Board of Directors

Noreen Buhmann

Noreen is the Volunteer Resources Manager for Three Rivers Park District. Formerly, she was the Director of Service Learning and Community Service at Gustavus Adolphus College where she worked with faculty to engage students in the community through their course work and oversaw the operation of a large community service center. Her career began with the YMCA under the umbrella of community youth development. She created a variety of collaborative programs with new immigrant groups, state agencies, and higher education. She has extensive experience teaching and presenting workshops about cultural competencies, community development and involvement, youth development, and volunteerism to local, regional and national audiences. She holds a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership.

Byron Callies

Byron is certified as a Healthcare Emergency Professional (CHEP) and holds the Michigan Professional Emergency Manager (PEM), IAEM Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) and FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP) credentials.Currently, Byron serves as Mayo Clinic’s Emergency Management Manager.  He oversees the Safety – Emergency Management team.  As chair of the HICS Coordinating Group and Emergency Preparedness Plan Committee, Byron provides strategic guidance and operational expertise for the organization’s emergency management program.  

Heidi Conrad

Treasurer, Executive Committee

Heidi is the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Regions Hospital in St. Paul, MN with accountability for the operations of the Departments of Finance and Decision Support, Risk Management, Registration and Patient Accounting, Facility Planning and Government & Community Relations, along with oversight for the Finance functions at Westfields and Hudson Hospitals. Heidi has her BBA in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MBA from Hamline University.

Troy Dickinson

Chair, Governance Committee and Vice Chair, Executive Committee

Troy Dickinson began working with ECHO in 2009 as a volunteer and currently serves as the chair of the Governance Committee and as the Vice Chair of the ECHO Board. Troy lives in Cottage Grove and currently works at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota as a Principal Operations Consultant. He is also enrolled at the University of St. Thomas working towards a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree. "It is a pleasure to be part of an organization that is truly a valuable asset in the communities that it serves."  

Valerie Donovan

Co-Chair, Activation & Emergency Preparedness Committee

Valerie Donovan, Vice President of Enterprise Resiliency & Response has been with UnitedHealth Group since 2007 and has responsibility operational leadership of the corporate program designed to help UnitedHealth Group prevent and/or mitigate the impacts of events that could disrupt business operations.  To drive overall resiliency, she and her staff focus on ensuring recovery planning activities occur, leading cross-organizational projects designed to mitigate risk, and directing the corporate response to major events, from hurricanes to public health emergencies.

Arturo "Jay" Elepano

Originally from Quezon City in the Philippines, Jay got involved with ECHO in 2009 through MAP and is now Vice-Chair of ECHO's Board of Directors. Jay currently is a Global Product Marketing Manager for Nikon Metrology in the Twin Cities. "As an immigrant, I realize the struggles and stresses that come along with a new country and culture. I am blessed to be working to help others on their journey.

Richard Lau

Governance Committee

Originally from the tropical paradise of Hawai’i, Richard moved to Minnesota to attend the University of Minnesota Law School, where he graduated cum laude.  Richard, a partner at Redmon Law Chartered, practices corporate and commercial real estate.  He lives in Woodbury, MN with his wife, daughter, and two dogs.

Sandy Lein

With more than 20 years of health care industry experience, Sandy Lien is currently a regional coordinator in the State Public Programs division at Medica. In addition to managing county relationships for the Minnesota Health Care Programs products, Sandy is also responsible for educational programming initiatives. Sandy has served on a great number of local, city, county, and state-wide collaboratives throughout her tenure with Medica.

Jeannine Mueller Harmon

Jeannine is a lifelong Minnesotan and board member since 2010.  She has more than 30 years of health care experience in community, emergency, travel and refugee health as a provider, researcher, and educator- so ECHO’s focus is a natural fit. She lives in New Brighton with her husband and two children; enjoys biking and travel. "I am in awe of people who speak more than one language and am always amazed at how interconnected and small the world really is."

Joe Mathews

Governance Committee

Joe Mathews is a Senior Financial Management Analyst at Hennepin County and previously worked as a Policy Analyst for the Association of Minnesota Counties.  He has over a decade of experience working with non-profit and not-for-profit boards as well as local, state and federal governments.  Joe is a lifelong Minnesotan from rural Minnesota currently living in Eagan with his wife, daughter and dog.

Michael Olesen

Secretary, Executive Committee, Emergency Preparedness Committee

Michael has been working as an infection prevention and epidemiology consultant for hospitals, clinics, and in legal cases. Currently he is also a safety officer on a federal disaster medical assistance team. He is also a consultant in emergency preparedness planning as well for a number of years with most of his time spent in hospital and pandemic preparedness. He has served on numerous emergency preparedness committees in local, state, and national organizations. He has recently joined UnitedHealth Group as Enterprise Resiliency and Response Manager.

Julie Ring

Chair, Executive Committee

Since June 2005, Julie Ring has served as the Director of the Local Public Health Association (LPHA) of Minnesota, managing day-to-day operations and serving as a liaison between local public health departments and state agencies. Prior to joining LPHA, Julie was a program planning supervisor in the Minnesota Department of Health’s Office of Public Health Practice.

Ann Rogers

Chair, Development Committee

Committed to the delivery of health care services for low income and underserved populations, Ann Rogers has over 25 years experience in the health care industry, managing government programs products.  Additionally, as a experienced community relations professional, her background includes more than 15 years experience with nonprofit organizational management, working on the development and management of programs that deal with issues of health disparities, civic engagement and preventive community health programs.