Josh Lazarus is a licensed display and special effects technician in multiple jurisdictions, having worked on over 200 events including the Super Bowl, Wrestle Mania, the Miss American Pageant, to name a few. He is the owner of J Lazarus Consulting and Training LLC and the former Supervisor of Inspections for the New Jersey State Fire Marshals Office. He is a Co-Director of the PGI training program and one of the editors of the current PGI Display Operator Certification Guide. He is also the immediate Past President of the Florida Pyrotechnic Arts Guild.

John Steinberg, principal author of the PGI Shooters Certification course textbook is a licensed lead operator for 25 years. John serves on the NFPA SFX TC and is a principal member of the NFPA Technical Committee on Pyrotechnics, which writes NFPA-1123, NFPA-1124, and other documents and he will be happy to answer any code questions you may have. Contrary to a popular cultist belief, John is not an anarchist and, in fact, he takes his MSDS very seriously, and brushes after every meal.

Paul Smith has a degree in chemistry and currently works at Purdue University in Chemical Education. He has over 30 years of experience in demonstrating pyrotechnic chemistry in the classroom and the evening sky. He is a contributing author for the PGI Display Operator Certification Study Guide, a Certified Instructor for the Display Operators Course since 2004, and continues to serve as the PGI President.