Avi Schnurr is CEO and President of the Electric Infrastructure Security (EIS) Council.
Mr. Schnurr has reviewed severe “Black Sky” hazards to lifeline utilities for a number of state and federal government departments and agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the National Security Council, Congress, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Homeland Security, among others. He has been a leader in development and coordination of protection strategies for critical national infrastructures, working with senior executives of the nation’s largest power, water, and fuel companies, with other corporate sectors, and with key government and NGO stakeholders.

Mr. Schnurr has provided invited briefings for NATO, the European Union, Parliamentary Committees, government science advisors and energy ministries. He has reviewed U.S. defense policies for the Department of Defense, the White House Homeland Security Council, the National Academy of Sciences, Congress, NATO and a variety of other venues. Until the end of 2004, Avi Schnurr worked for Northrop Grumman’s Space Technology Sector in California, where he had system responsibilities for space payloads and other advanced systems and instruments, and also managed U.S. and international defense programs. He holds a number of patents in laser and optical systems and twice received the corporate Chairman’s Award for Innovation. Avi Schnurr received his M.Sc. Degree in Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California, San Diego.

Chris Beck is the Chief Scientist and Vice President for Policy at EIS Council, where he has worked since May 2011. He is responsible for the analysis, design, and promotion of critical infrastructure resilience for widespread, long-duration power outages initiated by Black Sky threats.

Dr. Beck is a technical and policy expert in several homeland security and national defense related areas including critical infrastructure protection, cybersecurity, science and technology development, WMD prevention and protection, and emerging threat identification and mitigation. Dr. Beck served as the Subcommittee Staff Director for Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Science and Technology and was the Senior Advisor for Science and Technology for the House Committee on Homeland Security (CHS), US House of Representatives, where he worked from May 2005 to May 2011. Prior to CHS, he worked in the office of Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez for three years, beginning as a Congressional Science Fellow and then as a legislative assistant.

Before government service, Dr. Beck was a postdoctoral fellow and adjunct professor at Northeastern University. He holds a PhD in physics from Tufts University (2001) and a B.S. in physics from Montana State University (1994). He served in the Marine Corps Reserve for five years (1987 – 1992).

Dr. Ehud Ganani, as Vice President of Israeli Operations for EIS Council, is responsible for development, coordination and management of the Council’s activities in Israel. Udi Ganani is a co-founder of Contguard Ltd., a global maritime container tracking startup. He is also a member of the SPECTRUM Group in Alexandria, VA and a Research Associate in ICT International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at IDC Herzliya.

Previously, Dr. Ganani served in senior management roles in a number of corporations providing high technology solutions for security applications. He was Chief Executive Officer and President of Rabintex Industries Ltd., served as CEO and chairman of TraceGuard Technologies Inc. and chairman of Bird Aerosystems Ltd. He also chaired the public advisory committee for Aerospace, Defense and Homeland Security for the Israeli Export Institute.
Prior to that, Dr. Ganani served as a senior manager in some of Israel’s largest and most important aerospace companies: He served as Chief Executive Officer of Israel Military Industries, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Rafael, and headed Rafael’s rocket motors development group.
Dr. Ganani holds a Doctorate of Science in Chemical Engineering from Washington University, St. Louis, MO and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel.

Brigadier General (Retired) John W. Heltzel received his military commission in the Kentucky National Guard from Eastern Kentucky University in 1979. Over his 33 year military career he commanded at the battery, battalion and regimental levels. In 2007, General Heltzel was selected to serve as the Deputy Commander/Assistant Adjutant General of Kentucky’s Joint Force Headquarters where he directed the training of the Kentucky National Guard in direct support of the Homeland and Global Security Mission.

In 2006, General Heltzel assumed the position of President and Chief Operations Officer for Cyber Defenses Incorporated (CDI), an Information Assurance (IA) company. In July 2008, Governor Steve Beshear appointed General Heltzel to head the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management. During that time he led the Commonwealth’s response to 10 presidentially declared disasters.
General Heltzel served as the Chairman of the Central United States Earthquake Consortium from 2009 through 2012. In 2010 and 2011, he led the planning and development for portions of the National Level Exercise focused on the natural threat of the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). General Heltzel served as a regional vice president of the National Emergency Management Association from 2009 through 2013, chairing the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) committee from 2011 through 2013. ``

After retiring from a varied career as an educator, Sarah took the role of assistant to the CEO of EIS Council when the organization was in its formative stages. Providing wide ranging strategic advice and focused logistical support, she helped expand the original concept to its current full range of activities.
In November 2015 Sarah was appointed by the Board of Directors as advisor for EIS Council and has continued in that role until the present time. Today, Sarah is volunteering as Strategic Advisor, addressing both the organization’s expanding initiatives and program development.

Lihi joined EIS Council’s leadership team in 2020, serving as the Director of Digital Transformation. She is responsible for managing all the Council’s digital initiatives with the aim of building and growing the international online community, supporting new programs and initiatives. Lihi leads EIS projects related to marketing and branding, is in charge of social content, CRM implementation and the EIS academy.
Prior to joining the Council, Lihi conducted industry analysis and data strategy projects for FANS-LEAGUE, an Israeli mobile gaming start-up.
While living in Madrid, Spain, Lihi worked at the IE Business School, one
of the world’s top business schools. With a skill for creating partnerships and focusing on innovation, she was involved in organizing yearly programs, designing the startup Lab – a startup acceleration program and the Business Impact Lab – an open innovation program. She ran “Challenge weeks”, one week Design Thinking programs with leading corporates and built a marketplace involving SMEs, corporates, and students for innovation-related consulting projects focused on growth.
In Israel, Lihi served as a judicial advisor in the Israeli circuit court and worked for boutique law firms. Lihi holds a BA in Business, an LLB in Law, a Master of Laws (LLM), and an MA in Digital Transformation and Innovation Leadership.

John Organek is a retired US Army Corps of Engineers Officer who has served a second career practicing enterprise, system and technical architecture for over 25 years in both the private and public sectors. During his two careers he has served in a wide variety of positions and assignments of increasing responsibility, with extensive experience in national-level systems.
John served in the US Army for over 23 years during which time he served in staff and command positions in the Republic of Korea and in the Republic of Vietnam, performing combat, construction and staff engineering duties.
In the private sector John has worked with The NASDAQ Stock Market, National Association of Securities Dealers, First Union Bank and The Federal Reserve, as well as with several startup companies. In the Government sector, John has been the Chief Architect for Army business systems and business architect for an ERP implementation at Department of Homeland Security. He also served as a consultant to the Riga Stock Exchange and to the Consolidated Financial Regulator in the Republic of Latvia, and conducted an evaluation of Communications-Based Train Control systems, for the Federal Transit Agency.
John received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and a Master of Science in Hydrosystems Engineering, from the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois.

John B. Lile had a long career with the Kentucky State Police where he held every rank from Trooper to Deputy Commissioner.
As a Captain, he commanded the Dry Ridge and Frankfort Post overseeing the daily operations. After receiving a Promotion to Major, he supervised the Information Services, Drug Enforcement/ Special Investigations, Professional Standards and the 8 posts in the West Operations Branches. Promoted to Lt. Colonel, he served as the Division Director for the Service, Administrative and the Operations Divisions. Lile was promoted to Colonel and served as Deputy Commissioner for Governmental Affairs where he coordinated activities with the Kentucky General Assembly. Governor Paul D. Patton appointed Lile as Deputy Secretary of the Kentucky Justice Cabinet. Lile was also appointed Director of the Kentucky Police Corps at the Department for Criminal Justice Training.
For the last ten years he has been a part time contract employee at the Franklin County Health Department as the Preparedness Coordinator.
Lile holds an undergraduate degree from Eastern Kentucky University majoring in Law Enforcement with a minor in Political Science and a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs from Kentucky State University.

As Technical Director for Infrastructure Simulation, Dr. Anthony Bucci leads EIS Council’s modeling and simulation initiatives. In particular, he is the technical lead for the development of the GINOM® large-scale multi-sector meta-simulation.
Dr. Bucci has been involved in technology development for over 25 years as a software developer, researcher, lecturer, advisor and entrepreneur. As scientific advisor and cofounder of multiple startup companies, he has directed efforts in applying cutting-edge techniques to cybersecurity, intellectual property, and life sciences research challenges. A proponent of complex systems thinking, he has worked on dozens of simulations during his career in the philanthropic, corporate, and government sectors.

Dr. Bucci earned a B.Sc. in mathematics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH (1994) and a Ph.D. in computer science from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA (2007). His Ph.D. research focused on developing theoretical understanding of problem domains in which interaction can occur – the hallmark of a complex system and the core domain addressed by GINOM.

Major Scott Blevins (Retired) served nearly 30 years in the Kentucky National Guard. Scott served in the Signal corps throughout his military career and has both hands on and strategic planning experience on a wide array of military tactical and commercial communications equipment. Scott’s assignments included company level command, battalion operations officer, battalion and brigade S6 officer, and communications planner and network operations manager at the Kentucky Joint Forces State Headquarters.
Scott’s expertise in military communications, public safety communications, and commercial data and voice communications makes him an invaluable planner for disaster response planning. During his tenure as the Kentucky National Guard’s Communications Manager, Scott was called upon to assist in planning, providing and restoring communications during numerous floods, tornadoes and other federally declared disasters to include the 2009’s catastrophic statewide ice storm in Kentucky.
In 2016 Scott founded his own Information Technology consulting firm, Leveled Up Inc. to help leaders leverage technology in accomplishing their strategic goals.
Scott holds an MBA from the University of Louisville and a Bachelor of Science degree in Justice Administration from the University of Louisville.

Frank Koza serves as EIS Council’s Electric Subsector Coordinator, working with leading power companies and their partners to help coordinate resilience planning for a wide range of hazard scenarios.
Prior to joining the Council in 2017, Mr. Koza was Executive Director of Infrastructure Planning at PJM, responsible for system operations and system planning and for the technical staff associated with generator interconnection and implementation of transmission enhancement. He also served as Vice Chair of the NERC Geomagnetic Disturbance Task Force, and formerly as Chair of the NERC Operating Reliability Subcommittee.
Previously, Frank Koza worked at Exelon/PECO Energy in a variety of assignments including construction of fossil and nuclear generation facilities, construction and maintenance of transmission, system planning, and system operations.
Frank is a Registered Professional Engineer, PA. He holds a BSME from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Engineering from Widener University.

Mr. David Maxwell is currently working for the Electric Infrastructure Security Council as a Sector Coordinator for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO). In this role, Mr. Maxwell will work to ensure the NGO Sector is prepared for a major outage on the electrical grids that could last days/weeks/months.
In 2006, Maxwell was appointed Director of the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM) and State Homeland Security Advisor. He had over 38 years of service with the agency, was the designated State Coordinating Officer for twenty-four federally declared disasters and one federally declared emergency.

As Director, Maxwell chaired the Arkansas Homeland Security Executive Committee and served on the Arkansas Governor’s Earthquake Advisory Council, State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), Arkansas Wireless Information Network (AWIN) Executive Committee, and Arkansas Tech Emergency Administration and Management Citizens Advisory Council.
Mr. Maxwell served at various times as the chair of the NEMA Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) Committee, Preparedness Committee and Response and Recovery Committee, as well as helping form and chairing a working group between NEMA and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). Additionally, David served on the Board of Directors of the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) and was a member of the Executive Committee of the National Governors Association (NGA) Governors Homeland Security Advisors Council for which he chaired the Catastrophic Disaster and Preparedness Committee. In 2015, David was awarded the Lacy E. Suiter Distinguished Service Award by the National Emergency Management Association. David Maxwell holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas with a Bachelor’s Degree from Arkansas Tech University.

Regulatory and Fuels Sub-Sector Coordinator
David Miller served as FEMA’s Associate Administrator for the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA), from September 2011 until his retirement in April 2015. He was responsible for development, implementation and execution of flood insurance and mitigation program policy.
From 2004 to 2011, Mr. Miller served as the Administrator of the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division. During his tenure he served as the Governor’s Authorized Representative for eleven President-declared major disasters, including the 2008 flooding disaster. Under Miller’s leadership, Iowa was one of only a handful of states to achieve national accreditation under the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) and was one of only 12 states to have a federally approved enhanced mitigation plan. Prior to becoming the Administrator Mr. Miller served in a number of roles including Chief of Staff, Legislative Liaison, and E911 Program Manager. He was responsible for the creation, editing and publication of the Division’s Administrative Rules and legislative efforts including Iowa’s Emergency Management Assistance Compact.

Mr. Miller has served as a member or leader in a number of State and national groups, including Co-Chair of the Federal Interagency Floodplain Management Task Force; Chair of the Mitigation Framework Leadership Group; former member of the National Advisory Council; and terms as the Vice President and President of the National Emergency Management Association. He currently serves as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Resilient America Roundtable and is a Board member of the Rising Phoenix Holding Company.

Dorn Ranger is the Exercise Coordinator for the EIS Council and has helped with the development and delivery of EARTH EX as well as Black Sky Exercises since 2017. He is a founding member and Managing Partner with Utility Response Training Associates, LLC, providing training and exercises to utilities as well as private and public organizations throughout the US. Ranger served on Regional and National Incident Management Teams from 1997 to 2016, in the positions of Operations Section Chief, Deputy Incident Commander, and Incident Commander, responding to several incidents of national significance. Ranger is a Master Exercise Practitioner – MEP and has developed and delivered exercises from Tabletop to Full Scale nationwide, including evaluating a state response for a National Level Exercise. He has provided ICS training and course development to organizations throughout the US for FEMA, EMI, the National Sheriffs Association, the National Domestic Preparedness Coalition Inc, the US Coast Guard, several large electric, gas, and water utilities, as well as state and local government agencies. Ranger holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration as well as a BS in Fire Protection Administration.

Since 2001, Karen has been Meeting and Marketing Coordinator for the National Emergency Management Association. Previously she held the position of Account Executive, Sponsor & Partner Relations at WYNCOM, Inc. Karen is known for professionally managing events with the right environment for communication between the varied stakeholders in the industry.
Since Nov 20 Karen serves as the principal contact for developing the relationships and coordinating all contact efforts to secure sponsors and partners.

Shandi Treloar has had a successful career in emergency management working with clients and supporting the growth of public private partnerships. In 2016 Shandi started her own emergency management consulting firm, EM Strategies, LLC. As the Principal, her goal is to empower clients and partners to build stronger emergency management programs, from recovery processes, and debris management planning to strategic comprehensive program development.
Prior to EM Strategies Ms. Treloar was an Associate at Dewberry where she was able to gain experience across the entire spectrum of emergency management. During her time at Dewberry she supported and managed a number of federal projects, such as supporting FEMA’s NRCC after Hurricane Katrina, FEMA Region IX’s Catastrophic Planning, FEMA’s Technical Assistance Research Contract.
During the course of her career she has been afforded the opportunity to work with some of the nation’s best emergency management experts. Currently Ms. Treloar is serving as the NEMA Private Sector Committee Chair. In this position she initiated the Information Sharing Task Force through a partnership with FEMA.
Previously Ms. Treloar served as the Earthquake Early Warning System’s Education and Training Private Sector Sub-committee Co-Chair. Prior to emergency management, Ms. Treloar practiced social work.
Ms. Treloar holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from the University of Portland. She also holds a Masters of Arts in Political Management as well as a Graduate Certificate in Crisis and Emergency Management both from the George Washington University.