John Contestabile, Director, Public Safety Solutions, Skyline Technology Solutions
John M. Contestabile is the Director of Public Safety Solutions at Skyline Technologies. He works closely with the public safety and Transportation communities providing consulting services and developing solutions to meet their operational needs. These solutions can involve cyber security, video interoperability, communications and network operations. He joined Skyline in 2019 after 10 years with Johns Hopkins University - Applied Physics Lab where he was the Program Manager for Homeland Security/Emergency Response Systems. In that capacity he worked with primarily federal government sponsors to develop technology projects to meet their needs related to transportation security, critical infrastructure resilience, and interoperable communications (to include Geographic Information, Wireless Broadband and Video Systems) Prior to that, he served for over 30 years with the State of Maryland Department of Transportation [MDOT] in a variety of technical/engineering and management roles raising to the position of Acting Assistant Secretary for Administration. In that role he was responsible for the engineering, procurement, emergency management, homeland security and human resource functions. In addition to working at MDOT, Mr. Contestabile was named by Maryland Governor O’Malley as the Director of the Maryland Statewide Communications Interoperability Program, reporting to the Superintendent of the Maryland State Police. Previously, Mr. Contestabile served on assignment with the Governor’s Office during Governor Ehrlich’s administration as the Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Homeland Security. Mr. Contestabile currently participates on several committees including: the past Chair of the Resilience Section for the Transportation Research Board [TRB], Chair of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council [NPSTC] Video Technology Advisory Committee, and member of the Department of Homeland Security - Science and Technology Directorate Video Quality in Public Safety [VQiPS] leadership team. He completed a three-year mayoral appointment to the District of Columbia - Homeland Security Commission and, between 2017-20, Mr. Contestabile was appointed by Maryland Governor Hogan as a member of the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission. Mr. Contestabile is also a former board member of the Public Safety Spectrum Trust [PSST], who held the national license for the 700 MHz National Public Safety Broadband system [e.g., “FirstNet”] representing the National Governor’s Association. He is a former Vice Chair of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials [AASHTO] Special Committee on Transportation Security and Emergency Management, a former member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Committee [NIAC] Transportation Resilience work group, as well as a former member of the Department of Homeland Security’s “Safecom” Interoperable Communications Advisory Committee. He belongs to several organizations including: The All Hazards Consortium, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, the International Association of Emergency Managers, the Maryland Emergency Management Association, the National Public Safety Telecommunications Consortium, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Domestic Preparedness Coalition.