Zielinski
Division Chief of Training
Eli Lilly Fire Department
Lebanon, Indiana
MBA
Doctor of Fire Integrated Research (candidate)
IAFC Industrial Fire & Safety Section
Practitioner. Researcher. Builder.
Alex Zielinski is the Deputy Chief and Division Chief of Training at the Eli Lilly Fire Department in Lebanon, Indiana — an industrial fire department serving one of the world's largest pharmaceutical manufacturing campuses. He has spent his career at the intersection of fire service operations, leadership development, and applied research.
He holds an MBA and is pursuing a Doctor of Fire Integrated Research. His research focuses on industrial firefighter populations, firefighter cancer presumption law, and fire service workforce data — areas he believes are structurally undercounted and underserved by existing safety infrastructure.
In 2026 he founded TrainTeachLead.com, a professional development platform for fire service leaders built around the principle that the gap between research and the firehouse is a leadership failure — and that closing it is the work.
Current Role
Deputy Chief, Division Chief of Training — Eli Lilly Fire Department, Lebanon, Indiana
Education
MBA · Doctor of Fire Integrated Research (in progress)
IAFC
Industrial Fire & Safety Section member
Platform
Founder, TrainTeachLead.com — fire service professional development
Conferences
FDIC International, Alberta Fire Chiefs Association, Smoky Mountain Weekend
Research Archive
Zenodo — publicly archived datasets on firefighter cancer presumption law and industrial LODD data
Alex writes and speaks on AI in the fire service, fire service leadership development, industrial emergency response, HazMat operations, firefighter health and safety, and accessible training resources. He is intentional about not being typecast as exclusively an industrial fire service voice — the arguments in this book apply across municipal, combination, volunteer, and industrial contexts.