The EPS Team

Alan Gardner, Managing Director

Alan is Managing Director of EPS and an Associate Course Director for the UK Cabinet Office Emergency Planning College.  He also served a full term of 4 years as Professional Issues Director on the National Board of Directors of the Emergency Planning Society, holds the MBCI title within the Business Continuity Institute and has lectured on Emergency Planning and Business Continuity at Queens University, Belfast.  Other positions of note include, member of the National Project Board for the development of National Occupational Standards in Civil Protection, a member of the National Project Board for Non-Statutory Strategic Humanitarian Assistance Guidance for the United Kingdom and an exercise design lead for Exercise Watermark, the UK National Flood Exercise 2011.

Before joining EPS, Alan worked in the emergency services for many years and in particular the Emergency Planning/Resilience field.  During this time, Alan was involved in a wide range of civil protection and continuity functions including, writing plans, designing and writing exercises, designing and delivering a range of training packages and responding first hand to a wide variety of emergency situations.

Alan has a very broad and deep experience of organisational resilience and in particular, business continuity management.  He has worked with many clients, ranging from airports to the emergency services to food manufactures in helping them to develop a robust business continuity capability.  He has specific expertise in the international food sector, aviation industry, financial sector, manufacturing sector, telecommunications and blue light organisations.

Alan holds a 2:1 (Hons) degree in Geography, including modules in Disaster and Risk Management.  He also studied Law concurrent to his degree, is a registered PRINCE 2 practitioner and most recently passed his Chartered Directors exams through the Institute of Directors (2010).

Alan Elwood, Director

Alan is Director of Business Continuity Management Services and an Associate Course Director for the UK Cabinet Office Emergency Planning College. He holds membership of the Business Continuity Institute, Emergency Planning Society and the Institute of Civil Protection and Emergency Management. Alan is the Chair of the Northern Ireland Forum of the Business Continuity Institute, a member of the institute’s Crisis Management Advisory Panel and is active in the British Standards Institute committee tasked with developing Testing and Exercising guidance.

Within EPS, Alan’s work has revolved around helping clients to plan for, mitigate, respond to and recover from major emergencies threatening business operations. He possesses a wealth of experience in consultancy, having supported a wide variety of organisations through the full spectrum of the BCM life cycle.

Previously a leader in a resilience focused organisation, Alan completed a Masters in Defence Management, with Cranfield University in 2008, specialising in Risk Management and Corporate Security, including Business Continuity Management, and Disaster Management. He holds an Honours Degree in Electronic Systems Engineering. He is a qualified PRINCE2 project management practitioner and is IOSH trained.  Alan has also recently become a Business Mentor with the Prince's Trust.

Rupert Johnston, Director

Rupert has over twenty years' practical experience in leadership positions with direct responsibility for strategic and tactical level planning and leadership in preparation for, response to and recovery from crisis and emergency situations. Rupert now uses this experience to add value to organisations’ Business Continuity, Emergency Planning and Crisis Management capabilities.  An essential component of this work is in developing resilience expertise, strategic fit and coherence across a wide range of organisations and industries, often in complex international settings.

Within EPS Rupert’s role centres on helping leaders, organisations and teams plan for, mitigate, manage and recover from significant business interruptions and crises. He combines innovative, strategic thinking with a pragmatic approach to problem solving for best effect.  Rupert has combined his depth and breadth of practical and consulting experience to advise a wide range of local and global organisations and government departments up to and including Chief Executive, Board, Secretary of State, Ministerial and Cabinet Office level.  A capable trainer and facilitator he is also a member of the adjunct faculty at both Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster.

Rupert holds an MSc in Management from Cranfield University (2003), with a focus on Risk and Corporate Security, Strategy and Leadership.  He has since gained a range of Postgraduate Qualifications in leadership and in marketing.  He is a PRINCE 2 Practitioner.

Malcolm McFarland, Consultant

With over twenty years practical experience in planning and implementing operations in preparation for and response to major incidents and crises, Malcolm brings a depth of experience in Emergency Planning and Civil Contingencies. He has sound experience in the development of Business Continuity Management capabilities, helping large organisations build and sustain continuity management systems. He is adept at strategic planning for resilience and is experienced in strategic crisis management, identifying gaps between strategy and service output and also of the Business Recovery process to maintain essential services in parallel with the Incident Management.

Malcolm has particular experience and expertise in the design and delivery of a variety of training packages and live play exercises at all scales and levels. He also has particular expertise regarding the planning for and management of Mass Demonstrations and Public Events. Having worked throughout Ireland and GB and in Washington DC, he has particular experience in relation to leadership structures, training, media relations, crowd control and Human Rights.

Malcolm works well with people and is approachable, practically minded, and hands on, whilst still maintaining a strategic perspective. He holds a BA (Hons) degree in Public Policy & Management from the University of Ulster along with certificates in Emergency Planning and Teaching Competence.

Philip Baxter, Consultant

Philip is a highly experienced consultant and practitioner, having previously held a senior leadership and planning position within an emergency and operations focused government body. His experience spans operational continuity and contingency planning and response within the UK. In addition Philip has superb international experience having held emergency planning and continuity responsibilities for large complex organisations in the USA and the Caribbean as well as in the emerging nations of post soviet Eastern Europe.

Philip works with organisations, helping them to understand how the goals they have set influence their operational and strategic level business and continuity planning. He helps clients to build robust and fit for purpose continuity and contingency plans. In addition Philip is skilled at assisting organisations to embed their capabilities into the thinking and ways of acting of staff. He is a polished and competent trainer.

With practical experience in continuity planning from small organisations to major European port facilities, Philip is ideally placed to help his clients deliver their programmes on time and to budget.

Sarah Elwood, Business Support Manager

Sarah is responsible for the provision of timely and efficient administrative support in all areas of our business. 

Sarah currently manages all support for the EPS business consultancy division, including managing diaries and liaising with various stakeholders.  She also manages a regular schedule of training courses for EPS and for courses delivered in partnership with the Cabinet Office’s Emergency Planning College.  She oversees all practical arrangements and preparation of all consultancy and training materials as well as client liaison and financial management of the work provided.

Sarah has a career background of diverse administrative roles having worked in both the Public and Private Sectors.  Her experience includes finance and policy administration as well as the prestigious post of Diary Secretary to a Northern Ireland Executive Minister in the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure.  Sarah also holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree from Queen’s University, Belfast.