Mr. Ashton serves as a Senior Instructor with ITG® Consultants, Inc., providing assistance and expertise in the Training Services Division. In the past, he provided executive leadership to the training business group as the Vice President, Training Services and was responsible for the oversight of all training programs and course management efforts.
In over twenty years of providing public and private protective services, Mr. Ashton has coordinated Cabinet, Ambassadorial, and Senior Executive level protective programs. He has protected senior US government officials and foreign government leaders in environments with threat levels ranging from negligible to that of imminent assassination attempts by state sponsored terrorist organizations.
In addition, Mr. Ashton led the protection team for the executive staff in one of the largest labor disputes in US history in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2007.
Prior to joining ITG® Consultants, Inc., Mr. Ashton served as Course Manager and Senior Instructor for The International Training Group. He was the project manager for the largest private security contingent and personally led 120 private sector agents into New Orleans, LA in the wake of Hurricane Katrina providing security and life support services to private sector clients and was able to establish that operation five days before the US Government’s Federal Emergency Management Agency was able to establish a presence in that region.
Mr. Ashton retired as a First Sergeant/Special Agent with the US Army Criminal Investigation Command. During his service he was a Personal Security Officer, Shift Leader, Protective Agent, and First Sergeant with the Army's Protective Services Unit, which provides worldwide protective operations for the Secretary of Defense, The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, other designated senior DoD officials and their foreign counterparts.
Mr. Ashton also served as a Master Instructor at the US Army's Protective Services Course in both military and civilian capacities. He is recognized as a subject matter expert in executive protection to include planning and operation functions, motorcade operations (including evasive/technical driving and accident avoidance), watercraft and aircraft operations, unarmed self-defense against attack, threat assessment, security formations, command and security post operations, improvised explosive devices (IED) searches for vehicles and buildings, firearms tactics training (pistol and submachine gun), and site advances. He has provided instruction for federal, state, and local law enforcement and anti-terrorism students. Mr. Ashton was a major contributor in the development of the US Army's first Protective Services Manual, and served as a Division Manager at the US Army Military Police School, where he managed 45 resident courses for multi-service military, civilian and foreign nationals, and supervised over 30 instructors across over a dozen disciplines.
Mr. Ashton is a certified Master Instructor; Police and Security Driver Instructor; Non-Lethal Weapons Instructor; Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) Instructor; CDT® Tactical Master Instructor; LRT™ (Last Resort Tactics™) Survive Instructor; Defensive Tactics Instructor; NRA Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor; POST Certified Instructor with San Joaquin Delta College & Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department; and Range Master. In addition, Mr. Ashton is currently an Advanced Marksmanship Instructor with the United States Coast Guard.
Mr. Ashton has been the recipient of many awards and honors for his efforts in the field of dignitary protection including the Department of Defense Meritorious Service Medal, two US Army Meritorious Service Medals, and five US Army Commendation Medals. He currently holds a Master’s Degree in Business and Organizational Security Management.