Charles Werner Headshot

Charles L. Werner

Fire Chief (Ret.), Charlottesville VA Fire Department

Chief Charles L. Werner (Ret.) has served 50 years in public safety. Charles served 37 years with the Charlottesville VA Fire Department; during the last ten years of that service, he was fire chief. Charles has had many leadership roles at the local, state, national and international level. He presently serves as Founder/Director for DRONERESPONDERS: with over 11,000 members that includes participation from 92 countries, DRONERESPONDERS has become the largest and leading nonprofit program to advance public safety UAS that focused on drones for good (countering UAS, UTM and AAM). Charles also serves as a public safety representative on the Virginia Advanced Air Mobility Alliance. In 2023, Charles joined the Virginia Department of Aviation as aviation technology advisor to work in the public safety areas of UAS, CUAS and AAM.