David Lewis is an active member of the Odenton Volunteer Fire Company (Anne Arundel County, Maryland), having served for over 50 years as a volunteer firefighter/EMT, Past President, and past Chief Officer. David is a Past President of the Anne Arundel County Volunteer Firefighters Association and of the Maryland State Firemen’s Association. He currently serves as the President the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firefighters Association and as Maryland Director to the National Volunteer Fire Council. David’s true passion is in training and education. He is active as an instructor with the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute and the National Fire Academy. He is also active with delivering training programs for the NVFC, traveling across the U.S. to enhance the training and education of emergency services personnel.

TIGER SCHMITTENDORF served as Deputy Fire Coordinator for the County of Erie Department Homeland Security & Emergency Services (Buffalo NY) for more than 20 years before retiring in 2018. There he was responsible for the recruitment, training, and mutual aid operations of 97 fire departments and 6,000+ firefighters. He is a Nationally Certified Fire Instructor and has actively served as a firefighter with the Evans Center Volunteer Fire Company in Angola NY since 1980, having served as Chief of Training, Public Information Officer (PIO), Recruiter and as his department's first-ever junior firefighter. He brings 15 years of experience in engineering, sales, marketing and management to now marketing the product he loves: fire and emergency services. Connect with him at: tiger.schmittendorf@gmail.com, via FireRECRUITER.com, RuntotheCurb.com, SoldierFirefighter.com, or on social media.

Tom Miller is a 35 year veteran of the Sissonville Volunteer Fire Department in West Virginia and has served on the NVFC Board since 2008.  He has held many positions of leadership within his department and currently serves on the Department's Board of Directors in addition to being an active firefighter.  Tom is active in the West Virginia State Fireman's Association and currently serves as its Scholarship Chair.  Tom holds many certifications including, but not limited to: Firefighter II, Fire Officer II, Hazardous Materials Technician/Incident Commander, Swift Water Rescue Technician, Vehicle Machinery Technician, Rope Rescue Technician, and Fire Instructor III, and is an active Instructor with West Virginia University Fire Service Extension.  He serves on the NVFC's Health & Safety and Conference/Education Committees.  Tom also represents the NVFC on the NFPA 470 Technical Committee and the NFPA Joint 1001/472 Task Group.  In his paying job, Tom is employed as the Privacy & Security Officer for the West Virginia Department of Administration.

David is a 22 year member of the fire service and currently serves as a Lieutenant and coassigned to the Training Division with the Columbia County Fire Rescue (Ga.) and a part time Firefighter with Grovetown (Ga) DPS. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Georgia State Firefighter's Association, National Volunteer Fire Council State Director, Georgia Pipeline Emergency Response Initiave Board of Directors, NFPA’s Working Group on Flammable Refrigerants, Alternate to NFPA 1021 and 1056 Committees, and was Secretary of IFSTA's Pumping Apparatus Driver Operator 3rd Edition Curriculum Committee, contributor to the “Training Officer’s Desk Reference”, and is a Safety and Health coordinator with HEPACO LLC. As an active instructor for the Georgia Fire Academy with Firefighter Basics, David is constantly engaged with teaching live fire, leadership, HAZMAT, and Firefighter Survival/RIT classes.

Doug deBest has been involved in the fire service for over twenty-nine years, starting out as a volunteer firefighter.  He has served in many different compacities within the fire service; from volunteer & career roles on municipal departments, part-time on a private fire department, and even an industrial fire brigade member.  Currently, Doug serves as the Training Officer for the St. Joseph Township Fire Department – Station # 1.

Chief Johnson's career spans 25 years of public service.  In his early career he started the fire service in 1993 with the El Dorado County Fire Department and joined the U.S. Forest Service in 1995 where he held positions from firefighter to fire captain.  He was an instructor of Fire Science at the College of Southern Nevada.  Later he held the positions of Assistant Chief and Fire Training Instructor at Clark County Fire Department in the State of Nevada. These roles required him to supervise a paid and volunteer firefighting staff, 13 Fire Stations and EMS personnel. 

Nick Arnett is a firefighter, Fireline EMT, Public Information Officer, and Critical Incident Stress Manager with the US Forest Service and is a Medical Unit Leader on a national Complex Incident Management Team. He is a California State Fire Training Instructor and volunteers with Spring Valley Fire Department near San Jose, California. Nick was a paramedic in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area in the 1970s and 80s, then moved to California, where he switched careers into journalism, market research, and software product leadership, but stayed involved in disaster response. After a line-of-duty death in his family in 2004, Nick joined the Bay Area Critical Incident Stress Management Team and later became a chaplain with the California Fire Chaplain Association.

Dave has been the State Fire Supervisor for Massachusetts since 2007, and during in tenure has been the chair of the Northeast Forest Fire Supervisors, and is the current Chair of the Cohesive Strategy Northeast Regional Strategy Committee, and represents the Northeast States on the NWCG Incident Position Standards Committee.  He is has been in the fire service, both structural and wildland, for over 30 years, and was a rural call/volunteer Fire Chief prior to taking on his current state role.

Rachel Buczynski is a facilitator, educator, and instructional designer with two decades of experience supporting fire service organizations and other nonprofits. Rachel holds a B.A. from Texas A&M University and an M.S. Adult Education and Human Resource Development from James Madison University.

Rachel Buczynski is a facilitator, educator, and instructional designer with two decades of experience supporting fire service organizations and other nonprofits. Rachel holds a B.A. from Texas A&M University and an M.S. Adult Education and Human Resource Development from James Madison University.

Rachel Buczynski is a facilitator, educator, and instructional designer with two decades of experience supporting fire service organizations and other nonprofits. Rachel holds a B.A. from Texas A&M University and an M.S. Adult Education and Human Resource Development from James Madison University.

Ryan joined the NVFC in 2022. He is available to assist NVFC members with any questions or concerns related to federal legislation or regulations, is the staff liaison when it comes to standards and codes setting committees, and actively promotes the interests and priorities of the volunteer emergency services to Congress and the Executive Branch. Ryan came to the NVFC with a decade of policy experience. Before joining our staff, Ryan worked on the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ government relations team for two years and worked for former Congressman Peter King for eight years, including as legislative director. Rep. King is the former chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security and the former co-chair of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus.

As Director of Risk Management for Emergency Services Insurance Program with McNeil & Co, Dave works with emergency service organizations across the US . He is the Past Chief of The Cortlandville Fire Department in Upstate New York and A Fire Commissioner in the Virgil Fire District. Dave serves Cortland County as a Deputy Fire Coordinator and is a Director for the Association of Fire Districts in the State of NY. Dave served as the Foundation Secretary for the NVFC. His experience also includes being Treasurer of several non-profit organizations and a Board Member for the First National Bank of Dryden.  

Bruce Lundegren serves as an Assistant Chief Counsel for Advocacy at the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy.  The Office of Advocacy oversees federal agency compliance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, a law that requires federal agencies to assess the impact of their regulations on small entities and to consider less burdensome alternatives.  As such, Bruce works closely with federal agencies, associations and coalitions, and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget to ensure that the voice of small entities are heard within the regulatory process.  Bruce’s areas of responsibility include occupational safety and health, transportation, and homeland security.  Bruce also leads the Office of Advocacy’s team that trains federal agencies on Regulatory Flexibility Act compliance in accordance with Executive Order 13272.

Prior to joining the Office of Advocacy, Bruce served as Director of Regulatory Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and as Regulatory Counsel for the National Association of Home Builders.  Before that he worked in the private practice of law.  Bruce received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his law degree from the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University.  He is a member of the bar of Massachusetts, Kansas, and Missouri.

Jimmie R. Duncan, Jr. became the Executive Director of the Federation of Fire Chaplains March 1, 2020. He has been a member of the Fire Service since 1987, joining the Irving (Texas) Fire Department Jun 15 of that year. He subsequently retired in 2019 after 32 years of service. He holds a Master Firefighter Certification from the State of Texas, he was a licensed paramedic (1991-2020), and also holds certificates in High Angle Rescue I and II, Confined Space Rescue, and Trench Rescue and is a certified Fire Instructor. Jimmie also holds numerous certificates from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, which includes a Certificate of Specialized Training in the area of Pastoral Crisis Intervention. Jimmie served as the Chaplain and Critical Incident Stress Management coordinator for the Irving Fire Department (Irving, Texas) department for over 20 years. Jimmie is one of the founding members and President of the Texas Corps of Fire Chaplains and is a member of the Texas Line of Duty Task Force. He holds a BA degree in Religion from Gardner-Webb College (Now University). He currently resides in Irving, Texas with his wife, Cindy.  

Dick Brown has been involved as a firefighter for 35 years, 17 on which he served as the delegate from California. He has been a fire chaplain for almost 15 years. Dick serves as the vice president of the California Fire Chaplain Association and is a member of the Federation of Fire Chaplains. 

Chaplain Jim Cook retired from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection/Cal Fire and the Riverside County Fire Department as a Battalion Chief after 36 years if service. Jim has been involved in the Volunteer Reserve Chaplain Program in Riverside County since 1997 and has helped develop an effective chaplaincy for his department.  The chaplains have supported mutual aid needs for San Bernardino County, San Diego, and statewide.  Chaplain Cook has been a member of the Federation of Fire Chaplain since 2003 and is currently serving on the FFC Board as President. He is a member of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation.  Jim serves as the President of the California Fire Chaplain Association which works under the umbrella of the Federation of Fire Chaplains.  Jim has an A.A. degree in Biblical and Theological studies which he received in May of 2013.  He was a member of Fellowship Church in Beaumont, A Southern Baptist Church for 34 years and has been involved with a ministry of Fellowship Church in Cabazon since 2000, for 24 years.  In November of 2021, the Cabazon ministry became its own independent church, named Cabazon Fellowship.  Jim has had the honor of being their Pastor for the last three years.  

Jim’s wife is Roxie Cook, and they celebrated their 51st year of marriage in September of 2024.  Roxie has been a tremendous support to the Chaplain ministry and to Cabazon Fellowship that Jim has been involved with.  Jim and Roxie, with a lot of help from Fire Department Chaplains in Southern California hosted the FFC Conference in Palm Springs in 2009 and in the City of Cathedral City in 2019.   Jim and Roxie have six children and six grandchildren.  Roxie is very Active with the FFC spouse activities and is always supporting and encouraging.  

A Chicago native, Alisa Arnoff is a founding member of the Chicago law firm of Scalambrino & Arnoff, LLP. Arnoff concentrates her practice in the areas of employment and labor law, representing privately and publicly held companies throughout the country. She has a keen interest in the fire and emergency services, spending much of her time providing training to various departments and at various fire/EMS conferences on personnel matters such as reducing discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and bullying; properly conducting investigations; introducing new company officers to the vagaries of employment law; and how to be an effective witness. Arnoff also counsels firefighters throughout the country, particularly female firefighters, in connection with systemic issues that still impact fire/EMS. Her passion is developing interactive, informative, and useful personnel training programs within to improve fire service health and safety, operations, efficiency, and public perception.