Isabelle Primeau, MBCI, CBCP

President of Premier Continuum and Business Continuity Expert , Premier Continuum INC

Founder and President of Premier Continuum, Isabelle Primeau, MBCI, CBCP, has been advising, training and inspiring business continuity and resilience professionals throughout the world for over 25 years. Recognized as a thought leader, Isabelle has advised hundreds of organizations from various sectors such as manufacturing, property management, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, engineering and accounting firms, financial services, and government service, in all phases of the continuity program. She is certified MBCI by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) and is a BCI Approved instructor. She has taught in Canada, in the United States and in Europe since 2009. Strong from her field experience, she also develops private and customized training for small and large organizations. Always on the lookout for new trends in the industry, Isabelle designed and led her team to develop ParaSolution, a cloud-based and award-winning software for BCM, ITDR and EM/CM. Her outstanding dedication led her to win the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards in 2016 and to obtain the “Canadian Women Brand” certification for Premier Continuum in 2022. Isabelle is also recognized for her high level of understanding of IT infrastructures and challenges surrounding technology recovery.

Marie-Hélène Primeau, MBCI, CPA, ISO 22301 Lead Auditor

Executive VP of Premier Continuum , Premier Continuum INC

As the Executive Vice President at Premier Continuum and a senior consultant in business continuity and resilience, Marie-Hélène Primeau has been assisting organizations around the world to increase their organizational resilience for 20 years. Accredited CPA, MBCI and ISO 22301 Lead Auditor and awarded RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur 2016, Marie-Helene is also a seasoned practitioner, with significant experience in supporting public and private organizations in setting up, exercising, maintaining, and evaluating their business continuity program.

Driven by her desire to empower teams and organizations to be more effective by providing them with the best business continuity management tools and resources, Marie-Helene is a BCI Approved Instructor since 2009. She has trained hundreds of professionals in North America and Europe, in English and French. Marie-Helene also regularly speaks at conferences on the topic of Business Continuity (DRJ, BCI World Conference, DMEX, CIMC, Conference Board of Canada, CRT Toronto, BCAW, BCI Education Month). Moreover, to promote the art and science of business continuity and contribute to thought leadership as a volunteer, she is the former President of BCI Canada Chapter, a member of the ISO Technical Committee 292 on security and resilience in charge of the development of various standards including the ISO 22301 standard on Business Continuity and a member of the CSA Z1600 Standard Committee on Emergency and Business Continuity Management.

Desmond O’Callaghan, FBCI, ISO 22301 Lead Implementer & Lead Auditor

Retired Consultant

Des is a mostly retired business continuity management professional with 33 years of experience in the field. His career included roles as a corporate program leader in several financial institutions as well as extensive independent consulting. A skilled instructor and facilitator, he has built a strong reputation for developing and delivering training, seminars, workshops and conferences throughout his career. He regularly consults on and contributes widely to many BCI initiatives and is currently Lead Assessor for the BCI as well as Leader of the Canadian Chapter.

Trent Abbott, MBCI, BCMS Auditor

Senior Policy Advisort

Trent Abbott, MBCI, is a practitioner with over 10 years of business continuity, crisis and emergency management experience in both the public and private sectors. Trent has been working with the Government of Canada (GC) for 25 years and is currently advising on critical infrastructure policy for Public Safety Canada. He is keen to develop and deliver training in crisis and business continuity management, especially when it comes to disaster response. He was among the team that powered Kiwibank’s successful response to a 1/150 year storm and two 6.0+ earthquakes over a fourteen-week period using BCM processes in New Zealand. His many stories are appreciated by his audiences, with which he connects easily, having facilitated/co-facilitated and coordinated over 100 discussion and operations-based exercises.

Philippe Tassé-Gagné, MBCI, CBCP

VP of Consulting Services and Talent Development, Premier Continuum

VP of Consulting Services and Talent Development at Premier Continuum and Senior Business Continuity and Organizational Resilience Consultant for 25 years.

Philippe Tasse-Gagne is a passionate continuity and resilience expert certified MBCI and CBCP, who has been advising clients in Quebec, Canada, and around the world on their business continuity, disaster recovery, and emergency and crisis management programs for 25 years.

Over his career, Philippe has developed and implemented an extensive number of business continuity programs and projects, as well as numerous effective crisis management structures that are exercised and adapted to the organizations’ different contexts. Since 2022, he is the Vice-President of Consulting Services and Talent Development at Premier Continuum. To ensure the sustainability of the business continuity profession and to empower professionals in the field, Philippe has trained hundreds of practitioners on topics ranging from exercise development to business continuity planning, emergency, and crisis management, and business impact assessment (BIA) design and implementation as an approved BCI Instructor. His experience in various environments such as critical infrastructure, public service providers, provincial and federal ministries, financial and insurance institutions, telecommunications providers, and key players in the mining industry has given him a broad and clear vision of the issues and interrelationships that exist in today’s realm of resilience.

Senad Cehajic, MBCI, ISO 22301 Lead Auditor, CBCP

Director, Business Continuity Program and Corporate Security

Senad Cehajic is a risk management professional specializing in business continuity management (BCM) with more than 25 years of experience working with large organizations in diverse geographies. His experience includes implementing and managing BCM programs in the financial services, information technologies, retail, transportation and real estate services sectors. Senad holds a Master of Arts degree in Disaster and Emergency Management from Royal Roads University in British Columbia. He is a Member of the Business Continuity Institute (MBCI), a Certified Business Continuity Planner (CBCP) and is certified as an ISO 22301 Lead Auditor for Business Continuity Management Systems. 

Élaine Comeau, CBCI, ISO 22301 Lead Implementer

Retired business continuity and crisis management professional

Retired business continuity and crisis management professional with 25 years of experience

A member of the Business Continuity Institute (MBCI), Elaine is a business continuity and crisis management professional who retired after 25 years in the field. During her career, she held several leaderships, business continuity and crisis management positions in the financial services industry. Her last position before retirement was coordinating the corporate crisis team for the management of a pandemic at a major Canadian financial institution.

Building on over 25 years of business continuity expertise, Élaine is excited about the opportunity to share her knowledge with future students as a BCI Certified Instructor.

Pierre-Alexandre Giguère

Business Continuity Management Consultant

Member of the Business Continuity Institute (MBCI), Pierre Alexandre Giguère holds an MBA in Occupational Health and Safety Management and a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Occupational Therapy). He has over 15 years of consulting experience and a wide knowledge in the field of occupational health and safety, specifically in the planning and management of emergency measures, crisis communication and business continuity. Over his career, Pierre-Alexandre has also conducted a large number of interviews, impact assessments, risk analyses and continuity plans. His professionalism, his ease of expression and his ability to establish a real dialogue with his students and clients are qualities that are particularly appreciated about him.

Michel Sarkis, MBCI, ISO 22301 Lead Implementer

Senior consultant in operational resiliency , Premier Continuum

Michel Sarkis is a business continuity and resiliency professional with more than 10 years of experience. He now assumes a role of senior business continuity and resilience consultant at Premier Continuum. Coming from the banking world, Michel is a trained financier specialized in disaster recovery strategies, risk management and impact analysis. Throughout his career, he has supported many public and private organizations in the implementation, exercise, maintenance and evaluation of their business continuity programs in different regions of the world, mainly in North America, Europe and the Middle East. As a member of the Business Continuity Institute (MBCI) and holder of the ISO Lead Implementer designation, Michel is a practitioner known for his professional dedication. He has taught numerous courses and certifications to hundreds of professionals from various fields such as information technology, operations and sales, from entry level to expert, and working all over the world (Middle East, Europe, United Kingdom and the Gulf Cooperation Council). With the goal of demonstrating the importance of a strong business continuity program, he has developed a strong expertise in operational resilience.

Alice Kaltenmark FBCI

Global technical resilience governance, LexisNexis, USA

Alice is a recognized business resilience expert who contributes as a resilience thought leader, mentor, and evangelist. Alice’s professional experience spans over 20 years in business continuity and disaster recovery in the information solutions industry and over 40 years in IT. 

She leads the global technical resilience (ITDR) governance program for the LexisNexis Legal business of RELX and leads the LexisNexis Infrastructure & Technology Operations business continuity and disaster recovery program. Alice chairs the RELX Technical Resilience Working Group setting and guiding TR requirements and best practices for RELX businesses. 

Alice serves as the BCI USA Chapter past president and as the treasurer and past president, Continuity Professionals of Ohio, a regional non-profit professional association. She is an active member of the ISO TSC292 US TAG WG2 and WG9.