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Lori Stone is a senior public safety advisor for the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority). She is responsible for outreach and consultation with local public safety agencies. She most recently served as Maryland’s single point of contact for the FirstNet Authority. In this role, she was responsible for the development and implementation of the outreach and state consultation strategy to engage public safety in FirstNet planning efforts.

Lori also spent several years working on the legal, operational, and planning requirements for the deployment of Maryland FiRST, the statewide 700 MHz public safety radio communications system. She also served as the grant manager for two public safety communications federal grant programs.

Lori has worked as a National Capital Region Planner at the Maryland Emergency Management Agency; developed public education and media campaigns for emergency preparedness; and drafted and exercised Continuity of Operations Plans for higher education institutions, hospitals, and non-profit organizations.

She has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Towson University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law.

Ed Sherman, Psy.D., is an organizational consultant, executive coach and leadership development specialist with 40 years of experience in public safety. Sherman initially performed fire suppression, rescue and EMS duties in the New York City area, and later worked in law enforcement in San Diego. He also worked as a criminal intelligence supervisor for the California Department of Justice where he coordinated a joint federal, state and local law enforcement investigative group.

Dr. Sherman was trained in Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) and has performed critical incident stress debriefings, defusings, demobilizations and individual peer support for first responders and other personnel in situations involving line-of-duty deaths, suicides and other traumatic events. He is a graduate of the San Diego State University Trauma Recovery Services certificate program and was appointed as a member of the advisory board. Dr. Sherman has performed workplace violence threat assessments, served as the primary violence threat assessor for the County of San Diego, and coordinated risk management activities related to maintaining a safe and secure work environment.

In his work as an organizational consultant and executive coach, Dr. Sherman has provided services including assessment, training, team building, and process improvement facilitation for staff at all levels including executives and boards of directors.

Dr. Sherman received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Alliant International University, California School of Professional Psychology in San Diego, and holds master’s degrees in management and psychology.

Contact him at ed@shermanconsulting.org or via LinkedIn.

Jennifer Aubert-Utz is a 22-year veteran of the Baltimore County Fire Department, currently serving as an assistant fire chief. In addition to providing executive leadership and professional oversight to over 1,000 career and 2,000 volunteer members, Aubert-Utz is responsible for the preparation and continual review of the department’s operating budget, enhancing human relations, and ensuring the fire department is well-represented at all levels of government. Dedicated to the foundations of public service motivation and the advancement of the fire service, Chief Aubert-Utz serves as the chairperson for the Maryland Center for the Study of Health Effects of Fire, a commissioner on the Maryland Higher Education Commission’s Fire Rescue Training & Education Commission, a technical expert on the International Fire Service Training Association Fire Service Training publication and training manual revision team, and has served as a professional advisor on the NFPA Responder Forum. Chief Aubert-Utz holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in management from Johns Hopkins University, earned the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Designation, and holds several professional fire service affiliations.

John Oates is the CEO of the International Public Safety Data Institute. Prior to being appointed as CEO, he served as chief of the East Hartford (Connecticut) Fire Department. He has a bachelor’s degree from Franklin Pierce University, a master’s degree from Oklahoma State University, is a graduate of the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program, and holds numerous professional certifications. Chief Oates is a longtime contributor to the NFFF’s Everyone Goes Home Program, and serves as a member of the Behavioral Health Advisory Committee created by the First Responder Center for Excellence, an NFFF affiliated organization. Oates serves as a member of the technical committees for NFPA 3000: Active Shooter/Hostile Event Response and NFPA 610: Guide for Emergency and Safety Operations at Motorsports Venues.

Keith Stakes is a member of the UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute (FSRI). As a fire protection engineer, Stakes studies the effectiveness of fire service tactics as well as advances in firefighter safety and fireground operations. He has a bachelor’s degree as well as a master’s degree in fire protection engineering from the University of Maryland. Stakes has over 13 years of fire service experience as a firefighter and officer with the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad in Maryland, where he currently holds the rank of battalion chief. He continues to serve on the NFPA Technical Committee for Fire Service Training and is a member of the NFPA, the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

In an intriguing experiment, FireRescue1 editors have employed AI to answer questions about the fire service. The AI’s responses, based on its extensive dataset, are then reviewed by actual firefighters for accuracy and relevance. The aim is to examine how effectively AI’s understanding aligns with the real-world experience of fire service professionals, potentially revealing novel insights into the fire service’s operations. As you might imagine, this paragraph itself was generated by an AI assistant, exemplifying the ever-growing capabilities of artificial intelligence in processing information and creating contextually relevant content.

Kenny Navarro is Chief of EMS Education Development in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas. He also serves as the AHA Training Center Coordinator for Tarrant County College. Mr. Navarro serves as an Emergency Cardiovascular Care Content Consultant for the American Heart Association, served on two education subcommittees for NIH-funded research projects, as the Coordinator for the National EMS Education Standards Project, and as an expert writer for the National EMS Education Standards Implementation Team.

EMS1.com columnist David Givot, a seasoned EMS employee with three years of law school under his belt, is looking to the future of EMS. He has created TheLegalGuardian.com as a first step toward improving the state of EMS through information and education designed to protect EMS professionals nationwide.

Volunteer fire departments face a unique set of challenges. Learn how to manage or serve on a volunteer department with Jason Zigmont, founder of VolunteerFD.org, in his FireRescue1 exclusive column, ‘Volunteer Professionals.’

Learn to avoid risks while fighting fires in uncertain conditions. Read ‘Real World Firefighting,’ a FireRescue1 exclusive column by Jay Lowry. Get tips on planning strategies, tactics and risk analysis before you enter a real world fire.