Executive Board Members
Norma Snelling, President
Frank Hancock, Vice-President
Sue Wolff, Secretary
Larry Welker, Treasurer
Terry Crooks
Cameron Daggett
Jan Meyer
Sherry Scruggs
Advisory Board Members
Susan Bulanda
Lisa Higgins
Marci Koenig
Carol Ann Namur
Robert Noziska
A. E. Wolff
NSDA Organizational Chart
NSDA Executive Board Members
Norma Snelling, President, Washington
After eighteen (18) years as a volunteer Sheriffs Deputy in California, Norma started the first of her four dogs with the California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) in 1989. She later served as both Secretary and President of CARDA.
Norma has worked on county, state and FBI searches over the years and has certified dogs in the areas of area, water, cadaver, evidence and tracking. She has been a team member of six different county teams in two states. Norma is a past member of the NASAR Board of Directors and a former NASAR Western Field Projects Coordinator, a position which covered dog issues and testing for the western United States. She remains a NASAR testing coordinator.
Norma is a Principal Evaluator for NSDA in Area Search and Land HRD. She is one of the founders of NSDA and is a past President and past Treasurer.
Frank Hancock, Vice-President, Georgia
Frank Hancock started working with the Georgia Piedmont Region K-9 Search and Rescue team in 2006. He has participated in twenty-three searches since joining the team and generally serves as the team IC. He and his wife work a Golden Retriever named Moses and have both certified with Moses in NASAR Human Remains Detection. His wife recently certified with Moses to the NSDA Land HRD Standards. Frank currently serves as an Apprentice Evaluator in Land HRD for NSDA.
After graduating from the University of Georgia with a BS degree in Agriculture, Frank worked in farm management and taught vocational agriculture. He then went to work for a major manufacturer of lawn and garden equipment where he served as Vice President of engineering, customer service, training, testing and quality control for twenty-five years. Frank currently works as the County Agent for the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension in Henry County Georgia.
Sue C. Wolff, Secretary, Tennessee
Sue Wolff began in SAR in 1994 as base support and has years of experience in many SAR fields including K-9 SAR. She is co-founder of Tennessee Special Response Team-A, Inc. (TN SRT-A), a non-profit 501(c)(3) SAR organization. She serves as K-9 trainer in Area as well as Land and Water Human Remains Detection. She is also Secretary, Treasurer of the Team. She works a German Shepherd, Bandy, who is NASAR certified in Human Remains Detection (Land).
Sue is a Principal Evaluator for NSDA in Land Human Remains Detection and is a past President of the Alliance. She is a NASAR SARTECH I; Crew Leader III; SARTECH II Evaluator; Canine SARTECH HRD (Land) Evaluator; and a Certified Incident Commander. She is a DOT Medical First Responder and has an FCC Technician Amateur Radio Operator license, KF4HXT. She is a member of and K-9 Search Manager for Tennessee Task Force 5.
Larry Welker, Treasurer, Alabama
Larry Welker has been involved in K-9 SAR since 1999. His experience includes many active searches and his efforts as support while he and his first Airscent K-9, River, were in training. He is currently an independent Search Dog Handler in the North Alabama area. He is a former North Alabama Search Dog Association (NASDA) Treasurer, has served as a Board Member for the Canine Search and Recovery (CSAR) organization and served as CSAR's interim Treasurer.
He has been a member of the peer review team for the NSDA Area Standard, is a member of the Water Recovery Team Standard Committee and is the Chairman of the NSDA Network Committee. He serves as the moderator for the NSDA Podcast programs on team training that air live on the internet monthly. He is a NASAR SAR Tech II and both of his Labrador Retrievers are NASAR SAR Tech III Wilderness Canines.
Larry is a retired U.S. Marine and is an Eagle Scout. He is the Troop Committee Chairman of Boy Scout Troop 221 in Salem, Alabama. He is an avid outdoorsman, an Amateur Radio Operator, K9LEW, an AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator, and a member of the Alabama Association of Rescue Squads (AARS).
Larry is one of the Founding Members of NSDA
Terry Crooks, Montana
Terry has twenty-five (25) years of search and rescue experience. Seventeen (17) of these have been as a K-9 trainer/handler. His three SAR K-9's, Jess, Cima and Avy, have successfully worked in avalanche, water, HRD, evidence and tracking/trailing. His experiences have included law enforcement criminal assistance as well as lost and missing persons. With Cima, Terry responded to Hurricane Katrina with a Federal DMORT team and was assigned in Mississippi.
Terry is a Principal Evaluator for NSDA in Avalanche, Area and Land HRD. He is a Coordinator/Evaluator with NASAR and coordinated the development of the NASAR K-9 Avalanche Responder testing criteria. He has served as a speaker numerous times at the NASAR Conferences and as a speaker/trainer at various SAR K-9 workshops and conferences. He is currently a K-9 handler and Mountain Unit Leader for David Thompson Search and Rescue. He is a past president of David Thompson Search and Rescue and also of Western Montana Search Dogs. Terry is a past Vice-President of NSDA
Cameron Daggett, Idaho
Cam Daggett has been active in SAR work since 1980 and active with K-9 SAR since 1986. In 2003, the Blaine County K-9 SAR Unit under the Sheriff's SAR team was formed and he was appointed the unit leader, a position that he still holds. They have fourteen (14) dogs that work avalanche in the winter, six (6) of which continue to work year round in area search, trailing, & human remains detection. He has assisted in developing all of their local standards and participated in forming the NSDA K-9 Avalanche criteria and in beta testing the Trailing/Trailing with Evidence Standards. He is a Principal Evaluator for NSDA in Avalanche and Area Search..
Cam has lived and worked in southern Idaho since 1974 in as area known as the Woodriver Valley. This area is generally recognized as the home of the world famous Sun Valley Ski Resort. He came to the area a few years after college and soon became a police officer for the City of Sun Valley. He worked his way through the ranks and became the Chief of Police in 1986. He is still employed in that capacity.
Jan Meyer, Missouri
Jan has been an active member of Gateway Search Dogs, Inc. in St. Louis, Missouri, for eight years. She served one year as an appointed member of the NSDA Board in 2008-2009 to fill the uncompleted term of an elected Board member. Jan has continued to serve on the Seminar Committee on behalf of NSDA for the 2010 Cody, Wyoming, seminar and the 2011 Georgia Seminar.
Currently, Jan is working her second canine, Jake. Jake and Jan are Area II certified with NASAR and HRD certified with North American Police Working Dog Association. In addition, Jan was recently elected to the position of Vice-President with Gateway.
Sherry Scruggs, Florida
Sherry has worked SAR canines since 1994. Her breeds of choice are Labradors and German Shorthaired Pointers. She has certified dogs in Area, HRD Land and Water. She has worked with local law enforcement as well as the FBI in several states including her native Florida. Sherry became a Coordinator for NASAR in 2002 and has administered field tests in all disciplines except disaster. She is presently a member of the Marion County Fire Rescue.
Sherry is a graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in Animal Science. She began working for the University thirty-one (31) years ago devoting most of her career to large and small animal surgery at the College of Veterinary Medicine. The last eleven years have been spent as a manager of the animal research facilities at the University.
Sherry is a past Secretary of the Alliance
NSDA Advisory Board Members
Susan Bulanda, Pennsylvania
Advisory Board, June 2009-May 2010
Susan Bulanda is a certified canine and feline behavior consultant and long time SAR dog expert. She has written a number of books and hundreds of articles. She piloted two programs at Kutztown University, the Canine Training and Management Program for students who want to become dog trainers and the Canine Behavior Program for students who want to become behavior consultants. She has a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and a Masters Degree in Education. She has been a SAR K-9 handler and trainer since 1981. She is the Head trainer for the Phoenixville Fire Dept. K9 Search & Rescue Unit and is a Senior Conformation Judge for United Kennel Club.
Lisa Higgins, Louisiana
Advisory Board, June 2009-May 2010
Lisa Higgins is a nationally certified Human Remains Detection canine handler who has responded to over 300 searches across the United States; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Puerto Rico with her canine partners. She works regularly for the Forensic Canine Program, Evidence Response Team Unit, for the FBI. She is one of two handlers qualified as an "Expert" in canine body recovery in New Orleans Criminal Courts. Lisa has worked in law enforcement since 1982 with St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office. She is a SSgt. with the Special Operations Division serving with the Mounted Division and K-9 SAR units. She is a member of the Federal DMORT Region VI Team and Louisiana Mass Fatalities Taskforce. Lisa has also co-authored several articles and a book chapter on water search and recovery. A tribute to her Labrador, Molli, is on the NSDA website
Marcia Koenig, Washington
Advisory Board June 2009-May 2010
Marcia Koenig has been involved in volunteer search dog work since 1972. She is a founding member of Northwest Disaster Search Dogs (NDSD) and King County Search Dogs and a member of the Region 10 DMORT task force. Marcia's search dog experience ranges from disaster search (tornado damage, Wichita Falls, TX; KAL airliner crash, Guam; Kona Village apartment fire, Bremerton, WA) to wilderness, snow, water, cadaver and trailing searches. A tribute to her German shepherd, Coyote, is on the NSDA webpage
Carol Ann Namur, Quebec
Advisory Board, June 2009-May 2010
In 1975, to address the lack of emergency programs in Quebec municipalities, Carol Ann Namur founded the Sauvetage Canada Rescue volunteer group. Their goal is to save lives through education, prevention and rescue. She manages and oversees the training of 450 people who assist responsible authorities in emergency situations. Thanks to her determination and leadership, the volunteer, self- financed group has teams in several provinces ready to act day and night to help find people who are lost or missing, to lend a hand during a disaster or to provide first aid services at community events.
Carol Ann Namur is President Director General of SCR Emergency Measures Consultants, PDG The Volunteer Groups Sauvetage Canada Rescue, and Provincial Volunteer Coordinator of the Programme de gestion des binivoles en recherche et sauvetage de la S{reti du Quibec".
Robert Noziska, Texas
Advisory Board June 2009-May 2010
Robert Noziska currently is an Operator for Headquarters/Special Operations Group for the United States Border Patrol. For the past ten years, Agent Noziska has been assigned to the special operations unit known as BORSTAR (Border Search Trauma and Rescue). He assisted in founding and implementing the BORSTAR Canine Program for the United States Border Patrol in 2001. Agent Noziska is a Master Trainer for North American Police Work Dog Association. He has given presentations on numerous canine topics nationally, strengthening existing SAR K-9 Teams.
Arthur E. Wolff, Tennessee
Advisory Board June 2009-May 2010
Arthur E. (Art) Wolff has been involved in Search and Rescue since 1975. He has conducted searches and taught various aspects of SAR on several continents. He helped co-found Florida Special Response Team-A and Tennessee Special Response Team-A, both of which are canine based SAR Teams. He is a Law Enforcement Canine Trainer as well as having helped develop NASARS Canine Testing Criteria.
Art has been a Post Certified Law Enforcement Officer since 1978, having spent years in a major agency's Criminal Investigations Division as well as in Canine. He blends years of his SAR and his Law Enforcement experience into his teaching and training.