Nina McCarthy is passionate about culture, people and the ability to influence positive change. She thrives on data, information and fact-based decision making and believes that empowered teams can achieve remarkable results.

She began her career with the City of Fredericton as a firefighter in the Suppression Division before moving to the Fire Prevention and Investigation Division six years later. She remained there for 12 years and served as a Lieutenant in the delivery of fire inspection, fire investigation, and fire prevention services.

Nina expanded her role with the City in January of 2015 by being seconded as a Process Improvement Facilitator to what is now Corporate Services. This role allowed her to maintain a customer focus and to utilize her skills in conflict resolution, team building, and process analysis in helping groups identify their needs and improve their services.

Nina returned to the Fire Department in July of 2018 as the Division Chief of Policy and Strategic Initiatives before being named as Deputy Chief in early 2019.

Her education and training are diverse. Nina holds an undergraduate BA in Criminology with a minor in Psychology from St. Thomas University, an MPhil in Policy Studies from the University of New Brunswick and a MSc in Human Resource Management from Purdue. She has a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, is a trained firefighter, fire inspector, certified fire and explosion investigator instructor, wildland fire investigator, and expert witness in fire cause and origin determination, allowing her to give opinion evidence in court testimony. She has been recognized by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs with an Executive Fire Chief Officer (ECFO) designation for her level of competency as a Chief Officer in the Fire Service.

Nina has been an advocate for cancer screening in the fire service and lead the team that saw screening implemented as part of the annual medical at her department. She continues to work to bring awareness to the dangers of cancer as they relate to firefighting and advocates for presumptive cancer coverage in her province.