2022 NIPHLE Training Event
Speaker BIOS
Listed in Order of Appearance
Lt Col Julian Tsukano
Commanding Officer
US Marine Detachment
Fort Lee, Virginia
Lt Col Julian Tsukano was born in Brownsville, TX. He attended the University of San Diego, CA and subsequently spent his formative years in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Lt Col Tsukano’s operational assignments began at 1st Supply Battalion as the OIC of the Material Distribution Center, Camp Pendleton from 2003-2004. Lt Col Tsukano was then transferred to 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion for assignment to the Military Transition Team (Mitt). In this assignment, Lt Col Tsukano served as the Infantry Company Advisor and Logistics Advisor for 3D Battalion, 1st Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division during the Battle of Ramadi from 2005-2006 while attached to 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines. Lt Col Tsukano returned to Camp Pendleton and was then deployed a short time later to the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq throughout all of 2007 in Baghdad. Where he served as the Movement Control OIC for the rearmament of the Iraqi Army.
Upon completion, Lt Col Tsukano transferred to 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment for assignment as the Company Inspector & Instructor for a Marine Reserve Infantry Battalion. During this assignment Lt Col Tsukano served as H&S Company Commander and the Battalion Logistics Officer that included deployments to Ramadi, Iraq, Norway, Okinawa, Argentina, and Estonia throughout 2008-2010. Lt Col Tsukano was then transferred to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit as its Supply Officer and lead logistics planner. LtCol Tsukano was later assigned to US Embassy Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 2014-2017 in support of Joint Special Operations Command where he served as a both liaison, key operational planner, and advisor to partnered forces. Lt Col Tsukano then was assigned to 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade in Bahrain for assignment as the Assistant / Chief of Staff Logistics (A/CS-G4) where he led the logistical planning effort for the introduction of Marine forces into Syria.
Lt Col Tsukano was then assigned to U.S. Marine Special Operations Command, 1st Marine Raider Support Battalion as the Executive Officer in 2017-2019. Where he helped to develop the Special Operations Capability Specialist (SOCS) Program and number of key technical projects in support of the National Mission Force. Lt Col Tsukano then was assigned to Marine Forces Southern Command as the Deputy G3 and concurrent assignment as a planner in the Commander’s Crisis Action Group for United States Southern Command.
LtCol Tsukano has attended Resident Professional Military Education at the Expeditionary Warfare School and the Command & Staff College. LtCol Tsukano has a Masters in Security Policy from the Arabian Peninsula and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations. LtCol Tsukano has lectured on security issues at Princeton University, advised UAE senior government officials on security policy and UAE’s National Electronic Security Agency. LtCol Tsukano has also served as the Senior Advisor to the Admiral, Eastern Fleet, Royal Saudi Navy and to the Commodore, Eastern Fleet, Royal Saudi Naval Special Warfare Command.
Lt Col Tsukano is currently the Commanding Officer at the US Marine Detachment at Ft. Lee, Virginia. Major Tsukano is married to Kirsty Tsukano and has three children Leilani, Eli, and Everly Tsukano.
Mr. Richard S. Mast
DCMA Packaging Group Director
Richard Mast joined DCMA in 2010 as a packaging specialist and currently serves as the packaging group supervisor.
Prior to joining DCMA, he worked as an operations supervisor for DHL (formerly Airborne Express) and served in the US Army as a Field Artillery Officer.
Mast has a MBA in International Business, BA in Mathematics and DAWIA Level III certification in Life Cycle Logistics.
Mr. Jason Runell
Senior Scientific Technical Manager
US Army Armaments Center
Picatinny Arsenal Packaging
Mr. Jason Runell is a Mechanical Engineer for the United States
Army - Armaments Center located at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ. In his current role as the Senior Scientific Technical Manager for the Armaments Center Logistics Research and Engineering Directorate he oversees the complex engineering activities of over 35 Engineers and scientists focused on developing and rapidly delivering innovative packaging technologies to our warfighter. Mr. Runell has worked for the Armaments Center for 19 years. He has dedicated his career to progressing military packaging technologies through the application of engineering and product development methodologies. Mr. Runell has advanced degrees in Engineering, Product Development, and technology Management; and holds multiple patents in the field of ammunition packaging.
Mr. Robert Vermillion, CPP
iNARTE® Certified ESD & Product Safety Engineer RMV Technology Group LLC at NASA Ames
Mr. Bob Vermillion, CCP, Fellow, is a Certified Product Safety & ESD Engineer-iNARTE® with proven subject matter expertise in the mitigation of Triboelectrification for harsh environments and troubleshooting of robotics, systems and engineered materials (displays, flexible electronics, 3D materials) for aerospace & Defense, medical device, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, automotive and the electronics sectors. One of Vermillion's developments was Mars Mission approved.
Bob is the co-author of several ANSI level ESD documents. Bob received the James A. Russell Lifetime Achievement Award for Packaging Engineering Innovation for Protection of the WarFighter in 2018 and one year later was inducted into the Military Packaging Hall of Fame.
Since 2014, Bob has been an active participant of the NASA ESD Inter-Agency Working Group (IAWG) as their Technical Authority for ESD and Founder and Co-Chair of the SAE G19 Sub-Committee for Packaging of EEE parts.
Bob is founder and CEO of RMV Technology Group. LLC, a NASA Industry Partner and 3rd party ESD Materials Testing Training and Consulting Company.
Mr. Barry Birkholz
Gemstar Cases
Director of Technical Packaging
New “ROTO Molding Technology”
Robo-Molding mix of Tradition and Injection Molding
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Mr. Barry Birkholz has been with Gemstar Manufacturing since 2011 and is currently Director of technical Packaging-Gov’t Programs. Barry led the development and growth of gemstar’s Roto and military/government technical packaging programs, paving the way for Gemstar’s entry in the military protective case market.
Mr. Dan Jenkins
Steel Camel
Accident Prevention Specialist
Corrosion and Moisture Control for
Moisture Sensitive Devices
Mr. Dan Jenkins has been an accident prevention specialist with 10 years in crane accident investigation and prevention, and 10 years in underground storage tanks/heavy equipment. BA in Industrial Technology from Cal State University, Chico and a MBA, University of South Florida. He lives in Tampa, FL and enjoys fishing and hiking.
Mr. Kevin Smith
Logistics Management Specialist
USMC HQ
Installation & Logistics Department
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Mr. Kevin Smith is currently a Logistics Management Specialist at Headquarters Marine Corps, Installations & Logistics Department. In this role, he is responsible for establishing cradle-to-grave logistics chain initiatives that will have an enterprise impact on the way Marine Corps logistics capabilities are resourced to effectively resupply distributed land forces from a sea base, focusing on structure, equipment, packaging, handling, and distribution.
Kevin’s personal decorations and awards include the Meritorious Service Medal (Navy and Marine Corps), Navy Achievement Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal and the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal. Recipient 2009 Annual Logistics Achievement Award (NIPHLE). In 2009, 2006 received the Department of Defense Packaging Achievement Award. 1998 received the Certificate of Merit (D0D) Packaging Management Program Award, and in 1997 received (DoD) Packaging Excellence Award.. It's easy on the eyes and a great go-to font for titles, paragraphs & more.
Mr. Jim McCorry
AGM Container Controls
Director Business Development
Jim is responsible for AGM’s global sales and market development, as well as its government relations. In this capacity, Jim is responsible for developing and leading the execution of AGM’s business strategy.
Jim began his career at AGM in 1981. Jim took over as AGM’s Sales Manager in 2000. He joined AGM’s Board of Directors in 2001 and assumed his current role as Director of Business Development in 2008.
Ms. Jennifer Smith
DLA Packaging Program Manager
Ms. Smith is the Senior Packaging Specialist in the Technical Programs Office at the Defense Logistics Headquarters. She manages the Packaging, Stock, Readiness, and Supply Discrepancy Report programs for the Agency along with representing the agency and the HazMat Focal point. Ms. Smith manages all aspects of her programs from procurement to customer receipt. She is active in ASTM International and other consensus standards groups as well as NIPHLE. She chairs the Defense Stock Readiness Group, DLA Packaging Board and is the DLA representative to the Joint Pallet Standards Working Group, Wood Packaging Materials Working group, and Container Design and Retrieval System Working group.
Mr. John Gerrish
AIR PACK /JGA Training
President/CEO
John is the president and CEO of Airpack, Inc. and John Gerrish and Associates located at BWI Airport Baltimore MD.
Airpack, Inc. & JGA Training provide the greater Baltimore/Washington D.C. region with commercial, DOD, Hazardous Materials Packaging and Training Services for over 36 years. John is a former Air Force Customer Service Representative and Air cargo Specialist/ 8 years Air Force, Vietnam Veteran, stationed at Langley and Dover Airforce bases. John has been a NIPHLE Member since the year 2000. John was the former Director of Education for NIPHLE from 2008 to 2011, and recipient of the James A Russel Achievement award, and other NIPHLE contributions as a NIPHLE member.
Ms. Dana Dallas
Cold Chain Program Manager
Packaging Analyst
DLA Cold Chain Packaging to Support
DoD COVID Vaccine Distribution
Ms. Dallas began serving her country as a USAFA graduate, participating in multiple campaigns through out Central America and Southwest Asia, and recently retiring as a Lt Col MSC officer after 30 years of service.
Joining DLA, Dana initially worked with vendors and beneficiaries in support of the NMOP program…focusing on IT, data analysis, eligibility, and customer support. Dana then took over program management for DLA’s Cold Chain Management (CCM) Program, taking on such initiatives as the DoD Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza programs, technical representative for the Pharmaceutical and Medical-Surgical Prime Vendor programs, as well as DoD COVID-19 Vaccine Operations packaging/ distribution for overseas and Navy Fleet assets.
These programs have established DLA Troop Support Medical as an industry benchmark for Cold Chain, as well as Ms. Dallas as a DoD SME in CCM.
Laszlo Horvath, PhD Associate Professor
Virginia Tech University
Mr. Laszlo Horvath is the Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech and the Director of the Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design. His research area focuses on optimizing the performance of the palletized supply chain. Dr. Horvath is currently the US delegate to ISO TC-51 and the chair of the ASTM working group related to the ASTM pallet testing standards.
Mr. Sean Kerins,
Sealed Air Corporation
Executive Director
Technical Sales & Service
Sean Kerins is the Executive Director of Technical Sales and
Service for Sealed Air Corporation. He started his career over 28 years ago outside Chicago as a manager in a Supply Chain.
Sean worked in Paris, France to restructure Sealed Air Europe as one business unit. After he worked in Europe, Sean headed up the implemented Sealed Air’s new ERP system managing the inside sales organization in Danbury, Ct.
In 2006, Sean managed the government, and consumer businesses. Sean served as Vice President for two years and President for three years. Since this time, Sean ran our sales organization in the Northeast of the United States. For the past 10 years, he has headed up Sealed Air’s technical sales and service. The origination has transformed from selling and servicing small to large equipment.
Sean is married to his wife Mo and has 5 grown children Johnny, Ricky, Kathryn, Brian, and Sean.
Mr. Jacek Foltynski
Mechanical Engineer
US Army CCDC Armaments Center
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Mr. Foltynski is a General Engineer in the US Army CCDC – Armaments Center Packaging Division. He is a subject matter expert on Insensitive Munitions (IM) and a member of the Army IM Board. Mr. Foltynski’s work includes packaging venting, impact barriers, dunnage design, and systems integration of IM components.