Trainers

Tony has over 25 years of experience in law enforcement, security and personal protection. He has built and led two tactical training organizations and worked with hundreds of public safety and security firms. Founder and Director of Training for Vantage Tactical Solutions and President of Genesis Group, he specializes in defense tactics training for law enforcement, security (including casino, healthcare and private agencies) as well as civilian self-defense. He is also a former adjunct instructor in Public Safety at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.

Dave served as law enforcement officer in Florida and in the Marines as a gate sentry, patrol officer, watch commander, investigator, Special Reaction Team (SRT) member, leader and commander. He now serves as a defensive tactics consultant for numerous police and correctional agencies. Dave also is an industry leader in testing public safety equipment and non-lethal weaponry. He applied all of this expertise as host of “Crash Test Human,” a TV series for National Geographic in which he tested emergency scenarios such as being trapped inside a water-submerged car.

Dave is a lead trainer for all of the Vistelar verbal and physical conflict management training programs

Derrick Washington retired as Lieutenant after 20 years of service with Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office. He spent 17 of those years training thousands of officers from various agencies in defensive tactics, firearms, tactical response, ethics, ground fighting and more. A U.S. Army veteran, he also served as safety coordinator for Milwaukee Public Schools and teaches CPR and first aid to various community organizations.

Gary Drye was a Senior Staff Development Specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. He has 24-plus years’ experience in developing, coordinating and delivering Principles of Subject Control (P.O.S.C.®) and safety training for the State of Wisconsin. Prior to this, he trained staff at Mendota Mental Health Institute, part of the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services. As a Training Officer, Gary coordinated and implemented the Intervention Options Continuum (emergency intervention) training.

Gary, a retired sheriff’s captain, has been a leader in conflict management training for over 40 years, moving from law enforcement to healthcare, mental health, education and beyond.

Working with some of the world’s foremost training organizations, Gary has developed innovative, practical training programs throughout his career. Since the mid-’80s, every law officer across Wisconsin has been trained in unified tactical training systems Gary helped create. He’s also proud of his work co-supervising a program that provided meaningful care to 300 mentally ill inmates at the Milwaukee County Jail.

Gary is a lead trainer for all of the Vistelar verbal and physical conflict management training programs.

Jill brings 20 years of combined experience in hospital security and law enforcement, spending the majority of her career working in an urban campus environment in charge of night shift patrol operations (as a Lieutenant). She also has a background in active-shooter prevention and tactical response, sexual assault prevention, bystander intervention, trauma-informed care and PTS(D). A relentless researcher and experienced public speaker, Jill has spoken at dozens of conferences and trainings across the U.S. and Canada.

For nearly two decades, Jim Lezala has been working one-on-one with children and adolescents who have experienced a great deal of trauma, as well as providing training for people who interact with at-risk youths. After managing a Pick N' Save grocery store early in his career, he served as a police officer for 1 year before transitioning to working with Norris Adolescent Center, an adolescent residential treatment center, where he worked for 16 years, including 13 as manager. He has also worked as a Child Protective Services case manager and on the Family Drug Treatment Court team in Milwaukee.

Joel has worked as a public safety professional for over 30 years in healthcare safety and security, primarily in training and leadership positions. Joel led the training program for hospital, clinical and social outreach staff in clinical violence management at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, the only level-one pediatric trauma center in the region. He also co-developed a program for managing the challenging behaviors of children, adolescents, and adults with autism and other cognitive disabilities for police officers, corrections officers, and healthcare providers.

Rollan is a police officer with 24 years of experience. He began his law enforcement career with Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, serving from 1995-2007. Since 2007, he has served as a police officer for the City of Glendale, WI. He has experience as a training instructor for law enforcement in professional communications, physical defensive arrest & control tactics, non-escalation and deescalation tactics, mental health awareness & assessment.

Tom Poellot is lead trainer with Vistelar. He’s been a police officer for over 30 years, now serving as Chief of Police in Cudahy, WI. Chief Poellot got his start in law enforcement with the U.S. Army Military Police in 1986. A graduate of Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command and the FBI National Academy, he has been a police officer in Wisconsin since 1990 and Cudahay Chief of Police since 2007.