(Littleton, Colorado, February 28, 2008)-The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) elected a new Chair, Ralph Haller, at its quarterly meeting held in Mesa, Arizona, in February, and established the position of Chair Emeritus, installing Vincent Stile, retiring Chair, as the first honored recipient of the new position.

Former NPSTC Vice Chair Ralph Haller, representing the Forestry Conservation Communications Association (FCCA) on NPSTC's Governing Board, brings 40 years of experience in the communications industry, 25 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), where he held numerous positions, including field inspector in Los Angeles, California, chief of the FCC's monitoring network, chief of research at the FCC laboratory, chief engineer of the FCC's Mass Media Bureau, and finally as chief of the Private Radio Bureau. He was the approving official for the original 55 National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee (NPSPAC) Regional Plans and wrote the charter for the Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee (PSWAC) and initiated the PSWAC meetings. Mr. Haller is a land mobile consultant with Fox Ridge Communications, Inc., in addition to working with FCCA.

Vincent Stile has been a participant in NPSTC for many years and Chair since 2005. Mr. Stile guided NPSTC through the implementation of the new Public Safety Broadband Licensee. A past President of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials - International (APCO), he has worked for many years to improve communications for first responders nationwide. As a regional frequency planner, Mr. Stile has worked with others in the State of New York to designate frequencies for use by public safety. "We will miss Vinnie as the NPSTC Chair but are looking forward to his continued attendance at our meetings in his new role as Chair Emeritus." Marilyn Ward, NPSTC Executive Director said.

NPSTC is a volunteer council of fifteen state and local public safety organizations recognized by the FCC as leaders and policymakers for the broader nationwide public safety communications community. In 2007 the organizations that make up NPSTC celebrated ten years of this important collaborative partnership that works to improve interoperability and public safety spectrum allocation. For more information on NPSTC, please visit www.npstc.org.