#TXPSC2023
2023 SPEAKERS
To view Session Descriptions click on corresponding Date/Time Slot
Adam Timm
The Healthy Dispatcher
Beat 9-1-1 Burnout: Overcoming Compassion Fatigue
People Driven Leadership: How to Improve Morale & Center Culture
Adam began his 18-year career in public safety as a 9-1-1 dispatcher for Los Angeles Police Department, where he spent over a decade under the headset.
Ricardo Martinez
Within the Trenches
Imagine Listening
Imagine Listening
Ricardo Martinez II is a creative individual who is using his skills in writing, design, and podcasting to tell the stories of those he works with. For 13 years he has answered the call of a 9-1-1 dispatcher. Throughout his years in dispatch he was able to go to school where he received an Associate’s in web development through Baker College, a Bachelor’s in graphic design through Full Sail University as well as a Master’s in new media journalism in March of 2013.
Christy Williams
Director of NTC9-1-1
A Better YOU: 7 Strategies to Wellness
Keeping it Real with Real Time Text to 9-1-1
4/4/2023 Schooner 9:00A - 10:00A
Co-presenters: Tonie Dunne & LeAnna Russell
Christy serves as the Director of NCT9-1-1. They are the planning agency for 9-1-1 in fourteen counties. NCT9-1-1 serves over 40 PSAPs in an area surrounding Dallas/Ft. Worth. Christy has been in the 9-1-1 industry for over thirty years and has held numerous offices in Texas NENA as well as serving as the national president of NENA from 2014-2016. She is a servant leader and hopes to change the world!
Bridget Truxillo
Protective Wellness &
Yoga for First Responders
Yoga
4/4/2023 Area West of Registration 7:00A - 7:30A
Yoga
4/5/2023 Area West of Registration 7:00A - 7:30A
Yoga For First Responders
Law enforcement officers who are overwhelmed and frustrated are able to leverage Bridget’s 30 years of wellness, leadership, law enforcement and legal training and experience for a blueprint on how to easily feel more comfort, ease and support for increased balance and joy in life.
More...
Jason Smith & Panel
North Central Texas Emergency Communications District
TX TERT: A Tale of Two Deployments
Co- Presenters
Brittney Burross & Tyler Brown
Jason Smith, ENP is the 9-1-1 Operations Manager for the North Central Texas Emergency Communications District and has 24 years of service in public safety. Jason oversees the NCT9-1-1 Operations team which is responsible for monitoring and compliance, public education, communications, and training for over 40 Emergency Communication Centers (ECCs).
Abbey Dudek
Tarrant County 9-1-1
Likes, Follows & Shares, Oh My!
A 9-1-1 Public Educators Potential to Reach Thousands
Abbey Duek is the Communications Coordinator at Tarrant County 9-1-1 District and has been there for six years. She handles all public relations regarding 9-1-1 education, including maintaining the tc911.org site, social media platforms, podcasts, graphic design, content writing, videography, editing, community networking, and community events.
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Dwane Razzetti
Rave Mobile Safety
9-1-1's Critical Roll in Informed Responses
Dwane as a Public Safety Solutions Architect, has worked for Rave with many customers in 9-1-1 and emergency preparedness. Dwane has extensive experience as a police officer, fire fighter and emergency management director. He has presented at many functions including conferences and police/fire academies. He was a certified police instructor for New Jersey.
Tanya Lee
Evans Care &
Denise Amber Lee
Foundation
Tanya Lee is the Manager of EvansCare, Preventative Maintenance and Console Cleaning Services. She has over 20 years working in the medical field and has been working in the 911 industry for the past seven years. She is passionate about improving the overall health of mission critical environments and maintaining an optimal work environment for dispatchers. She resides in Florida with her husband Nathan and their seven children.
Joe Serio
360° Dispatcher
Turbocharging Your Time:
Outrageous Productivity in a World of Distraction
Postitive Interaction with Difficult People
4/5/2022 Galleon I 3:30P - 4:30P
Dr. Joe Serio delivers conference presentations and trainings on leadership and wellness, focusing on providing tools to address the fear that keeps us from maximizing our potential.
Ed Vea
NGA 9-1-1
Benefits of the Cloud
Ed is an engineer executive with global experience in telecommunications and
next generation technologies. At NGA 911, he is a member of an unparalleled team of industry experts
engineering Next Generation 9-1-1 for the Cloud where it belongs.
Dr. Anne Courie
Director of Responder Wellness, FirstNet Program at AT&T
Public Safety Readiness: Past, Present and Future
Operations Through the Lens of Wellness.
Dr. Anna Fitch Courie, Director of Responder Wellness, FirstNet Program at AT&T is a nurse, Army wife, former university faculty, and author. Anna holds a Bachelor’s in Nursing from Clemson University; a Master’s in Nursing Education from the University of Wyoming; and a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Ohio State University.
Tony Harrison
Public Safety Group
When Policy Kills
Tony is the President of The Public Safety Group. He has more than 30 years of
public safety communications experience. He has lectured to over 20,000 public safety professionals in
more than 150 cities, 48states and 3 countries and has presented at national APCO and NENA
conferences.
Kelli Merriweather
Commission on State
Emergency Communications
NG9-1-1: An Update from Around the State
4/4/2022 Galleon I 3:30P - 4:40P
Bio pending...
Erica May
Memphis Police Emergency
Communications Bureau
Focus on Following
A proud, self-described follower, Erica May ENP is a supervisor at the Memphis Police Emergency Communications Bureau. She started her public safety career with the agency in 2017 as a telecommunicator. She currently serves on the communications committee of NENA’s WIN (Women in 9-1-1 Alliance). Her writings on public safety and police/community relations have been featured in local and national publications. Erica is passionate about ambassadorship, followership and mentoring as avenues to spread positivity around the PSAP
Fabricio Velez
AT&T FirstNet
Lead Solutions Architect in the FirstNet Customer Innovation Team leading the solution architecture definition, partner ecosystem qualification, and value proposition development of Next Generation Emergency Services: Integration of NG9-1-1 and FirstNet.
Over 20 years of wireless and wireline network design, solution development, and consulting with communications service providers and public safety agencies around the globe with a special emphasis on network and technology migrations.
Halcyon Frank
Denise Amber Lee Foundation
Building Better Training
Halcyon Frank has spent the last seven years working in emergency communications, starting out at a large law enforcement agency before making the switch to dispatching law, fire, and EMS. She now works full time in the private sector while also being an instructor for the Denise Amber Lee Foundation and still working under the headset from time to time.
Tracy Ertl
HeroLight Training
Stress Relief and Communications
Healthy Center 9-1-1
Building Your 9-1-1 Hero Cape
HeroLight Training Co-Owner Tracy C. Ertl has dedicated 28 years to public safety communications, recently retired from Brown County Public Safety Communications, a consolidated 911 center in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Kenneth Murphy
Austin Police Department
Presenter -Ken Murphy is a Lieutenant with the Austin Police Department and has served as the Emergency Communications Division Director for the last 5 years.
Co- Presenter Marisa Aguilar, LPC, is the Practice Manager of the Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team at Integral Care.
Terry Burnworth
Pyramid Consulting
Dispatcher Paradigms: The Next Generation Public Safety
Dispatcher Conditions
What's Up Doc? Social Media Deployments in the PSAP
Managed Services vs Capital Investments:
Public Safety Procurement Considerations
Tail Wagging the Dog: The Hidden Approach to Public Safety Communications Procurement
Angela Rodgers
Scott County SO
Angie Rodgers has been in public safety for 17 years. She is currently serving as Communications Director for Scott County Sheriff’s Office in Benton, Missouri. She is also serving Missouri as the Missouri 911 Directors Association Treasurer and Missouri APCO Secretary.
Prior to becoming Communications Director she was a front line telecommunicator and trainer. She has always found calm in all the chaos!
Angie is engaged, has four children and two fur babies. When she isn’t working she is enjoying time with her fiance and working on becoming Tik Tok famous!
J.C. Ferguson
Austin- Travis Co EMS
Listening Skills: Enhancing Ability and Reducing Barriers
Thoughtful Curriculum Progress Applying Bloom's Taxonomy
Father of two wonderful girls, JC Ferguson is a Commander at Austin-Travis Co EMS in Austin, Tx. He oversees cadet training and continuing education for the Communications division, as well as heads their Special Events and Emergency Response Team. JC started working in public safety 2003 and has since worked in Bexar County - Tx, Billings Mt, and Chapel Hill NC in various roles of Fire, EMS, and Emergency Communications.
Erin Powell
Texas Department of
Public Safety
Company Culture- Improving Morale in the 911 Center
Erin Powell has worked in Law Enforcement for 15 years. She is currently a Telecommunicator and trainer for the Texas Department of Public Safety and has also worked for Memorial Villages Police Department. She holds a Masters Telecommunicator’s Certificate as well as a number of other certificates. She enjoys public speaking, leading and mentoring others and often brings her passion for knowledge and teaching to her role as a trainer.
Mike Wilson
Lion Strategy Group
Emergency Dispatch Resiliency: A Flood of Powerful and
Unfamiliar Responses Pt 1
Emergency Dispatch Resiliency: A Flood of Powerful and
Unfamiliar Responses Pt 2
Presenter- Mike Wilson is a proven leader, known for initiating and delivering sustained results and effective, fundamental change.
Co- Presenter Mike Alexander- Mike Alexander is a nationally recognized expert in training and leadership coaching, a specialty that began and flourished during his 38-year career in law enforcement and has defined the years following his retirement from service.
Richard Kelly
911 DataMaster
Realities of Z Value Implementation Requirements
Mr. Kelly has 25+ years of public and private sector GIS experience. He has worked on numerous NENA NG9-1-1 standard’s development workgroups, including 3D GIS. Since 2015, he has served as NENA’s liaison to NSGIC. Mr. Kelly has also assisted with and supports numerous State GIS data standards for NG9-1-1. He is currently Vice-chair of the APCO SDC Technical Subcommittee.
Heather Vaughan-Joyner
Franklin County ECC
Heather Joyner is a veteran with over two decades of public safety telecommunications experience from the front lines of dispatching to communications director.
Sean Scott
SecuLore Solutions
Threat Awareness: How to Detect an Incident
Before it Takes Your ECC Down
Sean Scott is CEO & CTO of SecuLore Solutions. With over 30 years as a technology innovator and cybersecurity solutions architect, Sean Scott has been instrumental in designing SecuLore’s patented cybersecurity solution. A combination of proprietary next-generation hardware and software offered as a service, through their Maryland security operations center (SOC).
Michael Thompson
Int'l Academy of Emergency
Dispatch
Artificial Intelligence in the 9-1-1 Center:
Where are we Today and What Does the Future
Hold?
Mike Thompson is a retired career Fire Service Battalion Chief with 27 years of Fire Service and Paramedic experience with the Rapid City Fire Department in Rapid City SD. Mike served 12 years in the United States Army, the last 10 in 2nd Battalion, 5th Group, 1st Special Forces as a Medical Sergeant. Mike is presently a Fire and Medical subject matter expert with the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED )and Priority Dispatch Corp. (PDC) based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Bryce Wellman
Cedar Park PD
Breaking Trauma: Life After Surviving teh Las Vegas Massacre
Active Shooter: Life on the Lines
Bryce Wellman started his career in public safety in 2016 with the Cedar Park Police Department. He is a Communications Training Officer and a member of the Peer Support team; as well as, a licensed TCOLE instructor.
Anne Wiggs
Ft Worth Police Communications
Sofia Brabham
Tarrant County 9-1-1
Burnout and Compassion Fatigue
Presenter Anne Wiggs is an Assistant Manager for Fort Worth Police Communications and is a member of two peer support teams.
Co-Presenter Sofia Brabham is the Lead Trainer for Tarrant County 9-1-1 District and a member of the district’s peer support team.
Frank Arico
Mission Critical Partners
Actionable Steps to Improve PSAP Cybersecurity
Awareness and Prevention Efforts
Frank is a business development manager who delivers high customer satisfaction by exceeding expectations and business results. He establishes strong, collaborative partnerships and enables teams to work efficiently and independently. Frank has years of experience working with communication systems, internal networks, and IT equipment that support the security needs of public safety and enterprise customers.
Dawn Shumway
Denise Amber Lee
Foundation
Say This, Not That
Dawn is one of the instructors with the Denise Amber Lee Foundation. She is also a Lead 911 Dispatcher with Davis County Sheriff's Office in Utah. Dawn is the UT APCO Vice President, and has been in emergency services and dispatching since 2004.
Jim Pingle
Mission Critical Partners
The Role of Artificial Intelligence & Machine
Learning in Enhancing Public Safety & Justice
Decisions - Making
Presenter Jim Pingel has more than 25 years of diversified experience in project management, data integration, service-oriented architecture, contract and account management, budgeting, grant writing, program management, IT governance, and business architecture.
Jim Shepard
911 Datamaster
Jim Shepard is the COO of 911 Datamaster and is the Co-Chair of NENA's Development Steering Council which oversees 9-1-1 standards development.
Joe Scaffidi
NICE Public Safety
Joe Scaffidi, Regional Vice President, NICE Public Safety, has been a senior leader in public sector digital transformation solutions for close to two decades. Prior to joining and leading the Public Safety Americas solution team at NICE Public Safety, he spent 10 years specializing in Police & Fire rostering and scheduling at Kronos Incorporated.
Sherri Powell
Mission Critical Partners
Sherri brings years of experience in the public safety industry as a consultant, director and manager. As a senior communications consultant, she specializes in NG911 planning, funding and text-to-911. Sherri has presented text-to-911, as well as other industry topics at the national, state and local levels and is recognized as an industry subject matter expert on the interim short message service (SMS) text-to-911 solution.
Sherry LeVeque
OnStar
Sherry LeVeque is the Assistant Manager of OnStar’s Emergency Services Outreach Team and focuses on public safety education of OnStar’s emergency and stolen vehicle assistance technologies.
Matt Grogan
Denise Amber Lee Foundation
22 Words
Matt is a Public Safety Instructor with the Denise Amber Lee Foundation, who brings in over 14 years of public safety communications experience. With that experience and through his passion and enthusiasm for the job, he brings a raw and realistic teaching style to his trainings, presentations, and keynotes.
Shari Forward
Galveston County
Shari Forward has been member of the Law Enforcement family for over 35 years. She retired as a Captain from the Friendswood Police Department, where she held this position in the Investigation, Patrol and Administrative Divisions of the Department. Shari was also the Commander and Team Leader for Friendswood’s SWAT Crisis/Hostage Negotiation Team.
Marcel Brunel
Brunel Group, LLC
People, Pressure & Personality
A former US Army Airborne Ranger, Marcel Brunel has spent the last 27 years working with organizations as an expert in psychometrics and talent development. While working closely with many government organizations, he provides innovative, state-of-the-art assessment tools used to measure how people make decisions, problem solve and build relationships.
Maureen Deickmann
CEO, Moetivations, Inc
Bringing over 25 years of public safety industry experience, Maureen “Moe” Dieckmann arrives with energy, conviction, and straight forward coaching… applying real world examples and humor in leadership services that only Public Safety personnel can appreciate.
Vanessa Green- Montgomery
Denco Area 9-1-1 District
Vanessa is the GIS Supervisor for Denco Area 9-1-1 District leading a staff of three GIS specialists. She supervises professional staff to create highly accurate GIS data for the Denco Area 9-1-1 District and develops GIS data guidelines and standards for effective data creation, migration, collection, conversion, translation, integration, and quality control.
Jason Fuqua
Director of Sales at RapidDeploy
Don't Be Left in the Dark: Keeping 9-1-1 Going with Disaster Recovery and Resiliency
Jason Fuqua, VP of Sales at RapidDeploy, has been with RapidDeploy for 3 years, bringing modern technology to ECCs and PSAPs all over the country. Before joining RapidDeploy he worked with local and state governments consulting on Public Safety initiatives across the country specifically as they relate to 911 and First Responder communication solutions. He’s worked with 911 Boards and Public Safety Councils in multiple states championing technical, legislative, and governance advancements towards Next Generation 911.
Ricardo Martinez II
Within the Trenches Media
Imagine Listening
Ricardo is a former 9-1-1 dispatcher of 13 years, hold three degrees, I am a former Director of Communications of a 9-1-1 solutions company, and I now run my own media company that revolves around Public Safety.