Advisory Board
James Carey, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy Ret.
Rear Admiral James Carey, U.S. Navy Retired is a Surface Warfare Officer with qualifications and experience in assault craft operation and amphibious beach security as a former Commanding Officer of an Assault Craft Unit and as Commodore of a Naval Beach Group.
He served as Director of Navy Logistics Plans & Policy on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations during Operations Desert Shield & Desert Storm. Additional expertise and credentials arise from service in the Reagan Administration as Commissioner and later, Vice Chairman of the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission, where he later served as Chairman during the Administration of President George Bush Sr.
Rear Admiral Carey has served on over 30 corporate, association and military organization boards related to military and national defense programs and projects. He is a former elected National President of the Association of the U.S. Navy and is the current elected National Chairman of "The Flag & Officers Network," an organization of over 3,400 military flag and general officers. www.FlagandGeneralOfficersNetwork.org.
He has served as an advisor to numerous corporations, federal government agencies, and foreign nations and is a board member of the Canadian Defense Foundation and Chairman of the USA National Defense Foundation.
Colonel David Bruening, USA Ret.
Col. Bruening completed, in May 2000, a 32-year career in Army Intelligence. Drafted in May 1968, he went through basic and advanced training before entering Engineer OCS, where he finished as a distinguished graduate and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in Military Intelligence in April 1969. In the more than thirty years that followed, Colonel Bruening was assigned to successively higher positions of rank and responsibility in the intelligence field. Duty at posts in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina were combined with overseas tours in Vietnam, Turkey, Belgium, and Panama. Almost a third of his career was spent at Fort Bragg, NC, where he performed intelligence duties while assigned to Army airborne and Special Forces units. Performing intelligence duties at ranks from Battalion to Army Staff, as well as at the national level and NATO, Colonel Bruening also commanded intelligence units as a Captain, Major, and Lieutenant Colonel. As a Colonel, he culminated his career as the Defense Attaché, U.S. Embassy Panama. Colonel Bruening earned his M.A. in National Security Studies and is a graduate of the Military Intelligence Officers Advance Course, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Army War College.
Steve DePuy
Mr. DePuy is a public safety professional with 30 years as a commissioned police office experienced in local, county, international law enforcement, and public safety telecommunications in the private sector. Throughout his career, Steve has specialized in communications center operations while continuing to be active in field operations. Steve has supervised all aspects of communications centers (Operations, Training, and Administration) and was the divisional liaison to the Regional Emergency Telephone Service Authority, County Commanders' working group, and Sheriffs Operations Staff.
Steve was the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and PC Systems Administrator for the division and CAD Subject Matter (SME) for the department. Steve was on the committee that authored a revised national telecommunications standard operating procedures manual and chaired the state committee that developed the program for and trained telecommunications professionals in a nationally certified training program.
Steve most recently served as a Dispatch Operations and Emergency Response SME in Iraq under federal contract to the Department of Defense where he was responsible for assisting in providing the framework for efficiency of operations for the Iraq Police communications systems. Steve continues to be active in law enforcement as a Sheriffs Reserve Deputy and a part-time University Police Officer.
Dan Edwards, USCG Ret.
Mr. Edwards is an FBI National Academy graduate, former Special Agent in charge of USCG District 14, Hawaiian Islands, conducted numerous covert narcotic operations, criminal investigation and various protection operations from various dignitaries to the President of the United States. Mr. Edwards has worked with many Federal, State, and Local agencies as well as INTERPOL in his over 20 years of federal law enforcement experience. Mr. Edwards instructs various aspects of maritime law enforcement tactics, operational planning, investigations, and emergency maritime critical incident response.
Captain Ray Mach, USN Ret.
Captain Mach has served as Salvage Officer and Boat Group Commander aboard USS Seminole (LKA-104); as Officer-in-Charge of YFU-97 at NAD, Earle, New Jersey; as Weapons Officer aboard USS Jonas Ingram (DD-938); as First Lieutenant aboard USS Charleston (LKA-113); as Executive Officer aboard USS Shreveport (LPD-12); as Commanding Officer aboard USS Fairfax County (LST-1193), and as Squadron Commander for Maritime Propositioning Squadron One (MPS-1). Captain Mach's tours ashore include two tours at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland; the first as an instructor of seamanship and navigation, and later as Personnel and Administration Officer and instructor of management and economics. Captain Mach's most recent tour was served at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. While at the War College he held the Richmond Kelly Turner Chair of Amphibious Warfare and was a member of the Joint Military Operations faculty. Captain Mach is an instructor of navigation, rules of the road, seamanship and vessel handling as well as operational command and control.
Edmond R. Morris, U.S.C.G. Ret.
Mr. Morris is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, class of 1974. He holds an M.A. degree in Business and Organizational Security Management from Webster University and originally hails from Wadesboro, North Carolina. Mr. Morris sailed as Operations Officer on two coastal buoy tenders. He is currently the Port Security Officer for Sector St. Petersburg, responsible for the west coast of Florida.
Other relevant assignments and career activities include Secondment to the International Maritime Organization. Duties included cruise ship security in the Caribbean Basin following the terrorist takeover of the S. S. ACHILLE LAURO; Chief, Port Safety, and Security School. Responsible for training all US Coast Guard personnel with Port Security duties, including Port Security Units deploying in support of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm; Alternate Captain of the Port, Anchorage, Alaska; Team leader for congressionally mandated Port Security Assessment Team following 911 terrorist attacks; Port Security Specialist for Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, Fl with AOR from Tallahassee to Naples, FL.; USCG Sector Coordinator of 2012 RNC security activities.
Jon Panamaroff
Jon Panamaroff has comprehensive experience in capital investment, government regulation, tribal sovereignty, 8(a) contracting, strategic planning, financial management, project coordination, business development, and National market analytics. Over the last six years, Jon has been directly involved in managing and/or generating over $500 million of investment capital into our Native Communities. This investment went directly to our individual Native entrepreneurs, Tribes, Tribally and Native-owned enterprises.
Jon has worked in both the private sector as a Vice President and Business Development Officer at Native American Bank, a Project Manager & IDIQ Center lead for Koniag Services and in the public sector as the Northwest Zone Credit Manager for the U.S. Department of the Interior - Indian Affairs Division of Capital Investments. Jon also has experience working with Community Development Financial Institutions as the former President & CEO of First Nations Oweesta Corporation. Prior to joining the corporate ranks, Jon grew up in Alaska where he was a commercial fisherman & logger. He is an enrolled member of the Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak, Alaska and a descendant of the Koniag Alaskan Native Corporation.
Jon has earned Bachelor degrees in Business Administration and Organizational Psychology along with obtaining a Master of Public Administration degree from Eastern Washington University. He also is an Executive member of the Board of Directors for Koniag Educational Foundation and sits on the Senior Advisory Board for the Haa Aani CDFI, Alaska Growth Capital (CDFI & CDE), Cherokee Nation Businesses CDE and Native One Institutional Trading, the only Native American owned broker-dealer at the New York Stock Exchange.
R. Mallory Starr, Jr.
Mallory Starr is currently President, Institute of Management Consultants, Inc. for Washington, DC, region, a Director of the Sequoia Presidential Yacht Group, LLC, and a Director of Somerset House Management Association, Inc. He has the U.S. and international experience as a management consultant on assignments with Pharmacia Biotech, Sakae Japan, Beijing Stress Management Company, SAIC, Control Data, and Satellite Business Systems Corporation when it was a partnership company of IBM, COMSAT, and Aetna. He also has extensive consulting experience with U.S. and international family-business organizations; including 15 years as an industrial psychologist and internal consultant with a large medical services organization providing psychological services and consultation on people problems, team development, marketing research and development, program planning, board/staff task group management, and quality assurance. Mr. Starr also has experience with U.S. government agencies and retail companies directing critical incident projects.
Lew Knopp
As an entrepreneur, Knopp has founded and led several successful companies in support of the global war on terror, disaster preparedness & response, media & entertainment, construction, nutrition supplement and physical fitness. He currently serves as the Chairman and CEO of Templar Titan, Inc., Titan Development Group, LLC, All-American Services, Global Matrix Solutions Group, and Obelisk Media, LLC. Knopp and his companies have worked all over the world supporting efforts in the face of tyranny, inequality and less than noble actions, Knopp has assisted in engineering critical risk management solutions for dozens of Americans in geopolitically charged environments where extreme danger and life challenging situations were present. Knopp has architected numerous successful recoveries, life support humanitarian and direct action services and solutions to the afflicted globally; this includes multiple Humanitarian Aid/Disaster Response (HA/DR) engagements, recovering personnel, and assets, protecting high net worth individuals, Fortune 500 Companies, governments, entertainment professionals and foreign dignitaries.
At home, Knopp's companies have made significant contributions to the recovery efforts of Hurricanes Katrina, Ike, Gustav Sandy along with the post 9/11 recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site. He has been able to enjoy a great deal of mission success via the efforts of his teammates and those who prescribe to the tenants of the Titan brand (Loyalty, Honor, Justice, Courage, Purity, and Service), it's commitment to providing rapidly deployable, highly professional services in the direct face of tyranny, corruption and extreme events and actions globally. He has been able to accomplish these noble efforts by the blending of multi-disciplinary services, high caliber operators, and emergent technologies timely for a vast array of people, organizations, and governments worldwide.
​As a former Navy SEAL, Knopp was on the forefront of the United States pre-9/11 efforts to combat terrorism and help train allies of the United States government in the strategy and tactics of special warfare operations. He is an expert in asymmetrical, urban and jungle warfare, maritime operations, MOUT, small unit arms and tactics, traditional & non-traditional explosive demolition, free-fall parachuting and all manner of open water dive and mini sub-operations, tactical driving and a vast array of "specialty" skills Knopp is an accomplished street fighter from West Virginia and Pittsburgh trained in Thai boxing and jiu-jitsu. After having honorably served in the military, Knopp also served as a Counter Nuclear Proliferation Team member in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. Knopp speaks fluent Spanish and is conversational in Portuguese and Russian.
As an actor and producer, Knopp has been involved in a variety of television and feature film productions. He collaborated with Tom DeSanto (Transformers, X-Men) as a Co-Executive Producer and Host for the television movie "Crisis: New York Underwater." He has appeared in the TV series "Martial Law", the motion picture film "Gods and Generals" and a variety of other television and film productions. Knopp is currently the host of a OTT series called GUNS & WHISKY and a role player in another series titled TIME WARRIORS.
Knopp continues to engineer & design life support and critical humanitarian solutions for the afflicted via a wide spectrum of services, a robust global network and a passion to serve. He exemplifies the virtues, values and belief system that comprise the American way of life.
William H. Watson
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Will Watson is Founder and Managing Director of William Watson Group, LLC (WatsonGroup), a boutique consultancy in Washington, DC that specializes in the security and intelligence sectors. Additionally, Will is Vice President - Government Affairs and a member of the Board of Governors of the Maritime Security Council and has been active within the group for the past two decades. In that role, he also directs the Maritime Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Maritime ISAC) and represents the maritime sector at the National Council of ISACs.
Will serves as subject matter expert on commercial maritime security to the National Maritime Intelligence Integration Office; has lectured at the International Maritime Law Institute on Malta; is a constituent to the Overseas Security Advisory Council at the US State Department; and serves on the Administrative Board of the Apostleship of the Sea of the USA.
Will has served in senior leadership positions in two international maritime security companies that specialize in counter-piracy and counter-terrorism strategies and operations. He also served as Deputy Commissioner of Maritime Affairs for the Republic of the Marshall Islands – the world’s second largest flag State. In that role, he served as fleet security liaison and was seconded to the RMI’s diplomatic corps and served as a delegate to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the United Nations, where he served on the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia.
These appointments are a continuation of an already extensive career in the maritime industry, journalism and communications. Prior to joining the Marshall Islands Registry, Will spent six years with Lloyd's Register - Fairplay, where he most recently served as Deputy Editor - Americas.
Will is an alumnus of the University of South Carolina and served in the US Air Force Reserve and the SC Air National Guard, from which he was honorably discharged with the Air Reserve Forces Meritorious Service Medal and the Palmetto Service Decoration. He is also a certified Company and Vessel Security Officer (CSO/VSO).
He is also active in the Council of American Master Mariners, the Propeller Club of the United States, the Air Force Association, the National Press Club and DACOR, the DC-based club for foreign service professionals.
Daniel Caccamo
Daniel Caccamo is widely respected in the field of consumer products. Daniel was an honors graduate in marketing and management who loves to discover trends and insights that can be turned into outcome-driven strategies that create breakthrough results.
Daniel began his career in 1980 in Field Advertising with Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, OH. Dan moved on to Union Carbide working in the Consumer Products Division (Eveready Batteries, Prestone, Glad) focusing on Glad Products. The Glad/Prestone brands changed ownership through a leveraged buyout, creating First Brands Corp. Daniel’s work on Glad continued, but soon included the first clumping Cat Litter (Scoop Away), and Starter Logs (fire starters). As part of a buy-out in 1998, First Brands was integrated into the Clorox Company where Dan worked through 2004. Daniel then spent a short time with Pactiv transitioning their business from their traditional Food Broker managed approach to direct with Publix Super Markets.
Upon completion of this project Dan joined the Florida Dairy Farmers as the Director of Insights & Innovation where he worked on the Dairy Department Reinvention project, development of Single Serve/Multipack Milk, Creamy Milk, Grass-Fed Milk, Yogurt Drinks all filling voids in unmet consumer demand, as well as the continued expansion of marketing awareness programs for the Summer Nutrition Program.
Currently, Dan is working with three different businesses; Florida Impact, Action For Healthy Kids both centered around making sure that our children are healthy and happy to enable their capabilities to learn more effectively in school. At Florida Impact his focus is on Food Insecurity with projects on Healthy Breakfast consumption in schools and the USDA’s Summer Nutrition Program. As the Florida Coordinator with Action For Healthy Kids, Dan works closely with three Florida Government organizations (Health, Education, and Agriculture & Consumer Services) to initiate, test, and implement school wellness activities.
A new endeavor for Dan is with Amerisafety in the Maritime and Port Security industry. Dan’s entrepreneurial, and innovative skills have assisted in the development of new business building strategies for a multigenerational maritime family business.
In addition to his current role, Daniel serves as a Board Member of The Florida Grocery Manufacturers’ Representatives (GMR), and the Action For Healthy Kids Florida Executive Committee.
Daniel resides in Saint Petersburg, FL. He is a single father of a 16-year-old daughter. Daniel is a dedicated family man, “Waterman” (enjoys fishing, diving, competitive sailing, kiteboarding, and windsurfing) and plays hockey. As a former NCAA Division 1 football player Dan uses his leadership skills to provide team building, problem-solving, and strategic focus in many areas. Dan has a BS Marketing degree from the University of Mississippi.
Former Advisory Board Members
Paul J. Pluta, Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard Ret.
Rear Admiral Paul J. Pluta was the Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety, Security and Environmental Protection of the United States Coast Guard. He served as the Commander of the Eighth Coast Guard District and Commander of Maritime Defense Command Eight in New Orleans. In 1996, he achieved flag rank and was appointed Director of the Office of Intelligence and Security for the Department of Transportation. Prior to that, he served as Chief of Staff, Ninth Coast Guard District in Cleveland, OH.
RADM Pluta is a 1967 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and holds an M.S.E. degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of Michigan. He has received four Legion of Merit awards, the Meritorious Service Medal and two Coast Guard Commendation Medals.
Michael E. Rawley
Michael E. Rawley – Education includes AA from Northwest Indian College, Bellingham Washington, Public Administration; BA from Western Washington University, Bellingham Washington, Business Administration; Adv Certificate, American Institute of Banking.
For the past nine years, Mike has specialized in Native Entrepreneurship Development and the establishment of a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) to enable native business people access to start-up and expansion capital. He is also a commercial fisherman and fishing vessel owner.
Mike Rawley is Chairman and Treasurer of the 13th Regional Corporation (ANC), CEO of the National Tribal Development Association (NTDA), member of the Western Coalition of Alaska Natives, member of the Alaska Federation of Natives, and member of the Advisory Board for the Ho’oulu Lahui Hawaiian Charter School. He is a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran.