Sue Henry named new chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — The city has named its new chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA).

Former deputy chief Sue Henry will take over for outgoing chief Tom Sampson who is retiring on Monday.

Henry also has a history as a Calgary firefighter and was an assistant deputy chief with the Calgary Fire Department. In addition, she has played a pivotal role in expanding Canada Task Force 2, a disaster response agency based in Alberta, and was key in responding to major disasters like the 2013 floods and wildfires in High Level.

She will officially begin the new role on Dec. 1.

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A worldwide search was done to find a replacement after Sampson announced in October that he would be stepping down, but ultimately the best candidate ended up being close to home.

Henry said she is excited and up to the challenge.

“I want to start by saying how honoured I am to have the opportunity to lead this agency and to serve Calgarians in this new role. For the past six (years) at CEMA, I’ve had the pleasure of working every day with competent, professional team members that work together to help protect the citizens of this city that I love,” she said.

Henry added that there are big shoes to fill with Sampson leaving and she will remember a lot that he taught her.

“Watching you in action has been a master class in leadership,” she said. “I am grateful for all that I have learned from you, as a mentor, as a friend, and all that you have done for this organization.”

Sampson said that Henry certainly has what it takes to take the reins, and that she has played a major role behind the scenes to move the organization forward and improve safety in the city.

“I think it’s one thing to be involved in an incident, it’s another thing to manage it extremely well. And that’s what I would say about Sue. She has gone into some of the most difficult circumstances, sometimes when they are falling behind and she’s helped move them forward. And she’s done it with class, so everyone feels respected and everyone wins,” Sampson said.

“Calgary, you couldn’t be in better hands.”

Moving ahead, Henry said her immediate focus will of course still be on responding to COVID-19 in Calgary, but she will tie that in to a long term goal to ensure the city is safe from whatever else may come in the future.

“Disasters are impacting us and costing lots of money to businesses, to homes, to insurance companies and I know we have a lot of work to close that gap and make our city a more disaster resilient city,” she said.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi was also ecstatic about the news, and while he is sad to see his “buddy” Sampson leave the role after getting very well acquainted during the pandemic, he is also excited to see Henry excel in the position.

“I certainly knew who I wanted,” he said. “To run an extraordinary organization, we gotta have an extraordinary person.”

“We got the very best person in the world.”