Our Team
Charles D. Hale, President
Mr. Charles D. Hale created Resource Management Associates in 1981. Mr. Hale has served as a consultant in law enforcement to over 500 municipalities throughout the United States since 1973 and is the author of three books on police administration. He is also the author of the chapter “Police Patrol” in the text, Local Government Police Management, published by the International City Management Association. Mr. Hale served as a Police Officer and Police Sergeant in El Segundo, California, during which time he earned a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from California State University at Long Beach.
Mr. Hale has designed and administered thousands of written examinations and assessment centers of the type described herein for police, fire and public safety departments throughout the United States. His clients have included the City of San Francisco, California; Tallahassee, Florida; Providence, Rhode Island; Madison, Wisconsin; Rockford, Illinois; and numerous municipalities in the Chicago area. Mr. Hale is the author of the text, The Assessment Center Handbook for Police and Fire Personnel, published by Charles C. Thomas Publishers of Springfield, Illinois.
Steven W. Hale, Vice-President
Steven Hale has 35 years of experience in designing and administering customized written promotional examinations, oral examinations and assessment centers. During his tenure with the firm, Mr. Hale has designed and administered thousands of testing assignments for various positions throughout the country. Mr. Hale attended college in pursuit of a teaching degree prior to joining the firm in 1988.
Rosetta Ivery
Written Examination Development Coordinator
Rosetta Ivery has more than 20 years of experience in developing customized written promotional examinations for fire and police departments. As the Written Examination Development Coordinator for the firm, Ms. Ivery has developed and been responsible for processing the results for all customized written promotional examinations. Rosetta attended Northern Illinois University for Business Accounting.
Dan Fry, Office Manager
Dan Fry has been with our firm for more than 10 years serving the various needs of our clients. Dan has spent his entire career in the field of customer service. He is involved in just about every aspect of the firm’s activities, from being primarily the first point of contact with many of our clients to the tireless work he performs in preparing testing materials for the hundreds of customized Oral Examinations and Assessment Centers we administer for our fire and police, and 911 Dispatch clients.
Michael Falese, Principal Associate
(Chicago Metro)
Mike Falese served as Fire Chief with extensive experience in fire and emergency medical services. He began his career with the Elgin, Illinois Fire Department in 1983, serving in multiple roles including Training Officer and EMS Director. He helped lead a four-year city-wide risk analysis study to evaluate fire station needs and locations.
As Fire Chief from November 2003 to September 2007, he led a department of 129 sworn personnel and 3 civilian staff with a $22 million budget. During his tenure, he designed and implemented a comprehensive reorganization of department structure, staffing, compensation, and work scheduling.
Chief Falese also served as part-time faculty at Judson University and Elgin Community College, and was an instructor with the Elgin Regional Fire Academy for 13 years. A certified paramedic for nearly 20 years, he holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Northern Illinois University.
In 2007, he joined the Bartlett Fire District, where he served until his retirement in 2019. Deeply involved in the Bartlett community, he served as President of the Bartlett Rotary Club and was named Rotarian of the Year twice for his leadership and fundraising efforts. He continues to serve as a board member for “Ignite the Courage,” a charitable organization associated with the Bartlett Fire District.
Since retiring from the fire service, Mike has played a key role with Resource Management Associates, administering customized written exams, oral interviews, and assessment centers. His contributions have been instrumental in the firm’s growth. He was also actively involved in the creation of the Illinois Firefighter Memorial Plaza, helping raise significant funds for the project.
Christopher L. Sewell, Principal Associate
(Midwest Region)
Chris is a highly experienced fire service leader with over 35 years of dedicated service in Illinois municipal fire departments. He most recently served as Fire Chief of the Flossmoor Fire Department (2009–2020) and previously as Fire Chief of the Sauk Village Fire Department (2002–2009). In both roles, he oversaw all aspects of department operations, including strategic planning, budgeting, personnel management, facilities maintenance, and capital outlay.
Throughout his career, Christopher excelled in training and personnel development. As Training Administrator and Lieutenant with the Flossmoor Fire Department, he coordinated comprehensive fire, EMS, and technical rescue training programs, managed the department’s Information Technology initiatives, and led its Technical Rescue Team. Earlier, as Lieutenant with the Sauk Village Fire Department, he oversaw training and equipment management.
Christopher holds a Bachelor of Science in Fire Science Management from Southern Illinois University Carbondale (3.733 GPA, Dean’s List) and an Associate of Applied Science in Fire Science Technology from Prairie State College. He is a graduate of the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program. His certifications include Fire Officer III, Instructor II, Firefighter III, and EMT-Paramedic, along with multiple technical rescue credentials.
Active in the fire service community, he served as President of MABAS Division 27 Chief’s Association and has been a long-time member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs and Illinois Fire Chiefs Association. He also taught as an adjunct instructor at Prairie State College and received the Lions Club “World Service Day” award in 1996.
For approximately twenty years, he has served as an Assessor, Lead Assessor, and Exercise Coordinator for Resource Management Associates.
Geoff Herald, Principle Associate
(New England Region)
Geoff Herald retired from the position of Fire Chief in Danbury, Connecticut in 2014 after having worked his way up the ranks over 40 years beginning as a volunteer Firefighter. He is a Past President of the Connecticut Career Fire Chiefs Association.
Chief Herald holds his MS degree in Safety, Security and Emergency Management from Eastern Kentucky University. He also received his Chief Fire Officer (“CFO”) certification in 2012. He has successfully completed numerous courses at the National Fire Academy including among others Unified Command Training, Command and Control of Natural and Manmade Disasters, Executive Development, Command and Control of Multi-Alarm Response and Incident Command—Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Chief Herald has been an active member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (“IAFC”) and has served on its regional Safety and Health Sections. He is also a member of the National Fire Academy Alumni Association, the National Fire Protection Association (“NFPA”) and has been on the Rewrite Committee on Orientation and Technology for the International Fire Service Training Association (“IFSTA”).
John Tierney, Principal Associate
(Southeast Region)
John Tierney enjoyed a distinguished 32-year career in public safety. He began in 1985 as a firefighter with the Village of Broadview, Illinois, and completed paramedic training at Good Samaritan Hospital. He rose quickly through the ranks, serving as Lieutenant and Captain before being promoted to Fire Chief, a position he held for 16 years.
Tierney continued his professional development with specialized training in hazardous materials response and technical rescue. He was assigned to the State of Illinois Incident Management Team and placed in charge of the Mutual Aid Box Alerting System (MABAS) for Division 20. He served as Operations Section Chief during Illinois’ deployment for Hurricane Katrina and assisted with wildland fire operations in California.
A past President of MABAS Division 20 and the Illinois Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association, Tierney also chaired the Illinois Fire Chiefs Conference Committee. After retirement, he was appointed to Broadview’s Fire and Police Commission and later elected to the Village Board, where he chaired the Finance and Police & Fire Committees.
Since 1997, Tierney has worked with Resource Management Associates as an assessor for firefighter promotional testing. He has delivered customized public safety testing services in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Connecticut. He currently serves as Principal Associate, leading testing and consulting services for public safety agencies throughout the Southeastern United States.
Mr. Sheldon Cohen, Principal Associate
(New England Region)
Sheldon Cohen has worked with RMA for 40 years. As a consultant since 1980, Mr. Cohen has worked with more than 200 local governments in 28 states from Maine to California He has been involved in consulting with more than 100 fire-service agencies in over 15 states and has managed over 200 projects.
Mr. Cohen has been invited to make presentations to meetings of many professional organizations including among others the International City/County Management Association (“ICMA”), American Society for Public Administration (“ASPA”), Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants and the New England Women Business Owners. He has also managed or participated in numerous 9-1-1 studies; most recently in 2015, the bill he drafted at the request of the State 911 Department to enable the organization of regional emergency communication centers in Massachusetts was enacted into law.
Mr. Cohen is a cum laude graduate of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and received his Master’s in Public Administration from Cornell University. He will assist Mr. Hale as needed in these Promotional Testing Services.
Mark Field, Principal Associate
Mark Field has 39 years of experience in policing, beginning as a Patrol Officer and rising to Chief of Police in Wheaton, Illinois from 1996 until he retired in 2015. As Chief, he was responsible for an agency with 66 sworn officers, 15 civilians, 33 part-time employees and a budget of $14-million.
Chief Field has taught since 2000 as an Adjunct Professor at the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety. He has also taught graduate and undergraduate courses at the College of DuPage, Governors State University and Kankakee Community College. He has been involved in the screening and assessment of over 500 police leaders through assessment centers and competency-based interviews.
Chief Field is the co-author of two published textbooks, Police Chief: How to Attain and Succeed in This Critical Position; and, Police Officer Selection and A Handbook for Law Enforcement Administrators both published by Charles Thomas Publishers of Spring-field, Illinois.
Chief Field received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Olivet Nazarene University and his Masters in Public Administration from Governors State University. He is a 1981 graduate of the Southern Police Institute and the Northwestern University Traffic Institute’s Executive Institute. He also graduated from the FBI’s Midwest Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar.