Nick Italiano
Founder
Nick is a life-long outdoorsman and naturalist. He a holds has a B.S. in Environmental Science and an M.S. in Environmental Policy. His passion for the great outdoors has fueled his desire to learn and practice wilderness survival skills, bushcraft, and herbalism. Nick’s goal is to make the great outdoors a part of his everyday life by understanding the connection we all have to the environment around us and responsibly utilizing the many resources found in the natural environment.
Before founding Black Flag Survival in 2017, Nick spent nearly 20 years working in the financial industry doing sales and marketing both in corporate environments and independently. Nick strives to bring the same level of professionalism and skill to Black Flag Survival and The Black Flag Outdoor Academy.
Robin Italiano
Project Manager
Robin enjoys spending time in the great outdoors with her family, hiking, and strives to make her home as self-sufficient as possible. She holds a B.S. in Behavioral Science and has a successful career in the natural foods industry.
Robin is an organizational mastermind and specializes in identifying inefficient processes and implementing time and cost saving measures to improve productivity and reduce operating costs.
Tom “Nuge” Nugent
Co-Founder of the Black Flag Outdoor Academy
Knife Maker
Tom has been an avid outdoorsman his entire life. His youth was spent with the Boy Scouts learning wilderness skills that he has carried for a lifetime. In addition to his outdoor skills, Tom also worked as an EMT and spent 7 years working as a police officer.
In 2019, Tom made his first EDC knife with just a file and a hacksaw on a tiny workbench in the garage.
He has combined years of processing game, wilderness survival skills, and martial arts to design high-quality knives that allow men and women to thrive in both the forest and the kitchen.
Tom is the official knife maker of the Black Flag Outdoor Academy making all the knives used in courses and skills demonstrations through his company Knives By Nuge. In addition he will use his considerable outdoor, emergency medical, and law enforcement experience to help develop and instruct courses.
Ross Biddle
Black Flag Outdoor Academy Podcast Producer
IT Wizard
Ross lives and works in Connecticut as the Managing Director of IT for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (the firearms industry trade association and owner and organizer of SHOT Show) bringing over 20 years of experience focused on the design and implementation of IT infrastructure as well as the development and management of the teams needed to operate and support IT as a service.
Prior to joining NSSF, Ross spent the previous 6 years working for Fifth Street Asset Management, a financial services firm in Greenwich, CT as their CIO and CTO. He is a life-long outdoorsman, and prefers to be fishing, hiking, snow-shoeing, and kayaking throughout the Hudson Valley with family and friends.
Ross started collecting knives when he was 8. He was a huge MacGyver fan and his Dad bought him a Victorinox Tinker that he carried everywhere. He promptly cut his thumb off (successfully reattached) with that Tinker and hasn’t slowed down since.
These days he spends most of his free time with his 5-year-old daughter (yes, she has a toy SAK) and 18 month old son. Hobby time is spent in the knife / bushcraft / EDC world (@swiss.ross on Instagram) and he enjoys shooting whenever he can (usually with his FN TSR XP .308 or vintage 1953 Browning A5).
Phil Spano
Staff Writer
Phil is a father of 3 children and is a self described Trophy Husband. He has worked as an HVAC technician for the past 14 years. In his free time he enjoys geocaching, hunting, and hiking as well as photography and listening to music. Phil is passionate about mental health awareness; through his own struggles he has learned the importance of getting people the access to the resources they need, and works tirelessly to help reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues.
Phil runs an Instagram page called theruthlessproject where he focuses on creative photography of everyday carry products and nature. Through his page he has created promotional content for a number of companies including Observer Tools, Bullstrap, and Roaring Fire Gear.
Anthony Bryant
Photographer, Digital Artist, and Contributing Writer
Anthony is a full time heavy diesel mechanic, husband, and father. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family, photography, kayaking, and hunting. Anthony is driven by a desire to help those in need; frequently leading the charge to help members of the community who have fallen on hard times as well as aiding in animal rescue and rehabilitation.
Anthony runs the Lost Raven Chronicles website, focused on Guiding men and women through community and education to bring traditional values and skills of self reliance to a modern world.
He has also done logo design work for companies and social media accounts including Northern Belle Customs,, Everything Tactical, The Ruthless Project, and Black Flag Survival
Through his Instagram page, Anthony specializes in teaching the methods and mindsets necessary to live a more self reliant life. You can expect to find information on current events effecting our every day lives as well as information on things like homesteading, survival and preparedness.
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