MARITIME RISK SYMPOSIUM
Welcoming Remarks/Safety Brief
Session Speakers
Robert Crane
Institute For Homeland Security - Sam Houston State University
Robert Crane is a Homeland Security Professional and Advocate for the operational resilience of our Nation's critical infrastructure and end-user communities. In February of 2022, Mr. Crane joined the Institute for Homeland Security at Sam Houston State University in Texas as a Project Manager focusing on critical infrastructure security and resilience. In 2020, Mr. Crane retired from federal civil service after serving as the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) and Positioning-Navigation-Timing (PNT) Resilience Advisor to the Office of Chief Information Officer of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Previous homeland security assignments included deputy director of the DHS National Security Systems Program, advisor to the U. S. Coast Guard and the DHS on the maritime information sharing environment, and Commander in the Coast Guard Reserve.
John Stauffer
Associate Vice Chancellor & Superintendent of Maritime - San Jacinto College
Adrian Garcia
Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 2
Commissioner Adrian Garcia has always called Precinct 2 home. Born and raised in Houston’s Near Northside neighborhood, Garcia joined the Houston Police Department upon graduating high school. After a distinguished career as police officer across two decades, he was elected to Houston City Council District H and named Mayor Pro Tem under Mayor Bill White. In 2008, Garcia became the first Latino Sheriff of Harris County. In 2018, Garcia was elected as the Commissioner for Precinct 2, the northern and eastern portions of Harris County that spans from Aldine to League City. Now in his second term, Garcia focuses his Revive2Thrive initiative to revitalize the precinct through strategic investments in infrastructure, public safety, and economic opportunity. His mission is to make Precinct 2 the best place to live, work, and play for all.
Michael Aspland
Executive Director - Institute For Homeland Security - Sam Houston State University
Michael Aspland has 36 years of public service that includes a background in criminal justice, homeland security, and public service. He was the first member of the IHS team, bringing together a group of professionals from the public and private sectors to set the Institute on a path to improving critical infrastructure protection for Texas. The journey to the Lone Star State began in 2014 when he retired from law enforcement after 26 years of service in California and started a second career in academics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Cal. He taught civilian and military partners how to map out and disrupt the networks of illicit organizations. During this time, he founded Set Free Monterey Bay, a restoration home for women escaping sex trafficking. In October 2021, Michael arrived in Texas to launch IHS!
Dr. Philip Lyons
Dean - College of Criminal Justice - Sam Houston State University
Dr. Phillip Lyons was appointed the sixth Dean of the College of Criminal Justice in September 2015 after serving as Interim Dean for a year. Dean Lyons joined the faculty of Sam Houston State University in 1995 and served as an associate professor and in several administrative roles, including as Interim Chair of the Department of Security Studies, Director of the Division of Professional Justice Studies, and Executive Director for the Center for Policing Innovation.
In 2012, Dr. Lyons was named the first recipient of the David Payne Academic Community Engagement Award at SHSU, which recognizes excellence in community engagement through teaching, research and service. He also designed, developed, and implemented a community policing internship program with students in residence at Sam Houston for a year from the Zhejiang Police College in Hangzhou, China. Dr. Lyons has written or coauthored dozens of scholarly and professional works, including books, book chapters, and journal articles, many of which are published in some of the leading journals of his field. He also was selected by his peers to serve a three-year term on American Psychological Association's prestigious Committee on Legal Issues.
Before joining SHSU, Dr. Lyons completed a year-long, pre-doctoral internship in Forensic Clinical Psychology at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, an institution within the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and spent several years as a law enforcement officer in the Hillcrest Village Marshal's Office, the Alvin Community College Police Department, and the Alvin Police Department.
Dean Lyons received M.A., J.D., and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Eric Carrero
President - Greater Houston Port Bureau
CAPT Eric M. Carrero, U.S. Coast Guard (Ret.), is the President of the Greater Houston Port Bureau, a maritime trade organization of 230+ companies. The Port Bureau supplies its companies with detail vessel traffic information and maritime expertise in safety, security, and environmental issues and has been instrumental in representing members, the Houston Ship Channel Security District, and the Greater Houston Coffee Association in front of state and federal legislators.
Prior coming to the Port Bureau, Captain Carrero was assigned to the Eighth Coast Guard District as the Director, Western Rivers and Waterways Division, where he facilitated waterborne commerce through aids to navigation and vessel traffic center oversight as well as maintaining federal partnership and coordination in 27 states. His most recent operational assignment included Commanding Officer at Marine Safety Unit Texas where he carried out the Coast Guard’s Homeland Security, Marine Safety, and Marine Environmental Protection missions in the Ports of Galveston, Texas City and Freeport, in over 120-miles of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, a 4,000 square-mile region of the Outer Continental Shelf and the entrance to the nation’s largest petrochemical complex.
With 26 years of experience in maritime operations, Captain Carrero is a certified Marine Safety Professional with numerous qualifications in marine pollution response, marine casualty investigations and vessel inspections. He was deployed to the historic responses to Hurricane Katrina, Haiti Earthquake and served as Operations Section Chief during Hurricane Harvey where he was responsible for all maritime transportation issues related to the successful Coast Guard response in Houston- Galveston.
He is a graduate from the University of Puerto Rico, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Management and Policy from the American Public University System.
Kim Guedry
U.S.
Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security
Agency (CISA)
Kimberly Guedry serves as the Regional Director for Region 6 of the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security
Agency (CISA). Headquartered in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Region 6
serves public and private sector partners across Arkansas, Louisiana, New
Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas to better understand, manage, and reduce risk to cyber and physical infrastructure, building a more secure and more resilient
Nation.
Prior to leading CISA Region 6, Ms. Guedry served as Director of Analytic
Capability at CISA’s National Risk Management Center. Akin to Chief Information
Officer, she led end-to-end building of analytic models, methods, and data and
their integration into risk analysis tools to support CISA and its partners in
managing cyber and physical risks to our Nation’s critical infrastructure.
A retired Captain (O6) in the U.S. Coast Guard, Ms. Guedry brings over 28
collective years of leadership experience across many areas. Her roles ranged
from Commanding Officer of a Coast Guard cutter during the September 11,
2001, attacks to Deputy Incident Commander for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
efforts. She led national and international search and rescue, law enforcement, and homeland security
response efforts at our country’s busiest operations center. Ms. Guedry held several positions within
Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security, including Chief of Operations at U.S.
Southern Command's Crisis Action Center and U.S. Coast Guard Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer
to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As Director of the Joint Reserve Detachment at the Defense
Innovation Unit (DIU) in Silicon Valley, Ms. Guedry led specialty reserve personnel from across all military
Services in direct support of Artificial Intelligence, Autonomy, Cyber, Energy, Human Systems, and Space
portfolios.
Before returning to public service, Ms. Guedry was co-founder of two startup companies, one in the AgTech
industry and one in business continuity consulting. Additionally, she spent time at a global Fortune 150
telecommunications company where she was Business Information Security Officer (BISO) and Director of
Business Operations.
A proud graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering,
Ms. Guedry earned her Master of Business Administration degree while on active duty. She holds numerous
certificates from National Defense University, U.S. Naval War College, and National Incident Management
System. Ms. Guedry is a President George W. Bush Institute Scholar and a certified Project Management
Professional.
