Matt Lewis is a dedicated public servant with more than two decades of leadership experience in law enforcement, public safety, and county government. Formerly the Mesa County Sheriff, Matt served the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office for 25 years, including two terms as sheriff, where he focused on community service, organizational leadership and collaboration. He later continued his work in public safety as Director of Mesa County Criminal Justice Services before moving into his current role as Deputy County Administrator for Mesa County. In this position, Matt brings a practical and steady approach to county operations, drawing on his deep knowledge of Mesa County, strong relationships across agencies, and lifelong commitment to serving the people of Western Colorado.

Brandon Alberd began his service with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Capitol Region in 2012. In 2014, he transferred to the Criminal Investigations Division where he would perform threat and vulnerability assessments for state-owned properties and built the Capitol Region’s public notification system. He would also serve in the regional emergency operations center as the technology liaison. In 2019, he joined the Public Safety Solutions Center and shifted focus to emergency public safety technology research and innovation.

Brandon currently serves as the Program Manager for the Texas data interoperability programs, such as Texas TAK, Bridge 4 Public Safety, and DPS Alerts within the Public Safety Information Technology’s office. He leverages his background in military operations, emergency management, communications, and risk assessment to ensure statewide implementation and training for situational awareness and public safety communication. He is committed to upholding the highest standards of public safety and promoting collaboration among public safety agencies across Texas.

Paul Brown is a System Architect with the Texas Department of Public Safety, where he has worked since 2009. Beginning his career as a programmer and database administrator, Paul became the lead architect of the department’s GIS infrastructure, helping develop and expand their ESRI stack and his team’s home-grown application, TXMAP, which serves as a common operating picture across the agency.

In 2021, as DPS sought a more operationally focused geospatial platform capable of integrating resources beyond the department itself, Paul led the deployment of the agency’s TAK server environment. Recognizing early that identity and certificate management would become a major challenge as adoption accelerated, Paul and his team developed TAK Manager — a platform that enables users to authenticate using single sign-on through their home agency and seamlessly obtain TAK certificates.

As TAK capabilities across Texas have expanded, his team continues integrating a wide range of operational data sources into the DPS TAK ecosystem, including ADS-B feeds, DroneSense, Motorola radio systems, and multiple counter-UAS platforms. Today, TAK Manager supports more than 80 identity providers, enabling agencies and partners across Texas to securely access TAK resources and collaborate in real time.

Paul continues to drive innovation around TAK and other mission-critical systems at DPS. Outside of work, he enjoys refereeing youth and adult soccer matches across central Texas.

Nathan Frantz is the Director of the TAK Product Center, where he researches and leads multiple teams in developing innovative methods to disseminate, visualize, and analyze geospatial content at the tactical edge.

Prior to joining the FBI, SA Eaton was employed by the Indiana State Police for ten years where he was a member of the Emergency Response Team (SWAT) and an FBI task force officer with the Gang Response Investigative Team in Gary, Indiana.  Upon joining the FBI in 2008, SA Eaton was first assigned to the Denver Division, Lander Resident Agency (Wyoming), where he worked violent crime matters on the Wind River Indian Reservation.  In 2013, SA Eaton transferred to the Denver Division, Headquarters City (Denver), where he worked primarily violent crime matters as a member of the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force.  SA Eaton was also a member of the FBI SWAT Team and served three years as the team's Senior Team Leader.

Jamie Denison is the District Chief for Battalion 52 on B-shift with the Arvada Fire Department and oversees the department’s special operations programs, excluding wildland operations. He has served with Arvada Fire for 31 years and has spent much of his career as a member of the hazardous materials and technical rescue teams. In addition, he has been a member of FEMA Colorado Task Force 1 (CO-TF1) for 19 years, serving as a Hazardous Materials Team Leader. He also serves as a board member for the Jefferson County Hazardous Substance Authority.

Brent grew up in Colorado, and has been hiking, camping and backpacking his whole life. A chance encounter with a Ranger on his 8th birthday at Yellowstone National Park turned into a career as a state law enforcement officer with Colorado Parks and Wildlife now nearing its 23rd year. Brent is presently CPW's statewide Emergency Management Coordinator, serving as Agency Representative for deployments on major incidents, supporting organizational emergency management functions, overseeing CPW's Backcountry Search and Rescue program, and managing the agency's 2,700 radios.

Nathan Gramm was born and raised on Colorado’s Eastern Plains in Burlington. He began his public safety career in 2016 as a volunteer firefighter with the Burlington Fire Department. In 2019, he completed the Flatrock Regional Training Academy and earned his Colorado POST certification, going on to serve as a patrol deputy with the Kit Carson County Sheriff’s Office.

After exploring other professional opportunities, Nathan returned to public service in April 2025 as the Emergency Manager for Kit Carson County, where he continues to support emergency preparedness, response, and community resilience efforts across the county.

Jaime FitzSimons has served in law enforcement since 1990, beginning his career with the Los Angeles Police Department before joining the Summit County Sheriff’s Office in 2005. Since 2016, he has served as the elected Sheriff of Summit County, leading approximately 100 law enforcement and civilian employees.

Known for his community-oriented leadership style, Sheriff FitzSimons emphasizes transparency, integrity, collaboration, and data-driven decision-making. He has extensive experience navigating complex public safety challenges while fostering strong relationships within the community.

Outside of work, Jaime enjoys Summit County’s outdoor lifestyle and remains deeply committed to serving all members of the community with kindness, dignity, and respect.

Ezekiel Peters is a licensed attorney and paramedic with academic backgrounds in public health, environmental policy, and hazards and disasters. For more than 35 years, he has worked in both urban and rural Emergency Medical Services as a responder and leader, with a strong focus on resilience and emergency preparedness.

Currently, Ezekiel serves as the Planning and Exercise Analyst for the Colorado North Central All-Hazards Region (NCR), supporting emergency management coordination across the 10-county Denver metro area, while also teaching health law at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Throughout his career, Ezekiel has held leadership and advisory roles with organizations including the NCR/Denver Urban Area Security Initiative EMS Subcommittee, CORHIO and Contexture, Clear Creek County EMS, the University of Colorado Natural Hazards Center, and the Denver Paramedic Division.

Ezekiel earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado in 2006 and a BA from Hampshire College in 1994. He was also recognized as a 1993 Truman Scholar and a 1999 U.S. Public Health Service National Research Service Awardee.

Colorado native Stan Hilkey was appointed Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Safety in June 2014 by Governor John Hickenlooper and was reappointed by Governor Jared Polis in January 2019. In his role as Executive Director of CDPS, he provides leadership to the nearly 2,000 members of the department. CDPS is one of the largest departments in Colorado state government. Prior to his State service, Stan served 28 years in the Mesa County Sheriff's Office, the last 11 and-a-half years as the Elected Sheriff of that county. This year he celebrated 40 years of public safety service to the citizens and visitors of Colorado.

Mike Morgan began his fire service career in 1986 and has spent 30 years serving his community and the Colorado fire service. Mike believes the Division of Fire Prevention and Control is the “focal point” for Colorado’s fire prevention and suppression efforts, and works to find new and innovative ways to serve its customers.

Brad Schmidt has conducted research and development into the public safety applications of the Team Awareness Kit for over 9 years in his role at the Center of Excellence (CoE), a section of Colorado’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control. Brad is now leading efforts to operationally deploy this technology as CoE Deputy Director of Spatial Projects. Previously Brad has worked as a wildland firefighter and an EMT for Colorado and Wyoming-based agencies. Brad holds a Bachelor's Degree in Natural Resources Management from Colorado State University and a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the University of Wyoming.

Director Ben Miller serves as Director of the Center of Excellence for Advanced Technology Aerial Firefighting (CoE) within the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC), where he leads statewide initiatives focused on public safety technology, interoperability, aerial systems, and operational modernization.

Previously serving with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, Director Miller founded the first operational law enforcement drone program in the United States. He has accumulated more than 500 drone flight hours and over 1,000 operational deployments supporting search and rescue, wildfire response, tactical operations, and disaster management missions.

Under his leadership, the CoE developed and operates COTAK™ (Colorado Team Awareness Kit), Colorado’s statewide real-time situational awareness platform provided free to public safety agencies across the state.

Director Miller is widely recognized for his work in uncrewed aerial systems, artificial intelligence, and emerging emergency response technologies. His work has been featured by National Geographic, TIME Magazine, and Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine, and he has testified before Congress on the future of drone and emergency response systems.

With prior work in law enforcement and wildland firefighting as well as approximately two decades as a search and rescue volunteer, Ben came to the Center of Excellence with a broad public service background. He has an undergraduate degree in physics as well as a Master of Divinity in addition to some other graduate work. He has worked for the Center of Excellence for nearly six years in an outreach and training role for the TAK and now COTAK programs. He is the COTAK product support program manager with employees supporting COTAK end users across the state.

Adrien Hoff is a GIS professional with a Master’s degree in Geographic Information Sciences from DU, and previous experience in public safety GIS. She first encountered GIS during high school while assisting The Denver Zoo in tracking Prairie Rattlesnake home range patterns using PIT tags. Adrien specializes in enterprise geodatabase design, Python-based data processing, and ArcGIS server. Currently, she serves as Spatial Technologies Project Manager for the COTAK program where she leads GIS R&D initiatives and collaborates with external agencies on data integrations. Previously, as Senior GIS Analyst at the Jeffcom911, she applied GIS to enhance dispatch operations.

Colorado native Bryce Boyer serves as a Colorado Team Awareness Kit (COTAK) Support Liaison with the Center of Excellence. With more than 30 years of experience in the fire service, Bryce has served with both career and volunteer departments throughout Southern Colorado and brings extensive operational and public safety experience to his work.

A strong advocate for teamwork, collaboration, and advancing the success of the public safety community, Bryce works closely with agencies across the state, including fire service organizations, law enforcement agencies, and emergency management teams. In his role, he supports the implementation and operational use of COTAK technologies to enhance situational awareness, communication, and interagency coordination.

Bryce holds an associate degree in fire science along with multiple public safety certifications. He is passionate about helping agencies leverage technology and training to improve operational effectiveness in dynamic environments.

Bryce resides in Pueblo West with his wife, enjoys spending time with his grandchildren, and stays active pursuing a variety of hobbies.

Lizzy serves as a COTAK Liaison for the CoE, providing training and support to Colorado’s first responders. She brings four years of field experience with COTAK as a member of Mesa County Search and Rescue and is a certified instructor for Wilderness First Responder courses.

Lizzy holds a BA in Business and an MS in Resource Management. Her background includes seasonal roles with the US Forest Service as a snow ranger, wildland firefighter, and trail crew member, followed by five years in outdoor program management.

David Mahan brings 33 years of fire service experience to his role as COTAK Liaison. A retired Fire Lieutenant and Paramedic from the Buffalo Grove, Illinois Fire Department, David is passionate about the power of technology to save lives. He champions COTAK for the situational awareness and personnel accountability it delivers — giving every responder on scene a common operating picture to drive successful mission outcomes.

A Colorado native, David is happy to be back home. He and his wife Amy, and their two sons Max and Owen, reside in Westminster.

Jeff began his career working for the US Forest Service in 2000 in wildland fire management. In 2007, Jeff pursued other interests, including technology and aviation, where he obtained his private pilot certificate.  He then brought his experience and skill set to the National Park Service, where he continued to work in fire and fuel management. In 2017, he became involved in the National Park Service’s Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) program.
Jeff’s deep-rooted expertise in the UAS industry, coupled with his aviation background and technical skills, has enabled him to serve the Federal Government during emergencies, using a wide range of UAS. His extensive experience includes flying multiple missions, such as Search and Rescue, reconnaissance for illicit drug gardens, incident investigations (Rapid Lesson Sharing), and aerial ignition operations, showcasing his unparalleled proficiency in the field.

Jeff is currently the UAS Project Manager for the State of Colorado Department of Public Safety at the Center of Excellence.  This position requires him to train other CDPS UAS pilots, engage in policymaking, and test new unmanned robotic equipment to improve the safety of all first responders.

Nick is a full-stack developer focusing on geospatial data and solutions. He started his career at Mapbox, building out their search product before working for The Nature Conservancy and NASA as part of Development Seed. Now with the State of Colorado, he works on both infrastructure to support the COTAK program and is the lead engineer on the CloudTAK product.