Donald J. Chupp

Prior to his work with Fireside Partners, Don was the Program Director for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Training Center. Here he managed the daily operations of the center and he developed courses, specialized workshops, and international symposiums for the transportation industry and governmental agencies involved in safety and disaster response.

Before coming to the Training Center, Don was the Assistant to the Director for the NTSB Office of Transportation Disaster Assistance. In this role he provided post-disaster family assistance for victims and their families after major transportation accident. He managed the family assistance role in numerous accidents, including Comair flight 5191 in 2006, Us Airways Express flight 5481 in Charlotte, NC in 2003, American Airlines flight 587 in New York City in 2001, and United flight 93 following the attacks of September 11th, 2001. In addition to these commercial accidents, he provided response support to many business and general aviation operators following an accident.

In 2005 Don was dispatched as a family assistance resource expert to assist federal authorities in the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita response, when at least 1,836 people lost their lives in the actual hurricanes and in the subsequent floods.

During his work there he provided consultation to the American Red Cross operational headquarters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He also developed acute training protocols for Red Cross field volunteers that would be serving in the Gulf area and had never dealt with mass casualty events. He also assisted the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) at the National Find Family Reunification Center, and provided assistance in the River Center Family Assistance Center, also in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Prior to joining the NTSB, he performed active military duty at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. For eight of his twelve and a half years at Dover Air Force Base, Don worked on the flight line as an airframe and power plant mechanic, and later, a maintenance supervisor for the Transient Alert Flight.

During his last four years at Dover Air Force Base, Don served as the Family Support Readiness Program Manager. Throughout this period he served military families by constructing a comprehensive family support program to assist the military community during deployments, disasters, and wartime contingencies. He worked with military families following the USS Cole attack, two V-22 Osprey crashes, and several other military aircraft accidents.

Don holds an Associate Degree in Aerospace Systems Maintenance Technology, a BA in Psychology, and an MS in Community Counseling. He is certified by the National Board for Certified Counselors, and holds certifications in Critical Incident Stress Management, Parent Education, and Family Wellness.

Nathan Eberle

Recently Nate moved to Dover, DE where he joined the Dover Air Force Base Operations Center as a Senior Controller. As a Senior Controller he coordinated and monitored all aircraft maintenance activities for the Dover AFB C-5 and C-17 fleet. Nate ensured that executive leadership were notified of any emergency or incident on the airfield and that 24 hour coverage for reporting of fleet status was available. Nate also provided emergency response for all aircraft at Dover AFB to include any ground personnel. The program brought a new standard to the Operations Center and productivity increased due to faster training processes. Also, a web based dashboard was created to consolidate all resources and tools needed for fellow coordinators. Nate has received recognition for his technical and team building skills by USAF Central Command's Lieutenant General North for his service in the field. While in the field he led the modernization of the operations control center through software and hardware upgrades and created a new database to track 11,724 aircraft maintenance events for the deployed fleet. There he and his team were able to track the movements of more than 3000 flights, 1900 tons of cargo, and 98,000 passenger movements.

Nate remains dedicated to the principles of safety and teamwork to ensure the success of his partnerships. At Fireside Partners he is modernizing our programs as well as introducing some new ways of interacting with our clients to further meet their needs.

Carla Tirel

She has exceptional leadership and communication skills, international experience and a rare multi-cultural awareness for the global aviation environment. With over 25 years in aviation, Carla has a strong grasp of the challenges within business aviation, commercial operations, and corporate flight departments.

From 1999 to 2009 Carla was employed by the largest and most recognized operator of business jets. Serving as the International Director for their Quality Management Team, she ensured that the expectations of the global client base were continually met and exceeded. She also provided operational oversight to the most sensitive issues and acted as an advisor on all international issues.

During this same tenure she also served as Team Leader for the Notification Team which conducts the initial contact with family members and emergency contacts in emergency situations. Operating within their Global Emergency Response Program, she was responsible for plan development as well as the mentoring and training of team members.

Carla also gained vast experience in European operations working with this same operator, and headed up the cabin services and standards department which included aircraft interiors and acceptance. Lastly, and still within her ten year span, she played an integral role in the start up and development of the Emergency Response Program for their Middle East operation in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Carla has years of experience working for a major Saudi Arabian Airline, and was heavily involved with developing customized training focused on CFR Part 121 operations. While living in Saudi Arabia she then joined their new aircraft acceptance team and was responsible to directly coordinate with the FAA and manufactures.

Carla participated in many facets of the acceptance process of their new Boeing 747-400, Boeing 777 and MD90 aircraft including the development of the regulatory flight attendant training programs and manuals. She then participated fully in the qualifying proving runs and acceptance flights and emergency drills.

We eagerly welcome Carla to the team at Fireside Partners and look forward to sharing her skills and experience with our family of clients.

Michelle Ventker

Responsibilities at EJM and NetJets included customer service, after-hour scheduling and fleet ground support for the Fractional Fleet, the Management Fleet, and the Helicopter Group. Accepting a position in the Flight Services Department, her primary responsibilities were to create and maintain relationships with owners in the fractional program. Knowing each of the Owners in the program, recognizing their voice, being familiar with their flight patterns and on-board service desires, as well know special events in their lives; and building a positive service relationship was essential.

Later promoted to the Supervisor of Flight Services, Michelle's role was to assist the Director of Flight Services in expanding the department, without losing the personalized service, yet meeting the demand for company growth. She accomplished this through direct training, encouraging relationship management, and problem resolution.

Michelle worked to continuously focus and refined her coaching experience and team development skills. She gained experience helping the more experienced managers adapt to new methodologies and organizational concepts. This was a task that required patience and an understanding of their individual personalities.

In the spring of 2004, Michelle accepted the position of supervisor for the Ownership Experience Department. Representing the department, she reported directly to the CEO on Flight Specific and Quality of Service surveys, and prepared recommendations to Senior Leadership on process improvement where trends were indicated. She often represented the CEO and Senior Leadership when speaking to Owners. As a result of her work she was promoted to Vice President of Ownership Experience.

In 2008 the company began to enhance their Emergency Response Program (ERP), and she was also selected as the back-up team leader for the Notification Team. In order to meet the requirements of this role, it was essential to obtain emergency contact information for each Owner and their guest. Her department accepted this task and by mid 2009, they had obtained over 90 percent of the information needed, and had educated the Owners on the extra services the ERP program provided.

Her department further determined that the Corporate Owners had larger needs, and Michelle worked closely with the Emergency Response Team by bringing Corporate Owners into the facility to present the plan. In doing so she gained their trust in the ERP and built their personalized corporate protocol should the companies need to partner with her employer in the event of an accident.

Sue Warner-Bean

Sue founded the Emergency Response Planning department for Seattle-based Alaska Airlines and served as its first director, developing and implementing the company emergency response plans, training, procedures, facilities and exercises. Sue has first-hand experience in disaster response: she coordinated with company executives and U.S. National Transportation Safety Board officials following the fatal crash of Alaska Flight 261 (January 2000) to ensure an effective, immediate and compassionate response. She continued to coordinate with company officers, the family association, agencies, vendors and employees through all phases of the three-year response process.

An experienced speaker and trainer, Sue has presented widely both on lessons learned during the Alaska response and on emergency response planning and crisis management. Audiences and venues have included the United Nations Air Transport Section, the National Transportation Safety Board Training Center, FBI victim assistance staff, aircraft accident investigators, risk management and aviation insurance professionals, IATA crisis management conferences, and executives and team members for numerous airlines.

Sue co-chaired the 2004 IATA International Crisis Management Conference and served as an elected member of the IATA Emergency Response Planners Working Group steering committee from 2002 until her retirement. She is a member of International Aviation Womens Association (IAWA) and an associate member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI).

Sue began her career with Alaska Air Group (Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air) in 1985. She has been involved in emergency response planning since 1997; previously she held management positions in customer relations and public affairs. A native of Seattle, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Washington with degrees in Russian Language and Literature, and Russian and East European Studies.

Lauren L. Peduzzi

Her background includes nearly 10 years in the Public Affairs office at the National Transportation Safety Board. During her time at the NTSB she participated in the on-site investigation activities of commercial and private aviation accidents, including the October 1999 crash of a Boeing 767 off the coast of Rhode Island, the February 2000 crash of an MD-80 off the coast of California, the February 2005 crash of a Circuit City owned Cessna 560 in Colorado, the crash of a Cessna carrying Missouri governor Carnahan, and the August 2006 crash of a CRJ-100 in Lexington, Kentucky. As a result of her experience, Lauren is intimately familiar with both the public and the behind-the-scenes process of an accident investigation as well as techniques for managing the tight deadlines and intense interest involved in a major media event.

While at the NTSB she used her knowledge to spearhead the development of the NTSB Training Center course, Managing Communications During an Aircraft Disaster. After leaving the NTSB in 2007, she put her skills to work as Director of Internal Communications for the Citigroup Latin America region, helping the largest financial institution in the world manage communications during one of the most trying financial periods. While at Citi, Lauren assisted in developing plans for quarterly announcements, divestitures, management changes, controversial situations in countries and corporate downsizing. She got her start in the global marketing department of Aon Risk Services, one of the largest corporate insurance brokers in the nation. In this position Lauren worked closely with clients interpreting their technical insurance issues and ensuring they received appropriate coverage to meet their needs.

Lauren has a Bachelor of Arts from Villanova University and a Certificate of Public Relations from University of Virginia.