This is your first preview of our candidates that are running in our upcoming election. Voting will open on April 21st, 2026.
We will be having an election for the following positions:
- President Elect (1) Special Election
- Vice President (1) Please note an additional VP will be elected to replace our current VP, who is unable to fulfill their duties.
- Treasurer (1)
- Member at Large (3)
- Society Advisory Group Member (2)
President Elect Candidates (One Open Seat)
- Whitney Larson
Whitney Larson is a passionate safety professional committed to promoting integrity, collaboration, and strong safety cultures across the workplace. She serves as a resource for both the physical and psychological safety of jobsite personnel, building collaborative partnerships with team members at every level of an organization. Whitney previously served the ASSP Northwest Chapter as both Government Affairs Chair and Member-at-Large, supporting member engagement and advocacy for workplace safety. Through these roles, she developed a strong appreciation for the impact of chapter leadership and member collaboration. Whitney is now seeking to further her service and leadership within the chapter as President-Elect, continuing her commitment to supporting members and advancing safety across the profession.
Vice President Candidates (Two Open Seats)
1. Tyler Murphy
Tyler Murphy is a Certified Safety Professional with 15+ years of experience dedicated to strengthening the safety cultures within the organizations he’s been employed by. Being a part of the ASSP Northwest Chapter since a student of UW-Stout’s Risk Control program in 2008, he has attended monthly meetings to continue learning, and compliments how the Northwest Chapter has allowed him to build relationships and network with other safety professionals! He previously was a Member at Large (2022-2024), actively attending the chapter’s board meetings (before each monthly chapter meeting). He’s held his CSP since 2013. Tyler resides near New Richmond, WI with his wife and two children (12 & 8).
2. Curt Schroeder
Curt has spent the past 10 years in the safety industry, including eight years with 3M’s Personal Safety Division. For the last two years, Curt has led the safety division at Acme Tools, overseeing operations across 12 locations in three states.
Curt has completed his QSSP certification and have supported numerous customers through safety standdowns, product evaluations, and PPE program development. Curt’s focus is ensuring that workers are equipped with the right protective solutions so they can perform their jobs safely and return home at the end of each day.
Treasurer Candidates (One Open Seat)
1. Chris Flegel
Chris Flegel has served as the NW chapter treasurer for several years and has been on the ASSP NW Chapter board and served as the NW Chapter President during the chapter’s 75th anniversary celebration. Chris is willing to continue his duties to help preserve the chapter finances.
Member at Large Candidates (Three Open Seats)
1. Scott Huberty
Scott has been very involved with the Northwest Chapter since first joining ASSP in 2005. He has served several terms as Chapter Treasurer and President. During his first term as Chapter President during 2009-2010, the Northwest Chapter was named the Society’s Large Chapter of the Year. Scott has also been active in organizing past Chapter PDC’s, the Annual Summer Boat Cruise for EHS Professionals, and other Northwest Chapter events. He has been the PDC Planning Committee Chair for 2024, 2025, and 2026. In his “day job”, Scott is a Safety Specialist at The Builders Group (TBG); a workers compensation self-insurance group for Minnesota building contractors.
2. Eric Toth
Eric R. Toth, CSP is a Director of Safety and Health with Cordia, a utility provider of heating, cooling, and electrical generation to major metropolitan US cities. Eric is responsible for health and safety program development, hazard and risk identification, compliance, and management system practices. Based in Minneapolis, at the Cordia Energy Center, a MNSTAR facility, Eric has been a dedicated member of the Northwest Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals since 2005. His career began in 1988 with Northern States Power Company (Xcel Energy) in waste-to-recovery and fossil fuel electrical generation, then transitioned to NRG Energy, becoming an EHS Manager for NRG’s European division for over four years in the UK, Czech Republic, and Hungary. Eric holds a BS degree in Industrial Technology Engineering from the University of Minnesota–Duluth and is also a licensed aviation pilot.
3. Andrea Peterson
Andrea has worked as an EHS professional for 15 years, primarily in manufacturing. She is currently the HSE Director for Trystar, a manufacturer of custom electrical system solutions, based in Faribault, MN. She holds a B.S. of Global Security & Intelligence Studies from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and a Master of Science in Public Safety & Emergency Management from Capella University. As a member of ASSP since 2011, Andrea has attended many local and national events over the years. She has served as Member at Large for the Northwest Chapter from 2024-2026, and would like to continue providing support to the board and the regional members. Andrea is also an active member of the Steele County Emergency Response Team, and has been an instructor for the new CERT Member classes for the last 10 years. She is passionate about learning and development, for herself, safety professionals, and community members.
4. Joel Ferguson, CSP with Grainger
Certified Safety Professional with 10+ years of experience leading environmental, health, and safety programs across the food and beverage, manufacturing, and oil and gas industries. At W.W. Grainger, responsible for performing safety inspections across 500+ facilities in MN, IA, WI, ND, and SD, serving as a regional safety subject matter expert for 200+ employees, and delivering training and consultation that help organizations reduce injuries and strengthen EHS programs.
5. Megan Rooney
Megan Rooney has been in the safety field for almost 25 years. She currently works at Target supporting stores safety (just celebrated her 14 year anniversary!) and is known for collaboration among cross-functional groups from safety to operations to assets protection. She got her start at IEA, Inc., a local EHS consulting organization, where she worked in the field as a technician, managed client accounts, and finally led her own division of EHS professionals. Megan joined ASSP in 2007 to connect with other safety professionals in similar careers. She was Treasurer of the board for 2 years in 2008-2010, served on the PDC planning committee from 2012 to 2017, was a Member at Large 2016-2018, and was a delegate for several years.
Society Advisory Group Member (Two Open Seats)
1. Jamison Latham
Jamison is currently a Senior Regulatory Compliance Engineer at Amazon Robotics. His scope of work includes evaluating various types of automation and robotic applications to ensure safe design with industry standards such as Machinery Directive (EU), ANSI B11 (NA), NFPA 79, CE marking, (EU) NRTL (NA), and ISO 13849. Jamison actively serves on A3 (Association for Advancing Automation) Technical Advisory Committee’s for both ANSI R15.06 Industrial Robots and Vice Chair of R15.08 Industrial Mobile Robots. He is the A3 project lead for the OSHA Alliance team that updated OSHA’s Technical Manual on Robot Safety requirements for OSHA Enforcement Officers. Jamison received has Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Safety and Health from Murray State University. He is a Certified Safety Professional, Certified Machinery Safety Expert (TUV-NORD) and ANSI B11 Licensed Machinery Safety Specialist. Jamison has been an active ASSE/ASSP member for 25+ years and former past president for Northwest Chapter.
2. Kate Carlson
Kate Carlson is a Certified Safety Professional with more than 15 years of experience advancing safety and health performance across complex, multi-site organizations. Kate currently serves as a Senior Manager of Safety with Target Global Supply Chain, where she partners with operations and leadership to strengthen safety culture, reduce risk, and deliver measurable performance improvements.
Kate’s career has centered on building and sustaining high-performing safety management systems aligned with OSHA regulations and nationally recognized standards, including ANSI and ISO 45001 principles. She has led enterprise-wide initiatives focused on hazard recognition, serious injury and fatality (SIF) prevention, regulatory compliance, and data-driven risk reduction. Her work consistently integrates leading indicators, behavioral insights, and operational metrics to improve both safety outcomes and business performance.
Known for her collaborative leadership style, Kate excels at engaging frontline teams while influencing senior leaders to drive meaningful, sustainable change. She has successfully led cross-functional efforts that strengthened accountability, enhanced training effectiveness, and improved audit readiness across geographically dispersed operations.