Keith Charters was appointed to the Natural Resources Commission in 1994 and was reappointed in 1999, 2002 and 2006.   Charters was appointed Chairman of the Commission in 1996, and currently retains the Chair.

A longtime conservationist (hunter and angler) and steward of the land, Charters also served on the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board from 1992 until he resigned in 2003. He was then again appointed to Board in June 2006 then resigned September 2006, but currently represents the Natural Resources Commission on the Board. He was chairperson of the board February 1995 through December 1995.

Charters recently retired as a consultant specializing in land use growth management.  Prior to being a land use consultant, he was a restaurateur in Acme and Mt. Pleasant for more than 32 years.  He has always been active in community organizations.  Some past involvements include his work as Chairman of the Traverse City Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Mt. Pleasant Chamber of Commerce, and the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce. He has served as a Board Member of the Michigan State Chamber of Commerce and as a Commissioner on the Isabella County Board of Commissioners. 

He received the prestigious "Traverse City Chamber of Commerce 2003 Distinguished Service Award," received the Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC) Conservationist of the Year Award in 2005; and received the 2007 Conservationist of the Year Award from the Michigan Senate. 

Charters taught in the Lincoln Park school system after graduating from Whittemore-Prescott Area Schools and from Central Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Charters and his wife, Carolyn, have two children: Elizabeth (Michael), an attorney in New Jersey , and Jeffrey (Kim), an aerospace engineer in Laurel , Maryland .  He also has two grandsons, John (Jack) Michael and Kyle Jeffrey and two granddaughters Ella Kate and Mia Rose.    

Mary C. Brown
Mary C. Brown was appointed by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm in 2004.

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 retirement 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 and the Michigan Environmental Council, and serves on the board of 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 in Michigan, she attended Albion College and Syracuse University where she received a bachelor's degree in recreation and a master's degree in education.

She and her husband, Donald, who is 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; James (Kathleen) Brown a physics professor of Crawfordsville, Indiana.

Hurley J. Coleman, Jr.

Hurley J. Coleman Jr. 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 the Washtenaw County Parks as a community recreation planner.

In 1979, he came 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 the Wayne County Parks, until he was 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.

In 2002, Coleman was named Director of Recreation for the City of Detroit. In 2006, he was named to the Citizens Committee for Michigan State Parks, and Governor Jennifer M. Granholm appointed him to the Michigan Natural Resources Commission in 2007. Coleman has taken an active interest in recruitment and retention issues as a member of the NRC, 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, and 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 2^nd Jurisdiction of Southwest Michigan COGIC under Bishop Earl J. Wright. In 2003, he was appointed 2^nd Administrative Assistant to the Bishop.

Coleman and his wife Sandra have three children and reside in Saginaw .

Darnell Earley
Darnell Earley was appointed to the Natural Resources Commission by Governor Jennifer Granholm in 2005. A lifelong resident of Michigan, he has served as a public administrator in local and state government for 27 years.

Earley currently is deputy city manager and interim finance director for the city of Saginaw. He previously served as city administrator in Flint from 2001 to 2004, and also served as its acting mayor.

From 1993 to 2001, Earley worked as budget director and deputy county controller in Ingham County. In 1988, after serving two-and-a-half years as township manager in Saginaw County's Buena Vista Charter Township, Earley was appointed director of research and public policy with the Michigan House of Representatives by former Speaker Lewis Dodak.

Earley began his professional career in 1978 as the director of community and economic development with the Urban League of Greater Muskegon, and was an assistant to the county administrator and equal employment opportunity officer for Muskegon County.

He earned a bachelor's degree from Grand Valley State University and a master's degree in public administration from Western Michigan University. He also is an ordained Baptist deacon.

Earley has served on numerous boards and committees including the Muskegon Heights Board of Education, the International City/County Management Association Executive Board and the Muskegon Red Cross Board of Directors. He also was a member of the State Board of Examiners in Mortuary Science, appointed by Governor James Blanchard.

An avid hunter and angler, Darnell also enjoys golf, travel, running, hiking and camping. He is the father of two adult children: Jaison, an assistant service manager with a retail grocery store, who lives in Ann Arbor; and Jennifer, a human resources administrator in the Washington D.C. area. His wife of 32 years, Sandra, taught in the Muskegon Heights and Waverly schools for more than 25 years, before her death in 2003.

John M. Madigan
John M. Madigan of Munising was appointed to the Michigan Natural Resources Commission by Governor John Engler on October 8, 2002.

Madigan is an owner of the Mazzali Insurance Agency, which has offices in Munising and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. He serves as vice president of the corporation. He also 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 is a member of other hunting and fishing organizations. He also worked as a charter boat captain on Lake Superior while attending college.

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

J. R. Richardson

Natural Resource Commissioner J.R. Richardson is a life-long resident of the U.P.  He has had a 31-year career in the paper industry ending in December of 2007. He started as a Union Coal Handler, Paper Machine Laborer and Recovery Boiler Operator in 1976 with Champion International Corporation. Through his career he had 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.  Starting in December 2007, he has worked for the New York-based TRAXYS Corporation, where they are creating renewable energy alternatives for producing power in the U.P. 

A graduate of Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Richardson has a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering and has completed course work towards 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.  J.R. 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 to receive this designation, and only the fourth industry overall to accomplish this.  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.  This was based on working with the local sportsman'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.  He 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. 

In his community, he served on the Ontonagon Village Council and EDC from 1996 to 2004 and has served as a member of the Volunteer Fire Department, Marina Commission and as a Hazardous Materials Certified Technician.  Richardson is also a member of the Rotary Club, Whitetails Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited, Ontonagon Valley Sportsman's Club, the Lake Superior Special Designation Task Force, as the President of the Upper Peninsula Sports Fisherman's Association and as the hair 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.  He is a Certified Stormwater Inspector and a C-3a Certified Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator in the State.

Richardson was appointed to the NRC by Governor Jennifer Granholm in 2007.  He 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 was reappointed by Governor Jennifer Granholm in 2005.

Wheatlake currently is chairman and chief executive officer of Reed City Power Line Supply Co., the Hydaker-Wheatlake Co., Hydrolake Leasing and Service Co, and Reed City GMC Truck Inc. 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. The Reed City Power Line Supply Company was founded in 1963 to provide quality material and services to the electric utility industry in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Hydrolake, founded in 1985, is a manufacturer of Michigan red pine poles used by the utility industry. Reed City GMC Truck is a light and medium duty dealership.

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

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