2021 Speakers
The Drug and Alcohol Testing Institute 2021 Annual Symposium
June 23rd – 24th
Dr. Nathaan Demers Clinical Psychologist
Grit Digital Health
Learn how 2020/2021 is affecting your employees mental health.
Nathaan Demers, Psy.D. is a clinical psychologist with experience in a variety of settings including community mental health, inpatient burn/neuro ICU’s, integrated care, and higher education. He has implemented a variety of large scale behavioral health programs as a Behavioral Health Research and Technical Assistance Associate with the WICHE – Behavioral Health Program, focusing on the Western 15 States and American Territories in the Pacific. Nathaan is a previous board member for the Colorado Psychological Association and served on the Suicide Prevention Coalition – Primary Care Workgroup for the State of Colorado. In his current role as the VP of Clinical Programs & Strategic Partnerships at Grit Digital Health, he leads a multidisciplinary team innovating at the intersection of behavioral health and technology. The team develops and implements digital tools that decrease stigma and connect individuals to the right behavioral health resources at the right time to increase grit, resilience, and well-being.
Greg Henderson Inspector
Federal Drug Testing Services
Hear drug and alcohol industry trends from a former inspector’s viewpoint.
Greg Henderson is the founder of Drug & Alcohol Compliance Training. He has over 15+ years of industry experience as a:
Former Federal Aviation Administration Drug and Alcohol Compliance Enforcement Inspector
Former Department of the Interior Drug and Alcohol Program Manager (Federal Government testing under the HHS guidelines).
Former U.S Army Drug and Alcohol Unit Prevention Manager (Dept. of Defense)
Drug & Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA) Regional Trainer
Drug and Alcohol Conference Instructor
Certified BAT Train the Trainer
Certified Urine Collection Trainer
Julia Riismandel Account Manger
SAP Referral Services
Discover DOT SAP services and employer responsibilities.
Julia Riismandel, is the Account Manager for American Substance Abuse Professionals. ASAP provides nationwide drug-free workplace services to federally regulated and non-regulated companies. Julia started working at ASAP in December of 2014. As an account manager, Julia has worked closely with client companies in each of the DOT transportation modes, non-regulated client companies, and the nuclear industry to create and implement drug-free workplace programs. Julia has collaborated on and facilitated numerous presentations about Reasonable Suspicion Testing, Emerging Drugs, Problems in Drug Testing and the DOT SAP Process. Julia has presented for Employee Assistance Programs, Third Party Administrators, Client Companies which fall under FMCSA, FRA, PHMSA, FTA USCG and FAA.
David Kuntz, PhD, F-ABFT Executive Director for Analytical Toxicology
Clinical Reference Laboratory
Seize the opportunity to learn from one of the top toxicologists in the field.
David Kuntz, PhD, is the Executive Director for Analytical Toxicology at Clinical Reference Laboratory in Lenexa, Kansas. Dr. Kuntz is Co-Responsible Person for the SAMHSA laboratory and the College of American Pathologists (CAP) forensic drug testing Scientific Director. He holds a laboratory director license in a number of states and is an inspector for SAMHSA and CAP forensic programs.
Dr. Kuntz is a Board Certified Toxicologist and is a national expert in urine adulteration and drug detection. Dr. Kuntz has worked in workplace drug testing for the past 31 years and has testified extensively regarding drug use, interpretation, and adulteration of urine, hair, oral fluid and sweat samples using GC/MS and LC/MS/MS. The primary research focus the last five years has been in the development of testing panels for synthetic cannabinoids and bath salts in urine and oral fluids and development of LC/MS/MS methods for workplace drug testing.
Dr. Kuntz is an inspector for the SAMHSA and CAP forensic drug testing programs and a past member of the national Drug Testing Advisory Board, NLCP MSMS Standards Working Group, SAMHSA MRO Manual for Urine/Oral Fluid Working Group, and editorial board for Clinical & Forensic Toxicology News. Dr. Kuntz is currently serving as a consultant to the MRO Examination Development Committee for the Medical Review Officer Certification Council (MROCC), lecturer for AAMRO training courses, and member of CAP Toxicology Resource Committee.
Kyle Hicks Regulatory Affairs
Omega Laboratories
Get the scoop on oral fluids and hair testing.
Kyle Hicks is the Director of Marketing for Omega Laboratories, the leader in advanced specimen testing for drugs of abuse. Kyle has been involved in the drug testing industry since 2011. In his previous roles, Kyle has been involved in regulatory affairs, traveling to Washington D.C. to meet with congressmen and legislators to assist in the development of federal guidelines for hair and oral fluid testing. Kyle has been previously published in DATIA Focus magazine, and has been invited to speak on advanced specimen drug testing with organization like the Regional Airline Association (RAA).
This session was presented by David Engelhardt, PhD, Lab Director at Omega Labs, Inc.
Chet Stevenson Central Compliance & Enforcement Center Manager
Federal Avation Administration
Get briefed on the latest from FAA leadership.
Mr. Stevenson is a 19 year veteran with the Federal Aviation Administration in the Drug Abatement Center and Compliance Center and will present the latest updates from the FAA.
Jenny M. Burke, J.D., M.S. Senior Director, Impairment Practice
National Safety Council
Understand how to justify your drug and alcohol prevention budget.
Jenny Burke advances the National Safety Council mission of eliminating preventable deaths in our lifetime by leading NSC advocacy initiatives. These strategic programs, involving safety on the road and in homes and communities, fatigue, transportation and prescription drug overdose, raise awareness and educate audiences to keep each other safe.
Jenny has raised awareness of these initiatives through such successful national efforts as benchmarking employer data on the opioid epidemic and its impact on the workplace, and creating cost calculators to illustrate the effect of opioids or fatigue on an employer’s bottom line. Additionally she oversees the development of educational programs that tackle cutting edge issues, including deaths and injuries related to fatigue and addiction.
Jenny previously served as a senior legal analyst at Wolters Kluwer, specializing in Medicare, Medicaid, food and drug law, and policy and healthcare compliance. Jenny co-authored and managed the publication of several books and white papers on areas of focus including the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicaid expansion, contraception coverage, prescription drug abuse and telemedicine.
She is a licensed attorney in Illinois since 2002 and clerked for two years in the Illinois Appellate Court, First Division. A graduate of DePaul University College of Law, Jenny also holds a master of science degree in health law and policy from DePaul’s Public Services graduate program and a certificate in health law. She received her bachelor of arts degree in English literature from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with a minor in health administration. Jenny has served on her local school board and the Springbrook Nature Center board in her hometown of Itasca, IL.
Jerry Powers Program Administrator at FRA
Federal Railroad Administration
Gain insights into FRA regulations and compliance concerns.
Jerry Powers started with FRA in March of 2013 after nine years with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) as their Drug and Alcohol Testing Program Manager. In 2011-12, he acted as the FTA Director of Safety & Security as well. As Acting Director, he moved the rail transit safety initiative and reauthorization efforts forward that led to FTA receiving direct safety authority over the transit industry with the passage of MAP-21.
Jerry is responsible for all aspects of the FRA D&A testing program. He has sought to increase the outreach to the industry, the addition of maintenance-of-way workers to the testing program, as well as augmenting the D&A audit program with techniques including undercover collection site audits. He is also responsible for addressing and closing the NTSB recommendations regarding prescription drug use in the railroad industry.
Jerry received a BA in Mathematics from Northeastern University in Boston, MA in 1989. He worked at the Volpe Center in Cambridge, MA for 16 years, attaining DOT and DOD-wide experience in coordinating both policy-based and technical programs. He is excited to be contributing to a safe and efficient railroad industry and sees FRA’s Drug and Alcohol Program as an essential element in fulfilling that responsibility.
Penny Lyons Director of Regulatory Compliance
The Drug and Alcohol Testing Institute
Engage creative training to improve retention.
Penny is Director of Regulatory Compliance with Midlands Testing Services (MTS) and the Drug and Alcohol Testing Institute. Penny provides DER-level education and consultation. To help develop and maintain comprehensive drug and alcohol programs that comply with Federal Regulations and guide compliant drug and alcohol testing as a deterrent to abuse. She is currently serving as chairman of the board for Nebraska’s National Safety Council (NSC). She has served several terms on the Substance Abuse Professional Administrations (SAPAA) board, including Treasurer.
Penny started with Union Pacific in 1997, working in operations and the Safety Department as Manager of Remote Control Licensing, Hours of Service manager, and UP’s Designated Employer Representative (DER) for 44,000 employees until 2019. Penny pushed the industry forward as a change leader for other DER’s by building a highly successful computer program to manage the drug and alcohol testing events, leading to three successful paperless FRA audits. She implemented widespread synthetic cannabinoid (K2/Spice) testing under company authority, working with the lab to stay ahead of this drug’s “revolving” chemical composition to obtain double-digit positives. She was known for her innovative training and coordinated multiple railroads and other industry leaders’ efforts to develop a computer-based training co-op style. Penny began undercover audits that underwent process improvement until her team came up with a way to provide a false positive breath test without the collector’s knowledge.
Penny served five years in the US Navy, volunteered as a counselor and instructor for the American Red Cross (ARC), and served on the Asian Division, ARC, Board of Directors.
Penny moderated a panel of experienced DERs who answered audience questions on the subject of TPA breakups and program resilience in the face of vendor difficulties.
Jeffrey Sease Vice President of Operations
Predictive Safety SRP
Explore new technology to predict employee impairment.
Jeffrey Sease has been involved in technology and fatigue management since 2009 as a technology contributor to predictive fatigue modeling. He helped launch the predictive fatigue platform PRISM in the mining industry, which today has been used in the field for over 76 million worker hours and has reduced reported incidents in a range of 25 – 70% in companies who implement the technology. Jeff helped guide an expansion of the technology used to detect fatigue into detecting other impairment issues in individual workers. Developed with a grant from NIOSH and built on the original psychomotor vigilance test from NASA and the military, Jeff works with companies to help them identify workers who may be struggling with issues such as extreme fatigue, emotional distress, substance use, and other impediments to safe and productive behavior within the work environment. With his current role as a founding member and Vice President of Operations of Predictive Safety SRP, Inc. Jeff is responsible for technology development, product deployment, operations, and overseeing the formulation of policies and strategic plans to realize corporate goals and objectives.
Nina M. French President of Employer and Law Enforcement Solutions
Hound Labs
See the new Hound Marijuana Breathalyzer first-hand.
Nina is the President of Employer Solutions at Hound Labs, Inc. Nina entered the screening industry in 1992 and is a highly regarded speaker and thought leader in employment drug screening. Nina is an author and speaks at industry conferences, SHRM events and has been featured on radio and news segments on workplace drug screening trends, practices and laws. Nina will show the new Hound Marijuana Breathalyzer and discuss the capabilities and current limitations of this exciting new technology.
Danielle Tyler Lead Developer
Midlands Testing Services
Meet the mind behind today’s most innovative DAT program software.
Danielle Tyler is a key member of the software development team at Midlands Testing Services, Inc. For the past six years, Danielle has been responsible for leading new innovations for MTSI’s drug and alcohol testing technology – including mobilizing software for on-site testing.
Danielle is a certified BAT and collector – which provides unique perspective into how technology can bring efficiencies and innovation to a paper-bound industry. The software processes that have been created over the past several years have proven to save DERs and their companies countless hours in managing drug and alcohol testing programs through near real-time data access and digitizing a paper-based world. Danielle has experience with working with non-DOT clients, and various DOT modes, focusing on FRA and FAA testing. She is currently studying to receive her CSAPA certification from CCDAPP.
