Charles Jennings

Dr. Jennings is a rare blend of education, training, and experience in the field of public safety. His Doctorate in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University is backed by over 20 years of fire service experience in New York and Maryland, including serving as Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety for the City of White Plains, NY from 2002-2008, and Chair of the Board of Fire Commissioners for the City of Ithaca, NY. He holds a Chief Fire Officer designation from the Center for Public Safety Excellence.

Dr. Jennings is a recognized authority on community-level fire risk and analysis and long-range planning of fire and emergency services. He is an Alternate to the National Fire Protection Association’s High Rise Building Safety Advisory Committee (HRB-SAC)and was an advocate for increased safety standards for tall buildings following 9/11. He helped lead nationally-recognized innovation in police-fire coordination in White Plains.

Dr. Jennings is co-editor(with Adam Thiel) of Managing Fire and Emergency Services, published by the International City Management Association. He was recently named a Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) in recognition of his sustained contributions to the fields of fire engineering and management.

Tristi Nichols

Dr. Nichols has worked in numerous capacities for the United Nations, Civil Society Organizations, and multilateral organizations in many countries, including those in post-conflict situations.  She earned her Doctorate in Program Evaluation and Planning at Cornell University.   Her areas of expertise include assessing the effectiveness, relevance, and impact of a variation of substantive areas, such as: (1) early childhood development and education services (throughout the Caribbean region and in Bangladesh); (2) reproductive and maternal health services (in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe); and (3) the quality of organizational capacity strengthening interventions.

 Dr. Nichols has completed multiple assignments in Africa, Eastern Europe, India, Sri Lanka, and the United States. She is fluent in French and Portuguese.  Dr. Nichols also served on the Board of Directors of the American Evaluation Association, the leading professional society dedicated to program evaluation and has an article in the book Feminist Evaluation and Research Theory and Practice.