Mary C. Brown of Kalamazoo was appointed to the Natural Resources Commission by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm in 2004 and reappointed in 2008.
 
A former college teacher and community activist, Brown served 18 years in the Legislature on several environmental committees.  Prior to her legislative service, she was active in the League of Women Voters, serving on the state board in the capacity of environmental affairs and land use chair.  She also served on the state board of the Michigan Section of the American Camping Association.

Since retiring from the Legislature, Brown has been active in volunteer roles.  She is a Girl Scout troop leader, serves on the boards of the state YMCA, the Michigan Environmental Council, and the American Lung Association of Michigan and is chair of the Clean Air Committee.  She is a founding member of the Kalamazoo Environmental Council and the Coalition for Urban Redevelopment in Kalamazoo. 

Commissioner Brown received the Michigan Environmental Council Helen and William Milliken Distinguished Service Award in 2007.

A graduate of Midland High School, she attended Albion College and Syracuse University where she received a bachelor's degree in recreation and a master's degree in education.
 
Commissioner Brown and her husband Donald, a retired professor of chemistry, have lived in Kalamazoo since 1960. They have three grown children - Linda (Charles) Cook, a teacher in Chicago, Illinois; Jeffrey (Faith) Brown, an architect of New Haven, Connecticut; and James (Kathleen) Brown, a physics professor of Crawfordsville, Indiana.
 
Hurley J. Coleman, Jr.

Hurley J. Coleman Jr. of Saginaw was appointed to the Natural Resources Commission by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm in 2007 and reappointed in 2008.
 
Coleman has long been interested in public recreation.  After graduating from Eastern Michigan University in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in community recreation administration, he started his career with Washtenaw County Parks as a community recreation planner.
  
In 1979, he returned home to Saginaw and began working for the Saginaw County Parks and Recreation Department as a recreation program coordinator.
 
In 1985, he became the recreation superintendent for the Saginaw Recreation Department.
  
In 1989, Coleman was named director of Wayne County Parks and subsequently appointed assistant county executive to the late Edward H. McNamara, former Wayne County executive.  While serving in Wayne County, Coleman testified at congressional hearings on community parks and recreation spending at the invitation of Congressman John Dingell.
 
Coleman was named director of recreation for the city of Detroit in 2002, and in 2006, was named to the Citizens Committee for Michigan State Parks.  Coleman has taken an active interest in recruitment and retention issues as a member of the Natural Resources Commission, as well as expanding recreation to non-traditional users.
   
Coleman has served as an officer for the Michigan Recreation and Parks Association and was elected the second African-American male president of the association in 1990.  From 1988 to 1991 he was a member of the National Parks and Recreation Association's Ethnic Minority Society, was elected to the board and served as its president from 1995-96.
 
A man of faith, Coleman was appointed pastor of the Greater Coleman Temple Church of God in Christ (COGIC) in 2001, upon the death of his father, Dr. H.J. Coleman.  He also was appointed district superintendent of Liberty District of the 2nd Jurisdiction of Southwest Michigan COGIC under Bishop Earl J. Wright.  In 2003, Coleman was appointed 2nd administrative assistant to the Bishop.
  
Commissioner Coleman and his wife Sandra have three children and reside in Saginaw.
 
John M. Madigan

John M. Madigan of Munising was appointed to the Michigan Natural Resources Commission by Governor John Engler in 2002 and reappointed by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm in 2007 and 2010.

Madigan is an owner of the Munising Hardware Company, a business started by his grandfather in 1920 and operated by the family for the past 82 years.

Madigan earned a bachelor of science degree from Northern Michigan University in 1982 and taught at a public high school from 1982 to 1986 before going into business.

He is a past board member of the Alger County Fish and Game Alliance and a member of other hunting and fishing organizations.  He also worked as a charter boat captain on Lake Superior while attending college.

Commissioner Madigan resides in Munising with his wife, Kristin, and daughter, Kathleen.  They enjoy boating and fishing.

John Matonich

John Matonich was appointed to the Natural Resources Commission by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm in 2010.

Matonich is the president and chief executive officer of ROWE Professional Services Company, a firm specializing in consulting engineering, surveying, planning, landscape architecture, aerial photogrammetry and land development services in Michigan and across the country.

Matonich joined ROWE in 1981. He was named a principal (owner) in 1992, promoted to president in 1997 and to chief executive officer in 2001.  John was also elected ROWE's chairman of the board in 2006.

A licensed professional surveyor in Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, Matonich is a past president of the Michigan Society of Professional Surveyors (MSPS) and a current at-large director on the board of the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors.  He is a director and treasurer of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) Foundation.

At the national level, Matonich served as president of the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) in 2009-2010.  He is chairman of the Joint Government Affairs Committee for the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM) headquartered in Washington, D.C. and serves as an NSPS delegate to the ACSM Congress, representing more than 6,000 surveying members across the country.

Matonich also serves in advisory and adjunct roles at public universities.  He is a member of the Surveying Curriculum Advisory Committee at Michigan Technological University, a role he also filled at Ferris State University for a number of years.  He also has served as adjunct faculty to the University of Michigan-Flint Earth Sciences Department.

A writer as well as a surveyor, Matonich has been published in "Professional Surveyor" magazine and is a contributing writer for "American Surveyor" and the "Michigan Professional Surveyor."

Born and raised in the west end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, John has been an avid outdoorsman all his life.  From raising beagles with his father as a young boy so they could hunt snowshoe rabbits together, to quietly wading brook trout streams, to hunting the elusive whitetail, he is always looking forward to the next opportunity to enjoy Michigan's outdoors.  One of his cherished accomplishments was catching Michigan's second largest steelhead for 1989 (21 lbs. 14 oz.) in Manistee Lake and being awarded a Master Angler by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. He has hunted, fished and camped all over Michigan but always enjoys some quiet time fishing for walleye off the dock of his cottage on the east shore of Lake Gogebic.

Locally, Matonich is the chair-elect of the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce and past chairman-elect of the former Flint Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, as well as past president of the Davison Chamber of Commerce.  He also is a member of the Burton Rotary Club, Davison Optimists Club, and past chair of the Lapeer Downtown Development Authority. Matonich is a board member of the Lapeer Economic Development Corporation and a member of the Flint Watershed Coalition, MUCC, NRA and SCI (Flint and Northwoods Chapters).

Commissioner Matonich earned his bachelor of science degree in land surveying with honors from Michigan Technological University in 1981.  He resides in Davison and has two children, Katelynn and Matthew.

Timothy L. Nichols, Chair

Timothy L. Nichols of Fowlerville was appointed to the Natural Resources Commission by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm in 2009.
 
Upon graduation from Haslett High School in 1968, Nichols entered Iron Workers Local Union 25 Apprenticeship and Training Program.  He graduated in 1972 as a journeyman iron worker.

Nichols is a principal and one of the founders of the BUILD Funds and Labor-Management Fund Advisors, (LMFA) LLC, with over 25 years of senior management experience in the building and construction trades.  Prior to joining LMFA, Nichols served as director of external relations for the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO in Washington D.C.  He was responsible for the department's external relations, including government, public, and interdepartmental.  He coordinated the National Committee on Labor-Management and headed the department's legislative task force.   Nichols also was responsible for coordinating relations with the department's Canadian building and construction trades councils and staffs.

Prior to his position at the Building Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, Nichols served as secretary-treasurer and president of the Michigan State Building Trades Council.  In this capacity, he coordinated the efforts of over 125 local building trades unions with over 80,000 members throughout the state of Michigan.  He also served as a business agent for Ironworkers Local #25.  In addition to his involvement in the building trades, Nichols also has served on numerous not-for-profit and community boards.
 
In the 1980s, Nichols was a member of the Ingham County Fair Board, serving as president for four years and vice president for eight years.  Nichols was the first person ever to have a term extended beyond the two consecutive four year term limit for any county appointment.
 
Nichols was appointed by Lansing Mayor David Hollister to serve for two years as secretary of board of Lansing Michigan Entertainment Authority and oversaw operations of Lansing's minor league baseball stadium, Lansing Convention Center, and the Lansing City Market.
 
From 1989 to 1996, Nichols received many appointments by Governor James Blanchard and Governor John Engler, serving on the Michigan State Building Authority and as vice-chairman of the Construction Safety Standards Commission of Michigan from 1989-1996.  Nichols sat on the Michigan Labor Management Council from 1990-1992, and in 1994, Governor Engler appointed him to the Michigan Privatization Commission.  From 1988-1993, Nichols served as vice-chairman of the board of the Michigan Apprenticeship and Steering Committee and then chairman of the board from 1994-1996.  Nichols was secretary on the board of directors for the Metro Realty Corporation (Real Estate Investment Trust) from 1990-1996.

Throughout his career, Nichols has served on many civic boards, including the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee, the Sparrow Hospital Foundation, Chief Okemos Boy Scouts, Lansing Community College Foundation, and Red Cedar Recreation.  He also helped to establish the Dollars to Diabetes (DADS) all trades softball tournament in Lansing, which has raised over $450,000 to date for diabetic research.  Nichols was co-chairman for the grand opening ceremonies of Oldsmobile Park baseball stadium, coordinated the creation of the food bank for Iron Workers Local #25, and currently sits on the Michigan United Conservation Club Advisory Board.

Nichols helped to establish the Douglas Griffith Community Service Award Breakfast for Kids.  This award pays tribute to labor leaders from the mid-Michigan area for their many years of community commitment and dedication.  Proceeds raised are donated to the Sparrow Hospital Foundation for the Children's Miracle Network.

Chairman Nichols and his wife of 40 years, Judy, had one son, Brian (deceased), and a daughter, April (Scott) Nolan, of Fowlerville.  Two grandsons, Garrett and Grant, and granddaughter Morgan complete the family.

J. R. Richardson
 
J.R. Richardson of Ontonagon was appointed to the Natural Resources Commission by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm in 2007 and reappointed in 2010.

He is a life-long resident of the Upper Peninsula.  His 31-year career in the paper industry ended in December 2007.  He began as a union coal handler, paper machine laborer and recovery boiler operator in 1976 with Champion International Corporation.  Throughout his career, Richardson worked as a process engineer, engineering supervisor, production supervisor and quality and environmental manger.  Richardson ended his paper industry career as an operations and technical manager for Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation.  Since December 2007, he has worked for the New York-based TRAXYS Corporation, which creates renewable energy alternatives for producing power in the U.P.
 
A graduate of Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Richardson holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering and has completed course work toward a business engineering administration degree.

While working in the forest products industry, Richardson has been a leader in developing safe, profitable, environmentally friendly processes and procedures.  He directed the development of an environmental management system that led the way to the state of Michigan's Clean Corporate Citizen designation for the Ontonagon paper mill.  The Ontonagon facility became the first paper mill in the state and only the fourth industry overall to receive this designation.  Under Richardson's leadership, the mill also attained a longevity award from the Clean Corporate Citizen program in 2004 and three Neighborhood Environmental Partnership designations.
 
Richardson also received the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Partner in Conservation Award in 1993 based on his work with local sportsmen's groups on habitat rehabilitation and fish plants, along with managing an award-winning wastewater treatment plant in Michigan.  He was honored by the Michigan Manufacturer's Association as a finalist for the John G. Thodis Award in 2006 and has received numerous awards from Champion International for team excellence and selected for the Chairman's Award of Excellence in 1996, celebrated at the corporate headquarters in Chicago.
 
His community involvement includes service on the Ontonagon Village Council and EDC from 1996 to 2004 and serving as a member of the volunteer fire department, Marina Commission, and as a hazardous materials certified technician.  Richardson also is a member of the Rotary Club, Whitetails Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited, Ontonagon Valley Sportsmen's Club, the Lake Superior Special Designation Task Force, president of the Upper Peninsula Sports Fishermen's Association and chair of the Solid Waste Planning Committee.  For the timber industry, he has served on the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's Task Force for Best Management Practices, is a certified stormwater inspector and a C-3a certified wastewater treatment plant operator in the state.
 
Commissioner Richardson resides in Ontonagon and is an avid fly fisherman, annual backpacker in the Porkies, hunter, stamp and antique collector, and outdoorsman.  He says "come on up to the U.P. and we can go fishing, eh?"
 
Franklin C. Wheatlake

Franklin C. Wheatlake of Big Rapids was appointed to the Michigan Natural Resources Commission by Governor John Engler in 2001 and reappointed by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm in 2005 and 2009.

Wheatlake currently is chairman of Utility Supply and Construction Co. and its wholly owned subsidiaries Power Line Supply Co., the Hydaker-Wheatlake Co., and Hydrolake, Inc. and owner/operator of Crossroads Chevrolet.  The Hydaker-Wheatlake Co. began building power lines in 1927 in Ohio, and through a progression of moves, eventually selected its present site in west central Michigan.  Power Line Supply Company was founded in 1963 to provide quality material and logistic services to the electric utility industry in Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Ohio.  Hydrolake, founded in 1985, is a manufacturer of Michigan red pine poles used by the utility industry. Crossroads Chevrolet is a full-line dealership.

Wheatlake received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Michigan Technological University in 1970.

A lifelong resident of Michigan, Commissioner Wheatlake was a member of the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board from 1998 through July 2001.