LEIC Staff

Misty Bean joined the LEIC in 2008 as an Accounting Assistant to provide fiscal support for the center’s staff. She is responsible for all accounting duties related to the National Forensic Science Institute grants and its accounts receivable records, as well as the Regional Community Policing Institute (RCPI) grants involved with law enforcement and community training services.

Bean began her career at the University of Tennessee in October 2003 in Mail Services as a Senior Postal Clerk. Her duties there included mail sorting and delivery and processing of incoming and outgoing mail. She transferred to Graphic Arts Service in July 2005 as a Work Order Coordinator. Her duties there included entering job specifications and assisting customers with various printing decisions.

Jeff Lindsey joined UT’s Law Enforcement Innovation Center (LEIC) Team in January 2016 as the Program Manager. In the Program Manager’s role he is responsible for ensuring all of the LEIC’s offerings, to include the National Forensic Academy, leadership, and specialty courses, are highly effective and relevant to the needs of law enforcement practitioners. Lindsey came to the LEIC after a 26 year career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. During his FBI career, he served in a variety of investigative, tactical, training, senior leadership, and program/project management assignments in the field, as well as within headquarters entities. He had been an active FBI-certified instructor in several areas throughout his career since 1990. Of note, Lindsey served as a Supervisor, Instructor, and Program Manager in the FBI Academy’s Physical Training and Firearms Training Units and the Leadership Development Institute. Prior to entering on duty with the FBI in 1989, Lindsey served as a Deputy Sheriff with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department and as an Airborne-Ranger qualified Military Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Army.

In addition to being a graduate of several FBI leadership and executive development courses, Lindsey is a graduate of the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff residence course and the U.S. Army War College Defense Strategy Course. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Carson – Newman College, a Master of Military Studies Degree from the Marine Corps University, and a Doctor of Philosophy of Education with a specialization in Organizational Leadership from Northcentral University. His dissertation research focused on the leadership development needs of rising law enforcement leaders.

Donnie Ross joined LEIC in June 2021 as a training specialist for the Community Policing Development: Rural Law Enforcement Training Center Grant. He served 15 years with the University of Tennessee Police Department (UTPD) where he finished as a lieutenant and led the Criminal Investigations Unit, Property and Evidence section, Strategic Initiatives Unit, and Records Section. He also served as the department’s Internal Affairs commander, background investigator, Critical Incident Response Team commander, and Joint Terrorism Task Force Working Group member. He also spent time leading the department’s Motorcycle Unit, Community Relations Unit, and K-9 Unit. He was a department instructor in defensive tactics, use of force, report writing, and arrest control. He also served as the Rape Aggression Defense coordinator training hundreds of women in self-defense strategies.

Ross is a graduate of the 255th session of the FBI National Academy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in sports management and a master’s degree in sports management, both from the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and a master’s of business administration from UT Martin.

Dereck R. Stewart serves as a teaching associate at LEIC.  He came to LEIC after his retirement from the Tennessee Highway Patrol.  Dereck's experience spans more than three decades where he served in or supervised every business unit within the Highway Patrol before his appointment as the 14th Colonel of the Tennessee Highway Patrol in 2018.  Dereck became the first African-American Colonel in the 90 year history of the Tennessee Highway Patrol.  He has been influential in the law enforcement community as a whole-serving most recently on the Governor’s Use of Force and Duty to Intervene Task Force, on the International Association of Chiefs of Police Board of Directors.

Dereck is a graduate of the Tennessee Government Leadership Program – LEAD Tennessee, the Tennessee Government Executive Institute, the FBI National Academy Session #230, the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association Executive Leadership Institute (LEEDA), the FBI National Executive Institute Session #39 and the prestigious Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command. He holds a Bachelor Degree from Middle Tennessee State University.