FRCE Board Members
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.
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.
In addition to his insurance career, David is the owner of First Half Property Rental LLC, a growing real estate venture with rental properties in Florida and Belize.
Prior to joining Everest, David spent 16 years at AXIS Capital, where he served as Head of Global Accident & Health Underwriting. In this role, he played a pivotal part in building AXIS’s Accident & Health division from inception, helping to grow the business into an approximately $1 billion global platform.
Before AXIS, David was Vice President of Accident & Health at AIG, where he managed a substantial multi‑million‑dollar portfolio and led strategy across multiple Accident & Health product lines.
Before AXIS, David was Vice President of Accident & Health at AIG, where he managed a substantial multi-million dollar portfolio and led strategy across multiple Accident & Health product lines.
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.
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.
Prior to starting her own business, she worked for many years at the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Pittsburgh. There, she administered the Pittsburgh Homeownership Program, a mortgage program for first time home buyers. Later, as a Development Officer, she provided oversight for loans and grant funds for real estate projects within the City of Pittsburgh.
After leaving the URA, she worked for the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) of Pittsburgh, as the Affordable Housing Program (AHP) manager, a program providing grants for affordable housing projects. She left the FHLB to concentrate on her investment properties full time.
As a philanthropy enthusiast, she is always seeking ways to contribute to causes close to her heart.
Throughout her career, Cathie has been deeply committed to advancing the fire and emergency services through effective resource allocation, stakeholder engagement, and capacity building. She continues to leverage her expertise to create sustainable impact, strengthen community resilience, and foster positive change for public safety.
FRCE Staff
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.
He is also the author of the best-selling book “Cornerstones of Leadership - On And Off The fireground” and the co-author of 30 Fires You Must Know”. He is also a senior advisor and minority owner of CRACKYL magazine.
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.
Driven to enhance his department’s online presence, Mathew served as social media coordinator, helping grow its Facebook page to over 8,000 followers and supporting volunteer recruitment. He remains an active Ex-Captain today.
Alongside his volunteer service, Mathew worked as a paid EMS provider for three Long Island fire departments before becoming a train conductor with the Long Island Rail Road in 2016, where he continues to serve. He earned his bachelor's degree in computer security from SUNY Farmingdale in 2014.
FRCE Program Managers
He’s experienced two Line of Duty Deaths in his own family. Reducing the risk of deaths like these, and all-cause deaths, is a driving force in his work to help others.
Decades of research show that the status quo is not good enough. Changes at every level are necessary to ensure firefighters are prepared to stay healthy and resilient on and off the job.
