Meet Our Team

Hugh is the founder of ARETE Safety and Protection Inc. and is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable and experienced violence prevention experts in Canada. He has personally facilitated thousands of customized workplace violence prevention training sessions throughout North America, in virtually every industry sector. Hugh is often requested as a desired speaker on a variety of subjects related to violence and conflict at professional conferences and conventions throughout North America. He has also been an expert guest on local and national TV, radio, and print media. Hugh is a key member of the ARETE safety training team.

Suzanne successfully completed the ARETE Trainer’s Intensive Certification program in 2007 and has since facilitated workplace violence prevention training for upwards of thirty thousand employees from a variety of industry sectors. Suzanne’s previous employment involved managing extremely challenging clients in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and her real-world experience in managing extremely challenging people and circumstances is second-to-none. From British Columbia to Newfoundland, her quick wit, thorough knowledge, and ability to connect with participants makes her a truly great trainer, consistently getting the results that ARETE clients have come to expect with each and every ARETE program and safety training team member.

Haley joined the ARETE team in 2016 and has fast become another sought-after ARETE training specialist. She has facilitated customized workshops for a broad range of low, medium, and high-risk employee groups in social work, recreation, enforcement and beyond. She fully understands the risks and various challenges frontline workers face when interacting with customers and clients. With her animated delivery, energy, and ability to connect with participants of all ages, she is a hit in every workplace she trains.

Flora is certified to facilitate both ARETE’s OnSide^TM Workplace | Bullying and Harassment Prevention as well as Service to Safety^TM | Workplace Violence Prevention & De-escalation. Being a professional actor, paired with her B.A. in psychology, makes her an outstanding Training Specialist who continues to engage and entertain participants from a number of, industries including Universities, Colleges, Hospitality, Energy, Maintenance, Municipal Governments, and many more.

Janine supports the continuing expansion of ARETE’s highly sought-after online courses and webinar services. She brings years of client-facing and digital experience from education and pharmaceutical markets. She is passionate about solving complex problems and providing world-class service to her clients. Whether you’re looking for a solution to your employee challenges, or just want to chat about the latest trends in the industry, she is always happy to hear from you.

Samantha has long been our Training Solutions Advisor, but has been working with ARETE much longer as the face of our young-adult-led training series, Safety with Sam^TM. After the creation of this popular online training series, she continued to take on various acting roles in our eLearning programs. With Samantha’s people skills, creativity, and knowledge of our training, she is happy to answer any questions regarding our training programs, and is determined to find and/or create options for each individual or organization to ensure that they are getting the best possible outcome from working with ARETE.

At the forefront of our commitment to unparalleled customer support is Reena, our esteemed Online Support Advisor. With a robust background in marketing and customer service, Reena plays a pivotal role in not just resolving technical issues but elevating the overall client experience through expert enrollment into transformative training programs. Armed with a foundation in marketing, Reena possesses a unique blend of skills that seamlessly integrates strategic communication with a deep understanding of client needs. The result is a smooth onboarding experience that instills confidence in clients and sets the stage for their online training journey.

As the training support technician for ARETE, Nathan assists in expanding and maintaining our online training while providing support and troubleshooting for clients. As part of this expansion, Nathan oversees our online training development projects, including the conversion of our programs to French for bilingual Canadian workplaces. Before joining ARETE full time, Nathan organized, directed, and acted in a number of ARETE’s video projects, including many of the videos in our popular online training courses. Nathan continues to fulfill this role as we further develop our catalog of online training programs.

Rana initially participated in ARETE workplace violence prevention training while working at WorkSafeBC (formerly WCB). As an employee exposed to a variety of challenging client behaviours, she still talks about how thrilled she was by the engaging and entertaining workshop and the real-world de-escalation skills she was then able to use in her daily workplace interactions. After working with WorkSafeBC for twenty-five years, Rana eventually joined the ARETE team as our Quality Assurance Advisor. Her primary role is to ensure the uppermost standards are met before any online training programs are released, while proactively identifying and resolving any issues that may arise.