School Safety Professional Speakers Bureau
The School Safety Advocacy Council (SSAC) is the recognized leader in school safety training and services nationally. We posses the most knowledgeable and experienced cadre of school safety experts who combine their exceptional practical experience and knowledge with an engaging and professional style to captivate any audience. Whether it is a conference keynote presentation, professional workshop or breakout session, or a community-wide presentation our expert speakers will customize their presentation and educational content to meet your needs and audience expectations.
Available Professional Speakers - Click Speaker Name for Bio
Sean is a 32 year veteran of law enforcement experience, over 25 years of direct school safety experience, and holds a Bachelors of Arts in Human Services from Springfield University, a Masters of Science in Administration of Criminal Justice from Western New England University, completed the FBI-LEEDA Executive Leadership Course, and is a graduate of the prestigious FBI National Academy-Session 239. Sean is considered a school safety and law enforcement expert by the U.S. Department of Justice, where he was a founding member of the U.S Department of Justice School Safety Technical Working Group, and U.S Department of Homeland Security.
Sean Burke is considered one of the foremost experts and sought after speakers in school safety, law enforcement, and emergency management. He has traveled extensively and spoken before police officers and school personnel from the United States, Europe, Japan, Iceland, Canada, Australia, and the Caribbean. Sean currently is one of the featured instructors for the FBI National Academy Preventing Active School Shooting training’s. He also continues to speak regularly for corporations such as Motorola Solutions, CISCO, and Blackboard on educating clients on school safety technologies and internally on marketing to the educational and law enforcement sector.
Sean has authored numerous articles and research papers and been interviewed and quoted as an expert source in media journals from across the nation. Sean was selected to for the cover of Time Magazine’s Guns in America Issue (2018) for his work in school safety and continues to serve as a consultant and on air expert for numerous media outlets including CBS National News and Good Morning America. Sean is the former and only two-time President of the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) where he also served as a National Practitioner and a Senior Instructor for over 10 years.
Topics: school safety and security management, law enforcement management, school based crisis preparation, school safety technology, school safety leadership, active school shooter, terrorist threat to schools and school based marketing
Curt Lavarello served as a twenty-eight year Law Enforcement Executive in South Florida. During his tenure as a police officer, Curt has held assignments on road patrol, detective bureau, gang task force unit, traffic division and 18 years as a school resource officer (SRO) and Patrol and SRO Supervisor. Curt sat on the committee that was responsible for developing the first School Resource Officer program in Broward County, Florida (Ft. Lauderdale) and was named South Florida’s law enforcement officer of the year in 1987 for his work with the youth in the North Fort Lauderdale area. In 1994, Curt developed and served as the Director for the first youth/teen court program for Palm Beach County, Florida and that program went on to be recognized on national television as one of the largest teen diversion programs in the nation. Curt was a founder, board member, vice-president, president and Executive Director of the National Association of School Resource Officers from 1991 until 2005. In May of 2005, Curt was named Executive Director for the School Safety Advocacy Council, which serves as the leading training organization for school districts and law enforcement agencies in the nation.
Curt has traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada speaking about school related violence, bullying among youth and the potential for terrorism in schools. He has been the focus of numerous articles and has been featured on ABC’s “Eye on Crime”, CBS Evening News, the CBS Television show, “The Defenders”, Fox News “Dayside”, CNN and World News with Peter Jennings. Curt has also been featured as the guest on several National Talk Radio shows and currently serves as a news analyst for FOX News Radio on issues involving school violence. Curt has authored numerous articles on the topic of school based policing and was responsible for developing the curriculum now in use to train school based police officers throughout the United States and Canada. Curt has also served as an adjunct instructor for the University of North Florida (IPTM), the National School Safety Center (CA.) and the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada. Curt has worked closely with the State of Illinois, the Florida and Louisiana Attorney General’s Office and the Hawaii Department of Education on homeland security preparedness for schools initiative. Curt has served as part of the school based policing focus group sponsored by the United States Department of Justice to formulate training on a national level to law enforcement. Curt has worked with the U.S. Department of Justice/COPS office on the delivery of a standardized SRO curriculum, and the development of a homeland security curriculum for school based police officers and served on the Post Columbine High School Review Group in Colorado.
Curt has been invited to the White House on 3 occasions to take part in Presidential Conferences held on School Violence, under President Clinton, President Bush and Vice-President Biden. Curt currently serves on the Juvenile Justice Committee for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. In 2013, Curt served as a technical consultant for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s “1 to 1” Technology Rollout Initiative.
Tony Pustizzi began his career with the Coral Springs Police Department in 1988. Over his 30-year tenure, he supervised every unit within the agency with a strong emphasis on investigations, including homicide and special investigations. Additionally, he served on the SWAT team for 15 years, the last eight of which as team commander. He rose through the ranks to ultimately become chief of police in 2012. He also served as the city’s interim city manager and retired in March 2018 as the chief of police/deputy city manager.
Tony graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in criminology and law and received a master’s degree in public administration from Florida Atlantic University. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, the Southern Police Institute Command Officers Development Course, the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar, Eckerd College’s Center for Creative Leadership Program and Florida Atlantic University’s Executive Leadership Program.
On February 14, 2018, a former student entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida, killed 17 innocent people and injured another 17 students. Chief Pustizzi along with members of his agency, arrived at the school within minutes. A complex law enforcement approach, including stopping the shooter and extracting victims from within the school, was initiated. Tony discusses many of the issues that ensued in communication and leadership that he observed that day and the unique challenges he experienced from his perspective.
Topics: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, active killer/school and workplace violence preparedness, leadership development, public safety and administration, and organizational process improvements
Chief Timothy (Tim) Enos holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Florida State University and is a 29-year law enforcement veteran. Chief Enos currently serves as the Chief of Police for the Sarasota County Schools Police Department which oversees all safety and security for the school district’s 45,000 students and 46 sites. Prior to becoming Chief, Tim was the Bureau Commander of the Emergency Operations Bureau of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office which oversaw the consolidated communications center for Sarasota County. Chief Enos was also a supervisor of the Youth Services Section and the Crime Prevention Unit for the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office (FL) for 15 years. The SCSO Youth Services Section is a nationally recognized model of school policing by the National Association of School Resource Officers (2015 Model Agency of the Year) and by the School Safety Advocacy Council. The Youth Services Section was recognized by the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office for excellence in 2005 by receiving the Unit Citation Award. Chief Enos has held assignments as a road patrolman, patrol field training officer, school resource officer, detective in the criminal investigations section, patrol corporal and sergeant and lieutenant in the Youth Services Section. In 2006, Chief Enos was appointed by the Sarasota County Sheriff to serve as the interim police chief, overseeing the Sarasota County Schools Police Department. Tim currently sits on the board of directors for the Florida Association of School Resource Officers as Executive Director and the School Safety Advocacy Council as an advisory board member.
Chief Enos continues to serve on the Senior Instructor Staff of the School Safety Advocacy Council and continues to travel, speak and consult for many governmental and non-governmental organizations. Chief Enos is also currently an instructor for the Florida Attorney General’s Office as well as a FDLE Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse and Advisory Board member and testified twice at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission for school policing best practices. Chief Enos is a graduate of the University of Louisville Sothern Police Institute 54th Command Officers Development Course as well as the 6th Florida Sheriff’s Institute Commanders Academy.
Topics: effects of social media on school violence, bullying and cyber bullying, school based policing, school based law enforcement leadership, missing and endangered children
Rick Francis currently serves as the Chief of School Safety for Seminole County School District Office and responsible for sixty-seven public/charter schools with approximately 68,000 students and 8,000 staff members. He is a member of the Majorie Stoneman Douglas Commission for the State of Florida as well responsible for school resource deputies and safety at several private schools and the local state college in his county. Chief Francis is a subject matter expert on school safety and security technologies, conducting extensive evaluations and trials on various school safety technologies under normal school conditions. As chief of school safety, he continues to evaluate school safety technologies as the district’s sole decision maker on purchasing. He has studied prior school shootings (dating back to 1764) and adverted school shooting incidents. In addition, he has examined each incident’s lessons learned and best practices to apply them to his efforts nationally. Chief Francis attended the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association Command Leadership Institute, the Police Executive Research Forum Senior Management Institute for Police, the Southern Police Institute Command Officer Development Course, and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy. He currently serves as a National Sheriff’s Association, School Safety Committee member.
Don Alwes is the foremost school active threat trainer and school safety expert with 33 years of law enforcement experience. He has served as an adjunct instructor for Kentucky’s Department of Criminal Justice Training for 15 years and is a lead instructor for National Tactical Officers Association’s Police Response to Active Shooter and School and Workplace Violence courses. He has coordinated and conducted school-based homeland security vulnerability assessments with a focus on security technologies for the state of Kentucky. He has served as an active school shooting subject matter expert for technology projects sponsored by the National Institute of Justice’s School Safety Technical Working Group. He continues to serve as a part-time law enforcement officer with the Wilmore (KY) PD.