Meet the Team

Sharon Denton-Gow has over 20 years serving the community as a Public Health Preparedness Trainer and Planner. She has instructed at the college level for 28 years, is an Agency Instructor II for the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) WMD Health & Medical Disaster Preparedness & Response from 2010 to the present, and an Associate Faculty for Post University (CT) from 2020 to present-day. Her experience as a participant on multiple exercise development teams has allowed her to assist jurisdictions and disciplines with the training and exercise necessary for response personnel and strike teams. She has functioned in the roles of Exercise Designer, Facilitator, Controller and Evaluator for local and regional response exercises. She continues to provide multi-agency, multi-discipline emergency response training for ESF-8 responders on a contract basis and continues to support the State of Florida as a responder and/or trainer.

Richard Walterman is a highly accomplished professional manager with over 40 years of

experience. He worked for the City of Miami Police Department for over 30 years, and finished his career as the Commander of the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. In this assignment, he prepared the Department for the potential of terrorist activity, managed the Emergency Operation Center, prepared the Department for hurricane season, and managed multiple Department of Homeland Security grants. During his tenure with the Miami Police Department, he had the opportunity to be incident or event Commander on numerous occasions, including the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in 2003, and in 2009, he commanded a total of 45 Miami police officers who traveled to Washington D.C. to help supplement the security detail for the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Richard has received numerous departmental commendations and letters of appreciation from citizens: some of his most outstanding accomplishments include receiving the Legion of Merit award and several Officer of the Month awards. Richard holds a B.S. from the University of South Florida and M.S. from Devry University. He also attended the Southern Police Institute’s (SPI) Command Officer Development Course (CODC) designed for mid-to upper-level law enforcement personnel, and has been an Incident Command Systems instructor since 2006.

Bob Palestrant has over 45 years of experience in public service as a registered nurse,

firefighter/paramedic, emergency manager, and in the discipline of homeland security. Bob served 28 years with Miami-Dade County Florida Fire Rescue where he established groundbreaking programs and trained both private and public sector personnel in emergency management and homeland

security-related topics. Upon his retirement, he then served as the Broward County Sheriff’s Office Fire & Rescue Department District Chief at the Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. He was on several deployments including the World Trade Center attack on 9/11 as a member of Florida Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue, and has served as Incident Commander or as a member of Unified Command at multiple SEAR level incidents and events. Bob has or continues to serve as a member of various regional, state, and national homeland security-related committees and work groups, and has been a panel member or speaker on emergency management, aircraft rescue and firefighting, and homeland security across the country and abroad. He has obtained multiple instructor certifications, is a Certified Emergency Manager, and earned his

master’s degree (cum laude) in Homeland Security from American Military University. Bob is recognized as a problem-solver and for his ability to create and develop programs thought to be too difficult to accomplish.

John A. Meizoso has over twenty years of experience serving South Florida as a

paramedic/firefighter. Currently a Captain assigned to Miami-Dade County Fire

Rescue Department’s (MDFR) Fire Prevention Division as the Bureau Officer-in-

Charge of Aviation Life Safety Bureau, with its area of responsibility consisting of

Miami International Airport and the four general aviation airports within Miami-

Dade County. Prior to his current assignment, he has served key roles in the Communications

Division, the Terrorism Response Bureau, the Miami-Dade Police Department

Incident Management Team and Rapid Deployment Force, a front-line response

unit designated for spontaneous critical incidents and special requests for

emergency assistance. He is a member of the Florida Task Force I Urban Search and Rescue Team and the Federal Emergency Management Agency Incident Support Team as a

Planning Team Manager. He has also served in several roles for the Office of Emergency Management. Captain Meizoso is a Certified Emergency Manager through the International

Association of Emergency Managers, a Certified Hospital Emergency Professional, has a master's degree in education from Augusta State University,

GA and has attained the designation of an Executive Fire Officer from the

National Fire Academy.

Edgar has over 20 years of expertise across multiple disciplines—law enforcement, fire and life safety, environmental health and safety, and disaster preparedness. Edgar is a certified instructor in Incident Command Systems (ICS), EOC skill sets, and All-Hazards Incident Management, among other specialized courses. Edgar is an active member of various professional organizations, including the Florida Emergency Preparedness Association (FEPA), the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), and the All-Hazards Incident Management Team Association (AHIMTA).

Throughout his career, Edgar has played an integral role in developing and coordinating numerous tabletop, functional, and full-scale exercises. These include the AHIMT Complex Team Functional Exercise, City of Sunrise’s 2024 Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attack TTX, and Operation Convergent 2023, among others. As a team coordinator for the Southeast Florida Regional All-Hazards Incident Management Team (AHIMT), Edgar also serves on the AHIMT State Qualification Committee Review (SQRC). He is a credentialed Type III Incident Commander, Safety Officer, Planning Section Chief, Logistics Section Chief, and Documentation Unit Leader. Edgar has been deployed to several Type 1 incidents, including Hurricane Michael, the Surfside Building Collapse, mass migration in Texas, Hurricane Idalia, and wildfires and flash flooding in New Mexico, among others