Many of us know John from his 30 years as a CHP officer, over 24 of those as an airborne surveillance pilot. Having logged over 11,000 PIC hours in surveillance operations, John is considered as one of the foremost experts in airborne law enforcement tactics. You may have attended one of his seminars taught at the ALEA conference or read one of his many commentaries in Air Beat magazine.

John introduced the concept of adding a high power day/night IR camera system to his assigned aircraft (Air-21), with the goal of expanding the CHP fixed wing program. After years of developing successful fixed wing tactics, Air-21 became one of the most active and productive law enforcement aircraft in the United States. John is now making his considerable expertise available via his partnership in Air Bear in order to expand the capabilities and efficiency of airborne law enforcement.

Jim Finnell is a former first responder and emergency services manager with deep roots in public safety. He started as a street paramedic in Colorado for more than a dozen years eventually becoming an operations manager. During that experience, Jim gained business acumen and educational credentials to lead public safety agencies and then work at executive level positions at corporate health care firms and then as CEO of a private equity backed first response technology firm based in Seattle, WA.

During his career, Jim had various roles in mergers and acquisition, financial leadership and operations with American Medical Response and Dynacare Labs. Shortly after 9/11, Jim became Chief Executive Officer at Prepared Response, Inc. After thirteen years as the CEO at PRI creating public safety response software, Jim now enjoys applying smart airborne technology to create operational results and improving safety for first responders. In his spare time, Jim and his wife enjoy living the Pacific Northwest.