Debra H. Amesqua is the Fire Chief in Madison, Wisconsin and the first woman to hold the position. At the time of her appointment, she was one of only seven women Chiefs among the 32,000 Fire Departments in the Country. Debra began her career in firefighting in 1983 as a recruit in the Tallahassee Florida Fire Department. She earned subsequent promotions to Lieutenant, Captain and Assistant Chief for Training in Tallahassee before becoming the Fire Chief in Madison.

Debra is nationally recognized for her work on senior-level management training for fire service women and breaking down barriers for people of color. She has developed and presented a number of workshops and authored several professional papers on subjects related to executive officer career development, and building a learning organization in the fire service. She was the first president of the Women Chief Fire Officers Association in 2004-05, and holds the “Chief Fire Officer” (CFO) designation as witnessed by her peers and awarded by the fire service Commission on Professional Credentialing.

Debra received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Business & Management as a Wingspread Scholar at Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has an AA degree in Fire Science from Tallahassee Community College. She has completed the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer (EFO) and Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Training Programs as well as the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Debra has also completed numerous professional development workshops and programs including the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute (EDI) at Florida A&M University.

Robert Oliver is Fire Chief of the Redmond Fire Department. He joined the department in 2005 as Deputy Chief after retiring as Deputy Chief and 33 years of service with the Phoenix Fire Department.. He is a 1972 graduate of Arizona State University with a B.A. in Sociology. Robert completed an internship in the National Urban Fellowship Public Administration Program in 1973, followed by the completion of the Fire Service Curriculum at Phoenix College and the Command and Staff Officer's Program at the Nation Fire Academy. In 1989, he successfully completed the University of Southern California Leadership Studies Program.

Robert is a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, National Fire Protection Association, International Fire Instructors, American Society of Training and Development and Society of Human Resource Management. As the Senior Consultant in the Oliver Consultant Group, he develops, and facilitates human relations trainings and designs and implements service-performance programs and rewards and accountability systems. Robert is a well respected public speaker/trainer on various human relations topics, on the local and national circuit.

Vicki Smith is Vice-President, Lion TotalCare® USA, for Lion Apparel. Lion is the world's largest provider of firefighter-protective clothing. The Company’s brands include Janesville® and Body-Guard® turnouts, Lion RescueWear™, Lion StationWear™, and Paul Conway Helmets™.

Vicki started with Lion Apparel in 1987 in customer service and became a Vice-President in 2003. She has held a variety of positions, including Vice President of Channel Marketing Services and Director of TotalCare Operations UK. Her ground-breaking work in creating the first-ever total care program for the London Fire Brigade was instrumental in establishing Lion as a world-leading supplier of fire fighter protective clothing. Vicki has also been active in establishing educational resources for Lion, its dealers, and the fire service. She attended Wright State University in Dayton, OH.

Roxanne V. Bercik is an Assistant Chief with the Los Angeles Fire Department. She was previously assigned as the Division 2 Commander and was responsible for an area encompassing one-third the City of Los Angeles including West Los Angeles, South Los Angeles, Fairfax, Port of Los Angeles, and LAX International Airport. Roxanne directly supervised five Battalion Commanders and approximately 380 personnel and was responsible for all emergency activities and administrative duties within that area. Currently, Roxanne has been reassigned to the Fire Chiefs office and is working on some special projects including radio interoperability.  

Roxanne began her career in the Fire Service in 1984 and has held the ranks of Firefighter, Inspector, Captain, Battalion Chief, and Assistant Chief. She has authored numerous articles for fire service magazines and is a member of the editorial board for International Journal of Leadership and Management in the Fire Service. She is also a commissioner for the Certification of Fire Officer Designation (CFOD). Additionally, she is a member of the IAFC – Human Relations Committee and sits on the IFSTA Terrorism/WMD Committee. . 

Roxanne is currently completing the Executive Fire Officer Program at the National Fire Academy and was awarded the Harvard Fellowship in 2003. She has a BA in Economics from University of California - Santa Barbara along with a MS in Public Administration from California State University- Los Angeles.

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