Board of Directors
Gregory became President of the Michigan Emergency Management Association on January 1, 2022. He has nearly 30 years experience in public safety including positions in law enforcement, fire, EMS, Hazardous Materials, 911 communications and Emergency Management.
Frank Post has been a MEMA board member since being elected in 2017 to the position of 3rd Vice President. Recently Frank was moved to the 1st Vice President position to fill a vacancy there. Prior to becoming a MEMA Board Member, Frank chaired the Region 7 Homeland Security Planning Board for 2 years.
Frank retired from Benzie County Emergency Management as their Coordinator in August of 2019 and had been is that position since 2013. Prior to that Frank had a 39 year career in law enforcement and Public Safety mostly in Southwest Lower Michigan with 20+ years of that career as a Police Chief and Public Safety Director in Plainwell and Emmett Township. In 2017 Frank was selected as MEMA’s “Local Emergency Management Coordinator of the Year <60,000 Population”.
Frank has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Grand Valley State University in Criminal Justice and holds many certifications which include the Professional Emergency Management Certification (PEM) from the State of Michigan. Frank is also a recent graduate of the National Emergency Management Advanced Academy at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg MD.
Frank also has extensive grant writing experience that includes a 2017 AFG Regional Grant for nearly $700,000 for Fire and EMS transition to an 800MHz Communications Platform and Flood Mitigation Grant in 2016 for approximately $125,000.
Contact
(800) 924-4541 x502
In today’s dynamic emergency management landscape, Ryan Wilkinson works hard to ensure plans, structures and arrangements are established that engage the normal endeavors of government, the private sector, and non-profit organizations in a comprehensive and coordinated way to respond to the whole spectrum of emergency and disaster needs.
Ryan currently serves as the Emergency Manager for Eaton County. Prior to his appointment in Eaton County, Ryan was a Regional Planner for both Livingston County and Clinton County. He is also a firefighter/EMT-B with the Bath Township Fire Department and holds the rank of Lieutenant. He holds a Master’s Degree, his Professional Emergency Manager (PEM) designation, and Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) designation. He serves on numerous boards to include the Region One Homeland Security Planning and Executive Board, the State of Michigan’s Public Alerting Workgroup, the Do1Thing Executive Board, and more. He’s also the International Association of Emergency Manager’s (IAEM) State Representative for Michigan for the USA chapter.
Contact
(800) 924-4541 x 505
Jenifier serves on many boards to include the State of Michigan’s PEM Advisory Board, Vice Chair of the Region 3 Homeland Security Planning Board, President of the 3rd District Emergency Management Association, and more. In 2017 Jenifier was selected as MEMA’s “Local Emergency Management Coordinator of the Year >60,000 Population”. In 2021, Jenifier was presented the National Award of Merit from the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.
Jenifier has worked through a Governor’s Declaration (2012) and two Presidential Disaster Declarations (2017 & 2020). Jenifier has a true passion for emergency management and is an advocate for sharing of lessons learned and supporting other emergency managers however she can.
Contact
(800) 924-4541 x 506
Fellow MEMA members, as your new/current Legislative Liaison, I want to take a moment to introduce myself. I am currently the Emergency Management Administrator for the City of Grand Rapids and have been in this role for little over a year. Prior to my move to Grand Rapids, I was the Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Charlottesville, the University of Virginia, and Albemarle County in Virginia. As the Emergency Management Coordinator, I have faced multiple unique events, including: the Unite the Right Rally and KKK Rally in 2017, the derailment of an Amtrak train carrying the GOP to a retreat in West Virginia, and a 5-week mass community search for a missing UVA student. During my 6.5 years serving in Virginia, I helped lead the Legislative Committee for the Virginia Emergency Management Association (VEMA) where we worked closely with the Virginia General Assembly and the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) to identify opportunities to develop consistent funding streams for emergency management programs. I look forward to getting to know the Michigan Legislature and being your liaison for emergency management issues at the legislature level.
Born and raised in Southern California, I moved to Huntsville, Alabama after undergraduate school to teach at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in the Space Camp and Aviation Challenge programs. During this time, I had the opportunity to educate 6th graders about emergency preparedness through the BE Ready Camp program. After a year in Alabama, I moved to Charlottesville, Virginia to attend Graduate School and pursue my emergency management career. Outside of being an emergency manager, I am an avid trail runner, an Aunt, a mom to 3 crazy cats, and I enjoy traveling to new places in the world (when traveling is allowed). Community service is a value I hold dear to my heart and have recently joined the Junior League of Grand Rapids to expand my service to the Grand Rapids community. So far this California girl is surviving the Midwest and I Iook forward to continuing my work along side other emergency managers.
Contact
(800) 924-4541 x 507
Prior to his move to AAA - ACG, Timothy worked as a Security Lieutenant for Somerset Collection and an Assistant Manager for Jax Kar Wash. In both roles he played a vital role in the life safety programs for these organizations. Timothy also worked for two years as a Homeland Security Planner for Macomb County Emergency Management.
In 2018, Timothy graduated with honors from Eastern Kentucky University (EKU), obtaining a Masters of Science in Safety, Security, and Emergency Management. While at EKU, he also obtained three master certificates. These certificates are in emergency management, homeland security, and occupational safety and health. Timothy also holds a bachelor's degree in Emergency Management from Madonna University. In 2019, Timothy obtained his Professional Emergency Management certification from the Michigan State Police.
Contact
(800) 924-4541 x 517
Lt. Dave Oslund has been a police officer for over 20 years. Lt. Oslund served eight years with a sheriff’s department in Michigan before transitioning to MSU. While at MSU, he has served in the Patrol Division, Special Events unit and the Emergency Management unit for over 12 years. In February 2018, Lt. Oslund was promoted to his current position as the supervisor of the Emergency Management Unit. The MSU Police Chief has delegated Lt. Oslund as the Emergency Management Coordinator. In 2017, Lt. Oslund was part of the team at MSU that completed the accreditation process with the Emergency Management Accreditation Program. MSU became the fifth institution of higher education, the first university in Michigan, and the first in the Big Ten Conference to become accredited. Lt. Oslund is also the University representative to the Region One Homeland Security Board.
Contact
(800) 924-4541 x 509
Thomas Hardesty has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration/Criminal Justice from U of M Flint Graduate of Northwestern School of Staff & Command in 2002 and FBI National Academy Class 232 in 2008.
He has 26 years in law enforcement for the City of Auburn Hills, retired as Deputy Director at the end of 2014. After retirement, Thom became Director of Security for Palace Sports & Entertainment (venues included the Palace, DTE & Meadowbrook Theatres). He oversaw the planning for hundreds of special events including NBA Finals, dignitary visits, concerts, etc.
Thom was then hired by Oakland County at the end of 2015 as administrator for the Medical Examiner’s Office and later appointed as Emergency Management Coordinator and Manager of Homeland Security Division for Oakland County in April of 2017.
Contact
(800) 924-4541 x 511
Mike previously served over 30 years in the fire service and as a Fire Chief in 2 communities. He also served over 30 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, retiring as a Senior Chief Maritime Enforcement Specialist and was assigned to the USCG Deployable Specialized Forces for 15 years. He served 3 tours in the Persian Gulf region during Operation Iraqi Freedom and was deployed to many disaster and maritime security operations around the globe. Mike has attended several federal, state, and local fire and law enforcement academies, and is credentialed as a Chief Fire Officer by the Commission on Professional Credentialing.
Matt a bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice with a concentration in Law Enforcement from Eastern Michigan University in April of 1999. In his four years at college, he competed for Eastern on the Men’s Volleyball team as a setter and served as team captain his junior and senior year. He also held administrative positions in his fraternity, Sigma Nu, where he became familiar with Robert’s Rules of Order, which serve him well in his current profession.
After college, Matt got a position at Ford Motor Company at their Executive Security Division. Matt made his way up to working the Executive Floors at Ford’s World Headquarters building and was responsible for the offices of all the Vice Presidents and Mr. Ford. In November 2006, Matt was hired on at the Leelanau County Dispatch. While here, Matt took on additional responsibility including medical review for quality assurance, Communications Training Officer and Medical Awareness and Freedom Alert Coordinator. In April 2015, Matt was hired as the new Director of Emergency Management/9-1-1 for Leelanau County. In August of 2015, Matt handled a large straight-line wind event devastated the County. Through coordination with many accomplished decisionmakers around the County, Leelanau was awarded a Governor’s Declaration of Emergency and became eligible for reimbursement for costs associated with responding to and recovering from the disaster.
Matt has transitioned the County Emergency Services communications to the Statewide 800MHz system, integrated NexGen911 equipment into the 9-1-1 Center, and migrated Dispatch, Sheriff’s Office and Jail onto the same computer database system.
Mike Kasper has been working as the Mackinac County Emergency Management Coordinator for 15 years. He started in Emergency Response with the Clark Township Fire Department in 1985, the also the Clark Township Ambulance Service in 1986. In 1989, he started working with the Mackinac County Sheriff's Office K-9 unit led by Deputy Scott Strait. In 1992, Mike joined with Chippewa County Sheriff's Office, and also the Pickford/Marquette Townships' Fire and EMS services, while still serving the Clark Township Departments. In 1996, Mike left Pickford/Marquette Fire and EMS, and worked his off hours helping his father run an HVAC business. In 2003, Mike took over his father's HVAC business, leading to his leaving of Chippewa County Sheriff's office to continue the family business as the third generation owner. In 2006, an opportunity to continue serving Mackinac County arose, and in 2007, Mike officially became the Mackinac County Emergency Management Coordinator. 2008 brought Incident Command System Train the Trainer education, and Mike was awarded FEMA Center for Domestic Preparedness Excellence in Training Bronze level for 2009, 2010, 2012, and Silver Level for 2011. Other courses Mike teaches include G-191 ICP/EOC Interface, Public Information Officer, Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Planning, Emergency Planning, Active Shooter Incident Response, Incident Commander Position Specific course, Operations Section Chief position Specific course.
Over the years, Mike has hosted many interesting exercises, some creating and testing new capabilities for hazard response engaging both private and public sectors to work together, and is striving to complete a full scale evacuation of Mackinac Island in 2023. Other activities he enjoys are representing Mackinac County on the Region 8 Homeland Security Planning Board, PEM Advisory Board, MEMA Region 8 Representative, the Eastern Upper Peninsula Firefighter's Association's Secretary, Grand Knight for 7100 Council of the Knights of Columbus, Mackinac County LEPC/LPT secretary, Mackinac County 911 Advisory Board member, and his favorite-boating with his lovely bride of 30 years Nancy and their dog Sheldon.
Contact
(800) 924-4541 x 516
