EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
Armando L. Palmieri
Armando L. Palmieri is the Founder & Principal of PALM Investigations & Security Group. He retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after 32 years of service as a Special Agent. As a FBI Principal Relief Supervisor and Senior Team Leader, Mr. Palmieri directed highly classified complex national and global operations in both the national security and criminal divisions of the FBI. During Mr. Palmieri’s tenure at the FBI, his missions included joint operations with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and many other U.S. Federal agencies and State and local law enforcement.
Mr. Palmieri also liaised on investigative matters with many foreign law enforcement and intelligence entities. Mr. Palmieri successfully investigated complex national security, criminal and espionage cases, domestically and abroad. Mr. Palmieri is a recognized expert in counterintelligence, internal & external threats, espionage, criminal investigations and interrogation. Mr. Palmieri is a FBI Certified Undercover Agent, Certified Reid I & II Interrogator, Certified Foreign Counterintelligence (FCI) Agent, Certified FBI Legal Advisor & Instructor and is firearms certified. Mr. Palmieri is the recipient of the FBI Director’s Award for Outstanding National Security Investigations, the U.S. Department of Justice Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the CIA Director’s Award for Exceptional Human Intelligence Collector, and the Director of National Intelligence Counterintelligence Executive Citation & Meritorious Unit Citation.
Mr. Palmieri was recognized for his 9/11 World Trade Center (WTC) investigative accomplishments by the FBI Director. Mr. Palmieri is an active member of the New Jersey Bar, the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI (SOCXFBI), the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), and the Associated Licensed Detectives of New York State (ALDONYS).
William A. Zinnikas
William A. Zinnikas is a Board Member and Security Consultant at PALM. He retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after 32 years of service. He is now a private consultant on security and counterterrorism matters, focusing primarily on issues involving Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and Counter Terrorism. His last assignment before retirement was as Supervisor of the WMD Squad in the FBI’s New York Field Office where he was also the WMD Coordinator for the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). Mr. Zinnikas also supervised the Bomb Technician, Hazardous Materials, and Operational Medical Support programs. In these capacities, he was responsible for developing, coordinating, and implementing actions to prevent acts of terrorism and for managing the investigation of terrorist incidents, threats, and hoaxes involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosive (CBRNE) materials.
Mr. Zinnikas also assisted State and local governments with training, preparedness, and contingency planning matters related to WMD. He was responsible for forging strong liaison relationships with Federal regional counterparts and those officials of State and local governments with whom the FBI would interact during a WMD incident. Mr. Zinnikas received a variety of training in various aspects of WMD and hazardous materials and was an OSHA-certified Hazardous Materials Technician.
Mr. Zinnikas was a Team Leader of one of the FBI's Evidence Response Teams and, as such, participated in the investigations of the terrorist bombings of the World Trade Center in 1993, the U.S. Air Force barracks in Saudi Arabia in 1996, and the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania in 1998, as well as the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996, the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in 2001, the 09/11/2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center Complex, and the mailings of anthrax-laden letters which followed shortly thereafter.
Richard W. Kollmar
Richard W. Kollmar is a Board Member and Security Consultant at PALM, and brings over 30 years’ experience with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), retiring as a Deputy Assistant Director and as the former Chief Security Officer (CSO) at Honeywell and the former Director of Global Security at CACI International.
Mr. Kollmar’s expertise and experience includes mitigating risks to protect domestic and international stakeholder interests, specializing in risk detection and mitigation, information security, crisis management, industrial and physical security, staff training and global investigations that include cyber intrusion matters and insider threats.
At Honeywell, Mr. Kollmar was the VP/Chief Security Officer where he led the $15B+ Honeywell Building Technologies (HBT) & Sensing and Productivity Solutions (SPS) business divisions as the senior corporate security executive.
At CACI International Mr. Kollmar was the Director of Global Security. CACI is a world-leading information solutions/services provider supporting national security missions and government transformation
for intelligence, defense, and federal civilian customers. Mr. Kollmar protected corporate operations and clients from foreign and insider threats. Oversaw all corporate internal security investigations and operations, to include executive protection and workplace violence programs.
At the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Kollmar, as a Deputy Assistant Director in the National Security Branch oversaw worldwide intellectual property, economic espionage and insider threat investigations, developed strategic plans, interacted with government, intelligence community, and foreign services executives. Served as a subject matter expert on national security for the US Senate, Congress, and the White House.
Mr. Kollmar holds a Master of Science (MS) Homeland Security Studies and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Criminal Justice / Security. Mr. Kollmar also holds the following certifications and awards; SANS MGT414 CISSP Training Program / GIAC Cyber Security, ASIS CPP. SWAT Commander / SWAT Operator & Firearms Instructor / Crisis Management Certification. Diplomatic / Executive / Event Protection Certification, US Secret Service. Member: ASIS, NCMS, ISMA, FBI Agents Association. CIA Medal of Distinction, US Attorney General’s Award and FBI Director’s Award recipient.
Edward J. Panico
Edward J. Panico is a Board Member and Security Consultant at PALM. Prior to joining the team at PALM, Mr. Panico founded and operated Lynx Security Group, a private investigation, security consulting and training company. For over 16 years, Mr. Panico has worked both domestically and abroad in intelligence and security matters with the U.S. Military and with the U.S. Department of State. Mr. Panico has trained hundreds of domestic and foreign military, intelligence, and private sector personnel across the globe in security and counterintelligence. While employed with the U.S. Military and U.S. Department of State, he received extensive training and experience in risk mitigation, anti-terrorism/force protection, crime prevention, counterintelligence, dignitary protection, physical security, access control, security operations, intelligence collection, investigations, interview/interrogations, and physical surveillance.
When deployed in Afghanistan, Mr. Panico supported international special operations forces. He maintains an active security clearance with his commitment to the U.S. Government which also allows him continual access to specialized training not available to those fully entrenched in the private sector. Mr. Panico is a recipient of the Military Intelligence Corps Association Knowlton Award as well as over 30 U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of State service awards.
Mr. Panico holds an M.S. in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Law Enforcement and Crime Prevention. He also holds a B.A. in Intelligence Studies from American Military University and an A.A.S in Intelligence Operations Studies.