32 students graduated from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s Executive Leader’s Program in a ceremony on Thursday, July 25, at Herrmann Hall at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.
The program is designed for senior executive leaders representing a variety of homeland security enterprise agencies and organizations. 
ELP Director Sara Kay said Cohort 2302 was a “tight-knit cohort from their first week in the program.”
“As a group they had an exceptional thirst for knowledge and humble nature that contributed to superb classroom conversations,” Kay said. “It was a delight to watch them collaborate to develop a cohort decision-making cube, based upon a concept they learned from one of the program’s guest speakers, Coast Guard Vice Admiral Andy Tiongson. We will be sad to see them go but are so happy to have been able to share with them and learn from them over the last year.”
Kay noted that Snohomish County, WA, Department of Emergency Management Director Lucia Schmit spearheaded the cohort’s effort to develop the decision-making cube that emerged from the fireside chat with Tiongson.
Mark Kuperman, who serves as U.S. Coast Guard Eastern Great Lakes Sector Commander and Captain of the Port in Buffalo, NY, was named the Ellen Gordon Award recipient. The honor is voted on by all the cohort participants. Named for the former longtime ELP Director, the award recognizes program participants who exhibit the capacity to “seek knowledge beyond what is commonly known and to challenge the status quo.”
He said his personal goal for participating in ELP was to “expand my mindset as a leader by surrounding myself with other leaders, who I presumed would be insightful, caring, and with vastly different backgrounds,” adding, “I wasn’t wrong.”
Kuperman said his favorite aspect of the program was “seeing and learning from the vulnerability of my peers.”
“I found it invigorating to be surrounded by confident local, state, and federal leaders who could let their guard down, admit what they didn’t know and share often deeply personal experiences. This collective trust-fall helped propel my own sense of growth and maturity to a new level. It also accelerated my learning curve, as we made the best use of the time together and skipped past a lot of the surface pleasantries, and often dug quickly into deep and important issues.”
He said the program “has already changed how I approach team projects and will continue to do so going forward. Even in a hierarchical, military structure, it is important to leverage a variety of perspectives. While I’d like to think I already knew this, this program has helped me understand taking that approach is not just a matter of the whole team feeling like they belong, this point is absolutely essential to making real team progress.”
Boston, MA, Office of Emergency Management Chief Shumeane Benford ELP Participant ELP2302 said the ELP leadership team was “phenomenal,” adding that the fireside chats and informal discussions were highlights of the program and noting that a chat with former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was “extremely enlightening.”
“The fresh perspective I walked away with is very valuable,” Benford said, adding that the cohort’s walks together (part of the curricula) were “very helpful with forming relationships.” Monterey County Director of Environmental Health Ric Encarnacion said he was inspired to attend ELP after a close colleague and recent graduate who spoke highly of her experience, citing her description of the executive learning experience, the professional networking opportunities, and the intriguing safety topics.
Encarnacion said his primary goal for participating in ELP was to “bridge the environmental health profession with homeland security and defense issues. I aimed to enhance my professional perspective and provide better service to my community by integrating these critical areas.”
He said one of the most impactful aspects of the program was the “dynamic flow of our conversations during the in-residence sessions.”
“The simple prompt, ‘What is on your mind?’ often led to engrossing, multi-layered discussions, and the sharing of innovative ideas. This process reassured me that there are critical thinkers and supportive leaders I can rely on.”
Encarnacion said his vision of his role as a local Environmental Health Director “has expanded significantly” due to ELP.
“I understand how the public health approach applies not only to disease, injury, and illness prevention but also to the broader realm of homeland security and defense,” he said. “The concept of taking proactive steps to prevent negative outcomes is crucial for the protection of our nation, starting at the local level. Moving forward, I intend to incorporate this proactive approach by developing new relationships, special tools, and improved programs that link a safe environment to the security of our homeland.”
Meanwhile, DHS/FEMA Emergency Management Institute Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Ogle said the “experience and talent of my cohort colleagues are truly incredible” and interacting with them was a highlight of the program.
“Hearing their experiences and being able to discuss relevant homeland security topics as well as leadership challenges that we are all facing has left me better equipped to handle those types of issues and prepared to advocate for incorporating topics into our future curriculum at EMI,” Ogle said. “The speakers in the program were also genuinely remarkable and provided our class with the opportunity to converse with well-known experts in the field. The Walk in the Woods was probably my most favorite aspect. The one on one time with the cohort participants and the Emergence participants really gave insight into the vast diversity of homeland security topics and the passion and dedication of the members in our field.”
She said ELP has broadened her understanding of homeland security to include “new and emerging threats that homeland security officials must face as the discipline evolves.”
“It has also helped me to make connections between our emergency management curriculum and the aspects of homeland security that can be incorporated to help enrich our training for emergency managers. Going forward, the cohort connections that I have made during the program will have the biggest impact on my career. Being able to tap into their expertise and real-life experience can help bring new insights to my work with the Emergency Management Institute and strengthen our training and education in the field in the future.”
Executive Leaders Program cohort 2302 participants
- Sara Bender – Director, Disaster Risk Reduction – Maryland Department of Emergency Management, Reisterstown, MD
- Shumeane Benford – Chief – Office of Emergency Management, Boston, MA
- Dylan Brandt – Division Chief – U.S. Border Patrol, Houlton, ME
- Lizette Christoff – Deputy Commissioner – FDNY, Brooklyn, NY
- Anna Courie – Chief Well-Being Officer – Clemson University, Columbia, SC
- Ricardo Encarnacion – Bureau Chief, Director of Environmental Health – County of Monterey, Environmental Health Bureau, Salinas, CA
- Greg Engle – Administrator – Wisconsin Emergency Management, Madison, WI
- Suzanne Everson – Community Resilience Lead – HHS/ASPR, Seattle, WA
- James Ferguson – Special Agent in Charge – ATF, Boston, MA
- Michael Fields – Chief of EMS Operations – Fire Department of New York, Brooklyn, NY
- Roberto Filice – Chief of Police – East Bay Regional Park District Police Department, Castro Valley, CA
- Jeremiah Kenneth Gonzalez – Supervisory Special Agent – Regional Attache Hong Kong, Homeland Security Investigations, International Operations, Washington, DC
- Eric Greening – Captain, Professional Standards Bureau – Seattle Police Department, Seattle, WA
- Rohan Griffith – Commanding Officer – NYPD, East Meadow, NY
- David Gudinas – Director, Office of National Exercises & Technological Hazards – FEMA, Washington, DC
- Thomas Henkey – Director of Emergency Management – Titan Security Group, Chicago, IL
- John Knutsen – Inspector – Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, Washington, DC
- Mark Kuperman – Sector Commander, Captain of the Port – United States Coast Guard, Buffalo, NY
- Eric Latimer – Operations Division Chief – Springfield, MO Fire Department, Springfield, MO
- Catalina McCarthy – Deputy Director – DHS/Intelligence & Analysis, Washington, DC
- Terence O’Leary – Executive Deputy Commissioner – NY Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, Albany, NY
- Megan O’Malley – Deputy Chief – New York City Police Department, New York, NY
- Jennifer Ogle – Chief Operating Officer – DHS/FEMA, Emmitsburg, MD
- Justin Pierce – Director, Emergency Management – Los Angeles World Airports, Los Angeles, CA
- Tristan Reed – Assistant Director for Policy, Performance, and Data – District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, Washington, DC
- Katie Schmidt – Director, Transportation Security Sector Assistance Program – TSA, Springfield, VA
- Lucia Schmit – Director – Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management, Everett, WA
- Justin Treloar – Assistant Special Agent in Charge – U.S. Secret Service, Washington, DC
- Froilan Valdez – Fire Chief – Billings Fire Department, Billings, MT
- D. Rodger Waters – Director of the Joint Staff – Nevada Office of the Military, Sparks, NV
- Hannah Winant – Deputy Director – Arlington County Department of Public Safety Communications and Emergency Management, Arlington, VA
- Aaron York – Assistant Chief – California Highway Patrol, Sacramento, CA
