Instructor Biography's

Dr. Cory D. Jaques is a dedicated child and adolescent psychiatrist with a passion for Wilderness Medicine. As a member of the Volunteer Search and Rescue team affiliated with the Tulare County Sheriff's Office, Dr. Jaques combines his expertise in mental health with a deep understanding of outdoor environments. With a strong commitment to furthering his knowledge, he is an active member of the Wilderness Medical Society and is actively working towards becoming a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine. Dr. Jaques aims to share his extensive knowledge and experiences in Wilderness Medicine. Focusing on the broader aspects of this field, his presentation will provide valuable insights to Search and Rescue personnel, who may not have extensive medical training. By highlighting key principles, best practices, and essential wilderness survival skills, Dr. Jaques will equip the audience with the necessary tools to address medical emergencies and promote safety in challenging outdoor environments. 

Celeste began her Law Enforcement career as a Police Officer in Springfield, MO in January of 2000. There, she was involved in various units: patrol, bicycle unit, PAR/COP unit, field-training officer and was a defensive tactics instructor. In 2008 she moved to Siskiyou County and joined the Sheriff’s Office. In 2010, she became the SAR coordinator.  Celeste not only was involved in SAR in CA, but also in Oregon. Siskiyou County is a part of California Oregon Regional Search and Rescue (CORSAR).  SAR has been one of the most fulfilling duties of her career. In 2015 she promoted to a Detective in the Major Crimes Unit.  In 2017 she became a member of the SWAT Team and later that year was promoted to Sergeant.  In October of 2018 she moved to Sacramento and became an Assistant Chief (AC) with Cal-OES Law Enforcement Branch (LEB).  Her career with Cal OES LEB consists of the following: Law Enforcement Operation Center (LEOC) AC, Region IV AC, Region III AC, Search and Rescue (SAR) AC and K9 AC. 

Troy discovered his passion for Search and Rescue in 1995 when he joined the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue Team as a volunteer.  In 1999 he was hired on to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department as a Deputy to pursue his interests in SAR.  In 2005 he moved to Shasta County and joined the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office where he gained significant and meaningful training and experience in the field of Search and Rescue.  Several duties at the Sheriff’s Office included; Major Crimes Detective, Search and Rescue Coordinator, Boating Safety Supervisor, Swift Water Team and Dive Team Supervisor. He ended his Career at the Shasta County at the rank of Lieutenant and Chief Deputy Coroner.  Troy is currently in possession of his Management POST Certificate.

Troy’s current employment is with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services as the Assistant Chief for the Law Enforcement Branch in Region III.  This position allows him the ability to move about the northeast portion of California to assist the Counties with their emergency needs. In the absence of an emergency, he travels to the counties and assists with preplanning and preparedness for emergencies that are eminent or unforeseen within the state.

Christopher (Chris) S. Young has been active in Search and Rescue since 1981, managed searches since 1986, is the past reserve Captain for the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team and serves as chairman of the Bay Area Search and Rescue Council, Inc. (BASARC). Chris is a retired Instructor for the POST “Direction and Control of the Search Function Course” for the State of California Office of Emergency Service for 25 years, is currently an Instructor Trainer for the “Managing the Lost Person Incident” and “Urban Search Management” (developed by Chris) for the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR), he is also an Instructor Trainer in Emergency Medical Response and first aid for the American Red Cross since 1972, as well as specialized topics in Search Management, including Search Management in the Urban Environment, and Investigation and Interviewing in SAR. Chris has also written, published and presented search management papers at the National Association for Search and Rescue conferences, the Canadian National Search and Rescue Secretariat SARSCENE conferences, the William Syrotuck Symposiums on Search Theory and Practice, the Canadian Coast Guard College, the Provincial Sûreté Du Québec Police, the Ontario Provincial Police, the New Zealand National SAR Conference, the Icelandic International Search and Rescue Conference, Norwegian Frivillige Organisasjoners Redningsfaglige Forum (FORF) Seminar and several State Search and Rescue conferences. He is also co-author of the book “Urban Search – Managing Missing Person Searches in the Urban Environment”, published 2007 by dbS Publications, author of the book “Intelligent Search – Managing the Intelligence Process in the Search for Missing Persons”, published 2022 by dbS Publications, as well as a contributing author on several other books for search and rescue. Additionally, Chris is a Level 1 law enforcement reserve deputy with the Sheriff’s Dept and the City of Danville and is an EMT 1 Instructor. Chris holds a Master of Science Degree in Construction Management and is retired from working for a large general contractor based in San Francisco as a Senior Project Manager and was responsible for overall management of multi-million dollar ground up commercial, high rise, hospital, educational and hotel projects. He is currently a Ph.D Candidate at the University of Portsmouth, UK in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Centre for Missing Persons (expected graduation in September 2022). He has been married for 46 years, with three children and four grandchildren. 

Cindee is certified and has deployed 8 canines in area, trailing, and human remains detection. Originally a CARDA handler, she was a founding member of Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office (SO) SAR K9 team in 1991. In addition to deploying her SAR K9 partners, Cindee attended bomb dog school through the SO and certified two K9s in explosives detection and/or firearms for Contra Costa County. She has since become a WOOF handler and is a founding member of the Cal OES Specialized HRD (SHRD) Team. Cindee retired from her career as a professional dog trainer to become a civilian crime scene investigator for the Lafayette Police Department in 2014. She retired in 2018 and now focuses on bringing up her current single purpose SHRD K9 prospect, a Belgian Malinois. 

Donna Sanford has been a dog handler in the Riverside area since 1999. She is POST Certified in NASAR SAR Tech II, Mantracking, and Managing the Lost Person Incident.  She is a 23-year veteran K9 handler California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA).  Donna has served on the Board of Directors for California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) and Riverside County Search Dogs (RCSD), serving in various positions including President, Vice President, and Treasurer for CARDA and RCSD.  She has deployed on numerous missions with her dogs certified in Area - Air Scent, HRD/Cadaver, and Water, as well as, serving as ground searcher to other teams in the field.  She is currently training her fourth dog in the disciplines of Area - Air Scent, Water, and HRD/Cadaver.  Donna is an educator by career   teaching for over 30 years in special education and more recently in general education. She believes in quality life-long learning whether that is in a person’s chosen field of career, dog handling, or life in general.  

For more than 35 years, Fernando Moreira has trained trackers from Search & Rescue Teams, law enforcement officers, military personnel and outdoor enthusiasts across the United States as well as in several foreign countries.

He initially became interested in the art of man-tracking while serving in the Portuguese army in Angola. He has utilized his skill in tracking on a nearly daily basis since then.

Fernando has also assisted law enforcement officers in finding crucial evidence in many high-profile missing persons and homicide cases across the United States including Alaska and Hawaii. 

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We’re proud to have produced years of happy clients and students and look forward to continuing our work for years to come! Our love for tracking and helping others drives who we are and what we do. Every. Single. Day.

Jim Kuthy is an Industrial and Organizational Psychologist who spent 20 years training people in the art of conducting fair and valid interviews. He has been member of the El Dorado County Incident Support Team for the past nine years. He has also served as the Captain/Vice-President of Lake Tahoe Search & Rescue, Inc. (Douglas County, NV), as well as serving as a Sheriff’s Detective. 

Jan has been a member of CARDA and Humboldt County Sheriff’s SAR Team since 1999 and has certified three Labradors in Area, Trailing and HRD. She leads the North Coast Training Group and is a Trailing and HRD evaluator for CARDA and SARDUS (Search Dogs of the United States). She has been on numerous committees for CARDA, including the Quality Assurance Committee since 2015. She has been leading the North Coast Training Group for several years and serves on the Cal OES Trailing Guideline Committee. Training search dogs has become her passion. She loves to help dogs reach their greatest potential; they teach us so much along the way.

Jason Abbott is an avid outdoor enthusiast and SAR volunteer with many years of experience with backcountry travel of all forms throughout California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. He has logged thousands of miles in many types of terrain as a backpacker, hunter, fisherman, off-road vehicle operator, and as a Search and Rescue Team member with the Napa County Sheriff's Department Volunteer Search and Rescue Team. Jason regularly uses all types of land navigation tools, from map and compass to various electronic devices. 

John recently retired after 47 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's, Montrose Search and Rescue Team. The Team is a member of the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) and responds to incidents ranging from car-overs to searches for overdue hikers, hunters, and skiers to rescuing stranded or

fallen climbers. Montrose' prime response area is approximately 500 square miles of the Angeles National Forest including Big Tujunga Canyon, most of the Angeles Crest and Angeles Forest Highways and includes two small ski areas, several organization camps, and public campgrounds.  The team is also one of two Mine Rescue teams in California and has responded to underground emergencies throughout the state. He held the rank of Reserve Commander with the Sheriff's Department and hopes that he can pass on some of the things he learned from over 2400 callouts to you. He has taught SAR Management for OES since 1988. He served on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR) and was the Treasurer of that Association for four years. Active in the development of Search and Rescue standards since its inception in 1989, John served 6 years as the Chairman of ASTM Committee F-32 on Search and Rescue and authored several standards documents. He also served on three NFPA standards development committees and contributed to several of the OES SAR Guidelines. John recently retired as the School Director for CMC Rescue. He continues as an instructor for CMC where he teaches Rope Rescue, Confined Space Rescue, Tower Rescue and other specialized rescue training classes. 

Dr. Stewart is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in child and family psychology. She is the founder and Executive Director of the Orion Academy, a college preparatory high school specializing in the education of high school students on the Autism Spectrum where her trademarked Dog Class is a required course for graduation.  She has been a dog trainer and K9 handler for over 15 years and a member of North American Police Work Dog Association, California Rescue Dog Association and Sacramento County Search and Rescue.  She is a founding member of the Cal-OES Specialized Human Remains Detection (SHRD) committee and current K9 handler for SHRD.  She is the Training Group Leader of Greater Bay Area K9, GBAK9, a training group within CARDA and has trained and certified numerous teams for Area, Cadaver, and water deployment.  She currently works two K9s; a German Shephard certified in HRD and water and a Dutch Shepherd/Malinois cross, recently certified in HRD for CARDA and SHRD.

Susan is a Lieutenant with the Yuba County Sheriff's Department where she serves as the Search and Rescue Coordinator.  Susan began her career in Law Enforcement in April 2002 as a Cadet with Yuba City Police Department and joined the Yuba County Sheriff's Department in November 2004.  During her career, Susan has held many specialty positions including communication team member, contraband suppression unit team leader, jail training officer, cadet advisor, defensive tactics instructor, and impact weapon instructor. Susan was awarded the Bronze Medal of Merit in 2014 for performing CPR lifesaving measures on an unresponsive individual.  Susan has been a member of the Technical Rescue Team (Dive Team) since August 2012; and assumed the role of team leader in December 2019. Susan is the Sheriff's Posse liaison and has been a Search and Rescue K9 handler since 2015.  Susan was appointed as the Search and Rescue Coordinator for Yuba County Sheriff's Department in December 2019, and she is responsible for overseeing the volunteer SAR team as well as the Dive and Technical Rescue Team.  Susan has over 10 years of combined field and management search and rescue experience.  

Susan has responded to and led numerous search and rescue missions and is a part of the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) during disasters such as fires.  Susan has worked hard over the past year to integrate CalTopo into the Sheriff's Department response.  Susan frequently trains SAR team members in Search Management Techniques, Rope Rescue skills, Swiftwater Rescue skills, Public Safety Diver skills, Navigation, and general SAR and survival skills.  

Susan continues to train members of the department and members of the SAR team in CalTopo.  Susan conducts monthly training with her SAR Incident Management Team, in which she trains them in CalTopo, as well as trains them for SAR Management Incident Response. 

Mary Cabik, Ph.D. trains, fields, and studies detection canines in SAR and Law enforcement (LE) disciplines. She has been a handler with California’s Wilderness Finders Search Dog Teams (WOOF) for nearly 25 years, is the current president of WOOF, the Chair of the Cal OES Specialized HRD (SHRD) Committee and a founding SHRD handler having certified and deployed two certified SHRD canines, and a member of the Cal OES HRD Guidelines Revision Committee. She has trained, certified, and deployed four canines, one cross trained and three single purpose HRD and water. She currently works a Belgian Malinois in water and HRD. 

Matt is a Retired Deputy Chief with the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) - Law Enforcement Branch where he served as the California State Search and Rescue Coordinator. Matt retired during his 20th year of service to the State and was headquartered out of the Region V office, located in Fresno, and supervised the "Special Operations" Division of CalOES Law Enforcement Branch. Matt is a recognized expert in the field of Search and Rescue. Prior to Cal OES Matt spent almost 20 years with the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue Team, beginning as a volunteer and his last 13 years there as a full time Deputy and Sergeant and Search and Rescue Unit Coordinator. Matt has over 40 years of combined field and management search and rescue experience. He has coordinated literally hundreds of searches, rescues, and large and small-scale disasters. A previous college instructor for search and rescue topics of: Search Management and Tactics, Technical Rope Rescue, Swiftwater Rescue, Man Tracking, and Law Enforcement Incident Command Systems along with other Law Enforcement topics. Matt was a member of the California POST Missing Persons specialist committee, and he was also a member of the Federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Incident Management Systems (NIMS) Working Group for Search and Rescue as well as FEMA's NIMS working group of Emergency Management. Matt also served as the Vice Chairman of the National Association for Search and Rescue's State Search and Rescue Coordinator's Council. He was the lead instructor for the CalOES Search and Rescue Instruction Program, instructing the "Direction and Control of the Search Function Course" and the "Winter Operations SAR Management Course" and was responsible for all State of California SAR programs. Matt's 33- year law enforcement career has earned him California's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) certificates of Advanced, Supervisory, and Management".

Upon Retirement, Matt continues in his lifelong quest at saving lives as he returns to Cal OES as a contract Search and rescue Management Instructor, in both Direction and Control of the Search Function and Winter Search and Rescue Management curriculums. He also travels the United States teaching specialized Rope Rescue courses for CMC Rescue out of Santa Barbara California and he travels the world conducting Mass Fatality Operations for Kenyon International based in Houston Texas.

Shay has been in K9 SAR since 1995 working in Trailing, Cadaver, Wilderness Area and Disaster. She is a member of California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA), Alameda County Sheriff Search and Rescue (ALCO), Marin County Sheriff's Search and Rescue (MSAR), Yosemite Search and Rescue Dog Team (YODOGS) and FEMA Oakland Task Force 4 (TF4). Shay has trained dogs since 1986 and has worked with dogs in schutzhund, guide dogs for the blind, obedience, socialization, tracking, herding and scent detection. Shay's professional job is as an Assistant Director at UC Davis and currently working on exploring “Scent Navigation” with other researchers as well as the "Fit-To-Work" program.

She has presented at SAREX, SAR City, MRA, Hawaii SARCON and other events throughout the nation and appreciates sharing what I have learned and getting feedback/perspective from others. 

Steve has been a member of El Dorado Search and Rescue since 2007. In the past, he has served as: * Team Leader - Ground Team * Asst. Team Leader - Swiftwater Rescue Team * Training Officer - Incident Support Team * Asst. Team Leader - Incident Support Team * Incident Commander 2012 & 2018 State SAREX * Current Team Leader - Swiftwater & Flood Rescue Team He has completed the POST Certified Mantracking Class and has taught the EDSAR Academy Mantracking & Clue Awareness class since 2012. He has completed the NASAR Managing the Lost Person Incident Class and has taught the EDSAR Academy Intro to SAR Basics & Theory Class since 2020 and serves as a Search Manager and Plans Section Chief. He has been awarded the EDSAR 2011 Coordinators Award and the 2012 and 2018 Volunteer of the Year Award. 

Yvette is a certified K9 Handler and Ground Searcher with CARDA, Napa County Search and Rescue, and Marin County Search and Rescue.  She has certified two K9s in Area Search and C2 (Large Source Cadaver) and has served on more than 80 deployments as a K9 Handler, and Ground Searcher since getting Mission Ready in 2019.  She is a Type 1 Handler and has been active on searches in California from Siskiyou County in the north to Santa Barbara County in the south and many counties in between.  She currently serves as CARDA’s Policy and Standards Committee Chairperson, Coastal Regional Representative, a member of the VP Administrative Committee, and a Primary Evaluator for CARDA certification tests.  She serves on the Napa County Search and Rescue team Board of Directors as Training Coordinator and serves on the Marin County Search and Rescue team.  

Dr. Colleen Milligan, D-ABFA, Professor and Chair of Anthropology/Co-Director of the Human Idenfitication Laboratory. Dr. Milligan teaches and conducts research in biological anthropology, human osteology, forensic anthropology, forensic science, and statistics at Chico State. Shew is a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology (#135). She is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. Dr. Milligan has assisted California sheriff-coroner's offices, state agencies, and federal agencies for the past 12 years. She previously served as a Fellow with the Department of Homeland Security working on Mass Fatality Management in the US. In addition, she has taught for the California Peach Officer Standards and Training Program (POST) since 2014.

Dr Eric Bartelink is a Professor of Biological and Forensic Anthropology at California State University-Chico. He serves as the co-Director of the Human Identification Laboratory and Director of the Stable Isotope Preparation Laboratory. He provides forensic anthropology and isotopic services to law enforcement in California. He is a past President of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and currently co-chairs the Forensic Anthropology Subcommittee for the Organization of Scientific Area Committees, which works on the development of forensic standards. 

Dr. Ashley Kendell is an Aisstant Professor and Coorinator of the Certificate in Forensic Science at California State University, Chico. Dr. Kendell is also a certified POST instrctor, teaching homicide investigation courses to regional and state law enforcement. Prior to beginning her position at Chico State, she was a visiting professor at the University of Montana and the forensic anthropologist for the state of Montana. While completing her doctorate at Michigan State University she also worked as a Medicolegal Death investigator and was a Registry Diplomate of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators for five years. 

Experiential Education Coordinator with over 20 years’ experience in the education industry, possessing expertise in program development resource and logistics management in collegiate outdoor education programing. Certified as a Wilderness First Responder since 1998, Have taught at Princeton University, Florida State University, as well as currently teaching at Reedley College. 

Tulare County Sheriff’s Sergeant Shawn Hermosillo said combining drones and SAR is a no brainer. He has a real affection for aviation, whether it’s drones on patrol or Cessnas on patrol as he supervises the department’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Unit as well as the Aviation Support Unit. He also holds a Private Pilot License. And he has a lot of experience in Search and Rescue as well, having served nine years on the TCSO SAR Team. But what he was most recently recognized for was his bravery. In 2021, he was awarded the Medal of Valor by Sheriff Mike Boudreaux for defending a downed officer; keeping a calm demeanor while directing responding officers; coordinating a life rescue, setting up a perimeter; and taking an armed and dangerous suspect into custody safely. Before he became a Deputy, Sergeant Hermosillo began public service in 1992 as a firefighter/EMT for the city of Hanford. His interactions with law enforcement sparked his next career. In 1997, he was hired as a Deputy Sheriff with the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office and worked Patrol, a year later becoming a Field Training Officer. Sergeant Hermosillo served as a member of the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team from 1998-2007. In his 26 years with the department, he has been assigned to K9, STEP (Sheriff’s Tactical Enforcement Personnel), Narcotics, and served as a Range Master, Less Lethal Instructor, and Tactical Flight Officer. In May of 2020, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and supervised Patrol until he was moved to Aviation and UAV.

Kevin Jessee, SELPA Compliance Officer for the Tulare County Office of Education. More than 20 years in Special Education serving students with disabilities ages preschool through 22. He served 7 years as the Director of Special Education for Porterville Unified School District and over 10 years as a School Psychologist, college adjunct professor, and speaker and trainer for contracted school districts and the Association of California School Administrators. 

Kayla Hardin has been in search and rescue since 2005.  She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with a concentration in behavior analysis from the University of California, San Diego, where she developed a strong foundation in understanding behavior and motivation.  She went on to pursue a Master of Science degree in Psychology from Arizona State University. Her graduate study focused on resiliency, particularly resiliency in first responders.

Throughout her time in search and rescue, Kayla has searched for the missing as far south as San Diego County and as far north as Siskiyou County, and many counties in between. Currently, Kayla is affiliated with the California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) and the San Diego Sheriff's Search and Rescue team. She currently has two certified canines: a dual purpose Area & HRD K9, and a single purpose HRD K9.

She has supported many seminars which have afforded her the opportunity to view a variety of different dogs at different stages of training from across the nation.  Through teaching canines strong foundational skills and tailoring her approach to the individual dog in front of her, she has helped teams across the nation to become better assets.  Her ability to apply behavioral psychology principles and adapt training methods to an individual dog's needs has enabled her to support teams to grow to their potential and provide reliable resources to their requesting agencies.

Kristi Mayhew is a fourteen-year veteran with El Dorado County Search and Rescue. During her thirteen years, she proudly served eight years on the Technical Rope Rescue Team. Kristi was the Finance Chair for the 2012 State SAREX and the Incident Commander for the 2018 State SAREX in Lake Tahoe. After completing two deployments to the Camp Fire in 2018, Kristi noticed the lack of qualified personnel to help SAR teams deal with the Critical Incident Stress they experienced due to that traumatic incident. While still working with SAR, Kristi became an Ordained Chaplain working specifically with Law Enforcement. She is Ordained with the International Federation of Chaplains (IFOC) and a member of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF). Kristi currently serves with Sierra Law Enforcement Chaplaincy and is an Ambassador for K-Love Crisis Response Care team.

Shawn Mayhew is a thirteen-year veteran with El Dorado County Search and Rescue. During his twelve years, he served eight years on the Technical Rope Rescue Team. He has also served on the OHV team in various roles as Team Captain, Training officer and Asset officer over 13 years. Shawn was deployed to the Camp Fire, Caldor Fire and many out of county searches.

Kris Black has volunteered in Search and Rescue since the year 2000 and currently is the Assistant Director for Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team.  She is Certified by California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) with her canines, Annie, in HRD and Aria, in Trailing. Annie has passed her SHRD HRD certification for criminal nexus cases.  Currently serving as the Assistant Chair of the Cal OES Specialized HRD (SHRD) Committee and Chair of the Cal OES HRD Guidelines revision committee.  Her experience has taken her and her canines both throughout California and internationally.