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Board

Chief Ernest (Ernie) Mitchell, Jr.

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Ernest Mitchell, Jr. was the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s United States Fire Administrator for the United States Fire Administration. He began his tenure on December 5, 2011 and was responsible for managing the United States Fire Administration, the programs and training activities at the National Emergency Training Center.

Chief Mitchell retired as the Fire Chief and Assistant Director of Disaster Emergency Services for the City of Pasadena, California Fire Department after 33 years in the fire service. Chief Mitchell is an active member and former officer of the IAFC. During his last year in Pasadena he was also President of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), where he continued until the completion of his term. He served in Pasadena from 1998 until 2004. Prior to becoming Fire Chief in Pasadena, Chief Mitchell served as Fire Chief and Deputy City Manager in the City of Monrovia, California for seven years. He began his career as a fire fighter with the City of Compton, California. He served there for twenty years in various ranks until leaving to become Fire Chief in the City of Monrovia.

His most recent professional affiliations include serving as a member of the International Fire Service Training Association Executive Board, the International Association of Firefighters Hazardous Materials Advisory Board, the IAFC President’s Council, the IAFC Foundation Board, and the IAFC/IAFF Labor/Management Initiative Facilitator Team.

In previous years he has served as a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Advisory Committee; on numerous committees and task forces of the IAFC; and presided over several fire service organizations, including: the Los Angeles Area Fire Chiefs Association; the League of California Cities Fire Chiefs and the Foothill Fire Chiefs. He has also been an Advocate for the National Fallen Firefighters’ Everyone Goes Home ® Program, an adjunct instructor for the National Fire Academy and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Fire Chief Magazine.

Chief Mitchell has an Associate of Science Degree in Fire Science from Long Beach City College; a Bachelor Degree in Public Administration from the University of San Francisco; and a Master of Public Administration Degree from California State University at Northridge.

During his career Chief Mitchell has either chaired or been a member of many working committees that contributed to the progress and development of communities as well as local, state and national fire and emergency services. He is a past recipient of the IAFC President’s Award for Service and has received several community awards for service.

He is a past recipient of numerous community and organizational honors, including: the IAFC President’s Award for Service, designation as a City of Compton Hometown Hero, and selection to the Long Beach City College Alumni Hall of Fame.

John Miclot

Secretary | Treasurer

John Miclot is an experienced healthcare professional that has served in both CEO role and as A Director of both public and private companies.

Mr Miclot was the President and CEO and Board member at Linguaflex a private company focused on alternative therapy for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). He was the President and CEO and Board member at Tengion Inc a public company focused on organ and cell regeneration. Prior to that he was and Executive in Residence at Warburg-Pincus a private equity company. He managed as President and CEO and Board member CCS Medical a Warburg company that focused on products and services for patients with chronic diseases. From 2003-2008 he was the President and CEO and Board member at Respironics Inc and prior to becoming the CEO he served in various position including Chief Strategic Officer and President of the Homecare Division. His previous employer Healthdyne Technologies an medical device company was acquired by Respironics in 1998. Mr Miclot served as the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Healthdyne. He began his career at DeRoyal Industries, Baxter International, American Hospital Supply, Ohmeda Medical Inc, Medex Inc.

Throughout his career he has also served as a Board Member of both private and public companies they included Wright Medical Inc, a public company, Dentsply a public company, ev3 a public company, Chaired Breathe Technologies a private company, American Textile a private company. He has also served in numerous charitable Boards including University of Iowa Tippie Business University, Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquairum, Burger King Cancer Caring Center, Allegheny Conference on Community Development, McGowen Center for Regenerative Medicine, American Association of Homecare, Washington & Jefferson University, Central Catholic High School. He is member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO) where he has served in leadership roles to include Board Chair. He also has an Endowed Chair in Sleep Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Penn Medicine.

He is an active Volunteer Firefighter in the Bourgh of Fox Chapel outside of Pittsburgh, PA. He was elected by his Department Firefighter of the Year in 2022.

Jeff G. Fackler

Jeff retired from DuPont in February, 2024 after 42+ years of service, the last 18 years in the first responder business segments, and is a strong and passionate advocate of the first responder community. He is currently the Founder and Principal Consultant of First Responders Consulting LLC whose mission is to enable companies success in understanding and marketing to the first responder communities.
Since 2012, Jeff Fackler was the North America Business Development Director for DuPont Personal Protection. In his role, Jeff was responsible for strategy, managing the distribution portion of the thermal industrial apparel channel, and sales for the fire service apparel channel. Jeff also served as the Challenger Sales Process Champion for the business driving development and implementation of insights that contribute to business and customer growth.
Jeff joined DuPont in 1981 and held various roles in Marketing / Business Development, Sales, Training, Site, and Strategic Planning Management, as well as being a Six Sigma Sales & Marketing Deployment Champion and Six Sigma Black Belt. From 1981 - 2006, Jeff worked in the Coatings business before moving into DuPont Personal Protection where he led the global body armor business segment, then the 1st Responder business segments in NA from 2006 - 2024.
Jeff previously served on the board of directors of The Partnership for Electrical Safety, The Global Emergency Services Action, and The IACP Foundation.

David Halfpenny

AXIS ACCIDENT & HEALTH

David brings 30 years of experience in the financial, insurance and reinsurance industries, the last 11 overseeing AXIS Specialty Accident and Health business. Before joining AXIS, David was Vice President, Accident & Health for AIG, where he managed sales and underwriting staff, as well as a diverse multi-million book of accident & health business.

Barry D. Balliet

Mr. Balliet is the CEO of Emeritus of Provident Agency Inc at Provident, a company offering group insurance benefits to emergency personnel and their families since 1928. Commencing employment in 1979, he has played an instrumental role in growing Provident from a regional concern to one with national and international reach. Under Mr. Balliet’s leadership, Provident has garnered national recognition for its innovative insurance coverages, customer care, and sincere dedication by all its staff to emergency service related causes.

Mr. Balliet received a bachelor’s degree in Criminology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and earned his Chartered Life Underwriter designation (CLU) in 1997. Additionally, he has maintained membership at the Pleasant Valley Fire Company since 1983, having served as a firefighter and in a number of administrative roles.

He currently is the chair of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Finance and Fundraising Committee and serves on the First Responder Center for Excellence Board. He feels privileged to serve on various other committees within the fire service community as well as volunteering for several other outside commitments.

Deputy Chief Joseph M. Jardin, PE

Currently assigned to the Bureau of Fire Operations, Chief Jardin formerly served as the Chief of Fire Prevention and FDNY’s Chief of Safety. With more than 38 years of service with the FDNY, much of Joe’s career was spent in Rescue Operations as a Firefighter, Lieutenant, Captain and Battalion Chief in the Rescue Battalion.

Chief Jardin has served as one of FEMA Urban Search and Rescue’s (USAR) NY-TF1 Task Force Leaders, deploying to a number of significant incidents including Hurricanes Katrina and Georges, as well as National Level Event standbys. Joe also served in the positions of Incident Support Team Leader and Deputy Incident Support Team Leader of the FEMA USAR Red Incident Support Team. Joe led more than 1500 deployed FEMA USAR responders during operations in Florida and Puerto Rico in response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

A licensed Fire Protection Engineer, Joe formerly worked as a Life Safety Engineer for NFPA and as a Fire Protection Engineer with Bechtel Power Corporation.

Chief Jardin served for seven years as a member of NFPA’s Standards Council and currently chairs NFPA’s Guide for Structural Firefighting Using Fire Dynamics Technical Committee. He formerly chaired NFPA Safety to Life Project’s Building Service and Fire Protection Equipment and Residential Occupancies Technical Committees.

Joe is a graduate of the University of Maryland’s Fire Protection Engineering program and has an MS in Management. Chief Jardin participated in the Naval Post Graduate School’s Homeland Security Executive Leadership program, has completed FDNY’s Fire Officer Management Institute - a Columbia University Executive Leadership program and completed the FDNY/USMA at West Point Combating Terrorism Program.

Daniel L. Arnold, P.E., FSFPE

Seneca Fire Engineering LLC - Coffman Engineers

A graduate Fire Protection Engineer from the University of Maryland, Dan has more than 50 years of experience in fire protection; 44 years as a fire protection engineer. His early fire protection experience was as a firefighter and volunteer officer in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

His fire protection engineering experience includes positions with Bechtel Power Corporation and with Rolf Jensen & Associates where he served as a Vice President/Engineering Manager. In 2001, Dan founded Seneca Fire Engineering, LLC in Marietta, Georgia. In 2024, Seneca Fire Engineering was acquired by Coffman Engineers; a multi-discipline engineering firm with more than 20 offices located coast to-coast where he is a Principal Advisor.

Over his career, Dan has participated in more than 1500 forensic fire protection engineering investigations including the DuPont Plaza Hotel, San Juan, PR; One Meridian Plaza, Philadelphia, PA; River Cities Business Park, Davenport, IA and the Live Oak Milliken Plant in Lagrange, GA. He has been qualified as an expert and testified in numerous Federal and State court matters.

Dan is a registered professional engineer in more than 20 states and is a Fellow of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) and a Life Member of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). He served on the SFPE Board of Directors for 10 years as a Director, Secretary/Treasurer and on numerous board governance, financial and strategic planning committees.

Staff

Victor Stagnaro

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Victor Stagnaro is the Chief Executive Officer of the First Responder Center for Excellence and its affiliate organization, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF). Victor joined the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation staff in 2010 and served as the Managing Director overseeing the Foundation’s Family and Fire Service Programs, Marketing, and Business Management. He has over 30 years of experience in the fire service. He was hired by the Prince George’s County Fire/Emergency Medical Services Department in 1985. In addition to serving as a firefighter and station officer, he has been a fire instructor, Public Information Officer, Battalion Chief, Executive Officer to the Fire Chief, Fire Marshal, and Operations Shift Chief. Victor authored a chapter in Fire Engineering’s Handbook for Firefighter I and II on EMS in the Fire Service. He retired as the Deputy Fire Chief of Emergency Operations in early 2010. He has been involved with the Foundation dating back to 1998, when he served as the Incident Commander for the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend for several years, and he served as a member of the initial New York Response Team on 9/11 for the Foundation.

Charles Jaster

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Charles Jaster serves as Chief Financial Officer for the First Responder Center for Excellence and its affiliate organization, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2005, he held fiscal leadership positions with financial and nonprofit organizations such as the Primary Care Coalition of Montgomery County, MD, Inc.; Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life; and Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in Washington, DC. Having earned his BS in Business Administration from Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, Mr. Jaster is a Certified Public Accountant. He also completed his MBA from Regis University in Denver, Colorado in 2009, with a focus in finance and accounting. Charles and his wife live in Fairfield, Pennsylvania with their pets and enjoy frequent visits from their grandchildren.

Nicole Prorock

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Prior to joining the FRCE in 2024, Nicole was the Chief Financial Officer of the National Housing Trust where she was responsible for leading the finance, accounting, and IT functions and setting the strategic direction for the organization to assure long-term financial sustainability and growth. Prior to that, Nicole held senior finance leadership roles with nonprofit organizations, including the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Interfaith Housing Alliance, and Enterprise Community Partners. She began her career as an auditor for KPMG LLP in Baltimore, where she served clients in the nonprofit and financial services sectors.
Nicole holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Accountancy from the University of South Carolina, a Graduate Certificate in Community and Economic Development from Pennsylvania State University, and a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University. Additionally, she is a Certified Public Accountant and the Vice Chair of the Frederick County (Maryland) Interagency Internal Audit Authority. Nicole also serves as a Firefighter/EMT for the New Market District Volunteer Fire Company.

Frank Leeb

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Deputy Assistant Chief Frank Leeb has served the FDNY since 1992. The Chief of Safety for the FDNY’s 17,000 employees. Frank holds a bachelor’s degree in fire service administration from SUNY Empire State and a master’s degree in security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS). He has served as an advisory panel member for UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute’s (FSRI) “Study of Coordinated Attack in Acquired Structures” and chair of the FRCE cancer advisory committee. Frank is also a principal on the NFPA Technical Committees 420, 1585, and 1710 and was the keynote speaker for Firehouse Expo in 2022 a presenter at the U.S. Fire Administrator’s Summit on Fire Prevention and Control in 2022 and 2023. He is the author of the best-selling book “Cornerstones of Leadership - On and Off the Fireground.

Lori Jacobs

PROGRAM MANAGER

Lori Jacobs joined the First Responder Center for Excellence for Reducing Occupational Illness, Injuries and Deaths (FRCE) in 2019 as a Programs Specialist. Prior to joining the FRCE Lori worked at Dover Motorsports in the Public Safety Department. Lori’s father was an active member of the Gumboro Volunteer Fire Company for 32 years from 1968 to 2000. Her husband is a member of the Dover Fire Department. She resides in Camden, DE with her husband and children.

Dena Ali

PROGRAM MANAGER - BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

DENA ALI is a Battalion Chief with the Raleigh (NC) Fire Department where she has worked her way up the ranks. She previously served as a police officer for five years. Ali has a degree from North Carolina State University and an MPA from the University of North Carolina—Pembroke, where her research focused on firefighter suicide. As a graduate student, she was awarded the 2018 MPA student of the year. She has also received several awards throughout her career. One that she is most proud of is the NC Office of State Fire Marshal Honor, Courage, and Valor award that she earned for her steadfast effort to bring awareness to firefighter mental health through her vulnerability. Dena has also served as a subject matter expert at the National Fire Academy where she assisted in curriculum review for their health and wellness curriculum. Dena is the founder and director of North Carolina Peer Support where she helped to develop their statewide curriculum. She is also the author of the soon to be released book "Hope out of Darkness a Guide to First Responder Mental Wellness" which will be published by Fire Engineering.

Patricia Doyle

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT

Patricia Doyle is the FRCE’s Sr. Accountant responsible for maintaining the accounting books and records, preparing financial statements, and managing grant financial reporting requirements. Patricia started her career in public accounting, and then expanded into corporate financial management operations with a focus on start-ups and developing organizations in the healthcare arena.
Patricia’s career included having served as CFO for a venture capital funded Dental Health Maintenance Organization that became operational in five states, as Finance Director for a regional behavioral healthcare organization that developed and implemented a full system of recovery care services for individuals, and as CFO for an F.D.A. regulated blood banking organization that grew to a regional operation and exporter of blood products for areas with supply shortages.
Throughout her career she has dedicated time and effort to support the healthy development of children, whether raising funds for foster children or providing educational information on how children and families can use technology more safely.
Patricia graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.S. in accounting, received her CPA license, and completed the Executive Program on Strategic Leadership at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

Mathew Riback

Social Media Specialist II

Mathew Riback joined the East Farmingdale Volunteer Fire Company as a Junior Firefighter at age 14 in 2006 before becoming a Senior Firefighter at age 17 in 2009. He became eager to grow and learn more about the fire service on Long Island (NY); obtaining his NYS Firefighter 1 certification in 2010 and NYS Firefighter 2 certification in 2016. In addition, he became an EMT-B in 2010 and earned his EMT-CC (ALS) in June 2015. He was awarded multiple CPR saves throughout his time as an EMS provider. His desire to grow his fire department's online presence led him to become the social media coordinator, growing their Facebook page to over 8,000 followers in a few years, while also assisting with volunteer recruitment. At this current time, he's also serving as a lieutenant of his station.
During his time as a volunteer firefighter, Mathew also worked as a paid EMS provider for 3 different fire departments on Long Island. This would lead him to become a train conductor with the Long Island Rail Road in 2016 where he still currently works.
Mathew also obtained his bachelor's degree in computer security in 2014 from SUNY Farmingdale.