Matt Sloane, CEO, Skyfire
Matt started his career working in Emergency Medial Services as both an EMT, supervisor, and then Chief of Resources and Planning for Emory EMS in Atlanta, which housed CDC’s global headquarters, major research facilities, three hospitals, and a nearly 50-thousand person population. He then took his passion for public health to the journalism world, spending 14 years working in various capacities at CNN. Most notably, Sloane spent 10 years as a producer in the health, wellness and medical news unit, working alongside chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. In his role as a producer, Sloane criss-crossed the globe, chasing the latest stories on disease cures, wellness trends, and breaking news; including Hurricanes Katrina, Irene and Sandy, the Virginia Tech massacre, the Boston Marathon bombing and the Terry Schiavo case. He was nominated for three Daytime Emmy awards, and won a New York Festivals award for his work covering Diana Nyad’s historic swim from Cuba to Key West. After leaving CNN in early 2014, he founded Skyfire to bring expertise on the growing drone trend to police, fire and emergency management agencies around the country. Since that time, Sloane has earned his manned aircraft pilot’s license, and a seat on the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) technical committee on unmanned aircraft systems and the Air Advocacy Committee for the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International. He was recently appointed to the technology council for the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and has lectured to hundreds of public safety officials on the topic of drones in public safety. Sloane has penned articles in Fire Engineering Magazine and Police Magazine, DroneLife and has been featured in various publications as a thought leader in the drone space. He most recently appeared on CBS This Morning talking about the importance of drone technology in the public safety space.