nATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL
— consilio et servitio —
Service through counsel
— CONSILIO ET SERVITIO —
“ Service through Counsel ”
Berlin
Maza (HE/HIM)
INAUGURAL FRLN PRESIDENT EMERITUS
Berlin is a Captain with Eastside Fire & Rescue based out of Issaquah, Washington. He has over 16 years of experience in the fire service with a passion in mentorship and team-building. Committed to fostering diversity and inclusion, Berlin strives for creating welcoming opportunities in organizations and communities. Empowering the youth is his mission, equipping them with the necessary tools and support to become engaged, confident and empowered leaders of the future. Berlin’s vision is to promote inclusive practices and inspire the next generation of leaders. Let’s ignite change and build a better and brighter future together!
Bill
Mack
INAUGURAL FRLN VICE PRESIDENT EMERITUS
• IN MEMORIAM • EOW JULY 18TH 2025
Deputy Chief Bill Mack, who passed on July 18, 2025, was more than a firefighter and Deputy Chief—he was a compass, a mentor, and a force of quiet, steadfast leadership. His 30-year career began in Auburn and culminated in his role as Deputy Chief at East Pierce Fire & Rescue, where he served until retiring in 2023. Bill was known not just for what he taught, but for how he led—with humility, presence, and heart. He empowered generations of firefighters and officers across King and Pierce counties through both technical training and personal mentorship.
Outside of duty, Bill gave freely of his time to community causes like the Nick of Time Foundation and was instrumental in helping shape the vision of First Responder Liaison Network. His encouragement helped lay the foundation for our youth mentorship movement, where his legacy lives on through every camp, mentee, and alumni. Bill didn’t need recognition—he led with quiet conviction, and his actions always spoke louder than his words. His laughter, warmth, and deep belief in others left a mark that cannot be measured.
We are deeply grateful to his family for sharing him with us, and we will carry his example forward in all we do.
While we are searching for another Vice President, no one can replace a man as pivotal and remarkable as Bill Mack.
BRYAN
LANE JR.
FRLN Director of Culture & Stewardship
INAUGURAL BOARD DIRECTOR EMERITUS
Bryan Lane Jr. serves as a fireman with the Irving Fire Department, an ISO Class 1-rated fire department in Irving, Texas, with more than 400 personnel serving more than 250,000 citizens across 67 square miles and 13 fire stations.
Bryan’s mindset, relationships, and character reflect the standard we believe the first-responder profession should continually strive toward: capable without arrogance, ambitious without losing sight of service, and committed to becoming better so that we can be more useful to the people around us.
Bryan’s pursuit of excellence has followed him through every chapter of his life. From competing at the highest levels as a University of Nevada and NFL football player, to coaching youth, to building a career in the fire service that and being named the Irving Fire Department’s 2025 Firefighter of the Year, Bryan has consistently pushed himself to grow while investing in others. That same drive carried into aviation, where he became an FAA-certificated Commercial Pilot, Certified Flight Instructor (CFI), and Certified Flight Instructor–Instrument (CFII). Today, he also serves as a flight instructor, helping prepare the next generation of aviators.
Within FRLN, however, Bryan is valued for something more consequential than any collection of titles or accomplishments. He represents what can happen when character, competence, humility, and an unrelenting commitment to growth exist in the same person. As FRLN’s Director of Culture & Stewardship, Bryan helps ensure those qualities are not merely words we publish, but expectations we build into our organization and pass forward to those who follow us.
Bryan does not treat becoming a first responder as the completion of his development. He continues building himself as a leader, aviator, mentor, teammate, and human being—and then uses that growth in service of others. His trajectory matters to us because the young people we serve deserve examples of first responders who demonstrate that the badge is neither the ceiling nor the destination—it is a responsibility to keep becoming someone worthy of the trust placed in you.
If we could model every FRLN Youth Alumni after the character of one first responder—someone who embodies what it means to be a “Master of Disaster”: poised in uncertainty, capable amid chaos, and able to create order when others need it most—then in mentality, capability, and humility, we would model them after Bryan Keith Lane Jr.
If you are considering serving as a Distinguished Advisor on the FRLN National Advisory Council, we hope Bryan’s story gives you a sense of the people we want to bring together. His accomplishments are impressive, but that is not why we are sharing his story. What matters most to us is the character behind them—the humility to keep learning, the willingness to serve, and the desire to use what you have earned and learned to help someone coming behind you.
Anthony “AJ”
John
INAUGURAL BOARD DIRECTOR EMERITUS
AJ is a Battalion Chief with South King Fire & Rescue based out of Federal Way, Washington. He brings 3 decades of firefighting experience with a focus on mentorship. AJ is involved with several committees, teams and groups that work at identifying needs to uplift people into the fire service. Memberships include the Washington State Council of Firefighters (WSCFF) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) committee, South King Fire’s DEI mentorship program coordinator, Honor Guard commander, King County Firefighters Pipes & Drums member, extrication instructor for Puyallup Extrication Team (PXT). The ultimate goal is to get a recruitment group started to give better access to the fire service. AJ’s lifelong motto, “stay fired up!”, keeps the pedal down as we champion youth to become the personal embodiment of their goals and LIMITLESS potential!
#StayFiredUp!
National Advisory Council
BLUF: The FRLN National Advisory Council (NAC) are Distinguished Advisors from a national group of experienced professionals who volunteer their time and expertise to advise, coach, connect, and challenge FRLN's developing leaders. The NAC does not govern or operate FRLN, and the NAC Distinguished Advisors do not assume legal or fiduciary responsibility by serving on the NAC.
The FRLN Board of Directors governs, our National Executive Officers operate, and our NAC Distinguished Advisors help make our leaders better. Think of the NAC as sage guides who see the bigger picture and lend a solid mindset and voice. They are people we trust to tell us what they see—even when what they see is an uncomfortable necessity.
Who We Are Looking For
Our planned Council includes 28 active Advisors: 12 organizational builders and 16 public-safety professionals representing 911 Dispatch, Law Enforcement, EMS/Air Medical, and the Fire Service from across the country.
Our twelve (12) organizational Builders are people who understand what it takes to build something that lasts. We want people comfortable with growth, scaling, ambiguity, building systems, solving problems, and occasionally operating in the mess that comes before the polished product. Titles matter far less to us than demonstrated experience, good judgment, and a willingness to roll up your sleeves and help developing leaders think through hard problems.
Our sixteen (16) public-safety Distinguished Advisors are deliberately different. You do NOT have to be a Chief, Sheriff, Director, or executive to belong here. We want respected people who know their craft and still care deeply about its future. That may be a working dispatcher behind the console, a street cop still answering calls, a medic on the box, a firefighter riding the jump seat, or a recently retired professional with decades of lessons worth passing forward. Executive experience is valuable—but proximity to the work is valuable too. What matters most is that you love your profession enough to want good people entering it, prepared to carry it forward well.
We are looking for people who bring something FRLN will need for such an ambitious mission at scale—wisdom, passion, credibility, relationships, perspective, and expertise. Passion belongs in that list for a reason. We don't need 28 people who agree with the Founder or Board Directors. We want people our leaders would be wise to listen to.
Why the N.A.C. Exists
If FRLN is serious about becoming a national organization creating local positive impact name, our developing leaders need access to people who have already walked some of the roads we are heading down. NAC Distinguished Advisors mentor our leaders, challenge our assumptions, make introductions, share hard-earned lessons, and help us see around corners. The NAC Distinguished Advisor does not make the decision for an FRLN leader. They help make that leader wiser before the decision is made. It is mentorship without command, and influence without another layer of bureaucracy.
FRLN is built around inverted leadership. Our leaders sit at the bottom of the organizational pyramid and serve upward—supporting the people doing the work, who in turn serve the youth, aspiring first responders, first responders, families, and communities at the top. That kind of organization cannot grow nationally through titles or hierarchy alone. It requires good people willing to lend what they know to the people coming behind them.
How It Works
The twenty-eight (28) NAC members serve a three-year term, with a maximum of two consecutive terms, before a mandatory one-year break. The Council is led by a NAC President, NAC Vice President, and NAC Marshal of the Advisors (MOTA) and works in concert with FRLN national leadership while remaining outside our chain of command.
The NAC is intended for high-level counsel, mentorship, introductions, institutional stewardship, and meaningful national relationships—convening once a year as an entire NAC; and individual quarterly touchpoints with their assigned FRLN Director or Executive Officer. We are deliberately trying NOT to create another committee full of meetings, reports, and busywork. We want meaningful touchpoints where an Advisor's experience can actually help someone.
History
The idea for the FRLN National Advisory Council began in 2026 with people who helped shape FRLN during its earliest years: doctoral candidate and Inaugural FRLN President Emeritus Mr. Berlin Maza, Inaugural FRLN Director Emeritus Anthony “AJ” John, Inaugural FRLN Director Bryan Lane Jr., and FRLN Founder Emeritus Schuyller “Ski” Nagorski. Their passion helped us recognize something early: people should not have to remain in formal leadership positions for FRLN to continue learning from them.
The NAC grew from that simple idea—preserve institutional knowledge, keep good people connected, and deliberately surround each new generation of FRLN leaders with people who have won hard-earned lessons. People eventually leave positions. Their lessons do not have to leave with them.
When, Where & NEXT STEPS…
FRLN will open national NAC applications and nominations in early 2029, with selections made in autumn 2029. Onboarding and orientation will occur in December 2029, with the formal National Advisory Council launching January 1, 2030.
This is intentionally a national council. Our Distinguished Advisors will be recruited from across the United States, with deliberate geographic representation across Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones and an overall goal of bringing passion, experience, relationships, and perspectives from as many states and communities as possible.
We do not want a national council made up of people who all live in the same place, work in the same systems, or think the same way. We want people close enough to their communities and professions to tell us when an idea that sounds great nationally, might fall flat locally. We want different regions, different careers, different generations, and different ways of thinking represented in the room.
Most importantly, do not self-select out because your resume does not have executive titles. We can find titles. Titles are easy, finding character and wisdom is who we need. People who have a passion and commitment to first responders and the next generation who will inevitably take our place. People who embody “Consilio et Servitio”—”Service through Council”.
“Consilio et Servitio”
