Town Hall Event: Sikorsky’s Multi-Role FIREHAWK® Helicopter

Jeanette has a diverse portfolio of experiences over 32 years, including 22 years with Sikorsky, and 10 years with Bell, spanning Engineering, Manufacturing, Program Management, Customer Support, Marketing and Sales in support of Commercial and Military rotorcraft and has driven Sikorsky into the firefighting market. As an engineer and program manager, she was involved in the original FIREHAWK design concept and production in the late 90s with LA County. Jeanette is an accomplished commercial instrument fixed wing pilot and commercial helicopter pilot which provided her valuable operational experience in understanding customer mission requirements.

Kim Lowry is Director for Civil Programs with Civil and Regulatory Affairs at Lockheed Martin Corporation’s Government Operations Office located in Arlington, Virginia. In this capacity, Kim is responsible for working with customers outside of the Department of Defense, NASA and NOAA.

Kim’s career in the Federal Government spans over 29 years working national security, defense, law enforcement and international issues.

As a dual rated FW & RW pilot, Dave Peterson has been flying and selling aircraft almost his entire career. Flying since 1978, Dave has flown a wide range of aircraft and missions with particular expertise in tactical operations, firefighting, HEMS and corporate VIP. Over the past 11 years, Dave has enjoyed continued success working for Sikorsky Aircraft as a Sales Director, where his territories were primarily in South Central, Northeast & Southeast Asia, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

Dan is the Senior Manager of AI Integration at the Lockheed Martin AI Center (LAIC). He leads a team that generates and integrates cutting edge AI solutions for mission impact across Lockheed Martin’s lines of business. His current program, the Cognitive Mission Manager, is focused on inserting AI capabilities to benefit the wildfire fighting mission.

Dan has 17 years of experience in Aerospace and Defense working on technology advancements for satellites, submarines, hypersonic weapons, and artificial intelligence.

Chief Blumenthal has lived his entire life in sunny southern California and is a life-long resident of Los Angeles County. Twenty-seven years ago, he received his FAA A&P aviation mechanic’s license. Initially Dennis worked for helicopter heavy-lift operations involved with heavy external load construction, as well as heli-logging, so he has been working on large, hard-working helicopters most of his life.
Dennis has now been with the LA County Fire Department, Air Operations Section, for the past 22 years, where he has served in the maintenance of the helicopter fleet.

Brian Fennessy became Fire Chief of the Orange County Fire Authority on April 16, 2018.

Chief Fennessy began his career in 1978 with the US Department of Agriculture’s United States Forest Service and the US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management working as a hotshot crewmember, hotshot/helishot/helitack captain and ultimately crew superintendent.

In 1990, Fennessy joined the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) and ultimately became Chief of Department in 2015. One of his many accomplishments while with the SDFD was his developing & establishing a multi-mission Fire/Rescue/EMS helicopter program designed to serve the citizens of the City of San Diego and the region.

Chief Fennessy has enjoyed a diversity of executive leadership and management experiences in both the wildland fire and metropolitan fire service communities. He believes that Mission-Driven Culture (MDC) is the future of the fire service and has presented on this topic at a variety of local, state and national venues.

Chief Fennessy has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration. He has held multiple Incident Command System (ICS) Command & General Staff certifications and has served on National Incident Management Teams.

Chief Fennessy is currently a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Wildland Fire Policy Committee, serves as Sponsoring Agency Chiefs Representative for the nine (9) Western Division FEMA Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) Task Forces, is current Chair of the California Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association, and as the Chair of the FIRESCOPE Board of Directors, is Advisor to the Director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES).

Battalion Chief Rob Gaylor is a 30-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Rob spent the first 13 years of his career at the rank of firefighter paramedic working the inner cities of LA County. For the past 17 years, Battalion Chief Gaylor has been assigned to the Air and Wildland Division. Starting as a crew foreman running California Department of Corrections hand crews. Later, moving to a paid hand crew where he led a fly crew operating on the Firehawk.

Chief Chuck MacFarland has led an extensive and diversified aviation career flying a wide range of aircraft, but also across a wide range of aviation-oriented roles. Chuck currently leads City of San Diego Fire-Rescue Air Operations Section. Chuck also serves as the chair of FIRESCOPE Aviation Operations Specialist Group.

Chief Gary Monday has dedicated most of his professional life to the Fire Service, starting in 1984 as a seasonal Wildland Firefighter. In 1986 he was hired on as a full time Firefighter. He was promoted to Fire Engineer in 1995, Gary was promoted to Fire Captain in 1998. He was promoted to Battalion Chief in 2012 and into his current position as a Division Chief in 2019.

Gary has always been interested in Wildland Firefighting and has been qualified in numerous ground-based and aerial positions. He has been on a Federal Incident Management Team since 2008 as an Air Tactical Group Supervisor.  When Gary became a Battalion Chief, he assumed responsibility for the Wildland Fire & Aviation Division.

Richard Miller has over 43 years of experience in the fire service industry as a career and volunteer firefighter and now as a Fire Service Program Manager for the Firefighter Safety Research Center at the IAFC. He has held the positions from Firefighter to Training Officer for the City of Fairfax Fire Department in Virginia. His goal is to provide knowledgeable factual information to the fire service industry to meet a diverse community by established leadership, that meets the needs of the leading Fire Chiefs.