Brandon Anderson, Vice President of Safety at AGC of Missouri. With 24 years of experience in the construction, Mr. Anderson prior to joining AGCMO in 2020 as safety consultant, he was employed by the Missouri Department of Transportation for 17 years, including 15 years as a lead safety instructor. With a background from working alongside and leading “boots on the ground”, to employee development and safety training brings real world knowledge and experience to the table.

Mr. Azbill was appointed Director - National EHS at Milwaukee Tool in July 2021, and is responsible for directing the design, implementation, and maintenance of environmental, safety and health programs. Mr. Azbill provides oversight to ensure compliance with all applicable laws to exceed safety regulations.

He has over 27 years of experience in Safety and Risk Management, having held key management positions with Kiewit Power, Suffolk Construction, Cannistraro, and Callahan Construction. Throughout his career, Mr. Azbill has created a reputation of success by leveraging a collaborative leadership style which has helped him achieve consistent industry-leading results and build successful partnerships that continue to impact the construction industry.

Mr. Azbill has led companies to noticeable safety improvements and increased engagement in incident prevention, fostering a positive safety culture. Evident through his reduction of claims, incidents, and lost time, as well as increased involvement of subcontractor engagement, he has been honored with notable awards including the OSHA VPPP Star award in 2012 (the first time a VPPP Star award was awarded to a construction job in Region 1), MCAA Milwaukee Tool Safety Professional Award, ESGR DOD Patriot Award, Safety Excellence Award by the NSC, and STEP Award by the ABC.

Mr. Azbill holds several accredited safety certifications and licenses and attended both Johnson County Community College and the University of Kansas and is a sitting member on numerous safety advisory boards.

Andrew Brought counsels manufacturers, industrial clients and businesses with OSHA and workplace safety challenges. From complex fatalities and injuries to more routine compliance inspections, Andrew is frequently called upon by a variety of industrial sectors to assist in handling crisis management situations, strategic response and incident investigations.

Dr. Charlie Cartwright is the Kansas City Region Market Leader at Pioneer iQ. A design and construction consulting firm based in Olathe, KS. whose sole purpose is to bring out the best in leaders, their teams and organizations.

Before devoting his work full-time to leadership consulting, Dr. Charlie spent over 20 years of his career working in leadership within Fortune 500 companies. The practical lessons, insights & operational excellence that he gained during this time are priceless. His wisdom helps business leaders achieve great results by tapping into the inherent greatness of their people.

Mr. Azbill has led companies to noticeable safety improvements and increased engagement in incident prevention, fostering a positive safety culture. Evident through his reduction of claims, incidents, and lost time, as well as increased involvement of subcontractor engagement, he has been honored with notable awards including the OSHA VPPP Star award in 2012 (the first time a VPPP Star award was awarded to a construction job in Region 1), MCAA Milwaukee Tool Safety Professional Award, ESGR DOD Patriot Award, Safety Excellence Award by the NSC, and STEP Award by the ABC.

Mark Cook has been in the electrical industry since 1978. He had owned an electrical contracting business from 1994 through 2015 in Arizona until his recent employment with Faith Technologies as a technical training consultant. Currently, Mr. Cook provides CEU classes, Exam prep class as well as Arc Flash training for FTI.

He was an instructor for the Independent Electrical Contractors of Arizona (I.E.C) for over 10 years. He continues to provide training for the Electric League of Arizona and facilitate CEU classes with other providers. Mark Cook is a member of the IAEI and is the education chair for the East Central Wisconsin Chapter. Mark was appointed to CMP-2 for NFPA 70 in April of 2020 and writes columns with other industry publications. Currently he holds a Wisconsin Master’s license, a Washington State Administrator’s and journeymen’s license. He now resides in Mesa, AZ.

Jeff has spent his entire career in outside sales, with the last 11 years being with United Rentals - Trench Safety. Jeff has been a certified instructor for the company's OSHA Competent Person for Excavation Safety and Confined Space in Construction course this entire time. He truly enjoys developing his experience in the field with assistance in selecting the proper protective system and working with engineered shoring systems.

AJ is a graduate of Central Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Safety Management. He has worked in a variety of Safety/Loss Control positions for regional, super-regional and national insurance companies. Currently AJ is a Senior Loss Control Representative for ACUITY, A Mutual Insurance Company.

AJ has earned a certificate in Human Performance Improvement (HPI) through the Association for Talent Development. He has also earned the Certified Safety Professional (CSP) designation conferred by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals and the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) designation with Public Entity (-P) certification from the Insurance Institute of America. AJ has completed the Specialist in Safety and Health (SSH) designation for both Construction and General Industry from Saint Louis University and the Great Plains OSHA Education Center. He is also an FAA licensed drone pilot.

In 2005, AJ joined the adjunct faculty of the Great Plains OSHA Education Center teaching a variety of OSHA Training Institute (OTI) courses including the OSHA Authorized Outreach Trainer courses. He is an OSHA Authorized Construction and General Industry Outreach Trainer.

AJ is an active member of the St. Louis Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals having served as president of the St. Louis Chapter twice and been awarded Safety Professional of the Year.

Paul helps businesses manage their environmental and workplace safety legal challenges. In the environmental context, he helps companies comply with federal and state requirements for all environmental media, navigate site remediation challenges, defend against agency enforcement efforts, and work on a variety of environmental and toxic tort litigation. Paul helps companies with immediate and long-term responses to environmental disasters, including matters that implicate Risk Management Plan requirements. He also helps clients ensure compliance and respond to challenges associated with California Proposition 65 product labeling requirements.

In the workplace safety context, Paul assists clients with all stages of OSHA inspections and enforcement, including OSH Review Commission litigation. He aims to manage enforcement response in a way that protects company interests but does not monopolize the time of company leadership or human resources. He has experience defending inspections involving a wide range of OSHA standards, including Process Safety Management, Permissible Exposure Limits, hazard communication, electrical protection, robotics guarding, and more.

Starting his career in 2014 after graduating from Pittsburg State University with a degree in Environmental Safety Management, Kyle worked 4 years with KDOL, Division of Industrial Safety and Health, providing OSHA Consultations to small employers and overseeing the State, City, and County workplace safety programs throughout the State of Kansas.

In 2018 Kyle joined the Faith Technologies team as a Regional Safety Manager, responsible for supporting all EHS, MSHA, and training efforts for projects throughout the lower Midwest and Western US regions.

Karena Lorek is the Area Director for the Kansas City Area Office. Prior to becoming an Area Director, she was the Assistant Regional Administrator for Region VII OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program. Karena has also worked as the Acting Deputy Director of the Directorate of Enforcement Programs in Washington DC. Karena has worked for OSHA for 14 years and she started her OSHA career in Cleveland Ohio. Karena was selected for OSHA’s first Executive Development Program.

Prior to her career with OSHA; Karena was in Federal Law Enforcement with US Secret Service and US Federal Air Marshall Service. She also was an investigator for Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation conducting safety and health inspections.

Steve Miller is the Regional Vice President of Safety at McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. based in St. Louis, Missouri. Steve oversees all aspects of McCarthy’s safety program in creating the safest work environment for its employees, trade partners and owners. Steve has been with McCarthy for 20 years and has over 23 years’ experience in the construction industry. Steve graduated from Central Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in safety management.

Lisa has over 20 years of experience with PAS. She began her PAS journey as a clinician and managed the Client Services department for 10 years prior to becoming PAS’ Clinical Services Liaison. In the liaison position, she provided consultative services to organization leaders and supported PAS’ employer referral process by interfacing with referring managers and Human Resources throughout the referral and return to work process. In the last 10 years, Lisa has continued to work with organizations providing leadership consultations in a variety of industries including healthcare, education and construction. She provides additional services and support to organizations by presenting trainings, participating in wellness initiative planning and meeting with client organizations to strategize for promoting PAS services to increase utilization. As the Manager of Account Services, she oversees PAS’ account managers, account coordinators and training coordinators. Lisa’s passion for assisting organizations, leaders and employees to be successful and her outstanding customer service skills help promote the presence of PAS as a valuable perk to any organization. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, a Master of Social Work degree, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Missouri and a Certified Employee Assistance Professional. Prior to joining PAS in 2003, Lisa background includes over 15 years of customer service experience in corporate settings and progressive management experience in healthcare settings.

Marcus is the Construction Risk Control Practice Leader at IMA. He has 10 years of experience in the insurance industry providing construction risk control consulting and worked in the construction industry for nine years overseeing safety on water and wastewater, government and healthcare.

Tom Ruzicka, CSP has been the Director of Safety for Delta Innovative Services and DB2 Services since 2009. During this time, he has been an active member of the Construction Safety Group and served as the CSG President in 2016. Since then, he has been the CSG webmaster. In 2022 Tom was recognized as the Safety Professional of the Year. He and his wife live in KCMO and have 3 children ages 3, 7 and 10.

Karen is a registered nurse who is board certified in occupational health. For nearly 30 years she has managed the occupational health and safety needs for a variety of industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, the electric utility industry and healthcare IT. She has become a recognized speaker on various occupational health & safety topics both regionally and nationally.

She also spent two years as the Workers’ Compensation and Employer Account Manager for SERC Physical Therapy. In this role she served as a liaison to employers, nurse case managers and adjustors for work comp and a full suite of industrial services to assist with injury prevention and injury management across a 3-state area. She also supported the work comp function internally for 60+ physical therapy clinics.

When the COVID 19 pandemic occurred, Karen became the Director of Medical Services at Examinetics, Inc., the largest provider of mobile onsite occupational health services in the United States, where she is currently employed.

Karen is on the Board of the Safety & Health Council of Western MO & KS, is a member of the Construction Safety Group of Kansas City where she served as president in 2021, and is also a member of the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, and the ASSP Heart of America Executive Committee, serving as the Administrator of ChapterWISE (Women In Safety Excellence).

Virginia is half owner of On-Site Health & Safety. She is a Certified Safety Professional, Construction Health & Safety Technician and licensed paramedic. Virginia has extensive experience providing mobile health and safety services to employers, as well as working as a Safety Director in the Construction Industry. She has worked for over 20 years managing programs including responding to non-life threatening injuries, assisting with drug testing programs, respiratory protection needs, training, administering field collections for biological monitoring programs, etc.

With over 27 years’ experience in the safety, health, and environmental field, Brian has successfully trained many organizations and employees in OSHA and MSHA courses. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Safety Management from University of Central Missouri and is a Certified Construction Health and Safety Technician (CHST), Certified Safety, Health, and Environmental Trainer (CIT), and a Safety Trained Supervisor Construction (STSC). He is an authorized Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Construction Outreach Instructor, Certified Part 46 and 48 Mine Safety and Health (MSHA) Instructor (IU, IS), and an Authorized American Red Cross Instructor. He has worked for a General Contractor, worked for the Builders Association from 2000-2017 as Assistant Director of Safety and Health Services, was president/owner of Safety Consulting Company, and is currently the Regional Safety Trainer with The Builders Association where he helps to develop a successful safety culture through program development and instructs inspired training courses. Brian received a recognition of service award from the Kansas City, MO OSHA office and has successfully trained the OSHA Compliance Officers in various topics through the years including Fall Protection, Scaffolding, Excavations, Cranes and Rigging and First Aid/CPR.

He has also completed Construction Safety Competent Person Level Courses for many Construction Organizations, Municipalities, General Industry Companies and has been a presenter for the these topics at many seminars and conferences over the years.

With 30 years of global occupational safety and health consulting experience, Dr. Daniel Snyder partners with stakeholders to develop strategies for improving safety and health management systems. Dr. Snyder served in Army military intelligence for long range surveillance and as a safety liaison for implementing field expedited safety training as part of the National Incident Management System for disaster response. He is a subject-matter expert on certification exam preparation, safety and health competency management systems, and qualitative safety science research. He serves on several standards and professional development committees, including chairperson for the ANSI/ASSP Z490.1 Criteria for Accepted Practices in Safety, Health, and Environmental Training Standard, member of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to the ISO Technical Committee 283 responsible for the ongoing development and enhancement of ISO 45001, (OHSMS), international standard. He currently serves on the ASSP Board of Directors and the ASSP Foundation Board of Trustees. Dr. Snyder is an accomplished speaker and author whose works include Influential Safety Leadership (2020), the SPAN Exam study workbooks (2019), the Ethics chapter in the American Society of Safety Professionals’ Consultants Business Development Guide (2015) and the National Safety Council’s Pocket Guide to Safety Essentials, 2 nd Edition (2014). Dr. Snyder is the founder of SafetyMentor.com, an IACET accredited training provider dedicated to advancing client professional development initiatives with customized safety and health competency-based curriculum, consulting, and mentoring solutions.

John Throckmorton is a Senior Trainer Consultant with Tomo Drug Testing. He has been with Tomo since December 2000, serving as a collection technician, field manager, breath alcohol and drug collection trainer, and operations manager. Often referred to as “JT”, John has assisted businesses with the development and implementation of substance misuse testing programs, performed program reviews for compliance with State and Federal regulations, and annually conducts over 100 educational and training seminars. John is a 1979 graduate of Baptist Bible College where he met Carol, his wife of 44 years. They have two grown children and three grandchildren. John has been involved in public speaking for over 45 years.

Jeff has been in underground utility locating for the past 18 years holding positions from locate technician to state manager. He is passionate about damage prevention and safeguarding the underground community from potential hazards. For 16 years Jeff managed locate teams numbering 15 to 50 technicians. As a Subsurface Solutions representative he is able to educate and train the locate technicians of today as well as tomorrow. He is well versed in locating facilities of all types, sizes, and materials and have completed more than 6,000 damage investigations during my career. Jeff offers a perspective of those lessons learned to anyone that it might help with locating, damage prevention or damage investigations.

Chris leads all aspects McCownGordon’s health and safety initiatives across the enterprise, leading a team of experts passionate about ensuring every project meets the highest safety standards and that all associates, clients, workers and visitors go home safe at the end of each day. Chris’s Strategic approach to developing and creating a safety climate includes implementing system-wide safety guidelines and protocols, establishing and administering safety and quality training, assisting management teams in creating site-specific safety programs, and conducting trend analysis and proactive safety planning. He serves as the company’s technical safety resource at the business unit and company level.

Prior to joining McCownGordon, Chris spent more than 20 years at one of the nation’s largest construction companies leading their safety program. He earned a B.A.S in Community Health Education and a Master of Environmental Health and Safety from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Chris has served as a supervisory training program instructor for the AGC of Minnesota, Adjunct Instructor at the University of Minnesota Duluth Master of EHS program, Advisory Board Member for the East Carolina University Master of Science in Occupational Safety Program and co-chaired the CHASE Program/Committee for the AGC Safety Committee. He speaks frequently on safety issues at companies and organizations, including Target Corporation, MBI Governor’s Safety Conference, University of Iowa and numerous others.

Flint Walton is the Technical Services and Training Specialist at Missouri Employers Mutual. Walton is responsible for planning and conducting training sessions with associations, business groups, and clients, and hosts sessions at conferences and insurance agencies. He also provides additional on-site safety services.

Walton has 30+ years of experience in loss prevention and has assisted companies in various industries with their safety efforts. MEM provides training for more than 10,000 employees across the state of Missouri. He has presented at national events, including the Public Risk Management Association conference, National Safety Council’s Congress and Expo, and American Society of Safety Professionals.

Walton has extensive experience managing and supervising multi-jurisdictional claims from coast to coast, in both insured and self-insured environments. This experience extends to nationwide carriers, third party administrators, and self-administered employers.

He holds an associate’s degree in Loss Control Management and bachelor’s degrees in both Industrial Safety and Safety Management from the University of Central Missouri. He is a member of the American Society of Safety Professionals. Walton is also a Missouri-certified Safety Consultant and a Certified Field Safety Representative for Arkansas.

Mark Woodward is the Senior Safety & Risk Services Trainer at Missouri Employers Mutual. He is responsible for conducting MEM employee and policyholder training, including customized training for associations, safety conferences and business groups.

Throughout his career, Woodward has instructed tens of thousands of Missouri employees through more than 3,000 safety and risk management classes. He has presented on a national scale, including the American Association of State Compensation Insurance Funds, National Safety Council’s Congress & Expo, Public Risk Management Association Conference, American Society of Safety Engineers and National Common Ground Alliance.

Woodward is a certified safety consultant through the State of Missouri and a National Safety Council CPR, First Aid and AED trainer, defensive driving instructor and OSHA Outreach Trainer for courses including: OSHA 10 and OSHA 30 in Construction. He is also President of the Missouri Chapter of the Common Ground Alliance.

Woodward has a bachelor’s in Safety Management from the University of Central Missouri and a master’s in Education from William Woods University. He is certified through both the University of Missouri and Association for Talent Development. Woodward is a long-time active volunteer in Missouri fire and ambulance districts as a certified firefighter and emergency medical technician.

Wesley L. Wheeler, SMS, is NECA’s Executive Director of Safety. Wesley joined NECA in 2014 and has over 40 years of electrical experience. Prior to NECA, he was safety consultant in his own business, Wheeler Safety Services, Inc. and has been a Safety Director and OSHA Safety trainer for a large industrial based electrical contractor in Florida. Wesley is a qualified OSHA Construction Outreach Instructor and has assisted in OSHA Instructor classes for Electrical Training Alliance, (etA formerly known as the NJATC). He also has assisted etA in textbook development contributing to their OSHA workbooks. Wesley has served in many capacities in his career from electrician, foreman, superintendent, estimator, project manager to safety director and is a member of OSHA’s Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH). He has also a Florida State Certified Electrical Contractor and has also served on the NECA Codes and Standards committee for the last 14 years representing NECA on the NEC-NFPA 70 Code Panels 6 and 7 and was member of the NFPA 70E Committee for the 2015 and 2018 editions. Wesley brings a unique over all perspective to his position. Wesley is also a trained First Aid/BLS instructor, a Department of Labor Mine Safety Health Administration Instructor, and has had OSHA General Industry Outreach Trainer credentials from University of South Florida.