Our People

• Bachelor of Art in Political Science from University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• Master of Public Administration from George Washington University
• Mr. Bearse has been helping organizations manage risk in an increasingly complex and challenging threat environment for over 25 years.  He is the managing director of Nauset National Security Group (NNSG), LLC which provides a wide range of consultative and technical services to industry and government, both domestically and internationally.  He is also a risk management consultant at Senior Business Consultants, LLC, in Hyannis, MA.  His areas of expertise and domain wisdom include national security emergency preparedness, emergency management, continuity planning, critical infrastructure protection, public-private partnership building, and business development.  
• Prior to forming NNSG, Ron served for five years as a senior executive in the student loan industry and 21 years of federal service in a wide variety of analytical, managerial and senior leadership positions with the U.S. Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and the Treasury, including positions as the Director, Business Continuity and Emergency Preparedness Staff in the Office of the Under Secretary for National Protection Programs at DHS; Director, Office of Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection at Treasury; Chief, Exercise Policy, Development and Conduct at FEMA; Federal Coordinating Officer at FEMA; and Principal Advisor to the Director of FEMA Regions I and IX.   
• Ron is also a Senior Fellow at the George Mason University Center for Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security and a distinguished graduate of the National Defense University’s Industrial College of the Armed Forces. 

Dr. Brock is an Assistant Professor in the Emergency Management Department with seventeen years of experience. Additionally, she has over 25 years of experience as an Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Specialist at the Barnstable County Department of Health and Environment. Her expertise spans EHS, OSH, Public Health, Environmental Science, and Emergency Management. Dr. Brock provides assessments, education, training, compliance assistance, research, and system management approaches to various public sector facilities.

Dr. Marina Brock enjoys a diverse academic and professional background, holding a B.A. in Environmental Economics from Simmons University, an M.S. in Occupational Health and Safety Engineering from Columbia Southern University, and a Ph.D. in Emergency and Protective Services from Capitol Technology University. Her primary work and research interests are advancing local and regional government initiatives in Safety and Risk Management System Development, Emergency Management, and Public Health. Mainly, she focuses on identifying barriers and gaps and facilitating the implementation of Environmental, Safety, and Health (EHS) competencies. Dr. Brock is dedicated to evolving, implementing, and evaluating effective strategies toward safety/risk management systems and local operational strategy.

Dr. Brock has authored and co-authored several articles and has been a lecturer and mentor across New England. Her outstanding contributions have earned her prestigious awards, such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Excellence Award and the Massachusetts Governor’s Award for Toxic Use Reduction (TUR). Notably, her innovations in prevention and mitigation have been recognized nationally and have served as a model for state and local governmental agencies nationwide.

Recognized for her leadership and collaboration efforts, Dr. Brock was nominated for the Harvard School of Government’s Innovations in Government Award. She also has served as a national representative for local governments on the EPA Government Advisory Committee (GAC) with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and was appointed Chairman of the GAC in 2021. Dr. Brock continues her active assessment and research in this area with her students.

• Juris Doctorate (Cum Laude) from University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College
• George Cadwalader joined Massachusetts Maritime Academy's faculty in 2014 after retiring from the United States Marine Corps. His military assignments included serving as a member of the faculty at the Naval War College and the Naval Justice School as well as deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.
• He has been an invited lecturer and presenter at a variety of conferences and venues that include:
  • The International Institute of Humanitarian Law in Sanremo, Italy 
  • The NATO Centre for Excellence for Operations in Shallow and Confined Waters Maritime Security Conference
  • Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Command and Staff College in Tokyo, Japan
  • German Maritime Tactics Centre in Bremerhaven, Germany
  • Defense Institute for International Legal Studies
  • University of Maine School of Law
• He recently published a chapter on Homeland Security in the Oxford Handbook of U.S. National Security (Cloud J.A., Gvosdev, N.K., & Reveron, D.S. (Ed.). 2018). He has also been published in the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law and the Naval Law Review
• Professor Cadwalader teaches classes pertaining to emergency management, homeland security, and national security

• Bachelors in Marine Environmental Science from the United States Coast Guard Academy, 2012
• Masters in Homeland Security from Northeastern University
• Professor Sam Coonan is a full-time faculty member in Massachusetts Maritime Academy's Emergency Management Department and a commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard.
• Her first tour was as the Law Enforcement Officer on the USCGC DEPENDABLE out of Cape May, NJ where the ship conducted primarily counter-drug and maritime law enforcement missions. For her Response Ashore tour she was stationed at Sector Sault Sainte Marie, MI. While at Sector Sault Ste. Marie, her primary duties included Federal On-scene Coordinator (R), Search and Rescue Operations Planner, and Tactical Law Enforcement Coordination Planning.
• While working on her Masters degree, Professor Coonan taught Physics/Chemistry and coached Basketball/Lacrosse at the high school level. She also worked on several private contracts for FEMA and the U.S. Coast Guard via the American Bureau of Shipping Group.  In her free time she enjoys hanging out with her two dogs, Maximus and Ace.

• Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences with academic focus on Emergency Management, Criminal Justice, Sociology, and Philosophy from the University of North Texas
• Master of Public Administration with a specialization in government finance from the University of North Texas
• Doctorate in Public Administration and Management with a specialization in emergency management and disaster science from the University of North Texas
• Dr. Gutierrez is a full-time professor in the Department of Emergency Management at the Academy. His area of expertise include Disaster Response and Recovery, Disaster Preparedness, Terrorism, Disaster Finance, Leadership, Public Policy, and Organizational Development. 
• Previously, Dr. Gutierrez served as a team leader assigned to the 1st Ranger Battalion, a law enforcement officer in Texas, and worked in an administrative capacity within the Office of the Provost at the University of North Texas.  Dr. Gutierrez has taught as an adjunct or visiting professor within the Emergency Management Department at Royal Roads University in Canada, Lamar University in Texas, and Nova Southeastern in Florida. His current teaching includes Exercise Planning and Development and the Capstone Course.

Professor Hehl retired from the U.S. Army in 2001 after serving 21 years on active duty (six years Enlisted/15 years Commissioned Officer) from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) as a Military Intelligence Officer for South Asia. Subsequently, he was awarded the DIA Director's Superior Performance Award for his work in support of Pentagon Global War On Terrorism (GWOT) operations post-9/11 and the Legion of Merit Medal for exemplary military service to country. After serving an additional two years as a DIA civilian Intelligence Officer, he began his career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Boston Division at the Providence, RI office, where he retired in 2021 after serving another 19 years as a counterterrorism and counterintelligence intelligence officer and intelligence liaison officer to the R.I. State Fusion Center.

A 1977 graduate of Rogers High School, Newport, RI, he attained his bachelor's degree from the University of Rhode Island, where he was also the 1986 ROTC Cramer's Saber recipient. In 1995, he graduated from the U.S. State Department National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Foreign Service Institute's Urdu language and South Asia foreign areas studies program. In 1996 he graduated from the University of Baluchistan, Pakistan Strategic War Studies program and the Pakistan Army Command Staff College, and in 1997 attained his graduate degree in National Security Affairs from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. He is also a graduate of the US Intelligence Community Advanced Analyst Program (ICAAP).

His tours of duty include the National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, Pentagon, Desert Storm, South Korea, Turkey, Greece, Pakistan, India, Costa Rica and two FBI combat tours with U.S. Special Operations Command in Afghanistan. His awards include the DIA Director's Superior Performance Award, Legion of Merit Medal, FBI Medal of Excellence, the FBI Combat Service Ribbon, Southwest Asia Service, Meritorious Service and Joint Service Commendation Medals, Deputy Director of CIA recognition and the U.S. Army Parachutist Badge.

Professor Hehl began his teaching career in 1989 instructing US Army Officers and Senior NonCommissioned Officers on Soviet military doctrine and tactics as an intelligence instructor at the US Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, GA and has taught Homeland/National Security-related topics at the graduate and undergraduate levels since 2014. He grew up as a US Navy dependent in Middletown and Newport, RI and currently resides in Portsmouth, RI.