Board of Directors

Therese Cremonte is the Livingston County Emergency Manager. She was hired by Livingston County in 2016 upon her retirement from the Michigan State Police (MSP).   While with the MSP, Therese work five of her twenty-seven years with the Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division (EMHSD) in the Training & Exercise Unit, Grants Unit, and as the Coordinator for Region One.

While with MSP EMHSD, Therese assisted the Seventh District with damage assessment after the March 2012 snow storm, and assisted the Third District in the spring of 2012 with federal damage assessment after severe flooding in Genesee County.  In 2013, she assisted in the Sixth District with federal damage assessment after a flooding disaster declaration that encompassed sixteen Michigan counties. 

In her current tenure as the Livingston County Emergency Manager, Therese has utilized her emergency management skills to assist with a 53 car / 3 fatality accident that closed I-96 for more than 12 hours in December of 2016.  She has also worked with the Red Cross during a weeklong power outage in March of 2017 to get citizens with access and functional needs overnight sheltering and utilized other partnerships to set up warming centers throughout the county. Therese also set up Livingston County’s first ever public alerting system to include IPAWS capability.

Therese is the Region One Homeland Security Board Chairperson.  She has a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Ferris State University, is a graduate of the Michigan State Police 105^th Trooper Recruit School – 1989, has been a P.E.M. since 2013, is a graduate of the Michigan State University, School of Staff and Command – 10^th Class, and was voted class Secretary of the 10^th Class.

Therese is married, has four children, and one grandchild.  She enjoys spending time with her family, trying new recipes, and spending time outside enjoying all of Michigan’s seasons.

Contact

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Frank Post has been a MEMA board member since being elected in 2017 to the position of 3^rd Vice President.  Recently Frank was moved to the 1^st 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

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Elizabeth Reimink

Elizabeth Reimink is Mason County’s Emergency Management Coordinator and has served in that capacity since February 2007. Liz is actively involved in writing emergency plans, educating the public on disaster preparedness, and coordinating annual trainings and exercises for the county’s emergency responders. During her tenure, Liz managed the Federally declared disaster for June 2008 flooding in Mason County and has assisted several other jurisdictions during their disasters. Liz is also one of the developers of the Proactive Response Options Training being rolled out to all of Michigan’s school bus drivers in 2020.

Ms. Reimink holds a bachelor degree in Public Policy from Western Michigan University and the State of Michigan’s Professional Emergency Manager Certification. In 2019, she completed FEMA’s National Emergency Management Advanced Academy as part of Cohort 19-1.

Liz works as a firefighter, medical first responder, and Training Officer for the Hamlin Township Fire Department. She has also served as the course manager for the FY17-18 and FY19-20 Basic Firefighting 1 & 2 Courses for the Mason County Fire Fighter’s Training Committee.

In 2018, Liz was presented the Preceptor Of The Year Award by the University of Georgia College of Public Health for hosting an intern. She was selected by her MEMA peers as the Local Emergency Management Coordinator of Year with a population under 60,000 in 2018.

When she has free time, Liz manages domestic type “incidents” as Auntie Liz with her young nieces and nephews.

Contact
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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
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Erin is the Executive Coordinator for the 5th District Homeland Security Planning Board, which encompasses the ten emergency management programs in Southwest Michigan. She is responsible for overseeing the Homeland Security grant projects and board activities for the region, a position she has held since 2009.

Previously, Erin served for five years in a preparedness planning role for public health in Kalamazoo County, and as a public information officer for both the local public health and emergency management programs. She also worked for eight years in the education field as a public relations coordinator for the Berrien County Intermediate School District.

Erin holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Western Michigan University, and a master of business administration (MBA) from Central Michigan University. She also earned the designation Professional Emergency Manager from the State of Michigan.

Erin is the proud parent of two beautiful children – a daughter based out of Chicago working in a senior communications role for the Illinois State Bar Association, and a school-aged son who has been known to show up at a MEMA Conference or two.

Contact

1-800-924-4541 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

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Gregory Williams

Contact
admin@mi-em.us
1-800-924-4541 x 517

Gregg Bird is the Emergency Management Coordinator for Grand Traverse County.

Gregg has been involved in Public Safety since 1990. He has 26 years’ experience in the fire service and 23 years in 9-1-1 Dispatch and organizational management. His Emergency Management career officially began in 2005 while deployed from Maryland to the Mississippi State Emergency Operations Center in response to Hurricane Katrina.

Prior to being selected as Grand Traverse County’s Emergency Management Coordinator in 2013, he was the Deputy Director of Emergency Services for Kent County, Maryland Office of Emergency Services. His duties included the daily management and operation of the county’s multi-discipline 9-1-1 center, and the Advanced Life Support EMS program, as well as the Operations Chief for the Emergency Operations Center. Gregg is one of a handful of National Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) Advance Team personnel who have been assigned to the National Response Coordination Center during disasters and has also been deployed to numerous national incidents of significance, including Hurricane Katrina, The Mississippi and Red River Floods of 2006, Hurricanes Gustav & Ike, and the US assistance to the State Department as a result of the Haiti earthquake.

Gregg is a certified Professional Emergency Manager, a member of Cohort VI of the National Emergency Management Professional Porgram Executive Leadership Academy.  He is also a graduate of the National Emergency Management Institute Advanced Leadership Academy.   Gregg is also an Emergency Management Instructor for the National Center for Biomedical Research and Training (NCBRT) at Louisiana State University.

Gregg holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Emergency Management from the University of Maryland and resides in Traverse City with his wife, Stacey and two stepsons, Shane and Cameron.

Contact

1-800-924-4541 x 508

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

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Mark Hammond has been elected to serve as the Michigan Emergency Management Association (MEMA) Liaison to District 2 North for 2017 - 2018.




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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 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.

Thom is presently working on PEM.

Contact

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Contact

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Jim Yarger has served as the Emergency Management Coordinator for Barry County since 2004. Jim currently serves on the 5th District Homeland Security Planning Board, which encompasses the ten emergency management programs in Southwest Michigan. Jim currently holds many emergency management and fire service certifications which include the Michigan Professional Emergency Management Certification (PEM).

Jim is the project chair for the Michigan Technical Rescue Team Region 5. The MI-TRT-5 is made possible through the collaboration of 26 fire departments in the 5^th District.

Jim started serving on the Freeport Area Volunteer Fire Department in 1979 and has held the position of Fire Chief there since 1999.

Jim is a Michigan Fire Fighters Training Council Certified Instructor 1 and teaches regularly at the Barry County Fire Academy. Jim is also a Volunteer Fireman’s Insurance Services (VFIS) certified Emergency Vehicle Driver Training and ATV/UTV Driver Training instructor. Jim recently became a School Active Shooter/Intruder Response Instructor for Strategoes International.

Contact
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Contact

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Jill McDonnell has a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from  Ferris State University, a Graduate of Michigan State University of Staff & Command in 2008, and FBI National Academy Class 257 in 2014. Jill has 28 years in law enforcement for the City of Auburn Hills, retired as Support Services Division Commander (Lieutenant).  After retirement, Jill relocated to Charlevoix, Michigan.  Charlevoix County hired Jill in March of 2020 as a part-time Deputy.  In July of 2020, Jill was appointed the Emergency Management Coordinator for Charlevoix and Emmet County.  Jill is currently working on her PEM.

Contact
1-800-924-4541 x 515

Teresa Schwalbach is the Emergency Management Coordinator for the County of Marquette, Michigan. She has worked in the public sector her entire career and in emergency management for the past 25 years. She coordinated the team of local, state, and federal agencies participating in the emergency response activities during the Silver Lake Dam flood event in May 2003. As a result, she was asked to write an article for Hydro Review magazine in 2004 and International Dam Safety magazine 2008 on the flooding event and the value of planning for emergencies and testing emergency plans. She has presented at various conferences including the Dam Association Conference in San Francisco in 2004 and the Canadian Dam Association Conference in Calgary, Canada in 2005. She was invited back to Canada to present as a guest speaker at the 2014 Canadian Dam Association Conference in Banff, Alberta, Canada on the past and present look at the Silver Lake Dam event.

She is a member of the Michigan Emergency Management Association and serves as the District Liaison for the Upper Peninsula. She is also a member of the State of Michigan Citizen Corp Focus Group and is the Citizen Corp Coordinator for Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) in the U.P. She is Chair of the U.P. Regional Homeland Security Board representing Marquette County and serves on other various committees throughout the county.

Working with local law enforcement, she trains school staff, businesses and industry personnel on active intruder response.

She received her Professional Emergency Management certification in 2005 and was awarded by the Michigan State Police/Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division as Professional Emergency Manager of the Year in 2012. She was also selected as the Local Emergency Management Coordinator of the Year with a population greater than 60,000 in 2016 by MEMA.

Contact

1-800-924-4541 x 516