The International Association of Wildland Fire is pleased to welcome three new members to its Board of Directors for 2026. Their diverse skills and expertise will help guide the organization into the future.

Joining the Board from 1 January 2026 are:

Dr Mika Peace is a fire weather researcher in the High Impact Weather team at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. She joined the Bureau in 2002 as an operational meteorologist and has worked in a range of roles in forecasting operations, training and commercial services and research as well as embedded in fire agencies.

She completed her PhD using coupled modelling to explore fire-atmosphere interactions at the University of Adelaide (2010-2014) through scholarships with the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and the Bureau.

Mika’s research expertise focuses on bushfire case studies and running high resolution fire-atmosphere coupled simulations using ACCESS-Fire. She partners with fire agencies and land management groups to investigate and document fire and atmosphere interactions during major bushfires, to develop understanding of how the atmosphere in three dimensions drives fire behaviour.

She was a ‘Subject Matter Expert’ after Black Summer preparing submissions for the Royal Commission and the State Inquiries. She has a publication record as lead author in international meteorological science journals.

Mika regularly presents nationally and internationally at conferences and workshops, media interviews, STEM events in schools, Women in STEM and Women in Maths and science events in the community.

Shawn Bethel has over 40 years of wildfire management experience combining 20 plus years in operational wildfire management agency roles and 20 years working in private sector wildfire mitigation technology.

During his wildfire operations career in British Columbia, Canada, Shawn was a wildland firefighter, senior trainer, helicopter operations specialist including rappel crew and helicopter hoist rescue, air tactical group supervisor, Type 1 Incident Management Team member and Senior Provincial Wildfire Protection Officer.

Shawn served on the BC Wildfire Service wildfire protection leadership team responsible for monitoring wildfire risk, prevention, preparedness, suppression, response, and recovery providing emergency services on 2000 plus wildfires annually.

For 10 years, Shawn led the Province of British Columbia’s International Cooperation Program to provide training and consulting services globally. In this role, he developed multiple resource sharing agreements with wildfire agencies around the world. Shawn helped manage the USA/Canada cross border agreements and the Northwest Compact.

Shawn has project leadership experience with operational teams conducting international training and consulting projects in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay, Ecuador, Greece, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Ghana, and South Africa. Shawn managed two separate wildfire management technology transfer projects, funded by the Canadian Government 1998-2004 in Malaysia and Argentina. He served on the Canadian Fire Management Team’s Post Wildfire Evaluation Project, for the devastating Peloponnese and Olympia fires, at the request of the Government of Greece in 2007.

Shawn continues to have direct involvement in the international wildfire community, leveraging industry knowledge and experience in the development, promotion and application of wildfire technologies that support wildfire management and mitigation efforts globally. Shawn lives with his wife and two sons on Vancouver Island, British Columbia where they live on a hobby farm in the beautiful Cowichan Valley.

Bob Bale is the Nature Conservancy-Minnesota Fire in the Forest Program Manager and Indigenous Peoples Burning Network staff member.

Bob manages a prescribed burn program in Northern Minnesota focused on agency and tribal partners cooperative training, planning, funding, operations and public outreach.  Bob is an active staff member of the Indigenous Peoples Burning Network, fostering partnerships rooted in respect and trust with Indigenous practitioners.

As a TNC Coda Fellow, Bob was a guest of Tanzania National Parks to facilitate the completion of Serengeti National Parks fire management plan Bob was also asked to modify Tanzania National Parks fire management planning process that was subsequently adopted and applied to their remaining savanna national parks.

Bob founded a conservation non-profit operating across 12 US states and The Bahamas. He led fundraising, donor cultivation, grant writing and partnership building. He sought to cultivate an organizational culture emphasizing equity, diversity, and High Reliability Organizing (HRO) principles.

Bob serves on the steering committee of the Minnesota Prescribed Fire Council and has served as co-lead of the Minnesota Forests Fire Learning Network.  His professional education includes an MA in Geography and Planning from West Chester University and a BA in Political Science from Pennsylvania State University .

 

At the same time, the IAWF extends its heartfelt gratitude to departing Directors, whose terms have concluded. Their dedication and contributions over the years have been invaluable to the IAWF’s mission.

With appreciation, we recognize the contributions of Joaquin Ramirez and Naomi Stephens to the IAWF Board over many years.

Board of Directors – International Association of Wildland Fire