OUR MISSION
The Center of Public Safety Excellence, Inc. (CPSE), a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) corporation, promotes continuous quality improvement by providing training and career resource information to the fire and emergency service agencies and personnel that serve communities throughout the United States.
In addition, CPSE serves as the governing body for the essential entity organizations that offer accreditation, education, and certification services to first responder and fire service industry professionals and agencies. CPSE’s dedicated board members individually contribute a wealth of experience and fresh ideas to the progression of the industry.
CENTER FOR PUBLIC SAFETY EXCELLENCE
Board of Directors
Thank you for visiting the CPSE Board of Directors page! The board consists of five highly qualified individuals who comprise the heart of CPSE's leadership, ensuring consistency, relevancy, and excellence in all of our activities and programs. These five individuals manage all aspects of our operations, including the separate Commissions that head the agency accreditation and individual credentialing programs.
Randy Bruegman, CFO, President
Fire Chief
Fresno Fire Department
450 M St.
Fresno, CA 93721
randy.bruegman@fresno.gov
Fire Chief Randy R. Bruegman began his career as a volunteer firefighter in Nebraska. He was hired as a firefighter in Ft. Collins, Colorado, where he served in a variety of positions including: engineer, inspector, lieutenant, captain and battalion chief. He has served as fire chief for the City of Campbell, California; the Village of Hoffman Estates, Illinois; Clackamas County Fire District No. 1 (Oregon); and Fire Chief for the City of Fresno since September 2003.
He is a noted author and lecturer on such topics as Leadership and Managing Change in the Fire Service and a contributing author of fire service literature including Fire Attack: The Strategy and Tactics of Initial Company Response; Making a Difference: The Fire Officer Role; Surviving Haz-Mat, Haz-Mat for First Responders; The Volunteer Firefighter, and A Breed Apart. He has also authored three books: Exceeding Customer Expectations, The Chief Officer: A Symbol is a Promise, and Leading and Managing in the Fire Service (due out in February 2007). He serves on the editorial advisory board for Fire Chief Magazine. He was elected as president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs in August of 2002 and has served as the President of the Board of Directors for the Center for Public Safety Excellence since 2003. He has an associate's degree in fire science, a bachelor’s degree in business, and a master’s degree in management.
John Drago, CFO, Vice President
City Administrator
City of Longwood
175 West Warren Ave.
Longwood, FL 32825
jdrago@ci.longwood.fl.us
John Drago has more than 25 years of fire service experience. Within these years, Mr. Drago served as the director of Fire Protection for Broward County, Fla. In addition, he has more than 20 years of executive management experience in local governments including his years as the city administrator for Okeechobee, Fla. and town manager for Golden Beach, Fla. Presently, Mr. Drago is the city administrator for Longwood, Fla.
Mr. Drago has written two fire service books and composed several industry-related articles.
John has also taught many courses to fire and EMS providers on working with city managers.
Currently, Mr. Drago is a member of the Florida Firefighters Standards, Training and Employment Council, a life member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), and is a full corporate member of both the Florida and the International City/County Management Associations. For more than six years, Mr. Drago has served on the CFAI accreditation commission – three of which, he was the vice chairman. He also is a peer assessor and faculty member for the CFAI.
In the past, Mr. Drago served on the accreditation development subcommittee of the IAFC’s accreditation task force.
Mr. Drago has a master’s and bachelor’s degree in business administration and an associate’s degree in fire and safety engineering technology.
Michael Worthington, Secretary-Treasurer
Corporate Vice President & General Manager (retired)
Global Market Operations & Strategic Communications
Motorola Corporation
St. Charles, IL 60174
mikenann@sbcglobal.net
Michael Worthington began his career in the fire services in 1966 as the fire chief for Pitt County, N.C. In this capacity, Mr. Worthington was responsible for 21 fire districts serving the county, in addition to managing the emergency communications networks. In 1971, he began has career with the Motorola Corporation as the district sales manager of state and local government for North Carolina.
As a thirty-year Motorola employee, Mr. Worthington held various positions within the communications sector in the United States, Latin America and Singapore, Southeast Asia. Although retired from Motorola as the corporate vice president and general manager of global market operations and strategic communications, Mr. Worthington continues to support Motorola's activities with the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International, Inc., the Association of Fire Chiefs, and the National Fire Protection Association.
Mr. Worthington majored in industrial and technical education at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.
Cliff Jones, CFO, Board Member
Chief
Tempe Fire Department
1400 East Apache Blvd.
Tempe, AZ 85280
cliff_jones@tempe.gov
Cliff Jones has more than 35 years of fire service experience. Within his years of experience, 19 were dedicated to serving Tempe, Ariz. as the fire chief. During his tenure, the Tempe Fire Department was among the first five departments accredited by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International.
In addition to Mr. Jones’ position on CPSE’s board of trustees, he is a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs and was a past president of the Western Fire Chiefs Association. In 1997, he received the Career Fire Chief of the Year Award from Fire Chief magazine.
Mr. Jones has a master’s degree in public administration, a bachelor’s degree in political science, and an associate’s degree in fire science. He also completed Harvard University’s program for senior executives in state and local government in 1999.
Max H. Baker, Board Member
County Administrator
County of Los Alamos
5095 Quemazon
Los Alamos, NM 87544
bakerm@lac.losalamos.nm.us
Max Baker is the County Administrator of Los Alamos County, New Mexico. This challenging community is home of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the crown-jewel of the national laboratories. The County government is established under a Home Rule Charter which combines both county and city functions under one legislative body and a single administrator. The citizenry of 18,500 is highly educated and is demanding of high quality services. Additionally, because of the large federal presence, the County maintains strong relationships at both the Federal and State levels to ensure long-term economic health for the community.
Max holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration and has over 30 years of local government experience. That experience includes local government service in New Mexico, Missouri and California. He initially came to Los Alamos County in January of 1992 serving as Finance Director and has promoted to Deputy County Administrator before his present appointment as County Administrator.
Max is the primary negotiator for the County in a multi-million dollar contract to provide fire department services including EMS to the national laboratory, and largely because of the requirements of that contract, the County’s Fire Department was one of the first five to receive “Accredited” status from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI).
Max serves on the local Advisory Council for the Red Cross Chapter. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Los Alamos Public Schools Foundation and a past member of the Board for the Los Alamos Medical Center.
Max served on the Commission on Fire Accreditation International from May 2006 until December 2007 when he was appionted to the Board of Directors.He received the William H. Hansell, Sr. & Alice Hansell Award from ICMA in 2004 for the County's Defensible Space Program and served on the Acting Manager Task Force for ICMA in 2005.
CFAI Commissioners
CPC Commissioners