EPI’s Leadership Team
EPI is continually growing and expanding our leadership team and support staff. Click on each team member below to learn a little more about us.
As President of Environmental Protection, Inc., Daniel Rohe is responsible for the day-to-day operations of a growing company which fabricates over 30 million square feet of geomembranes annually. He has been involved with this family owned business since he was in high school and has spent many years working in and learning about the geomembrane industry.
Dan is a graduate of Michigan State University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Public Policy. He spent his first years with Environmental Protection, Inc. as plant manager and then as a salesman where he cultivated relationships with many of the industry’s leaders. Dan is an active member of several professional organizations including ASTM committee D-35 and the Geosynthetic Research Institute (GRI) and has been active in countless industry trade shows and seminars. He is continuing EPI's development of thermal welding and air channel strength testing of PVC geomembrane field seams.
With an extensive background in computers, Dan is responsible for the establishment and maintenance of the fully interactive EPI Website since the late 90's. Prior to rejoining EPI as Executive Vice President, Dan worked as a heavy equipment salesman for Michigan CAT in Kalkaska, Michigan.
Dan lives in Traverse City, Michigan. He has been an active member of the Traverse City community served as a Big Brother for the Big Brother Big Sisters organization and a past board member for the Northern Michigan MSU alumni club. Dan is also a graduate of Leadership Grand Traverse – an executive training program that teaches participants about the Grand Traverse region. He enjoys spending his free time outdoors riding his motorcycle, fishing, boating, RV'ing and taking pictures of his kids. Dan has 3 beautiful children.
As Vice President for Environmental Protection, Inc, Paul’s primary focus is to maintain and grow our current customer base while providing continuing support, direction and strategy for EPI’s growing staff. Paul brings close to 20 years of industry knowledge primarily specializing in geosynthetics, erosion and sediment control as well as stormwater management. He also understands the value of providing impeccable responsive customer service to our clients and vendors here at EPI.
Paul is a long term native of Northern Michigan and lives here in Traverse City with his dog Savannah. In Paul’s spare time, you can find him outside enjoying all four seasons playing a variety of sports including golf, pickleball, ice fishing or playing music.
As the Accountant of Environmental Protection, Inc., Lindsay oversees all things financial, accounting, payroll, and monthly reporting. Her past experiences working in the healthcare industry for corporate finance made this transition into our fast paced world a very seamless introduction. Lindsay brings to the organization years of financial experience and business administration with her degree from Michigan Technological University. Lindsay recently joined the EPI Team early 2023.
As a local native to Traverse City, Lindsay enjoys spending her spare time outside in the summer going to the beach, going to concerts, coaching volleyball and playing basketball. She is often found enjoying time with her daughter and traveling.
Lindsay values the positive mentality and family forward atmosphere here at EPI, and she is looking forward to learning more about the industry and her co-workers!
Tony Knowles has now transitioned into the Production Manager for our facility. In his many years at EPI, Tony creates a positive, fun work environment for all of the members of his team.Tony excels at leading by taking responsibility to improve workflows, inventory count, and above all, the efficiency at which EPI does custom fabrication. He always has an upbeat attitude, knowing that collective behavior play a substantial role in the work culture.
After graduating from Mancelona High School, Tony started working for EPI as an installer. In the beginning of his career, he worked on several large installation jobs, gaining a great deal of experience. Before we moved to our Traverse City location, he ran the plant in Mancelona for many years.
Tony still resides in Mancelona with his wonderful son. When he isn’t hard at work you can find the two of them kayaking, fishing, hammocking, playing disc golf, or mudding. His son loves the company and all of Tony’s coworkers. EPI has exceeded past being just a job to Tony, it is now a family that prides themselves on providing the best quality of fabricated liners in the geomembrane industry.
As an Inside Sales Representative at Environmental Protection, Inc, Emily’s primary focus is to provide outstanding customer service and assist customers in choosing the best liner to fit their project needs. With a strong background in customer service and sales in the hospitality and packaging industry, Emily brings to the table her dynamic drive and passion for helping others. She is excited about her career with EPI and learning the ins and outs of the geosynthetic industry.
A native to Michigan, growing up just a hop skip and a jump away in Kalkaska. Michigan’s beautiful lakes led Emily to have a strong passion for anything to do with the water; above and below. After completing her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Baker College, she got the travel bug. Her love for the water led her to pursue a career in Scuba Diving and become an active Instructor. With this certification, Emily was able to live and teach in places such as the British Virgin Islands, the South Pacific and Southeast Asia. However, her home state could not keep her away for long.
Outside of work Emily enjoys spending her time outdoors. Besides scuba diving, some of her other hobbies include boating, backpacking, snowboarding, and running.
Transitioning to Technical Sales Representative at Environmental Protection, Inc. Josh’s primary focus is to oversee the many projects that we are sent for technical review and quotation. As the former Production Manager for EPI, Josh is able to assist the team with his expansive knowledge of our fabrication process and provides creative solutions for layouts with unique area requirements.
After attending college for aviation management, Josh began his career in the geomembrane industry that he has grown to love. Since 1999, Josh has worked for three of the primary fabricators in the United States, starting his career cutting out geomembrane patches with a coffee can, marker, and a pair of scissors. Josh has worked his way up the ranks from welding technician to foreman, supervisor, QA/QC, Production Manager and finally landing in his current role as part of the sales team. With certifications through IAGI (International Association of Geomembrane Installers), CPR, OSHA, H2S awareness, forklifts, loaders and skid steers, Josh has a skillset paralleled by few in the industry. Josh is very knowledgeable in geomembrane installation, fabrication, QA/QC, as well as customer service and management. His career in the geomembrane industry has taken him to 47 of the 50 states, as well as Barbados and Costa Rica.
Josh currently lives with his family in Traverse City, where you can find them spending time outside doing anything from attending soccer games to swimming and simply enjoying the sunset. Lovingly referred to as a family full of strong-willed and persevering individuals, Josh often reminds us how tight-knit they are and how he wouldn’t trade them in for anything.
After joining EPI in June of 2020, Lauren has been expanding her knowledge of geosynthetics. Her primary focus is to provide incredible customer service and assist customers in choosing the best liner to fit their project needs. With a strong background in customer service, sales, and project management in the Michigan real estate industry, Lauren brings to the table her attention to detail and passion for helping others. She is excited about her career with EPI and learning the ins and outs of the geosynthetic industry.
A native to Michigan, and former 'Yooper transplant' Lauren has a passion for protecting the natural beauty of our state. After completing her degree of bachelor’s of fine arts from Northern Michigan Univeristy, she was given the opportunity to travel downstate to be closer to family and friends once again.
Lauren often spends her weekends photographing, hiking, kayaking, hammocking, horseback riding, and rock hunting with her family and friends.
Tina has worked for EPI in various positions from logistics, quality control, production, and now as our Sales Coordinator. As the Sales Coordinator, Tina is responsible for handling the inbound sales questions, office suuplies, company outings and everything in-between. Her background in various administrative rolls is a benefit to our office as Tina provides excellant communication and customer service to all our customers and vendors. She truly has the can-do and do-all mindset, which rightly gives her the office nickname of "Mama Bear". Whenever there is a project to be done, or an extra hand needed, Tina is naturally one of the first to volunteer - she's got everyone's back. One of the reasons why Tina really enjoys her work at EPI is that she sees everyone as extended family, and each day makes her job interesting and fun!
Originally from Ohio, Tina resides in the Kalkaska area and has now lived in northern Michigan for approximately eight years. Her favorite things to do in her time off are to travel back home to Ohio, read mystery books, camping, kayaking, and two tracking.
As Equipment Manager at Environmental Protection, Inc., Mike’s primary focus is the maintenance of our welding machines and other equipment used for the fabrication of our geomembranes. A veteran of the installation generation here at EPI, Mike has been with the company for over ten years and has truly grown in his role, working his way up the ranks from laying liner on jobsites to now managing our welding equipment, ensuring that each liner is welded to the satisfaction of our strict quality standards. Mike has vast installation experience, and can easily say that he has helped to install more liner than most installers will in their collective lifetime. An asset to the project, Mike assisted in EPI’s installation of the world's largest geomembrane liner project ever constructed in a single operation, the Columbus Upground Reservoir Project (CUGR), which spanned 843 acres.
With the majority of his education coming from what he describes as the school of hard knocks, Mike is mostly self-taught, and answers around the shop to the names of “Mr. Fixit” and “Here, it’s Broke!”. A fan of challenges, Mike finds every day to be an accomplishment as there is always something challenging to do, fix, or learn about. The worst thing you can say to Mike is “it can’t be done” to which his reply will usually be “watch this”.
Mike lives in Kalkaska with his fiancée and two beautiful daughters, who are the loves of his life. In his spare time, you can either find Mike tinkering on a new project, or at the gym where he enjoys working out and helping others to learn new skillsets.
As a Quality Control Technician, Michael's primary objective is to assist EPI with quality assurance for received materials and factory fabricated seams, as well as, quality reports for customers. He is also active in research and development of concepts and applications to further efficiency and quality at EPI. In prior positions, Michael, has been part of the EPI team as a production member as a fabricator, installer, and supervisor for many years until Fall 2021, where he made the switch to our Quality Control team. We are very fortunate to have his expansive knowledge as part of the Quality Control lab and his attention to detail circles back how we hold ourselves to the high standard of fabricating the best geomembrane liners.
In Michael's spare time he enjoys competitive activities with friends and coworkers such as frisbee golf, snowboarding, hacky sack, cornhole and volleyball. When spending time with family he also enjoy playing video games, board games and Dungeons & Dragons. Born in Bowling Green, Ohio, but has spent most of his life in Mancelona, Michigan where he currently resides with his wife and children.
Michael loves working for EPI as it continually provides him with opportunity to improve, as well as, opportunity to meet new people. Each day he looks forward to working with the coworkers that he considers family and participating in extracurricular events we have throughout the year.
As the Quality Control Lead, Denise is responsible for ensuring all materials and products are meeting EPI's high quality standards and specifications. Her knowledge base from past industry work in the oil/gas, polyolefin, and medical field shows in the careful attention to detail in her charting reports. The Quality Control Lab is the heart of EPI and Denise demonstrates that when you have a great leader in place, anything is possible. She enjoys overcoming challenges and looking for efficient and creative solutions with her peers. Denise's communication skills and value for integrity prove what EPI is all about as a custom geomembrane fabricator.
Originally born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Denise moved and now resides in Traverse City. Her favorite hobbies include gardening, hiking local trails, bird watching, and lazy dog days at the beach during the summer.
Denise enjoys EPI for a variety of reasons, but she really loves the flexibility to bring her dog, Sophie, to work! We have to say that we really enjoy being able to see Sophie too!
As the PVC Lead for EPI, Tyler's primary focus is to monitor the sales orders as they come to his team for fabrication. He confirms that each order is completed properly and in the most efficient way possible to meet each deadline. Tyler has been part of the EPI production crew since June of 2016 and has grown his professional skill set with each passing year. He encourages a positive workplace attitude, knowing that collective behavior and learning environment play a substantial role in the company culture. Overall, Tyler motivates his team, and inspires diligent work that results in exceptional products.
Growing up in Northern Michigan, Tyler enjoys staying active with winter sports like snowboarding and ice skating. During the summer months you can find him rollerblading, camping, fishing, and disc golfing. He is one to take on new adventures and often times you can find him sharing those experiences with his close family and friends.
As a Production Line Leaded, Matt is primarily focused on multitasking the workflow of our thermal fabrication to keep our lead times as minimal as possible for orders. His can-do attitude and creative mindset allow for new ideas and processes to be implemented when they are needed. If you have a unique and custom design, Matt and his team are the ones to get the build completed. We greatly appreciate the way Matt is always willing to help out where needed and how positive his outcome is on daily tasks.
In his off time, Matt enjoys competing with co-workers for the title of 'Champion Status' in disc golf, and playing Dungeons and Dragons. Matt is also a big family man and spends lots of time with his children at home. He also enjoys growing veggies and plants in his garden during the warmer months.
Fred P. Rohe is the former owner of Environmental Protection, Inc., a Michigan based fabricator and installer of PVC geomembranes. A graduate of Ferris State University in Big Rapids, MI., he also attended Michigan Technological University. He was a member of the Elk Rapids Rotary Club, with 23 years of perfect attendance, and is a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow. He was president of EPI from 1985 through 2003.
Mr. Rohe is a charter member of the PVC Geomembrane Institute (PGI) and was instrumental in the formation of this organization. He was active in the NICET PVC Geomembrane Advisory Committee on Testing and Certification of PVC Geomembrane Inspectors, and was a NICET Certified Level II Inspector for PVC, HDPE, Geotextiles, and Hypalon. He was a founding director of the International Association of Geosynthetics Installers (IAGI) and is a Charter Member of the Geo Institute.
He has been a featured speaker at Geosynthetic Seminars for EPI, Filmtex, Oxy Chem, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI), PVC Geomembrane Institute (PGI), and The Vinyl Institute. He has presented lectures in Canada, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Egypt and the Philippines. Technical papers authored by Mr. Rohe have been published in Geotechnical Fabrics Report, Land and Water Magazine, Our California Environment, Fabrics in Architecture and others. He was a member of the EPA's Thermoplastic Task Group that edited the agency's Technical Guidance Document on "The Fabrication of Field Seams for Flexible Membrane Liners."
Mr. Rohe has been a participant on the Joint Committee on Flexible Membrane Liners for the National Sanitation Foundation (Standard 54) and has served as an expert witness in legal proceedings involving geomembranes. In 2001 he launched The Liner Letter published by EPI, providing new information on PVC geomembranes and other industry technical and general interest topics.
Prior to becoming President of EPI in 1985, he was involved in industrial construction, owning and operating Anvil Construction, Inc. He had also formed Groundcover Services, Inc. in 1983 as a full service geosynthetics installation company. He was active in the development of new liner materials and welding techniques for the PVC geomembrane installation industry.
Mr. Rohe previously worked to establish EPI as a leader in developing thermal and hot air dual track welding techniques for field welding and air channel testing of PVC Geomembrane field seams. In 1991 he facilitated EPI joining ASTM as a Corporate Member and EPI has been very active in ASTM specification development since then. He was also responsible for implementing a regimented Statistical Process Control program for EPI's geomembrane factory fabrication. His development of EPI's industry leading Construction Quality Control Manual for PVC and UltraTech geomembrane installation has helped guide EPI from a regional company to an internationally known supplier to the geotechnical industry.
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