The Board of Directors for the 2011 LEAPS conference Los Angeles is pleased to announce our two Keynote Speakers for this years conference.  They are Captain Mike Parker with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and James Featherstone General Manager, Emergency Management Department for the City of Los Angeles.

Their Biographies are as follows:

Mike Parker

Captain Michael Parker is the unit commander of Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau (SHB), which leads the Marketing, media relations, and communications efforts of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), the second largest policing agency in the U.S.  SHB coordinates the 24-hour internal and external dissemination of news and information to the news media, general public, and employees, including executive notifications.  SHB is responsible for the design and content of the LASD website at http://www.lasd.org/ , Nixle messaging and social media, special events, publications, photography, graphic arts, intellectual property, and international liaison with nearly 100 foreign consulates.  He is a 27-year veteran of the LASD, lectures regularly, and has published over 80 articles on policing.  He has a B.S. in Finance and speaks fluent Spanish.  He serves as Vice President of the Peace Officers Assn. of Los Angeles County , and 2008-2010 Chairman of the Communications Committee of the California Peace Officers Assn.. Twitter @LASD_News, @mpLASD, and http://www.facebook.com/LosAngelesCountySheriff'sDepartment and http://www.facebook.com/MikeParkerLASD  Visit http://marketing.lasd.org/ for more on Marketing policing agencies and eCommunications strategies from the LASD.

James Featherstone

In October of 2007, James G. Featherstone was appointed General Manager of the City of Los Angeles Emergency Management Department. A native of Washington D.C. and veteran of the United States Navy, Mr. Featherstone began his years of service to the City of Los Angeles in 1986 with the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD).
Mr. Featherstone responded to a variety of emergencies during his tenure with the LAFD. They included the 1992 Civil Disturbance, the 1993 Firestorm, the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, and numerous local major emergencies and regional campaign incidents. In the spring of 2000, he was detailed to a multi-agency team to develop the Fire Department's Operational and Tactical plans for the 2000 Democratic National Convention (DNC). In this role, he collaborated with a variety of federal, state and local public safety agencies.
Mr. Featherstone is an alumnus of the National Fire Academy and the Executive Leaders Program at the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He has also served as an Adjunct Instructor at the National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center at Texas A&M University. Mr. Featherstone is a member of the National Incident Management Working Group, and the current Chair of the National Advisory Council for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.