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Pre-con Speaker Bios
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Precon#1 - Case Studies: An Interactive Discussion of Hazardous Materials Incidents
Rick Emery - President, Emery & Associates, Inc.
Rick specializes in response training and consulting for municipal, government and industrial concerns in North America and overseas. He has over 43 years experience in fire and emergency response. Rick retired from the fire service in 1993 as a career Fire Captain, including 10+ years as Coordinator of the Lake County Hazardous Materials Response Team. He validated as a Subject Matter Expert for the DoD Domestic Preparedness Training Program in 1997, instructed in the FBI’s haz mat training program and the Center for Domestic Preparedness. Rick is a principle member of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Technical Committee on Hazardous Materials Response and a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs Hazardous Materials Committee. He is a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Stakeholder Panel on Agent Detection Assays (SPADA) to develop performance criteria for methods for the detection and identification of biological threat agents. Rick received the prestigious “Level A” award from the International Association of Fire Chiefs in 2012 for having made significant contributions to the hazardous materials emergency response profession, and was presented with the “In The Zone” award at the Houston Hot Zone conference in 2013.
Gregory Socks - Captain (Ret), Montgomery County, MD Fire & Rescue Services
Gregory Socks served as a Fire Fighter, Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Captain. His staff assignments included Hazardous Materials Training Officer, Station Commander, Hazardous Materials Officer, and Shift Commander. Greg began his fire service career in 1977 in the National Capital Region of Suburban Maryland. He holds a degree in Fire Science Technology. He was a lead hazardous materials instructor at Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Academy. Greg has presented Hazardous Materials programs to municipal, industrial and military clients throughout the country. He retired with over 33 years of service. Greg has served on numerous State of Maryland committees and focus groups for new technology. Greg has also assisted with the development of Hazardous Materials training programs. He received the “Level A” award from the International Association of Fire Chiefs in 2012.
Precon#2 - HazMatIQ - Above the Line/Below the Line
Presenters: To be determined
Precon#3 - Emerging Technologies for Hazmat Response and Training
Dr. Christina Baxter is the Program Manager for the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) subgroup at the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG). TSWG is a program element within DoD’s Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO). The TSWG CBRNE subgroup works closely with the interagency user community from all levels of Government and with various international partners to provide timely solutions in the areas of CBRN attribution, protection, detection, consequence management and information resources. She is currently the chairperson of the NFPA Hazardous Materials Protective Clothing and Equipment Technical Committee and a member of the NFPA Technical Correlating Committee on Fire and Emergency Services Protective Clothing and Equipment, the NFPA Technical Committee on Hazardous Materials Response Personnel and the ASTM International Technical Committee on Protective Clothing (F23). Christina is also a member of the InterAgency Board for Equipment Standardization and Interoperability. She has over 20 years of Fire and Hazmat experience.
Natalie Fleming is a Program Analyst with the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO) / Technical Support Working Group (TSWG). She currently supports the Training Technology Development subgroup and manages the development of training programs for the first responder and military communities related to combating terrorism operations. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and has over ten years’ experience working in the training and education field in a variety of settings including law enforcement, CBRNE, DHS, and airport security screening operations.
Precon#4 - Fire Smoke: Perceptions, Myths and Misunderstandings
Rob Schnepp is the Division Chief of Special Operations (retired) for the Alameda County (CA) Fire Department. He is the author of a textbook entitled Hazardous Materials: Awareness and Operations, by Jones and Bartlett Publishers, and is on the editorial advisory board for Fire Engineering magazine. Rob is a member of the NFPA Technical Committee on Hazardous Materials Response Personnel, and task group lead for NFPA 473 Standard for Competencies for EMS Personnel Responding to Hazardous Materials. Rob is also an instructor for the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency, providing hazmat/WMD training to an international audience.
Chris Hawley is a Senior National Security Analyst with CSC with responsibility for WMD and Counterproliferation courses within the DOD International Counterproliferation Program (ICP). This cooperative program with the FBI and DHS provides threat assessment, HazMat and Anti-Terrorism training and full scale exercises worldwide. Previous to this position Chris was the Special Operations Coordinator for the Baltimore County, MD Fire Department. Chris has been a firefighter for 24 years and a HazMat responder for 19 years. He is the author of a number of HazMat and terrorism response textbooks and numerous articles. He serves on NFPA 472, and 475 Committees. He also serves as the Conference Coordinator for the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Hazardous Materials Response Teams Conference.
Precon#5 - Hands-on HazMat (aka the HazSim Challenge)
Phil Ambrose is a Fire Captain/Hazardous Materials Specialist/Paramedic for a busy metropolitan fire department in Southern California. Phil received the Exceptional Public Service Award from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) for serving as a training liaison to their Hazardous Materials Response Team, and is past Board Secretary of the LA-based Consortium of Technical Responders (CTR). Over the past 20 years Phil has held positions in several areas of hazardous materials including waste management, radiation safety, training, and regulatory management within university, hospital, industry, and municipal jurisdictions. Phil has trained members of fire, law enforcement, military and industry across the U.S. Phil holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Loyola Marymount University and holds patents for his HazSim simulator device created to improve first responder training.
Robert “Bob” Coschignano has been in the fire service for 25 years most of which has been in Special Operations. Bob has served on several hazardous materials related committee’s and is the program manager for the Hazardous Materials Technician program at Valencia College. He is DEA certified in Clandestine Labs and is a former manager of the Central Florida environmental company responsible for their clean up. Bob is Co-Author of Chemical Card Guide™ and RBR Chemical Access Cards™ with Red Hat Publications and is an instructor and evaluator for several local and state competency drills. He also holds an A.S. degree in Fire Science and is currently a Hazardous Materials Lieutenant with the City of Orlando Fire Department.
Bill Bennett currently serves as the Vice President of Safety Systems, Inc. and has also performed as a Program manager for the past four consecutive years for twenty-three training programs that include Trench Excavation and Competent Person, Confined Space Operations, 24 Hour HAZWOPER, 40 Hour HAZWOPER Training programs and OSHA Forklift Operations. Bill is a subject matter expert on preventative safety procedures and techniques with nationally recognized training certifications including Safety Specialist, First Responder, OSHA, Fall Protection Rescue, and Rope rescue. He is also qualified as an Instructor with various competencies in fire, rescue, and emergency services. With 23 years of service as a Fire/Rescue professional, he has comprehensive experience in managing personnel and resources, and currently holds the rank and title of Fire/EMS Captain with a variety of supervisory responsibilities. Bill conducts routine performance appraisals for both improvement and recognition and displays an expert level of experience in the training and development of HazMat professionals.
Timothy Perkins has been in the fire service for 10 years, five of which have been in Special Operations. Perkins has assisted several classes at the Massachusetts State Fire Academy, Virginia State Hazmat Conference, and in Boston for their Urban Shield Drill. Clay led the hands on drills for train-the-trainer at the US Army North in TX. He is a Hazmat Specialist with the Arlington County Fire Department in Arlington Virginia as well a member of the Virginia State HazMat Response Team. Clay is currently on the Lieutenant Promotional list and holds an A.S. degree in Fire Science.
Precon#6 - Hazmat Rescue: When You Least Expect It
Todd Cannon is a Hazardous Materials Officer with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. Prior to this, he held the position as Chief of Special Operations for Norfolk Fire-Rescue in the City of Norfolk, Virginia and enjoyed a 26 year career with the organization. Todd also served with VATF2 Urban Search and Rescue Team as a Rescue Team Manager and Task Force Leader until his retirement from the team in 2010.
Tom Jordan has served over 20 years in public safety and currently holds the position of Hazardous Materials Training and Development Coordinator for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. With a degree in the physical sciences, Tom works with the Commonwealth's HAZMAT officers to provide technical and scientific support for emergency training and response. Tom currently serves as an alternate to the NFPA Hazardous Materials Technical Committee.
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