About

Growing up in the late 1990s, Brennen discovered a new world of possibility when he first learned of the internet.

He was filled with excitement about exploring it but quickly found out that his parents had it password protected. He would have to find a way around it.

One day, he found himself unsupervised with the family computer and decided to use the search function on Windows 98 to do some digging.

Much to his surprise, he stumbled upon a text file that held the information he was looking for; the username and password to access dial-up. He browsed without permission for a while until his secret mission was interrupted by an incoming phone call for his mom.

His mom, curious to know why the dial-up internet was connected, asked his dad if he had been using it but soon discovered Brennen’s secret mission. The gig was up, as they say.

From then on, a new rule was established in the Schmidt household: Brennen could only use the internet as long as he promised to practice safe online behaviours.

“Hacking” the family computer became Brennen’s first introduction to cybersecurity at a young age and helped him discover the knack he had for unpacking problems and developing solutions.

That moment of discovery carried Brennen forward into his career as an adult where he found himself embracing his problem-solving abilities in between the worlds of technology, emergency planning, and crisis response.

He has worked for the office of the Saskatchewan Premier, pioneered a public awareness initiative for Saskatchewan paramedics which achieved national recognition by Twitter Canada, and is formerly an award-winning consultant with Deloitte who has engaged with clients across North America.

Through Brennen’s diverse range of experience, he has witnessed how a lack of preventative planning met by cognitive bias with technology has led to an array of problems, particularly when we become faced with a crisis.

As a disrupter who can communicate across languages of strategy, privacy, cybersecurity and change management, Brennen has a unique ability to bring varying perspectives to the table. He has a track record of bringing together seemingly disparate ideas and teams to find solutions that bridge the gap between people, process, and technology.

Above and beyond conversation, there is one thing that Brennen believes can change the way we respond to a crisis before it happens: Reconnecting to our imagination.

With the same curiosity that compelled him to gain access to the family computer as a child, Brennen leads with the boldness of his imagination and dares to ask hard questions like, “What if we allowed ourselves to imagine what a crisis looks like before it happens?”