Mr. Spivak joined the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary after spending seven years in the United States Power Squadrons (USPS). A primary catalyst for his joining were the events of September 11th, and his civic desire to better both community and country.

In addition, he wanted the USPS and the USCG Auxiliary to obtain closer unity of purpose at the local level, Mr. Spivak became a bridge between the organizations promoting the links that bind the two organizations.

Key to this program has been a presentation (and appearance at the USPS District Change of Watch 2003-2008) made by the Director of Auxiliary to the outgoing District Commander of the USPS Third District, which covers all of Long Island.

The Early Years:

Mr. Spivak's love of water began at an early age, growing up in the Marine Park / Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn, New York; a block off the marshes and what was to become Gateway National Park. As an young child, he was taken to the ocean and bays of Brooklyn and Queens, to enjoy boating, fishing and the beaches.

He also spent a large amount of time in upstate New York enjoying fishing (in and out of boats and canoes) on the many lakes that dot the scenic landscape of The Catskill Mountain area of New York State.

Public Service and Emergency Service:

His forty (40) plus year involvement in emergency services and public service began after spending his formulative years in the Boy Scouts of America program - from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts and finally Exploring (now called Venturers), leaving the program in his junior year of High School.

In 1975, he became involved with the Consumer Watchdog Committee, Inc., a not-for-profit group that compared local prices on consumer essentials. His role was the Coordinator of Volunteers.

His direct entry into public service as an adult began in the late 70's, when he joined his local Volunteer Ambulance Corps (VAC). During this period, Mr. Spivak became a NYS Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-A).

The involvement in the VAC led him to join New York City's  Emergency Medical Service (since merged with the New York City Fire Department). While serving in NYC-EMS, he became a member of the elite Technical Services Division, which provided technical support at Multiple Casualty Incidents (MCI's) as well as Special Events. See picture of Spivak in NYC Daily News in 1982.

Mr. Spivak held his certification as a NYS Emergency Medical Technician for approximately 15 years, even after he received on-the-job injuries in 1982. He was one of the many first responders who went to the February 26th, 1993 World Trade Center Bombing (the first bombing), where he assisted NYC-EMS at their Mobile Emergency Room Van (MERV) [see present day FDNY MERV], treating smoke inhalation victims, along with those who suffered cuts, lacerations and abrasions during the tumultuous exit from the building after the bombing. The MERV was stationed opposite the World Trade Center's North Tower entrance.

To this day, he is still has personal and business relationships with several NYC-EMS members including the then Executive Director of EMS. Some of these individuals stayed in EMS even after their merger with the NYFD, others left to purse law enforcement, and/or emergency management careers. Several now own or are executives of national and internationally renown emergency services consulting firms. Mr. Spivak provides Information Technology consulting services to three Homeland Security and Emergency Consulting firms: Strategic Emergency Group and The Hauer Group and Critical Incident Management and Training, Inc (CIMAT) and IMSCommand. In November 2011 two member of this group became the Commissioner & Executive Deputy Commission of the New York State Department of Homeland Security.

Mr. Spivak joined (2008-2010) the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), which is the United States Air Force Auxiliary, as a member of the National Patron Squadron. CAP is the only similar organization that can be compared to the Auxiliary.

Mr. Spivak has completed 110 FEMA courses from the Emergency Management Institute - Independent Study Program, as well as ICS 210 and ICS 300 and ICS 400 given by the USCG.. This makes an excess of 420 hours of training, not including USCG training courses in emergency management. He has recently joined the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) is is working toward his certification as an Associate Emergency Manager while working on the extra requirements for Certified Emergency Manager. He is a contributor to their publication "The IAEM Bulletin".

The United States Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary:

Mr. Spivak holds many roles that shift between working for and part of the Auxiliary and as an augmenter for the Coast Guard. As a member of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, Auxiliarist Spivak, has qualified as an Instructor, as well as Vessel Safety Examiner, Marine Dealer Visitor and Aid to Navigation Verifier. He has served as a Flotilla and Division Staff Officer for the Marine Visitor Program, as well as a Flotilla and Division Staff Officer (as well as Assistant District Staff Officer) for Computer Services, whose duties include being the unit Webmaster (explaination of Auxilary organization). He is a frequent lecturer at both Auxiliary District and National Conferences. He has also lectured at the Caribbean Search and Rescue (CSAR) Conference in 2004.

His operational involvement in Auxiliary activities is limited due to injuries sustained whiled working for NYC-EMS, but he does own and operate two Coast Guard Auxiliary Radio Facilities (land and land-mobile) (he left the AuxCom Communications program in 2008) and is a Aid to Navigation Verifier (ATON), which is considered an operational position. A member of the Auxiliary Monitoring (AUXMON) radio group for the last several years (ending 12/11), which monitors public marine weather and emergency frequencies, he is the recipient of a Coast Guard Meritorious Team Commendation for his work. He recently (2011) participated in the Hurricane Irene radio guard.

On a National level, he was a long-standing member of the National Press Corps and is the former Chief of the External Communications Division (National Press Spokesperson) of the Auxiliary Public Affairs Department. He is a currently (2011) a Branch Chief with the Public Affairs Department in the role as an advisor. He was formerly a Branch Chief in the National Training Department.

Mr. Spivak is on the staff of the United States Coast Guard Office of Auxiliary & Boating Safety (CG-542) in the Coast Guard Auxiliary Division (CG-5421), which is run by the Chief Director of the Auxiliary who oversees the Auxiliary program. Mr. Spivak has assisted CG-631, the Office of the Chief Information Officer, 508 Compliance Section with ensuring that Auxiliary web sites that are linked to www.uscg.mil are in compliance with the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. ‘ 794d).

At CG-5421, Mr. Spivak created (with a team) the first Chief Director Web Site. Now in its third generation and tenth (10th) year, Mr. Spivak has added the Auxiliary KnowledgeBase (AuxKB) to the suite of IT services offered by the Chief Director's Office (he was awarded a Meritorious Service Award (second highest award in the Auxiliary at that time) for his work on this ground-breaking IT product); this product was transferred to the Auxiliary in January 2011. Included in the suite is also the CHDIRAUX-L mailing list, providing updates to the program and policy to the 30,000 or so members of the USCG Auxiliary.

Recently he has been developing a Best Practices web based on Wikimedia. This site wasn't approved due to lack of funding.

In addition, he has been part of the staff of the International Search and Rescue Competition (ISAR) 2003-2008, the CSAR Conferences and also has assisted the National Conference (NACON) Conference committee, since 2002-2007.

In other roles, he has (and currently does) served as the Division Chief, Communications for the International Affairs Directorate, the Communications Director for the Coast Guard Auxiliary Association, Inc. (CGAuxA, Inc.), and part of the development team for the Operation Patriot Readiness web site and America's Waterway Watch (a major Coast Guard Maritime Domain Awareness {MDA} program). He was also the Webmaster for the International Affairs and Interpreter Support Directorate, as it has been renamed. In 2009, he returned to his role as Chief, Communications for The International Affairs and Interpreter Support Directorates (it's new name), this time in the Interpreter Support Division. Now called the International Affairs Department (2011) he is the Departments Chief of Communications.

He served as a member of the staff of the Commander Coast Guard D7 Office of the Director (CCGD7dpa) and is currently a staff member at the Commander Coast Guard D1 Office of the Director, Southern Region (CCGD1dpaSR). He was also the primary designer, programmer and trainer behind the First Coast Guard District's AUXPAL project. The AUXPAL was built to match Auxiliarist's with Coast Guard augmentation requirements. This project and concept failed to catch on, and was terminated. In late 2009 interest has again turned towards this project (but the status currently unknown).

During the January 2010 Haitian Earthquake Search & Rescue operation conducted by the Coast Guard and other US Agencies, Mr. Spivak provided multiple Press Releases to the public under both his roles; in International Affairs and Public Affairs; of how the Auxiliary was either directly or indirectly contributing to the rescue operation.

In 2009, he was asked to be the Division Chief for Research and Development in the Information Technology Department. After revamping the Division and most of the Department, he left the position in capable hands.

In 2001, Auxiliarist Spivak placed second in the United States Coast Guard JOC Alex Haley Award of Excellence in Journalism contest, for his contributions to the Public Affairs mission for the Coast Guard. The number of people who have read the articles contained on this web site is inestimable. Article distribution included a mailing to over 5,000 members of the media, both industry and general. From statistics generated by this web site, it is estimated as of May 2009, over 300,000 articles have been read. This does not count occurrences of re-publication in print media or on other web sites. It is estimated that over 300 media outlets have used the articles contained on this web site.

A constant contributor from 2002 - 2008 to Coast Guard Office of Boating Safety's Waypoints, as well as a frequent contributor to the American Boating Association's web site as well as their publication Beacon, Mr. Spivak's articles also have appeared regularly in The Power of Multihulls magazine, as well as Multihulls and South Florida Fishing magazine. His articles have also appeared in such diverse publications as SWAviator, the American Sailing Association, Boating Life Magazine, Coast Guard Magazine, Duck Works Magazine, Los Angeles Times, and Military.Com to name just a few. A more complete list (but far from accurate) can be found here.

Mr. Spivak organized and performed Master of Ceremony duties for the PFD Fashion Show, held in Dallas, TX on September 1, 2006. This show will scheduled to become the nexus for a series of video shows, from 30 minutes down to 30seconds and will be used by the Auxiliary and Coast Guard (as well as any other venue) to promote Personal Flotation Device (Life Jacket) wear by boaters, especially children.

Mr. Spivak is also the Chief Instructor and Program Manager of the Director of Auxiliary, First Southern Region's Small Boat Course for Local Law Enforcement (SBCLLE). This course has been held six (6) times since 2004 for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (the 25th largest police force in the US). In the intervening time, he provides hands' on instruction by conducting ride-a longs in the PAPD vessels. The Spring 2009 (Class VI) concluded 26 June 09. To date, approximately 200 Police Officers have gone thru this two-week intensive classroom and on-the-water, hands-on course.

Officers who were trained by the SBCLLE responded to the US Air 1549 emergency landing in the Hudson River January 15, 2009. See recent article in the USCG Auxiliary magazine "Navigator" (Spring 2009). Class VII was cancelled due to budgetary issues, but Class VIII is currently being planned.

As a Consultant for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department, Mr. Spivak was part of the team which participated in the emergency drills which certified the AirTrain system for operation.

In addition, he was the Program Manager and Designer of two programs, Emergency Operation Center Liaison Officers (EOC-LO), and , Auxiliary Alert Response Team (AART), which weren't implemented.

In 2011 he holds a Division Chief - Communications in the re-named International Affairs Department, a Branch Chief position with the Public Affairs Department and on the Flotilla level he is still the Communication Services Officer. He still serves on the staff of the Chief Director of Auxiliary in Washington, DC and Director of Auxiliary First Southern District in New York City.

Awards

Mr. Spivak is the recipient of the two (2) Meritorious Service Award for "exceptional meritorious service",two (2) Auxiliary Commendation Awards, four (4) Auxiliary Achievement Awards (one with an "O" for Operations) "for sustain profession and/or leadership achievements", four (4) Auxiliary Commandant Letter Of Commendation Awards "for exceptional meritorious service" and twenty (20) Coast Guard Meritorious Team Awards for "significant contributions to a group or team", the Presidential Unit Citation (given to the Coast Guard by President G.W. Bush for "service rendered during Hurricane Katrina and Rita"), as well a the Auxiliary Humanitarian Award (in Mr. Spivak's opinion, his most esteemed recognition he has received to date) and two (2) Coast Guard Unit Commendation's. To the best of his knowledge he has earned the President’s Call to Service Award for donating more than 4,000 hours as a volunteer in a lifetime.

Qualifications

In addition to these awards, he has earned the Vessel Safety Check/Marine Dealer Service qualification, the (2) Operations Program Ribbon (ATON Verifier, Communications) , the Auxiliary Membership Ribbon for five years of service and the Operations Service Award, Education Service Award (two awards) and Vessel Examinations Service Award, ten (10) Sustained Service Awards (each representing 750 hours of volunteer service - he stopped counting and submitting hours after his 3rd year in the Auxiliary). He recently qualified for the new Auxiliary Public Affairs Award, Level III, CG Public Affairs Support Specialist. (more info about awards) . He has just been awarded the Marine Safety Training Ribbon, based 8 different courses and tests.

Mr. Spivak is also qualified as an AUXOP (Auxiliary Operational) member. See Spivak's Ribbon Rack

His emergency management education includes Incident Command Systems (ICS) 100 and 200, 210, 300 and 400 as well as National Incident Management System (NIMS) and National Response Plan (NRP),NIMS Multi-Agency Coordination System, NIMS Public Information System, NIMS Resource Management as well as 103 other Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Independent Study courses. Here are some courses outside of FEMA, and these are the FEMA courses.

Mr. Spivak was the recipient of the prestigious 2004 Public Service Award from the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA).

In response to Hurricane Katrina and then Hurricane Rita, Como Ed Sweeney, then Deputy Chief of the Auxiliary Public Affairs Department and Aux. Spivak created the concept of a fund that would assist Auxiliarist's and Coasties who lost their homes, and/or their jobs due to the disaster. This concept became Operation Life Ring.

The national leadership of the Coast Guard Auxiliary under National Commodore Gene Seibert and the CGAuxA, under Executive Director Marty Phillips set-up the fund to aid Auxiliarist's and other members of the Coast Guard Family.

Mr. Spivak is a member of Operation Life Ring web development team, where both his web and writing talents have enabled to some extent the fund to garner support from both the Coast Guard community and the general public. All funds collected by Operation Life Ring have been disbursed to needy Auxiliarist's and Coasties. The Fund has morphed into a general mutual aid fund for Auxiliarist's who find themselves in dire straits.

Since January 2006, Mr, Spivak has been the Director of Media Communications for the Coast Guard Auxiliary Association, Inc. His focus will be promoting the Association to both the industry and associated press on exactly what the Association is, and how by supporting the Association, you are directly supporting the activities of the USCG Auxiliary. The Association provides funding for many of the Auxiliary programs, as well as uniform articles and development and printing of educational material. He is also the Circulation Manager for the organizations e-zine, eBeacon.

Recreational Boating Safety:

He was a member of USPS until mid 2010, (where he was for lack of official title, he was the Chief Information Officer 1998-2000) and is also was a member of the Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons (CPS). In addition, he is a consultant with, and the Chief Information Officer for the United Safe Boating Institute and as well as a member of the National Safe Boating Council.

Other recreational boating activities include assisting the Association for Rescue at Sea, Inc. (AFRAS) redesign and maintain their web site, the Foundation for Coast Guard History, Inc. (FCGH), redesign their newsletter and provides technical assistance to a large number of other Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary programs (both officially and unofficially). In 2011, Mr. Spivak was officially made the Chief Information Officer of AFRAS. He also offered the FCGH free Internet server space and bandwidth and is awaiting their decision.

He is assisting the Liberty (AGTR5) Division of the Naval Sea Cadets with their public affairs program as well as other administrative aspects. The Liberty (AGTR5) Division was recently awarded The John J. Bergen Award (2008). This award, presented annually, to the Sea Cadet Unit that earns the highest marks as the result of their Annual Inspection.   Over 300 units nationwide competed for this prestigious award.  Last year, the Liberty (AGTR-5) Division placed second and in 2006, they placed third nationwide. Mr. Spivak is currently assisting the Division with obtaining its IRS designation as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization so it can raise funds on its own to benefit the young men and women who make of its Cadet Corps.

In December 2011 he became the Public Affairs Officer for Region 3-4, which includes the Liberty (AGTR5), Jersey City and Iwo Jima Divisions of the NSCC.Both Region 3-4 and Liberty (AGTR5) are provided free Internet server and bandwidth services by Mr. Spivak.

The Naval Sea Cadet Corps are a unit of the US Navy League, where Mr. Spivak is a member (the showcase photo [above]shows Auxiliarist Spivak in Dinner Dress Blue, was taken before the Navy League's New York Chapter's 100th Gala Dinner).

Other memberships include the Boating Writers International (where he has been a Judge in their annual writing contest [2004 - 2007]), The National Press Club (until 2012), The US Naval Institute, the American Radio Relay League (Mr. Spivak is a licensed Ham Radio Operator - Amateur Extra Class [highest level] - call sign KC2NJV and a Volunteer Examiner (VE) [a VE is authorized to proctor and grade the FCC Ham Radio Exams]), and the Amateur Radio Safety Foundation, Inc. (the supporters of WinLink2000, an "emergency" e-mail system run through Amateur Radio's worldwide).

The National Weather Service trains interested parties, including Ham Radio operators to be Weather Spotters, Mr. Spivak finished training in November 2011, he is awaiting (and waiting) a response from the NWS on joining..

Mr Spivak recently joined the Nassau County, NY Medical Reserve Corps. The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), a component of the Citizen Corps.

One key way in which we would use the Medical Reserve Corps would be in the event of a smallpox outbreak. Smallpox Vaccination clinics (also known as "Points of Distribution," or POD's) would be based at sites all around Nassau County. We would need the suitable staff to set up and work in these POD's in an appropriate role that uses their existing skills.

During emergencies, MRC volunteers may also provide an important "surge" capability to perform some functions usually performed by emergency health staff who have been mobilized (such as augment medical and support staff shortages at local medical or emergency facilities).

MRC volunteers are also a good resource for helping a community plan its response to numerous health related situations. They can assist with developing plans for health care during disasters, distribution of pharmaceuticals, and provide numerous tasks to help a community deal with public health issues when there is a shortage of regular health care providers or health care support staff.

Mr. Spivak also applied for ServNY, and SMERT (ServNY Medical Emergency Response Team),

Professional Life:

When not volunteering on Recreational Boating issues, Mr. Spivak is the President of SBA * Consulting LTD, a provider of part-time and/or interim Chief Financial Officer services. In addition, they also focus on projects that the typical CFO either never has done, hasn't done in a very long time or doesn't have the time to do; such as M&A due diligence, office relocation, internal audits, etc.

He recently was featured in an article for CNN Money titled " Main Street on edge as Wall Street swings".

SBA * Consulting has approximately 60 Consulting CFO's and Controllers working in thirteen (13) offices from Boston to Boca Raton.

He or a member of SBA * Consulting is involved in several professional societies and networking groups (The Institute of Management Accountants, Grand Central Group, The Accountant/Attorney Networking Group, The Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors and the Berman Consulting Advisors Business Development Group) .

From May 2001 to January 2011 he was the Chief Financial Officer of dna Model Management currently one of the top modeling management agencies in the world, Frenchw@re (a software company for the modeling business) and Models and Creators of America (a management company); all clients of SBA * Consulting. Other notable clients (have or include) Wilhelmenia Models, Race Models, Marilyn Models, One Model Management, Mutual of New York and AT&T.

Mr. Spivak was the Founding President of the The Greater New York Metropolitan Area Chapter of the Internet Society. He served as President from 1997 - 1999, during which time he obtained IRS designation as a 501(c)(3) organization as well has hold a major conference on the changing DNS - domain name system governance standards.

In June 2005, Mr. Spivak "retired" from Lehman College, City University of New York where he was a Adjunct member of Economics and Accounting Department for ten years; teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in accounting and accounting information systems.

An accomplished freelance writer, Mr. Spivak has hundreds of published articles on both recreational boating safety, homeland security, leadership, management, customer service, accounting and computer related topics as well as a contribution in WritersNet Anthology, Volume II, an anthology of stories, both fiction and non-fiction published by iUniverse in October 2002.

His works have appeared in The CPA Journal, VAR Business, Network World, Law Technology Product News, and On the Internet (copies of many of the articles can be found here). He was a long-time Contributing Editor to ServerPipeline.Com, a CMP Media (his association with CMP started in 1999) on-line e-zine, which has rolled into Network Computing.

A complete listing of publications can be found on SBA * Consulting LTD's web site.

A complete resume can be found on Linkedin.com.

Personal Life:

Mr. Spivak has been married for twenty-three years and lives in a New York City suburb. He has recently taken up the sport of Golf and re-discovered bicycle riding enabling him to loose 20% of his body mass (55 lbs) from changing his diet and exercising (as evidenced by the first dress uniform picture taken in 2006 and the one directly above, taken in 2011).

He and his wife have a new puppy, a King Charles Cavalier/Cocker Spaniel mix which they rescued and is keeping them both quite busy.

AuxGuidanceSkills.Info is geared to providing "Public Service Articles in the pursuit of Recreational Boating Safety" to that end, we will continue to add to our series on Help Wanted, Homeland Security, Public Education, Public Service, Vessel Safety and Environmental Issues, though the use of 'case studies', as our teaching tool of choice. In addition, our Leadership series offers those within the Coast Guard family, as well as outside, an insight into values that will improve their leadership skills.