Scott Tillema

Lieutenant Scott Tillema has over 20 years of law enforcement experience with a Chicago area police department and retired in 2023 as the department training coordinator. Over his 20 year career, he worked in the patrol, tactical, and investigative divisions and specialized as a hostage negotiator with the largest multijurisdictional municipal SWAT team in the United States.  

Educationally, Scott holds a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science, and a master’s degree in psychology. Additionally, he has received training at Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command, Harvard University’s Program on Negotiation, and at IMD Business School’s High Performance Leadership program.

Scott is a recognized leader in the field of crisis and hostage negotiation, and in 2016, he was invited to give a TEDx talk titled “The Secrets of Hostage Negotiators”, which has received over 1 million views.  His visibility as a speaker and educator through TEDx and other venues has reached global status. 

Currently, Scott is global keynote speaker and Partner at the Negotiations Collective, an international conflict resolution and negotiation training firm.