Our Amazing Team
Leadership
Jennifer Mueller
Chief Executive Officer
Jennifer joined The Ember Alliance during its inception in 2021, drawn by the opportunity to co-create a new culture of wildland fire management. She brings her passion for workforce development and hands-on training to support community-based fire management solutions. Jennifer is passionate about strategic leadership, cultivating partnerships, and building and leading forward-thinking teams. She brings her experience with program development, compassionate leadership, nearly 15 years of operational prescribed fire experience, and a background in teaching Backcountry Wilderness Medicine. She holds B.A. degrees from the University of Colorado in Environmental Biology and Anthropology.
Sean McCormick
Chief Operating Officer
Sean started his fire career after graduating from the University of Montana. His focus on wildfire suppression changed shortly after working on prescribed fire crews in the Southeast Coastal Plains of North Carolina. Since then, Sean has been working diligently to increase the pace and scale of prescribed fire on western landscapes. You can catch him mountain biking, traveling, or soaking up the river life with his dog June.
Amber Calvino
CPA - CFO (Trestle)
Bio coming soon!
Katelynn Lehto
Accounting Specialist (Trestle)
Bio coming soon!
Wendee Herold
Director of HR (Trestle)
Bio coming soon!
Resilient Communities and Ecosystems
Mary MacDonald
Resilient Communities and Ecosystems Director
Mary is a nonprofit strategist and partnership architect with a passion for advancing innovative services that provide equitable, sustainable, and resilient community opportunities. She has worked for some of the country’s top environmental NGOs where she developed expertise in sustainability, marketing, and fundraising. Mary enjoys horseback riding, hiking, and playing the mandolin.
Kenzie Hartt
Program Manager
Kenzie strives to innovate ways to build teams, facilitate difficult conversations, and share knowledge among partners. Before entering the wildfire realm, Kenzie worked in conservation, stewardship, communications, and volunteer management for conservation organizations, specializing in Rocky Mountain ecosystem restoration. In their free time, Kenzie enjoys backpacking, pottery, sewing, playing with their cats and dog, and DnD.
Evan Briscoe
Program Manager
Evan graduated from Purdue with a B.S. in Chemistry and received his master’s in Conservation Leadership from Colorado State University. Through his experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer and teacher/coach, he realized his passion for community outreach and youth engagement. He is interested in working with communities to develop creative solutions to complex ecological issues. In his free time, Evan enjoys soccer, waterskiing, snowboarding, and reading.
Dr. Meg Matonis
Senior Wildlfire Analyst
As a Wildfire Analyst with The Ember Alliance, Dr. Matonis conducts applied research and risk analyses, supports community engagement, and prepares holistic and actionable CWPP documents. She has a PhD in Forest Ecology from Colorado State University and formerly worked with the Colorado State Forest Service and Rocky Mountain Research Station. Meg has been an on-call wildland firefighter with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office since 2013.
Cary Gooding
Project Manager
Cary received her Master’s degree from Colorado State University in Conservation Leadership. Her professional background includes complex, adaptive project management and she has a passion for wildlife and ecosystem conservation. Cary is committed to learning and sharing knowledge in interesting and novel ways. In her free time, she enjoys baking, crafting, and getting lost in the worlds of fantasy fiction.
Aimeé Artigues
Project Manager
Aimeé specializes in wildfire resilience across the Western U.S. with an M.S. in Science Education and 26 years in education. She tests for WCAG compliance, has contributed to multiple Community Wildfire Protection Plans, and practices land stewardship on her property, including broadcast burns, water management, and fuels reduction. She champions science-based approaches that balance ecological restoration, community safety, and long-term sustainability to ensure natural resources and resilient communities thrive together. You can also find her spending time with family and furr kids, enjoying music, and tending to her gardens.
Hannah Fagan
Assistant Project Manager
Hannah comes from a background in operational wildland fire and wildfire home assessments. Before working as a wildland firefighter, she got her start in land conservation through Americorps. Hannah has worked for federal and municipal governments across the Colorado front range, which instilled in her a passion for building community resiliency through prescribed fire. Originally from Massachusetts, she loves to use her free time to read, paint, and run.
Jon Henry
GIS Specialist
Jon Henry is a GIS Specialist with The Ember Alliance, where he leads wildfire modeling, spatial analysis, and technical workflow development in support of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs), mitigation planning, and fire management initiatives. He designs and builds custom GIS tools that automate processes, standardize wildfire risk analyses, and improve the efficiency and quality of project deliverables.
In addition to his GIS work, Jon plays a central role in IT management and maintaining the organization’s technical systems. He supports hardware, software, user systems, troubleshooting, and security configuration in coordination with organizational leadership, helping ensure staff have reliable and functional technical infrastructure. He also serves as Fleet Manager, overseeing vehicle readiness, maintenance coordination, and operational logistics to support both field and programmatic work.
Jon is actively involved in field and training operations. He is qualified as an Incident Commander Type 5 (ICT5) and Crew Boss (CRWB) and supports wildfire mitigation and incident response efforts. He teaches S-130/190 and S-212 courses through Front Range Community College and provides field instruction with Gulf Corps.
With a background that bridges wildfire operations, GIS development, technical systems management, fleet coordination, and workforce training, Jon brings a practical, systems-oriented approach to strengthening wildfire preparedness and mitigation capacity.
Izzy Sofio
Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative Coordinator
As the NCFC Coordinator, Izzy brings experience in facilitation, community engagement, wildfire resilience, and a master’s degree in Environmental Science & Management from UCSB’s Bren School. Her experience spans social science research, natural resource collaboratives, climate adaptation efforts, and science communication. Outside of work, you can find her hiking and skiing, trying her hand at biking, climbing, and fishing, experimenting in the kitchen, or reading with her dog, Blue.
Bridgette Windell
Community Engagement and Outreach Manager
Bridgette joined The Ember Alliance as the Community Engagement and Outreach Manager for both The Ember Alliance and NCFC. She brings a background in communications, public engagement, and advocacy; working for various organizations in public, private, and non-profit agencies. Bridgette earned a masters degree in Conservation Leadership from Colorado State University. You can often find her on skis or on the river with her partner and Bernese mountain dog, Moose.
Lou Bean
Digital Content Intern
Lou Bean is a prescribed fire practitioner and fuels technician in addition to working on communication and engagement. Originally from Colorado and currently based in the San Luis Valley, Lou has also worked on fire and habitat restoration crews across Colorado, Georgia, and Illinois for various agencies and organizations. Lou is just as passionate about engaging the public in the transformative work of prescribed fire and community resilience as getting out in the field, where they can be found burning and working on forest and watershed restoration.
Liviya Kovacevic
GIS Specialist
As a GIS Specialist, Liviya is passionate about the role of spatial analysis in supporting resilient communities. She holds a Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate and has a background in UAS operations. Before joining The Ember Alliance, she worked in stormwater management, where she developed an interest in applying geospatial techniques to community-oriented projects. In her free time, Liviya enjoys running, biking, Nordic skiing, and baking.
Fire Management
Dan Gualtieri
Director of Fire Management
Dan earned a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Florida, where he was introduced to prescribed fire. After several years as a biologist, he joined the Department of Defense fire management program serving for 15 years in a variety of leadership roles. As Program Manager for the Integrated Research Management Team, Dan will support the development and implementation of wildland fire science and technology through co-production with researchers and fire managers. Collaborating with the Eastern Innovation Landscape Network, which includes the The Ember Alliance and Department of Defense, Dan will bring innovative tools such as QuicFire and LiDAR 3D fuels scanning to fire programs across the US.
Greg Gilbert
Planning and Implementation Program Manager
Greg has 25 years of diverse operational experience. He earned a Bachelor’s from Oklahoma State University, Master’s from the University of Colorado – Denver and is working towards a PhD through the University of Idaho. Greg is committed to finding innovative solutions to challenges, developing leaders of leaders, and preparing the future generations of wildland professionals.
Meg O'Brien
Project Manager
Megan graduated with a BS in Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation. Before her three seasons as a wildland fire fighter, Megan gained several years of experience in natural resource management and fire mitigation working for nonprofits in New York and Montana. In her free time, you’ll find Megan dirt biking and running trails through the mountains of Montana.
Scott Parker
Assistant Project Manager
Scott spent over a decade as a member of a touring band, where he also managed the business side, handling budgets, contracts, and logistics for the group, along with relationships with agents, venues, and legal counsel. That experience is what pulled him toward project coordination, and more recently he’s been applying it to GIS work. He’s based in Missoula, where he spends his free time climbing, mountain biking, and hiking with his family.
Andrew Meyers
Assistant Project Manager
Andrew was born and raised in Colorado. He has been involved in wildand firefighting for five years with most of his time focused on wildfire mitigation and prevention around Boulder County. His current passion is teaching and training new sawyers and wildland firefighters. When Andrew isn’t working, he can be found in the Rocky Mountains with his blue heeler, Kota.
Tyler Cross
Prescribed Fire Operations Specialist
Tyler received a B.S. in biology from Union College and an M.S. in Environmental Conservation from The University of Massachusetts: Amherst in 2016. Since then he has worked in environmental conservation, with a focus on the utilization of prescribed fire in restoration operations, across much of the east coast. He recently moved to Fort Collins, Colorado and is excited to learn about how fire has shaped the landscape in and around the mountains.
Jacob Ney
Fire Science Program Manager
Jacob began his career in wildland fire science at Tall Timbers Research Station and went on to receive an M.S. in Forest and Rangeland Stewardship from Colorado State University. As a Research Scientist with the New Mexico Consortium, he used terrestrial LiDAR to scan and represent fuels in 3D for ecosystem monitoring. He is passionate about LiDAR and using innovative tools like QUIC-Fire to predict fire behavior. Bringing researchers and land managers together in a co-production environment ensures that these approaches are continually refined to help better meet objectives. In his free time, Jacob may be found mountain biking, backpacking, and Nordic skiing.
Matthew Buice
Uwharrie Crew Lead
Matt pursued many endeavors since receiving his degree in Marine Biology. While in Florida, he worked as a Surgical Tech at a Veterinary Clinic while simultaneously starting and running a Non-profit Wildlife Ambulance Service that is still going strong today. He opened a home rehab clinic for wildlife, treating and releasing thousands before joining a Texas Gulfcorps crew, introducing him to the world of Wildland Fire.
Killian Farrell
Uwharrie Assistant Crew Lead
Killian has several years experience in prescribed fire and land management throughout the U.S. Southeast and Midwest. They have B.S. degrees in Atmospheric & Oceanic Science, and Ecology & Evolution. When not stringing fire through the woods, Killian enjoys hand embroidery, baking, and hiking.
Laura Tayon
Greenville Crew Lead
Laura finds purpose in learning about the natural world and creating healthier ecosystems, and she pursues both as the Greenville crew lead. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and has a background in ecology research, including fire ecology. She also brings experience in leading research teams in the field and has studied a variety of organisms from insects to amphibians. Her work with The Ember Alliance will help land managers integrate terrestrial laser scanning into their toolboxes to burn more efficiently and effectively.
Julia Wine
Greenville Assistant Crew Lead
Julia graduated with a BS in Biology from William & Mary and an MS in Sustainable Forest Management from Oregon State University before joining the Ember Alliance. She is passionate about fire ecology and adaptive management and is excited to keep learning about fire and fuels in her current position. In her free time Julia plays ultimate frisbee and enjoys rock climbing, hiking, and printmaking.
William Perry
Greenville Crew Member
William graduated with his B.S. in Ecological and Evolutionary Biology. He’s done volunteer trail work with AmeriCorps, and loves working in a variety of ecosystems, helping to protect natural resources and serve communities. In his free time, he loves to hike, climb, and play in traditional Irish sessions.
Jamie Pretorius
Greenville Crew Member
Jamie graduated with a B.S. in Forestry from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2025. They have a strong interest in restoring ecosystems to enhance habitat and protect natural resources. They previously served a term with Americorps treating invasive species in Rocky Mountain National Park. On any given day, they can be found hiking and lying on the ground identifying plants.
Jacob Honn
Greenville Crew Member
Jacob is an avid naturalist and has spent time in diverse ecosystems across the country. Summers spent camping in the Appalachian mountains eventually led him to earn a B.A. in Biology from Earlham College in Indiana. He then moved to Montana and earned his Master’s in Range science at MSU, where he focused on the applications of remote sensing for modeling rangeland plant biodiversity, and quickly became fascinated by the role of fire in ecosystem resilience and management. In his free time, Jacob can usually be found exploring forests, photographing plants or climbing rocks.
Metz Prause
Greenville Crew Member
Metz is a recent graduate of Central Connecticut State University, holding a Bachelor’s in Geography. A native of South Carolina, Metz has both educational and field background in GIS and environmental science across the East Coast. Prior to joining the Ember Alliance team, Metz has been involved with the sailing community and Scouting. In their free time, Metz enjoys boating, supporting local live music, and traveling off the beaten path.
Integrated Research Management Team (IRMT)
Troy Floyd
IRMT Member
Troy started as a Forest Patrolman in 1984 with the Georgia Forestry Commission. Early in his career he served as a district fire weather station manager, instilling passion for Fuels and Fire Behavior. Troy took that passion and become one of the first FBAN (Fire Behavior Analyst) for the State of Georgia. Troy enjoys being with his wife of 41 years, and seven grandchildren when off duty.
Linda M Chappell
IRMT Member
Linda is interested in all aspects of wildland fire in the interest of creating and enhancing functioning ecosystems across the globe. She has 30+ years experience in many aspects of wildland fire, and is now assisting in developing the National Interagency Fuels Academy, is an Air Resource Advisor & Plans Chief on wildfires, and is works with the IRMT. When she isn’t teaching and preaching pyro-evangelism, she is known to hike, play with her kids and grandkids, rebuild old trucks, travel, and ride her motorcycle.
Tommy Hawkins
IRMT Member
Tommy served in the U.S. Army from 1982-1988 and also has 38 years of Wildland Fire and Prescribed fire experience. He retired from the State of Georgia and still actively serves on the Southern Area Red Team as Safety Officer and Operations Section Chief. Tommy is an Instructor for several NWCG courses for US ARMY IMCOM, and serves on the IRMT as a Safety Officer to help with the research into Fire and Smoke. When Tommy is not on fires or teaching, he enjoys hunting, fishing and spoiling his 3 grandchildren.
Dr. Sue Wilder
IRMT Member
Sue received her MS and PhD in Botany from LSU. She worked for USGS and the USFWS as an ecologist. She participated for many years on the Southern Area Blue Team (Plans) and on many other incident management teams. She recently retired from FWS and now volunteers for conservation organizations and helps teach fire courses. Her work with the IRMT has bridged both her research and fire ecology interests. When not working, Sue enjoys working on her golf game and fun times with her five grandchildren.
Victa Edge
IRMT Member
Vicky retired with 30 years of service at Georgia Forestry Commission. Her career included early years as an initial attack dozer operator, later years as a supervisor of fire control personnel and always an avid instructor in training. Vicky continues to work with many state, non governmental organizations and federal agencies training upcoming firefighters in the world of fire management. She has been a member of the Southern Area CIMT Red Team for 35 years and currently holds qualifications in Operations, Plans, Public Information, and a Fire Behavior Analyst. Vicky enjoys her husband and family. She spends all her retirement time just enjoying them!
Lynne Howard
IRMT Member
Lynne retired from the U.S. Forest Service with 37 years of service. Her career began in 1980 and she worked in Timber and Silviculture until she moved into Fire Management full time. She retired as the Assistant Director, Aviation for Region 8 of the US Forest Service. She is still a member of the Southern Area Red Team and serves as Air Operations Branch Director. She also serves as Air Operations Branch Director on the IRMT. In her spare time, Lynne enjoys riding her horse and hiking with her husband.
Matt Snider
IRMT Member
Matt has been engaged in wildland fire management since 1991, when he went to work for the National Park Service as a Student Conservation Association intern. He spent 12 years with the NPS working on Initial Attack and Engine Modules, an Interagency Hotshot Crew, 2 different Wildland Fire Modules, a Helitack Crew, and as a Fuels Crew Captain. After leaving the NPS, Matt spent several years as a Fire Program Manager with The Nature Conservancy, and later served as the State Fire Management Officer for the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. Matt has also managed a Single Engine Airtanker Base for the Bureau of Land Management, served as a Training Specialist at the Tall Timbers Applied Fire Sciences Laboratory, and as a liaison between the management and scientific communities with the New Mexico Consortium. A lifelong conservationist, Matt has committed his career to increasing the pace and scale of prescribed fire and managed natural fire to increase the health, resilience, and stability of North American ecosystems, and the health and safety of the communities in and around them.
Mark Struthwolf
IRMT Member
Mark earned a MS degree in Atmospheric Sciences from SUNY Albany, NY in 1983, after which achieved over 38 years of experience as a meteorologist. Most of his career was spent at
NWS in Salt Lake City, where he served 14 years as the Fire Weather Program Manager and Incident Meteorologist (IMET), with over 45 wildfire deployments. His time in the field was thoroughly enjoyed and strengthened his operational micro-meteorology forecast skills in complex terrain. After retiring in 2021, he took on the role as an Air Resource Advisor to fulfill his desire of continuing to work in the field of weather and wildland fire. When Mark is not going out on wildfire deployments, he can be found backcountry skiing, mountain biking, playing pickleball, or playing in the outdoors with his two grand kids.
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