Associates

Chief Darrell Fant 

Darrell L. Fant began his service to the Town of Highland Park in 1975. Director Fant, commonly referred to as "Chief Fant", started his employment with the Town as a police officer and soon after crossed trained as firefighter and paramedic. Fant was promoted to several levels of supervision until he was selected as Director of Public Safety in 1987. As Director, Darrell Fant had the responsibility for the overall direction and focus of the consolidated police, fire and emergency medical services of the Town's Department of Public Safety staffed by 70 employees.

Darrell Fant attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice in 1974. He graduated from the FBI National Academy in 1989 in Quantico, Virginia and has trained with the U.S. Secret Service in the area of dignitary protection. He currently holds his Master of Police and Fire Certifications from the State of Texas, Police and Fire Instructor Certifications, and was licensed as a paramedic in 1977. In 2005, Darrell Fant was certified for basic and advanced mediation and is qualified for court appointed dispute mediation. He is also a member of the State Bar of Texas, Alternative Dispute Resolution Section. Chief Fant was distinguished with a National Heroism Award in 1984 by Firehouse Magazine for heroism in the line of duty. Additionally, he has been decorated with numerous Departmental awards and citizen commendations during his career. Chief Fant received the 1999 Trailblazer’s Award from Mother’s Against Drunk Driving (MADD) for outstanding contributions in the enforcement of underage drinking. Additionally, in 2002, Fant received the Bert Ford Commendation from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for enforcement of the alcoholic beverage laws in the State of Texas. In 2007, Darrell Fant received The Director’s Community Leadership Award from the Federal Bureau of Investigation for outstanding contributions to our nation’s communities in the area of underage drinking. Chief Fant served as the 2001 President of the FBI National Academy Association of Texas and currently serves as the State Chapter Historian.

Additionally, he has served on the executive board of the North Texas Police Chiefs Association from 2004 through 2007 and now is the appointed meeting coordinator for that organization. Chief Fant was certified as an Assessor and Team Leader for the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. and conducted numerous on-site reviews of law enforcement agencies around the country, during their initial and re-accreditation applications between 1990 through 2007.

Chief Fant honorably retired from the Highland Park Dept. of Public Safety in February 2008, with over 32 years of dedicated service. He currently serves as the President of the International Police Association, Texas Region 30, and is an active law enforcement consultant with law enforcement agencies across the country. In June of 2008, he was appointed to the Board of Directors for the North Texas Crime Commission, and served as Chairman of the Law Enforcement Liaison Committee of that organization for over 8 years, In January of 2013, Fant was appointed to the North Texas InfraGard board of directors, and served as the 2015 President North Texas Members Alliance. Chief Fant is also a certified in Texas as a Concealed Handgun License Instructor and a NRA Certified Pistol Instructor.

Kathleen Flatley

Kathleen is an accomplished senior-level security professional with over 30 years of experience of specialized work in corporate risk management, travel security, work place violence, crisis management, intelligence, investigations, and executive protection. Kathleen has served in leadership positions with the government and private sector.

Kathleen began her law enforcement journey as a Special Agent in the United States Secret and completed her distinguished career which included appointments as Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Office and George W. Bush Protective Division. Kathleen was responsible for special agents, officers, technical professionals and administrative staff while assigned in each of these divisions.

Kathleen held several key positions during her Secret Service career, but the most notable was being appointed the coordinator for the NATO 50th Anniversary Summit in Washington D.C. Under her direction, the Secret Service was responsible for the design, plan and implementation of the federal security operational security plan for the summit. The summit was attended by 150 heads of state and included multiple venues in Washington D.C., Virginia and Maryland. In addition, Kathleen held positions on the Presidential Protective Division and Major Events Division and conducted numerous domestic and international security advances, which included in depth site risk assessments.

Kathleen recently served as Security Director in a Fortune 500 commercial real estate firm comprised of 80,000 global employees. She managed global investigations, travel security, physical security asset protection, and executive protection. Kathleen has unique experience with risk management, cross functional and cross-cultural teams.

William Davis

Mr. Davis began his career patrolling the U.S./Mexico border as a Border Patrol Agent, before pursuing a career with the U.S. Marshal’s Service, Air Operations Division. After nine (9) years of service with the Border Patrol and U.S. Marshal’s Service, Mr. Davis served as Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service, where he investigated financial crimes, provided physical protection, and conducted security advances. After serving with the United States Secret Service, Mr. Davis had a brief stint as a United States Postal Inspector. His current position within the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, is supervising Special Agents, who are tasked with Internal Affairs investigations.

During Mr. Davis' career, he has gained in depth experience in conducting security advances, vulnerability assessments and executive protection. He has conducted advances and protection for the President of the United States, former Presidents of the United States, and visiting Heads of State. In 2002, Mr. Davis was assigned to the protection detail for the Prime Minister of Israel when he visited Washington, D.C. He also provided protection and conducted advances for Presidential candidates during the 2004 Presidential Campaign.

Mr. Davis gained valuable experience conducting various types of criminal investigations which have included; credit card and bank fraud, counterfeit currency, identity theft, and personal threats.

Mr. Davis holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration. As a Postal Inspector, he received training and certifications in Forensic Sampling and Hazmat. This training allowed Mr. Davis to respond to and test suspicious powders and liquids found in mail pieces.

Kevin Billings

A security specialist with more than 30 years combined experience in the government and private sectors. Mr. Billings has been entrusted with the protection of U.S. Presidents and Foreign Heads of State; and has designed security plans and solutions for Fortune 500 companies operating in war zones. Mr. Billings is a recognized expert in the physical protection of people, structures and motorcades as well as crisis and risk management, threat assessment and security plan creation.

Additionally, Mr. Billings has been trained as a counter assault team operative and as open water rescue professional by U.S. Special Forces and the U.S. Coast Guard. He has conducted and led many high profile federal investigations and has provided consulting services during the filming of two feature films and one television show based on a case lead by him.

Mr. Billings holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from S.E. Missouri State University. He is a member is good standing with the Overseas Security Advisory Council, American Society for Industrial Security, The Energy Security Council, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, and the Association of Former Agents of the United States Secret Service. 

Mr. Billings worked with Mr. Lowery at the St. Louis County Police Department early on in both of their careers. Mr. Billings has since worked on international assignments in countries such as Africa with Lowery & Associates as well as domestic assignments to include the Republican National Convention in 2016. 

Mark Lacey

A retired Special Agent with the United States Secret Service with over 26 years of experience in physical security; venue security planning; risk management; threat assessment; personnel supervision; interagency coordination; and regulation compliance.  His assignments included appointments as a supervisor on the Presidential Protection Division and the Little Rock Field Office.  Mark has conducted security advances in the U.S. and over 15 countries. 

As both a special agent and a supervisory special agent on the Presidential Protection Division he conducted personal security for the President and First Lady and led large group teams to plan and implement personal and venue security.  Security planning included personnel logistics; use of law enforcement; threat assessments; and emergency options.  Conducting these advances, he interfaced with event host staff, other government agencies, US military and local and international security forces to ensure that host staff’s goals were met without compromising security and safety. Among these advances was coordination of the White House complex security for the 2005 Presidential Inauguration.  

His other assignments include Supervising the White House complex command center and as a Field Office supervisor.  In these assignments, he was responsible for special agents, officers, technical professionals and administrative staff. 

Mark is a fluent Spanish speaker and has visited over 45 countries.

Mark retired from the U.S. Secret Service as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Little Rock Field Office. 

Scott D. Stephens

Scott Stephens is a loyal and confidential Executive Protection professional with extensive experience providing maximum lifestyle security for the highest-profile clients during globally- attended events, as well as day-to-day personal and family life. Sophisticated Expert at handling unfortunate events, special projects, and high-profile people and events with discretion and integrity. Experienced in handling multi-million-dollar investments, such as property renovations, personal collection management, and gala event planning and attendance security. Responsible for the full-time and temporary house and security staff management over multiple locations.

Dr. Margaret H. Coggins 

Dr. Coggins is a trusted advisor and an experienced security consultant, bringing over 30 years of specialized work in the prevention of targeted violence, threat assessment, behavioral analysis, and change management.  She is a subject matter expert in workplace violence prevention programs; school and campus safety; insider threat and fraud prevention models; and, protective intelligence investigations. As a psychologist, Dr. Coggins’s approach emphasizes proactive prevention and intervention strategies to mitigate risk.  From her law enforcement background, Dr. Coggins’s implements operationally relevant, tactically sound, and practically valid solutions. She routinely consults on best practices for program design and implementation, policy development, communications strategies, and training to achieve safety and security objectives.

A common denominator throughout Dr. Coggins’s distinguished career is her demonstrated ability to align mission and business priorities with workforce talent and organizational culture.  She is recognized as an innovative leader, advancing partnerships and information sharing between Federal law enforcement, mental health, social science research, mental health law, and criminal justice systems.  Her work includes providing training and assistance to law enforcement on dealing with the mentally ill.

Dr. Coggins’s consulting engagements include corporate, Federal government, academic, and public sector clients.  She also partners with premier strategic security and management consulting firms as a senior advisor and subject matter expert.  In that capacity, Dr. Coggins leads practice related to the prevention of targeted violence, threat assessment, protective intelligence, and behavioral analysis.  She also served as a Law Enforcement Subject Matter Expert in support of work with the Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Dr. Coggins was part of a multi-disciplinary team providing collaborative reform and technical assistance to law enforcement agencies on a wide range of objectives including community policing, procedural justice, partner relationships, diversity, and organizational effectiveness.

Dr. Coggins is a former Federal executive, having served nearly 20 years as a psychologist and Senior Manager for the United States Secret Service Office of Protective Research, and the Chief of its Behavioral Research Program.  Her areas of responsibility included: providing risk assessment research, consultation, and training in support of the Secret Service protective mission, and the study of threatening and high-risk behaviors directed toward the President of the United States.

Following 9/11, she was appointed as a Deputy Assistant Director of the Federal Air Marshal Service, to support its transformation to a Federal law enforcement mission. There, she managed and directed the Office of Workforce Programs, with responsibility for administrative and organizational functions, workforce management, executive resources, occupational health, and quality of work life initiatives.  She also directed the Ombudsman and Diversity Programs and FAMS operational research initiatives.

Dr. Coggins is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in law enforcement, and she is a respected role model and mentor for young professionals who are pursuing careers in the fields of psychology and law enforcement.  Since 2012, Dr. Coggins serves as a Senior Advisor to the Women in Federal Law Enforcement (WIFLE) Foundation. In this capacity, she provides consultation to the Foundation and Executive Committee on matters of policy, advocacy, program administration, strategic planning, and executive leadership development.  

In 2010, Dr. Coggins was awarded the “Outstanding Advocate for Women in Federal Law Enforcement” award by the Women in Federal Law Enforcement (WIFLE) organization.  In 2011, Dr. Coggins received the President’s Award for Leadership and Diversity Excellence, from the Arizona Chapter, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, and the President’s Commendation for Continued Support and Commitment to Diversity from the National Asian Peace Officers Association.

Dr. Coggins earned Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Arts degrees in psychology from the Catholic University of America.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Dickinson College. In 2001, Dr. Coggins was certified as a Senior Executive by the Office of Personnel Management.  Her work has been published in several scientific journals and she served as an adjunct Full professor for the George Washington University.

Robert Genzel, M.D. 

Dr. Robert Genzel, M.D. attended Cornell University for his Undergraduate training and then the State University of New York-Buffalo for Medical School. He went on to complete his residency in Emergency Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. He is currently double Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medical Services (EMS).

In addition to being a Board Certified Emergency Physician, Dr. Genzel has been a Certified/Licensed EMT/Paramedic for over 30 years with field experience in rural, suburban and urban settings. In addition to 24 years of experience working in Hospital Emergency Departments, Dr. Genzel has flown as an Emergency Physician with two Helicopter Emergency Services and was the Medical Director for North Texas LifeStar/Air Evac Helicopter for 10 years. He currently serves as the Medical Director for the Texas Motor Speedway and Director of Emergency Preparedness/Planning and has done so for the past 20 years, as well as serving as the Interim Director for the Sears Point Motor Speedway for 5 years. Additional MotorSport experience includes being the Medical Director the RedBull Global RallyCross Series and 10 years as the Medical Director for the International Hot Rod Association.

Through his work with Emergency Preparedness/Disaster/MCI planning he has built a number of relationships in the Law Enforcement Community which has allowed him to participate in many Law Enforcement/Security projects. He has served as the Medical Director/Advisor to the United States Department of State Diplomatic Security Service-Dallas Office for 15 years, providing medical support to many dignitary protective details as well as serving as the Physician for two municipal SWAT Teams.

Dr. Genzel has also traveled overseas to perform a site evaluation at the NATO HQ in Brussels, Belgium. Dr. Genzel has successfully completed the TTPOA Basic SWAT, Patrol Rifle and DSS LEO Dignitary Protection Courses. In the Corporate world, Dr. Genzel has provided services as the medical director for both the private sector and publicly traded companies. Dr. Genzel has worked with Mr. Lowery during his career with the Secret Service, on executive protection trips to Africa, and at the 2016 RNC. 

Michael Garcia

Michael graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and commissioned in the United States Marine Corps the same year.

As as officer, he has spent the majority of his career overseas leading teams of intelligence analysts, and has specific experience in all-source analysis, collections, and targeting. His training includes service-level analysis training, collections training from multiple intelligence agencies, and training in intelligence support to personnel recovery. Michael is also a certified Intelligence Weapons and Tactics Instructor.

Michael has experience in executive-level planning and coordination. He was selected and served as an Aide-de-Camp to a Commanding General where he assisted in coordinating multiple multi-national engagements throughout the Pacific region. This work required liaison with representatives from foreign governments as well as the US Department of State.

He serves as a consultant to Lowery & Associates in various capacities.

Ronald Lowery, J.d.

Mr. Lowery has been an attorney for thirty-seven years and is licensed in Illinois and Missouri. He received his Juris Doctorate from St. Louis University in 1979. He is a private investigator, licensed by the State of Texas. As a partner in Reed/Armstrong  Law Firm in Madison County, Illinois, he was appointed to serve as assistant general counsel of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, where he provided the University Police Department with legal counsel and representation regarding various complaints including sexual and racial discrimination matters.

In addition, Lowery was lead counsel on behalf of the University in matters involving faculty and administrative staff grievances and labor and employment issues. Mr. Lowery was subsequently appointed as special counsel to the University. Mr. Lowery has represented corporations, financial institutions and real estate developers in all matters of litigation and arbitration, including issues involving various state and federal agencies. He has concentrated in commercial, bankruptcy and civil litigation.

Mike Webster

Mr. Webster is a Certified Protection Professional (CPP), with over 30 years of diverse security experience.  This experience includes corporate security management, security consulting, security systems design and engineering, security systems project implementation, and security product design and management.  Mr. Webster began his career in the United States Air Force as a Security and Counter-Terrorism Specialist.  Mr. Webster led a hostage rescue and counter-terrorist team, specializing in vulnerability assessment and the deployment of security countermeasures in response to terrorist threats to U.S. interests abroad.

Mr. Webster served as the top corporate security executive for several fortune 100 high-technology corporations and has managed innovate security system design and installation divisions for several of the world’s largest security companies.  Mr. Webster built and operated an industry-leading security consulting and engineering practice for 10 years before selling to a large public corporation.  Mr. Webster is a recognized security expert and has been trusted with the security assessment and design of some of the largest and most advanced security systems for high profile government facilities, critical infrastructure sites and large public institutions. Some of these projects included the U.S. Department of Homeland Security HQ, a critical National Nuclear Security Agency site, U.S. military installations, worldwide critical infrastructure sites for Exxon Mobil and numerous State and Municipal government facilities.

Mr. Webster has also provided these services for many higher educational institutions including University of Texas, Texas A&M University, Tarrant County College District, and Purdue University. Mr. Webster has led the security system design and consulting efforts for over 200 projects, representing over 100 separate customers on 6 continents and in over 20 countries. 

Joseph Podach

Joseph "Joe" Podach is a Senior level Technology and Business Unit Management professional with over 25 years of experience designing, planning and directing every aspect of an organization's Information Technology (IT) division, encompassing budgets exceeding $10M. Industry knowledge in healthcare, utilities, and education.  He has Executive experience in the management of total business and operations including finance/purchasing, budgeting, departmental marketing, and technology administration.

Joe served as Executive-in-charge of Technology at the Republican National Convention and Presidential Inaugural Committee. He has technical expertise in realigning, implementing, and executing large scale VOIP/Data/WAN/LAN projects.  Including cellular, two-way (radio) communications, access control and CCTV.

Joe’s experience in public sector spanned 13 years, 9 years as the Deputy Chief of Technology and Procurement with Cleveland Metropolitan School District where he managed all aspects of the Technology Department, the District wide procurement department, along with warehousing and logistics.  He even managed the food services department for 4 years. He was an integral part of providing security systems, business and instructional technology in new school construction and renovations. Prior to Cleveland he was the Director of Technology with Toledo Public Schools. He also served as an adjunct faculty member instructing and developing technology classes at Terra State Community College.  He holds a MBA in Business, BS in Public Service Administration and is a private multi-engine pilot.

Joe currently serves on the Development Board for the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library, and Museum and Shoes, and Clothes for Kids in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Kayle Garcia

Kayle graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication in 2015.  

She is a former employee of Stryker Corporation and serves as the Director of Marketing for Lowery & Associates.