MARITIME RISK SYMPOSIUM
Adrian Garcia
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.
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
CAPT John Stauffer serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor for the San Jacinto College Maritime Campus, where he provides strategic leadership and administrative oversight for all credit and noncredit maritime education and training programs. In this role, he advances the College’s mission to meet the workforce needs of the Gulf Coast region and the broader U.S. maritime industry.
Prior to joining San Jacinto College, John served as President of the Maritime Institute, overseeing one of the largest maritime training organizations in the United States. He led daily operations and instructional programs across multiple national and international locations including Norfolk, San Diego, Alameda, Honolulu, and Guam, managing a portfolio of more than 100 U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, and Global Wind Organization approved courses.
John is a retired Army Warrant Officer with 22 years of honorable service, concluding his military career as Chief of the Maritime Operations Branch in Virginia. In that role, he directed operational training guidance for Army maritime professionals. During his service, he completed three deployments to the Middle East in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, earning numerous awards, including the Bronze Star.
John actively contributes to national and regional efforts to strengthen the maritime workforce pipeline. He serves on several committees and advisory bodies that support maritime commerce, training, and workforce development. His current board and committee service includes the National Maritime Workforce Alliance, the WaveWorks Alliance, and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Mariner Workforce Working Group, among other regional and national initiatives. Through these roles, he collaborates with industry, government, and educational leaders to develop strategies that address critical workforce needs and advance the future of U.S. maritime capability.
John holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Saint Leo University and an MBA from Liberty University. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Higher Educational Administration at Liberty University.
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. Phillip 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 Carrera
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.
