Sam McGhee | Kiernan Group Holdings

Sam McGhee
Senior Instructor

Sam McGhee has served in law enforcement for 37 years. He was appointed for two years as the Deputy Executive Director of Colorado’s fusion center, the Colorado Information Analysis Center (CIAC) in 2012. Prior to that, in 2011, he served a one-year fellowship with the Interagency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group, (ITACG), located at the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) in Washington, D.C. Previously, he held a number of senior police leadership positions including: Emergency Services Coordinator, Media Relations Manager, Vice, Narcotics and Intelligence Commander and Sector Commander. His career highlights include: Planner for the Democratic National Convention Denver, 2008, Chair of the North Central Homeland Security Region (NCR) and Colorado’s Information Sharing Committee, board member of the NCR and one of the principal architects of the Rocky Mountain HIDTA.

In 2014, McGhee helped to create the first national strategy and in 2015 the associated implementation plan for the National Network of Fusion Centers. This three-year strategy has helpedto guide fusion centers into the complex future of American information sharing. He is currently a member of the Committee on Homeland Security for the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and has authored Impacting the Evolution of Information Sharing in the Post-9/11 United States (2015) and The Aurora Theater Shooting Experience: Considerations for Multi-Jurisdictional/Multi-Disciplinary Response to Mass Shooting Events (2016) forThe Police Chief magazine. He is a contributing writer for Homeland Security Today magazine and has authored 21st Century Policing Poses Wicked Problems and Crisis Decision Making Transformation Addresses Ever-Changing Homeland Security Challenges.

Mr. McGhee travels the country briefing first responders on the Century 16 theater shooting in Aurora, CO; presents the Department of Homeland Security’s Active Shooter Preparedness Workshop and has guest lectured at the Naval Postgraduate School, the FBI Academy and the CIA’s Sherman Kent School. For over ten years Mr. McGhee served on the board of directors and led leadership retreats for the Leadership Aurora Program, a nine-month Aurora Chamber of Commerce leadership program.

Mr. McGhee has a Master’s Degree in Security Studies from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), Monterey, CA. He holds a B.S. in Organizational Leadership from Colorado State University and is a graduate of the Executive Leaders and Fusion Center Leaders Programs at the Center for Homeland Defense and Security, NPS, Monterey, CA. He is also a graduate of the Organizational Leadership for Executives program at the US Army’s Command and General Staff College.