Meet Your Team

Kevin J. Pegnato

Founder, President & Owner
Executive Defense Team, LLC

Professions:

Executive/Dignitary Protection, Threat Assessment, Embassy-Level Site Security, Surveillance & Investigative Services, Workplace Violence Intervention, Counter-terrorism, Firearms Training, Defensive Tactics Training

Executive/Dignitary Protection:

• Benjamin Netanyahu – Prime Minister of Israel
• Stars of Batman: Dark Knight Rises, including: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and others
• Justin Bieber, film screening of “Never Say Never”
• Rhana Guysen – Ariel Sharon’s top aide
• Sean Hannity – Television Host, Political Commentator
• Dick Vitale – American Basketball Sportscaster

Law Enforcement/Training:

• Former Assistant to the State Director of the Justice System Training Association
• Certified Pressure Point Control Tactics Instructor
• Certified Rapid Intense Specific Competency Instructor, R.I.S.C.
• Professional Defensive Tactics Instructor — Uniform/Undercover Law Enforcement Officers
• Homicide Detective Trainer, Pittsburgh Police Department
• Special Development Consultant: Witness Protection Program, Pittsburgh Police Department
• Expert Witness for  Homicide Defense
• FBI Citizen’s Academy Member

Accomplished Credentials:

• Third-Degree Black Belt Status: Chinese, Korean and Japanese Martial Arts
• 45 years expertise in twelve additional Martial Arts styles
• National USA-AAU Fighting Champion & Member of United Stated Karate Team, 1981, 1982, 1983
• Delegate to the World Games in Taiwan, Republic of China, 1982
• Silver Medalist: Pan American Games, Guatemala, 1983

Select Clients

• Mellon Bank
• CA Department of Water Resources
• The Hillman Company
• PPG
• Allegheny Technologies Incorporated
• The Fragasso Group
• Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh
• Heraeus Electro-Nite Co., LLC
• Henderson Brothers, Inc.
• Citiparks
• Quaker State Motor Oil
• Bizett Company
• Drexel University
• Institute of Business Law
• Carerra Corporation
• Protection Services International
• Andrews International
• Stonewood Capital
• iMortgage Services
• Air & Waste Management
• Atlantic Information Systems
• Dick Enterprises, Inc.
• Paine Webber, Inc.
• Cast of Miss Saigon
• Dick Vitale
• AT&T WIRELESS
• Yanni-Bilkey Investments
• Mosab Hassan Yousef (Hamas Whistleblower)

Edward S. Vogler

Executive Vice President & Chief Technical Officer

EDT maintains a core commitment to helping its clients address the potential for workplace violence. One prominent voice among our accomplished staffers is that of Ed Vogler, EDT’s senior-consulting specialist. A personable man, Ed brings more than thirty years’ conflict resolution experience to the table. Together with our support staff and within our versatile program structure, Ed routinely helps our clients to master key techniques of crisis avoidance and management. His academic prowess and real-world savvy combine to provide our clients with an exceptional resource.

Ed’s formidable credentials include a double-major FA and Sociology MA from the University of Pittsburgh, with all-but-dissertation status as a doctoral candidate at the same institution. Ed’s twenty-nine years of service as a member of the Pennsylvania State Police culminated in a primary focus on training. His service as a patrol supervisor for more than two decades informed his curriculum-development work for the Bureau of Training. Ed has personally taught a significant number of high-level courses, most notably those for POLEX (Police Executive Training) and the Deputy Sheriffs’ Training Academy. Especially prominent among Ed’s many achievements are the seven years he’s spent in the service of EDT corporate clients, solving problems so extreme they were beyond the capabilities of other agencies.

When the potential for violence is at hand there is no substitute for true expertise, particularly when it comes to preparedness through well-tailored training. Ed’s thoroughgoing approach to the dynamics of interpersonal communication and the vicissitudes of conflict and negotiation illuminate ways to reduce risk that go largely unmentioned elsewhere.

Ed knows every employee is a valuable asset, but that employees achieve their greatest potential when are confident and have peace of mind. Prevention and effective intervention have been
Ed’s lifelong passions, and we at EDT delight in making his expertise available through our WVIP program.