We specialise in tailored solutions that drive staff safety and business readiness, backed by real frontline experience and a purpose-built platform. Delivering across New Zealand and Australia.
Every member of our team has stood in the moment
they now teach others to prepare for.
Sam Clarke served with the New Zealand Police, spending several years responding to emergency calls on the frontline and specialising in the Armed Offenders Squad. Alongside his operational role, he was heavily involved in coaching and supporting frontline officers across de-escalation, managing aggressive behaviour, police tactics, decision-making under pressure, and coordinating responses to emergency incidents.
In 2023, Sam was injured during a critical incident in Auckland CBD, a moment that became a turning point both personally and professionally (with some very clear encouragement from his wife to "go get a new job").
After leaving the Police, Sam brought together his operational experience and instructional background to found ResponseRise. The mission is simple: give businesses of all sizes the training and response plans they need to keep their staff, customers and operations safe. Today, Sam focuses on delivering practical, real-world solutions that help people and businesses manage conflict and impacts to operations, so their people go home safe.
Shaun Winstanley brings 15 years of experience in the New Zealand Police, across frontline patrol, the Criminal Investigations Branch, and the Armed Offenders Squad. Alongside his operational work, he spent years teaching and coaching frontline officers in de-escalation, situational awareness, dynamic risk assessing, and decision-making under pressure, skills that only mean something when they hold up under real pressure.
That experience became deeply personal in 2023, when Shaun was seriously injured during a critical incident in the Auckland CBD. It's a powerful reminder of why training and preparation matter: hoping for the best means nothing without being prepared for the worst.
Joining ResponseRise gave Shaun a way to put that experience to work for good, taking everything he learned coaching frontline officers and his years of experience, turning it into training that helps everyday teams spot problems before they escalate. It's given real purpose and direction to this next chapter, using hard-won experience to help other people stay safe.
Ross Edwards is part of ResponseRise's crisis management, emergency management and business continuity capability.
He is an experienced advisor and operational leader with a background spanning the Australian Defence Force, government and major city operating environments. Ross supports executives and operational teams to prepare for, respond to and recover from high-consequence events, with a focus on clear governance, early escalation, sound decision-making and the continuity of critical functions.
His work includes crisis and emergency management frameworks, business continuity programs, executive readiness, response plans, exercises, capability reviews and post-incident improvement. He brings practical experience working in complex, high-pressure environments where decisions must be made quickly, responsibilities must be clear and consequences must be actively managed.
Ross is known for a calm, structured and pragmatic approach. He works with organisations to translate risk into practical arrangements that strengthen leadership confidence, operational coordination and organisational resilience.
Derek Schagen is ResponseRise's Principal Advisor for emergency management.
He is a former police commander with over 40 years' experience across tactical policing, counter terrorism, negotiations and emergency management, spanning the Australian Federal Police, NSW Police, the Sydney Opera House and the City of Sydney. Derek supports organisations to plan for, exercise and respond to high-risk and emergency situations, with a focus on command decision-making, crowded place safety and sound emergency planning.
His work includes emergency and evacuation plans, crowded place risk assessments, exercises, training and post-incident review. He brings direct experience commanding live counter terrorist and armed offender operations, including leading the 2005 investigation that resulted in nine terrorism convictions across NSW and Victoria, for which he received the NSW Police Commissioner's Commendation.
Derek is known for a methodical, hands on approach shaped by decades of command experience. He works with organisations to turn emergency planning into practical, well rehearsed arrangements, drawing on plans he has written for the Sydney CBD, Lucas Heights and the Sydney Opera House, and training delivered across Australia and New Zealand in a range of crowded place environments.
Anna Wilson leads ResponseRise's First Aid courses, a registered nurse with over a decade of clinical experience in one of New Zealand's busiest emergency departments. As well as emergency and urgent care nursing, she has worked in occupational health facilitating medicals for high-risk workers in some of London's biggest civil and construction projects. She's a certified Emergency Care Instructor with the New Zealand Resuscitation Council, and has spent years teaching people of all ages how to respond calmly and confidently when it counts.
Anna's approach is hands-on and practical, built around real training manikins and real scenarios, not just theory. As a mother of three, she also brings genuine, lived experience to the Child & Infant First Aid course, understanding first-hand what it's like to care for a child in a moment that matters.
Book a consultation to find the right mix of training, planning and platform access for your team.
