alberta Provincial Operations Center with the 2019 Tim Kirk Exemplary Performance Award for her work in the development of a government wide exercise series that explored the business continuity impacts of an influenza pandemic. Mariyam will spearhead UBC’s Continuity Planning Program while also providing expertise to numerous other program elements.
Alicia Head joins Emergency Management & Continuity Planning in the Associate role from UBC Okanagan, where she worked as the Sr. Department Administrator for the Department of Community, Culture and Global Studies. Alicia completed her Masters of Disaster and Emergency Management in 2022 where she pursued her interest in risk communication, community preparedness and leadership in emergency. Alicia is also in the process of completing course work with the Justice Institute of BC in Emergency Social Services. Alicia will have a broad support role on the EM Team, working on training and exercise delivery, plan management, emergency communications operations and response team support.