FirstNet Association formed by industry veterans

A new public safety communications association, the FirstNet Association (FNA), has been formed in the USA.

According to its website it is an “organisation focused exclusively on ensuring the success of the entire FirstNet ecosystem that includes the legal entity created by Congress, the network infrastructure, hardware and software, and the single most important component — the end users”.

The FNA website goes on to say that the “success of the D Block allocation and FirstNet is the product of unity and collaboration by congress, federal and state agencies, associations, Public Safety associates, the private sector and thousands of first responders. In keeping with that coalition of unity the FirstNet Association will continue building upon those (their) success of bringing people together”.

The FNA’s leadership team comprises:

• Al H Gillespie (president), who spent almost 40 years in fire service, including 15 years as the Fire Chief of three large city fire departments, and also served as president of the International Association of Chiefs (IAFC) in 2011 and 2012.
• Raymond Flynn (vice president, secretary), who spent 32 years in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. He served as a key member of the Public Safety Alliance, FirstNet Public Safety Advisory Committee, SAFECOM Executive Committee and the FCC Emergency Response Interoperability Center Public Safety Advisory Committee.
• Richard A Mirgon (vice president, treasurer), who was a founding member of the Public Safety Alliance. He has more than 30 years of public safety experience, and is a past president of APCO.
• Roger Wespe (executive director), who currently works for Sonim, has served with APCO, and coordinated a nationwide grassroots campaign to allocate 700 MHz D Block spectrum for what has become FirstNet.

The FNA’s activities will include educational events, committees, research, advocacy and other efforts in support of its membership.

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