Darrell Reid

Background

About Darrell Reid

I love to lead organizations that are people focused, strategic, honour the diversity of Canada, innovate as a habit, aren't afraid of change and are fun to work for." Darrell is proud to serve as Vice President - Strategy for Darkhorse Emergency. In this role, Darrell works with an outstanding team committed to helping emergency services organizations make great decisions supported by analytics and data. Darkhorse’ work supports fire departments which protect nearly half of Canada’s urban residents. Darrell is also the President of Emergency Services Academy (ESA), a leading Canadian fire, rescue and EMS college. In addition to educating the next generation of Canadian firefighters and paramedics, ESA provides emergency services, leadership, special operations, organizational design, and strategic consulting and training services to clients across Canada. Darrell's leadership experience includes Chief Administrative Officer for Strathcona County, Alberta. He served as Fire Chief, General Manager of Emergency Management, and COVID-19 Task Force leader for the City of Vancouver. He also served as Deputy Fire Chief of Toronto Fire Services, and Fire Chief, Deputy Fire Chief, and Union President for Strathcona County Emergency Services. Career highlights include being Incident Commander for the 2011 Slave Lake, Alberta fires and 2013 High River, Alberta floods, two of the largest disasters in Canadian history. Darrell served as the CEO for the Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) of Ontario, one of Canada's largest health charities. He also served as Chairman of the Provincial Advisory Board for Heart and Stroke British Columbia and Yukon, and founded the Society for Assistance to International Firefighters (SAIF) supporting first responders in Nicaragua and Guatemala. In 2019 he participated as a co-lead in a EMS Global project in Mongolia, helping build sustainable models for emergency response and emergency management capacity in that country. He is a noted advocate and international speaker on topics including mental health resilience, evidence-based decision making, strategy, staff engagement, and leadership. Darrell has an MBA from the University of Alberta, an Executive Fire Officer Designation from the US National Fire Academy, a Community Preparedness & Disaster Management Graduate Certificate from UNC-Chapel Hill, and a Canadian Safety and Security Certificate from Canadian Forces College.