GHSA Executive Board

Michael Hanson was elected Chair of GHSA in 2024 and reelected in 2025 and 2026. He previously served as Vice Chair in 2023–2024 and as Treasurer in 2020–2022. 

He currently serves as the Director of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety. Hanson is also the designated Governor’s Representative for Highway Safety. Prior to his appointment as the Director of the Office of Traffic Safety in 2017, he served with the Minnesota State Patrol for 33 years, retiring at the rank of Captain.

Mike and his wife of 33 years Traci live in the Minneapolis suburban area and have two grown sons and 2 grandsons.

Jon Nelson, P.E., was elected Vice Chair of GHSA in 2026. He previously served as Co-chair of the Governance Committee. 

He is the State Highway Safety and Traffic Engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT). In this role, Jon leads MoDOT’s Highway Safety and Traffic Division in working with partners throughout the state to improve traffic safety and traffic operations through engineering policy, infrastructure improvements, public awareness, and behavioral-based safety programs. 

Jon has been with MoDOT for more than 22 years and is most passionate about helping Missourians reach their destinations safely and on time. He believes everyone has a role to play in traffic safety and that by working together, we can keep Missouri’s transportation system both safe and reliable. In his previous roles with MoDOT, Jon worked as a construction and materials inspector in Central District and also spent time as a design liaison engineer in Central Office. Jon graduated from the University of Missouri in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering.

Sharon Bryson was elected Treasurer of GHSA in 2026. She previously served as the Region 3 Alternate Representative to the GHSA Executive Board.

She was named Director of the Delaware Office of Highway Safety, a part of the state's Department of Safety and Homeland Security, in 2023. She previously served as Managing Director of the National Transportation Safety Board, where she coordinated agency efforts to improve safety through its Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements, led a staff of 420 and oversaw a budget of $118 million. She also served as a Social Services Senior Administrator for the Delaware Emergency Management Agency.

Lisa Freeman was first elected GHSA Secretary in 2024, and was reelected in 2025 and 2026. She previously served as Region 4 Representative to the Executive Board.

Freeman is native Louisianan. She attended Louisiana State University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts Degree and Master's Degree in Criminal Justice. She later graduated the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where she received her Juris Doctorate Degree. While in law school, she was a member of the Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy Law Review, and she also worked for minorities and indigents in D.C. Superior Court as a clinical law student. 

In 2021, Freeman was named as a member of the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law Alumni Council. In 1990, Freeman began 29-year legal career in the Capital Region of Louisiana, where she served as an assistant prosecutor and DWI Section Chief and Domestic Violence Section Chief, and then as First Assistant Prosecutor, and was later appointed Chief City Prosecutor for Baton Rouge, during which time, Freeman was recognized as "Prosecutor of the Year" by the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. She subsequently served as a Senior Special Assistant Parish Attorney, in the capacity of Governmental Affairs Section Chief and then as the Legal Advisor for the Baton Rouge Police Department, prior to entering State government. 

In February, 2018, Freeman was appointed by Governor John Bel Edwards as the Governor's Highway Safety Representative for Louisiana and as Executive Director of Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. She has since been re-appointed in both these positions by the current Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry. Freeman also serves as Chair of the Governor's Task Force on Impaired Driving and as a member of the Louisiana Drug Policy Board and Louisiana Child Death Review.