ESPIC was spawnedfrom the thoughts, life experiences, and aspirations of Glenn E. Mate Sr. Glenn has awide, knowledgeable, and experience-basedfooting in the municipal services, cultivated from a career in emergency servicesspanning 24 years: lawenforcement, public safety, EMS, fire service, urbansearch and rescue, fire service instruction, hazardous material response, industryHAZMAT, dive rescue, technical rescue, and consensusstandard development.

Glenn’s drive to provide for his family led him towork in many other fields as well, and he has owned successful businesses inthese areas. Glenn’s first area of interest was the eye care industry. Afterworking as a licensed optician, he quickly moved into management and partneredin a franchise. By the age of 23, he hada staff of eight and sales of $2.3 million a year. At that same time he alsospent the nights employed as a police officer in a local hometown police department.

In a funnyturn of events, Glenn found himself constantly surrounded by the localfirefighters who worked at the firehouse on the other side of the street. Hisfriends encouraged him to join a volunteerorganization, which is where he realized that his true passion was with the fireservice. While he began down this path towards what would eventually become a lifein fire service, he also began working in construction in both commercial andresidential settings. Glenn sold his portion of the eye care business in order tostart up a general contracting business. His services lead him to work in someof the largest and most affluent areas on the East Coast, situated on theoutskirts of New York City, where he managed both a 10-person constructioncrew and 12 individual subcontractors. Glenn managed the company by day; hisnights and weekends were dedicated to the fire service, responding,learning, and growing in a very busy combination fire department. Glenn foundhimself on the heavy rescue team due to his extensive skill set with tools andconstruction. It was this assignment that sparked his enthusiasm for technical rescue.

A change inresidence brought Glenn and his family to a new area where he sought out and joinedthe local fire department. Here he was given the opportunity to teach andinstruct. As a dedicated fire officer, he began developing drills and skill sharpeningevents, both for his own fire company and for other agencies. His affinity forlearning motivated him to become a member of theRegional Hazardous Material Response Team. As an NFPA 472 technician he had theopportunity to respond to some of the largest events in Southwest Connecticut.His love for the fire service continuedto increase; his path quickly led him to become a career firefighter in ashoreline community in Connecticut.

While hiscareer in the fire service was developing, Glenn found his outside careerevolving as well. An opportunitypresented itself for him to work with a local environmental clean-up contractor,and that opportunity allowed him to work in the industrial and manufacturing field,providing guidance for hazardous materials, both mitigation and removal. A highpoint of his time in that industry led him to work as a safety officer mitigatinga release of animal anthrax in Connecticut.

Eventually, Glenndecided it was time to solely focus on the fire service arena, so he sold hiscompany and left the building industry. He then began his full-time fireservice career by taking a job as a deputy fire marshal for his hometown. Atthe same time, he joined the Connecticut Task Force 1 (CT-TF1) Urban Search and Rescue Team and began to teach for a regional fire school.

Glenn’scareer path that has weaved through both the fire service profession andoutside disciplines has developed him into someone who is comfortable providinga multitude of services for communities. He is comfortable in multitasking and has the knowledge, skills, andabilities to influence and improve his surroundings. Today, Glenn is a career firefighter. He is a deputy fire marshal, a fire service instructorfor two regional fire schools and the Connecticut Fire Academy, a rescue specialistwith CT-TF1, a HAZMAT technician on two regional response teams, a public safetydiver, and the chairman of the NFPA 1936 consensus standard and a technical committeemember on the NFPA 350, 1006, and 1670 consensus standards. Glenn is also thesole owner and CEO of ESPIC, LLC and of www.Oralboard101.com.

Glenn’svision is to help people on an individual basis, making their passion for goodwork less cumbersome, sharpening their skills so they may be operating safelyin even the most dangerous of circumstances, developing their situationalawareness to be able to anticipate potential pitfalls both physically andmentally. Glenn’s mantra is to “pass it forward.” Rather than just keeping his experiences to himselfor small groups, he wishes to distribute that knowledge to everyone, with eachnew contact taking the ball and pushing it forward. In the end, this will empower everyone tocollectively creat