AVSS

Wayne Middleton
Owner and Principal
Reliance Risk


Wayne Middleton is a highly respected industry professional with more than 38 years’ experience across public venues, major events, sport and live entertainment in Australia, New Zealand and internationally. His career spans senior operational roles, specialist consulting, academic teaching, technology leadership and industry development, with a consistent focus on safety, security, risk management and emergency preparedness in complex public environments. Wayne is recognised for a practical, measured approach to risk management—one that balances safety, operational delivery and governance obligations. His work reflects a deep understanding of how venues and events function under pressure and how safety and security systems must support, rather than hinder, successful event delivery. Wayne’s career began in hands-on venue and event operations, providing early exposure to crowd management, workforce coordination, incident response and live event delivery. These formative experiences shaped his professional philosophy that effective risk management must be operationally credible, proportionate and understood by those responsible for delivery on the ground. He has held senior safety and risk roles on a number of major international events, including serving as Manager of Safety for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Director of Safety for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. In 2007, Wayne founded Reliance Risk, now recognised as one of Asia Pacific’s leading specialist risk consultancies for the venues, events, sports and entertainment industries. Reliance Risk provides independent, experience-led advice across safety and security governance, crowd management, emergency planning, crisis and business continuity management, command and control design, regulatory compliance and independent assurance. Reliance Risk will celebrate 20 years of operation in 2027.

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