Sarah Whaley
Sarah Whaley is the Emergency Management Coordinator for Lapeer County. Sarah got her start in the field of public safety in 2007 working as an EMT and Field Training Officer. A detour from the field to working for the City of Flint as a Program Manager in Community and Economic Development led to working in-depth in Federal grants management and large-scale housing development and in-depth work with many non-governmental organizations in the community. A chance encounter with a colleague led her to apply to FEMA for a Michigan based position and her transition back into working in the public safety and emergency management field. As a FEMA FIT Team Member embedded in the Michigan State Police, she ultimately transitioned to the MSP before moving to local emergency management.
Sarah is also heavily involved in Search and Rescue (SAR). She is currently the Director of the Lapeer County SAR Team. Her SAR credentials include: NASAR SARTECH I/Crew leader, Wilderness EMT, and SARTECH SARMGR. She is also an instructor of the NASAR FUNSAR, ADSAR, Managing the Lost Person Incident, and Wilderness Emergency Care programs, as well as NASAR SAR Tech II, SARTECH I, and Mounted SARTECH III, and SARTECH SARMGR Lead Evaluator.
Additionally, Sarah is recognized by the state of Michigan as a Professional Emergency Manager (PEM), as well as serves on the State All-Hazards IMT Board and the PEM Board as the Region 3 representative. She also is an ICS 300 and 400 instructor, as well as an instructor in the Emergency Management Basic Academy. Educationally, Sarah holds both an Associate’s in Criminal Justice and a Bachelor’s in Public Administration.