Bronze Level Authorized Trainers 2007

The following Authorized Trainers received Bronze Level recognition in the CDP Exellence in Training program for fiscal year 2007:

Sherry Adams; Southwestern District Health Unit; Dickinson, ND Sherry Adams is a Registered Environmental Health Specialist working in the Emergency Preparedness and Response Department at Southwestern District Health Unit, Dickinson. Sherry earned her Bachelor's degree in Biology in 1979 and worked as a lab and branch supervisor in the dairy industry for 23 years. She has worked in Emergency Preparedness and Response for five years, is Certified in Homeland Security at level IV, and is also the SW Region Pandemic Flu Coordinator. Sherry works to train first responders in Personal Protective Equipment and N-95 respiratory programs. Sherry is a Hazmat Technician; Certified Water Lab Technician; Certified Instructor for CPR, FIRST AID, Blood borne Pathogens; and a Certified WMD instructor. She is also certified by FEMA and the State of ND as an Incident Command instructor.
Dennis Brennan; Retired, Peace Officer Training Academy; Farmersville, NY Chief Brennan has over 27 years in law enforcement and 15 years as a police instructor. Chief Brennan is a NYS Certified Master Police Firearms, Defensive Tactics, Chemical Agents, Aerosol Subject Restraint, Riot Control, and Special Impact Munitions Instructor. Chief Brennan has been training police, military, and security personnel for many years. Chief Brennan has received numerous awards, such as 2004 Law Enforcement Trainer of the Year (Governor's Office), 2005 NYS Senate Outstanding Service Award, and a presidential award for volunteerism in his community in 2006.
Grant Coffey; Portland Fire & Rescue; Portland, OR Coffey is a 33-year veteran of Portland Fire & Rescue, with 30 of those years also spent as a fire service instructor at Portland Community College. For the past four years, he has also been the HAZMAT Team Coordinator. Coffey is also a state-certified radiological safety officer.
Eric R. Dison; Minneapolis Police Department; Minneapolis, MN Sgt. Dison has been an officer with the Minneapolis Police Department for 18 years. He was recently promoted to the rank of Sergeant and is assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division. He has been assigned to the Second Precinct Patrol Division and has been involved in departmental training for Use of Force (Firearms, Taser, Impact weapons, Chemical Aerosol Restraint), as well as Weapons of Mass Destruction and Incident Command Structure. He has attended numerous courses at the CDP and completed the COBRA training twice and the SAVER program once.
Robert Ditch; Synaptic; Yorktown, VA Formerly serving over 32 years in the United States Air Force he retired as the Director of Education, Training & Exercises, for Standing Joint Force Headquarters – Homeland Security/U.S. Northern Command. Colonel Ditch led the creation of U.S. Northern Command’s academic education/training and exercise programs while training the newly arriving Command’s staff. Before that he served as the Director of Plans on the national WMD/Counter-Terrorism Response Unit, Joint Task Force–Civil Support. He contributed to the setting up of both organizations and serving on the U.S. Northern Command Planning and Implementation Teams. Upon retirement he became a Homeland Security & Terrorism/WMD and EMS response instructor/advisor; conceptualized the National Exercise Schedule for the Department of Homeland Security, as well the Executive Summary Guide of the National Response Plan for the Department of Justice. He travels all around the nation at his own expense teaching the AWR-160 courses for free to fire academy students and many fire and EMS jurisdictions. He currently serves as the President for the Award Winning Health Care/Emergency Services & Homeland Security Education Company – Synaptic of Yorktown, VA; and the Coordinator for National Disaster Life Support, Emergency Management and Leadership Curriculums at the Center for Emergency Health Services, Thomas Nelson CollegeWilliamsburg, VA. He also volunteers as the Planning Section Chief for both the Norfolk, VA based Virginia -1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) and the NorfolkRegional Medical Metropolitan Response System (MMRS) Medical Strike Team. Healso serves as the Planning Section Chief for the Secretary, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Region-3 Incident Response Coordination Team (IRCT). He teaches Emergency Management, Health Care Disaster Management, EMS/Mass Casualty Response, Incident Management, Command & Control (C2 and ICS 300/400) courses for five universities, two regional/national fire academies, and a paramedic training center; participates in the delivery of many field and command post/table top exercises, and is both a published author and National Public Radio talk show guest in emergency services and terrorism/WMD response. He is also a Doctorate of Education student and recent recipient of the both the 2007 Tide-Water Virginia Regional and Governor of Virginia’s EMS Educator of the Year Award. In 2004 he was awarded the Governor of Virginia’s Fire Instructor of the Year Award.
Raymond Highlands; Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency; Harrisburg, PA Raymond E. Highlands works as an Emergency Management Specialist (EMS) for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) Central Area Office. He is directly responsible for oversight of the counter-terrorism program of three terrorism task forces and 23 of 67 counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining PEMA Central Area, Mr. Highlands served as an EMS Watch Officer in the State Emergency Operations Center. He has served on multiple work groups and committees that have reviewed and submitted recommended changes to Commonwealth laws, state directives, policies and procedures for emergency management, emergency response and counter-terrorism. Mr. Highlands has deployed too many counties on multiple state- and federal-declared disasters as a Liaison Officer to devastated counties and has setup and operated multiple Disaster Recovery Centers.
Scott Johnson; Portland Police Bureau; Portland, OR Sgt. Johnson began his police career in 1981 as a Fairfax County, Va. Law Enforcement Explorer, then as an Auxiliary Police Officer while attending George Mason University (BA, Government and Politics). In 1986, he was hired by the Portland Police Bureau and promoted to Sergeant in 1993. He has served as a Detective Sergeant in two precincts, leading search warrant teams of detectives and officers. He was assigned to the SERT (SWAT) team as the liason to the Hostage Negotiation Team. He worked in Internal Affairs, and was selected to move to the Emergency Management Unit to help the Bureau prepare, train, and participate in TOPOFF4. He is currently the senior patrol sergeant on the Bureau and leads a squad of the Rapid Response Team, the Bureau's crowd-management unit.
Robert Nelson; Los Angeles Fire Department; Los Angeles, CA Robert Nelson is a Captain with the Los Angeles Fire Department where he has been employed for the past 16 years. Captain Nelson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Occupational Studies from Long Beach State and Associates of Arts degree in Fire Science. He has a combined twenty five years of experience in the fire service which includes military, private sector and municipal agencies. During his career he has worked as a Firefighter, Engineer, Hazardous Material Specialist and Terrorism Liaison Officer Coordinator. Captain Nelson’s current assignment is at the Joint Regional Intelligence Center (JRIC) in Norwalk, California which is one of the states Regional Terrorism Threat Assessment Centers. His primary duties include coordinating the Terrorism Liaison Officer program for the region along with Consequence Management functions. The JRIC coordinates intelligence analysis in the Central District of California, which incorporates the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. This area represents approximately 40,000 square miles, 18 million people and 360 cities. Additional duties include being part of the LAFD Incident Management Team, Apparatus Operator Instructor, Hazardous Materials Instructor, Terrorism and WMD Awareness Instructor. He is an outreach instructor for Office of Emergency Services, California Special Training Institute (CSTI), and the Office of Homeland Security, Center for Domestic Preparedness and has taught numerous hazardous materials and terrorism courses for the past ten years. Captain Nelson is currently a member of the Los Angeles Consortium of Technical Responders. This organization works to determine strategic planning, equipment readiness, and response protocols to help prepare for an act of terrorism within the region.
Jose Sierra; Puerto Rico Ports Authority; San Juan, PR Mister Sierra began his education at the University of the Turabo in Caguas, where he obtained a degree in Social Sciences with concentration in Criminology in 1987, and a Master's Degree in Public Matters and Criminal Justice in 1997. Mister Sierra began work at the public utility in 1985 in the Authority of the Ports. Mister Sierra forms part of the committee of Mitigation of the AEMEAD and of the working party that completed the Plan of Mitigation of the State approved by FEMA. Mr. Sierra has taught courses to more than 2,000 public servants. Mister Sierra is also an active member of the National Guard of Puerto Rico, State Command and has held several positions. Sierra was recognized by the "Mems Academy" of the "State Guard Association of the United State" with the medal of "Homeland Security Basic, Senior Train the Trainers", and at present is being evaluated to obtain the highest recognition offered by this organization, "Master Trainer." Sierra is additionally a university Professor to level of Mastery in the Program of Criminal Justice and National Security in several university institutions of Puerto Rico.
Richard Zuley; Chicago Department of Public Health; Chicago, IL Richard Zuley retired from the Chicago Police Department after almost 37 years of service, 30 as a detective. Most of his detective time was in homicide, with two years in the Organized Crime Intelligence Section, and the last year and a half detailed to the Chicago Police Department Training Academy, where he became a state-certified instructor andserved as the senior instructor and one of the developers of Chicago's highly regarded Terrorism Awareness and Response Academy (TARA). The day after his retirment, Mr. Zuley was hired by the City of Chicago Department of Public Health as the Senior Emergency Mangement Coordinator in the Emergency Preparedness and Response division. Mr. Zuley's duties include developing preparedness and response plans, in addition to being the primary CBRNE officer, and the development of an indigenous intelligence fusion section. Mr. Zuley is a former Marine, and still serves as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve. A "mustang officer," Mr. Zuley spent almost half his military career in the enlisted ranks before being commissioned; he currently holds the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Durning the past 10 years, Commander Zuley has had extensive active duty time, including two years deployed overseas as part of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedome. While on active duty, Mr. Zuley was closely involved in the actual intelligence collection mission and served in a leadership position in that effort. Mr. Zuley received two Defense Meritorious Service medals for his efforts. In addition to his work with the Chicago Police Department, Mr. Zuley continues to teach terrorism-related classes through the Chicago Department of Public Health and has also been working as a Law Enforcement and Terrorism Awareness instructor for the California Department of Justice, the Georgia Department of Public Safety Training Academy, and other state agencies.