Ronny J. Coleman

As a co-founder of Phenix Technology, Ron was instrumental in compiling all the best ideas from the fire helmets on the market at that time, and along with Ray Russell came up with a design that is best known today as the Phenix First Due. Ron remains a consultant for major projects at Phenix Technology and has been promoting Phenix helmets all over the world.

Ron's resume outside of his contributions to Phenix is impressive. He is a Senior Vice President with Emergency Services Consulting, Inc. (ESI). He has served in the fire service for 47 years. He also serves as a technical consultant to the International Code Council (ICC) on code issues and the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) related to GIS mapping. He formerly served as the California State Fire Marshal and retired as Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

He possesses a Masters of Arts Degree in Vocational Education from Cal State Long Beach, a Bachelors of Science Degree in Political Science from Cal State Fullerton and an Associate of Arts Degree in Fire Science from Rancho Santiago College.

He has served in many elected positions in professional organizations including; President of International Association of Fire Chiefs, Vice President of International Committee for Prevention and Control of Fire (CTIF), and President of California League of Cities, Fire Chiefs Department. He served on the Public Safety Committee for the League. He has held professional memberships in many other organizations such as: the International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Fire Code Institute, Conference of Building Officials, National Fire Protection Association, and the Institution of Fire Engineers, USA Branch. He was elected as a Fellow of the IFE by the British Chapter.

In the past, Ron served as a panel member on the re-constituted "America Burning" panel and is a member of the US Fire Administrations "Stakeholder Committee". Governor Schwarzenegger appointed him to the Blue Ribbon Panel to study the Urban – Wild land fires of 2003. His last appointment was as the President of Heritage Hall, a newly formed organization to preserve the history of the written word in the fire service. He also is a member of Firemen’s Fund Heritage Foundation.