Jon Caponi has been a fire fighter for 23 years. He started in Minooka in 2001. In 2008, he was hired on the Bloomington Fire Department. Jon is a driver and a Haz-Mat tech on the department. Jon is a lead instructor for EMS in the state of Illinois. 

On the side, he works as a sales rep for Conway Shield. In his spare time, he boats, scuba dives, and spends time with his wife, 2 kids and dogs. 

Curt Kramer is a 41-year veteran of the fire service, having served 2 years as a volunteer, 5 years paid-on-call, and 34 years as a career firefighter. Curtis had held positions as Firefighter, Paramedic, Engineer, Lieutenant, Captain, Division Chief, Deputy Chief, and Fire Chief.

Curt was one of the original founders of the Elgin Regional Fire Academy and served as one of its instructors. Curt was also charged with department operations and special teams, including Hazardous Materials Response, Technical Rescue, Fast Water and Damn Rescue, and the departments Dive Team. Curt was also responsible for the department’s annual budget preparation and administration while serving as second in command of the department.

Curt served his last 8 years of service as the Fire Chief of the Hampshire IL Fire Protection District. Curt led the volunteer fire department into a combination full-time and part-time organization while instituting training and educational opportunities to provide Fire and EMS services to the 42 square Mike district.

Curt has both academic and fire service related State of Illinois certifications. Curt is also a graduate of the Executive Fire Officer (EFO) program through the National Fire Academy located at the United States Fire Administration in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Curt served more than fifteen years as an Instructor and past coordinator of the Fire Science and Safety degree program at Elgin Community College. He was also one of the founding members of the Fire Chaplains program in Illinois and worked as part of the team to have this program recognized through the Illinois Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS). Today the Illinois Corps of Fire Chaplains provides holistic services to firefighters, their families, Fire department staff and the communities they serve. This endeavor includes on scene support and victim assistance during and post incident scenarios.

Curt has been married to his wonderful wife Laurie for over 40 years. Together they have 2 children and 3 grandchildren to keep them busy!

Elizabeth Bartholomew was born in Aurora, Illinois in 1956,  the 5th child of 9.  A high school graduate and community college graduate earning an  Associate of Science degree.  She worked as a police records clerk in Batavia Illinois  where she met Joe Bartholomew, a paid on-call firefighter, they married in 1980.  Joe was hired as a full time firefighter in Aurora, Illinois in 1986.  While their daughters were young Liz was able to be a stay at home mom.  Later she drove a school bus part-time in Naperville, Illinois, became Band Booster President and was on the coaching staff at East Aurora High School.  She became a caretaker for aging relatives taking care of their various needs between 1995 and 2018.  In 2005 Joe was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder from a response call, he later retired on a duty disability pension after 33 years as a firefighter.  Seeing the reaction in the workplace to his ptsd diagnosis and watching him learn to live with ptsd she came up with the concept of Responders Retreat as a place to open a conversation and know that you are not alone. She has been working on that since 2017.  She and Joe have two daughters,  both college graduates with multiple degrees and certificates and two amazing grandsons who bring them great joy.  They live in the northwoods of Wisconsin. 

Heather Martinez is the daughter of Joe and Liz Bartholomew. Heather spent the past 18 years as a teacher in various settings. These setting include a middle school deaf and hard of hearing classroom, a hearing itinerant position, a special education teacher at a therapeutic day school and a technology teacher in a public school district.  Heather decided to leave the classroom to pursue a career in Instructional Design. Heather uses her technology skills to manage the Facebook group and website for Responders Retreat.

Growing up with a father in the fire service made her realize the importance of family. After watching her father suffer after his near death accident in 2004, Heather wanted to do something to help her father. Not knowing what to do, Heather waited for guidance. Heather's mother, Liz (our founder) started Responders Retreat in 2017. Heather decided to join the board of directors in 2019 to help other families who may have gone through similar situations. 

In her spare time, Heather enjoys spending time with her family. Heather's family includes a wonderful husband, two fantastic sons (aged 9 and 7), and two dogs. Heather has recently taken up Taekwondo. Currently, Heather is a red belt (3 belts from a black belt). Heather also enjoys attending her church and serving on the children's ministry team.

Dr. Daniel Wolfe is Senior Director of Jury Consulting at Magna Legal Services, a full-service litigation consulting and strategic communications firm. A jury consultant and researcher since 1986, he has been in the national spotlight on numerous occasions for his work on high-profile criminal and civil cases involving celebrities and professional athletes. Daniel received his J.D., his Ph.D. in law and psychology, and his M.A. in psychology from the University of Nebraska. He holds his B.A. in psychology and sociology from Colorado State University. Daniel also teaches advanced trial advocacy courses at Northwestern University Law School and Loyola University Law School. 

In his spare time, Daniel enjoys spending time with his family (seven children, three of which are triplets), enjoys musical theatre, and is actively involved in his church and community, which includes serving as a lawyer volunteer for Administer for Justice and serving as a C.A.S.A (Court Appointed Special Advocate). Daniel has several extended family members who are and have been actively involved as law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel/paramedics. Daniel's youngest son will be starting his fire science and paramedic programs this fall in order to become a firefighter/paramedic in the near future.