2026 Emergency Manager of the Year

David Townsend

Luna County Emergency Management

Dave has strengthened Luna County’s emergency management program by building capabilities, identifying practical solutions, and thinking beyond traditional approaches to ensure his jurisdiction is prepared. He consistently looks for ways to improve readiness and make the best use of available resources.

His commitment extends beyond Luna County. Dave regularly attends nearby Medical Reserve Corps meetings, even when his participation could be virtual, because he understands the value of regional coordination and strong partnerships.

Last year, Dave deployed to support the Trout Fire. He used the opportunity not only to assist the affected community, but also to gain experience and bring lessons learned back to his own jurisdiction.

Dave is dependable, proactive, and focused on service. He works to strengthen preparedness, support regional partners, and ensure Luna County is ready to meet the needs of its residents. His leadership and commitment make him highly deserving of the Emergency Manager of the Year Award.

Mike Mestes

San Juan County Office of Emergency Managment

Mike Mestas represents the gold standard in emergency management and preparedness. For many of us who entered the emergency management profession with much still to learn, Mike has been more than a colleague—he has been a mentor, teacher, role model, and trusted resource. He never judges someone for a lack of experience or knowledge. Instead, he meets people where they are and works to elevate them. Whether helping someone develop an emergency management program, providing training, sharing lessons learned, or simply answering a question, Mike approaches the work with patience, humility, and a genuine desire to make others more capable. He leads by example and teaches with a humility that is increasingly rare. His knowledge is never treated as something to be guarded; it is something to be shared. Mike is the definition of leadership.

Mike's approach to preparedness is practical, straightforward, and focused on results. When you participate in one of his exercises, you quickly see the relationships he has built with first responders, elected officials, voluntary organizations, emergency managers, and the community. Those relationships do not happen by accident. They are the product of trust, credibility, respect, and years of working alongside others to solve problems and strengthen preparedness. Mike understands that preparedness is not simply about producing plans or completing requirements. It is about developing people, building relationships, identifying workable solutions, and creating organizations and communities that are better prepared when an emergency occurs.

One of Mike's greatest contributions to emergency management is his willingness to share what he knows. In a profession where knowledge and experience can sometimes become closely guarded, Mike takes the opposite approach. He understands that preparedness improves when knowledge is shared and when the people around us become stronger. He does not make others better through force, intimidation, ego, or arrogance. He makes people better by encouraging them, challenging them, including them, and giving them the benefit of his experience. His attitude consistently reflects the kind of "get to yes" philosophy this award recognizes: identify the problem, work through the obstacles, bring people together, and find a way forward.

Mike's influence reaches well beyond any single exercise, program, or jurisdiction. Local emergency managers, corporate emergency managers, state agency personnel, DHSEM partners, first responders, and others who have worked with him have had the opportunity to learn from both his knowledge and his example. He demonstrates that effective emergency management is ultimately about service—service to our communities and service to one another. Mike makes the emergency management profession stronger because he makes the people around him stronger. As a result, New Mexico is stronger because of Mike.

The Donald Mathiasen Preparedness Award honors someone who approaches preparedness with practicality, determination, resourcefulness, mentorship, and a commitment to helping jurisdictions succeed. Those qualities describe Mike Mestas exceptionally well. Many of us are better emergency managers and better public servants because Mike was willing to invest his time and knowledge in us. Perhaps the greatest compliment that can be given to any leader or mentor is that others want to follow the example they have set. In emergency management, we can all be better at what we do—and better in how we serve—by being a little more like Mike.

2026 Advancement & Promotion of Emergency Management Award

Jess Lewis

UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center

It is my privilege to nominate Jess Lewis for the 2026 New Mexico Association of Emergency Management Professionals (NMAMEP) Advancement & Promotion of Emergency Management Award.

Jess represents the visionary leadership, dedication, collaboration, and commitment to innovation that this award was created to recognize. Through sustained efforts to strengthen emergency management programs, build meaningful partnerships, promote preparedness, and increase awareness of the emergency management profession, Jess has made a lasting impact on both the organization and the broader emergency management community.

Visionary Leadership and Advancement of Emergency Management 

Jess understands that effective emergency management extends well beyond responding to emergencies. Strong programs are built through preparedness, planning, training, exercises, mitigation, continuity, communication, and—most importantly—relationships established long before an incident occurs.

Through this philosophy, Jess has consistently worked to move emergency management forward rather than simply maintain existing programs. Jess identifies opportunities for improvement, brings partners together, and encourages innovative approaches to preparedness and organizational resilience.

This leadership has helped position emergency management as an integral organizational function and has strengthened the understanding that preparedness is a shared responsibility involving leadership, public safety, operational departments, community partners, and individual members of the organization.

Innovation and Program Development

A significant strength of Jess's work is the ability to translate emergency management principles into practical programs and initiatives.

Rather than viewing plans, exercises, training, and preparedness activities simply as requirements, Jess approaches them as opportunities to identify gaps, strengthen capabilities, test assumptions, and improve coordination. This approach encourages participants to think critically about how they will actually operate during an emergency and provides organizations with meaningful opportunities for continuous improvement.

Jess's willingness to challenge existing practices, identify better ways of accomplishing preparedness objectives, and encourage collaboration has contributed directly to the advancement of emergency management programs.

Building Partnerships

Emergency management succeeds through relationships, and Jess has demonstrated an exceptional ability to develop and maintain those relationships.

By strengthening connections among emergency management professionals, public safety agencies, organizational leadership, operational departments, and community partners, Jess has helped create an environment in which organizations are better prepared to communicate, coordinate resources, and make decisions during emergencies.

These partnerships have value far beyond individual meetings, exercises, or incidents. They establish trust and familiarity among individuals and organizations that may ultimately be required to work together under difficult and rapidly changing conditions.

Promoting the Emergency Management Profession

Jess has also been a strong advocate for the emergency management profession itself.

Much of the most important work performed by emergency managers occurs before an emergency and often outside public view. Jess continually promotes the importance of preparedness and helps others understand the role emergency management plays in protecting people, maintaining essential operations, strengthening organizational resilience, and supporting communities before, during, and after emergencies.

Through outreach, education, collaboration, planning, training, and professional engagement, Jess has helped increase awareness of emergency management and encourage greater participation

2026 Emergency Management Support Staff Member

Nadine Molinari

Rio Rancho Office of Emergency Management

Nadine came to the Office of Emergency Management 3 years ago. She took the initiative to attend trainings and was open to learning all about Emergency Management. Nadine has taken many train the trainer courses and has been a leader in teaching classes for DHSEM as well as for the CERT team she in charge of. Nadine completed the EMT-Basic and is able to instruct CPR for our department as well as the New Employee Orientation.

Nadine always has a smile on her face, even when we have to come in on the weekends or stay late. Which is often as we are a 2-man team. She is constantly thinking of ways to make sure our team is seen and recognized. She does all this while continuing to complete her degree and manage family life. Nadine is learning the grant process as well as all the other duties I am in charge of so that I can take time off or not worry if I am ill.

For these reasons, I am honored to recognize Nadine as the "Emergency Management Support Staff Member of the Year.”

2026 Special Recognition Award

Samantha O'Dell 

Torrance County Emergency Manager

Nomination 1:

Torrance County Emergency Manager Samantha O’Dell is nominated for the 2026 NMAEM Professional Special Recognition Award for her exceptional leadership, operational agility, and unwavering command during consecutive, high-stakes public safety crises in 2026. Managing the persistent threat of rural wildland fires alongside an unprecedented, mass-exposure hazardous materials crisis, Director O’Dell demonstrated the highest standard of modern emergency management.

Key Achievements & Crisis Leadership:

Proactive Wildfire Mitigation: Director O'Dell significantly elevated Torrance County's readiness posture by designing and executing multi-agency wildfire exercises. Her efforts bridged critical communication gaps between local volunteer departments, the U.S. Forest Service, municipal leaders, and utility co-ops, ensuring seamless evacuation planning and resource sharing during active wildland threats.

The Mountainair Mass-Exposure Response: During a routine May 2026 medical call that escalated into a catastrophic hazardous chemical incident, 18 first responders were instantly incapacitated by a highly toxic, synthetic opioid mixture. Director O'Dell immediately established a Unified Command with the New Mexico State Police, local EMS, and regional Hazmat teams. She successfully stabilized a chaotic scene, secured the hot zone, and coordinated the emergency transit and decontamination of 23 exposed individuals to the University of New Mexico Hospital, preventing further casualties.

Post-Crisis Advocacy & Systemic Reform: Following the Mountainair incident, Director O'Dell aggressively converted the crisis into a catalyst for systemic improvement. She spearheaded county-wide debriefs, accelerated procurement for advanced radio and communications hardware, and established updated, specialized PPE protocols to protect rural responders from evolving synthetic narcotic hazards.

Director O'Dell’s decisive actions under extreme pressure protected the very personnel who keep Torrance County safe. For her remarkable poise, comprehensive rural wildfire preparation, and tireless dedication to responder safety, she exemplifies the core values of the New Mexico Association of Emergency Management and highly deserves the 2026 Special Recognition Award.

Nomination 2:

While Torrance County may not experience the same frequency of nationally recognized catastrophic disasters as some of our jurisdictions, Sam has consistently demonstrated that exceptional emergency management is measured by leadership, preparedness, coordination, and commitment—not by the size of a community or the scale of a single incident.

Pound for pound, Sam is one of the most well-rounded and capable emergency managers in New Mexico. Rarely does a week go by without Sam coordinating on an incident, planning effort, or preparedness initiative. Her jurisdiction faces an extraordinary variety of hazards, including wildfires, flooding, severe weather, hazardous materials incidents, infrastructure challenges, public health concerns, and recurring water system outages that have affected significant portions of her community. These incidents require extensive planning, coordination, public communication, and resource management, and Sam has consistently demonstrated the ability to lead through each of them. This constant operational tempo has given her exceptional experience across nearly every aspect of emergency management.

Most recently, Sam demonstrated outstanding leadership during a significant hazardous materials incident that affected 22 first responders. The complexity of the incident required extensive coordination among local, state, and federal partner agencies to manage response operations, ensure responder safety, and maintain effective communication. Sam's calm leadership, ability to coordinate across multiple disciplines, and focus on protecting both responders and the public exemplify the qualities of an outstanding emergency manager.

Beyond incident response, Sam is a trusted and engaged partner throughout New Mexico's emergency management community. She consistently collaborates with the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, neighboring jurisdictions, state agencies, and emergency response partners to improve preparedness, strengthen relationships, and build capabilities. She is proactive, dependable, and always willing to assist others, regardless of whether the incident directly affects her jurisdiction. Her willingness to share information, seek solutions, and support fellow emergency managers has made her a valued partner across the state.

What truly distinguishes Sam is her unwavering commitment to her community and to the profession of emergency management. She approaches every incident with professionalism, humility, and determination, earning the trust and respect of colleagues across New Mexico. Whether managing a wildfire, addressing prolonged water outages affecting residents, or leading a complex hazardous materials incident, Sam brings the same level of dedication, composure, and leadership. She continually works to improve preparedness, strengthen partnerships, and ensure her community is better equipped for whatever challenges lie ahead.

For her exceptional leadership, broad operational experience across a remarkably diverse range of incidents, unwavering commitment to collaboration, and dedicated service to the citizens of Torrance County and the State of New Mexico, I can think of no one more deserving of recognition.