Management Team
FireRein is a clean company founded by firefighters in rural Ontario, Canada, who saw the need to improve the industry with a safe product for both the environment and those fighting fires. The management team is comprised of firefighters, scientists and business professionals whose goal is to make our communities safer with our mantra Prevent, Protect and Extinguish.
Wayne Maddever | CEO
Wayne Maddever has over three decades of experience in the commercialization of new technologies. He has a Ph.D. in Materials Science Engineering from the University of Toronto and has held positions as an advisor and portfolio manager. In previous roles, he has been successful in turnaround or acquisition situations, bringing about change management and success in the commercialization of new technologies.
Quincy Emmons | President
& Co-Founder
Quincy has more than 25 years of firefighting experience with Stone Mills Fire Department, currently a Captain and Trainer/Facilitator. Professionally, he spent twelve years developing fundraising programs for charity organizations, maximizing fundraising goals and helping to build brand awareness before embarking on his mission to make firefighting safer for firefighters, communities, and the environment.
Zackery Hodgen | Vice President, Business Development & Co-Founder
Zackery is a skilled firefighting and HSE professional. He has served as a firefighter with the Belleville FD and as HSE Manager for Cloak Medic and Safety Services, an industrial safety company in Grande Prairie, Alberta. Before the HSE role, Zackery provided on-site emergency response as an Emergency Medical Technician within the same company. Zackery has three years of experience with Manitoba Conservation as an Initial Attack Forest Fire Fighter (Wildland Firefighting). Zackery joined the FireRein team in 2014, as he appreciated the risks of using PFAS and other dangerous chemicals on structure fires, wildfires, and training.
Peter Sells | Vice President, Chief Fire Training Officer
Peter has over 30 years of fire protection experience, including 23 years with Toronto Fire Services, 14 of which were as District Chief of Professional Development. Peter has worked for the past decade as a Fire Protection Management Consultant, providing strategic planning and operational consultancy to emergency response organizations across Ontario, in the Canadian Arctic, and in the Middle East. He has contributed to many fire service textbooks, has authored dozens of magazine articles and blogs for fire service industry publications, and has spoken to industry and academic audiences across Canada, the USA, Europe and the Middle East. Peter is one of the Founders of FireRein.
Dr. David Hyndman | Chief Science Officer
David has over 30 years of technology development and research management experience. He has lead technology development projects with companies such as Alcan International, Lafarge Canada and Performance Plants. David has managed academic research and training facilities with Queen’s University. Prior to joining FireRein, David facilitated the development of industry and academic collaborations, and supported the Kingston start-up ecosystem through his role with the Industry Partnerships unit located at Queen’s Innovation Park. He is leading FireRein’s technology development mandate for our flagship product, Eco-Gel™, and other products in development.
Valerie Watts-Dafoe | General Manager
Valerie Watts-Dafoe has been working in business development, public relations and marketing since graduating with her commerce degree from the University of Ottawa. Previous to joining the team at FireRein, Valerie served as Executive Director for the Community Foundation for Lennox and Addington and Constituency Manager to MP Mike Bossio.
Board of Directors
Mr. Peter Sells | Representative of Founders Group | Chairperson
Peter is a former Chief of the Toronto Fire Academy (10 years) and has over 30 years of experience in firefighting, emergency management, fire service training and fire service strategic planning. Over the last decade, he has conducted Station Location studies, produced Master Fire Plans and other strategic analysis projects for Fire Services across Ontario, in the Canadian Arctic and in the Middle East. Peter recently completed a three-year international contract, consulting on the development of the Emirates Civil Defence Academy in Dubai, UAE.
Peter is a contributing author to 6 fire/rescue textbooks, and wrote the FlashPoint column and blog for Fire Fighting In Canada magazine for 8 years. He is the author of Power & Action: Using Knowledge and Wisdom to Solve Leadership Problems. Peter has sat on the advisory boards of the Ontario Fire College and the Institution of Fire Engineers Canada Branch, and on the Administrative Committee of the International Fire Service Training Association. He is certified to NFPA 1041 Fire Service Instructor Level 3 and completed the Ontario Fire Service Company Officer Diploma program. Peter is a recipient of the Order of St John for volunteer contributions to the St John Ambulance Association, and of the Canadian Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal.
Quincy Emmons | Representative of Founders Group & Employees
Quincy has more than 23 years of firefighting experience with Stone Mills Fire Department, currently serving as a Captain and Trainer/Facilitator. His business experience includes having operated a successful fundraising organization for 12 years and developing fundraising programs for various charities, maximizing fundraising dollars, meeting and surpassing fundraising goals, and helping the associated charities to build their brand awareness.
Quincy has demonstrated proficiency in managing fire and emergency first responders in the most adverse conditions through his extensive fireground experience in home and commercial structural, wildland, petrochemical, recycling, and agricultural applications. He is a gifted team leader with an approachable and encouraging demeanour, passionate about helping others achieve their best potential, and is firmly committed to building FireRein in Napanee, ON, by hiring local people and experienced firefighters. Quincy currently sits on the Lennox & Addington County Economic Development Committee.
Mr. William Stewart | CFIFireE, CFO, CMMlll
Mr. Stewart served as Fire Chief for the Toronto Fire Services from May 1, 2003, to April 30, 2012 at which time he retired from the service after serving the City and citizens of Toronto for thirty-nine and a half years. Prior to the amalgamation of the new City of Toronto on January 1, 1998, Mr. Stewart served in the former City of North York Fire Department for twenty-six years and he has also served as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces as a commissioned and non-commissioned officer.
Mr. Stewart currently serves as a Director and a Past International President of the Institution of Fire Engineers and is a Past President of the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association, International Association of Fire Chiefs/National Fire Protection Association. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Fire Protection Association. He continues to serve as a Director of the Canadian Fallen Fire Fighters Foundation. During his career, Mr. Stewart served as President of the Institution of Fire Engineers Canada Branch, a member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council, a member of the Public Administration and Governance Program at Ryerson University, and a member of the Professional Standards Setting Body, Ontario Fire College in the review of all standards for fire fighter training in Ontario.
Steven Aboud | Independent
Steven is the founder of Aboud & Associates Inc., an ecological, arboricultural and landscape architectural consulting company in Guelph, Ontario. There, he served as President and Board Chair from 1995 to 2017. Under Steven’s leadership, the firm has completed over 1,000 development, infrastructure and policy-based projects ranging in size from a single tree to several thousand hectares for private clients, community organizations and all levels of government in Ontario.
As a strategic relations consultant, Steven promotes FireRein to government members, industry and individuals, with an emphasis on highlighting the environmental benefits of FireRein’s products and services. At the local level, Steven is the Vice President of the Board of the Somerset Neighbourhood Community, where he provides opinion on matters intended to benefit the value and cooperation of the community.
Steven is an investor in small and large companies that strive to protect the environment and provide valuable services to people and the environment in Ontario and across Canada.
Dr. Joy Hataley | Independent
Dr. Joy Hataley is an experienced medical doctor and advocate for the health of the Canadian population. With over 30 years of healthcare experience, she has served as a leader in various medical organizations, including The Manitoba College of Family Physicians and the Ontario Medical Association. Dr. Hataley is a member of the Canadian Associations of Physicians for the Environment and actively promotes healthcare reform to restore patient care and environmental
protections. She has been recognized for her efforts to address long wait times for healthcare, and, as such, has been interviewed by local, provincial, and national media.
Dr. Hataley's passion for patient care and the realization that our environment has much to do with human health has led her to join the FireRein Board in order to support the production and marketing of EcoGel with the intent of solving the loss of health and years of life due to toxins present in the firefighting compounds prominent in the firefighting industry today.