Meet our Board and Advisory Team!
Brian Spracklen serves as the CEO and Board Chair of BlueBridge Alliance. With over 20 years in business strategy and innovation, he’s worked with some of the world’s largest companies, including Samsung, CocaCola, Hershey’s and MasterCard. Serving almost 10 years as Managing Director of Maverick Innovation Strategies – a boutique consulting house – he specialized in helping small to mid-sized technology start-ups scale from concept to exit through acquisition. He’s also achieved certifications in Firefighting, SCUBA instruction, US Coast Guard OUPV (Captain) and is an FAA certified pilot; all of which are effectively useless in his current role, but may come in handy if, in the unlikely and undoubtedly short-lived event that he’s asked to be James Bond’s replacement (007-B?)
Chief Ken Hohenberg (Ret.) is a 43-year veteran with the Kennewick Police Department. He was appointed as the Assistant Chief in 2001 and was appointed Chief of Police in 2003, retiring in 2022.
He completed his bachelor’s degree in Law and Justice at Central Washington University and did post graduate work at the University of Virginia while attending the F.B.I. academy in Quantico, Virginia. Besides being a FBI National Academy graduate, Chief Hohenberg graduated from the Police Executive Research Forum’s “Senior Management Institute for Police” at Boston University and the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Development school.
He was an active member of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs serving as an active member and Past President. He was appointed by the Governor as a Board Member for the Washington Auto Theft Prevention Authority Board ( serving as Board Chair), and was appointed as a Commissioner with the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission ( serving as Vice-Chair).
He currently serves as a commissioner of the Port of Kennewick and as the Vice-Chair of BlueBridge Alliance.
Connie L Patrick, currently serves as an active volunteer/member and Board Secretary of BlueBridge Alliance, Inc.(BBA).
Previously, She served for over twenty years at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) headquartered in Brunswick, Georgia, retiring as the fifth Director from 2002 until 2019, spanning 3 administrations. She is a lifetime member of the International Chiefs of Police and the National Sheriff’s Association. She received many prestigious awards and honors, to include the government’s Distinguished Presidential Award, (2005,2015) and the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award in 2001. She is a graduate of the University of Central Florida, the FBI National Academy and Florida’s Executive Leadership Forum.
David Reeploeg serves as Vice President for Federal Programs of the Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC) and Executive Director of Hanford Communities.
Before assuming these duties, David spent over 12 years working for members of the Washington state congressional delegation, primarily in the offices of U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.
David is a native of the Tri-Cities, WA, and is a graduate of Hanford High School and the University of Washington.
Rudy Almeida retired as Chief of Police from the city of Mabton and from Hanford Patrol as Captain. He has over 39 years of law enforcement and Emergency Vehicle Operations Course Instructor Trainer experience. He is bilingual in Spanish and currently the Law Enforcement Liaison to the Washington State Attorney General. He is owner of Almeida’s Consulting & Training, LLC, a small minority business located in Washington State.
Rudy is a consultant for the Department of Justice, International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program. He is the lead driving Instructor for Basic and Advanced driving for the Ukraine National Police.
Sophie Mumford is a sales and talent management professional with Amazon and 14 years of experience in a range of industries, including supply chain, e-commerce, operations, SaaS, insurance, analytics, and mental health. She also has more than 9 years of experience coaching volleyball at the middle school and high school levels. Sophie is passionate about volunteering and in addition to BlueBridge she participates in mentorship programs for college students and young professionals.
Originally from Bozeman, MT, Sophie studied at Montana State University and graduated with bachelor’s degrees in accounting and economics and a master’s degree in applied economics.
Having survived more than 45 years of public service, Michael Hanneld is now happily retired on an island off the Georgia coast. His career spanned 19 years as a United States Capitol Police (USCP) officer, 25 years with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), and four years as a Commissioner on his local Airport Commission. Among his assignments with the USCP, he commanded the Training Division and ultimately held the rank of Inspector, commanding the Staff Services Bureau.
At FLETC Michael served in numerous positions, beginning his tenure as a legal instructor and concluding his time with FLETC as the Assistant Director responsible for implementing innovation in training methodologies and equipment.
Michael is a member of the Georgia State Bar and a graduate of the FBI National Academy as well as the Police Executive Research Forum’s Senior Management Institute for Police and Harvard University’s Senior Executive Fellows Program.
Michael has also served as a Visiting Fellow at the Australian Institute of Police Management. He is currently self-employed as a critical thinker, for which his only compensation is an occasional sleepless night.
Jim Spracklen is currently a Principal Advisor for National Security at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA. For the past 10 years with PNNL, he has been the Program Manager for the Weapon of Mass Destruction Interdiction Program and the Critical Energy Infrastructure Program, working with 76 different partner countries to reduce the threat of WMD worldwide, and domestically to enhance the protection of the U.S. power grid.
Previous to joining PNNL, Jim worked for the U.S. Department of Energy as the Director of Security and Emergency Services at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and as the Director of the Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response (HAMMER) Training Center at Hanford.
In 2005, he was detailed to Washington, DC as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration. For twelve years, he served as the chief federal law enforcement officer at the Hanford Site, a 780 square mile nuclear facility with 15,000 employees.
Jim started his professional career in 1978 with the Kennewick Police Department. He has a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Washington State University.
