Darius Bazemore; Response Teams Coordinator , Washington State Department of Health
Darius Bazemore is the Public Health Response Teams Coordinator and Alternate ESF-8 Lead at the Washington State Department of Health, serving since 2021. He leads emergency preparedness, response coordination, and fatality management planning. Darius has contributed to numerous response efforts to include wildfire season, MPV, HPAI, FIFA, and ESF-8 planning efforts. He is an HSEEP-certified instructor, and has served as an ICS instructor and training and exercise coordinator for response and readiness within the Office of Communicable Disease & Epidemiology.

Kelvin Blevins; Deputy Director, Birmingham Department of Transportation

Kristen Corkins; Emergency Management Specialist, U.S. Forest Service Fire & Aviation Management
Kristen Corkins has been with the U.S. Forest Service, Fire & Aviation Management, All Hazard & International Fire Support Branch as an Emergency Management Specialist for nearly three years. She joined the Forest Service after working for the Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance as their Communications and Policy Director for six years. Her background is in incident management, wildland fire operations, and public information. She has been a member of Incident Management Teams since 2011 and has served as lead Information Officer on Eastern Area Type 2 IMTs and California Interagency Type 1 IMTs. She is Chair of the NWCG NIMS Integration Committee and serves on several other interagency committees. Kristen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and a Master of Science degree in forestry from the University of Florida. She has previously worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Scott Dehnisch; Emergency Management Specialist, U.S. Forest Service
Scott Dehnisch is an Emergency Management Specialist with U.S. Forest Service, Fire and Aviation Management, All Hazard & International Fire Support Branch. He joined FAM from the Office of International Programs and Trade, where he served in the Disaster Assistance Support Program (DASP) as the USAID Wildfire Response Coordinator for 11 years, before most recently serving as the Senior Technical Advisor for Wildfire to the U.S. Department of State (DoS). He brings more than 27 years of operational and leadership experience in wildfire response, incident command, and international emergency management to FAM. In Scott’s DASP position within USAID, he led USAID’s global responses to wildfire, directing USFS and DOI firefighting personnel and resources on wildfire incidents in Türkiye, Greece, Indonesia, Chile, among others. Scott also served in disaster response leadership roles for USAID in other crisis, most recently deploying as Deputy Incident Commander for the U.S. government’s humanitarian response to wars in Israel/Gaza and Ukraine.
As part of Scott’s non-response role, he represented USAID/DoS in key international forums, serving as a U.S. delegate to the FAO’s Global Fire Management Hub, the Arctic Council’s Circumpolar Wildfire Working Group, the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Center, and World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery. Scott began his fire career in 1999 with the State of Colorado and later joined the U.S. Forest Service, rising through the ranks from firefighter to captain across Regions 1, 2, and 5. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and Environmental Science from Baylor University and is currently completing his M.S. in Emergency Management at Georgetown University.

Captain Robert Joseph Faas Jr.; , Montgomery County, MD, Fire & Rescue Service (MCFRS)
Robert Faas Jr. is a career captain with Montgomery County, MD, Fire & Rescue Service (MCFRS) who has 31 years of experience in the fire service. He is a member of Maryland Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue Team, a hazmat officer on the county Hazardous Incident Response Team, a member of the county Technical Rescue Team and an instructor at the Public Safety Training Academy. Faas serves as the vice president of F.O.O.L.S. International and is an instructor for On Scene Training Associates. He has served with fire companies in Charles Town, WV, the Schooley’s Mountain Fire Protection Association in Long Valley NJ, the Rindge, NH, Fire Department and the Sharpsburg, MD, Volunteer Fire Company. Faas was part of committees that were responsible for the development of the New Hampshire RIT program and the MCFRS RIT program and for the redevelopment of the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute's Safety and Survival Program.

Tracey Hayes; Deputy Director, Birmingham Department of Planning, Engineering and Permits

Sarah Jahnke; ,

Tobias Jones; , Battalion Chief of Logistics Division, Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service

Paige Levanti; Training Center Manager, City of Sugar Land, TX
Paige Levanti is currently the Training Center Manager for the City of Sugar Land’s Office of Emergency Management and is a member of the State of Texas Incident Management Team (Region 4). Before moving to Texas, she worked as the IMT Program Manager for the State of Florida and within both state systems has deployed with regional teams to all-hazard incidents around the country as a Planning Section Chief. She is also EMAC A-Team certified and has deployed in this capacity, while also frequently supporting reimbursement processes for assisting state deployed resources.

James E. Mason; Vice President, Arkansas Search and Rescue Association
Arkansas Search and Rescue Association, Benton Co. (AR) Search and Rescue Team (2012-2022), Buffalo National River Search and Rescue Team (1983-1995), National Association for Search and Rescue SARTECH I, Instructor & Lead Evaluator

Lucian Mirra; EMS Coordinator, Albemarle County Fire Rescue
Lucian Mirra has two decades of experience as an EMS provider, leader, and educator. He has served as a firefighter/paramedic, EMS supervisor, emergency management coordinator, training officer, and paramedic program director. He has presented at numerous conferences including EMS World Expo and the International Association of Emergency Managers Conference, and has authored several textbook chapters and journal articles. He holds a master’s degree in education and is currently a doctoral candidate in education at the University of Virginia. He currently serves as the EMS Coordinator for Albemarle County (VA) Fire Rescue.

Holly Payne; Response Teams Coordinator,
Holly Payne is the Response Teams Coordinator for Incident Management Teams (IMTs) at the Washington State Department of Health, where she leads statewide coordination of public health emergency responses. With nearly 20 years of experience in public health programs, Holly is a certified Type 3 Liaison Officer and serves as the state lead for Emergency Support Function 8 (ESF8), specializing in mobilizing IMTs and fostering collaboration across local, state, and federal partners during health crises. 
Previously, Holly served as a contract manager and policy monitor for the Washington State WIC Nutrition Program, overseeing compliance, program implementation, and policy development. Her career reflects a deep commitment to health equity, community resilience, and effective cross-sector response planning.

Gregory J. Pijar; IMT Program Administrator, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency
Greg Pijar is an Emergency Management professional with over 30 years of experience in emergency services and disaster response. As Program Manager for the Pennsylvania Incident Management Team, Greg has led teams through high-stakes situations with a focus on preparedness, leadership, and collaboration. Known for his inspiring and approachable style, he brings real-world expertise and a passion for guiding others to succeed under pressure.

Frank E Post; Emergency Management Coordinator-Retired, Retired Emergency Management Coordinator for Benzie County MI
Frank Post is recently retired from Benzie County Office of Emergency Management but still teaches Emergency Management courses for the State of Michigan
Frank Post, PEM, NEMAA
Selected as “Distinguished Emergency Management Professional of the Year” in 2024.
Benzie County Emergency Management Coordinator from 2013 to 2019.
Professional Emergency Management Certification (PEM) from the State of Michigan.
National Emergency Management Agency Advanced Academy Graduate.
Michigan Emergency Management Association Board, being elected to the position of 1st Vice President.
In 2017 selected as MEMA’s “Local Emergency Management Coordinator of the Year <60,000 Population”.
39-year career in law enforcement and Public Safety mostly in Southwest Lower Michigan with 23 years of that career as a Public Safety Director.
Bachelor of Science Degree from Grand Valley State University in Criminal Justice

Jim Rooney; West Metro Fire
Jim Rooney has 40+ years of service within the SAR, Military and Fire Service. He is currently serves as COML on the Rocky Mountain CIMT-2 team and is qualified as both a NWCG and Colorado All-Hazards Communications Unit Leader. During his extended youth, he also served with Appalachian Search & Rescue. He is currently a member of the teaching cadre for State of Colorado's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Eric Schmidt; ,

Dr. Arthur J. Simental; , Simental Industries Ltd. & EM Disaster Gaming

Sue Smith ; Response Operations Manager, Washington State Department of Health
Sue brings extensive experience in emergency response and incident management, having served in over 20 incident responses in key roles including Planning Section Chief, Resource Unit Leader, and Group Supervisor. As the Planning Section Chief for the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 response, Sue was activated for 750 days-both in-person and virtual activation, overseeing statewide response coordination, strategic process improvement, and interagency collaboration.
In this role, Sue led cross-functional teams responsible for data collection and situational reporting to executive leadership, facilitated stakeholder briefings, and supervised all Planning Section units. Sue also coordinated COVID-19 data efforts directly with the acting State Health Officer to improve data sharing and visualization across the agency.
Sue has served as the Response Teams Coordinator, and was responsible for the readiness, training, and deployment of Incident Management Teams and public health responders across the state. This includes recruiting personnel from local, tribal, and state entities; maintaining ICS training standards; and developing tools like job aids and training programs for all IMT positions.
In addition, Sue served as the agency lead for Information Sharing Capability and as a national Health Alert Network (HAN) coordinator, supporting the advancement of public health data systems. A trained EMAC Deployment Support team member, Sue contributed to national-level workgroups creating deployable public health mission packages.
With over 100 hours of FEMA and leadership training, extensive experience leading planning operations, and a deep commitment to training and readiness, Sue is a recognized leader in incident management and a strong advocate for effective, scalable virtual IMT operations.

Sean Sullivan; ,
Sean Sullivan is an accomplished Emergency Management and Homeland Security professional with 20 years of diverse experience spanning disaster response, interagency coordination, incident command, and public safety leadership. Currently serving as a public safety program manager with The Response Group (TRG), Sean has responded to emergencies and disasters across the United States in leadership roles under the incident command system (ICS), specializing in Incident Command, Safety, Liaison Officer, Planning, Operations, and Logistics.
Sean is also an adjunct NIMS/ICS instructor with Oklahoma State University Fire Service Training, where he delivers multiple FEMA based courses. Sean has played a key role in training responders, developing exercise programs, and mentoring professionals across Public Health, Emergency Management and Homeland Security Sectors.

Amy Williamson; PIO, Palmetto Incident Support Team
Amy Williamson serves as a Public Information Officer for the Palmetto Incident Support Team and SC State Fire. She has worked at SC State Fire for more than 20 years, spending most of her career in fire training before transitioning into her current communications role.

Dr. Edward C. Wolff; Director, L2 Defense, Global Preparedness and Security
Dr. Wolff is the Director of Global Preparedness and Security for L2 Defense. A seasoned sworn law enforcement investigative supervisor and trainer with over four decades of experience conducting and leading complex law enforcement, civil and specialized investigations both domestically (US) and internationally. Holding a Ph.D. in Education and a Master's degree in Executive Leadership, Dr. Wolff combines academic rigor with practical expertise to address multifaceted challenges in intelligence and investigations. With a proven record, Dr. Wolff has worked across diverse operational landscapes, integrating advanced investigative techniques with a deep understanding of global security and investigative dynamics in unclassified and classified environments. Having held key leadership roles at the local, state, federal, military, and international levels, Dr. Wolff has successfully managed high-profile incidents, collaborated with multinational teams, and provided critical insights into dynamic environments. Renowned for integrity, accountability, and operational excellence, Dr. Wolff brings unparalleled expertise and leadership to every investigative and intelligence endeavor