Advisory Board

Jeff Meston is a third generation firefighter who is the current Executive Director of the California Fire Chiefs Association (CFCA) and a past President of the CFCA. He is a 43 year plus veteran of the fire service working for a County, City, Special District, Private Fire Department, Tribal Fire Department, and the State of California Fire Agencies. He holds a master’s degree in Public Administration, is a California Certified Fire Chief #16 & National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer. He has served as President of the Marin County Fire Chiefs Associations and Lake Tahoe Regional Fire Chiefs Associations. Meston has served as a course developer and instructor at the National Fire Academies residency programs and the California Fire Service Training and Education System specializing in strategic planning, group dynamics and problem solving. Meston recently served as the Acting City Manager for South Lake Tahoe as well as its Fire Chief. Meston also served on the Board of Directors for FIRESCOPE, representing City’s North, has served as the Executive Director for the California State Firefighters Association. He currently is assigned as a Deputy Chief working for CalOES Fire/Rescue as a liaison between the Emergency Medical Service Authority and CalOES Fire/Rescue during the COVID19 pandemic, was tasked with updating the 2004 Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Wildfire, Lead the Advanced Evacuation Planning Unit for the Caldor Fire as well as writing rules for Fire/Rescue legislation. Meston also serves on the University of California San Diego WIFIRE Convergence Advisory Board of Directors and as an executive coach for new fire chiefs with MRG consulting.

Brian has over 40 years of experience in public safety, including over 10 years as a Chief in two different California agencies. For 2 ½ years, he also served as a California Fire Chief. Command level experiences include SWAT, administration, undercover operations, security services, investigations and community policing. Brian is a committed professional with a proven track record of success, especially in the area of planning, organizational review, difficult problem solving, contract/MOU negotiations, technology deployments, and team building. Brian has developed peer support programs in 2 different agencies and has volunteered for 5 years with a non-profit mental health provider to include serving as the President of the Board.

Steady leadership in critical, sensitive, or complex matters is a central characteristic of Brian’s career. Ever-supportive of training, Brian has ensured staff meet and maintain standards. Whether training/preparing successful SWAT teams, security staff, or police officers, he has been responsible for developing and providing tailored training plans/exercises to ensure emergencies are handled in a way to reflect well on the organization. He has coordinated security-related training events for the U.S. Marshal’s Service (Courts), international petrochemical companies in Texas, and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Lastly, Brian oversaw emergency preparedness training for over 400 staff members at schools, colleges, and city government facilities.

Brian has consistently focused organization attention on preparedness and emergency response. This includes overseeing threat assessments/event plans for more than 100 special events, planning for or responding to over 20 civil protests, and serving as an operations commander on five Emergency Operations Center (EOC) activations. Ever watchful for the mental health of those he works with, Brian has served as an advisor, and mentor.

He holds a California POST Executive Certificate, has graduated from the prestigious FBI National Academy, and holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Texas A & M. He has taught incident command to top level executives in Texas and California, and has been a responsible figure for coordinating and improving domestic preparedness capacity in 3 different organizations. In addition to thousands of hours of classroom training, Brian has a private pilot license and enjoys flying as a hobby. 

Deputy Chief Ted Peterson began his career over 40 years ago as a first responder and has served as a Chief Officer for over 20 years. In his years of service, he has worked with Napa, Solano, and Marin Counties. Chief Peterson has a bachelor’s degree and a teaching credential which he used for 25 years, teaching at both Napa Valley College and College of Marin.

Prior to joining the Southern Marin Fire Protection District, Deputy Chief Peterson worked as a Battalion Chief for the Novato Fire Protection District. There he was responsible for the EMS division for 16 years. Currently Ted serves on several local, state, and national committees and is the taskforce leader on a Federal Financial Participation Program that, to date has brought over $400 million dollars to the California Fire Service as increased compensation for delivering healthcare to low income residents. Chief Peterson has numerous recognitions and awards for the work he has done for the Fire Service.

Deputy Chief Peterson lives in Napa with the beautiful and talented artist wife Janice. They have two adult daughters and two grandsons, all of whom live in Napa.