OUR EXPERTS
Our team has decades of experience in emergency management & law enforcement
including multiple mass casualty responses.
Sonja Grigsby, NEMAA
Founder & CEO
Sonja Grigsby is the Founder and CEO of AarowPrep Emergency Management Consulting and a 2018 graduate of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) - National Emergency Management Advanced Academy (NEMAA) from the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland, as part of their Emergency Management Professional Program series. She was only the 488th graduate worldwide to successfully complete this prestigious year-long program.
After having responded to multiple, large-scale mass casualty incidents, as well as countless other disasters, her passion now is to educate organizations & citizens on how they can better prepare for an active shooter/assailant event. She's also passionate about helping organizations navigate the complicated world of emergency management by teaming up with a cadre of subject matter experts to help evaluate the needs of the organization and to implement processes so that an organization can be better prepared in the face of disaster.
She has worked in Mass Care with the American Red Cross for many years to assist those impacted by a disaster. During this time, she’s led over 40 responses across the nation in areas such as Individual Assistance & Casework, Mass Care Sheltering & Feeding, Disaster Assessment, Bulk Distribution, Public Affairs, Community Partnerships, Government Operations, Staffing, Health & Mental Health Services, Logistics, Technology, and Volunteer Services.
For several years now she's worked on multiple major responses at the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) in Tallahassee, Florida, and across the country, such as Hurricanes Michael, Florence, Irma, Maria, Harvey, Hermine, Matthew, Sandy, Katrina, Pulse Night Club Shooting, FIU Bridge Collapse, Parkland school shooting, plus countless wildfire, tornado, and flooding operations nationwide.
Ms. Grigsby is currently the Division Disaster State Relations Director (DDSRD) Volunteer Partner for the American Red Cross covering the Southeast Division, USVI & Puerto Rico. She's an active member of Florida's elite State Emergency Response Team (SERT) and leads the American Red Cross' ESF-6 Mass Care response for the entire State of Florida by deploying to the SEOC in Tallahassee, Florida, when activated.
She has participated in numerous conferences, exercises, and responses and has attended the Florida Current Issues in Emergency Management and Governors Hurricane Conferences annually. She was on the planning committee for the Florida Governor's Hurricane Conference and participated in every Florida hurricane exercise (FL HurrEx) since 2015.
Some of her most recent awards and recognitions include; Outstanding Leadership Award as Disaster Chair, State of Florida-Excellence in Volunteerism Award, multiple thank you letters from the Governor and First Lady, and the United States Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for Service.
Jim Spratlen served 30 years in Law Enforcement with the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office and the Durango Police Department and 43 years as a volunteer Firefighter in a variety of assignments including Detention Officer, Court Room Security, Chief Investigator, SWAT Instructor, K-9 Handler, Lieutenant in the Fire Service, Emergency Manager, Incident Commander and Chief of Police. While assigned in various positions within the departments, he performed duties as a department instructor in fire and tactical training, emergency and operational planning, continuity of operations planning, and performed table tops and functional exercises as the planner, facilitator and coordinator involving various topics of training.
He was also selected as a law enforcement academy instructor for the Pueblo Community College in Southwest Colorado in 1998 and is still a current instructor for the college. In this capacity, he has instructed numerous law enforcement cadets in officer survival, physical and mental tactics, “No Give Up” warrior mind set, in progress calls, and a variety of topics to mentor the students on how to survive during chaos. During this time, he has developed numerous curriculums used in training fire departments, law enforcement and civilians in tactics and survival techniques involving emergency situations, such as active shooter, MCI and airport disasters. Throughout his career, Jim has developed numerous training programs approved by the Peace Officer’s Standard Training (P.O.S.T) Board for the State of Colorado.
Jim is currently a Certified State Instructor for NIMS pertaining to the Incident Command System and Multi-Agency Coordination Systems, performing multiple instructional classes
Jim Spratlen,
IC3, LSC3(t), SPUL3(t)
Subject Matter Expert
over the years to State employees, government agencies and non-government organizations, always receiving the highest evaluations from his students on content delivery and keeping their interest on the topic.
Since 2007, Jim has held a State certification as a Type 3 All Hazards Incident Commander on one of the 5 teams certified in the state of Colorado. Jim was one of two individuals that had a vision in creating an Incident Management Team in the SW region of Colorado and was able to achieve that vision as a reality in 2012. Jim is currently one of three Incident Commanders on the team and is always ready for deployment to any disaster in the world to help communities get their arms around chaos.
He holds numerous training certifications through various organization such as the Center for Domestic Preparedness, FEMA, EMI, IACP and CACP. These certifications include Advanced Incident Commander, Response to Terrorism, Incident Leadership, Crisis Intervention, Infrastructure Design and Development, EOP Policy and Protocols, EOC Operations, and Hazmat. He is certified in numerous areas of emergency response and management including, but not limited to, development of multi-agency coordination groups, development of command and general staff personnel, instruction in NIMS, and SWAT Basic 40-hour Class Instruction.
He is the recipient of the 2002 Special Olympics Hall of Fame Award, 2005 IOMGIA President’s Investigator Award, and 2016 Executive Law Enforcement Achievement Award. Jim was also featured in the book “Dead Run” which highlighted his tactical deployment with his SWAT Team for a 14-day period into the wilderness of Utah and Colorado in search of three domestic terrorists that killed a law enforcement officer in Cortez, CO in 1998.
In the Southwest Region of Colorado, Jim has been an intracule part of regional boards in collaboration with numerous agencies. Some of the boards and positions he has served on are as follows: The Chair of the Emergency Telephone Service Association, the Chair and Founder of the Southwest Regional Communication Committee and currently the Vice Chair, the Chair and Founder of the Active Response Task Force for La Plata County, Co-Chair and Founder of the Colorado Southwest Incident Management Team, and the Co-Chair of the SW All Hazards Advisory Council. He has also been a member of various State boards, to mention a few, the HazMat Voluntary Certification Board, the Consolidated Communications Network of Colorado, the Senate Communications Selection Committee, Law Enforcement Torch Run Special Olympics Committee and the Bill Daniels Scholarship Selection Committee. Being involved in these and other boards has helped Jim organize the Southwest Region in the training, planning, development and execution of numerous projects, including presidential visits, VIP Protection, grant writing, communications, infrastructure development, disaster recovery, crime prevention, community mentorship and full-scale exercises, including active shooter exercises involving response, recovery, and reunification.
What drives Jim’s passion in his day to day interaction with the people in the community is that no matter what is taught to his students, if it can save just one life, his mission was completed.
Denny Tutwiler, BS, ATP
Subject Matter Expert
Denny Tutwiler graduated from the University of Alabama with a Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering and worked in the Construction and Engineering Divisions of the US Army Corps of Engineers until entering Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training. He flew numerous aircraft in Air Force Special Operations at Hurlburt Field and Eglin AFB before transitioning to the AF Reserves where he flew in Special Operations and Air Mobility Command. So far during his tenure in the Air Force, he's received extensive training in terrorism/counter-terrorism and force protection, chemical, biological, radiological (CBRNE), nuclear and explosives, hurricane evacuation, Continuity of Operations (COOP) and active shooter scenarios and drills.
During his service, Mr. Tutwiler served as Detachment Commander, deploying, bedding down, and employing DOD assets in austere environments in the Middle East and Africa. He was the Subject Matter Expert (SME) for hurricane evacuation operations while working current operations at Hurlburt Field. As a flying Squadron Commander, he participated in numerous Operational Exercises which focused on logistical operations, CBRNE, and Active Shooter Response. He was responsible for enacting force protection and counter-terrorism measures for his unit and personnel.
Mr. Tutwiler transitioned to the Air Force National Security Preparedness Directorate and a is Liaison Officer to the State of Florida and FEMA. As a Liaison to Florida, he was the recognized expert in US Air Force support and operations and executed Air Force
consequence management activities during presidentially declared national disaster relief operations.
He advised Florida leadership and State Emergency Response Team personnel along with FEMA. He also engaged in state and federal planning as well as state, regional, and federal exercises. During responses, he coordinated airlift, logistical support, search and rescue, and firefighting/security missions in support of state and federal partners.
Mr. Tutwiler attended Troy State University and was enrolled in the Masters of Arts in Public Administration with a concentration in National Security Policy. He is a graduate of Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, Air War College and the prestigious Reserve Component National Security Course in Washington, D.C. He’s also attended numerous training sessions from the US Air Force, FEMA, and NOAA to include incident command and response, field operations, FEMA mission assignments, large-scale aircraft response, tropical meteorology, cyber awareness, as well as human trafficking and force protection. He has participated in the FEMA Region 4 Interagency Air Operations Symposium and is a member of the Florida Air Operations Branch.
Throughout his career, Mr. Tutwiler has participated in numerous conferences, exercises, and responses. He has attended the Florida Current Issues in Emergency Management and Governors Hurricane Conferences yearly. He has participated in every Florida hurricane exercise since 2012 as well at the Port St. Lucie Nuclear Incident Exercise. He acted as DOD Liaison to the State of Florida during Tropical Storm Erica, and Hurricanes Matthew, Irma, and Michael. During Hurricane Irma, he was responsible for providing airlift to establish logistical and fuel support at Marathon and Key West International Airport.
Bryant Wolfe is a professional emergency manager and successful business owner in cleaning and restoration/disaster clean-up. Mr. Wolfe holds a Master’s Degree in Emergency Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business/Global Management. He has been an instructor for over eight years and is a recent graduate from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Emergency Management Advanced Academy (NEMAA) from the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland. At the time of his graduation, only 500 had graduated from this prestigious yearlong program worldwide. Mr. Wolfe is a Certified Emergency Manager® (CEM®) recognized by the International Association of Emergency Managers. He has also taught for the Texas Department of Emergency Management, the Idaho Office of Emergency Management, and FEMA as well as being an emergency management consultant. He has worked in numerous jurisdictions as an emergency management director and participated closely with law enforcement and other first responders during the response to their disasters.
Mr. Wolfe was the Emergency Management Director and Emergency Operations Center Manager for Nez Perce County and the City of Lewiston in Idaho. He served during one of the worst fire seasons in history for the State of Idaho in 2015. From the winter of 2016 through the spring of 2017, North Central Idaho faced severe winter storms, flooding, and landslides. All of these disasters resulted in Emergency Operations Center activations to guide and support incident response and recovery efforts. Mr. Wolfe also helped develop a state-of-the-art Emergency Operations Center to enhance operational support and assist in
Bryant Wolfe,
CEM, NEMAA, MS, BS, PDS
Subject Matter Expert
developing a national-level exercise called Cascadia Rising, for his local jurisdiction. He also brought the Integrated Emergency Management (IEMC) course to Lewiston and Nez Perce County and has experience working with the tribal nations of Nez Perce and Shoshone Bannock.
After his time in Nez Perce County and Lewiston, Mr. Wolfe became the Emergency Management Coordinator for the Department of Aviation for the City of Dallas. Mr. Wolfe was responsible for two airports (Dallas Love Field & Executive Airport) and the world’s largest Vertiport in downtown Dallas. Mr. Wolfe served as the Air Operations Director for Dallas Love Field during Hurricane Harvey. During the evacuation for Hurricane Harvey, approximately 2,000 evacuees and over 125 animals were air-evacuated on military C-130s to Dallas Love Field over a one-week period. It was the transportation conduit for shelter operations within North Central Texas to support the impacted coastal areas of Texas. Aside from disaster response operations, Mr. Wolfe created and developed numerous Event Action Plans for events that involved the Department of Aviation. Mr. Wolfe also worked at the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office as the lead emergency management official. He has participated in numerous active shooter exercises which involved law enforcement, fire/EMS, and numerous agencies involved in active shooter situations. Bryant has served through several federal declared disasters including the Air Operations Manager for Hurricane Harvey in North Central Texas. Bryant currently works for the City of Chubbuck Fire Department and is a nationally certified Emergency Medical Technician.
Through his years in emergency management, Mr. Wolfe has challenged his participants to think deeper and find appropriate solutions to the task at hand. He always finds ways to increase critical thinking with an outside-the-box approach to the business of emergency management. Mr. Wolfe constantly strives to find ways to improve processes and is recognized for his enthusiasm, optimism, and caring nature by making a positive impact on those around him. His level of service extends far beyond his years of service including Stop the Bleed and working extremely closely with law enforcement.