Fire Smarts, LLC

Russ Leavitt is the Chairman and CEO of Telgian Corporation. With over 27 years of experience he holds a Level IV certification from NICET in Fire Sprinkler Layout and a Certified Fire Protection Specialist (CFPS) designation. He serves on the NFPA 13 correlating committee, NFPA 25 technical committee and NFPA 5000 (building code) correlating committee. Russ conducts seminars internationally on a variety of fire and life safety related subjects and has authored a number of articles and training materials including the AFSA study guide for NICET certification in Inspections and Testing.

Steve Leyton is President of Protection Design & Consulting in San Diego, CA. With over 20 years of experience, he is a member of the NFPA 14, NFPA 13D/13R and NFPA 5000 Technical Committees. He served as Chair of the installation committee for the California State Fire Marshal’s Residential Sprinkler Code Adoption Task Group and Co-Chair of the ICC Ad-Hoc Committee on Residential Fire Sprinklers. His professional affiliations include membership in NFPA, International Code Council (ICC), American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA), National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA), California Fire Prevention Officers Northern and Southern Sections, and the San Diego Fire Protection Association.

Terri Leyton is Vice President of Protection Design & Consulting and serves as a consultant representing the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) for legislative activities in California. With over 20 years experience she is a long-time advocate of fire sprinklers and has been an active influence in the code development and legislative activities of the industry. Terri is an active member of NFPA and the California Fire Chiefs Association, Fire Prevention Officers Sections for Northern and Southern California.

Bob Caputo has more than 25 years experience in the fire protection community including all areas of the fire sprinkler industry. A former fire fighter trained in fire suppression at the U.S. Naval Fire Fighting Training Center in San Diego, Bob has been an instructor since 1989, teaching seminars for both American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) and NFPA. He holds fire sprinkler contracting licenses in multiple states, serves on the NFPA 13 Installation Committee and is the author of AFSA’s Project Management Tools program. He was named FPC Magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1997 and was named San Diego County Fire Prevention Officer of the Year in 1994.

Steven Scandaliato is Principal at SDG, LLC, a fire protection design and consulting company. With over 23 years of fire protection engineering, design and project management experience he holds a Level IV certification from NICET in Fire Sprinkler Layout and serves as a member of the NFPA 13, 101 and 5000 committees. Steven is a nationally recognized seminar instructor having presented for the American Fire Sprinkler Association, American Society of Plumbing Engineers, American Institute of Architects, Society of Fire Protection Engineers, International Code Council, and the International Fire Marshals Association.

Michael Cox serves as sales and marketing manager for 13dPEX.com, a design and distribution company in Bellingham Washington, dedicated to NFPA 13d sprinkler systems. This firm supplies design, tools, pumps, and installation materials to plumbers and others who are contracting to install 13d systems. Specializing in multipurpose or flow through design using PEX tubing as a primary material. He has worked in life-safety and fire prevention for more than two decades, holds a Washington State certificate for sprinkler design, and has worked with AHJs and Fire Chiefs throughout the state.

Jayson Drake is Senior Product Manager for Uponor’s North American fire safety business. Uponor (formerly Wirsbo) is a leading manufacturer of PEX-based multipurpose residential fire sprinkler systems. Jayson is actively involved in educational and training efforts to support installing contractors. Previously Jayson worked in the semiconductor, robotics and cryogenics industries, leading the global development of new products in more than 40 countries. Jayson has an engineering degree from Iowa State University and a MBA from the University of Minnesota.

Bill Ramsey has over 35 years of experience in designing and installing fire protection systems. Starting in the early 1970’s Bill opened his fire protection contracting company, which he operated until 1988, when he joined Central Sprinkler Corporation as their National Sales Manager. In this role Bill lead the CAD development for the fire protection industry and provided essential training for the use of this technology. Since 1999 Bill has been nationally recognized as a leading fire code consultant in residential design and installation.