About – Overview

Over my last eleven (11) years, I have worked in the Public Safety ecosystem with several organizations such as; Frontier Communications for over five (5) years as a Public Safety Area Manager, Motorola Solutions collectively for the last two (2) years, and now with RapidSOS. It has been my pleasure to develop and serve a substantial network of 911 Professionals within the emergency management industry. Working within the Public Safety community has truly been most satisfying as there is no better group of people to be involved with day to day based on their dedication to serving civilians in their communities.

I have been ranked in the top 5% (out of 650 peers) in regards to B2B sales performance and have been over 260% to quota as a Sales Manager. Attaining goals is important and necessary, however, most importantly is the goal of putting the customer first always. Serving my customers inspires my motivation, commitment, and dedication in giving them the best customer experience and has been the foundation of any of my business successes.

Currently, I reside in North Plains Oregon with Paula Le Poidevin my spouse, who has been a Call Taker, Dispatcher, and Supervisor for 28 years at WCCCA. We have three children; Julianna 22, Garrett 19, and Lauryn 18. Julianna is participating in missionary work with Campus Crusade for Christ in Southeast Asia, Garrett is in his second year at Whatcom Community College, and Lauryn is a Senior at Snohomish High School. I have a BA in Business (Emphasis in Finance) from WSU and proud to share Julianna is also a WSU Alum. Lauryn will be attending WSU next Fall, so go Cougs!

Activities which I am passionate about are as follows: Biking, Rock Climbing, Fishing, Bow-Hunting, Mountaineering, and Boxing

Lastly, our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is paramount. We attend Evergreen Community Church in North Plains, Oregon.

Grace began her journey in marketing during an internship at Cartier, where she conducted a market segmentation and client analysis, which helped optimize the retail practices and increase sales of global Cartier travel retail boutiques.

Prior to joining RapidSOS, Grace also interned alongside the marketing teams of tech company Tencent, architecture firm Perkins Eastman, and financial services company S&P Global. After gaining experience in multiple industries, Grace realized that doing work that had a positive and tangible impact on the greater community was what motivated her, and this ultimately drew her to RapidSOS and the public safety industry.

Born in Toronto and raised in both China and the U.S., Grace enjoys being exposed to different cultures, cuisines, and interacting with peers from diverse backgrounds. Outside of the office, Grace is most likely caring for her 20 (and counting) succulents, binging unsolved mysteries on YouTube, or researching her next travel destination.

Grace graduated from New York University with a major in Media and Communications and a minor in Business Studies.

For the past 20 years Tracy has been working in Public Safety. She began her career back in 1997 as a 9-1-1 dispatcher and then became the Chief Dispatcher in Rochester, MA, her hometown, in 2003. Tracy also serves the Rochester community as a firefighter/paramedic on the fire department. Additionally, she is a member of the Massachusetts Department of Fire Service Special Operations team providing support services to fire departments across the Commonwealth during large scale incidents and pre-planned events. Since 2006 she has been educating telecommunicators, EMTs and Firefighters all over the country. In 2013 Tracy joined The Public Safety Group and she enjoys traveling to teach telecommunicators things that can assist them in their duties, as well as how to take better care of themselves. Tracy has also recently joined The Denise Amber Lee Foundation and is working on their third party quality assurance initiative.

In December of 2016, Tracy left her position as the Chief Dispatcher in Rochester and became the 9-1-1 Operations Lead with RapidSOS because she knew it was time to serve the 9-1-1 community in a different capacity.

Tracy’s husband Jeff and her two daughters support everything she does. Her oldest daughter just became a registered nurse and her youngest daughter is determined to be a Fire Chief some day. Tracy’s life revolves around making all aspects of public safety, especially 9-1-1, better. Her motto is “Life is too short to not know how to save one.”

Dennis R. Patrick served as the Commissioner and then Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) between 1983 and 1989, under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. During his tenure, Mr. Patrick oversaw a significant period of change in the telecom industry. Mr. Patrick also served as Associate Director of Presidential Personnel at the White House under President Reagan.

Following his role at the FCC, Mr. Patrick served as CEO of Time Warner Telecommunications, a division of Time Warner Entertainment. He then founded and served as President & CEO of Milliwave LP, a local exchange telephone company later acquired by Winstar. Following Milliwave, Mr. Patrick served as the first President of AOL Wireless.

Mr. Patrick served as CEO & President of National Geographic Ventures, a subsidiary of The National Geographic Society, Inc. As CEO, Mr. Patrick oversaw National Geographic’s rapidly growing television, feature film production, and cable channel businesses, as well as the maps and interactive divisions.

Currently, he is President & CEO of Patrick Communications Inc. and Doeg Hill Ventures LLC. Mr. Patrick is Director of Network Access Solutions and a Member of the Business Advisory Panel at HealthSport, Inc. He is a Board Member of the National Geographic Channel in the U.S. and National Geographic Channels International. Mr. Patrick also served as trustee of Occidental College.

Mr. Patrick holds a BA Magna Cum Laude from Occidental College and a JD from UCLA.

William H. Swanson is a retired chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Raytheon Company. Swanson served as chairman and CEO of Raytheon from January 2004 to March 2014, at which time he stepped down from the role of CEO. He retired from the company in September 2014, finishing a 42-plus year career with the company.

During Swanson’s tenure as CEO, Raytheon’s sales grew 26 percent, its stock price and dividend each increased three-fold and company debt was virtually eliminated. He also strengthened Raytheon’s culture with a focus on core company values, ethics, diversity and the customer, while transforming the company’s community engagement by championing corporate responsibility, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education and armed services support.

Swanson joined Raytheon in 1972 and held a wide range of leadership positions, including manufacturing manager of the company’s largest operation, senior vice president and general manager of the Missile Systems Division, general manager of Raytheon Electronic Systems, president of Electronic Systems, chairman and chief executive officer of Raytheon Systems Company, and president of Raytheon.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Mr. Swanson is a member of the Department of Defense’s Defense Business Board; member of the NextEra Energy, Inc. board of directors and chair of its audit committee; chairman of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership; and vice chairperson of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation board of directors. He is active in the field of education as chairman of the California Polytechnic State University Foundation board of directors, and as a member of the Cal Poly President’s Cabinet and the University of Massachusetts President’s Advisory Council. Swanson served as honorary chair of MATHCOUNTS® from 2009 to 2014.

Swanson is chairman emeritus of the Aerospace Industries Association and is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He serves as a member of the Air Force Association, the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), and the Navy League. He is also a member of the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation board of advisors and the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.

Selected as Outstanding Industrial Engineering Graduate in 1972, Swanson was also recognized as the Honored Alumnus from California Polytechnic State University School of Engineering in 1991. He received the Outstanding Alumni Award from the American Association of Community Colleges in 2013. Additionally, he was awarded the Semper Fidelis Award from the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, and Aviation Week and Space Technology’s Laurel Award for his “significant contributions” to the aeronautics and propulsion field. Swanson was also named the “California Manufacturer of the Year” by the California Manufacturing and Technology Association, and is a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (United Kingdom).

Swanson has received the Navy League Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Award, the NDIA James Forrestal Industry Leadership Award, the John W. Dixon Award from AUSA, a Diversity Best Practices CEO Diversity Leadership Award, the Institute of Industrial Engineers’ Captains of Industry Award, the Six Sigma Premier Leader Award from the International Society of Six Sigma Professionals, a Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship, and the Kennedy Greenway Vision Award.

A native of California, Swanson graduated magna cum laude from California Polytechnic State University with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering. His graduate work was performed in business administration at Golden Gate University. He has been awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Pepperdine University and an honorary Doctor of Science degree from California Polytechnic State University.

Terry has a 25 year career in telecommunications. For 18 of the 25 years, Terry worked for Vodafone Group Plc/AirTouch Communications in a variety of roles domestically and internationally including Group Strategy and Business Improvement Director, Regional President, Vodafone Americas which included oversight of Vodafone’s 45% interest in Verizon Wireless and Vodafone’s venture capital activities, Group Human Resources Director & Chief of Staff, President AirTouch Paging and Vice President/GM AirTouch Cellular-Southwest Market. He has also spent several years leading and advising small, growing technology companies in roles including CEO, QComm International and as a Board member of Fiber Tower, 724 Solutions, and Sonim Technologies. Terry’s focus in his 25 year telecommunications industry has been the global expansion of the mobile industry as well as the more recent transition of the industry from a voice to data based one with mobile as the “platform of the future.”

In June 2012, Terry received an appointment by President Obama to serve as Ambassador, Head of U.S. Delegation for the World Conference on International Telecommunications which was held in December 2012 in Dubai. In this role, Terry led a 100+ person delegation of U.S. government, industry, and civil society representatives negotiating a treaty on international telecommunications policy. This delegation formulated and communicated the U.S. policy regarding the criticality of a free and open internet, the criticality of inclusive, multi stakeholder governance, the need to proactively address cybersecurity threats and the need for liberalized, open markets which encourage accelerated broadband access in markets worldwide.

Terry is currently a Distinguished Visitor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management teaching two courses on the evolution and innovation in the mobile communications industry and is also a Faculty Advisor in the Global Access Program and Strategic Management Research Program advising students working on client assignments involved in new market entry, product development and business strategy. From 2011-13, he was an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Harvard Business School.

Terry sits on the Boards of Envivio Corp. (NASDAQ: ENVI),TeleSign and TangoCard and also sits on the Boards of the Harvard Business School California Research Center, Larkin Street Youth Services and theWorld Affairs Council of Northern CA.

Terry holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from UCLA and MBA from Harvard University and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

For over three decades, Fletch has contributed to the telecommunications industry from all perspectives. He has spent time as a Police Dispatcher, field technician, and a Systems Engineer building large global private voice networks. He has helped navigate the transition from TDM to VoIP and now to SIP and WebRTC, and holds several US Patents focused on NG9-1-1 additional data, and call handling functionality.

Widely known for his customer advocacy, and work on Public Safety Standards, Fletch was honored by the NG9-1-1 Institute where he was awarded the Industry/Technology Professional Private Sector Award by Congress and the NG9-1-1 Institute.

As Avaya’s Chief Architect for Worldwide Public Safety Solutions, Fletch manages the roadmap and strategy for Avaya solutions and ensures they meet the emerging requirements for Next Generation emergency communications in both the Enterprise and Government sectors here and abroad. He is a popular keynote speaker at many industry events, and produces several weekly Podcasts and CONNECTED Blogs covering emerging technologies and trending industry news.

In addition to his internal role, Fletcher represents Avaya as an active member in the major Public Safety organizations NENA, EENA, APCO Intl. and British APCO. He is a key author of the NENA MLTS/PBX model legislation, and an active contributor on the NENA NG9-1-1 transition standards. He was appointed to the APCO Standards Development Committee in 2014, maintains a Vice-Chair role on the EENA NG112 Technical Committee, and holds a position on the NENA Institute Board, defining standards for their Emergency Number Professional certification program. Fletcher regularly advises the FCC through participation in various committees and Task Force groups such as the EAAC, the DAC and the newly formed Task Force for Optimized PSAP Architectures.

One of Fletcher’s most recent accomplishments is the introduction of Kari’s Law, protecting MLTS users after the tragic death of Kari Hunt in a Marshall, Texas hotel in 2013, where her 9-year old daughter was unable to dial 9-1-1 while her mother was being brutally murdered just a few feet away by her estranged husband. In addition to attention at the Federal level in the FCC, new legislation in Suffolk County, NY, Illinois, Maryland and Texas were the direct result of those efforts.