About the First Arriving Team - Firefighters & Public Safety Marketing

First Arriving is led by lifelong Firefighter/EMTs — public safety veterans driven to create dynamic emergency services technology, content, commerce, marketing, recruitment and community solutions.

First Arriving co-founders Dave Iannone and Chris Hebert, who founded the original Firehouse.com and FirefighterNation.com, have pioneered across all facets of public safety marketing and technology — fire, rescue, EMS and law enforcement.

We’ve spent our lives creating innovative content and marketing platforms, online communities and events that have made a lasting impact in public safety.

Our team includes some amazing content, design, technology and marketing professionals who all share a passion to create incredible solutions that our clients and partners love – and more importantly help them achieve and exceed their objectives.

We’ve worked with many of the fire service’s top companies and organizations over the last 20 years – It’s not just a business for us, it’s a major part of our lives. We live and breathe the fire & emergency services every day.

We are not just a service company – we are a long term partner in the success of your department, agency, organization or company.

Vice President, Web Services
Christopher Hebert

Vice President, Recruitment & Retention Services
Tiger Schmittendorf

Vice President, Business Development & Operations
Shannon Gilliland

CEO

Dave Iannone

Since the age of 12, Dave has been in love with the fire service. He’s spent the last 32+ years at the Hyattsville (MD) VFD where he, Chris and others first worked together on the original Firehouse.com and Officer.com. Dave has been able to combine is passion for public safety, content, marketing and technology to serve first responders at First Arriving.

Vice President, Web Services

Christopher Hebert

Chris is from Upstate (the New York one) where he started his fire service career as a teen but made his home in Maryland where he met Dave, they started Firehouse.com and the rest is history. Chris is not only a creator of many things Web, he’s also a Firefighter/Technician with the Washington, D.C. Fire/EMS Department and Life Member of the Hyattsville (MD) VFD. He leads the way with our bloggers, content creation, WordPress and lots of other fancy technical things.

Vice President, Recruitment & Retention Services

Tiger Schmittendorf

Schmittendorf brings 20 years of experience in engineering, sales and marketing management to marketing the product he loves: the fire service. He specializes in recruitment and retention, marketing, training and leadership consulting for counties and fire departments around the country.

Vice President, Business Development & Operations

Shannon Gilliland

Shannon is responsible for planning and implementing new business initiatives across First Arriving’s suite of technology, marketing solutions, and strategic services. Prior to joining First Arriving, Shannon served as the Director of Business Development for the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) where she led sales and the client-relationship management team. Shannon brings over 15 years of experience with developing strategic partnerships, sales & marketing, revenue growth, project management, and client success transformation.