Gabe Donaldson, President
Gabe Donaldson currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer for the Great Basin Institute, a non-profit located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains outside of Reno, Nevada. Gabe supports nine Departments in the accomplishment of GBI’s mission. Gabe’s experience in forest management and wildland fire led him to GBI by way of The Nature Conservancy (Director of Fire Management Colorado and Arizona), the Bureau of Land Management (Ruby Mountain Hotshot Superintendent, Boise Smokejumper Alum, and 20+ years in the hands-on-suppression industry), co-founder of The Ember Alliance (501c3), founder of the Borderlands Fire Initiative (501c3) and FireRX Ltd. Gabe’s education spans both the liberal arts and sciences spread across Universities and Colleges throughout the west. Gabe graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) with a focus on Ecosystem Management for Wildland Fire Personnel. Gabe has current and previous NWCG qualifications such as Incident Commander Type 3, Faller C, Division Supervisor, Helitack Crewmember, Smokejumper, Type 2 Safety Officer, Senior Parachute Rigger, Type 2 Burn Boss, and Technical Specialist.
Dan Fitzgerald, Vice-President
Daniel is an experienced robotics engineer, equally comfortable with software and hardware. He is passionate about solving big problems - especially related to the environment - with autonomous technology. He has worked on the largest industrial (Amazon) and consumer (iRobot) mobile robot fleets in the world. He loves the outdoors and has deployed robots to suburban lawns and construction sites. He also brings unique experience in Human-Robot Interaction and futuristic interfaces from the MIT Media Lab. Daniel will lead the development of autonomous robots, as well as manage system integrations across third-party modules.
Joel Wright, Treasurer/Secretary
Joel Wright serves as President of FOL-DA-TANK and EVAC Elite Rescue Systems which both serve the wildland firefighting industry. Joel will leverage the business’ resources to develop suppression technology and to connect industry resources. As a buy and build entrepreneur with a passion for manufacturing, he led the acquisition of FOL-DA-TANK in 2020 and EVAC in 2022 and co-owns the organization with an investor. Joel’s vision for the merged entities is to be the first choice of first responders in its core categories. Previously, he served as President and CEO from 2013 to 2020 at MoboTrex, a multi-site traffic signal manufacturing and distribution business with operations in Iowa, Illinois, Texas, and Virginia. Earlier, Joel served in various senior leadership positions at MoboTrex and Hansaloy. He holds a BS Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University. He enjoys sharing his career experiences and helping other business leaders solve problems through his consulting activities at The Wright Impact and through his volunteer work with the local Quad City Score chapter.