Frank DePaolo, PA-C, ABMDI-D
Former Deputy Commissioner
NYC Office Of Chief Medical Examiner (Retired)
Mr. DePaolo has more than 30 years of emergency response and recovery experience. For over twenty years, he served in multiple positions retiring as Deputy Commissioner for Forensic Investigations & Operations for the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. In this position, he served as the agency’s emergency manager and was responsible for coordinating many complex operations including the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and most recently the response to COVID-19. Mr. DePaolo created several innovative solutions such as the Unified Victim Identification System (UVIS) and the Medical Examiner Special Operations Response Team (MESORT), a multi-disciplinary, hazmat-certified forensic team, the first of its kind in the nation.
Mr. DePaolo is a recognized subject matter expert on mass fatality management at the national and international levels, serving on several advisory boards including the National Commission for Forensic Science – Medicolegal Death Investigation Subcommittee. He has been an invited speaker at numerous emergency management, and forensic science forums, including the American Academy of Forensic Science annual conference, the International Commission on Missing Persons, and the Interpol Disaster Victim Identification Committee. Mr. DePaolo was the Project Lead for the FEMA Regional Catastrophic Planning Grant’s Mass Fatality Management Four-State Response System.
Mr. DePaolo served as the President and Chairperson of the International Association of Coroners & Medical Examiners (IAC&ME). He is a licensed medical practitioner with 30 years of experience as a New York City paramedic and licensed physician assistant. He is a Clinical Professor of Forensic Medicine at the NYU School of Medicine and maintains several certifications including Hazmat Technician. Mr. DePaolo served 12 years with the United States Navy achieving the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He trained with the U.S. Army’s Mortuary Affairs Center (MAC) at Fort Lee, Virginia where he was one of only a few U.S. Naval Officers to earn the U.S. Army’s “4V” Joint Mortuary Affairs Officer designation
Eddie Compass
Chief Compass is currently a consultant for Next Generation Logistics, LLC. In this position he is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the security division, as well as ensuring compliance on all security matters and directives under the auspices of Next Generation Logistics. Prior to this position, he worked as chief of Delgado College. His responsibilities included serving the (6) campuses within the LA system, as well as training and compliance with all state laws and protocols. He has also worked as an expert witness in crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). His testimony’s have resulted in millions of dollars being awarded to his clients in settlements.
Chief Compass also serves as a consultant to the film industry. He has worked in this industry since 1979 and oversees executive protection for high profile movie personalities, as well as set security. He also provides security for fortune 500 executives as well as high profile professional athletes.
Chief Compass is active in his community and has been involved with numerous civic and private organizations. He has served as Saint Augustine high school’s strength and conditioning coach for seven years and is in part responsible for the success of many high-profile professional athletes. He was a volunteer instructor for 30 years, at Blue Lion Karate Academy, where he holds the title of 5 th degree black belt. He’s served as a volunteer security consultant, for All Congregations Together, as well as serving as the volunteer basketball and flag football coach, at the Carrollton Booster Club, to name a few
Chief Compass received the national community police officer of the year; this award was personally presented to him by Vice President Al Gore. Chief Compass also received the award for rookie of the year, as well as NOPD policeman of the month (5 times), NOPD commander of the year (3 times), commendation for bravery medals (received 7 times), Kiwanis club policeman of the year (3 times) Loyola University’s alumnus of the year, and the medal of merit award winner. Chief Compass has over 80 awards and commendations in his 44-year career. Chief Compass was also an adjunct professor at Loyola university, Dillard University, Southern University, and a guest lecturer at Tulane University.
Chief Compass lives in New Orleans, LA is single living his “best life” and has five children, Tiffany, 42, Eddie 39, Candis,36, Laurette, 21, and Marlon, 18, and has seven grandchildren ranging in ages from 1 year – 22 years old.
Vanessa Vega
Vanessa Vega, M.S. is an internationally published author and motivational speaker from Irving, Texas. For the last twenty-seven years, she has worked with students in grades 6-12 as an English Language Arts and Reading teacher and interventionist. Her memoir, “Comes the Darkness, Comes the Light” puts readers into the mind of a self-injurer, and recounts the process she went through over a thirty-five-year period to reach a place of health and healing. By sharing her story, she hopes to educate and inspire others who may be, or know someone who is, on a similar journey. She holds degrees from Texas Tech University and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
Ameer Baraka
Ameer Baraka first emerged on the national stage after being profiled by Oprah Winfrey. Born into abject poverty in New Orleans’ most dangerous and most impoverished public housing project, the Calliope Houses, the prospects for Baraka’s future could not have been more bleak. Before going off to prison to serve a 30 year sentence, his father introduced Baraka to drug use and drug sales as a means of survival.
Baraka’s mother, unaware of his dyslexia, called Baraka dumb and stupid when he could not read as well as his siblings and classmates. He failed at school and dropped out in the seventh grade. His own life spiraled out of control such that he faced a 60 year prison sentence for crimes he committed as a juvenile, but for which he was tried as an adult. He was an undiagnosed dyslexic until, at age 23, in prison, and functionally illiterate, he was diagnosed with dyslexia and was told by a Fellow inmate that, unlike any other inmate he had met before, Baraka could be somebody if he applied himself. He earned his GED behind bars and was released after four years with the help and intervention of a sympathetic, compassionate jurist who saw Baraka’s potential for greatness. Having vowed to not just be a good citizen if given a second chance at life, but rather, to be a true leader on a national and even a global scale, Baraka has achieved that and then some.
Not only has he gone from illiteracy to becoming an excellent reader, he is a writer and is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, “The Life I Chose – The Streets Lied To Me,” he is a renowned television and film actor who has acted alongside three different Academy Award winners in the more than thirty feature films and television shows in which he has appeared, he has been profiled by Oprah Winfrey, his book has been made mandatory reading for entire police departments and schools, he has testified before the U.S. Congress on the issue of dyslexia, he has launched a national, year round police involved camp.
