Owner and Principal Consultant at SMRT Solution Consulting Inc., Bill McKee is a sought-after trainer, facilitator, and business strategist, leveraging his emergency management experience to help organizations build resilience and sustainability in the face of disaster.
Bill has 25 years of experience in emergency services as a frontline firefighter and an acting captain with the largest fire department in Canada—Toronto Fire Services. As a licensed paralegal, an emergency management project manager and analyst, and an executive board member for the Toronto Professional Firefighters Association (TPFFA), Bill brings a wide range of experiences to his consulting.
He has represented clients before the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT). In 2014, he was responsible for securing a noteworthy decision at the WSIAT that recognized post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in firefighters. This landmark ruling became a catalyst for presumptive legislation covering PTSD for all first responders in Ontario, officially recognizing it as an occupational disease with entitlement to workers’ compensation benefits.
In his role as an Executive Board member with the fourth-largest firefighters’ union in North America, TPFFA, Bill was instrumental in union negotiations, collective bargaining, grievances, human rights, workplace investigations, disciplinary hearings, and government relations. He is uniquely positioned to leverage his diverse experience to help organizations facing crisis and emergency management challenges, providing strategic advice on tactical decision-making, labour relations, leadership, and legislative requirements relating to emergency operations.
At Calian Group, Bill served as an emergency management analyst and project manager, leading teams and consulting on major projects—including TTC, Manitoba Health, and the Region of Peel—where he developed emergency response plans, conducted business continuity assessments, and provided leadership and team coaching.
He is a keen strategist who brings valuable frontline emergency management knowledge. Combined with his legal, labour relations, and management experience, this allows him to view issues through a multidimensional lens and create solutions that address the root of the problem.