2020 Fellows

Jim Bugel

Jim Bugel is vice president of the FirstNet Program for AT&T. Based in Washington, D.C., Mr. Bugel oversees AT&T’s strategy and policy for all state, local and federal public safety initiatives, including FirstNet implementation and the FirstNet Response Operations Group. He has over 25 years of experience in the wireless and wired telecommunications industry with a significant background in public safety, national security, cybersecurity and emergency preparedness. He joined AT&T from Cingular Wireless and has also held leadership roles at BellSouth and GTE. Mr. Bugel led AT&T’s efforts to reshape the public safety communications industry, working with Congress and the nation’s public safety leadership to help pass the legislation that created FirstNet, an independent authority established to provide emergency responders with the first nationwide, high-speed, broadband network dedicated to public safety. Previously, Mr. Bugel was AT&T’s principal public safety and national security representative to the White House, Department of Defense, the Federal Communications Commission, the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the FirstNet Program, Response Operations Group. In addition, Mr. Bugel served on the International Disaster Response Sub-Committee to the U.S. Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP). He has been actively involved in the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) and served as Chair of the FCC’s Joint Advisory Committee on Communications Capabilities of Emergency, Medical and Public Health Care Facilities, as a past co-chair of the NSTAC Emergency Communications and Interoperability Task Force, and is a former vice chair of Homeland Security’s Communications Sector Coordinating Council (CSCC). He received his B.B.S. from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and resides in McLean, Virginia.

Raymond L. Grimes, N8RG

Raymond Grimes is the owner and chief consultant for Pegasus Telecommunications Consulting Group where he provides telecommunications consulting services primarily for public safety and local government. He is also the vice president of Comsite Pacific, Inc., the holding company for assets of the Pegasus Telecommunications Consulting Group. Previously, he was the Assistant Director and Chief Engineer of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Communications Division and a board member of the Orange County 800 MHz CCCS Governance Committee. His division was responsible for engineering, maintenance, system development, and longevity for a complex 800 MHz Motorola SmartZone trunked radio communications network consisting of 26 sites, 22,000 subscribers, operated by OCSD, OCFA, and most Orange County and partner city agencies. Prior to that, he was a Senior Staff Engineer at Motorola, Inc., Global Telecomm Solutions/iDEN International Implementation Engineering, where he provided communications support for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics as a member of the UOPSC Technical Command Staff. While with Motorola, Inc. he supported Nextel since its beginning, engaging in ‘Nextel Interference’ to public safety radio communications investigations that ultimately led to the FCC’s 800 MHz Rebanding Order. He has published in CQ VHF Magazine, the APCO Bulletin magazine of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials, International and publications of APCO’s local branch California Public Safety Radio Association (CPRA). He is a primary contributor and lead author of Motorola R56/FNE Global Radio Site Standards Handbook and the author of Motorola R60 Remote Radio Sites Seismic and Disaster Hardening Handbook. He received one U.S. patent received for radio technology and has two patent proposals submitted and accepted by Motorola, Inc. for technology. He is a graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology and Los Angeles Valley College. He holds an FAA Commercial Pilot License, FCC Radiotelephone General Class License, and an FCC Amateur Radio Extra Class license. Mr. Grimes is a Senior Member of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO International). He is active in numerous organizations dedicated to public safety, communications, and flying.

Tracey M. Hilburn

Tracey Hilburn is the director of Bossier Parish Communications District located in Benton (Bossier Parish), Louisiana. She is responsible for the administrative, financial, technical, GIS/mapping, and 911 emergency operations of the district and has led multiple CAD and telephony system upgrades. In 2012, she oversaw the migration and implementation of a new parish-wide turbo digital radio system for parish fire and EMS responders. Tracey served as the president of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International (APCO), from August 2019 to July 2020, which is the oldest and

largest organization of public safety communications professionals and supports the largest U.S. membership base of any public safety association with over 35,000 members. In addition, she is an active member with SAFECOM serving on the Governance and NG911 Committees and is a member of the Radio Club of America.

Paul A. Scutieri

Paul Scutieri is the southern region sales manager at MCM Technology, Public Safety Software Solutions Provider. Previously, he was the connected communities/public safety sales director for Black & Veatch Telecommunications Division/Connected Communities Business line. He was formerly regional sales manager for M/A-COM (Harris) during the New York State 800 MHz digital Wireless Network implementation. Prior to that, he worked for 10 years in the New York State Assembly. He is a long-standing member of APCO, serving on many committees. He served as Session Proctor for APCO for the past six years ensuring their testing processes were secure. He is also an IACP (Police Chiefs) member and a North Carolina APCP/NENA member. He volunteers at a nursing home and mentors University of Westminster undergraduates/graduate degree students. He is also a member of the Albany/Tula Alliance Sister City exchange program between the U.S. and Russia.

Alan S. Tilles

Alan Tilles is the Shulman Rogers Telecom department chair specializing in wireless spectrum utilization and related technological problems. He started working at radio stations at 16, rising from late night DJ to station owner, and was a Radio/Television/Film major in college. After law school, he was mentored by now-Insite Wireless CEO David Weisman, and started a multidecade relationship representing the National Association of Business & Educational Radio (NABER, now WIA) and Jay Kitchen. Some of his major projects include: authoring rules for land mobile radio narrow banding; representing hundreds of public safety entities in 800 MHz re-banding; working with the Telecommunications Industry Association on its Smart Building Initiative; authoring rules defining interference; writing and evaluating Requests for Proposal to implement public safety radio systems; and helping railroads acquire spectrum for Positive Train Control. He is a co-founder of the Government Wireless Technology & Communications Association. He is a member of the Shulman Rogers Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Practice and serves on the board of trustees of Capitol Technology University. As a musician since childhood, Alan represents numerous bands and entertainers, working on recording contracts, television and live performance agreements, as well as copyright and trademark issues. He has received appreciative mentions in a number of albums by several musicians, and in 2018, he appeared on the East Bay Soul CD Conversation and in 2020 on Joey Molland’s (Badfinger) CD Be True To Yourself. Alan provides numerous seminars and webinars nationwide, including the International Wireless Communications Expo and the Global Transport Forum. He has authored numerous articles and resources for Urgent Communications, and he is a contributor on Federal News Radio. He served for five years as counsel for the Radio Club of America.

David Witkowski, W6DTW

David Witkowski is an author, advisor, and strategist for the wireless and telecommunication industry. He is a Radio Club of America Fellow, an IEEE Senior Member, the founder and CEO of Oku Solutions LLC, and is the executive director of Civic Technologies Initiatives at Joint Venture Silicon Valley. After serving in the U.S. Coast Guard and earning his B.S.E.E. from the University of California, Davis, he held leadership roles for companies ranging from Fortune 500 multi-nationals to early-stage startups. He contributes to the wireless industry via roles as co-chair of the 5G Deployment Working Group at IEEE Future Networks, co-chair of the GCTC Wireless SuperCluster at NIST, and as an expert advisor to the California Emerging Technology Fund. He has written feature articles for CIO Review, EETimes, IEEE Microwaves Magazine, Make:Magazine, MissionCritical Communications, QST, RCR Wireless, and Urgent Communications. He is the author of Bridging the Gap: 21st Century Wireless Telecommunications, co-editor of Public Wi-Fi Blueprint, co-editor of The Municipal Internet of Things Blueprint, co-author of Evaluation of RF Network Testing, co-author of Carrier & Public Wi-Fi, and co-author of HayWired Scenario Volume 3 – Telecommunications and ICT.