ADVISORY BOARD
Mark Cordova, Sergeant (Retired)
Code4+ Advisory Board
Law Enforcement Representative
Sergeant Cordova is a ten-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, serving as an aviation mechanic working on F-4 Phantom fighter-bomber aircraft. Subsequent to this tour, he was selected for duty as a Marine Drill Instructor in San Diego training new recruits. After ten years, he was honorably discharged at the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-6).
After serving in the Marine Corps, Sergeant Cordova began a 30-year career in law enforcement beginning with the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office. He completed his requisite time serving in corrections and then lateraled over to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. During his 30-year career, he served as a Patrol Deputy, Senior Deputy, Training Officer, Investigator, Senior Investigator, Homicide Detective, and Sergeant. Upon his retirement from Riverside County, he went to work for the San Bernardino District Attorney’s office working as a Senior Investigator for crimes against children, elder abuse and domestic violence cases. Throughout his careers, Sergeant Cordova witnessed first-hand how sensory injuries to the brain have affected his peers and other personnel.
Sergeant Cordova was an avid hunter in his youth and would yearly hunt elk and deer with his father. Learning how to field dress a bull elk prepared him for seeing the things he would witness as a Marine and law enforcement officer. Serving in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War era, he would personally witness the many service men and women coming home and dealing with physical and mental health problems of their service overseas. Later on, as a Homicide Detective, he personally witnessed the many terrible things that human beings do to one another. Until now, none of the agencies he worked for ever had an adequate wellness program to equip law enforcement personnel with tools to deal with a sensory brain injury.
“As a Vietnam vet, I saw many Marines come home with physical and mental problems. During my time as a homicide detective, I saw many things a human should not see. I also have had good friends in law enforcement suffer from mental problems to the point of suicide. Never has any of the agencies I have worked for ever come up with a course of instruction to deal with the brain injuries we suffer from seeing horrific scenes, with the exception of therapy and drugs. I have been to the FREEdom First Aid course and have used the methods described in it to deal with my own problems and have used it to help others. This course should be taught in bootcamp and in law enforcement academies before the recruits ever see the things they will see, so they can learn to deal with them then and there, not 10 years down the road when they are having problems. I truly believe that if this type of instruction was available to many in the beginning of their law enforcement careers or time spent in the Armed Forces, there would be a lot of less mental problems suffered.”
Dr. Scott A. Mann, MBA, CBO, ARM
Code4+ Advisory Board
U.S. Military Representative
Dr. Mann is a U.S. Navy mustang officer who came up from the enlisted ranks from Seaman Recruit promoting to Senior Chief Petty Officer and retiring after 25 years of service as a Lieutenant Commander. Having made a total of nine overseas deployments, he is a veteran of combat operations during the Tanker Wars; Operation Desert Storm; Operation Iraqi Freedom; Beirut, Lebanon; the Balkans; evacuation operations during the Mount Pinatubo Volcano eruption, and counter-narcotic operations in Central America. He also served in the Global War on Terrorism planning and deploying the 11-ship Amphibious Task Force, Expeditionary Strike Groups ONE and THREE, and the Navy Expeditionary Camp at Kuwait Naval Base in support of offensive combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Professionally, Dr. Mann is the current Director of Risk Management for Manpower West, a staffing agency headquartered in San Diego with franchised business units in Washington, Idaho, Southern Nevada, Northern Arizona, and New Mexico. A retired public agency Risk Manager from the City of Sunnyvale, he also owns and operates Mann Consulting, a business services consulting firm specializing in enterprise risk management with public agency clients including the City of Palm Springs, the City of Pasadena, the City of Gardena, Nevada County, California, and the Public Risk Innovation, Solutions, and Management (PRISM) joint powers authority (formerly CSAC-EIA).
Dr. Mann is an adjunct professor at California Baptist University teaching research methods and ethics in government at the masters and doctorate levels and also Chairs dissertation committees for doctoral students in the Department of Public Administration.
Dr. Mann holds Baccalaureate and Master’s Degrees in Business from National University and a Doctor of Public Administration degree from California Baptist University. He also holds three professional certifications: Chief Business Officer certification from the University of Southern California, an Associate in Risk Management certification from The Institutes of Pennsylvania, and a Senior Executive in State and Local Government certification from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Mann is a 1981 graduate of United Township High School in East Moline, Illinois. He and his wife of 40 years, Debra, have three adult children, and four grandchildren, all of whom live in Southern California.
Alan Meacham, Captain (Retired)
Code4+ Advisory Board
Fire Services Representative
Captain Meacham served the Fullerton Fire Department for 30 years. Joining the department in 1977, he held positions as firefighter, engineer, captain, training officer, Urban Search and Rescue Team member and Orientation Academy, Training CADRE. During his career, Captain Meacham was recognized as Firefighter of the Year, Safety Employee of the Year, and Regional Truck Academy/Top Rung Award.
As a 30-year veteran of Fullerton Fire Department, Captain Meacham saw the transitional years in firefighting from old school, traditional fire ground operations to modern management, communications, safety, training, and tactical firefighting methods. During this time period, advances in firefighting transitioned to include hazmat spills and containment, firefighter safety, urban search and rescue, terrorism response (including CBRNE), and most recently, mental health protocols. Captain Meacham held certifications as Safety Officer, Training Officer, Chief Officer, Incident Command System (ICS), and Rescue Systems (high angle, technical, heavy, and confined space).
Captain Meacham is a 25-year member of Al-Anon, a support group for families dealing with addicted loved ones, and he has been a Group Leader for 15 years. As an experienced Al-Anon member, he recognizes that public safety officers are on the front lines in our communities. As such, Code4+ provides a template to leadership and employee groups to help start the process of awareness, risk factors, symptoms, and action steps to maintain quality mental health.
Captain Meacham was born in Pasadena and raised in Whittier, California by a police officer father and restaurant manager mother. He has three adult children and five grandchildren. Captain Meacham and his wife, Renee, reside in Oceanside, California.
