Frank G. Rando served in the US Army as a Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Specialist/CBRN Specialist and CBRN Non Commissioned Officer, as well as a Special Forces Medical Sergeant with service in Central America, Middle East, Africa and Europe, and as a Liaison Officer with the Czech Chemical Detection Troops during the first Persian Gulf War.
Frank is a Hyperbaric Medical Technologist and a Subject Matter Expert in aerospace, high altitude and undersea physiology and medicine. He has also served as a Dive Medical Technician for Special Operations combat dive teams and law enforcement dive recovery teams.
Frank continued his service as a military Medical Intelligence Analyst for the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center at Ft.Detrick, Maryland, and is a Subject Matter Expert on operational medical and environmental health threats in military and non- military tactical and strategic operations.
Frank was one of three Respiratory Therapists who formed the original AARC Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response in the mid 1990s.
Frank serves as an advanced practice clinician/Physician Assistant and Surgical First Assistant, with over 30 years of experience in emergency medicine, surgical, pulmonary medicine and critical care medicine. He has been both a paramedic and respiratory therapist, and served as a tactical medic, SWAT member and rescue technician in civilian law enforcement and EMS roles, trained in environmental criminal investigations and a former member of the Northeast Environmental Enforcement Project, a multiagency alliance and task force on environmental crimes.
He is the former Assistant Director of Environmental Safety and Fire Prevention and Chemical and Biosafety Officer for the State University of New York - Downstate Medical University and Medical Center where he initiated, revamped and implemented a multitude of health, safety and environmental initiatives,including efforts involving recombinant DNA/biotechnology R& D and P5 biocontainment, biomedical research on oncogenic viruses and infectious pathogens, chemical/flammables storage and chemical waste disposal, medical waste, PPE recommendations, microwave and laser safety, radiation safety and emergency operations plans for chemical and radiological casualties and others.
For over two years, he continues to serve in COVID-19 clinical research and diagnostics and therapeutics and is a Lead Medical-Healthcare Instructor/Educator for a local college and a Team Lead/Diagnostics Supervisor for a COVID-19 project with Medasource and GinkoBioworks, a leading biotechnology and synthetic biology firm in Boston Massachusetts.
He also often serves as a Guest Lecturer at other institutions of higher learning and continues to serve as a speaker/ presenter at professional meetings, conferences, seminars and webinars.
He is the US Correspondent and a regular contributor for CBNW Magazine, an international journal specializing in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats and has been a certified DHS/FEMA Instructor and served as an SME and Training and Exercises specialist on healthcare, EMS, public health and public safety aspects of Homeland Security. He also was responsible for curriculum design, development, updating, implementation, course delivery and evaluation.
He has received extensive HAZMAT and WMD-CBRNE training, including live agent training, crisis, disaster and emergency management education and training, advanced integrated chemical-biological training, Ebola and other special pathogens training, radiological-nuclear HAZMAT Technician specialist training, advanced radiological incidents operations training, hospital-healthcare mass casualty incident operational and train the trainer course, energetic materials explosives emergency response training ie., terrorist bombings, suicide bombing incidents, medical response to bombing incidents and pandemic planning and preparedness.
He also instructs Tactical Emergency Casualty Care, Prehospital Trauma Life Support, Law Enforcement Tactical Emergency Casualty Care and EMS Safety for the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians. He is a certified CERT Instructor and Program Manager and certified Stop the Bleed Instructor and an Ambassador for the national Stop the Bleed initiative.
Frank has been extensively and continues to be involved as a Subject Matter Expert and Instructor in disaster, operational and tactical medicine and the instruction and development of Integrated Public Safety / Rescue Task Force teams.
He continues to serve as an SME / Instructor for Integrated Community Solutions to Active Violence Events (ICSAVE.org) and is a core faculty member who has instructed well over 18,000 individuals in the State of Arizona.
He is a member of the national honor society Phi Theta Kappa, American Association of Respiratory Care, National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, International Public Safety Association, Arizona Emergency Services Association, Arizona Trauma Society, International Society for Security and Counterterrorism Professionals to name a few.
Robert Eckel has been Aware’s Chief Executive Officer and President since September 2019. Mr. Eckel also serves on the board of directors for the International Biometrics + Identity Association (IBIA), and as a strategic advisory board member of Evolv Technology. Over his distinguished career, he has held many positions of note within the biometric and identity space, including: Regional President and Chief Executive Officer of IDEMIA’s NORAM Identity & Security division from 2017 to 2018; President and Chief Executive Officer of MorphoTrust USA, LLC from 2011 to 2017; Executive Vice President and President of the Secure Credentialing Division of L-1 Identity Solutions Company from 2008-2011; and President of the Identity Systems division of Digimarc Corporation from 2005 to 2008. Mr. Eckel has received his Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California Los Angeles, and his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Connecticut.
Colonel Jim Smith, MSS, NRP, FABCHS, CPC, CLEE, is the public safety director for the Cottonwood Police Department in Cottonwood, Alabama. He has more than 45 years of experience in public safety and has worked for a large metropolitan agency as captain and executive assistant to the police chief to public safety director for a small rural agency.
He has written several textbooks including "Tactical Medicine Essentials" (coauthor, endorsed by the American College of Emergency Physicians),"Crisis Management for Law Enforcement," both in their second edition. He also produced the fourth edition of "Brodie’s Bombs and Bombings."
He is an APOSTC-certified law enforcement executive and certified police chief and graduate of the University of Southern California with a master’s degree in safety. A prolific writer, he has published dozens of peer-reviewed articles in an assortment of journals. He teaches for Troy University as an adjunct instructor and for the University of Phoenix online as an instructor. Smith continues to teach emergency medical technology and tactical medicine through several institutions.
