and the ability to communicate those ideas in a professional setting.”
Kevin Trask
knit group. At Hilbert, there’s a sense of family. You know everybody, and you get a lot of attention from faculty and staff too.” Trask, a Captain and Chief of Detectives in the Hamburg Police Department (PD), had long been considering pursuing an advanced degree. He graduated from Buff State in 1987 with a degree in history, then began his career working as a welfare examiner for Child Protective Services in Erie County. He enjoyed the investigative aspect of the job, which led him to consider a career in law enforcement for the first time. “I’m not one of those guys who wanted to be a cop my whole life,” he said. “I worked a few cases with the police and enjoyed the adrenaline rush.” Hired as a deputy by then-Erie County Sheriff Patrick Gallivan in 1999, Trask joined the Hamburg PD the next year and advanced through the ranks from patrol officer to patrol lieutenant to narcotics detective to chief of detectives. As officer in charge of all department investigations, Trask writes policy, serves as public information officer, and acts as chief of the department in his absence. In that role, Trask created his own management style, built from his decades of personal experience, but the Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration program provided an avenue for him to add formal management training to his skill set, which served to broaden his thinking and make him a better leader. “I’ve always had ideas,” said Trask. “But what I’ve gotten is the language
When he found out about Hilbert’s Master’s Program in Criminal Justice Administration, Trask felt not only that it was a perfect fit for him professionally, but it had karmic overtones, as well. He had fond memories of attending plays written by his uncle when he was a student at the college in the 1970s. Trask also forged a connection with the Hilbert community when he investigated and was instrumental in the conviction of the driver who killed Hilbert student Meghan Sorbera in a hit-and-run accident in 2008. “When the Hilbert opportunity presented itself, I thought it was kismet,” said Trask, who as a Hilbert student, worked on another high-profile case, the murder of a manager at the Blasdell Toys R Us. “The stars had lined up, and I had come full circle.” For Bray, Hilbert’s MPA represented an opportunity to expand his career into policy making. After graduating with an undergraduate degree in political science, he got into politics through volunteering on various campaigns. Those roles led to full-time jobs working for elected officials, including stints working for the Erie County Water Authority and later as legislative liaison for Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. “I think it was just the limitation of only working for elected officials,” Bray said. “I wanted to branch out into working more closely with government programs. In order to gain that skill set, I decided to go to grad school for public administration.” While at Hilbert, the classroom experience augmented what he had experienced as a seasoned government official, and the skills he learned were directly applicable to his line of work. “There were numerous times when I was enrolled in the program when I used the skills I learned a week before to deliver a better product for the official I was working for,” Bray said.
Bray’s MPA experiences built on his on-the-job training and prepared him for a policy making job before he even finished his degree. Last December, while still taking his final class, Bray took on a new position as special assistant to the commissioner of the Erie County Department of Social Services. In his new role, he leads the department’s handling of external and media relations, dealing with oversight agencies and linking with the county executive’s office. Most recently, Bray spearheaded a revamping of Erie County’s Child Protective Services, including working with the county executive on proposed legislation that would reform services for children statewide. “I was as involved as anyone in that,” Bray said. “I was the point person on that process. Brian Bray I did a lot of research, and I managed the people who contributed to that program.” This growth experience is exactly the type of result he was looking for when he joined the Hilbert master’s program. “Initially, my primary role was to manage relationships with the legislature, so it was more of a political job,” Bray said. “Now in Social Services, I’m able to work on programming to try to improve services for Erie County residents.” For Trask, too, the end result matched his expectations. “I can’t say the journey was without its difficulties or moments of self-doubt,” he said. “It was intense and overwhelming at times. Family and work commitments sometimes suffered. But it’s the difficulties that help you remember that the trip is worth taking.”
HC Magazine | 2014
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