With over thirty years of experience in law enforcement, investigative and security services, Mr. Konohia is President of Bulldawg Protection, LLC, the Chairman of the Boanerges Group, LLC, and Partner of Viollis Group International offering executive protection, investigations, security education/training and consulting services.
Mr. Konohia’s professional experience includes his tenure as an Intelligence Analyst with the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas [HIDTA], where he conducted analysis of violent crimes in an effort to identify trends, patterns, and clusters to connect suspects to known crime trends or series. He also provided tactical reports and informational briefings to the Mayor of Baltimore [former Governor of Maryland the Honorable Martin O’Malley], the Baltimore City Police Commissioner and other command staff regarding criminal activity. His analytical reports have assisted in closing numerous Homicides in Baltimore City. Mr. Konohia served as an executive protection agent for Vance International, Inc. assigned to the residential detail of the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia. Mr. Konohia also performed background investigations on public safety applicants for Prince Georges County, Maryland for SA-TECH. As senior security consultant for the JCPenney Company Inc., Mr. Konohia was responsible for assisting in putting together the loss prevention program of seven [7] stores in Maryland and Northern Virginia. This program was responsible for managing store’s loss prevention program to prevent loss of assets due to dishonesty or neglect, and to protect customers and associates from harm or loss in accordance with store and company policies and procedures. Additionally, Mr. Konohia has performed workplace violence seminars for the JCPenney Company.
Mr. Konohia’s tenure with the Maryland State Police included undercover narcotics investigations and road patrol. Mr. Konohia testified on countless occasions as an “Expert” witness in undercover operations. He was an instructor for the State of Maryland’s “Top Gun” School for drug investigators. He was the assistant instructor for the Basic Executive Protection course for Andrews International and Garda World (formerly Vance International). Mr. Konohia’s special training included Basic Criminal Investigator School, Advanced Criminal Investigator School, Federal Bureau of Investigation White Collar Crime School, Drug Enforcement Administration Investigator School, Drug Enforcement Administration Conspiracy School, Federal Law Enforcement Analytical Training-DEA Quantico, VA, Audio Intelligence Device Surveillance School, Vance International Executive Protection School, Defensive Driving School, Certified Personal Protection Specialist, Advanced Personal Protection Handgun, Solution Group International High Threat Protection course, and Paul Howe’s (CSAT) tactical pistol, Counter Assault Team tactics [CAT] and Basic SWAT training.
Mr. Konohia has extensive domestic and international experience in Executive Protection, whereby his protectees included the former Vice President of the United States on a three (3) week cross country book signing tour. Mr. Konohia is the Head of Security for a large DC based corporation and managed the security over their multi-million dollar project in Liberia, Africa and has managed protection details globally. Additionally, he is the Security consultant for SFX which manages high profile clients. Mr. Konohia has developed and maintained relationships with Federal, State, and Local law enforcement agencies in support of diplomatic security details; and has developed and implemented official standard operating procedures for protective operations that are currently being utilized. Mr. Konohia is a contributor as a security specialist for MSNBC. Konohia has written several articles relating to the industry and is a contributor to the CIRCUIT Magazine-“The Magazine for Security Professionals”. In 2016 Mr. Konohia co-authored the book, “Securing the Sacred. Making your House of Worship a Safer Place”. This book became Amazon’s number-1 seller in the first week.
Eric Konohia is a huge advocate for mentoring in the executive protection industry and personally mentors aspiring protection specialists and company owners under his SMART Goals [Specific/Measurable/Attainable/Realistic/Time-related] program. His program assists them in propelling their careers and businesses through interaction and tasks. This program is built upon his experiences as a specialist, a company owner and knowledge of this highly saturated and competitive industry. Part of this program is understanding the power of a professional social media presence. Participants of the mentor program have successfully evolved from being virtually unknown to executive protection household names.
Mr. Konohia is a very vocal proponent on “Excellence through Professionalism and Ethics”. His continued success is based on understanding that the Client is the backbone of the industry. Konohia emphasizes the importance of establishing and maintaining solid relationships with clients through his doctrine of “10 Client relationship building tips”. Service providers that have followed these precepts have shown measurable differences in their client base and client stability. Konohia was a presenter at the First Annual ICON Summit that was attended by industry specialists and service providers who traveled as far as Norway to attend. His topic was, “Getting noticed by the Decision Makers“. Konohia was also selected twice as the Key-Note speaker at the YTI Institute graduation ceremonies.
He received his Bachelors of Arts Degree from the University of Maryland, College Park in Criminology and Criminal Justice with a minor in Sociology. Konohia has the honor of being a Basic and Advanced training instructor for the ATAB [Anti-Terrorism Accreditation Board] CEPS [Certified Executive Protection Specialist] and the CMEPS [Certified Masters of Executive Protection Specialist] certifications. In addition to his own CMEPS certification, he also holds the ATAB -CMAS [Certified Master Anti-Terrorism Specialist] certification. Konohia is a member of NABA and ASIS. He currently resides in the Washington, DC area.