Team

Jon Blum

Founder/CEO: Jon has dedicated his entire professional career to law enforcement and advancing public safety. He has developed evidence-based training curriculums for more than a dozen State POSTs and national industry leaders like the U.S. COPS Office, BJA, NIJ, IACP, and IADLEST. Training curricula developed by Jon has, and is currently being delivered to thousands of law enforcement officers across all 50 states.

In addition to his 20 years of sworn law enforcement experience as an officer, FTO, first-line supervisor, and training commander, Jon holds a Master of Public Administration and BS in Criminal Justice from the University of North Carolina. He is a National Certified Instructor through IADLEST and holds numerous law enforcement certifications from the North Carolina Department of Justice. Jon has also served as an expert witness in 100+ cases in state and federal courts.

Timothy Bonadies, Ed.D

Lead Researcher: Timothy is an Indiana-based curriculum developer with 20 years of law enforcement experience. He has developed and analyzed training curriculums for State POSTs and large individual agencies including the Chicago and Philadelphia Police Departments and San Diego County Sheriff’s Office. Tim has also built training curriculums for the Colombian National Police and United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command. He is a reserve officer in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Science from Creighton University, and an Ed.D from Creighton University.

Dianne Beer-Maxwell

Dianne is a Maryland-based project manager and Founder and CEO of The Blue Shoes Group. As a seasoned project manager in criminal justice and training, she excels in overseeing multi-million dollar projects at national, state, and local levels. Dianne’s approach to project management emphasizes creativity, communication, and partnership, ensuring projects stay on time and on budget. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and a Bachelor of Science in Business Marketing from Colorado State University, along with a Master of Applied Anthropology from the University of Maryland.

Jessica Herbert, Ph.D

Collaborative Partner: Jessica is the Founder and CEO of IDEA Analytics and brings over 20 years of experience in policing, research, and data science to the FORCE Concepts team. Her career has spanned government, public, and private industry. This includes being a sworn law enforcement officer with the Fairfax County (VA) Police Department.

Dr. Herbert holds double bachelor’s degrees of Administration of Justice and Sociology from George Mason University, a Master of Arts in Global Security Studies from Johns Hopkins University and her Doctorate in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Arizona State University.

Peggy Schaefer

Project Manager: Peggy Schaefer has led dynamic teams of subject matter experts specializing in curriculum design and delivery. She worked as a Project Manager for IADLEST for twelve years, overseeing traffic safety and grant portfolios. Before retiring in May 2022 as IADLEST’s National Certification Program Director, she collaborated with over 500 developers and certified hundreds of training courses. Currently, she serves as a senior curriculum developer at F.O.R.C.E. Concepts, involved in designing entry-level law enforcement training at the state level. Peggy has been with FORCE Concepts for several years, managing various curriculum development efforts.

Peggy retired in 2010 as the CEO/Training Director of the North Carolina Justice Academy, where she oversaw the day-to-day operations and strategic vision for two campuses, a $7.2 million annual budget, and 102 employees. As the Director, she managed the curriculum development and dissemination of training and instructional materials to over 85,000 law enforcement professionals. Peggy's influence extended beyond the Academy as she served on the Board of Directors for IADLEST, representing the southeast region of the U.S. She also served as the CALEA Accreditation Training Academy Revision Co-chair, pivotal in establishing training standards for the country.

Peggy earned a B.S. degree from Guilford College with a double major in Sociology and Administration of Justice and an MPA from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Pembroke. She was a sworn officer for over 35 years and has four children and eleven beautiful grandchildren.

Rick Tullis

Rick brings over 30 years of law enforcement experience from patrol operation to executive level positions. For part of his career, he served with the NC Department of Justice/Justice Academy as a Training Coordinator assigned to the Tactical Training Center developing and delivering training in various topics such as Officer Safety/Instructor, SWAT, Firearms Instructor Development, Subject Control Instructor Development, Robbery Response, Active Shooter Response and others.

He has served as Chief of Police for an agency in North Carolina. Rick holds a Master of Science degree in Management and Leadership and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice. In addition, Rick holds numerous specialized instructor certifications from the NC Department of Justice to include Subject Control, Firearms, Rapid Deployment, as well as many other instructor certifications related to these topics. He is a graduate of the Force Science Institute, and is a certified Force Science Analyst. Rick has been training law enforcement and detention officers for over 25 years. Most recently Rick has used his leadership experience, training, and education to facilitate training in various leadership and force-related courses. Rick has published several articles, and has presented training to public safety personnel at the local, state, national, and international levels.

He is a lifetime member and past board member of the International Association Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors, (IALEFI) as well as a National Certified Instructor through the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training, (IADLEST).