New Board Members Advance Training for Military

VirTra Inc has appointed retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Maria R. Gervais and Executive Director Mike Ayers of the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council to its board of directors.

With these additions, four of VirTra’s five board members are now independent, which enhances the company's focus on governance and leadership. Their backgrounds in military operations and law enforcement training will support VirTra’s mission to provide effective training solutions for public safety and military professionals.

Lieutenant General Maria R. Gervais, USA (Ret.), spearheaded a $2 billion modernization initiative that reduced Army training time by three years while enhancing readiness. She introduced 3D terrain technology to accelerate virtual training, an approach later adopted by other agencies. Her experience with virtual environments will be instrumental in supporting VirTra’s integration of Virtual Battle Space (VBS) military training into its simulator systems.

Executive Director Mike Ayers brings over 37 years of experience in law enforcement training and development. As Executive Director of Georgia POST, he led a comprehensive overhaul of the state’s police credentialing program, increasing required training from 408 hours to over 800 hours and introducing psychological and physical training methods that improved officer performance and community safety. As a board member and former president of the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST), Ayers will help guide VirTra’s training curriculum development. His partnership with VirTra has its roots in the company’s IADLEST-certified V-VICTA curriculum.