ADVISORY BOARD
DAVID RHODES
David Rhodes is president of Rhodes Consultants, Inc., which provides public safety training, consulting, and promotional assessment centers. He is a 32-year fire service veteran and a chief elder for the Georgia Smoke Diver Program.
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David is a member of the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) Executive Advisory Board, a hands-on training coordinator for FDIC, an editorial adviser for Fire Engineering and the UL Fire Safety Research Institute, and an adjunct instructor for the Georgia Fire Academy. He is also a Type III incident commander for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency-Metro Atlanta All Hazards Incident Management Team and is a task force leader for the Georgia Search and Rescue Team.
Steve Strawderman is a retired Battalion Chief from Prince William County Fire and Rescue Department in Northern Virginia. During his 28-year career, he served as firefighter, paramedic, EMS educator, EMS Supervisor, Station Captain, Safety Captain, Planning Chief and finally as Field Battalion Chief. During his four years as the Planning Chief, he was also the Department's PIO and Spokesperson. In 2004, he was one of the founding members of the National Capital Region Incident Command Team (NCR-IMT). He also qualified as a Type III All-Hazard Incident Command Team PIO.
Steve holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Averett College and a master’s degree in human resource management from University of Richmond. He is also a graduate from National Fire Academy, Executive Fire Officer Program and is a Designated Chief Fire Officer from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International.
STEVE STRAWDERMAN
Chief Jodi Gabelmann is a 29-year veteran of the Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services, beginning as a firefighter and rising through the ranks as a Georgia Smoke Diver (481) and Battalion Chief. She served as the Fire Representative for the Target Hazard Planning Committee for Cobb County, the National Fire Protection Agency 1500 Committee for Health, Safety, and Wellness, and chaired and hosted the 10th International Women in Fire Service Conference. As a Battalion Chief, she received the Team Build Award two consecutive years.
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Chief Gabelmann created and developed the Courageous Conversations vignettes, the key component that uniquely demonstrates how to resolve conflicts and co-presented throughout the county and nationally. She earned a bachelor’s degree in human performance at the University of Florida and an associate's degree in fire science from Dekalb College.
JODI GABELMANN
Dr. Valerie Mac RN, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. She is an expert in occupational heat illness and an Emergency Nurse Practitioner. Her research is centered around characterizing heat illness through physiologic biomonitoring and community-based research to identify meaningful and sustainable interventions for worker populations.
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DR. VALERIE MAC
David Wall was the Director of the Georgia Fire Academy, a Division of the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, for 13 years. Chief Wall started his career as an EMT and firefighter, working his way up to Chief in 1993. Since his retirement in 2017, David has continued to teach for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. He serves as a consultant to the University of Georgia Carl Vinson Institute of Government on various projects, primarily in local government affairs.
Chief Wall earned a master’s degree in public administration from Georgia College and State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Brenau College. He has completed the Executive Fire Officer (EFO) Program at the National Fire Academy and is a 4 time Chief Fire Officer Designee (CFOD) through the commission on fire service accreditation. He is currently in a doctoral program, seeking the degree of Doctor of Education in organizational leadership.
DAVID WALL
