Leadership

Stephen Volandt

President, Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience

25+ years in enterprise infrastructure, program management, and critical infrastructure resilience across federal government (DoD CIO, FBI CJIS, HQMC), Fortune 500, and startup environments. USMC Reserves veteran (Meritorious Service Medal). Co-author of two nationally published books on infrastructure resilience. 2023 FBI-InfraGard Cross-Sector Council Leadership Award recipient. Vice-Chair, InfraGard National Disaster Resilience Council.

Steve founded FIR because the framework that American communities need to survive a Black Sky Event did not exist — and the agencies and industries that should have built it had failed to do so for twenty years.

Mary Lasky

Executive Vice President, Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience. Member, InfraGard National Member Alliance Board. Former Chairman, InfraGard National Disaster Resilience Council (2017–2023). Lead editor and author of Powering Through (2016, 2021) — two nationally published books on critical infrastructure resilience and grid failure preparedness. Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP). Board of Directors, Foundation for Resilient Societies. Member, NARUC Emergency Preparedness, Recovery, and Resiliency Task Force and Black Sky Subcommittee. Former Program Manager for Business Continuity Planning, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Adjunct faculty, Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering. Recipient, InfraGard Linda Franklin National Achievement Memorial Award and FIR Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mary built and led the disaster resilience council that became FIR’s intellectual foundation — and co-authored the books that put infrastructure resilience on the national security map.

Luke Reiner

Chief of Staff, Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience. Retired Major General, Wyoming Army National Guard. Former Adjutant General of Wyoming (2011–2019). Former Director, Wyoming Department of Transportation. Master’s in Public Administration, University of Wyoming. Master’s in Strategic Studies, U.S. Army War College. Honorary Doctorate, Concordia University. 38 years in uniform including deployment to Iraq as camp mayor for a 10,000-person installation — responsible for power, water, wastewater, sanitation, and emergency medical response. Regular instructor, U.S. NORTHCOM Dual Hatted Commander course. Leader, Adjutant Generals Association Homeland Security Subcommittee.

Luke spent his career preparing communities and military forces for exactly the scenario FIR was built to address — and brought that operational experience to FIR’s strategic leadership.

Rob Hartwell

Vice President for Public Affairs, Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience. President, Hartwell Capitol Consulting. Former Congressional Chief of Staff to Representatives Dick Schulze (R-PA) and Nick Smith (R-MI). Associate Staff Member, House Committee on Ways and Means. Over two decades in government affairs, lobbying, and business development with a network of 101 consultants including former National Security Council staff, flag officers, DoD Assistant Secretaries, and retired Members of Congress. Orchestrated over $23 billion in appropriation and tax provisions across his career. Former Chairman, InfraGard NDRC Public Policy Working Group. Former Member, Fairfax County Planning Commission and Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin.

Rob connects FIR’s mission to the policy makers and funding mechanisms that can turn community resilience from a concept into a national program.

Robert B. Newman, Jr.

Pacing Threats Task Force Leader, Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience. Retired Air Force Brigadier General. Former Director, Office of Engagement and Partnerships, DHS Science and Technology Directorate. Former Adjutant General of Virginia. Former Deputy J3/4, U.S. Joint Forces Command. BA in Economics, Virginia Military Institute (Distinguished Aerospace Graduate). MA in Management and Public Administration, Webster University. Graduate, U.S. Air Force Air War College. F-16 and A-7D fighter pilot. Member of an 8-man team that won an international air-to-ground gunnery competition against the British Royal Air Force. Over 30 years of expertise in infrastructure protection, homeland security, and national defense.

Bob brings senior military command, DHS leadership, and state-level homeland security experience to FIR’s threat intelligence and pacing threats mission.

Mike Poynter

Household and Community Readiness Task Force Leader, Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience. 40 years of public service across law enforcement, emergency medical services, and fire service. Former State Director for Emergency Medical Services, Commonwealth of Kentucky. Former Tactical Paramedic, FBI Special Weapons and Tactics Team. 20-year Flight Paramedic at a Level 1 Trauma Center. Former Board of Directors, FBI InfraGard National Members Alliance. Board Member, National Association of State EMS Officials. Commissioner, American College of Paramedic Executives. Senior Consultant, Fitch and Associates. Published in numerous peer and trade journals. Inductee, Cave City Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame.

Mike has responded to hundreds of significant incidents across every sector — and brings frontline emergency services experience to FIR’s community readiness mission.

Fred Ferrer

Household and Community Readiness Deputy, Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience. 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran — Cryptologic Linguist, Intelligence Collector, and Senior Executive Leadership Manager. Former Senior National Security SME at a National Laboratory. Former State Critical Infrastructure Protection Manager. Former Anti-Terrorism Branch Chief, State Intelligence Fusion Center. Former FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force member. Former Cyber and Homeland Security Director for two large-scale industry integrators. Former Senior Policy Analyst, Pentagon Homeland Defense Office. MS in Strategic Intelligence, National Intelligence University. Former Board of Directors, FBI InfraGard National Alliance. 20+ years classroom teaching experience. 17 years teaching graduate and undergraduate Homeland Security, Intelligence, and Cyber courses across seven universities. Recognized with 28 military awards and decorations.

Fred’s four decades across the Intelligence Community, national defense, and cybersecurity make him one of the most broadly experienced national security professionals in FIR’s leadership.

Dr. James Terbush

Public Health Task Force Leader, Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience. Captain, U.S. Navy (Retired). Former Command Surgeon, NORAD and U.S. Northern Command — Medical Advisor to the Commander for DOD medical response to civilian disasters. Former Fleet Surgeon, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command — deployed to Haiti earthquake response. MD, University of Colorado. Master of Public Health, UCLA. Published in scientific journals on influenza, mass fatalities management, and public health consequences of cyberattack. Former President, American Academy of Disaster Medicine. Former Board of Health President, El Paso County Colorado (2018–2023, including COVID-19 pandemic). Senior Partner, Martin, Blanck & Associates. Over 30 years of government service with physician assignments in 80+ countries.

Dr. Terbush understands what happens to public health when infrastructure fails — from Haiti to COVID — and leads FIR’s work on the healthcare sector that collapses fastest in a BSE.

John Juhasz

Resilient Microgrid Task Force Leader, Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience. Founder and CEO, Telepath Systems, Inc. Seasoned executive and systems engineer with career spanning energy, aerospace, automotive, and telecommunications industries. Holds 9 patents in automotive electronics and systems. Developer of the Tripmaster heavy vehicle diagnostics system. Contributed to OnStar development for OPEL/GM-Europe. MSEE and BSEE, Cleveland State University. MBA, University of Detroit. Lifetime Member, INCOSE — Co-Chair, Power & Energy Systems Working Group and Critical Infrastructure Protection & Recovery Working Group. Prime organizer, Energy and Mobility Conference (since 2014) supported by NASA, INCOSE, SAE, and InfraGard. Member, InfraGard NDRC and Energy Sector Chief, InfraGard NEO.

John applies systems engineering discipline to the microgrid challenge — the technology that makes community-scale energy independence technically achievable.

Jim Lint

IT Services Leader, Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience. Retired U.S. military — 7 years USMC, 14 years U.S. Army. Marine Infantry, Marine Counterintelligence, and Army Counterintelligence Special Agent with overseas assignments in Korea, Europe, Cuba, and the Mediterranean. Former Director of Intelligence and Security, U.S. Army Communications Electronics Command (11,000-member organization across all Combatant Commands). Former Deputy Director, Safeguards and Security Division, DOE Office of Science — managing $81M security budget for 10 national science laboratories. Former Deputy Director for Intelligence and Security, 1st Signal Brigade, Korea. Service with DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis. First National Sector Chief for the Defense Industrial Base, InfraGard. Author of three books on management, federal careers, and Korea.

Jim manages FIR’s digital infrastructure and brings intelligence community rigor to the organization’s information security and technology operations.

Thomas Di Mascio

Global Supply Chain Task Force Leader, Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience. 35+ years as a global supply chain practitioner with DHL Global Forwarding, Penguin, John Wiley & Sons, Berlitz, and Warner Bros. BA in Economics and Political Science, MBA in Supply Chain Management, Rutgers University. MS in Publishing, Pace University. National Deputy Transportation Sector Chief and Los Angeles Transportation Sector Chief, InfraGard. Recipient, InfraGard Meeting the Challenge Award (2018) and National Sector Chief of the Year (2021). Founding volunteer, Global Supply Chain Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IACI), Kennedy Space Center. Captain, USAF Civil Air Patrol — aircrew mission scanner and cadet program leader.

Thomas understands the 72-hour pipeline that Americans call a food supply — and leads FIR’s work on the supply chain vulnerabilities that turn a grid outage into a logistics crisis.