Emergency
Response
Educators and Consultants, Inc.
ABOUT
Emergency Response Educators and Consultants, Inc. (EREC) was established as a sub-S corporation in November 7, 1996 in the State of Florida, and maintains a Florida Certificate of Corporation. As a State of Florida certified woman-owned small business, EREC has a team of certified training professionals partnering with Government Agencies, Hospitals, and Communities to deliver site-specific emergency response education, planning, and exercise solutions through unmatched reliability and integrity. Our focus is to exceed our client’s expectations by providing turn-key solutions for all of their Emergency Management and Homeland Security training, planning, and exercise implementation needs.
DUNS: 96714665 CAGE: 4RQM9 NAICS: 541618
Lee Newsome, CEM, FPEM, MEP
Chief Executive Officer and
Training and Exercise Manager
Lee Newsome, CEM, MEP, CHS-V, is the Chief Executive Officer of EREC. Mr. Newsome has over 35 years of practical public safety experience ranging from management positions in a municipal fire department to two years as the Area Coordinator for the Florida Division of Emergency Management. Mr. Newsome founded EREC in November 1996 and has gained extensive experience in emergency management planning, training and exercise evaluation for governmental agencies. He has dedicated his skills in the successful growth of EREC to provide quality planning, training and exercise programs to the public and private sectors. Lee serves on the EM Roundtable writing the emergency management doctrine and is a subject matter expert serving on the NFPA 1600 Business Continuity Committee.
Lee Newsome is credentialed as a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) by the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), certified Florida Professional Emergency Manager (FPEM) by the Florida Emergency Preparedness Association and certified as a Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP) by the Department of Homeland Security.
Tania Foreman
Training and
Exercise Coordinator
Tania Foreman has been with EREC for over ten years serving in Exercise Logistics Support and has been an invaluable asset in the field during exercises ensuring that everything from set-up, registration, rehab, and demob is handled in an exemplary manner. Tania has joined the EREC Office Staff assisting with training and exercise coordination. She is dedicating her skills to the successful growth of EREC to provide quality training and exercise programs to the public and private sectors.
Tania is excited to expand into exercise design and take on a larger role at EREC.
Bob Pope
Senior Associate
Bob Pope is an Adjunct Instructor for EREC in both hazardous materials and hospital decontamination courses. Bob is a retired Fire/EMS Battalion Chief from the City of Ocala Fire Rescue and brings a wealth of fire service, pre-hospital medical and emergency management experience to the table. Bob has served as an Exercise Evaluator, Safety Officer and Controller for a number of exercises and serves as one of our Lead Instructors. Mr. Pope received his initial HSEEP training in 2005.
Bob is a subject matter expert for fire, emergency medical services, and emergency management and has served as an Exercise Evaluator for these exercises as well as many others.
Brian Dennison
Senior Associate
Brian Dennison serves as an adjunct instructor for EREC in fire, hospital decontamination, infectious disease prevention, hazardous materials, and maritime response. Brian recently retired as a shift commander of fire rescue serving the City of Cape Canaveral and the Canaveral Port Authority and will continue to serve as Training Director of their Maritime Training Facility. He has served as the fire departments’ training and safety officer as well as a lead instructor and instructor coordinator of their maritime firefighting academy. With over 25 years in the fire service, he brings experience in pre-hospital medical, fire and emergency response, emergency management, mass casualty incidents, and maritime firefighting.
Brian is a subject matter expert in pre-hospital medical, emergency medical services, firefighting, and maritime firefighting. He has served as an exercise evaluator and instructor for these subjects, as well as others.
Ann Rowe
EREC Public Information Officer
Ann Rowe’s career has focused on public information/media relations in response to a variety of situations. Mrs. Rowe is well versed in disaster operations and brings a knowledge base that will help her to engage with responders and key community partners. Mrs. Rowe is skilled in working in groups to gather information and provide recommendations for improvement planning.
Ann Rowe has served as an HSEEP Exercise Evaluator on many exercises conducted by EREC.
Ann Rowe is a subject matter expert for public information and media relations and has served as an Exercise Evaluator for these exercises as well as many others.
Mike Hopkins
Associate
Mike Hopkins career spans over 20 years where he served in response to a variety of situations. In his current law enforcement employment, Mr. Hopkins serves as a Bomb Technician, Assistant Team Leader Hazardous Devices Team, Coordinator Clandestine Lab Response Team, and Corporal Narcotics Unit, Electronic Surveillance. Mike is Clandestine Lab Certified by the DEA.
Mike is well versed in disaster operations and brings a knowledge base that helps him in gathering information from responders and key community partners. Mike has served as an instructor as well as an HSEEP Exercise Evaluator on many exercises conducted by EREC.
Mike is a subject matter expert for law enforcement, ordinance, and clandestine labs and has served as an Exercise Evaluator for these exercises as well as others.
Teresa Newsome, FPEM, MEP
President and
Planning Manager
Teresa Newsome is President of EREC overseeing all daily operations. Mrs. Newsome has over 23 years of experience in project management. She has dedicated her skills in the successful growth and management of EREC to provide quality planning, training, and exercise programs to the public and private sectors. As President, she provides oversight to the Planning Division and manages the overall staffing and business functions. Teresa has over 17 years of practical business experience and has been certified as an Emergency Medical Technician since 1986.
Teresa has authored numerous Comprehensive Emergency Management Plans (CEMP), Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP), Terrorism Annexes, Local Mitigation Strategy Plans (LMS), and hazard specificp lans. Teresa was initially trained in HSEEP in 2005 and became a Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program Instructor in 2007. Teresa is certified as a Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP) by the Department of Homeland Security. and serves as a Principal member of the NFPA 1616 Technical Committee on Mass Evacuation, Sheltering, and Re-Entry.
Tracey Hidgon
Senior Associate
Tracey Higdon is an Adjunct Instructor for EREC in both hazardous materials and hospital decontamination courses. In his current fire service employment, Tracey is a lieutenant and member of the hazardous materials team and brings a wealth of fire service, pre-hospital medical and hazardous materials experience to the table.
Tracey has served as an HSEEP Exercise Evaluator on many exercises conducted by EREC as well as one of our Lead Instructors.
Tracey is a subject matter expert for fire, emergency medical services, and hazardous materials and has served as an Exercise Evaluator for these exercises as well as many others.
Joe Iozzi
Law Enforcement Instructor
Joe Iozzi has served over 22 years in the Central Florida law enforcement community and was recently promoted to the rank of Captain. His experience includes a multitude of assignments in SWAT, traffic, training, and community relations. His current responsibilities include Uniform Services/Special Operations Command, and Public Information Officer for his agency. Joe’s primary area of expertise falls within tactical operations, and he holds a plethora of training and management certifications within that arena. Joe holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice Administration and is a graduate of the University of Louisville-Southern Police Institute’s 127th Administrative Officer’s Course.
Joe is well versed in the planning, preparation, and operational components of disaster and critical incident response. He thoroughly understands the internal and external dynamics within multi-agency operations, and employs critical thinking in all avenues of approach.
Joe serves EREC as a law enforcement instructor/evaluator in regard to tactical/strategic planning, and brings many years of training and operational experience with him.
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David Garner
Associate
David joined EREC in 2011 as an exercise consultant in emergency management and response operations. Since that time David has served in a number of functions at EREC including exercise development, lead evaluator, and chief simcell operator.
David's professional experience ranges from fire and EMS field operations, EOC management, continuity of operations planning, public information and executive leadership in local government. David has served as a member of EMS advisory committees, community foundation board, and strategic planning committee.
David currently serves as a local government chief administrative officer (County Administrator) in South Carolina with experience in city and county government. David holds an undergraduate in Emergency Management from Jacksonville State University and a Masters in Public Administration from Clemson University.
Jordan Bradway
Associate
Ralph McDuffie
Law Enforcement Instructor
Jordan has been with the EREC family since 2014, participating in healthcare, public health and emergency management exercises. Jordan has an extensive background in various emergency preparedness and response roles in healthcare and public health preparedness.
Jordan has served and continues to serve in the roles of Statewide advisory council for healthcare preparedness, and various local executive boards. Jordan has a special focus in business continuity and risk identification, with publications into business continuity planning and risk reduction for healthcare systems .
Jordan holds both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in emergency management and leadership, with his most recent educational accomplishment being the completion of his doctorate from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Ralph McDuffie is currently assigned to the Emergency Management Bureau of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office in Leesburg, Florida. Among his duties as the agency Emergency Management Coordinator, he is also assigned the responsibility of the command of the SWAT Team. Ralph has been employed by the Sheriff of Lake County since 1994 and assigned to SWAT since 1995. His Law Enforcement experience dates to 1987 while in the US Air Force as a Military K-9 Handler.
Ralph serves EREC as a law enforcement instructor/evaluator in regard to tactical/strategic planning, Ralph brings years of training and operational experience to the EREC team.
Lee Newsome, CEO of Emergency Response Educators and Consultants, Inc.
“We're a small company doing big things! We look forward to working with you and your community partners to define and reach your emergency management and homeland security goals. We pride ourselves on working closely with our clients to deliver client-specific products that meet and exceed your expectation!