About Us

John 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 BS from Franklin Pierce University, a MS from Oklahoma State University, is a graduate of the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program, and holds numerous professional certifications. He is a long time contributor to the NFFF’s Everyone Goes Home Program. He serves as member of the Behavioral Health Advisory Committee created by the First Responder Center for Excellence, a NFFF affiliated organization. Chief Oates serves as a member of the NFPA 3000 Active Shooter/Hostile Event Response Technical Committee and the Technical Committee for Safety at Motorsports Venues (NFPA 610) where he served as Chairman from 2005 until 2016.

Jennifer A. Taylor, PhD, MPH, CPPS is an injury epidemiologist and health services researcher at the Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Taylor’s research investigates the impact of safety climate on occupational injury and related psychosocial outcomes among first responders. Dr. Taylor is the founding Director of the Center for Firefighter Injury Research & Safety Trends (FIRST) at Drexel University. The FIRST Center is a research enterprise organized to support the United States fire and rescue service through objective data collection and analysis. It is home to the FIRE Fellowship, an immersive summer program for public health masters students – the only program of its kind in the country. FIRST developed two organizational change tools:  the Fire Service Organizational Culture of Safety survey (FOCUS) and the SAVER Systems level checklist for violence against EMS responders.  Dr. Taylor holds a doctorate in Health Policy and Management from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she received the Haddon Fellowship in Injury Prevention and Control and the ERC-NIOSH Training Fellowship in Occupational Injury.

FULL DESCRIPTION

Jennifer Taylor, PhD, MPH, CPPS trained in the field of injury prevention and control and uses its principles to address safety issues in healthcare and first responder industries. Her faculty appointment is in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University.  She received her doctorate in Health Policy and Management from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and an MPH in Health Services from the Boston University School of Public Health.

Within healthcare organizations, she investigates safety and quality issues in both patient and provider populations. Her research focuses on system design for patient safety surveillance and the association between organizational culture and injuries to patients and nurses.  Dr. Taylor’s research draws from the fields of injury prevention and control, quality improvement, and occupational safety. She employs an integrated public health approach to these issues through the study of patients, healthcare workers, and the policy environment.

Dr. Taylor is the founding Director of the Center for Firefighter Injury Research and Safety Trends (FIRST).  For more than a decade, she has applied her surveillance and safety climate expertise to investigating the relationship between safety culture and injury risk in the fire service. The FIRST Center’s work is guided by a national Advisory Board of fire service organizations, retired firefighters, epidemiologists, and organizational/occupational psychologists.  Dr. Taylor collaborates regularly with national organizations such as the IAFC, NFPA, NVFC, FDSOA, and IAFF.

Dr. Taylor’s awards from the FEMA Assistance to Firefighter Grant program developed for the fire service

• models for integrated injury data systems,

• policy to support data collection from existing national databases,

• the FOCUS survey that measures how safety climate predicts safety and organizational outcomes,

• and the first FEMA-supported award to look at stress and violence against responders on the EMS side of fire.

Prior to her academic appointment, Dr. Taylor served 15 years in state government, hospital quality management, and the basic sciences. Past positions include the Chief of Health Statistics and Data Management for the State of New Hampshire, and Project Director of the CDC-funded program to establish emergency department data systems for injury surveillance at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Bob Ramsey is the President CEO of Starwest Associates and Chairman of the Ramsey Social Justice Foundation (RSJF). Bob has been an active business and community leader for over 40 years, founding companies in a variety of fields: ground and air ambulance services, medical supplies, air freight transportation, information technologies, management systems, and avionics.

Bob pioneered, designed, and implemented the first EMS private/public partnership EMS models from the early 1980's to 2012. Many of those high-performance models continue today with various municipalities across the nation for dedicated 911 emergencies and out of hospital ambulance services.

In 2006 he designed and implemented in EMS and ambulance service comprehensive web based electronic medical records, ePCR systems and real-time active management mobile care; and telemedicine non-emergent transport systems.

As a recognized leader of emergency medical systems, Bob's successes can be credited to his dedication to serving other's needs for models of best practices for best possible outcomes. Bob's data and information systems have contributed over the years clinically to new evidence-based practices worldwide.

Bob Ramsey was awarded the prestigious, US National Lifetime Achievement Award from the "Gathering of the Eagles", The EMS State of Science in 2010 for his many contributions to EMS.

Bill Jenaway is an experienced executive with over 45 years of experience in public safety, insurance and consulting. His extensive knowledge and expertise includes board level activity in both non-profit and profit based organizations, as well as national trade associations. He has specifically focused on strategic and long term planning assisting numerous organizations in facilitating such plans. These include financial, operational, and research oriented performance assessment, review and planning. His work has resulted in over 400 presentation, 400 articles in various publications, seven texts and four children’s books. Based in Pennsylvania, he has travelled extensively.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Dr. Jenaway recently retired as the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of VFIS Education, Training and Consulting, a division of VFIS, a Glatfelter Insurance Group company. As one of a four person leadership team, he is charged with leading and managing a team of full time and contract staff to provide risk management consulting services; develop products and services based upon loss experience, trends and developing risk situations to insured and contract clients. He is also responsible for the creation, development, implementation and management of the organization’s e-learning system used by clients, training over 20,000 persons annually. Everything implemented or analyzed utilized data to support the position taken to terminate efforts.

Prior to this, Bill spent 25 years as an insurance loss prevention executive managing staffs of several hundred technical specialists in assessing and protecting insured risks. During his time with both the Reliance Insurance Companies and CIGNA Property Casualty Companies, he was responsible for the strategic design and development and subsequent implementation of risk management services delivered by field personnel to maximize Risk Control operations thru planning and directing national risk selection, risk assessment, risk improvement, and risk management techniques to reduce the frequency and severity of losses for corporate assets and insurance clients, as well as active involvement in the corporate Disaster Management/Business Continuity program. He rose through the ranks, starting as a field loss prevention engineer. During his time as Vice President of both CIGNA and Reliance, data was a hallmark of decision making, from claims data analysis to performance measurement techniques, to implementation of metrics based operational assessments to determine work efforts of value or not.

Bill served as an "Executive on Loan" from CIGNA to provide assistance in the start up operation of the Congressional Fire Services Institute. Responsible for developing various internal operation and management programs, coordination with national fire and safety groups, developing a state networking program and collegiate intern program, as well as liaison for technical information on fire related legislation, hearings, etc. on Capitol Hill. Now serve as the organization's President. 

During his time in the insurance industry, Bill also From served with King of Prussia (PA) Volunteer Fire Company, named FIRE CHIEF in 1996 and holding the position of Deputy Chief since 1988 and Assistant Chief from 1982-1988. Position entails full charge of multi-station volunteer fire and rescue service provision for community of 200,000. He was also named PRESIDENT of the organization in 2003, serving in both positions of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operations Officer. With the consolidation of municipal volunteer fire companies into a combination system, Bill now serves as Assistant Chief of Safety for the Upper Merion Township Fire & EMS Department which uses data management for everything from scheduling to staffing levels, to performance monitoring. He served from 1969-1979 with the East Bethlehem Township Volunteer Fire Dept., rising from fire-fighter to FIRE CHIEF and FIRE MARSHAL in 1977. During this time initiated a comprehensive pre-planning program, training system, and integration of emergency medical response capabilities.

UNIQUE EXPERTISE

Dr. Jenaway was an original member of the select 17 member group selected via Public Law 92 to serve on the "Advisory Panel to Assess Preparedness for Terrorist Acts Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction" (a/k/a Gilmore Commission). Annually, the organization is charged by law to provide a report on the country’s readiness to deal with incidents involving weapons of mass destruction. In addition, Bill has lectured across the country on readiness related issues. He is the author of the document “Emergency Services Terrorism Preparedness Matrix”. In 2003 he served as an observer for TOPOFF II and had facilitated multiple table-top exercises regarding terrorism preparedness.

He routinely is a graduate school level adjunct professor at

• St. Joseph’s University M.S. Program in Public Safety

• California University of Pennsylvania, M.S. Program in Legal Studies

• Thomas Edison State University Public Service Program, where he also serves as the Chair of the Watson School of Public Service Curriculum Committee

• Insurance Society of Philadelphia

In addition to his executive career, Bill has served or currently serves on several advisory boards and boards of directors, including

• Congressional Fire Services Institute (current President)

• Pennsylvania Senate Commission on Fire and Emergency Medical Service Assessment and Delivery (Chair)

• Pennsylvania Fire Services Institute (past President)

• Risk Management Committee of the National Fire Protection Assn. (past Chair)

• Risk Management Committee, International Assn. of Fire Chiefs (past Chair)

• Governing Board & Executive Council - Advisory Engineering Council of the American Insurance Services Group

• Casualty Council - Underwriters Laboratories

• Board of Directors, Philadelphia Fire Department Historical Corporation

• Board of Directors, International Society of Fire Service Instructors

• Upper Merion Township Fire & Rescue Services Board

• Hunters Crossing Homeowners & Civic Assn. (past President)

The Honorable Dr. WIllIam F. Jenaway is in his second 6-year term as an elected Official, (Chairman in 2016) of the Board of Supervisors of Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, PA; a community of 30,000-plus residents, 57,000 workers and over 250,000 daily visitors. He also is Chairman of the Upper Merion Township Foundation. In 2018, he implemented a metrics based performance monitoring program in all municipal departments to refine and analyze performance and support operation and budget requests.

Bill has provided testimony in area of loss prevention and risk management to Congressional, State, and Local legislative bodies.

Dr. Jenaway was named VOLUNTEER FIRE CHIEF OF THE YEAR in 2001 by Fire Chief magazine and the International Association of Fire Chiefs

EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATIONS

William F. Jenaway has earned four college degrees.

• Associate Degree (A.S.) in Fire Science and Administration;

• Bachelor of Science Degree (B.S.) in Business Administration;

• Master of Arts Degree (M.A.) in Education (specializing in Communication); &

• Doctoral Degree (Ph.D.) in Fire and Life Safety Management.

Dr. Jenaway has professional certifications as

• Certified Fire Protection Specialist (CFPS),

• Certified Safety Professional (CSP),

• Certified Protection Professional (CPP),

• Certified Homeland Security Professional (CHS),

• Certified Fire Officer (CFO),

• Certified Training Officer (CTO), and

• Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM).

A seasoned physician-executive and entrepreneur, Ramsey has been a founder, executive, or board member in numerous healthcare and technology startups, and is the founder of the Gliavent Group, a healthcare consulting firm that has performed work in numerous subsectors of healthcare. Dr. Kilani also serves as Chief Medical Officer at Washington, D.C.-based Global Security Innovative Strategies, a global security consulting and business advisory firm, where he manages health security and technology projects. He is a board-certified physician, and previously served as a faculty member in Neuroradiology at Duke University. Ramsey has published extensively in the medical and scientific literature, and currently serves as a reviewer for multiple medical and health policy journals. Dr. Kilani holds diplomas from the University of Arizona, Northwestern University, and Duke University, and has served on advisory committees within national healthcare organizations.

Chief Dennis Compton currently serves as a respected advisor to the fire service and other disciplines as well. He is a well-known speaker and the author of several books including his latest titled Progressive Leadership Principles, Concepts, and Tools. His previous books include a three-part series titled When in Doubt, Lead, and another titled Mental Aspects of Performance for Firefighters and Fire Officers. He has authored many chapters and articles for various publications and was the Co-Editor of the third edition of the textbook titled Managing Fire and Rescue Services.

Dennis was the Fire Chief in Mesa, Arizona for 6 years and Assistant Fire Chief in Phoenix where he served for 28 years. Chief Compton is Past Chairman of the Executive Board of the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA) – and Past Chairman of the Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI) National Advisory Council. He is currently Chairman of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Board of Directors – and Co-Chairman of the Fire Service-Based EMS Advocates Steering Committee. He is also a member of many other professional organizations.

Chief Compton is a past recipient of the George D. Post National Fire Service Instructor of the Year Award and was named the American Fire Sprinkler Association Fire Service Person of the Year in 2000. Dennis was also named the 2001 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year by the University of Phoenix – and received the 2003 Mason Lankford National Fire Service Leadership Award. He received the 2007 Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association Lifetime Achievement Award – and the 2009 Arizona Fire Chiefs Association Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2011, Dennis was inducted into the National Fire Heritage Center Hall of Legends, Legacies, and Leaders. Chief Compton is the recipient of the 2014 Dr. John Granito Award for Excellence in Fire Service Leadership and Management Research. He is also the 2016 recipient of the IAFC EMS Section James O. Page EMS Achievement Award – and is a charter member of the Arizona Fire Service Hall of Fame.

Chief Compton has served as a subject matter expert on the NIST Residential and High-Rise Field Experiments and continues to serve in that capacity for both the FireCARES and NFORS data systems.

Dr. Moore-Merrell was the founder of the International Public Safety Data Institute. Lori began this role in 2019 after serving 26 years as a senior executive in the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), responsible for frontline interaction with elected officers, executive board members, state, provincial and local chapter leaders and individual organization members throughout the U.S. and Canada. Lori is considered an expert in executive leadership, emergency response system evaluation, public safety resource deployment, community risk assessment, data collection and analysis, strategic planning, costs and benefits analysis, advocacy, consensus building, policy development and implementation and generational differences in the workplace.

Dr. Moore-Merrell serves on National and International Boards of Directors and advises elected officials, as well as chief executives at the national level and in local metropolitan jurisdictions in areas of her expertise while providing them scientific data to make fact-based decisions. She was recently awarded Honorary Membership in the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association for her expertise in areas of Fire Prevention, Fire Suppression, or other related disciplines. Lori is only the 4th individual to be presented this honor in the 54-year history of the organization.

Dr. Moore-Merrell is an international speaker, presenter and author. She has also been awarded the James O. Page Achievement award by the EMS Section of the IAFC (2001), twice awarded the IAFC President’s Award for commitment to Firefighter Safety (2009, 2019), the Dr. John Granito Award for Excellence in Fire Leadership and Management Research (2010), the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs President’s Award of Distinction (2013), the Mason Lankford Award from the Congressional Fire Services Institute (2019), and the Homeland Security Today Mission Award (2021). Lori served nine years as a Commissioner to the Commission for Fire Service Accreditation (CFAI) and three terms as a board member for the Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE). Dr. Moore-Merrell is a member of the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA) Executive Board, as well as the UL Fire Council. She has completed four terms as a gubernatorial appointee to the Commonwealth of Virginia EMS Advisory Board and has served on the Public Safety Committee of the Transition Teams for both the Mayor of New York City (2013) and the Mayor of the District of Columbia (2015).

During her 26 years at the IAFF, Lori spent more than 15 years leading a research team made up of international fire service organizations and other partners including the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Underwriters Laboratory (UL), the Urban Institute, the University of Texas, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and the Commission on Fire Accreditation International. As principal investigator and senior project manager on projects funded by FEMA/ Assistance to Firefighters Grants totaling more than $22 Million, she led the team to produce landmark reports and other tools to improve Residential and High-Rise Fireground Operations, Community Risk Assessment, Fire and EMS Resource Deployment, and ‘Big Data Analytics’… all to help drive executive decision-making. These reports and other resources have changed the face of fire and EMS deployment in countries throughout the world.

Dr. Moore-Merrell has also managed emergency response system evaluation project teams, including secure data procurement, geographic information systems (GIS) analysis, and work load analysis in hundreds of fire departments throughout North America.

Dr. Moore-Merrell, along with a small group of fire service leaders founded the International Public Safety Data Institute (IPSDI) with a mission to assure that every local public safety agency can show their response capability, reliability, and operational performance using their own local data.