Plot your locationIAWF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Executive Committee
Dan Bailey, President (board member since 2007)
International Code Council™
Washington, DC,
USA
Dan Bailey is Executive Director for National and International programs dealing with Wildland Fire, Natural Resource, Environmental and Natural Hazard Programs for the International Code Council™. Dan’s was a staff assistant to Senator Wayne Morse (Oregon) before moving to the USDA Forest Service where he was involved with land management, forestry and wildland fire programs in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Arizona and Washington, DC. He served as a National Incident Commander leading efforts on more than 200 of the largest wildfires, hurricanes and other disasters. Prior to retiring from the Forest Service, he served as the National Program Manager for Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Fire and Firewise programs. Dan was also the founder of the National Firewise Communities Workshop series. He served on the NFPA Board of Directors, and founded the NFPA Wildland Fire Management Section, serving as chair for 8 years. He has served on the Boards of the National Wildfire Foundation, the United Nations, International Wildland Fire Alliance, and the World Forestry Alliance.
Kris Johnson, Vice President (board member since 2009)
Northwest Territories Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Fort Smith, Northern Territories, Canada
Kris Johnson is the Manager of Fire Science with the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Kris began his career as a firefighter in British Columbia, moved on to conducted fire research with the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada in central Canada before making the north his home. He currently oversees the development of decision support tools, communications, fire prevention and risk management. He is a dedicated Territorial Fire Duty Officer and oversees an active international experimental wildfire research program. Kris is an active member in a number of Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre’s Working Groups and Communities of Practice. He is the current chair for the Canadian Wildland Fire Behaviour Specialist Course, and a core member of the National Ignition Cadre. His interests involve fuels engineering, fire behaviour, fire prevention, social science and maintaining a strong connection to fire operations..
Kevin Ryan, Secretary (board member since 2009)
USDA Forest Service, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory
Missoula, Montana,
USA
Dr. Kevin Ryan has been a Research Forester/Fire Ecologist at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory since 1979. In his 36 year career in forest fire research Kevin has conducted studies in fuels, fire behavior, and fire effects aimed at understanding combustion and heat transfer processes affecting fire severity and fire injury; and the effects of fire injury on the physiology, growth, and insect ecology of trees. Research results are applied towards developing fuel treatment and restoration guidelines and ecological modeling to understand landscape-level processes and climate change feedbacks. Kevin has authored over 90 journal articles and technical reports.
David Moore, Treasurer (board member since 2010)
Glendale Fire Department
Glendale, Ohio.
USA
David A. Moore Jr., MPA, CFO, MIFireE is chief of the Glendale, Ohio Fire Department. Dave began his fire service in rural Pennsylvania and has also worked in Montana and Kentucky. He’s worked for local, state and federal agencies in both the wildland and structural fire service. Dave also works in prescribed fire and fire suppression with the Ohio Division of Forestry, USDI Fish and Wildlife Service and the USDA Forest Service. Dave earned an undergraduate degree in Fire Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and master’s degrees in Public Administration and Non-Profit Management from Northern Kentucky University. He focuses much of his attention on training and human relation issues affecting the fire service.
Board Members
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Marty Alexander, Ph.D. (board member since 2008)
Dept. of Renewable Resources,
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada
Dr. Marty Alexander retired in November 2010 as a Senior Fire Behavior Research Officer with the Canadian Forest Service stationed at the Northern Forestry Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, following 34.5 years of public service. He presently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta. His research and technology transfer efforts have focused on practical applications of wildland fire behavior knowledge, including firefighter safety. In 2003, Marty received the IAWF’s Wildland Fire Safety Award. Marty is a member of IAWF’s Editorial Advisory Board for the International Journal of Wildland Fire. His work has taken him to many parts of the world, including the continental USA and Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Greece, Italy, and Turkey.
Lemmi Briedis (Board member since 2013)
New South Wales, Australia
Lemmi Briedis’ experience with volunteer fire fighting began in 2002 when she joined her local volunteer brigade after moving to a rural property in New South Wales, Australia. By attending callouts, serving on the brigade executive team, sharing community engagement approaches at conferences and as a Consultative Committee member Lemmi has developed wildfire fighting skills at practical and organisational levels. As the recipient of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service’s Volunteer Research Fellowship in 2009 Lemmi was able to research neighbouring states’ approaches to community engagement. Lemmi has an Australian Capital Territory Emergency Medal. A professional background for several decades in accounting and systems auditing, as a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) and Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), provide a business perspective. Academic qualifications are Bachelor of Economics, Graduate Diploma in Computing Studies and more recently a Bachelor of Science (Resource and Environmental Management) with Honours from the Australian National University. These professional, practical and research skills are combined to provide a broad range of perspectives from which to address wildland fire.
Kathy Clay (Board member since 2013)
Fire Marshal, Battalion Chief, Jackson Hole Fire, Wyoming, USA
Born and raised on a farm in mid-central Illinois, Kathy Clay traveled west to find her dreams under the magnificent Teton Mountains in Jackson, Wyoming. Battalion Chief and Fire Marshal for Jackson Hole Fire/EMS, she serves the fire world promoting fire and injury prevention, works with new and existing structures to insure code compliance, investigates structure and wildland fires, provides command on emergency incidents, and maintains EMT certification for medical first response. Clay holds a Fire Science degree, is a red carded Engine Boss, NFPA 1033 certified, and is Teton County's senior car seat technician.
Paulo Fernandes (Board member since 2013)
University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Dept. of Forest and Landscape,
Vila Real, Portugal
Dr. Paulo Fernandes has a forest sciences background and holds a researcher and professor position at UTAD. He carries out R&D activities since 1992, with participation in 10 international and 21 national projects addressing the behaviour, ecology and management of wildland fire. His main contributions have been in the topics of fuel characterization and field-based assessment and modelling of fire characteristics and effects, namely in the frame of prescribed burning studies in Mediterranean shrubland and pine forests. More than 120 papers in the scientific and technical literature have resulted from this activity. Paulo is highly committed to technology transfer, which has materialized in the form of regular involvement in prescribed burning training and assistance to Portuguese government agencies and forest companies in fire risk assessment.
David Ganz (board member since 2010)
Winrock International
Bangkok, Thailand
Dr. DAVID J. GANZ is the Chief of Party for Winrock International’s Lowering Emissions in Asia’s Forests (LEAF) Program that works across six countries in Southeast Asia to identify the most economical and effective ways to manage their land and forests. David’s background in forest science, policy and community development has provided him with a unique mixture of social, ecological and economic perspectives which he brings to the leadership role of the LEAF program. David has over 19 years’ experience on large-scale natural resource management and biomass energy projects. He has worked for The Nature Conservancy, FAO, and the Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC) managing a variety of projects in Southwestern China and Southeast Asia. As a manager, scientist and convener, David has worked to integrate forest carbon opportunities into sustainable livelihoods, climate change adaptation, renewable energy and community forestry development activities. He has published more than 40 technical papers in fields such as forest carbon science and management, fire science, ecosystem services, forest health, silviculture and community forestry. David has a Ph.D. in Environmental Science, Policy and Management from University of California at Berkeley and an M.S. in Forestry from Yale. He is also a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources.
Alan Goodwin (board member since 2009)
Department of Sustainability and Environment
East Melbourne, Australia
Alan Goodwin is the Regional Director for North West Victoria Australia, for the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE). Prior to coming to this role late in 2011 Alan was the Assistant Chief Fire Officer for the state of Victoria. He has spent 20 years in the forest and fire industry. Alan has played a part in all 5 wildfire response deployments from Australia to the United States and in 2008 / 2009 Alan and his family spent 12 months living in the United States spending time at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise Idaho and the Office of Wildland Fire at the US Department of Interior, Washington DC. Alan has a Diploma in Engineering and is a fellow of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation.
Adam Gossell (board member since 2010)
Alberta Sustainable Resource Development
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Adam Gossell is the FireSmart Program Coordinator for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development and works in the Wildfire Prevention Section at the Provincial Forest Fire Centre. Adam is a Registered Professional Forester who began his career in wildfire management as a wildland firefighter and crew leader with Alberta's Initial Attack Program (Helitack). Since then Adam’s focus has been primarily with wildfire prevention initiatives and community wildfire protection. Adam is the past President of Partners in Protection, a not-for-profit association committed to promoting, educating and empowering others to be FireSmart and live a resilient relationship with wildfire.
Dan Neary (board member since 2011)
USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station
Flagstaff, Arizona,
USA
Dr. Dan Neary is a Science Team Leader, Southwest Watershed Team, Air-Water-Aquatic Environments Program at the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. Dan has published 350 research publications. Some of his recent publications include the topics of fire effects on soils and watersheds, and satellite monitoring of post wildland fire vegetation recovery. Dan has previously held offices in the Geological Society of America, Soil Science Society of America, and the American Society of Agronomy. He has had international scientific exchanges with Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Finland, France, Honduras, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Scotland, and Portugal. His PhD is from Michigan State University. Dan is a Type 2 Medical Unit Leader and EMT-B in the Southwest.
Gene Rogers (board member since 2009)
Wildland Fire Technologies Inc
Klamath Falls, Oregon,
USA
Gene Rogers is President of Wildland Fire Technologies, Inc. and specializes in fire planning products, fire behavior and fuels analysis, and fire/forestry training and education. He retired as Deputy Fire Staff Officer from the USDA Forest Service following 34 years of public service which included fire positions in the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Gene has been active as a Fire Behavior Analyst since 1987. He currently serves as the Deputy Plans Chief on the Oregon State Fire Marshal Red Team. He holds a B.S. from Humboldt State University and did graduate studies there and at the University of Washington
Ron Steffens (board member since 2010)
Green Mountain College and USDI National Park Service (summer)
Vermont, USA
Ron Steffens, MFA is a professor of communications at Green Mountain College where he focuses on non-fiction writing and environmental communications. He advises student and community media and served as thesis coordinator in the college's online Master’s program in environmental studies. Ron has been based out of Grand Teton National Park since 1992 where he supports Teton Interagency Fire as a fire monitor, incident commander, and fire analyst. He began his fire career as a lookout in Patagonia, Arizona and continued with seasonal positions in Saguaro National Park, where he served as fire effects monitor and lead of a backcountry fire crew.
Richard Thornton (board member since 2009)
Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre
Melbourne, Victoria,
Australia
Dr. Richard Thornton is the Deputy CEO and Research Director of the Bushfire CRC a role he has held for six years. His responsibilities have included leadership and oversight of the research program for the research centre, ensuring research quality, research relevance, and up-take. Richard was the project director for the extensive research - data collection task-force project undertaken following the 7 February 2009 bushfires in Victoria. Prior to this Richard was Research Strategy manager for a major telecommunications company in Australia and has a PhD in Physics from RMIT University. Richard is chair of the Editorial Advisory Committee of IAWF’s International Journal of Wildland Fire.
Jean-Charles Valette (board member since 2010)
INRA-URFM-PEF (French National Institute of Agricultural Research, Unit of Research Ecology of Mediterranean Forests team physics and ecology of the fire area of Saint Paul)
Dr. Jean-Charles Valette has been a forest techniques engineer and has been at INRA since 1973, where he led the Wildland Fire Prevention Research Team. He has conducted research on forest fuels, fire behavior, fire effects and prescribed burnings. He has designed and conducted experimental fires at both the laboratory scale and outdoors in cooperation with foresters, and wildland fire fighters. He has coordinated numerous national and European research projects like EFAISTOS, FIRE STAR and EUFIRELAB. He maintains the EUFIRELAB web site and e-library dedicated to wildland fire sciences and technologies.
Tom Zimmerman (board member since 2012)
Retired Program Manager
Wildland Fire Management Research, Development, and Application Program
Rocky Mountain Research Station
U.S. Forest Service
Tom has worked at multiple federal land management agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and US Forest Service. His permanent assignments include positions as Forester, Fire Control Officer, Fire Management Officer, State Fire Management Planning Specialist, Regional Fire Management Officer, Fire Technology Specialist, Fire Science and Ecological Applications Program Leader, Regional Director of Fire and Aviation Management, and Wildland Fire Management RD&A Program Manager. Tom has conducted training in the United States, China, Canada, and India, and presented papers, either in person or virtually, at conferences in the United States, Canada, Italy, South Africa, and Cyprus.
Wildland fire and emergency response constituted a major focus area and Tom has over 30 years of involvement in incident management team operations including service as an Incident Commander and Area Commander on wildland fire incidents and all hazard emergency responses across the country.
Executive Director
Mikel Robinson
Executive Director
International Association of Wildland Fire
1418 Washburn
Missoula, Montana 59801
USA
888-440-IAWF (4293) toll-free from US & Canada
406-531-8264
