Tactical Training Academy
The #1 Workplace Safety Training & Consulting Agency
Meet the Instructors
Want to know a little more about the TTA's instructors and Emergency Managers? Scroll down for a short bio and brief background for each of our current team members.
Greg
Greg is the founder of the Tactical Training Academy and best-selling author of Live Well. Die Well: Suffering and the Path Home, Forged Through Fire: Developing Preparedness for the Perilous Encounter, and the Bloodline of Kings saga. Greg brings extensive work experience as an emergency manager, security supervisor, and risk manager for local units of government and specialty teams across the US, in addition to managing TTA safety and security projects for clients across three continents.
Greg is a survivor with a first-hand perspective, filtered through his educational background in psychology, the love he has for his family and a desire for peace within his community. His own experience in active shooter and violent circumstances have created a passion to empower others to effectively prevent & respond to violence.
He has conducted and structured countless training sessions, all-hazard risk and vulnerability assessments, drill and exercise programs, threat assessment teams for adults and children, and other emergency programs for businesses as small as your local house of worship and as large as foreign governments. He is adept at cultivating community buy-in for emergency preparedness: engaging first responders, government agencies, and private businesses alike. He is also a confident speaker, experienced in running seminars and conferences for hundreds of managers at a time.
Steve
As a Master Instructor and Emergency Manager on the West Coast, Steve has shared empowering seminars with a variety of audiences, conducting advanced active shooter and violence mitigation programs in law enforcement, educational, medical, and business settings. Steve joined the TTA with more than 20 years of experience as an instructor, presenter, and published author with his own business and other educational organizations.
Steve’s training in combat and de-escalation tactics help him effectively evaluate risk and develop implementable strategies for risk reduction, prevention, and mitigation.
Steve holds FEMA certification in emergency preparedness and has an in-depth background in Kodokan Judo and edged weapons. He is passionate about the growth and development of his trainees and their spiritual, mental, and physical preparedness for crisis response and full-life.
Dave
Dave is a proficient and motivating trainer, bringing a unique background of teaching experience within the public school system and law enforcement work.
Dave earned his master’s degree in education, spending the first half of his career working with students before transitioning into full-time law enforcement. Dave specialized on the hostage negotiations team, special investigations, and DUI enforcement, being awarded honors as a Master Patrol Officer and as the DUII enforcement officer of the year. Dave brings a passion for motivating students of all learning types and vast experience teaching in the field as a Field Training Officer and as a classroom teacher.
Dave is an Emergency Manager and Master Instructor within the Tactical Training Academy and works with a host of businesses, agencies, and local organizations across the United States. Dave specializes in our Violent Intruder programs, empowering managers and students to prevent and act upon early signs of violence. Dave also teaches many of our specialty courses, including incident command and de-escalation.
Bud
Bud brings a security-specific lens to training and emergency preparedness services provided to TTA clients. As the former Vice President of Development for a WA State based security firm, Bud has overseen over 400 security personnel, and conducted security-specific site safety assessments at hundreds of private locations and government sites. Bud is also heavily involved in community safety and security, with experience serving on homeless alliance committees in several counties, serving on county site safety committees, and being a supervisor over loss prevention services.
Bud has extensive experience in instructing, teaching, supervising and managing high level program elements of the TTA's violent intruder, de-escalation, and advanced tactics membership programs. Bud's primary goal in all his efforts is to serve people by providing them with the necessary resources to conduct their day to day jobs and lives safely.
Jacob
Jacob is a lead at the TTA's Mission Adventure Camp, teaching tactics courses and delivering CQB instruction to our 1st-year membership Strike Teams. Jacob oversees safety and scenario-based training, promoting an educational environment that poses the least amount of liability to participants.
Jacob is a graduate of the Strike-Team program - His background as a student of preparedness and weapon handling enables him to be effective as an instructor by helping others develop skills that he has mastered. As a leader in many small group settings, Jacob has learned to engage people where they are and connect with them to convey meaning that sticks with them after they leave the classroom area.
Jacob is passionate about helping people to develop awareness and skills that will serve them in keeping themselves and the ones around them safe. In his own family, skill development and service to others takes priority.
Melissa
Melissa started as the TTA's marketing and development coordinator. Through a decade of commitment to the TTA, she has become a high-level instructor in de-escalation, violence mitigation, and CQB applications. She brings over seven years conducting sales and marketing practices for non-profit organizations to the TTA team, along with a background in business, communication, and firearms.
You'll find Melissa assisting with scenario based training, working with our clients, coordinating TTA volunteers, and making every participant in the TTA program understand their story is important.