Virginia EMS Association

The Virginia EMS Association (VEMSA) is an alliance of Virginia:

• Public entities, including local and state governments,
• Private business,
• Military and other federal facilities
• Colleges and universities.

VEMSA’s mission is to serve as:

1. A collaboration of Environmental Management System (EMS) practitioners to support and celebrate each others efforts;
2. A mentoring/education system to promote and support EMS across the Commonwealth and across all sectors (can include EMS practitioners, entities interested in EMS, and consultants providing EMS-related services);
3. A Virginia-based liaison organization committed to sharing information, ideas, strategies, and experiences with EMS.

The common thread of our association is active participation in VDEQ’s VEEP Program by the majority of the members and desire for ongoing and affordable EMS education opportunities.

The association was proposed in the Fall of 2005 and formally convened a year later. The first priority of the association was to hold an annual EMS Conference featuring information sharing and best practices. The 1st Annual Virginia EMS Conference was held in October, 2006, at the Hotel Roanoke (www.cpe.vt.edu/va-ems/). It was cosponsored by DEQ, EPA's Office of Water and the Center for Organizational and Technological Advancement and Virginia Tech. Over 140 people attended the three-day event. That was followed up by a very successful second conference in October, 2007.

The association’s next event, the Third Annual Virginia EMS Conference, is scheduled for October 6-8, 2008, at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. If you have questions, contact Bob Herbert, COTA Fellow at Virginia Tech at 540-853-8275 or bherbert@vt.edu.