Announcing Our Keynote
Doug Showalter recently retired after 30 years with the California Highway Patrol. During his tenure he was selected to supervise a complete restructuring of the statewide CHP Communications Training Academy, which included a complete overhaul of several departmental manuals. Over the last 15 years he has established a great reputation as a respected speaker/instructor throughout the nation. After extensive research he has designed several new training courses blending private sector successes into public safety communications. His passion has earned him a reputation as a high-energy speaker using humor to deliver an optimistic and encouraging message to those in public service.
Presenting
Unfortunately, the Communications Center environment sometimes feels like the popular TV series “Survivor”, with plotting, planning and predictable backstabbing. We will explore the importance of “service”, “attitude” and “appreciation” inside and outside the Center. The concept of customer service starts long before the first call is answered. It starts with a clearly defined mission and each employee understanding their role within your agency. It also starts with the defined culture of your entire organization. We’ll show easy, unique, and practical ways to keep your staff motivated, ready and fully engaged. Appreciation is one of the most powerful, yet overlooked, aspects of successfully motivating and empowering people and teams. According to the latest research in the fields of positive psychology and strengths-based leadership, when individuals and teams put more attention on what is working, instead of focusing on problems and perceived weaknesses, they flourish. By focusing on the good stuff, we will show how appreciation impacts productivity, morale, and success. Our goal is to reenergize and restore pride in our chosen profession.
After reading the best-selling book, “Who Moved My Cheese” we thought – why are we just reacting to inevitable changes, when we can anticipate and plan for them, so we are proactive and not just reactive. Considering the ever-changing environment of 9-1-1, we all need to rely on our ability to adjust and adapt to these new challenges. Technology in 9-1-1 will always be improving and changing. Personnel has also continued to change, whether it’s millennials, or baby-boomers the need to change training styles, responsibilities and planning for future leadership is essential to success. By empowering and emboldening our employees both tenured and new to not only accept change, but to thrive in our new world of 9-1-1. Showalter & Company approach all training by blending successful private business practices into public safety communications. We are dedicated to empowering all 9-1-1 professionals to move their own cheese.
Conference Speakers
Becky Bacon
Becky Bacon is the Executive Director for Christian County Emergency Services. She has two decades of Public Safety experience and has served agencies in both Missouri and Arkansas. Becky’s passion in life is to help people be all they are created to be. When she is not working she enjoys playing tennis, scrapbooking, camping, reading and watching reality TV.
Daniel Bishop
Daniel Bishop is Cloudpoint Geospatial’s NG9-1-1 Team Leader. He joined Cloudpoint Geospatial as the second fully remote employee — currently residing in New Orleans, LA. Daniel brings his experience in Municipal and County level GIS Management as well as GIS education from teaching university-level GIS and Earth Science classes. As the Lead on NG9-1-1, Daniel assists clients transition their emergency response data into the NG9-1-1 standard.
Mark Burchfield
Mark Burchfield is currently a Senior Forecaster at NWS Springfield, Missouri. Mark is a member of the local office Decision Support and Outreach Working Group and also the facilitator for the Ozarks Integrated Weather Team. Mark has provided onsite and remote DSS for numerous events & incidents. Mark has a specific focus and interest working with local 911 dispatch and Public Safety Access Points, including providing specific weather training to these vital partners.
Mark was a student volunteer at NWS Springfield, Missouri in the early 2000’s. He is a meteorology graduate from the University of Missouri Columbia. After graduating college, Mark worked part time at the Webster County Emergency Management Agency. In 2013, he began working as an Emergency Management Specialist at the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management in Springfield, Missouri. He developed training and exercises for regional and county public safety officials. Mark completed the FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner Program. In 2015, Mark began at NWS Springfield as a Meteorologist Intern.
Outside of work, Mark enjoys spending as much time with his family as possible. Mark also enjoys traveling and taekwondo. Mark was born in southwest Missouri and enjoys the wide variety of weather that occurs in the Ozarks.
Kima Burnett-Francis
Kima Burnett-Francis has worked for Jasper County Emergency Services (JASCO) since 1997 and presently holds the position of Training Coordinator. Kima is the State Coordinator for the Missouri Telecommunicators Emergency Response Taskforce (Mo-TERT), is an instructor with the Missouri Professional Training Partnership, and is treasurer for the Missouri Public Safety Communications Conference (MPSCC). Kima completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice at Missouri Southern State University in 2011. She presently serves as an Alderman in her hometown, Oronogo, Missouri, is an avid reader, likes concerts, enjoys motorcycling, and is active in her church & community. She greatly appreciates time she can spend with her family and friends.
Tim Ceplina
Tim is a Marine who served in a raider battalion in Desert Storm following a tour on the USS Missouri. He retured to Missouri and became involved in law enforcement. During his career, he graduated from Drury University with a Masters in Criminal Justice and Psychology. While working on his thesis, he began researching the active shooter phenomena. He taught Criminal Justice and Psychology for Drury from 2003 to 2016. He believed he could do something to help and began his own training company in 2006. Since then, they have trained over 100 schools, churches and businesses in active shooter response, work place violence and trauma care courses. Recently, he retired as Chief of Police and realized the number of friends he had lost over a 30 year career and from the military, to suicide. He began speaking to friends regarding their experiences and his knowledge from academia and put this program together to try to reach other first responders. He is married with 3 grown sons.
Dru Clarke
Dru Clarke started as a telecommunicator with Fairfax County in 2013 where he became a calltaker, police and fire dispatcher, CTO, DCJS instructor, EMDi, quality assurance specialist, Training Instructor, and Operations Supervisor. Dru has a passion for the people, and through his instructorships he creates impactful continuous educational seminars that inspire lasting change. He is proactive and personable, with an expertise in public speaking and workplace momentum. He creates, coordinates, and implements new ideas and trainings seamlessly into the workplace. With his keen eye for detail, he transforms missions and goals into action. He puts people before policy, culture before strategy, and receives a “Return on Influence” with each employee he engages. Leading with love, courage, and vulnerability, Dru carves out brave new spaces within the workplace where all can be seen and feel included. He is a catalyst for change, compass for truth, and curator of innovation. In 2020, he launched his training firm CATALYST where he teaches a variety of leadership topics to industry professionals. Today, Dru is a Customer Success Manager with Carbyne, the worlds largest provider of advanced mobile location services. With Carbyne, Dru hopes to provide front line call takers and dispatchers with the NextGen911 solutions that will enable and empower them to get the right help to the right people every single time.
Troy Cordle
Troy Cordle, ENP, has over 19 years of Public Safety experience and 6 years of experience in the U.S. Army. After military, Troy was voted into the local volunteer fire department on September 11, 2001, a surreal introduction to say the least. He achieved Firefighter 1 and EMT certifications before taking a position as a 911 Dispatcher in 2003. Troy left the headset and console in 2016 to serve as the Nebraska State 911 Field Coordinator. There, his job was to prepare Nebraska for the transition to NG911 and develop training, standards, and certification for telecommunicators across the state. In January of 2019, Troy joined the RapidSOS team as a Customer Success Manager for the central US. Today, Troy serves as the Lead ECC Engagement Manager at RapidSOS.
Training and sharing his knowledge and excitement of the 911 profession with dispatchers continues to be his goal. Troy is driven by a passion for educating the 911 community and public. He has presented many times at APCO National and APCO/NENA State Conferences, as well as countless other conferences and training sessions.
Rick Crismas
Rick is the Operations Manager for the Springfield-Greene County 9-1-1 Center. He has 29 years of experience in public safety communications, all with either the city of Springfield or Greene County. He is also a nine-year veteran of the U.S. Navy.
Susan Cunningham
Susan is the President and an owner of Spatial Data Research, Inc., a Missouri/Kansas-based company incorporated in 1993 and providing GIS and 911 database and consulting services to the 911/Public Safety sector. She specializes in solutions-based approaches to GIS, 911 database and addressing issues and has deep industry knowledge of USPS practices, addressing systems and the history of 911 GIS/Addressing in Missouri. She began consulting on NG911 GIS issues in 2009.
Zachary Dykes
Zachary Dykes is a Communications Operator with the Missouri State Highway Patrol and is based in Springfield, serving eighteen counties in Southwest Missouri. He is an avid nerd, with in-depth knowledge of all things Star Wars and has a passion for the emergency communications profession. Aside from his daily duties as a line operator, Zach is the current President of the Missouri Chapter of APCO, serves as an instructor with the Missouri Professional Training Partnership, is part of the MPSCC Committee and serves as the vice-chair of APCO’s Young Professional’s Committee.
Bob Farrell
Bob is entering his seventh year with Voice Products, which has benefited greatly from Bob’s abundant experience in management, customer service and 9-1-1/public safety. Bob has consulted with 9-1-1 centers in Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska to implement solutions to satisfy their communications recording and quality assurance requirements. He has a wealth of experience and knowledge related to 9-1-1 center technologies and public safety trends. Bob has a Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Technology at Purdue University.
Chelsea Finn
Chelsea Finn has worked for Jasper County Emergency Services (JASCO) since 2016. Chelsea currently holds the position of Telecommunications Specialist II at JASCO. She has been a dispatcher for 10 years, working at two other agencies, and has had her APCO CTO certification for almost 8 years. Chelsea completed her Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice in 2020 from Columbia Southern University. Chelsea enjoys reading, traveling and hanging out with friends and family in her spare time.
April Ford
April Ford began her career in the medical field before switching to public safety in 1997. She started as a dispatcher in a Southwest Missouri PSAP and served as a supervisor and training coordinator before taking her first director position in 2005. She had served as director for 3 primary PSAP’s before moving to her current position as the Executive Director at Jasper County Emergency Services. She is an instructor and has consulted for various PSAPs. She serves on various committees throughout the State of Missouri, (MPSCC Chairman, Legislative Taskforce, Training Committee, as well as 2nd Vice President of MoNENA). April served her community on City Council and serves now as Secretary on Planning and Zoning. She is a graduate from Missouri Southern State University, with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration. April loves spending time with her children, grandchildren and her Wamily.
Halcyon Frank
Halcyon Frank is an instructor with the Denise Amber Lee Foundation and the founder of The Dispatch Lab, an emergency communications training and consulting firm that aims to help improve training in the dispatch industry. She has worked in the emergency communications center for over 7 years and has dispatched for law enforcement, fire, and EMS. She has spent much of this time training new employees and developing training curricula and resources and is passionate about supporting those behind the console. She also holds the Emergency Number Professional certification through NENA.
Jessica Frye
Jessica Frye, ENP has spent over a decade working on public safety GIS for both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining GeoComm in 2016, Jessica served on the Governor-appointed Kansas 911 Coordinating Council and established the GIS subcommittee to focus on preparing jAurisdictional GIS data for NG9‐1‐1. Now as a GeoComm Project Manager, Jessica uses her vast public safety expertise to help customers develop and implement GIS data standards for E911 and NG911. Jessica served as the Project Manager for the State of MO NG911 GIS GAP Analysis project and is also leading statewide and regional NG911 projects in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.
Jonathan Goldman
Chief Jon Goldman, is the Chief at Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid, based in Laconia NH. LRMFA provides Fire/EMS, and All Hazards Emergency Dispatching for an 1800 square mile area across 5 counties and one of the most heavily recreated areas of the state. Chief Goldman has served several organizations in his career as a Dispatcher, Communications Trainer, IT Manager, Director, and now Chief. Chief Goldman has always strived to make his organizations leaders in the industry. He has deployed the first, and third APCO certified Agency Training Programs Training Program in NH, was the first Registered Public Safety Leader in NH, the first Certified Public Safety Executive, and one of the first credentialed Communications Unit Leaders in NH. Chief Goldman strongly believes in rigor, accountability and following established local, state, and national standards and best practices. He continues to develop his staff, and team to make them better at what they do. LRMFA embraces the Pride and Ownership mentality creating a culture to embrace change, develop staff, and give each staff member “a seat at the table,” to build upon their pride in their organization. Chief Goldman is the Immediate Past President of the Atlantic Chapter of APCO. He is in his 27th year of public service and serves his local town fire department as a Captain overseeing the EMS Division, and as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Selectman. Chief Goldman also manages First On The Scene Dispatch Training and Consulting, a small 9-1-1 Consulting Company based in NH. Chief Goldman is passionate about 9-1-1, Emergency Communications, and developing the next generation of Leadership.
Stacen Gross
Stacen Gross, ENP is the Northern States Territory Manager with GeoComm residing in the Omaha, Nebraska area. Stacen is responsible for sales and customer account management across a large 28 state territory comprised of the Northeast, Midwest and Northwest United States. Throughout Stacen’s 28 year career in public safety/9-1-1, he has served as Project Manager for both GIS and consulting projects and has also provided consulting and technical expertise to numerous local governments on issues surrounding 9-1-1, communications, cooperative agreements between units of government and issues pertaining to funding for 9-1-1 and public safety initiatives.
Stephen "Steve" Hoskins
Steve Hoskins is the Interoperability Systems Manager for the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department and is responsible for improving Interoperability with local, state, and federal partners. He serves as the Missouri Chairperson of the Regional Interoperability Committee of the Metropolitan Area Regional Radio system (MARRS) and the Public Safety Users Committee, which helps oversee the regional 9-1-1 system. Steve is a qualified Communications Unit Leader (COML) and is a DHS/FEMA certified instructor for COML nationally. Over his thirty plus year career, Steve has been a Police Dispatcher, CTO, Watch Supervisor, Operations Supervisor, and Communications Manager prior to his current assignment as Interoperability Systems Manager.
Kris Inman
Kris is entering his 28th year overall with Springfield-Greene County 9-1-1. He was promoted to Director in 2020, becoming the department’s first internal hire to the position. Prior to his promotion, Kris had served as the department’s Training & Education Manager since 2012, working his way up from dispatcher, trainer and supervisor. He is also an adjunct professor of Communication & First Year Foundations at Missouri State University. Kris holds an MA in Communication and a BS in Electronic Media from Missouri State University. His wife, Mariah, is a Community Health Nurse for the Springfield-Greene County Health Department. None of his five cats are currently employed.
Andrea King
An experienced public safety leader, Andrea King has been at the forefront of change in the 9-1-1 industry for the past 15 years. As a member of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Andrea served in the Communication Bureau as a 9-1-1 Call Taker and Dispatch Specialist, a Communications Training officer, responsible for developing and training newly hired communications employees, and a Communications Supervisor. Currently, Andrea is a Customer Success Manager with Carbyne, where she is part of a team that is redefining emergency collaboration.
Since the beginning of her career, Andrea has made leadership the focus of her development. She is a graduate of the Sheriff’s Leadership Series through the Institute of Executive Development and Dale Carnegie’s Effective Communications and Human Relations. Andrea has been a member of APCO’s Young Professionals committed and has held executive positions with the Nevada chapter of APCO as secretary and 2nd Vice President.
Cheryl Konarski
Cheryl Konarski is a 30+ year veteran of public safety, currently serving as the communications manager for the Joplin Police Department Emergency Communications Center. Cheryl currently serves as an APCO Group Leader, and is the executive council representative for the Missouri Chapter of APCO, and serves on the legislative committee. She is also on the education committee for the Missouri Public Safety Communications Conference. She is a graduate of APCO CPE Class 3, and a graduate of the APCO RPL program. She teaches and presents throughout Missouri and has presented at several past APCO International Conferences. Her passion for public safety communications drives her to be involved in many facets of the profession. She and her husband Ski live in Southwest Missouri. They have one son, Alexander, who served his country in the United States Marine Corps (oorah!) and currently works and lives in Southwest Missouri.
Lacy Koncor
Lacy Koncor is a Communication Operator III for the Missouri State Highway Patrol at Troop F. She has been with the Patrol for over 7 years. Ms. Koncor has worked in the telecommunication operator field for the last 19 years previously working at different joint communications, both large and small. During the course of her career she has been a communication training officer, an instructor for community police academies, and speaker at public emergency services education engagements.
Brian LaMonica
Brian is a Telecommunicator for the Southampton Village Police Department located on Long Island, New York for the past 21 years. Brian is currently the Executive Council Representative and Past President of the Atlantic Chapter of APCO. In his spare time Brian is a Group Leader for APCO International and a Volunteer Firefighter for the Brookhaven Fire Department.
Jeff Ledbetter
Jeff Ledbetter is a GIS, public safety, addressing, and GIS technology subject matter expert with nearly two decades in GIS. Since 2009 Mr. Ledbetter has been supporting GIS technology in PSAPs and Emergency Operations Centers. Mr. Ledbetter is a Public Safety GIS Expert with DATAMARK Team of Michael Baker International and holds GIS Professional (GISP), Emergency Number Professional (ENP) and Project Management Professional (PMP) certifications.
DJ Malone
DJ Malone has been in the emergency services field since 2002. He is currently a supervisor with Central County Emergency 911 in St. Louis county, having communications experience with civil unrest, natural disasters, and developing a major public safety digital radio system. He also remains active “on the other side of the radio,” serving as a Firefighter/EMT in his hometown of Rolla.
Roger Martin
Roger retired from the Air Force in 2001 and began his new career with the Highway Patrol at Troop E Radio in Poplar Bluff the same year. In 2008, he was appointed as the Communications Division Training Coordinator and moved to Jefferson City. He facilitates the training of newly hired Patrol Operators and provides continuing education to veteran operators. He is also a POST certified specialty instructor training newly hired Troopers and other agency responders on Patrol radio procedures. Roger has served as co-chair of the Missouri Professional Training Partnership since 2010 and undoubtedly his primary focus continues to be the training and education of professionals within public safety communications. He and his wife, DeAnn, enjoy traveling, singing every chance they get, and working in community theatre. They share four sons, two daughters-in-law, and two beautiful granddaughters.
Heather Morrison
Heather Morrison is a 17-year veteran of Springfield-Greene County Emergency Communications. She is a graduate of Missouri State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and a minor in Journalism. She is currently the Training & Education Manager at Springfield, a title which she has held for the last 1.5 years.
Jason Nettles
Jason Nettles has been the Executive Director at Central County Emergency 911 in St. Louis County, Missouri since January 2021. He began his public safety communications career at the Putnam County, Florida Sheriff’s Office in 1990, as a dispatcher. In the mid 1990’s he moved to East Tennessee for a few years where he worked as a Project Manager for an architectural firm, coordinating consultants and public construction projects. After relocating to Florida, he returned to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office in 2001, was soon promoted to Communications Shift Supervisor, and was later appointed as Assistant Bureau Chief where he managed the day-to-day Communications Center operations for a combined Emergency Communications Center with a staff of 30.
Steve Roberts
Steve is a retired Sheriff’s Captain and currently serves as the Vice President of Training for Paradigm Liaison Services and is representing the Pipeline Association of Missouri for today’s program. Steve oversees the delivery of over 1100 pipeline safety programs in 44 states each year. Steve also has a Master’s degree and serves as an online adjunct professor, instructing criminal justice and homeland security courses to college undergraduates.
Zim Schwartze
Chief Schwartze started her career in law enforcement over 30 years ago and is now the proud Chief with the Missouri Capitol Police. She retired as a Commander with a Missouri municipal police agency and ‘accidentally’ fell into the 9-1-1 world for 10 years. She learned a lot working with Boone County 9-1-1 before heading to the Springfield-Greene County 9-1-1 folks! She recently returned to law enforcement as the Chief in January 2020.
Zim teaches various subjects including community policing, statistics, resource allocation, and BUDGETING! She enjoys taking dry subjects and bringing them to life! Zim has experience on the municipal, county and state level with an understanding of the complex and unique differences. She was thrilled to teach at at the APCO International conference several years ago!
Zim holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering and Master’s Degree in Public Administration. She is a graduate of the 204th class of the School of Police Staff and Command (SPSC) through Northwestern University Center for Public Safety in Evanston, IL and is an Adjunct Instructor for them (since 2006). She has taught as an instructor with the Law Enforcement Training Institute since 1995 and a graduate of the FBI National Academy, Session #231.
Lori Sneed
Lori began her public safety journey in 1999 when she joined her local fire department as a medical first responder. After Dade County voted to implement E911, she was hired in 2004 as Office Manager and Address/Mapping POC for the developing 9-1-1 center. In March 2007, Lori was promoted to Director and was honored to be recognized as Director of the Year in 2012 at the state conference. As an instructor for the Missouri Professional Training Partnership, she enjoys opportunities to learn with other public safety professionals. When not in the office, Lori can probably be found in the Dade wilderness with her husband, Brian and some of their 9 grandchildren.
Angie Stiefermann
Angie Stiefermann has been employed with the Jefferson City Police Department for 29 years, formerly as a CTO, and for the last 15 years as a Telecommunications Supervisor and Instructor though still working the console daily. As a member of a department that encourages continuing education, Angie feels a responsibility to do her part in educating others through affordable or free training through the APCO training partnership. Angie is the current MoAPCO Regional Ambassador for the Central Region and is on the Education Committee for the Missouri Public Safety Communications Conference. Angie desires to help others stay involved by building relationships and sharing information among agencies. Angie is a lifelong resident of the Jefferson City area, is married to a police lieutenant and has daughters ages 18 and 21.
Adam Timm
Adam Timm began his 18-year career in 9-1-1 as a dispatcher for Los Angeles Police Department Communications Division, where he spent over a decade under the headset. He left the LAPD after founding his company, The Healthy Dispatcher, to provide classes, conference sessions and culture change consulting services to dispatchers across the country. Adam’s energetic presentations and uplifting message have made him one of the most highly regarded speakers in 9-1-1. He’s the author of three books, including the popular, “Dispatcher Stress: 50 Lessons on Beating the Burnout” and his most recent, “People Driven Leadership: How the Best 9-1-1 Centers Inspire Positive Change.”
