Brian retired from the Washington State Patrol in February 2010 after 30-years of service, the last five years as Assistant Chief. Brian joined the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) in March 2010 as their Director of Law Enforcement. Brian has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and an M.B.A. in Managerial Leadership from City University in Seattle, Washington. Brian has also attended the FBI National Academy and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
In 2004 Brian received the Washington State Governor’s Distinguished Management Leadership Award; and in October 2016 received the IACP’s J. Stannard Baker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Highway Safety.
Ms. Coffey has devoted her life’s work to public safety, is a nationally recognized leader in impaired driving prevention, and a pioneer in the ignition interlock industry. For 26 years, Ms. Coffey was responsible for driving Smart Start’s government and special interest initiatives and led the company’s legislative efforts in state government and Congress. She was Smart Start’s liaison to judicial, court, and DMV authorities and spearheaded advocacy efforts for public safety leaders and groups throughout the nation. She was instrumental in educating stakeholders on the application and benefits of Smart Start’s ignition interlock program, helping to assure its successful adoption in every state. She founded Safety and Advocacy for Empowerment (SAFE), formally known as the Coalition of Ignition Interlock Manufacturers (CIIM), which led to the adoption of model legislation in 35 states. She proudly serves on the Executive Committee for the National Alliance to Stop Impaired Driving and the Texas Impaired Driving Task Force.
Ms. Coffey is an accomplished national presenter and spokesperson and is considered a knowledgeable expert and credible representative in the field of ignition interlocks and DUI offender monitoring.
Ms. Coffey provides resource testimony across the U.S. before House and Senate committees concerning model interlock legislation, functionality of the interlock device and her vast experience of state interlock programs.
She is committed to continuing to shape the business of saving lives and sharing information about this lifesaving technology with as many audiences as possible. She continues her important work at Smart Start as an interlock industry representative in an emeritus position.
Ms. Coffey joined Smart Start in 1998, bringing 20 years of Texas court management experience. Ms. Coffey earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Texas State University. She lives in Lampasas and Austin, Texas, is married to Retired Criminal Court Judge, Daryl Coffey, and enjoys time with her grandson, Oliver Beaux, and cows on the Coffey Grounds Ranch.
Jonathan Adkins was named Chief Executive Officer of the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) in 2023 after serving as Executive Director since 2014. GHSA is the national nonprofit that represents state highway safety agencies. GHSA members are charged with implementing their governors’ highway safety plans and administering federal behavioral highway safety funds.
Adkins is responsible for directing the organization’s Washington headquarters office, serving as the association’s chief liaison with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and other federal agencies, and representing the organization on Capitol Hill and with private-sector partners. He frequently represents the states’ viewpoints on highway safety solutions in the media and before Congress, federal agencies and industry partners. Adkins is regularly quoted by a variety of publications, including Politico, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.
Under his leadership, GHSA has expanded its scope and influence by adding new programs, member services and staff. Adkins has built partnerships with a variety of leading organizations in the automotive, insurance and consumer products industries, and has leveraged those relationships to develop tools for state highway safety agencies. Adkins also launched GHSA’s Consulting Services Initiative, through which the organization assists states in managing their highway safety programs.
Adkins began his work with GHSA in 2000. Prior to being named Executive Director, he served as GHSA’s Communications Director as well as Deputy Executive Director. Adkins has served on a variety of boards and in appointed roles within highway safety and the broader community, including the National Organizations for Youth Safety, the Road to Zero Coalition and the National Lifesavers Conference. Currently, he serves as Chair of the Board of the National Alliance to Stop Impaired Driving (NASID) and on the Board of Youthcast Media Group, a nonprofit that trains high school and college students from underserved communities to write about and report on often overlooked health and social issues, such as traffic safety.
Adkins holds a political science degree from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. Outside of work, he volunteers time with Dickinson College, West Virginia University and The Matthew Shepard Foundation, among others. Adkins and his husband, Ben, live in the Logan Circle neighborhood in Washington, D.C.