KSFFA Annual Conference Speakers

Dr. Gregory Lanzen

KSFFA Conference Sessions:

Friday, April 5th at 10:00 AM

• Serving Heroes

Friday, April 5th at 1:30 PM

• Emotional Health of the Firefighter

Dr. Gregg Lanzen is the central U.S. Instructor for Serving Heroes, Inc. In 2010, he retired as a career and volunteer Fire Department Captain and Medic with over 33 years of firefighting and emergency medical experience. Dr. Lanzen began serving as the Goshen (IN) Fire Department Chaplain in 2004, and the Goshen Police Department in 2012. He has also served as the back-up chaplain for the Notre Dame University Fire Department, in South Bend, IN. In 2022 he retired from the First Baptist Church of Goshen, IN, after 41 years of ministry as their lead pastor.

Dr. Lanzen holds Master and Doctorate degrees in Psychology, with an emphasis on Critical Incident Stress Management and Counseling. He is a member of and/or holds certifications from the International Conference of Police Chaplains (ICPC), the Federation of Fire Chaplains (FFC), the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF), the US Department of Homeland Security (USDHS), the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA). the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC), and the Association of Biblical Counselors (ABC). Dr. Lanzen trains and counsels’ firefighters, police officers, their spouses, and families in the areas of the stress encountered on the job and at home.

In 2015 he formed and became the president and lead chaplain for the First In - Chaplain Crisis Response Team, a US IRS approved 501(c)(3) nonprofit limited liability corporation. The First In team consists of 5 nationally certified chaplains and a network of over 20 other chaplains from departments across north central Indiana and southern Michigan. The First In team is part of the Goshen Police Department Peer Support Team, and Goshen Fire Department Crisis Response Team. They provide training, counseling, and critical incident stress defusing and debriefing, as well as stress management and resilience training to Goshen and other local and regional police and fire departments.

In 2022, Dr. Lanzen joined Serving Heroes, Inc. based in Kansas City, MO, and serves as their central US Chaplain and Peer Support Trainer. He holds one-day chaplain and peer support team trainings in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa, throughout the year to help build strong chaplain and peer support programs for firefighters and police officers in their daily service to their communities.

Dr. Lanzen is a visiting professor and commencement speaker at the Northeast India Baptist Bible College and Seminary in Silchar, Assam, India. He has been married to his wife, Marcia, for 50 years, and they have 4 married sons and 16 grandchildren.

Chief Christopher J. Naum, SFPE

Chief of Training, Command Institute| Center for Fireground Leadership
Technical Consultant, NIOSH Firefighter Fatality Investigation Program
Fire Protection & Management Consultant - New York USA

A 49-year fire service veteran, a highly regarded national-international instructor, author, lecturer and fire officer, he’s a distinguished authority on building construction issues affecting the fireground operations, command and tactics and has traveled extensively throughout the United States and internationally delivering training programs on building construction and firefighting, command and operational safety for over thirty-seven years. He’s the Chief of Training for the Command Institute, served as a Vice President with the International Society of Fire Service Instructors and a past member of the Board of Directors, IAFC Safety, Health & Survival Section.

A former command fire officer, architect and fire protection engineer, he was the 1987 ISFSI-Fire Engineering Magazine George D. Post National Fire Instructor of the Year, and is a Technical Consultant, Advisor and Subject Matter Expert to the NIOSH Firefighter Fatality Investigation Program. He has been a Contributing Content Editor and Contributor to Fire Engineering Magazine, FireEnginering.com, FireFighterNation.com and previously with Fire-Rescue Magazine and currently hosts the monthly podcast-webcast program; Buildingsonfire’s Taking it to the Streets on FireEngineering.com. He is the publisher of the new Building Construction video-gram series and the accompaniment Reading the Building Info-grams on the Clarion Event’s Fire Engineering platforms, Buildingsonfire’s A View from the Street Reading Buildings focusing exclusively on Building Construction issued affecting fireground risks, operations and command. In addition. He served as an adjunct Instructor with the National Fire Academy, was a National Fallen Firefighter Foundation, Everyone Goes Home Firefighter Safety Advocate and a 27 year Contributing Editor with Firehouse Magazine and Firehouse.com.

He is a sought-after national keynote speaker, instructor and presenter and has served as an FDIC General Session Keynote speaker, presenting at FDIC since 1986, at Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, IAFC FRI, Wichita HOT and numerous other conferences, fire schools and academies. He is highly recognized for his innovative training lecture series, integrating Building Construction Sciences and Fireground Operations taking the classroom onto urban city streets to fully examine and study the built environment with Building Reads and their direct relationship in fireground command, risks, tactics and safety.

He been a NIOSH Firefighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program technical expert contributing in-depth insights on building performance, structural compromise and collapse and operational recommendations to numerous line- of-duty death reports over the past fifteen years. His supporting report graphics and illustrations have added tremendous value to the report findings and recommendations supporting his comprehensive insights and analysis. He has been a contributing author, presenter, and podcast host on numerous fire service websites, publications, and conferences in the United States and Internationally.