ADVISORS
Each publication is enriched with the insights and perspectives provided by our advisors. Selected based on their expertise across the broad topic areas covered by the scope of the publication, advisors serve a one-year term, in which they participate by sharing topic ideas, reviewing submitted content, participating in discussions, and submitting their own content.
Michael Breslin
Director, Strategic Client Relations, Federal Law Enforcement, LexisNexis Special Services Inc.
Michael Breslin is a retired federal law enforcement senior executive with 24 years of law enforcement and homeland security experience. He served as the deputy assistant director in the Office of Investigations focusing on the integrated mission of investigations and protection with oversight of 162 domestic and foreign field offices. He served as the event coordinator for the National Special Security Event Papal visit to Philadelphia in September 2015 and was appointed by the Secretary of Homeland Security to serve as the federal coordinator for the Papal Visit to the Mexico-U.S. Border in 2016. He is a member of the Senior Executive Service and is a published author of numerous articles on homeland security, defense, and threat mitigation methods. He serves on the Cyber Investigations Advisory Board of the U.S. Secret Service and is a Board Member for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He also serves on the Preparedness Leadership Council. He has a B.A. from Saint John’s University, Queens, NY, an M.S. in National Security Strategy and a Graduate Certificate in Business Transformation and Decision Making from The Industrial College of the Armed Forces; and an MPA from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Paul Cope
Director of the Master of Science in Homeland Security: Law and Policy Program, University of Kansas Law School
Paul Cope joined the University of Kansas Law School as the director of the Master of Science in Homeland Security: Law and Policy Program in 2021. He previously served as the chief of Cyber Law and Policy for the Kansas National Guard. As the lead cyber legal advisor, he provided legal guidance to leaders, addressing and developing national security policy and procedures to include cyber and intelligence incident responses. His former service with the Kansas National Guard includes appointment as the legal advisor (chief counsel) to the adjutant general of Kansas. He continues to serve as a judge advocate in the Kansas Army National Guard, where he holds the rank of lieutenant colonel. He earned a B.A. in Political Science from Pittsburg State University in 2006 and a J.D. from Washburn University School of Law in 2009.
Nathan DiPillo
Critical Infrastructure Analyst, California Governor's Office of Emergency Services
Nathan DiPillo currently serves as a California Governor’s Office appointee assigned to the California Office of Emergency Services as a Critical Infrastructure Analyst in the State Threat Assessment Center. Before state service, he functioned as a critical infrastructure specialist with the Department of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). He also spent over 15 years with the Transportation Security Administration, where he assisted in standing up the agency with policy development, training, and recruitment. He has over 25 years in the emergency management and security industry, beginning as a resident firefighter/emergency medical technician. He also served with the California State Military Department, and Army National Guard in the 223rd Training Command ending his career as a Sergeant First Class. During that time, he served in many units, finishing his career attached to the 102nd Military Police Training Division in an Opposition Force Unit. He currently serves on a small-town planning commission and assisted in coordinating an emergency family communications group in his local area. He possesses a Master of Emergency Management/Homeland Security from the National University and other Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and military certifications. He currently serves as an advisor to the Domestic Preparedness Journal.
Eric Epley
Executive Director/CEO, Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council for Trauma (STRAC)
Eric Epley is the executive director of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council for Trauma (STRAC) in San Antonio, Texas. STRAC serves 22 counties that stretch over 26,000 square miles, whose membership includes 55 hospitals, 75 emergency medical services (EMS) agencies and 14 helicopter bases. He is a Certified Emergency Manager with nearly 35 years in public safety response and administration, a nationally registered paramedic for over 30 years, and a licensed police officer for 13 years, serving as a tactical paramedic at the Branch Davidian standoff, the Republic of Texas standoff, and other high-profile Texas incidents. He currently serves as an advisor to the Domestic Preparedness Journal.
James (Jim) Featherstone
Principal Consultant, Themata Strategic LLC
James (Jim) Featherstone is a principal consultant at Themata Strategic LLC, a crisis management consultant agency. Previously, he was the executive director of the Los Angeles Homeland Security Advisory Council, a position he assumed in March 2016 after serving the City of Los Angeles for thirty years. A native of Washington, D.C., and a veteran of the United States Navy, he began his public service to the City of Los Angeles in 1986 with the Los Angeles Fire Department. He was later appointed interim fire chief (2013-2014). In 2007, he was appointed general manager of the Los Angeles Emergency Management Department. From 2008 to 2018, he chaired FEMA’s National Advisory Council. He holds a Master of Leadership from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Public Administration from Union Institute and University. He is an alumnus of the Executive Leaders Program at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He is also a senior fellow in the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government’s Program on Crisis Leadership.
Kay C. Goss
President, World Disaster Management
Kay Goss has been the president of World Disaster Management since 2012. She is the former senior assistant to two state governor coordinating fire service, emergency management, emergency medical services, public safety, and law enforcement for 12 years. She then served as the Associate Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director for National Preparedness, Training, Higher Education, Exercises, and International Partnerships (presidential appointee, U.S. Senate confirmed unanimously). She was a private sector government contractor for 12 years, at the Texas firm, Electronic Data Systems (EDS) as senior emergency manager and homeland security advisor and SRA International’s director of emergency management services. She serves as a nonprofit leader on the Board of Advisors for DRONERESPONDERS International and for the Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Management, and as graduate professor of Emergency Management at University of Nevada at Las Vegas for 16 years, İstanbul Technical University for 12 years, the MPA Programs Metropolitan College of New York for five years, and George Mason University. She has been a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) for 25 years and a Featured IAEM CEM Mentor for five years, and Chair of the Training and Education Committee for six years, 2004-2010.
Charles Guddemi
Statewide Interoperability Coordinator, Operations Division, DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency
Charles Guddemi is the District of Columbia’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency’s (HSEMA) statewide interoperability coordinator (SWIC). He is responsible for coordinating interoperability and communications projects involving voice, data, and video. He chairs the District’s Interoperable Communications Committee and Cellular Industry/WiFi Provider Working Group. He serves as the secretary for the Statewide Interoperability Executives Council, is a member of the National Council of Statewide Interoperability Coordinators and current co-chair of FEMA’s Region III Regional Emergency Communications Coordinators Working Group. He also participates on several Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) committees and working groups. He joined HSEMA after a 25-year career with the United States Park Police (USPP). His assignments included working in Washington, D.C., New York Field Office, San Francisco Field Office, and the National Park Service Northeast Regional Headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He achieved the rank of deputy chief serving as the commander of the Services Division.
Robert C. Hutchinson
Director, Black Swans Consulting LLC
Robert C. Hutchinson is a director at Black Swans Consulting LLC. Before joining the private sector, he was the chief of police for the Broward County Public School, Special Investigative Unit where he was responsible for conducting and overseeing criminal and administrative investigations involving the over 34,000 district employees. He retired with over 28 years as a federal agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of the Treasury. His positions included deputy director, assistant director, deputy special agent in charge, assistant special agent in charge, supervisory special agent, and special agent at offices in Florida, Washington DC (headquarters), Maryland, and Texas. He was the deputy director for his agency’s national emergency preparedness division and assistant director for its national firearms and tactical training division. His over 30 publications and many domestic and international presentations addressed the important need for cooperation, coordination, and collaboration between the fields of public health, emergency management and law enforcement, especially in the area of pandemic preparedness. He received his graduate degrees at the University of Delaware in public administration and Naval Postgraduate School in homeland security studies.
Melissa R. Hyatt
Chief of Police, Baltimore County Police Department
Melissa R. Hyatt was sworn in as Baltimore County’s 14th Police Chief on June 17, 2019, bringing with her over 20 years of law enforcement experience with the Baltimore Police Department. She served in that role for almost 4 years, bringing transformative change to the agency. While at the Baltimore Police Department, her assignments included chief of staff to the police commissioner, chief of patrol, and chief of the Special Operations Division. In 2018, she retired at the rank of colonel to accept a position of vice president for Security for Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Medicine. Hyatt holds a Masters in Management Degree from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Delaware. She is a graduate of the 250th session of the FBI National Academy, the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s Executive Leaders Program, and the Major Cities Chiefs Police Executive Leadership Institute (PELI). Hyatt is a 2021 Aspen Institute Civil Society Fellow. She has been honored with numerous awards and citations, and holds memberships in several professional organizations, including the Major Cities Chiefs Association for which she serves as the chair of the Human Resources and Emerging Issues Committee. Hyatt is also the immediate past president for the Maryland Chiefs of Police Association. She currently serves on the board of directors for the International Association of Chiefs of Police and as a board member for both Special Olympics Maryland and the Baltimore Humane Society.
Alexis Joiner
Senior Technical Staff Member, Sandia National Laboratory
Alexis Joiner is a senior technical staff member at Sandia National Laboratories supporting homeland and defense customers in technical areas such as pandemic planning, biological detection systems, health, food, and agriculture systems resilience, scenario planning, and stakeholder engagements. She acquired 20 years of diverse experience working across government, private, and international non-governmental organization sectors. She deployed to Liberia, West Africa during the Ebola Emergency Response as a World Health Organization consultant. She formerly worked as a government technical consultant on biodefense and S&T projects for homeland, defense, and national security clients and led technical business development for procurements. After the 9/11 attacks, she worked in the first civilian cadre of WMD national security analysts at FBI Headquarters. As a small business start-up founder, she was Computer Sciences Corporation’s Emerging Small Business of the Year in 2014. She has international field experience working with culturally diverse communities in austere environments before, during, and after protracted crises and disaster events (e.g., Liberia, Kenya, Ghana). She has worked in the Former Soviet Union to enhance human and animal disease surveillance reporting.
Ann Lesperance
Director, Northwest Regional Technology Center at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Northeastern University Seattle
Ann Lesperance is the director of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Northwest Regional Technology Center for Homeland Security (NWRTC). She is also on a joint appointment to Northeastern University-Seattle and leads efforts to build the master’s program in Security and Resilience Studies and Urban Informatics. She was also awarded a Faculty Affiliate appointment with Northeastern’ s Global Resilience Institute. Her primary focus is developing regional programs to accelerate the demonstration and deployment of new homeland security technologies. To accomplish this, she works with state and local emergency responders and public safety officials to understand and help prioritize their operational needs and requirements. She also builds regional coalitions of emergency management professionals to partner with U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology, the Department of Defense, and other federal agencies, and manages program implementation in the field. She is a recognized leader in response, recovery, and resiliency issues. Most recently, she was invited to join the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on Applied Research Topics for Hazard Mitigation and Resilience. The committee identifies applied research topics, information, and expertise to inform the science of natural hazard mitigation and resilience and enables applications of science, data, and technology.
Anthony S. Mangeri
Assistant Vice President, Mitigation and Resilience, The Olson Group Ltd.
Anthony S. Mangeri, MPA, CPM, CEM, has been an active practitioner in emergency management for over 35 years. Currently, he serves as assistant vice president for mitigation and resilience at The Olson Group Ltd. and president of Region 2 of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). Prior to his current position, he served as a town manager where he facilitated the community response to the COVID-19 pandemic, was responsible for local emergency preparedness and disaster recovery operations, and oversaw the establishment of a municipal police department. For more than 10 years, he served as New Jersey’s State Hazard Mitigation Officer, building systems to identify hazards, prioritize risk, and mitigate threat During the 9/11 attacks, he served as operations chief at the New Jersey Emergency Operations Center coordinating the state’s response to the World Trade Center attacks. He has been a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician for more than 30 years. He earned a Master of Public Administration from Rutgers’s University. He also completed a fellowship in Public Health Leadership in Emergency Response, is a Certified Professional Coach, and served on professional committees, including the ASIS Fire and Life Safety Council and executive committee of the IAEM-USA Board.
Sadie Martinez
Access and Functional Needs Coordinator, Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Sadie Martinez is the access and functional needs coordinator for the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. She also serves as the Access and Whole Community Inclusion Caucus chair for the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). Previously, she was the emergency program coordinator and independent living program manager for The Independence Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she trained and advocated for people with disabilities by helping to build personal preparedness for disasters and emergencies, acting as a liaison with local governments, and creating a statewide group of disability-competent emergency coordinators with the governor, members of the legislature, and other public policy makers.
R. W. "Bob" Royall Jr.
Assistant Chief (Retired), Emergency Operations at Harris County Fire Marshal's Office
As assistant chief, Bob Royall was responsible for the overall operation of the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office (HCFMO) Emergency Operations, reporting directly to the fire marshal. He began his career in the fire service in 1973 with the City of Houston Fire Department, retiring as a senior captain after 31 years, over one-third of which as a coordinator of the hazardous materials response team. He began his tenure with HCFMO in 2005 as assistant chief. He also served as HCFMO’s chief of staff, chief of risk management, chief financial officer as well as in leadership roles on numerous local, state, and national committees. Bob is a principle member of the NFPA 470 and NFPA 475 Technical Committees, Chairman of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) HazMat Committee, and Chairman of the Texas Emergency Management Advisory Executive Committee.
Richard Schoeberl
Program Chair & Director of Graduate Studies, Criminology and Homeland Security, The University of Tennessee Southern
Richard Schoeberl, Ph.D., has over 25 years of law enforcement experience, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). He has served in a variety of positions throughout his career, ranging from a supervisory special agent at the FBI’s headquarters in Washington, DC, to unit chief of the International Terrorism Operations Section at the NCTC’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Before these organizations, he worked as a special agent investigating violent crime, human trafficking, international terrorism, and organized crime. He was also assigned numerous collateral duties during his FBI tour – including as a certified instructor and member of the agency’s SWAT program. In addition to the FBI and NCTC, he is an author and has served as a media contributor for Fox News, CNN, PBS, NPR, Al-Jazeera Television, Al Arabiva Television, Al Hurra, and Sky News in Europe. Additionally, he has authored numerous scholarly articles, serves as a peer mentor with the Police Executive Research Forum, is currently a professor of Criminology and Homeland Security at the University of Tennessee-Southern, and works with Hope for Justice – a global nonprofit combatting human trafficking.
Mary Schoenfeldt
Board President, Green Cross Academy of Traumatology
Mary Schoenfeldt, Ph.D., is the board president of Green Cross Academy of Traumatology and has responded to countless disasters. She is an emergency management professional specializing in community and school crises and has a passion for disaster psychology. She is a faculty member of FEMA Emergency Management Institute, an adjunct faculty at Pierce College, and a subject matter expert for the U.S. Department of Education. She also serves clients through her consulting business. She can be reached at yoursafeplace@msn.com
Lynda Zambrano
Executive Director and Founder, National Tribal Emergency Management Council
Lynda Zambrano currently serves as executive director of the Northwest Tribal Emergency Management Council and the National Tribal Emergency Management Council (NTEMC). She is an adjunct professor at Pierce College, Centers of Excellence for Homeland Security, authoring and teaching the Grants Writing and Management curriculum. She began her career in law enforcement 20 years ago, working with federal, state, local, and tribal governments. She has served as health director for several Tribal Nations, which provided a unique perspective to bring together different disciplines to work together in emergency management. She has an extensive background in finance, contracts management, and audit compliance. She is a grants writer, assisting with securing more than 100 grants and tens of millions of dollars for Tribal Nations in Washington state and across the country. She has received recognition for her work in Indian Country from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. She was inducted into the International Association of Women in Emergency Management’s Hall of Fame. She helped co-found the Fresh Food Coalition and, along with the NTEMC’s sister nonprofit, Farmer Frog, oversees food and supplies distribution in 35 states to over three million people.
