Kathy Fox

Ms. Fox selected Air Traffic Control as a career in 1974, working at Transport Canada control towers in Baie Comeau, Sept-Iles, St. Hubert, Montreal - Dorval as well as the Montreal Area Control Centre. She served as Tower Supervisor in Dorval and as Manager of the St. Hubert Tower.

From 1982 until 1986 she was in charge of ATC training at the CEGEP St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, a cooperative training program coordinated by Transport Canada and the Quebec Ministry of Education.

Ms. Fox left operational controlling in 1992 to accept a developmental assignment with Air Traffic Services Headquarters in Ottawa, assuming progressively senior positions. She transferred to NAV CANADA in 1996 and became Director, Safety & Quality in 1997, then Director, Air Traffic Services in 1999. In 2000, she was appointed Assistant Vice-President, Air Traffic Services. She became Vice-President Operations on April 1, 2003.

As Vice President, Operations, Ms. Fox was responsible for providing executive leadership and direction throughout NAV CANADA's Operations group. Her responsibilities included operations at all seven Area Control Centres, 42 Control Towers, 60 Flight Service Stations, and 7 Flight Information Centres across Canada, as well as Operational Training, Service Design and Safety Evaluations and Investigations. She retired from NAV CANADA in June 2007.

In July 2007, Ms. Fox was appointed as a Board Member of the Canadian Transportation Safety Board, an independent government agency responsible to investigate air, rail, marine and pipeline accidents in the interest of advancing transportation safety.

Ms. Fox received a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master's degree in Business Administration from McGill University. She is currently registered in the Master of Science Program in Human Factors and System Safety at Lund University in Sweden.

She has been extensively involved in other aviation activities for over 35 years, including sport parachuting and commercial aviation. From 1972 until 1978, she was the President of the Canadian Sport Parachuting Association, the first female and youngest person elected to this position. She led two Canadian Parachute teams in international competitions in France and China. From 1982 until 1992, she co-owned a flight school and air charter operation near Montreal. A three-time member of the Canadian Precision Flying Team, she represented Canada at the world championships in 1996, 1999 and 2000. She holds an Airline Transport Pilot's license, has flown over 4000 hours and still flies part time as an Instructor and Pilot Examiner.

Ms. Fox was a recipient of the Federation aeronautique internationale Paul Tissandier Diploma and the Queen Elizabeth II Anniversary Medal for her contributions to sport parachuting in Canada. She received the Transport Canada Aviation Safety Award in 1999. In November 2004, she was inducted into the Quebec Air and Space Hall of Fame.

Linda Keen

Linda Keen, M.Sc. is a Canadian leader of science-based organizations, most recently as President and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission up to January, 2008. A chemist by training, she has led scientific organizations in agriculture and agri-food, in mining and minerals, and in nuclear energy , with a scope from laboratories to industry development to, most recently, regulatory matters. She has spoken widely in Canada and internationally on safety management(including safety culture); on risk management; and on the responsibility of leaders for the values and ethics in their organizations.

Nancy Leveson

Nancy Leveson is Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and also Professor of Engineering Systems at MIT. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Prof. Leveson conducts research on the topics of system safety, software safety, software and system engineering, and human-computer interaction. In 1999, she received the ACM Allen Newell Award for outstanding computer science research and in 1995 the AIAA Information Systems Award for "developing the field of software safety and for promoting responsible software and system engineering practices where life and property are at stake." In 2005 she received the ACM Sigsoft Outstanding Research Award. She has published over 200 research papers and is author of a book, "Safeware: System Safety and Computers" published by Addison-Wesley. She consults extensively in many industries on the ways to prevent accidents.

Prof. Leveson will present a tutorial titled "STAMP and STPA: A New Approach to System Safety for Complex, High-Tech Systems" on Monday, 25 August 2008, 8am to 2:30pm.

Erik Hollnagel

Erik Hollnagel (PhD, psychology) is Professor and Industrial Safety Chair at École des Mines de Paris (France). He has since 1971 worked at universities, research centres, and industries in several countries and with problems from several domains, including nuclear power generation, aerospace and aviation, software engineering, healthcare, and land-based traffic. His professional interests include industrial safety, resilience engineering, accident investigation, cognitive systems engineering and cognitive ergonomics. He has published more than 250 papers and twelve books, the most recent titles being "Resilience Engineering" (Ashgate, 2006), "Joint Cognitive Systems: Foundations of Cognitive Systems Engineering" (Taylor & Francis, 2005) and "Barriers and Accident Prevention" (Ashgate, 2004).

Richard Cook

Dr. Richard Cook is a physician, educator, and researcher at the University of Chicago . His current research interests include the study of human error, the role of technology in human expert performance, and patient safety.

Dr. Cook graduated with honors from Lawrence University in Appleton , Wisconsin where he was a Scholar of the University. He worked in the computer industry in supercomputer system design and engineering applications. He received the MD degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1986 where he was a General Surgery intern. Between 1987 and 1991 he was researcher on expert human performance in Anesthesiology and Industrial and Systems Engineering at The Ohio State University. He completed an Anesthesiology residency at Ohio State in 1994. Since November 1994 he has been faculty in the Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care of the University of Chicago . His is an Associate Director for the GAPS (Getting At Patient Safety) project sponsored by the Veterans Health Administration.

Dr. Cook was a member of the Board of the National Patient Safety Foundation from its inception until 2007. He is internationally recognized as a leading expert on medical accidents, complex system failures, and human performance at the sharp end of these systems. He has investigated a variety of problems in such diverse areas as urban mass transportation, semiconductor manufacturing, and military software systems. He is often a consultant for not-for-profit organizations, government agencies, and academic groups. He does not do any expert witness testimony for litigation.

Dr. Cook's most often cited publications are "Gaps in the continuity of patient care and progress in patient safety", "Operating at the Sharp End: The complexity of human error", "Adapting to New Technology in the Operating Room", and the report "A Tale of Two Stories: Contrasting Views of Patient Safety."