Training
College Trainers
Rob Ellett
Rob joined the College in 2000 following a 32–year career in the Fire Service. During his career, he was Divisional Commander for the South Humber area, which is arguably one of the highest risk areas in the UK. Rob has also worked in the United States and for a major NHS Trust. He is a Member of the Institution of Fire Engineers and the Emergency Planning Society.
Martin Fenlon
Martin joined the Emergency Planning College in 2005 moving from the Home Office. After an early career in Banking, Martin worked for the Probation Service as a Senior Probation Officer and later as a Training Manager in London. He has worked with multi-agency Public Protection committees and has specialised in the field of crime reduction and community safety. Martin’s previous post was as a Course Director at the Home Office Crime Reduction Centre working with the police service, Local Authority community safety officers and voluntary organisations. Martin holds a Social Work qualification, an MBA, and is also a PRINCE2 registered practitioner. He was promoted to the post of Assistant Director in February 2006 and leads on Business Continuity Management for the College. Martin was made a Member of the Business Continuity Institute in 2007.
Beverley Griffiths
Beverley joined the college as a course director in 2004 after working for the London Borough of Hackney for four years. She began as the CCTV and Emergency Planning Officer and became the CCTV and Emergency Planning Service Manager in January 2001. She originally qualified as a Registered General Nurse and further qualified in orthopedic and emergency nursing working for seven years in the UK and then for three years in Saudi Arabia. She successfully completed, with honours, the ‘Development and Health in Disaster Management’ Bachelor of Science at Coventry University. Beverley has received a commendation, awarded by the Metropolitan Police for her work during Hackney Siege. In 2008 Beverley completed with merit the Chartered Institute for Professional Training Certificate (CIPD).
Winston Kobylka
Winston has worked in a number of policy departments in Whitehall , latterly the setting up of the Govt Office for London and a Regional Secretariat for London in regeneration and LDDC (London Docklands Development Corporation) projects at former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Winston is a contract and procurement professional and was a ministerial envoy during the fuel strike, foot and mouth representation, Y2K and other ongoing emergency events. Following lecturing appointments at various universities and at the National School for Government, Winston is involved in research into supply chain dependencies which has resulted in its application to business continuity and UK resilience at EPC. Since joining EPC in May 2007, Winston has assumed the direction of a number of courses and continues to bring research results and knowledge on vulnerabilities in the supply chain to courses, including developing master-classes and carrying out consultancy with public and private bodies.
Mark Leigh
Mark joined the College in 2005, following a military career. He joined the Army after university and worked in various capacities in the joint services intelligence field for 8 years in the Middle East and Northern Ireland. He also spent 16 years working for the Army's Educational and Training Services Branch as a management development tutor, a trainer and a training manager – in the UK, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. He is a qualified FE teacher and holds degrees from three universities. He also writes on the history of military command and leadership and is published regularly.
Dr Robert MacFarlane
Rob MacFarlane is Assistant Director, Training and Doctrine, responsible for civil protection training in risk management, emergency planning, GIS, public inquiries and communications, and leads on work with local authority chief executives and elected members. Additionally Rob works with EPC and Cabinet Office colleagues on the programme of Central Government Emergency Response Training. Prior to joining the Cabinet Office Rob worked as a research manager and senior lecturer in higher education and as a secondee to the Home Office and visiting fellow at the EPC. He holds a PhD from the University of Aberdeen and is currently studying part time for a Doctorate in Business Administration at the University of Durham, focusing on information management, situational awareness and crisis decision making at the strategic level.
Keith Strickland
Keith joined the college in 2004 following a full career with the Royal Air Force. He has commanded and lead forces engaged upon combat and peace support operations in various trouble spots around the world over the past 28 years. He has also commanded military training schools responsible for initial and post graduate training. He has also gained extensive experience of providing military assistance to civil authorities and communities. He has accumulated a great deal of first hand knowledge of dealing with disaster from exposure to a diverse range of incidents and events ranging from flooding, to the foot and mouth crisis, and terrorism (Lockerbie), to the interruption of essential services. Latterly, he has been a specialist advisor to Central Government Departments involved with countering and dealing with the potential consequences of terrorism that could be directed against civil aviation and UK critical infrastructure. As a specialist in protective arrangements operating at all levels of decision making, he has extensive experience of consequence management planning and emergency response. Most recently, he had responsibility for formulating training policy to support MODCBRN protection requirements.
