First Responders at Inaugural Leadership Institute to Learn from Prominent Speakers
HIGH POINT, N.C., Aug. 4, 2026 – Four respected leaders who have helped oversee emergency operations at the local, state and federal level will serve as guest speakers at the inaugural First Responder Leadership Institute, which will be held on High Point University’s campus from Sept. 14-17.
The Leadership Institute is designed for a select group of leaders and emerging leaders in all first responder fields to take part in a challenging and informative three-day program. The program will include group challenges and case studies while focusing on the four pillars of leadership: vision, communication, execution and culture.
Click here to apply for the Leadership Institute. The registration deadline is Friday, Aug. 7, although final payment is not necessary to secure your spot.
The speakers will be as follows:
Bobby F. Kimbrough, Jr. was elected in 2018 as the first Black sheriff of Forsyth County, where he was born and raised. After starting his law enforcement career in 1984, he became an arson investigator with the Winston-Salem Fire Department in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, while serving in the role of assistant fire marshal. He served the U.S. Department of Justice as a special agent in the Drug Enforcement Administration from 1995 to 2016. He specialized in investigating crimes against the government, including organized crime, money laundering, gang violence and drug trafficking. An HPU alumnus, Kimbrough has four decades of law enforcement experience and brings his professional experiences and personal passions to projects throughout the community.
Garrett Melich is a retired CIA officer whose career spans the U.S. Intelligence Community, Fortune 500 defense contracting, corporate leadership and entrepreneurship. He has decades of experience leading intelligence operations around the globe, transforming enterprises and building high-performing organizations. Prior to his retirement from the CIA as the deputy director of cyber and digital policy in 2022 following 24 years of service, he led open-source threat intelligence against transnational issues, served in a war zone and managed technical programs with foreign partners overseas. He later created Garrett Global Consulting, LLC, which teaches companies and college students how to optimize the digital and physical information around them to separate themselves by using techniques taught by the CIA.
Marty A. Sumner has served as the senior deputy commissioner of the Fraud Control Group at the North Carolina Department of Insurance (NCDOI) since July 2017. He led the $2.4-million expansion of the department’s Criminal Investigations Division, which doubled the number of sworn special agents as well as added a Bail Bond Regulatory Division, Criminal Legal Services and the Fire and Risk Reduction Division. Prior to joining the NCDOI, Sumner served 30 years as a law enforcement officer with the High Point Police Department before retiring in 2016 as the chief of police. He is a nationally recognized subject matter expert on focused deterrence policing and data driven violence reduction strategies.
Eddie M. Buffaloe Jr. joined the Raleigh Police Department (RPD) in Raleigh, North Carolina, in January as the deputy chief of police after retiring from state government. Before his arrival at the RPD, he served as secretary and homeland security advisor, the highest-ranking law enforcement officer for the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. Over the past 30 years, he has worked in various law enforcement and public safety roles across the state, including as chief of police, police officer, deputy sheriff, a correctional officer and a law enforcement instructor, as well as commissioner for the North Carolina Training and Standards Commission.
In addition, select faculty from HPU’s Earl N. Phillips School of Business and the Department of Criminal Justice will lead a combination of lectures and experiential learning exercises. Classes and discussion groups will meet on HPU’s campus and utilize Cottrell Hall, the Nido and Mariana Qubein Arena and Conference Center, and the adjoining Jana and Ken Kahn Hotel.
“High Point University is a God, family and country university committed to honoring our veterans and heroes as part of our mission to help students develop life skills,” HPU President Nido Qubein said. “This includes fostering gratitude and generosity in one’s community, as well as understanding that successful individuals must live in a continuum of learning. HPU regularly supports many community initiatives, and this is a continuation of those important partnerships.”