PreFense honors its association with concerned school presidents, directors, regents, deans, superintendents, and fellow educational leadership who support the eradication of school violence and generously lend their time, experience and expertise so that ‘PreFense for Schools’ remains relevant and accessible throughout the learning community.
Dr. Robert L. Taylor
Dr. Robert L. Taylor is a third generation public school administrator who believes that the art of teaching is the noblest of professions. Dr. Taylor, currently holds the position of Associate Executive Director for the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents. Throughout his tenure in education Dr. Taylor has served as the Chief Schools Officer, Superintendent, Principal and teacher in educational organizations in both the United States and Europe.
Robert was awarded a Doctorate of Education degree in Leadership and Policy, from Indiana University, an M.S.Ed in School Administration from Indiana University, and a B.S. in elementary education from Olivet Nazarene University. Dr. Taylor has served as an educational consultant and professional mentor for education/ business partnership development, school security and education leadership. He has provided staff development training for business leaders, administrators/educators, and upper level operational managers, throughout China, Europe and the United States. Robert has made presentations at the Chinese Ministry of Education Principal’s Conference, National School Board Association National Conference and the International Conference for Middle Grades Learning in Zurich, Switzerland and Frankfurt, Germany. He has served as a keynote speaker and presenter at the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns annual conference, the National Symposium for Middle Grades Education and at the Western Regional Conference for Middle Level Education. He has served as an elected member of the board of directors for the European League for Middle Level Education, the Indiana Middle Level Education Association and the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents. In October of 2015 Dr. Taylor was the keynote presenter at the Zhejiang Province Education Conference for school administers and directors, hosted in Hangzhou China by the Chinese Ministry of Education.
Dr. Taylor has received numerous professional honors and recognitions. In 2019 Dr. Taylor, was awarded the Olivet University Alumni of the Year Award in recognition of his service and contributions to the field of Education. In 2016 Dr. Taylor was chosen by the current Vice-President of the U.S. to serve as the Vice Chairman of the Indiana Regional V Works Council and currently is the Chairman of the Indiana Construction Roundtable Foundation’s Executive Board of Directors. Dr. Taylor was named the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents “2013 Superintendent of the Year” representing region V. He was elected by his peers as the President of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents and served in that position in 2014-2015. Robert was selected to serve as the Mayor’s representative on the Redevelopment Commission and currently serves as the President of the RDC. In 2014 Dr. Taylor was awarded the prestigious Boone County Chamber of Commerce “Business Person of the Year Award”. This was the first time in the history of the Chamber that a professional educator was a recipient of this award.
Dr. Taylor worked with the Department of Defense Overseas Education Activity in Germany from 1981 until 1995. During his tenure in Germany, Dr. Taylor served in several educational administrative positions: Educational Program Manager, Director of Technology, building administrator, Director of Security, Operations and Plans and Deputy Superintendent for Business Affairs.
Paul DeMatteis
CPP, CFE
Mr. DeMatteis is the founder and Director of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Terrorism Vulnerability Assessment Program, administered under the CUNY Research Foundation. Over the last ten years, he has successfully completed over 500 projects throughout the US within business, educational and religious communities, raising over $10 million in funding from the Department of Homeland Security.
Mr. DeMatteis has worked as an executive security professional for three world financial institutions, government and a major law firm. He has worked in over 60 countries, evaluating high-risk environments and developing mitigation systems and strategies. He has also conducted emergency extractions, kidnapping prevention and recovery strategies, and provided executive protection programs worldwide. Mr. DeMatteis has also conducted due diligence, fraud, multi-million dollar fraudulent transactions, and employee wrongdoing investigations on state, national and global levels, reducing loss and maximizing recovery. He has lectured on physical and information security, risk and emergency management, counterterrorism, defending against a dedicated adversary, fraud prevention, travel security and economic espionage at financial institutions, business and security associations, law enforcement and governmental agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
Mr. DeMatteis has also served as expert commentator for NBC, CNN and Fox News.He received a commendation in 2001 from the Director of the FBI for assistance relating to the World Trade Center tragedy, and the American Society for Industrial Security presented him with an award for his work in counterterrorism. He maintains Certified Protection Professional (CPP) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) certifications, he is also a member of the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP) and sits on the State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council’s NYC Executive Committee.
David G. Hines
Mr. Hines, B.A. Political Science, B.A International Relations, M.A. Education (curriculum and instruction), is a retired educator with 32 years of extensive experience in a broad variety of teaching venues. During his career, he has taught on university campuses, state hospitals, county probation classrooms, adult education facilities, local school district classrooms and county alternative education classrooms, including court and community schools.
After formally retiring after over three decades of service, Mr. Hines continued to serve as county-wide testing coordinator for Monterey County (CA) Office of Education and, during that time, is credited with creating and publishing the county’s first Comprehensive School Safety Plan, following state and national guidelines for campus safety.
Suzanne Bruce
Suzanne Bruce has more than two decades of public-school work experience as a first-grade teacher. She has a master’s degree in education and Multi-Cultural Studies and an English as a Second Language endorsement. Ms. Bruce remains an active advocate for school safety since the Sandy Hook tragedy. She cares deeply about the safety and security of her students and is proud to be part of the school safety training programs and best practices to help keep her students safe in school.
Kelly Schwartz
Currently working in the private sector as a health and wellness expert with extensive personal security background, Kelly served in the education field for over 11 years, Ms. Schwartz was a teacher at Our Lady Star of The Sea Catholic School, Grosse Pointe Woods, MI, to include third, fourth, fifth grade teacher, Science Department Head for intermediate grades, Science Olympiad Coach, active member on Steering Committee for NCA accreditation.
She additionally taught second and fourth grades at St. Bede Catholic School, Southfield, MI, worked for both the Centerville and Kettering City School Districts and was an Education Specialist at South Connection Oakwood, OH. Kelly’s education includes a Master of Arts in teaching from Marygrove College, Detroit, MI where she graduated summa cum laude, a Bachelor of Science in Education from Bowling Green State University, OH with a major in Elementary Education and minor in Psychology.
Wesley Sever
Wesley Sever, Ed.D., is serving his 10th year as the Superintendent of Kingsburg Elementary Charter School District. He received his B.A. degree in Psychology, a minor in Spanish, a Master’s in Educational Leadership from California University, Fresno, and finished his Doctorate in Education from the Joint Doctoral Program with the University of California, Davis and Fresno State University in Educational Leadership. Dr. Sever is also currently serving as an advisor to the State Board of Education on the Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (ACCS), as well as a member of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Support Team (FCMAT) Board.
Dr. Sever began his experiences as a Bilingual Spanish Tutor in Fresno Unified. After that experience, he decided to become a teacher and taught 4th , 7th and 8th grades before becoming an administrator. He spent 13 years in Sanger Unified School District working as a vice-principal and principal. During his time in Sanger USD. Dr. Sever’s school, John Wash Elementary, was named Sanger Unified’s first-ever National Blue Ribbon School. He was also a finalist for the Fresno County Administrator of the Year.
In 2009, Dr. Sever received national recognition when he was presented with the Terrel H. Bell Award for excellence in educational leadership. Now as the Superintendent of Kingsburg Elementary Charter School District, Dr. Sever’s focus is on building programs that lead to the success of all students learning. Professional Learning Communities, Response to Intervention, and PBIS are focus areas to achieve this goal.