Get to Know Our Team of Public Safety Leaders & Experts

Our Team

Strong & Experienced Leadership
Our team consists of 9-1-1 industry experts, veteran PSAP administrators, technology insiders and former first responders. Our experience and talents make us keenly aware of what PSAPs and managers both want and need in Next Generation 911: Proper training, affordability, quick implementation and utilization of all the tools NextGen has to offer

NGA Leadership

Don Ferguson

Co-Founder and CEO

Don Ferguson is Founder and CEO of NGA, a leading innovator in the adoption of Next Generation 9-1-1. Don has over 30 years of technology experience in the deployment of large scale, mission-critical systems and holds several emergency call routing and services patents. Prior to founding NGA, Don was CEO of MobileTREC from 2008- 2015. Don served as a member of President Barack Obama's technology and Innovation brainstorming team on modernizing public safety communications. Don has also held various positions in other technology companies.

Ishka Villa

CFO, Director of HR / Admin

With over 15 years of experience working with C-Level executives from a diversified group of businesses, Ishka brings strong leadership to the Administrative, HR & Finance Department. In her role with NGA, Ishka ensures the organization has a strong foundation to provide best in class service to our emergency responders across the globe.

Michelle Bland

Chief Operating Officer

With 10 years experience in the industry, Michelle Bland joins NGA as Director of Services. She began her emergency services career as 9-1-1 program manager for the California Highway Patrol, later moving into a role as Procurement Manager for the California Department of Technology.

Barb Winn

Chief Growth Officer

For nearly 23 years, Barb has held several leadership positions in customer service, network engineering, strategy, operations, external affairs, and most recently, public sector sales, where her team drove business growth innovation through software-defined networking, Fiber, 5G, IoT, Cloud, Cybersecurity, Mobility, IT Professional Services and next-generation 911 services.

Darold Whitmer

Executive Vice President

Darold joins the team with 25 years of service in Public Safety, most recently leading Frontier Communications 9-1-1 sales efforts in California. Darold leads NGA in developing new relationships and nurturing existing ones as we work toward our goal of moving public safety into affordable, effective, streamlined NG9-1-1 services.

Mike DeWeese

VP, Technology

With an impressive 29 years of industry experience behind him, Mike's wealth of knowledge in public safety technology and infrastructure will be a crucial component in the continued growth of NGA. He shares our customer-centric focus, drive, and commitment to leading-edge technology that will bring our public safety customers into the 21st century and beyond.