Ria Punzalan, Executive Director
Ria is a cybersecurity professional who is also both a self-defense and anti-human trafficking advocate. She is an active volunteer and civil first responder for a few organizations such as: FMSC, Mutual Ground, OUR, A21, Not Dead Yet, and Samaritan’s Purse. Her acquired skills as a cybersecurity professional and self-defense practitioner has been invaluable to her anti human trafficking/sex trafficking missions. She enjoys staying active and has over 10 years combined experience in krav maga, muay thai, boxing, jiu jitsu, and judo. Ria believes in continuously growing in all aspects of her life; so aside from volunteering, she attends as many self-defense and cybersecurity conferences as she can and enjoys various different activities. She considers herself to be very blessed to be able to practice self-defense in both the digital and physical world, as well being able to pass those skills to others. Ria is a certified rape awareness and prevention instructor, founding member of Janie’s Fund, as well as a certified krav maga black belt instructor. She runs women’s self-defense, gun defense, knife survival, and krav maga seminars.
Her goal as the AWSDA Executive Director is to provide easily accessible resources to the expanding organization’s outreach program. The goal is to reach and enable as many women as we can, as well as men and children; to educate and empower them to be practitioners and advocates for self-protection and respect for others. Ria is the owner/lead instructor at SpitFire Krav Maga and is also the founder of SheWarriors, a women’s self-defense training program. Ria may be reached via e-mail at ria.sfkm@gmail.com
Adina Gonzales, Interim Treasurer, Marketing Director
Adina Gonzales, Interim Treasurer, Marketing Director
Adina Gonzales, Interim Treasurer, Marketing Director
Allen is a retired Deputy U.S. Marshal; he served with the Marshals Service for 25 years. While with the service, he was a firearms, baton, and defensive tactics instructor. Prior to working with the Marshals, he was a uniformed officer with the Northwestern University Campus Police for six years. While working at Northwestern University, he began taking classes in ParaCombatives Ju-jutsu; he holds the rank of Kaiden (7th dan) in ParaCombatives Ju-jutsu and taught at the Northwestern Ju-jutsu club for almost twenty years. He currently runs Gallowglass Academy, a small martial arts school that offers classes in women’s self-defense, historical European martial arts, and fencing. When not teaching classes, Allen is also a beekeeper.
You can e-mail Allen at gallowglassacad@aol.com.
Albert Ortiz, West Chapter Liaison
Individual Protective and Defensive Instincts was developed by Albert Ortiz in 2005, after retiring from law enforcement. Mr. Ortiz started his interest in self-defense as a martial arts practitioner. One of his duties during his career in law enforcement was to train federal law enforcement personnel at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, GA. He trained them in conditioning, the use of pressure point control tactics, realistic knife defense, ground fighting techniques, use of police batons, boxing, defense tactics, and the use of aerosol defense sprays (pepper spray). In 2012, Individual Defensive Tactics, Inc. was restructured as a nonprofit.
Ortiz has been certified as an instructor by the following police training organizations: Pressure Point Control Tactic Management Systems, Monadnock PR-24 Training Council, The Metropolitan Police Institute of Dade County Florida, Armament Systems and Procedures, CQB Supply (maker of aerosol defense sprays), Defend University, and RAD Kids, Inc. Mr. Ortiz is also constantly completing his own training regiment so that he is up to date with new activities employed by predators. He was certified as a rape escape instructor with Defend University, Fight Like a Girl, and certified as a rape awareness and prevention instructor with the American Women’s Self-Defense Association.
You can e-mail Albert at: ddwop4@gmail.com