Speakers

Ralph Buglass, a Montgomery County native and avid history buff, has taught at lifelong learning institutes associated with Johns Hopkins and American universities and Montgomery College. He speaks frequently to community groups, businesses, and other organizations as well as at national conferences. He is also a docent at Montgomery Parks’ restored Kingsley schoolhouse in Clarksburg’s Little Bennett Park. A graduate of Winston Churchill High School, he has a B.A. in American history from Cornell and an M.A. in journalism from American University.

David M. Feehan is a world recognized expert in downtown revitalization. For more than forty years, he has provided leadership and management to successful downtown and business district organizations, founded and directed a technical assistance center for community development organizations and a public policy organization, authored numerous books and articles, and taught at two universities. He is often quoted by news media throughout North America, the Caribbean, and elsewhere. 

He is a frequent speaker at conferences and meetings, and has provided consulting services to many government agencies, organizations and associations. He has served on numerous boards of directors, and has chaired the boards of the International Downtown Association, the Responsible Hospitality Institute, and other organizations. 

As the chief executive of three downtown organizations and one community development corporation, Feehan managed major real estate and infrastructure projects, successful business attraction and retention programs, and an award-winning parking system. 

As the chief executive of two technical assistance centers, he provided organizational development, marketing, fundraising and other management support to more than 500 nonprofit organizations. 

As a consultant, Feehan has helped downtown and business district organizations as well as units of government develop visions and missions, strategic plans, innovative programs, and transformational processes.

As an author and professor, he co-edited and wrote the most recognized textbook on downtown management, Making Business Districts Work, and is a frequent writer for journals and trade publications. 

Inside the Hot Zone is an insider’s account of one of the most dangerous workplaces on earth: the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Retired U.S. Army Col. Mark G. Kortepeter, a leading biodefense expert, recounts his journey from the lecture hall to the role of department chief, to the battlefield, to the Biosafety Level-4 maximum containment lab, and finally, to the corner office.
During Kortepeter’s seven and a half years in leadership at USAMRIID, the United States experienced some of the most serious threats in modern germ warfare, including the specter of biological weapons during the Iraq War, the anthrax letters sent after 9/11, and a little-known crisis involving a presumed botulism attack on the president of the United States. Inside the Hot Zone is a shocking, frightening eye-opener as Kortepeter describes in gripping detail how he and his USAMRIID colleagues navigated threats related to anthrax, botulism, smallpox, Lassa, and Ebola.
Kortepeter crafts a rich and riveting narrative as he wrestles with life-and-death decisions managing biological weapon exposures. The stories are real, but they could just as easily serve as plotlines in popular fiction or Hollywood thrillers. He gives the reader a seat at the table as each crisis unfolds, with an unvarnished and personal perspective on the dangers, the drama, the fear, the frustrations, the irony, and the uncertainty he encountered as a physician in the role of “Biodefender.”