2022 Wildfire Prevention Summit
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Speakers
Dr Andrew Sullivan is the leader of the CSIRO Bushfire Behaviour and Risks team, which is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of bushfire behavior prediction and firefighter safety science. Dr Sullivan has over 25 years’ experience in bushfire research during which he has made significant contributions to the development of operational systems for the determination of fire danger and the prediction of the behavior and spread of fires in a range of vegetation types and burning conditions. Dr Sullivan developed the innovative capability of free-burning combustion dynamics, involving the conflation of combustion chemistry and physics, to generate new theoretical insights into bushfire behavior for multiple purposes. He designed and built the CSIRO Pyrotron, a 25-m-long wind tunnel facility for the study of the combustion of bushfire fuel under safe and repeatable conditions. This infrastructure has been critical to a number of studies into fundamental fire behavior and greenhouse gas emissions from bushfires and has attracted the attention of researchers nationally and internationally.
Dr Sullivan has developed and led research activities of national importance including the reconstruction of the 2009 Kilmore East fire on Black Saturday (7 February 2009), and the investigation of the efficacy of very large air tankers for suppressing fires and automated fire detection systems in Australian conditions.
Dr Sullivan has published three books, one book chapter and over 40 scientific articles in international peer-reviewed journals as well as numerous conference papers and client and technical reports.
Dr. Anne Cope joined IBHS in 2009 just a few months before the groundbreaking for the construction of the IBHS Research Center in Richburg, South Carolina. As the Chief Engineer, she leads the development of research programs to improve the performance of structures in hurricanes, wildfires, severe thunderstorms, and hailstorms as well as the team of engineers, scientists, and skilled craftsman who conduct research on full-scale homes and commercial buildings. She is responsible for the team’s implementation of research findings into building codes and standards.
Prior to joining IBHS, Dr. Cope was a project manager and structural engineer with Reynolds, Smith & Hills, Inc., designing projects for NASA, Department of Defense, and commercial launch operations. Dr. Cope’s research encompasses topics ranging from the full-scale simulation of wind effects on buildings to detailed studies of the vulnerabilities of buildings to natural hazards and the development of damage prediction models. She is also a proud veteran of the United States Army. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Clemson University, and her doctorate from the University of Florida. She is a registered professional engineer in Florida and South Carolina.
Bob has been in the fire service for more than 42 years starting as a volunteer firefighter, then rising to executive positions. He served in the Ventura County Fire District for 34 years, the last 15 as Fire Chief. He then became the Nevada State Forester and is now the Co-Chair of the CA Fire Safe Council and Policy Advisor to the Western Fire Chiefs Association.
During his career, Bob continued his formal education and became focused on the wildland fire problem due to its dynamic nature and challenges. As Fire Chief of a CAL FIRE “Contract County” and the Chair of the FIRESCOPE Board of Directors, he became quite involved in state aid agreements and the state response system. He furthered his national wildland policy knowledge by becoming the Chair of the International Association of Fire Chiefs Wildland Fire Policy Committee. This forum required a global viewpoint of the nation’s wildland fire problem and interaction with National Association of State Foresters, federal partners and the international wildfire community. Bob was instrumental in the development of the Ready, Set, GO! program and was part of the development team for the National Wildland Fire Cohesive Strategy. During his career and post-career, Bob speaks at conferences; community groups, governmental entities (local, state & federal) and he’s authored various trade journal articles.
Brian D’Agostino is the Director of Fire Science and Climate Adaptation for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). As director, D’Agostino is responsible for meteorology, fire science, the Community Fire Safety Program, and climate adaptation initiatives. D’Agostino joined SDG&E in 2009 and oversaw the development of the SDG&E’s weather network, one of the nation’s largest and most sophisticated weather networks. D’Agostino serves as an advisor and former chair of the American Meteorological Society’s National Energy Committee and sits on several advisory committees specializing in climate adaptation and fire science. D’Agostino is a graduate of Plymouth State University with a bachelor of science in meteorology.
Brian Fennessy became Fire Chief of the Orange County Fire Authority on April 16, 2018. Chief Fennessy began his career in 1978 with the US Forest Service and the US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management working as a hotshot crewmember, hotshot/helishot/helitack captain and ultimately crew superintendent. In 1990, Fennessy joined the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) and ultimately became Chief of the department in 2015. One of his many accomplishments while with the SDFD was developing and establishing a multi-mission Fire/Rescue/EMS helicopter program designed to serve the citizens of the City of San Diego and the region. Chief Fennessy has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and has participated in hundreds of Fire Service, NIMS, and Incident Command Systems courses throughout his career.
Brian Gaab is the Managing Principal of Core Innovation at CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA insurer. The company has been serving AAA members for over 100 years offering automobile and homeowners insurance. Recognized as a thought leader and advisor, Brian’s work has influenced change across the insurance industry since he joined AAA in 2014. Brian focuses on implementing new technologies inside existing products and designing new innovative risk transfer solutions. He works side by side with partners to identify and explore new areas where AAA can innovate to make insurance simple, proactive, and personal.
Cecilia Clavet currently works as a Senior Policy Advisor on Forest Restoration and Fire for The Nature Conservancy’s North America Policy and Government Relations department, based in the D.C. area and supports forest work across the United States. Cecilia’s work has been focused on forest and wildfire issues, including forest restoration, budget and appropriations, and forest climate impacts and solutions. She led a decade-long fire funding coalition of diverse stakeholders in an effort to stabilize USDA Forest Service and Department of the Interior budgets from increasing wildfire suppression costs that significantly impacted how agencies developed their budgets. That effort led to the 2018 “Fire Fix”, which is now paving the way for supporting increased funding for critical forest stewardship programs. Cecilia now leads the Conservancy’s wildfire resilience initiative, advocating for increased wildfire resilience funding and policy solutions in the U.S. Additionally, she currently serves on the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) Federal Advisory Committee, a body responsible for reviewing collaboratively developed forest proposals and providing project recommendations to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for funding consideration.
Previously, Cecilia served as the policy analyst for the Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance, where she represented 21 northeast, Midwest, and Washington D.C. state forestry directors and their agencies. Prior to NMSFA, Cecilia worked on national forest issues for The Wilderness Society and led the environmental community in developing the Green Budget, a collaboratively developed set of comprehensive federal funding recommendations. She holds a Master’s in Science degree from the University of Maine in Ecology & Environmental Science, focused on Resource Economics & Policy, and Bachelors in Science in Wildlife and Fisheries from the Davis School of Forestry at West Virginia University. She’s a member of the Society of American Foresters and Women in Government Relations and a former board member for the Audubon Naturalist Society.
Dan Dallas is currently the Forest Supervisor for the Rio Grande National Forest. Dan has over 30 years of experience in various land management positions with the Forest Service in four regions and eight National Forests, and with the BLM in Colorado. In addition to his role as Forest Supervisor, Dan is currently Incident Commander for Rocky Mountain Type 1 Incident Management Team. He has also served at the National Level in the agency as Acting Director of Rangeland Management and Vegetation Ecology, and at the Regional Level as Acting Deputy Regional Forester in Region 1 (Montana, Northern Idaho, and North Dakota). He specializes now in the application of risk management theory and practice in the context of land management and fire suppression and management operations.
Daniel Berlant is the Assistant Deputy Director, Chief of Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation, and Fire Engineering & Investigations at CAL FIRE. Previously, Chief Berlant was the Chief of Public Information. He has worked for CAL FIRE for nearly 20 years.
Danielle Okst joined the Council of Western State Foresters and the Western Forestry Leadership Coalition in January 2019.
Danielle came to CWSF and WFLC having just finished serving as Campaign Director for a Colorado campaign office during the 2018 midterm elections. Prior to that, Danielle worked for Rock the Earth as Regional Education and Outreach Coordinator, for the Americas for Conservation and the Arts (AFC+A) as a Program Director and Development Specialist, and for several law firms where she carried out contracts review and legal research.
Danielle received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University at Buffalo and a Juris Doctor (law) degree from the State University of New York, Buffalo Law School.
Dan retired as Chief of CAL FIRE-San Luis Obispo after 37 years of service in San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz and Tulare counties. During Chief Turner’s career, as a Type 1 Incident Commander, he served in Incident Command on hundreds of major emergencies that include the Oakland Hills (Tunnel) fire, Loma Prieta Earthquake, and 9 other federally declared disasters. Since the 1991 Tunnel fire, Chief Turner has dedicated his career to making a difference in education and preparedness in reducing consequences of WUI fires.
Chief Turner served on the Board of Directors of the CA Fire Chief’s Association representing SLO, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties and was Chair of CAL FIRE’s Cooperative Fire Protection Committee.
Since retirement, Chief Turner is the Executive Director of the SLO County Fire Safe Council (a 501.c.3 non- profit organization) that conducts education, preparedness, outreach, and hazardous fuel reduction programs throughout San Luis Obispo County.
Chief Turner is a graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and currently serves as the Interim Director of Cal Poly’s Wildland Urban Interface FIRE Institute that focuses on education and research to reduce consequences from wildland urban interface fires. For Cal Poly, he coordinated the Wildland Urban Interface Fire Colloquium in California and Australia on behalf of the US Dept of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate; prepared a detailed study of Homeland Security and Emergency Management professionals and higher education programs throughout California for the CA Office of Emergency Services.
Edward (Eddie) Goldberg is the Chief Executive Officer for Perimeter Solutions. He brings 20 years of executive leadership to fire safety products and operations. Before joining Perimeter Solutions, Eddie was Business Director for ICL Performance Additives and Solutions, where he held general management responsibility for the company’s global fire safety segment. Eddie is credited with building ICL’s global fire safety business, focusing on products for wildland fire management and municipal and industrial fire suppression. Eddie holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University.
Eric A. Appel is an Assistant Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at Stanford University. He received his BS in Chemistry and MS in Polymer Science from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA. Eric performed his MS thesis research with Dr Jim Hedrick and Dr Robert Miller at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA. He then obtained his PhD in Chemistry with Prof. Oren A. Scherman in the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis at the University of Cambridge. For his PhD work, Eric was the recipient of the Jon Weaver PhD prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Graduate Student Award from the Materials Research Society. Upon graduating from Cambridge in 2012, he was awarded a National Research Service Award from the NIH (NIBIB) and a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Prof. Robert Langer at MIT. During his post-doctoral work, he received a Margaret A. Cunningham Immune Mechanisms in Cancer Research Award. Eric’s research has led to more than one hundred publications and 25 pending or granted patents. He has been awarded a Terman Faculty Fellowship and junior faculty awards from the Hellman Scholars fund, the American Diabetes Association, the American Cancer Society, and the PhRMA Foundation.
Washington State Forester George Geissler joined the Washington Department of Natural Resources in 2018, capping over 30 years of public and private forestry, and wildland firefighting experience. In Washington, he’s leading agency’s efforts in wildland fire management and forest resiliency.
Prior to joining DNR, he served eight years as Oklahoma State Forester and Director of the Oklahoma Forest Service. During his career, George has managed and directed operations of an investor-owned utility holding company with operations in the central US and overseas, and later established and managed a natural resource management firm for 8 years. George has also served with the U.S. Forest Service, both as a silviculturalist and wildland firefighter.
George holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University and his Master of Business Administration from Harvard. He is also a Society of American Foresters Certified Forester. He is a past president of the Southern Group of State Foresters and is past president of the National Association of State Foresters. George is also a principal on the Wildland Fire Leadership Council and is Chair of the NASF Wildland Fire Management Committee.
Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz leads Washington state’s wildfire fighting force and manages nearly 6 million acres of public lands – from coastal waters and aquatic reserves, to working forests and farms, commercial developments, and unparalleled recreation areas.
Commissioner Franz is committed to ensuring our public lands are healthy and productive, both today and for future generations. She has led efforts to protect our communities and environment from the impacts of a changing climate, increased development, and wildfire.
Franz has also prioritized supporting local communities, both urban and rural. The lands she manages sustainably generate hundreds of millions of dollars for schools and public services, like libraries and hospitals. And she has allocated millions of dollars to spark economic opportunities in struggling rural communities. She knows that our working lands – and the communities that depend on them for family-wage jobs – are integral to our success as a state, and she is investing in their success.
Jeff Rupert is the Director of the Dept Of Interior Office of Wildland Fire. During more than 20 years with the Department of the Interior, Rupert also served as the Chief of Natural Resources and Conservation Planning for the U.S. Fish and Wildfire Service, as the Refuge Manager of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, and as the Refuge Manager for the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.
Director Tyler is a 31-year veteran of CAL FIRE most recently served as the Deputy Director of Fire Protection overseeing statewide fire protection operations and cooperative fire protection. He began his career with CAL FIRE in 1991, in the Shasta Trinity Unit, and since working in several counties and programs throughout California including Riverside, Amador, El Dorado, and Sacramento. Director Tyler has an extensive executive level operational and programmatic background.
Prior to his appointment as Deputy Director, Director Tyler served as the Assistant Deputy Director of Fire Protection with oversight of law enforcement/civil cost recovery, fire protection operations, aviation management, tactical air operations, and mobile equipment. He has also held managerial responsibility for training, safety, emergency medical services (EMS), local/state/federal programs, and hand crew programs.
Director Tyler serves as the Department representative on the California Wildland Coordinating Group, National Association of State Forester’s Wildland Fire Committee, Western States Fire Managers, served on several Statewide committees and cadres and was instrumental in the acquisition of a new fleet of helicopters and C-130 air tankers. He is a qualified Agency Administrator and Incident Commander – Type 1. He was a member of CAL FIRE Incident Management Teams from 2005 through 2014, last holding the position of Deputy Incident Commander on CAL FIRE Incident Management Team 3.
Kate Dargan Marquis most recently worked for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy as Assistant Director for Preparedness and Response. She has returned to her previous role as Chief Strategy Officer for Intterra, a technology company she co-founded in 2010. Prior to that Kate was a pioneering California firefighter/chief for 30 years and the first woman State Fire Marshal for California and a proud Cal Poly San Luis Obispo graduate. She has led numerous wildfire prevention, mitigation, and response initiatives over her career and is a national expert on wildfire. She has worked at the community, public agency, industry, technology, and policy levels of the California fire service and is widely recognized for her consensus-building style and innovative approaches to old problems. She is married to Jim Marquis and they have 5 children, 3 of which are in public safety. Her current favorite fun thing to do is hiking around Lake Tahoe where she lives.
Kimi is the Senior Wildfire Research & Policy Analyst for Headwaters Economics and the director of the Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire (CPAW) Program. She has worked with firefighters, land use and planning staff, government agency personnel, and elected officials in more than 80 communities across the country, helping them devise community-driven solutions to reduce wildfire risk and increase community resiliency. Kimi is a committed agent of change in how we live with inevitable wildfires. Drawing on the expertise within the broad networks she has built, she has led research of national significance on topical issues such as the true cost of wildfires, the cost of building wildfire-resistant homes, and measuring wildfire impacts through structure loss.
Senator Kelly is the son of two police officers, and he attended public schools from elementary school through the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. As a naval aviator, he served on the aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Midway and flew 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm. Senator Kelly was later selected as an astronaut in 1996 in the same class as his twin brother Scott. He flew his first of four missions into space in 2001 aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour and retired from the Navy and NASA after commanding the final flight of Endeavour in 2011. Senator Kelly was sworn into his Senate seat on December 2, 2020, to finish the term of the late Senator John McCain. He lives in Tucson with his wife, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.
Michael Bruce is Partner, Venture Investing at Emerson Collective where he co-leads the energy and environment portfolio. He is a board member at PosiGen Solar, Nautilus Data Technologies, BioLite Energy, Angaza. Prior to joining Emerson Collective, Bruce served as a Director at Hannon Armstrong Capital, a sustainable infrastructure finance company, where he helped take the company public in 2013 and focused on project finance and new financial products. Previously, Bruce co-founded Manifest Energy, where he developed innovative project models for value-added buildout and optimal deployment of emerging technologies. Bruce was Senior Advisor for Finance at the U.S Department of Energy under President George W. Bush. He started his career with the Credit Suisse Technology Group in Silicon Valley. He holds a BS in Management Sciences and Engineering from Stanford University where he was an NCAA champion swimmer.
O.P. Almaraz is a Senior Executive with 26 years of successful management and leadership of post disaster mitigation and reconstruction companies. As the owner and founder of Allied Restoration, he is a strong leader who has built a dynamic and positive work culture that works cohesively with customers, clients and business partners. After seeing the hardened insurance market in California, O.P. founded Allied Disaster Defense to help insurance brokers and professionals be able to extend coverage to homes in wildfire adjacent areas.
Randy Lyle recently retired from the position of Fire Science and Coordination Program Manager at San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). Mr. Lyle had been with the SDG&E fire program since its inception following San Diego’s catastrophic fires of 2007. Randy was among the subject matter experts that shaped SDG&E’s response to those fires by refining operational practices, enhancing meteorological situational awareness and using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to define areas of highest fire risk. He also participated in and made significant contributions to the lengthy California Public Utilities Commission Fire Safety rule making process. This resulted in a statewide High Fire Threat District map where various enhanced utility regulations are applicable. Randy was able to help guide the state-wide process having recently completed the same task at SDG&E. Mr. Lyle came to SDG&E as a retired California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Division Chief with 32 years of state service in all aspects of fire suppression and prevention operations. His service includes municipal and wild land fire control, hand crew operations, aerial firefighting and pre-fire engineering. His work at Cal Fire spanned the decades where GIS and advances in technology allowed the science of pre-fire engineering to rapidly evolve. Randy helped pioneer the use of GIS in the fire community on incidents and non-emergency wildfire related work. In 2018, Mr. Lyle received the Maltese Award from the San Diego County Fire Chiefs’ Association in recognition of his commitment and contributions to public safety in San Diego County.
Randy Moore is Chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, leading a workforce of more than 25,000 permanent employees who sustainably manage 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands; support the world’s largest forestry research organization; and work with states, tribes, and others to sustain all of America’s forests for the benefit of all citizens, today and in the future. Under his leadership, the Forest Service cares for shared natural resources in ways that promote lasting economic, ecological, and social vitality for all communities nationwide.
Randy has been a catalyst for change throughout his 43-year career. As Chief, he contributes to our nation’s most pressing challenges: tackling climate change, advancing racial equity and helping the people we serve recover and heal from the global pandemic, in part through connection with our treasured public lands. Randy is committed to seeking new and better ways to address the many issues facing our ecosystems, our communities, and our employees.
Randy believes strongly that a leader must adapt and grow, but that there are some principles that always hold true: a leader must be fair, inclusive, willing to listen and trust his employees. He is committed to the Forest Service mission, distilling it to its core of improving forest conditions by bringing together partners running the gamut from industry to the environmental community to private, tribal, and government stewards of the land.
Prior to serving as Chief, he served as Pacific Southwest Regional Forester, where he was responsible for 18 national forests in California, covering one-fifth of the state on 20 million acres of land. He also oversaw State & Private Forestry programs in Hawaii and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands. Randy has also served as Regional Forester for the Eastern Region in Wisconsin, forest supervisor for Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri, and in myriad other roles throughout the agency. He began his 43-year career in 1978 with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in North Dakota.
Robert Edson is the Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Intterra, a Colorado-based tech company that provides decision support solutions for the fire service. Robert has more than 23 years of successful sales background in public safety and emergency management, including implementation of the United States’ first statewide VOIP 911 solution. Robert also operated as a liaison to Denver’s Office of Emergency Management during the 2008 Democratic National Convention where he seamlessly coordinated an emergency response through federal, state, and local teams. At Intterra, Robert’s focus is growing all revenue channels while developing marketing initiatives.
Ron Raley has worked in wildland fire management for 53 years. He spent 35 years with the United States Forest Service (USFS), finishing his career as the Deputy Director of Fire and Aviation Management for the Pacific Southwest Region. While with the USFS he held numerous positions on Incident Management Teams, including service as a Type I Incident Commander dealing with complex incidents across the country. For the past 17 years, he has served as the owner and principal of Raley’s Forestry and Wildfire Management, working as an agency liaison for Perimeter Solutions. He is a Registered Professional Forester and a long-standing member of the Society of American Foresters. Raley is a member of CAL Chiefs, National Wildland Fire Suppression Association and National Fire Protection Association. He has a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from Humboldt State University.
Scott presently serves as an Assistant Chief with the Golder Ranch Fire District in Tucson, AZ., a position he has held since 2020. Prior to this, Scott was the Fire Chief for the City of Casa Grande Fire Department for 20-years. Scott has been in the fire service since 1981 and has held a variety of Chief positions since 1988. Scott graduated in 1998 with a MA in Organizational Management and in 1996 with a BA in Management from the University of Phoenix. Scott is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program in 2006 and received his Chief Fire Officer Designation in 2005 through the CFAI. Scott is currently the President of the Western Fire Chiefs Association. Past President of the Arizona Fire Chiefs Association and Past President of the Fire Chiefs Association of Pinal County. Scott has received the Arizona Fire Chiefs Alan V Brunacini Fire Chief of the Year Award in 2019 and the Arizona Fire Chiefs Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. Outside of the fire service Scott has received the Kiwanis Club of Casa Grande Distinguished Kiwanian Award in 2019 & 2013, Southwest District Kiwanis Foundation Leadership Award in 2013, Association for Career and Technical Education of Arizona Business Person of the Year in 2012, Central Arizona Valley Institute of Technology Partner of the Year 2010 and a Silver Beaver Award in 2000 for Distinguished Service to Youth from Learning for Life, a division of the Catalina Council BSA. Scott has been married to his wife, Leslie for 43 years and they have three daughters.
Sam Bell is a lifetime Globe, Arizona resident, husband, father of four, and a Safety and Mine Rescue Coordinator for Pinto Valley Mining Corp in Miami, Arizona. Pinto Valley is located 6 miles outside of town limits and is in between the Tonto National Forest land on the East and Arizona State/BLM land on the West. We staff a trained volunteer Mine Rescue team of 18 with capabilities of response to technical rescue, Structure fire, BLS medical response, and are expanding our skills to include Wildland/Urban Interface and Wildland firefighting as well as preventative and proactive measures and treatments.
Mr. Kaustinen has had an extensive career within the fields of military, fire, EMS, security, and business.
Mr. Kaustinen is proud to have served his country as a United States Marine. As a member of 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, Steve served in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF, 2004) in the city of Ar Ramadi, Iraq where he was wounded in combat and medically retired in 2005. After his military service Steve served as a ‘HotShot’ wildland firefighter, EMT and Volunteer Firefighter for the federal government, local municipalities and private companies while earning top honors as a graduate of the SBRPSTC Fire Academy.
Steve went on to spend 4 years as an executive protection specialist for a high-profile family. Duties on top of personal protection included advance planning, emergency evacuation plans for both the clients and on-site personnel from all primary properties, site security infrastructure development, prevention and protection threat assessment lead for wildland fire mitigation including suppression planning and logistics for interface environments as well as serving as the team EMT.
Steve eventually shifted gears to leverage his experience and leadership skills in the business world of personal insurance as well as dedicating time and resources to the veteran community. Steve successfully owned and operated a State Farm office for two years before opening a Goosehead insurance brokerage. During this time Steve also served the veteran community as Peer Support Group Leader for the Wounded Warrior Project and as the Orange County Chapter President of VAREP (Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals) in which he collaborated with city, county, and state legislative officials to bring awareness and support to veteran’s benefits.
Steve also co-founded a ministry (Integritas) lead by veterans that specializes in high-risk deployments to Africa while serving the local communities by helping build schools and training facilities for the children and those looking to become missionaries in the North African states.
Steve sold his insurance brokerage in 2019 to focus on the ministry until Covid restricted activities.
As the CEO of both All Terrain Water Corporation and All Terrain Protective Services Steve brings a unique perspective and a wealth of knowledge pertaining to the military, security/protection, fire/ems and insurance fields.
Steve holds Master’s degrees in both Human Resources and an MBA with an emphasis in Organizational Leadership, both from Chapman/Brandman University. Steve currently resides in Costa Mesa, CA with his beautiful wife and three amazing children.
Tom is a recognized expert in wildland fire and aviation management policy and operations. He served the longest term to date as the National Fire and Aviation Management Director (National Fire Chief) in the more than hundred-year history of the US Forest Service. During this time, Tom brought additional professionalism and enhanced performance to the organization. Through international relationships, he provided assistance to every region of the world. After retiring from the US Forest Service, Tom formed HarbourFire, a consulting firm offering expertise and advice on wildland fire issues as well as policy and organizational issues. In the years of his work as a noted wildland fire and aviation management consultant, Tom has assisted government agencies and private entities. He has testified to Congress, been quoted in major media, and has had the opportunity to assist the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation in work to reduce line of duty death, accident, and injury. He is a member of the Advisory Committee to the Board of Directors of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. He is also a member of the Board for the International Association of Wildland Fire. Tom’s first experience with wildfire was firefighting in central California in 1970. Since then, Tom has been energetically and continuously involved in wildland fire and aviation management. Tom has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Davis and in Forest Management from Washington State University. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at Davis and with Presidential Honors for a 4.0 GPA from Washington State University. His post-graduate work includes studies at the JFK School of Government, Harvard University and the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina. Tom served with faculty and leaders at the Marine Corps University, Quantico, Virginia.
Troy has been with SCE for 37 years, and has served as Senior Fire Management Officer for the past 28 years. He is a past president, and current Director on the So. Cal. Assoc. of Foresters and Fire Wardens Board. Troy is also on the Board of Directors of the California Fire Safe Council. He is the SCE Program Manager for the Quick Reaction Force. The SCE Fire Management Team serve as the liaisons to the fire agencies within SCE’s 50k mile service territory. The team responds to active wildland fires, serving as AREPs to provide for public and firefighter safety. All three members have fire service and journeyman lineman backgrounds.
Wes Bolsen is the Business Director of Wildfire Prevention and Protection at Perimeter Solutions. Wes is an entrepreneur and executive that brings almost 20 years of business experience to the company. He served as President & CEO, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of LaderaTech prior to the company’s acquisition in May of 2020. He is a former executive at Cool Planet, where he developed solutions for the renewable energy as well as Ag technology and animal nutrition markets. Prior to that, he served on the executive team of public company Codexis (NASDAQ: CDXS) in Redwood City, CA as their CMO.