Department of Homeland Security's
Science and Technology Directorate's
2008 OIC Industry Roundtable
“Partnering to create a system of systems framework and streamline communications
in the emergency response community”
June 2, 2008
Ronald Reagan International Trade Center
Washington, D.C.
Panelists
D.J. Atkinson
D.J. Atkinson has been with the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences for 20 years, and is currently a Lead Electronics Engineer in the Telecommunication Systems Planning Division. Much of that time, Mr. Atkinson has been involved in the objective and subjective measurement of speech and voice quality, including 14 years in national and international standards, four years as vice-chair of the ITU Speech Quality Experts Group and two years as Vice-Chair of the P25 Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller Vocoder Task Group. Mr. Atkinson has spent the last 10 years working to meet the needs of the emergency response community.
David Boyd
David Boyd is the Director of the Command, Control and Interoperability Division with responsibility for research and development (R&D) programs to support command and control, communications, computing, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, cyber security and interoperability for DHS. Before joining DHS, Dr. Boyd served as the Director of Science and Technology for the National Institute of Justice, where he managed R&D programs in every facet of technology affecting law enforcement and corrections, including the forensic sciences, less than lethal technologies, information and communications technologies, and concealed weapons and contraband detection, among others. Dr. Boyd is a retired U.S. Army Officer and a recipient of the 2005 Presidential Rank Award, the highest recognition available in the Federal Civil Service. With graduate degrees in Management and Public Policy Analysis as well as a doctorate in Decision Sciences, he has also published extensively in military, law enforcement, technical, and general circulation publications.
Cynthia Cole
Cynthia Wenzel Cole is the Director of Standards and Strategy - Business Operations in System Infrastructure Operations Group of the Government and Public Safety Division at Motorola and has held that position since June 2007. Her team manages a variety of technology areas including P25 Standards, P25 CAP, Information Assurance, Encryption, Wireline Interoperability Gateways and Deployable Radio Frequency (RF) Sites. Over her 14-year Motorola career Ms. Cole has held a variety of positions such as Trunking System Portfolio Manager, leading the portfolio through transitions to P25 and to packet Internet Protocol-based architecture, and as a System Architect in the System Engineering group focusing on new over the air technologies. For the last two years she has led Motorola's P25 Inter RF-Subsystem Interface strategy, standards and productization efforts. Ms. Cole received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering - RF Design from the University of Michigan.
Jim Downes
Jim Downes is the Division Chief responsible for Integrated Services across all levels of government within OEC and has worked for more than 30 years in wireless communications, primarily in the public safety and Federal law enforcement areas. Prior to transferring to DHS in March 2003, he served as Director of the Wireless Programs Office in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. His responsibilities included oversight of the interoperability-focused efforts of the Public Safety Wireless Network Program. Mr. Downes also served as the Co-Program Manager for the Treasury-Justice Integrated Wireless Network, a joint activity to implement a shared nationwide land mobile radio system. His current responsibilities include management of the Federal Partnership for Interoperable Communications (FPIC), which involves a number of Federal user agencies in addition to state and local participants striving to improve interoperability at all levels of government. Mr. Downes also works closely with the Emergency Communications Preparedness Center, which serves as a Federal focal point for interoperability issues. He also represents DHS and the FPIC in Telecommunications Industry Association standards development activities.
Chad Foster
Chad Foster is the Program Manager for the NIMS Support Center, a program that operates under a cooperative agreement between the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Justice and Safety Center/Eastern Kentucky University (EKU). In this capacity, Mr. Foster oversees the implementation of the program, which is designed to develop new responder tools, enhance technology integration and interoperability, and provide technical assistance and support to the incident management and response community. Before joining EKU in 2006, Mr. Foster served as Special Projects Coordinator for the Emergency Management Accreditation Program. In that position, he was responsible for the implementation of special projects, including an assessment of the National Capital Region. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Foster worked for the Council of State Governments where he directed and managed the organization’s public safety and justice policy work. He also served in the U.S. Army for more than five years in various leadership positions both at home and abroad. Mr. Foster received a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Louisville and Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Science from the United States Military Academy.
Denis Gusty
Denis Gusty serves as the Acting Deputy Director of CID’s OIC. In addition, he leads OIC’s Data program which aims to improve incident response and recovery by developing tools and messaging standards that help emergency responders manage incidents and exchange information in real time. Mr. Gusty came to CID from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), where he served as the Director of GSA’s Office of Intergovernmental Solutions. Prior to joining GSA, Mr. Gusty served as a Program Manager at the U.S. Department of Labor. In this role, he was responsible for helping to implement the President’s Management Agenda by managing the e-Government initiative, GovBenefits.gov. Mr. Gusty has more than four years of experience in developing intergovernmental partnerships and information technology policy and practices.
John Hardwick
John Hardwick is President and Co-Founder of Digital Voice Systems, Inc. (DVSI) a leading worldwide supplier of voice compression technology. He was instrumental in the development of the IMBE vocoder used in P25, and he has been a key participant in the development of numerous vocoders for mobile radio, satellite telephony and other applications. Mr. Hardwick has served as President of DVSI since its founding in 1988. His previous employment included positions at Tektronix Inc, C.S. Draper Laboratories and the U.S. Army Applied Technology Laboratory (Ft Eustis). He holds 19 patents and is the author of several articles and papers on vocoders and related subjects. John Hardwick received a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ernest Hofmeister
Ernie Hofmeister has been employed with Tyco Electronics M/A-COM and its land mobile radio predecessor organizations in Lynchburg, Virginia, for over 15 years. Within this group, he has held various positions in the Systems Engineering, Design Engineering, and Technology departments. Currently, he holds the position of Distinguished Fellow of Technology in the company’s Systems Technology group. Current responsibilities include: Coordination of technology strategies and direction; assessment of systems technology/products and potential business partners and suppliers; and provision of a technical position and liaison within the company, industry, and regulatory/standards groups. He previously served as M/A-COM’s representative on the Steering Committee of the National Coordination Committee; this Committee provided consultation to the Federal Communications Commission on the rules for the new 700 MHz public safety spectrum. Dr. Hofmeister’s formal education includes a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and a Master of Science and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University; he has also completed several technical and management training programs with General Electric.
Luke Klein-Berndt
Luke Klein-Berndt serves as the Chief Technology Officer for CID’s OIC. He leads OIC’s standards and technology efforts. He brings more than five years of communications technology experience to CID. Before joining CID, Mr. Klein-Berndt worked at NIST OLES. While there, he specialized in interoperable communications, including P25. He has an extensive background in computer science.
Kevin K. McGinnis
Kevin McGinnis began studying EMS systems in 1974, and has been an EMS system builder ever since. For the past seven years, he has been a Program Advisor for the National Association of State EMS Officials. He specializes in communications systems technology, data systems and rural EMS. Mr. McGinnis serves four other national EMS associations as communications technology advisor as well. He is Vice-Chair of the new 700MHz broadband Public Safety Spectrum Trust, vice-chair of DHS’ SAFECOM Executive Committee, and vice-chair of that OIC’s Practitioner Steering Group for Data. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Brown University and Cornell University in health care delivery systems and hospital administration, and has held Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), EMT-Intermediate and Paramedic licenses in New York and Maine.
Joe Ordia
Joe Ordia is President and Chief Executive Officer of Ordia Solutions, a company he co-founded in 2005 for the singular purpose of equipping public safety agencies and their front line personnel with next generation interoperable technologies to effectively communicate, collaborate, coordinate, command and control (5Cs of Interoperability) during critical incident and disaster response, major event security, multi-jurisdictional/multidisciplinary exercises, for infrastructure and border protection, as well as routine law enforcement and rescue operations. Prior to founding Ordia Solutions, he served as Chief Engineer at General Dynamics Viz for the U.S. Army's CPOF program from 2001-2003. He later served as project manager for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) CPOF Pattern Discovery program where he led a team of machine-learning experts in developing solutions to automate the flow of information between operators in the Army CPOF environment. Mr. Ordia was dispatched to Iraq for most of 2004 to execute the successful deployment of CPOF with the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division, 3rd Infantry Division, and 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. There he provided tactical system support during the first fielding of CPOF to operational units.
Dereck Orr
Dereck Orr is the Program Manager for Public Safety Communication Standards at NIST OLES, and has held that position since December 2002. Previously, he was detailed to DHS to serve as the Chief of Staff of the SAFECOM Office within S&T, to help establish the new program. Mr. Orr also served as a professional staff member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, and related agencies under Senator Fritz Hollings. In that position, he was responsible for the appropriations accounts relating to state and local law enforcement issues. Prior to that, he served four years at the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) at the U.S. Department of Justice. At COPS, he held positions as a Management Analyst, Special Assistant to the Principal Deputy Director, and Budget Officer of the COPS Office. Mr. Orr received a Masters in Public Policy from the College of William and Mary and a Bachelor of Arts in American History from the University of Texas at Austin.
Dave Steingraber
David Steingraber chairs Wisconsin’s State Interoperability Executive Council. Appointed by Governor Doyle to lead Wisconsin's Office of Justice Assistance in 2003, Mr. Steingraber also serves as President of the National Criminal Justice Association, a national organization representing local, tribal, and state criminal justice and juvenile justice practitioner interests to national policy makers. Mr. Steingraber also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for SEARCH, a nonprofit organization created by and for the states to identify and find solutions to improve justice information sharing. He has over 35 years of law enforcement experience and has served as Chief of Police for several Wisconsin communities. Mr. Steingraber also serves on the Governor’s Homeland Security Council and is a former President of the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association.
Theresa Taylor
Theresa Taylor is a 27-year law enforcement veteran who presently manages two multi-million dollar projects for the City of Beverly Hills. She is the Commander of the Police Department’s Administrative Services Division and has extensive technology project management experience, covering such technologies as closed circuit television, automated license plate recognition, radio infrastructure, and CAD systems. During her career, Commander Taylor has served as the Department’s 9-1-1 Communications Manager and as Assistant Division Commander. In this position, she oversaw numerous law enforcement support services. She currently serves as the City of Beverly Hills representative on the Interagency Communications Interoperability System Governance Board, which provides interoperable radio communications to member agencies within the Los Angeles region.
Don Teesdale
Sergeant Don Teesdale serves as an aviator and homeland security liaison with the Maryland State Police Aviation Command. He also serves as the S3 Operations Officer for the 1/224th Aviation Security & Support Battalion of the Maryland Army National Guard. In this role, he is responsible for homeland security missions in the northeast region of the United States. Mr. Teesdale has 21 years of military and law enforcement experience in various aspects of aviation, intelligence and operations. He is dual rated in rotary and fixed wing aircraft and is credited with the initiation of an Airborne Critical Infrastructure Patrol process for police aviation. His request for assistance from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab and DHS culminated in the implementation of the CIIMS project.
Charles Werner
Charles Werner is a 34-year veteran of the fire-rescue service and the present Fire Chief for the City of Charlottesville, Virginia. Chief Werner recently received the Virginia Governor’s Award for Excellence in Fire Service Management; with this honor, he became the only recipient to win the Governor’s Award for Excellence three times. A longtime champion of national and statewide interoperability progress, Chief Werner is a two-time Chair and present member of Virginia’s Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee. He also serves on numerous local, state, and National interoperability working groups. As a contributing editor to Firehouse Magazine, Firehouse.com, and Mobile Radio Technology, Chief Werner has authored more than 70 nationally published articles. He is an At-Large Vice President for the Virginia Fire Chiefs Association, a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs Communications Committee, a member of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Governing Board, and Chair of the International Association of Fire Chiefs Technology Council. In March 2008, Chief Werner was elected as Chair of the SAFECOM Executive Committee.