Steve Apter is a highly experienced senior leader, having served over 31 years within Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services. Steve’s roles included Chief Fire Officer, Deputy Commissioner of London Fire Brigade and Deputy Chief Fire Officer responsible for the combination of two Fire and Rescue Services. Steve is highly respected nationally and internationally and is recognised as an engaging and effective communicator with a strong ability to develop networks. Steve was the National Fire Chiefs Council lead for specialist counter terrorism response and was the specialist advisor to the strategic commander during the Salisbury poisonings as well as strategic lead during the Westminster Bridge attack and the Grenfell tower fire. He attended formal Ministerial briefings including COBRa and was an advisor to Her Majesties Inspectorate for Fire Services during its formation. Since retiring from the Fire and Rescue Service in June 2021, Steve established his own consultancy and has been commissioned on a wide portfolio of contracts. Steve was commissioned to support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in developing their national resilience framework. Specifically, Steve was the strategic advisor on the Response element of the national resilience framework. This sparked an interest in the Middle East and as a result, Steve was appointed as Director of Response for the Red Sea Global Fire and Rescue Service, living and working in the region. Steve was key to building the response capacity and capabilities to manage the ever changing and emerging risks of one of the worlds largest GIGA projects. Steve is now a member of the advisory board on the International Fire and Safety Journal and has delivered presentations as a key note speaker and conference Chair at a number of conferences globally. Steve is a highly respected senior leader and was awarded the Queens Fire Service medal in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for exemplary leadership. He was also shortlisted at the Fire Excellence awards 2021 for outstanding contribution to the Fire Service, was recognised by the Asian Fire Services Association in 2021 for his contribution to supporting and promoting equality and inclusion throughout his career and finally was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Search and Technical Rescue. Steve has been involved with the UK Rescue Organisation Charity for over 30 years and was chair for 8 years. Steve was also elected Chair of the World Rescue Organisation in 2013. During his tenure, Steve spoke at the UN presenting the case to include emergency response as one of the pillars in the UN Decade of Action aiming to reduce global deaths on our roads. He is now a patron of the charity.