Dawn Whittaker, Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive
Dawn joined the John Lewis Partnership as a graduate and after 14 years moved to the public sector.
She joined Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service in 2004 as a senior manager with a background in business and performance management. She went on to undertake operational incident command training and completed a Masters in Business Administration in 2011.
In April 2015, she began a secondment to central Government as a professional adviser to the Minister for Fire and Rescue, as part of the CFRA team.
In June 2016, Dawn was appointed Deputy Chief Fire Officer in East Sussex and took on the Chief Fire Officer role from April 2017.
A member of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), Dawn has led the development of the association’s approach to drowning prevention and water safety since 2013 for all UK based Fire Services, and also represents NFCC on the National Water Safety Forum and was actively involved in the development of the UK National Drowning Prevention Strategy, launched at Westminster in February 2016. She is also the Deputy Chair of the NFCC Prevention Committee and sits on the NFCC Leadership Board.
An active volunteer for over 35 years, Dawn has been a Trustee and Chair of the Board of a Northamptonshire Volunteer Bureau and Royal Life Saving Society UK.
Her passion, both through her professional and voluntary work is improving community safety, helping to educate and ensure the public understand risk and stay safe.
Dawn was a recipient of the King’s Fire Service Medal in the New Years’ Honours 2023 for her national work on Water Safety.
Dawn will retire at the end of 2024, with ACFO Mark Matthews appointed as her successor.
David Norris - Deputy Chief Fire Officer – Director of Service Planning & Assurance
Dave joined East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service as Deputy Chief Fire Officer in December 2021. Prior to joining East Sussex he served as Interim Deputy Chief Fire Officer at Bedfordshire Fire & Rescue Service.
As Director for Service Planning & Assurance, Dave leads on support functions such as Resources, Planning & Improvement and People Services Assurance.
Dave previously worked for Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service, and before his move to Bedfordshire, was Head of Service Delivery, with responsibility for Prevention, Operational Response, and Resilience.
Between April 2013 and July 2017, Dave was seconded to the Fire Strategy and Reform team in the Home Office which leads on the development and coordination of fire and rescue service policy. He was the lead fire adviser during development and delivery of the Fire Reform Programme, which included the refreshed fire inspectorate.
In 2017, Dave joined HMICFRS as the Deputy Portfolio Director for the fire team, which developed the fire inspection programme. Dave took part in the first tranche of inspections before returning to Service in August 2018.
Mark Matthews - Assistant Chief Fire Officer – Director of Service Delivery
Mark has been with East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service since 1998. He has served in a range of roles including Staff Officer to the Chief Fire Officer, Brighton & Hove Borough Commander, Wealden Borough Commander, Assistant Director of Safer Communities and Assistant Director of Response and Resilience.
Since November 2020, Mark has been in the role of Assistant Chief Fire Officer, responsible for Service Delivery across East Sussex and Brighton & Hove. Mark directs and strategically leads across the directorate comprising of Prevention, Protection, Mobilising, Response & Resilience and Fleet. He is also the Delivery Board Chair of the Sussex Resilience Forum, working closely with partner agencies across East and West Sussex.
Mark was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, the Fire Service Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in 2019 and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022.
Doug Marshall - Assistant Director – People Services
Doug joined ESFRS in 2001, where he served as a Firefighter and Crew Manager at Eastbourne Fire Station before moving into his first specialist role. He then progressed through roles as a Watch Manager in Training, Watch Manager at Bohemia Road, and Staff Officer to the Chief Fire Officer, while also holding a dual on-call Crew Manager role at Pevensey Fire Station for over 10 years.
He has carried out Station Manager roles within all three Geographical Groups and at the Service Training Centre. He is proud to have led the service’s internal response to Covid by coordinating the Covid Working Group through its most dynamic phase.
Doug has a passion for training, competence, and continuous personal and organisational development. He led the review and development of the existing Firefighter Competence framework while carrying out the role of Command and Operational Training Manager. This commitment to development is further demonstrated by his involvement with the NFCC Executive Leadership Programme, where he is part of the assessment team that evaluates potential candidates for the programme.
He has always been dedicated to enhancing training opportunities for all our staff, most recently leading on proposals to improve our training infrastructure to secure realistic training opportunities both at the Service Training Centre and on stations through the development of live fire training facilities and station-based training hubs.
Doug has moved into the Assistant Director of People Services role after leading the West Group (covering Brighton and Hove, Lewes, and Newhaven areas) for a number of years. In his current role, he leads work on fire service culture and leadership, HR, organisational and workforce development, and communications.
Duncan Savage - Assistant Director – Resources / Treasurer
He is responsible for areas including Finance, Risk and Insurance, Procurement, Estates, Information Technology Governance and Legal Services Collaboration Agreement with Orbis Public Law.
Duncan is also the Fire Authority’s statutory Treasurer (S112 officer – equivalent to S151 in local government).
Duncan is a qualified CIPFA accountant with over 30 years’ experience in the public sector including 20 years at a senior management level. He has worked with East Sussex FRS since 2004 and joined them as Treasurer in 2013. He has been in his current role since 2016.
Duncan is a member of the NFCC’s Finance Co-ordination Committee, an LGA Core Adviser for Fire and a Director of the Fire and Rescue Indemnity Company (FRIC), a sector owned mutual providing risk and insurance services to its member FRS.
Matt Lloyd - Assistant Director – Response and Risk Reduction
Matt has worked for the Fire Service for over 26 years in a variety of different roles, including working for the NFCC (formerly CFOA) as a Policy Support Officer for the People Services Directorate.
Matt joined East Sussex at the age of 18 from college, undertaking a dual contract role for 10 years serving with the On Call section at Barcombe.
He has worked in the City Group (Brighton & Hove), Training Centre, Headquarters, Sussex Control Centre and the Central Group (Wealden).
Matt has a passion for making a difference, he enjoys a challenge and working with his teams to make the public safe.
George O'Reilly - Temporary Head of Protection
George joined East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service as a Watch Manager within the Protection Department in 2004.
He has since served as a manager on many stations in the East and Central areas of the County, including being Station Manager at wholetime, day crewed and on call stations.
He has also served in many specialist posts including at Training Centre as the Incident Command Manager, in our Operational Policy & Procedure Team and in Protection as both a Station and Group Manager. George has overseen key projects and workstreams such as the Regional JESIP lead, the SRF Delivery Group Chair and the initial Chair of the Services COVID response.
George has worked as a Group Manager in the Central Group before becoming Head of Protection in 2021 where he has led and driven the required growth in this critical area of our business.
George is a member of the NFCC and uses this membership to activity contribute at a national level to improving how we reduce risk in our communities.
Hannah Youldon - Assistant Director – Operational Support & Resilience
Hannah is the Assistant Director for Operational Support & Resilience and a member of the Senior Leadership Team for East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service.
Hannah has worked for the Fire Service for over 19 years in various different roles, including a secondment to a government department.
Prior to that she worked in both the private and education sectors within the 'people arena'. She holds both a MSc in HR & Development and a level 7 qualification in organisation design and development which Hannah has used throughout her Fire Service career locally, regionally and nationally.
She also has a passion in developing, supporting and empowering people and holds a coaching qualification which is put to good use by volunteering as a mentor to the Girls Network.