Derek VanLuchene brings a unique perspective to the investigation and response to child abductions. In 1987, when Derek was 17 years old, his 8 year old brother Ryan was abducted and murdered by a repeat sex offender. Ryan was taken from the family’s backyard in a rural Montana community. Since that time, Derek has devoted himself to issues of sex offender management and child abduction response. Derek spent 18 years as a Montana Law Enforcement Officer working for both the Conrad Police Department and The Montana Division of Criminal Investigation. Currently, Derek manages Ryan United, a non-profit organization dedicated to his brother. Through Ryan United, Derek provides resources to crime victims, law enforcement, corrections officials specific to sex offender management, child abduction and community safety. As a Project Coordinator for AMBER Alert, Derek focuses on expanding the number of US DOJ Certified CART programs nationwide.

Jim is responsible for directing national training and technical assistance efforts related to missing, abducted and exploited children, Jim is a Program Administrator for the National Criminal Justice Training Center, and is based at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Jim previously served as a Liaison for Training and Technical Assistance to the AMBER Alert initiative for Indian Country. He has conducted numerous research and evaluation of programs in tribal communities on topics related to high-risk youth, trafficking and exploitation of Native American youth, public safety programs and technology facilitated crimes against children in Indian Country. He was also responsible for the U.S. Department of Justice Southern Border Initiative. This joint program with the Mexican government developed a comprehensive child abduction recovery program in Mexico.

Robert Lowery recently served as the vice president of the Missing Children Division for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. He is responsible for all operational components for reports on missing children, including case management, child abduction rapid-response, long-term missing children, children missing from care, missing children with special needs, unidentified deceased children, homicides and violence against children, and biometrics. Bob has over 30 years of law enforcement experience having served as the Assistant Chief of Police for the Florissant, Missouri Police Department and Commander of the Greater St. Louis Major Case Squad, the oldest and largest multi-jurisdictional homicide task force in the United States. He was directly responsible for homicide and violent crime investigations in the entire St. Louis Metropolitan Region.