Officer Leadership Symposium

OLS Kentucky

OLS 2023

Thursday, November 2nd 

Friday, November 3rd

History

OLS (Officer Leadership Symposium) Kentucky started in 2003 as a cooperative effort between the Kenton County Fire Chiefs Association and Responder Magazine to bring nationally recognized fire service educators to the Northern Kentucky area.  The primary focus was originally to address a major need for Administration and Leadership training for young fire officers without having to incur the large cost of sending them away to regional and/or national seminars.  Responder Magazine’s owners, Denis and Pam Bramblette, had recently started a similar venture in Tampa, Florida and wanted to broaden their reach.

During the first few years, the contacts that Denis and Pam had through their magazine proved invaluable in bringing some of the most well-known fire service minds to our area.  Names like Charlie Dickinson, Dan Madrzykowski, Billy Goldfeder, and many others came in to share their wisdom and knowledge with us.  In those days, the Symposium consisted of a weekend of 1 – 2 hour presentations by about 8 – 10 different people held at a local hotel.

As OLS continued to grow and gain respect in the area, we were faced with some terrible news.  Denis Bramblette was diagnosed with cancer and, although he battled bravely for a few years, lost his fight with the disease in 2008.  But as they say in Hollywood, “the show must go on”!  The Fire Chiefs OLS planning committee took up where Denis left off and carried on the tradition of high-quality education for the fire service in our area.  As things continued to evolve and progress, the format was changed to a Thursday/Friday venue with fewer speakers giving longer presentations.  We also moved the Symposium from local hotels to the Edgewood Senior Center, allowing us to spend more money on speakers and less on the ancillary costs such as meals and room rental fees.

These changes have had a noticeable impact on the quality of education at the OLS.  In the last few years we have been able to bring in some of the most respected fire service educators in the country.  Rich Gasaway, Bobby Halton, Mike Dugan, George Healy, and many others have shared their expertise with us recently and we plan on continuing that tradition.  If you have ever attended the OLS Kentucky, we hope that you enjoyed the experience and learned some valuable lessons.  If you haven’t been able to join us, we hope that you will find a way to take advantage of our “diamond in the rough”.