John S. Powell - Government/Non-Profit Group Representative

Mr. Powell has over 25 years of law enforcement experience at both the municipal and state levels as a police officer and supervisor for two San Francisco area agencies. During his career, Mr. Powell implemented and/or managed several major projects including a statewide trunked radio system and E-911 computer aided dispatch center for the University of California. He has served on numerous local, state, national and international committees, including the California Law Enforcement Mutual Aid Radio System (CLEMARS) Executive Committee; the California Legislature's Joint Committee on Fire, Police, Emergency and Disaster Services; and the FCC's Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee (PSWAC). He also served as chair of the Interoperability Subcommittee of the FCC's 700 MHz Public Safety National Coordination Committee (NCC). He has testified before numerous legislative bodies at all levels of government.

While concentrating in the area of wireless telecommunications, he has had a wide range of law enforcement responsibilities in administration, crime prevention, emergency management, explosive ordinance disposal, operations, personnel, project and records management, public information, training, and strategic planning. He has consulting experience with high security access control for NASA and developing a statewide satellite-based communication systems for emergency management in the State of California.

Since leaving the University of California in 2002, Mr. Powell, a senior consulting engineer, has consulted extensively on issues and projects related to advanced telecommunications technologies, including broadband, interoperability and Software Defined Radio (SDR), for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Executive Office of the President of the United States. He currently works as a Senior Consulting Engineer for the DHS Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) Interoperable Communications Technical Assistance Program (ICTAP) which provides technical assistance local and state governments across the United States.

From 2003 until April 2008, Mr. Powell served as founding chair of California's FCC-chartered Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee (CalSIEC) and currently serves as special liaison on interoperable communications to the Director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services. He was also a member of the Department of Homeland Security Project SAFECOM Executive Committee. He currently chairs the Interoperability Committee and SDR Working Group within the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC), and the Board of Directors at the SDR Forum. He is a charter member of the Project 25 Steering Committee.

Mr. Powell is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Law Enforcement Information Management Section, and the IACP Communications and Technology Committee where he serves as an IACP representative to NPSTC. He is a life member and International Past President of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials - International (APCO), a Fellow of the Radio Club of America, and a member of IEEE.

Mr. Powell holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and received the Chancellor's Distinguished Service Award from that institution at the end of his law enforcement career. He is one of seven recipients of APCO's Art McDole Award for long-term technical contributions to the art and practice of public safety telecommunications. He was named "Most Influential Person in Public Safety Spectrum Management" by Radio Resource magazine in 1998 and is the 2007 recipient of NPSTC's Richard DeMello award, one of the highest honors bestowed by the national public safety communications community in the United States.

Mr. Powell has authored numerous articles for communications and public safety sector publications on operational and technical issues related to advanced wireless telecommunications, interoperability, and software defined radio.