Amber Haluska is an Associate Principal at Wausau West High School in Wausau, Wisconsin. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Psychology (Behavior Analysis Emphasis) and her graduate degree in School Psychology from UW-Eau Claire. She began her professional career as a School Psychologist and, from there, transitioned into a Program Director role for an Alternative School for students with significant behavioral needs. She completed both her Principal and Director of Special Education/Pupil Services license from St. Cloud State University. In the Wausau School District, Amber served as the Pupil Services Associate Principal for John Muir Middle School for 5 years prior to transitioning to Associate Principal at Wausau West High School for the past 3 years. Primarily, Amber has led efforts regarding students receiving special education services, school-wide safety and emergency procedures, truancy, English learners, and student discipline.

Angela Rodgers is an Associate Principal at John Muir Middle School in Wausau, Wisconsin. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Special Education and her graduate degree in Instructional Leadership from UW-Oshkosh. She began her teaching career as a Special Education teacher in the Appleton Area School District and worked with students who had emotional and behavioral disabilities and, from there, transitioned into leadership in the Wausau School District. In the Wausau School District, Angela served as the Pupil Services and Special Education Associate Principal for Horace Mann Middle School for 4 years prior to transitioning to Associate Principal at John Muir Middle School for the past 3 years. Through her experiences as a Special Education teacher and school leader, Angela has led efforts regarding students receiving special education services, school-wide safety, Head Chair for Marathon County Truancy, and student discipline.

Chris Prochut (pro-hut) is a mental health advocate and law enforcement suicide prevention trainer. Over the past ten years, Chris has had the honor to present to over 16,000 law enforcement officers across the United States and Canada on the topics of suicide and depression warning signs, medication myths, department policy revision, and told of his personal experience with the stigma of mental health issues. Chris is a member of the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Death Response (LEDR) Team, a former trainer in QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer) suicide prevention program, a FBI National Academy (FBINA) Enrichment Speaker, a FBI National Academy Associates (FBINAA) Officer Safety and Wellness Committee Member, and an active volunteer with BringChange2Mind; an organization founded by Actress Glenn Close to end the stigma surrounding mental illness Chris resides in Hartford, Wisconsin with his wife Jennifer and their children Chase (19) and Ashlyn (15).

Dana Miller is an Associate with the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College, as well as an Analyst for the Sex Offender Apprehension & Felony Enforcement Team at Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Dana is a former Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Commander for the state of Wisconsin. In her tenure with ICAC at the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Dana managed the program operations for the ICAC Task Force, including analyzing Wisconsin CyberTips and collaborating with law enforcement regarding investigations, outreach, and training events. Dana has worked extensively on online child exploitation prevention in the state of Wisconsin. She is creator of multiple Wisconsin online safety programs and initiatives, an author of online safety information for parents, and she teaches online safety, responding to sextortion, and analyst classes throughout the nation. Dana holds a master's degree in criminal justice.

Dane Coonen has worked for the Appleton Police Department since 2006. He spent time on patrol and later took a position as an Elementary School Resource Officer. While working as an SRO, he was also assigned as a sensitive crimes investigator handling numerous sexual assaults and child abuse cases. Throughout the 6 years as an SRO, he became the lead trainer for active attack incidents at APD. While developing a working knowledge of active attack response, he developed an expertise in threat assessments. Dane is now assigned as the Threat Assessment Officer for the Appleton Police Department where he works with local, state, and federal agencies.

Dr. Brian Van Brunt has served as the assistant deputy director for training at Secure Community Network and is the lead content expert for InterACTT.org. Formerly a partner with TNG and the president of NABITA, the National Association for Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment, Brian has provided consulting services to schools, colleges, and universities across the country and abroad on a wide variety of topics related to threat assessment, student mental health, counseling, campus violence, and behavioral intervention.He has reached well over 150,000 individual staff and faculty at colleges and workplaces across the country through on-site and virtual trainings, and remote, asynchronous training modules on violence, mental health, and suicide prevention. Brian has taught at several universities and colleges over his career. He has offered classes in counseling theory, ethics, program evaluation, statistics, and sociology for both graduate and undergraduate.

Dr. Hector R. Garcia is a 34-year veteran law enforcement, security, and education professional. He holds a doctoral degree in Organizational Leadership and a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration. He has served in various capacities including 20+ years of experience in school police ranging from SRO to middle and executive management. Dr. Garcia has trained thousands of law enforcement and civilians in leadership, school safety, emergency management, criminal justice, public safety administration, and safety/security topics. Dr. Garcia has partnered with the US Department of State as a Police Advisor in Africa and in Central America to further democratic policing principles and rule of law implementation in these regions. He is credited with the development and implementation of the first SRO programs in North Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America. He believes that knowledge and education are the keys to success in all endeavors.

Elizabeth Champion, MS, received a BS in English with a Technical Writing Emphasis and a BS in Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and an MS in Applied Psychology with a Community Health Emphasis at Sacred Heart University. Ms. Champion is currently the Executive Director of Child Advocacy Centers of Wisconsin, the statewide chapter supporting Wisconsin’s 15 child advocacy centers, 2 satellite centers, and other multidisciplinary teams investigating suspected child maltreatment statewide. Previously, Ms. Champion was the Children’s Justice Act Coordinator at the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and the Executive Director of a community-based domestic and sexual abuse program. Ms. Champion serves on multiple statewide committees involved in child maltreatment, including the Children’s Justice Act Task Force, the Office of Crime Victim Services Grant Advisory Board, the Wisconsin Drug Endangered Children Steering Committee, and more.

Liz Ghilardi, MSW, LCSW received her BA at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in Social Welfare and her MSW at Washington University, George Warren Brown School of Social Work in St. Louis. Ms. Ghilardi is currently the Forensic Interview Program Supervisor for Child Advocacy and Protection Services within Children’s Wisconsin. She has been employed at Children’s Wisconsin since l990. She has been with the Child Advocacy Center, working as a forensic interviewer, since l992. She has completed over 2000 interviews with children regarding allegations of child maltreatment and witness to violence. Ms. Ghilardi provides training for professionals, paraprofessionals & foster parents on issues of child sexual abuse, interviewing children, and sexualized behavior. She has also testified in court as an expert witness regarding child sexual abuse and interviewing. She currently supervises 10 forensic interviewers in the Children’s Wisconsin System throughout the state of Wisconsin as well.

Detective Sergeant Josh Uhernik (Retired) has 15 years of law enforcement experience and over 20 years of being an educator. He has a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in criminal justice. Josh has served in many positions including Acting Chief, Shift Commander, Field Training Coordinator, and street crimes/drug investigations supervisor. Josh teaches as an adjunct instructor at a POST certified Police Academy on the Western Slope of Colorado facilitating many investigative classes. He has worked as lead detective in organizing marijuana investigations and has worked closely with the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division. He is a Colorado POST certified marijuana instructor and is a qualified expert witness in the Colorado 9th Judicial District in marijuana. He currently works as an instructor for Advanced Police Concepts as a Marijuana Subject Matter Expert, and he works for the Garfield County School District as a High School Special Education Teacher.

Kimberly has over twenty years of experience working as a Law Enforcement Officer and over 14 years teaching Criminal Justice courses at the university level. She holds a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice, earned at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Kimberly serves as a TEAM ADAM Consultant for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). In this role, she assists police agencies in abducted or kidnapped missing children and long-term missing cases, human trafficking, and internet-based crimes. She also is the CART Coordinator (Child Abduction Response Team) for the Central Florida and Pasco County areas for NCMEC, coordinating efforts and additional resources amongst law enforcement agencies during child abductions. Her expertise derives from her years working in the Special Victim’s Unit for Orlando Police Department as a detective working missing juvenile, human trafficking, and cases of neglect, abuse, and sexual abuse.

Laura Clary is a Registered Nurse, Forensic Nurse Examiner & Director of the Greater Baltimore Medical Center Sexual Assault Forensic Examination, Domestic Violence & Child Protection Program. She has been a Nurse for over 14 years. She is certified to care for patients across the lifespan that have been victims of sexual assault, child abuse, intimate partner violence and human trafficking. Mrs. Clary holds National professional certification as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE-A / SANE-P) from the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN). She is a Maryland Board of Nursing approved Forensic Nursing Instructor and has taught and precepted nurses, physicians, social workers, and law enforcement from all over the country. She is a member of the IAFN, as well as the Maryland Child Abuse Medical Providers Network, Chair of the Baltimore County SART, and partners with the Maryland Center for School Safety to train SRO's across the state on the victimization of youth.

Lauren Maldonado was a 4th grade teacher for 7 years before transitioning to law enforcement. She is a police officer with Deerfield Police Department, serving 4 years as an SRO. Lauren has received officer of the year award during the 2022 school year for the department. She has been involved in creating various community events within her department such as: Community Roll Call Coffee with a Cop, cram a Cruiser, Junior Police Academy Books & Badges, Pack the gym night, and Police & Fire vs 8th grader basketball game. Lauren is also in charge of training for Lake County SRO's for Lake County, Illinois.

Lynn Cook, MSW, CAPSW received her MSW and Certificate in Trauma Counseling at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 2008. Lynn is responsible for implementing statewide initiatives that improve the investigation, prosecution, and judicial handling of child abuse. Prior to this position, Lynn worked as a Forensic Interviewer at the Milwaukee Child Advocacy Center of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. She began her work in that capacity in July of 2015 and has conducted well over 2,300 forensic interviews of children and teens who have experienced or witnessed violence and child maltreatment. She continues to conduct forensic interviews at Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center in Madison. Lynn conducts many other statewide and national trainings in areas specific to child abuse dynamics. She is often called to testify as an expert witness in criminal trials in Milwaukee County and across the state.

Lt. Mark Lowther (Retired) is a US Marine Corps veteran. Lt. Lowther has 31 years in public safety. He has served as a SWAT hostage negotiator for a major portion of his career. His background and experience come from serving on two Metro SWAT teams. He has personally been involved in numerous threatened suicide and SWAT negotiations including barricaded gunmen and hostage incidents. Lt. Lowther has spent most of his career in assignments involving crisis negotiation, suicide intervention, verbal de-escalation, peer support, Autism awareness, and mental illness. He has instructed law enforcement locally, nationally, and internationally on those topics. In addition to his law enforcement training, he has received specialized training in crisis counseling and psychological first aid. He currently volunteers working on a crisis hotline, and as a Peer Support team member with his service dog Dexter. Mark, although retired from full time law enforcement, continues to serve part time.

Melinda Tempelis is the District Attorney for Outagamie County and has been a prosecutor since 2003. In 2002, Ms. Tempelis received her law degree from UW-Madison and obtained a master’s in public affairs from the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW – Madison. Ms. Tempelis has handled a variety of misdemeanor and felony cases, as well as juvenile delinquency and CHIPS cases. She specializes in victim crimes, including homicides, sexual assault, and child maltreatment cases. She is active on many multi-disciplinary committees and organizations associated with the criminal justice system. Ms. Tempelis has done training on a wide variety of topics for Fox Valley Technical College, the Office of Justice Assistance, and the Department of Justice. Ms. Tempelis is also a member of the Governor's Juvenile Justice Commission and a board member of the Wisconsin District Attorney's Association.

After Marquette Law School, Ms. Jasmer worked as an attorney in the Racine Public Defenders Office. In 2002, Molly began working for the Office of Waukesha County Corporation Counsel, prosecuting juvenile court matters. Her responsibilities included Child Abuse and Neglect administrative prosecutions, CHIPS prosecutions, TPR prosecutions and establishing minor guardianships. In 2017, she was appointed as a Circuit Court Commissioner for Waukesha County where she handled civil, criminal, family, and juvenile court matters. In 2018, Molly joined the firm of Grady, Hayes and Neary. She has been a member of the CCIP's Permanency Work Group Committee, JLC Special Committee on Permanency for Young Children in the Child Welfare System, the CLS Juvenile guardianship workgroup. Molly is currently a member of the Wisconsin Commission on Children, Families and the Court, CCIP's Judicial On-line training committee, and the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board.

Nina is a retired Senior Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, having 25 years of distinguished service, holding top secret clearance, & earning title of Senior Special Agent. Nina is a certified master instructor for ATF at the National Academy in Glynco, GA. There, she instructs courses on explosives investigation, undercover investigation (basic & advanced), interviewing, and train the trainer. Nina conducted complex firearms, narcotics, explosive, and arson investigations, domestic & international terrorism investigations, and undercover investigations. Her significant career investigations include the Unabom investigation, the Williams Brothers investigation (arson of multiple synagogues, a reproductive health center & a double murder), and international terrorism cases following 9/11 with the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Nina’s investigative work has been featured on syndicated shows including Forensic Files, Investigation Discovery and more.

Pat Griesbach is currently a Detective Sergeant for the Grand Chute Police Department and has been employed there since 2003. After having worked patrol, he was assigned as an investigator with the Lake Winnebago Area Metropolitan Drug Unit until being assigned as a full-time investigator. Pat has served on the Outagamie County Multi-Jurisdiction Emergency Response Team (SWAT) since 2007 and is an instructor in multiple disciplines.

Detective Kilpatrick, with over 19 years of dedicated service at the Baltimore County Police Department, has a commendable 16-year tenure as a detective, showcasing his unwavering commitment to upholding the law and pursuing justice. Early in his career, he played a pivotal role in dismantling drug trafficking organizations as a member of the Vice Narcotics Unit. He innovatively used social media to unravel the intricate structures of these illicit networks, even exposing a rogue unit within the Baltimore Police Department, which was documented in the book and TV series "We Own This City." Later, Detective Kilpatrick joined the Special Victims Unit, where his dedication to justice continued to shine. Currently assigned to the Crimes Against Children Unit, he skillfully employs digital data to locate suspects involved in heinous crimes like sexual assault and rape, showcasing his proficiency in solving crimes utilizing digital data.

After earning her Master of Counseling from MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, KS., she worked for many years as a forensic interviewer and trainer in Kansas City, MO. In 2016, Stephanie moved to Minnesota and worked as a Victim Assistant Specialist with the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center and a trainer for the National Child Protection Training Center. She began working with CornerHouse in 2019. During her time as a forensic Interviewer Stephanie has conducted over 1,600 interviews of children, teens, and adults. She has interviewed cases of suspected sexual abuse, physical abuse, witness to homicides and violent crimes, sexual exploitation, and other crimes. As a trainer, she has trained hundreds of MDT members from all over the world on best practices in Forensic Interviewing and emerging issues in the child abuse field.

Susan has nearly 25 years’ experience in the Criminal Justice arena to include over 7 years teaching tertiary education. Susan started her criminal justice career in Green Bay at the Green Bay Correctional Institution as a student at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. At the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay she received the honored Chancellor’s Medallion and high honors. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Public Administration, she was quickly promoted to Lieutenant with the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department. During her tenure with Waukesha, she received her master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Criminal Justice Administration. Susan is a master threat assessment trainer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, trained by the I Love You Guys Foundation in standard response protocol and standard reunification method and lead the development of the statewide school threat reporting system-Speak Up Speak Out Wisconsin.

Trish Kilpin is the Director of the Wisconsin Office of School Safety. She was appointed to this position in February of 2022. Prior to serving in this role, she was a school social worker for over 30 years. Trish earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was named the Wisconsin School Social Worker’s Association’s School Social Worker of the Year in 1997, and Wisconsin Teacher of the Year in 2021. She is a certified National Association of School Psychologist (NASP) PREPaRE 1 and 2 Trainer, a Sources of Strength Trainer, and a National Threat Evaluation and Reporting Office (NTER) Master Trainer.