Mr. Grodi was appointed by the Council to serve as CEO/Executive Secretary in March 2022.
Mr. Grodi spent over 20 years in the Correctional Division of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, retiring in 2018. During his career he held multiple positions in the correctional division including classification officer, inmate medical billing, booking and intake officer, acting supervisor, grant writer and coordinator, field training officer, and training coordinator.
Mr. Grodi earned his associates degree from Monroe County Community College and his undergraduate Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Columbia Southern University. He went on to complete is Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership with a concentration in Public Administration from Waldorf University.
He has spent the last 25 years on multiple public boards including the Erie Township Board, Erie Township Park Commission, Erie Township Planning Commission, South County Water Board, Monroe County Library Board, Monroe County Employees Retirement System, Michigan Association of Public Employees Retirement Systems and both the Michigan Sheriffs' Coordinating Training Council and the Advisory Board to the council.
John Bennington rejoined the MSCTC as a Training Coordinator in December 2022. In January 2024, John was appointed to Deputy Director.
John was the original Training Coordinator for the MSCTC from 2013 to 2018, maintaining certification and developing the professionalism of Local Corrections Officers. John retired from the Oakland County Sheriff Office in October 2019, where he had served for more than 31 years. He was assigned in a variety of integral roles with the Sheriff's Office, always prioritizing the goal of increasing the professionalism of the officers. John's scope of expertise includes a strong focus on training development and supervision of more than 1000 full-time and part-time Law Enforcement / Corrections professionals in one of Michigan's largest Sheriff's offices. He served his last 10 years assigned to the Emergency Response and Preparedness- Training Unit. His responsibilities included development, planning, scheduling of in-service training, Corrections Academies, CTO program, maintaining 100% compliance for all full-time personnel as required with annual In-Service training and as a lead instructor for In-Service training programs.
John received numerous awards, including Corrections Officer of the Year, Sheriff's Distinguished Service Citation, Sheriff's Distinguished Unit Citations, Meritorious Service Citations, Unit Citations, Professional Excellence and Commendation Citations.
John also spent 22 years in the fire service and retired at the rank of Assistant Chief. His duties included administrative and operations supervisor of 80 paid on-call and full-time personnel. He was involved with the merger of 2 fire departments into the Brighton Area Fire Authority, with a response district of 74 square miles that covers 2 townships and city.
Erika Young joined the Council in January 2022 as an Administrative Assistant.
Erika has been a certified elementary teacher in the state of Michigan since 2017. Since then, she has taught first and second grade in general education classrooms. As a reading interventionist, she taught primary grade students to learn how to read fluently and efficiently. Her training and experience as an educator have equipped her with valuable skills which she brings to MSCTC, including data and time management, event coordinating, planning, organizing, and implementing lesson plans, customer service correspondence and Microsoft Office proficiency. Erika is a graduate of Western Michigan University where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree.
Corey Burks joined the MSCTC as a Training Coordinator in December of 2022.
Corey retired in December of 2022, after 25 years, from the Berrien County Sheriff's Office. He began his career as a Jail Deputy and retired as an Administrative Lieutenant of Support Services. Corey had the privilege of assisting with the setup of the Jail FTO program for the department and was an FTO for several years after. He was also tasked early in the career, with setting up and running the Jail Fire Safety course annually for the Jail staff. Through the years, he has held the rank of Classification Sergeant, Shift Sergeant, Shift Lieutenant, Jail Administration Operations Lieutenant and Jail Administration Support Services Lieutenant.
During his time at the Sheriff's Office, he was also an active member of the Berrien County (Sheriff's Office) Hazardous Materials Regional Response Team where he was the Team Commander for 10 years until retirement. He also held a position within the Emergency Management Office, where he was responsible for public outreach, training and exercise with local emergency and public officials.
Corey is also a certified Fire Fighter for the State of Michigan since 1992. He currently serves on the Berrien Springs-Oronoko Fire Department, since 1998. Corey holds the rank of Captain within the Fire Department. He has been a training instructor for the fire service since 2001 and holds the certification of Instructor 2 for the State of Michigan Fire Fighter Training Council.
Ramona Talley joined the MSCTC as a Training Coordinator in December 2024.
After a 25-year career, in the Correctional Division of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Ramona retired in December 2024. During her career she has persevered at the rank of Jail Sergeant for over 21 years. Additionally, Ramona has held multiple titles of responsibility and leadership within the Corrections Division including Field Training Officer, Field Training Supervisor, Training Coordinator, Regional Training Instructor, and Civilian Orientation Instructor.
Ramona earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Grand Valley State University and graduated from the Washtenaw Community College Corrections Academy. During her time at the Sheriff’s Office, Ramona obtained certification for Assisting Individuals in Crisis and Group Crisis Intervention from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. As the Sheriff’s Office Peer Response Team Coordinator, Ramona served in a vital leadership role for the development of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Peer to Peer Crisis Intervention Team.
Ramona also is a Corrections Academy Instructor certified in multiple modules. Her years of experience, knowledge and expertise in the field of corrections fulfills her long-term goal of impacting positive training for the successful careers of corrections officers throughout the State of Michigan.