Original Company Founders

Chris Grollnek | Founder and Chairman

Former Chairman / Executive Director of the National Advisory Commission

Internationally Recognized Domestic Terrorism and Active Shooter Prevention Expert

Active Shooter Prevention Expert, Chris Grollnek has spent his life as the embodiment of protection to his country, community, and his family. In his extensive experience, Chris has persistently sought to provide superior expertise and recognized leadership in an impressive array of professional, public, and personal endeavors.

Chris, with his typical life-without-margins approach, enlisted as a proud member of the United States Marine Corps, quickly distinguishing himself as a Staff Non-commissioned Officer serving as Master Instructor, Weapons Expert, Close Combat Instructor, and Senior Drill Instructor. In 1998, Chris was selected as the Assistant to the Commanding Officer of the Marine Corps Detachment, Curriculum Developer for eight formal schools, Aberdeen Proving Grounds.

Resulting from a medical condition obtained during overseas service to his country, Chris was honorably discharged in 2000 and was categorized as a Disabled Veteran by the Veterans Administration (V.A.). While awaiting V.A.’s classification, Chris joined the 4th Reconnaissance Battalion in San Antonio, Texas, serving as Reserve Battalion Operations Chief. He simultaneously began assisting Perot Systems as part of their Personal Protection Team.

Chris moved to McKinney, Texas, and expanded his professional horizons to enter law enforcement and complete a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Management Studies. For nine years, Chris consistently distinguished himself by performing selected assignments in the law enforcement community.

In addition to early patrol duties, Chris quickly advanced to such positions as Undercover Narcotics Detective, Gang Investigator, and Law Enforcement Trainer. Chris served over six years on the department’s elite tactical unit, “SWAT” as a Member of the Entry Team, a Tactics Instructor, and a Firearms and Shotgun Breaching Instructor. In 2012, Chris honorably retired from the police department, finishing his career as a Patrol Supervisor. His law enforcement accomplishments include Police Shield, 3 Merit Awards, 2 Unit Commendations, Civic Achievement Award, and Field Training Officer Recognition.

With such a remarkable array of ability, experience, and recognition, it is not surprising that Chris has been sought out as a consultant at the local, state, and national levels. In 2002, Chris was invited to Washington D. C. to testify at the Hart Senate Office Building before the subcommittee convened by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, with members of House Ways and Means and invited personnel present, on the needs of Counter-Terrorism Training. The Washington Times and other print sources have utilized Chris’ expertise in articles regarding active shooter events and counter-terrorism. Chris has also been interviewed extensively and has appeared in a live Court T. V. broadcast in 2006 alongside a Texas SWAT team in the rescue of an imperiled confidential informant. In 2007 and 2008, Chris was invited to teach at the Regional Counter-Drug Training Academy (RCTA) Meridian, MS, Naval Air Station.

With the escalation of active shooter incidents and workplace violence, Chris Grollnek commits his expertise in the fields of Active Shooter Prevention and Training for Response and Management of situations. Chris Grollnek finished his Master of Science Degree with an emphasis in Active Shooter Events and the evolution of incidents.   Chris was inducted into the National Honors Society in March 2012.

Dr. Morgan Banks, Ph.D.

Colonel, United States Army (Retired) | Operational Psychologist

Morgan Banks retired from the United States Army in 2011 as a Colonel, after 37 years of service. More than 27 of those years were spent as an Operational Psychologist, much of it assigned to United States Army Special Operations organizations.

Dr. Banks helped establish the Army’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape program, and the psychological screening program used for United States Army Special Forces personnel. For over a decade he held staff oversight of every Army Special Operations Psychologist. Before retiring he served as the senior psychologist for both the Army and United States Special Operations Command.

He is the Senior Operational Psychology Consultant for SPA, and has worked alongside our clients and our people for decades.

His essay, The History of Special Operations Psychological Selection, is published here in full.

Chris Butler

CEO| Butler Tactical

A veteran of the U.S. Army Mr. Butler has twenty-one years of combined military and government services industry. Mr. Butler specializes in dynamic, kinetic training solutions for DOD, DHS, and LE EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Operators. He currently freelances as an EOD advisor, training instructor, and equipment designer.

Mr. Butler has extensive experience in a variety of foreign nations, specifically Middle Eastern nations (Iraq and Afghanistan). Mr. Butler is well versed in EOD operations, team building, and training of individuals and groups with an emphasis on Applied Explosives Technologies, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), Post Blast Investigations and Counter-terrorism techniques.

The majority of Mr. Butler’s military career was spent in the 1st Special Forces Detachment-Delta focused on Strategic Reconnaissance, Direct Action, Counter-Terrorism, Foreign Internal Defense, and Unconventional Warfare. He has extensive knowledge in the fields of personal protection and counter-proliferation of WMDs.

Mr. Butler left the military in 2003 and was on the initial Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Task Force, working directly for the G3 of the army. As an EOD subject matter expert (SME). Mr. Butler was the lead EOD SME for the IED Task Force in Iraq and then later in Afghanistan. Mr. Butler has years of deployment experience in the identification, render-safe procedures, and disposal of terrorist IEDs. Mr. Butler has two years dedicated to the collection and evaluation of forensic IED evidence and intelligence. Mr. Butler has extensive experience, in the field, regarding various insurgency tactics, improvised weapons, and terrorists targeting practices in urban environments.

As a former Director of International Training for a Virginia based, DOD focused, training company, Mr. Butler was engaged in operational leadership across the organization and provides strategic vision to ensure the delivery of consistent, outstanding services to its international customers. Mr. Butler’s most viable accomplishment as the Director of International training was standing up the Slovakian Armed Forces assistance program which enabled the Slovakian Armed Forces to deploy their first IED-Defeat capable team to Afghanistan in 2010 to provide direct support to Task Force Paladin, the lead in C-IED operations in Afghanistan. Mr. Butler has spoken at length in many NATO training venues about his EOD training methodology, used in Slovakia, on behalf of the NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT).

Clearance Level:
Top Secret/SCI (Active)
SCI Eligibility is based on a Phased Periodic Reinvestigation (PPR), dated 12 July 2013

Dianna

Executive Director of Business Development

Chris Bradshaw

Web and Graphic Designer

Company Founders

Filed Under Main: Team of Active Shooter Training and Trainer Experts

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Why this sits on an active shooter prevention site: The founders built this on a simple conviction: waiting to respond is not a strategy. That conviction became a national standard.

Understanding how these events unfold is what makes prevention possible. → The P.R.O. Model™

If you want to talk about what this looks like in your organization, here is how I work with clients.