Speakers

Chief Beth Johnson

Chief Beth Johnson has been in law enforcement for 28 years. She began as a community service officer and police dispatcher for the Arcata Police Department in 1994 while attending Humboldt State University. During that time, she also became a firefighter/EMT for the Arcata Volunteer Fire Department. She served at APD and AVFD for five years before moving back to the Bay Area to accept a police officer position with the Walnut Creek Police Department in 1999.

 In her 21 years of service with WCPD, Beth served as a patrol officer, a detective specializing in investigating crimes against children, a member of the Community Policing Team, and a field training officer. She promoted to sergeant in 2012 where she served on patrol and in the Investigations Bureau. She promoted to lieutenant in 2016 and served as a patrol watch commander. Beth was hired as the captain at Martinez PD in 2019, where she served as the sole second in command overseeing the operations and support services divisions. 

On July 4, 2022, Beth was appointed chief of police for the Novato Police Department in Marin county. She leads a staff of 60 sworn officers and 30 professional staff and volunteers.

Beth has a master’s in business administration with a concentration in public administration, a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Management, and is a graduate of the Executive Leadership Institute from Drucker’s School of Management – Claremont Graduate University. She served as the Northern California Associate Member on the California Police Chiefs Association Board of Directors and is a member of the Women Leaders in Law Enforcement Committee, CPCA Wellness Committee, CPCA Training Committee, and a co-chair for the WLLE Mentoring Program Committee.

Deputy Chief Carolyn Huynh

Deputy Chief Huynh is an 18-year law enforcement veteran. She graduated from the New Mexico State Police 70th Recruit School in 2003 and began her uniform career in Vaughn, New Mexico. Shortly after, she became an agent with the New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau.

In 2015, Ms. Huynh returned as a sergeant to the Investigations Bureau. She was also elected as president of the New Mexico State Police Association (NMSPA). She held her presidency until she was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the Investigations Bureau, where she oversaw and supervised hundreds of violent criminal investigations.

In 2012, Ms. Huynh was promoted to the rank of sergeant of the Training and Recruiting Bureau. Her responsibilities included recruitment, recruiting schools, and continuing education for current officers. Due to Ms. Huynh’s fitness background and passion for ensuring the healthy well-being of officers’ mental and physical health, she helped create and facilitate programs and curriculums to educate officers on these topics. 

In 2018, Ms. Huynh was selected as the first New Mexico State Police female to attend the FBI National Academy Executive leadership Program in Quantico, Virginia. She has built strong relationships with 230 leaders from different agencies around the world and has assisted in developing industry standards. 

In April 2019, Ms. Huynh was promoted to deputy chief —  the first for a female at New Mexico State Police. From April 2019 to October 2021, she oversaw the Training and Recruiting Bureau, Standards Bureau, and the Community Engagement/Community Relations Bureau. She currently oversees the Investigations Bureau and the Special Operations Bureau.

Throughout her career, Deputy Chief Huynh has investigated hundreds of violent crime cases involving crimes against children, sex crimes, violent domestic abuse, homicides, and narcotics. She was also responsible for handling state-wide operations in partnership with other law enforcement agencies, the Administrative Office of the Courts, and local community leaders to make positive impacts within our New Mexico communities.

Deputy Chief Huynh is a master instructor in domestic violence and was deemed a subject matter expert to testify on behalf of laws related to changes in legislature. In addition to these areas, Deputy Chief Huynh is certified to instruct How to deal with the Mentally Ill Population, use of force, firearms, and defensive tactics/self-defense.

Deputy Chief Huynh is a member of the FBI National Academy Associates, FBI-Leeda Associates, W.I.T.S. Personal Training Education, International Association Chiefs of Police, New Mexico State Police Association, End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI), and the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). She’s an Auto Theft Task Force of the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) board member helping to identify ways to combat the issues of auto theft in New Mexico. 

Deputy Chief Huynh is a 2002 graduate of the University of New Mexico Anderson School Of Management, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration, general management.

Retired Captain Marcia Johnson

Marcia Johnson retired as a captain from the Arizona Department of Public Safety after almost

22 years of service. She held many assignments in the department, including Highway Patrol Trooper, Air Rescue Flight Paramedic, SWAT Crisis Negotiator, Peer Support Team Member/Leader, Employee Assistance Program Supervisor, Organized Crime Intelligence Bureau sergeant and Night Watch Patrol commander. She is currently the assistant executive director for the Emergency Responders Assistance Program (ERAP), which provides emotional support and coping strategies to emergency responders, along with their significant others, who experience psychological trauma following critical incidents. 

Marcia has taught Law Enforcement Stress Management to over 1,200 troopers as well as numerous professionals across Arizona and the nation. She served on the Arizona State Peer Support Team board, which includes multiple agencies working together to prepare for a mass casualty event or assist during a line of duty death. 

Marcia has been a member of the Arizona Women’s Initiative Network since its inception in 2014 and is a member of the International Society of Female Professionals. 

Marcia holds a Bachelor of Science from Arizona State University. She’s been happily married to her husband Philip since 2004, and they have two children. In her off time, Marcia can be found coaching soccer as the Boys Soccer Head Coach for Paradise Honors High School.

Major Donna Kinsey

Major Donna Kinsey is a retired veteran law enforcement officer who has been actively involved in training and program development for over 30 years.  During the course of her career, she was awarded the FBI Women in Law Enforcement Leadership Award and was the three-time recipient of the department’s top honor, the Administrative Excellence Award.

While serving in the Career Development Unit, she instituted the department’s first set of professional hiring standards. Her accomplishments include being the first woman in the history of her department to attend the FBI National Academy (session # 222). She was appointed as the department’s range master, responsible for the firearm qualification and training of all sworn members of the department. She developed and instituted the department’s Law Enforcement Response to Active Shooter protocol, administering the training at local schools, including Johnson and Whales University, where she served as an adjunct professor. She was editor and feature writer of the North Miami Police Department’s first annual report, saluting women in law enforcement and military women who lost their lives in the line of duty.

Post-retirement, certified by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as a high liability trainer, she continues to develop and conduct general and high liability training seminars. Donna completed her bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership at St. Thomas University, Miami, Florida and earned her master’s degree in public administration at Barry University, graduating summa cum laude from both institutions.

She has been featured in numerous articles and publications, including the FBI National Academy magazine “Extraordinary Members” and Hispanic Executive, among others. She is the founder and president of TEC III, Training Enhancement Center, a company that provides specialized instruction to public and private organizations. She is a member of the FBI National Academy Speakers Bureau. One of her featured seminars, ” Survival Mindset,” offers training in the recognition and avoidance of violent encounters.