Co-Founder -  Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates 2001- Present

        The discovery of the Akeley in deep water outside preserve boundaries propelled Valerie, Jack van Heest, Craig Rich, Ross Richardson, and Geoffrey Reynolds to form Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates (MSRA) in 2001. A non-profit organization, MSRA is dedicated to research, exploration, documentation and producing educational programming on the deep water shipwrecks in Michigan. Working with experienced and successful shipwreck hunter, David Trotter, the MSRA team conducted annual shipwreck searches in the waters off West Michigan combing over 200 square miles and uncovering several lost wrecks. In 2004 the team located a scuttled barge in their pursuit of the S.S. Michigan which they then discovered the following year. Another scuttled barge, a yet to be identified schooner and the steamer Hennepin were discovered in 2006.  MSRA worked with affiliate technical divers, Bob Underhill, Jeff Vos and Todd White to document these wrecks.

         The discovery of the Hennepin and its significance as the world's first self-unloading vessel led to Van Heest to apply for and receive a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for Humanities to begin planning a museum exhibit in collaboration with The Heritage Museum in St. Joseph. In addition, she and William Lafferty, a maritime historian and expert on the self-unloading industry, together nominated the Hennepin to the National Register of Historic Places. The Nomination has been approved by Michigan and it is under consideration by the federal government currently. Listing is anticipated before the end of 2007.

           In 2004, MSRA began a multi-year joint venture project with internationally famous author, Clive Cussler and members of the National Underwater Marine Agency (NUMA) to search for Northwest Flight 2501, which crashed in Lake Michigan in 1950 killing all 58 persons aboard in what was then the Nation’s worst commercial aviation disaster. Cussler sent his side scan sonar experts, Ralph Wilbanks, Harry Pecorelli and Steve Howard to West Michigan to work with MSRA, whose research determined the best sites for search.  Wilbanks and Pecorelli are best known for locating, with Cussler, the Civil War Submarine Hunley,  During the project’s second season the team located a scuttled pleasure craft and the car ferry Ann Arbor No. 5, which became the subject of a documentary film called “Planes, Trains and Ships” produced by Valerie and Bob Gadbois. In her capacity as investigator with the MSRA team, Valerie has compiled research about the crash and interviewed dozens of individuals including witnesses, officials involved in the 1950 search effort, pilots, airline officials and family members of the victims, in an attempt to pinpoint a probable location of the wreckage. She developed that research into a documentary entitled “The Disappearance of Flight 2501”. The search for Flight 2501 will continue in 2008.

            In September 2007, Valerie received a Michigan State History Award for "distinguished volunteer service in promoting Michigan's submerged maritime heritage.

President - The Southwest Michigan Underwater Preserve 1995 - 2001

         In 1995, Valerie relocated to Western Michigan, where she joined the Southwest Michigan Underwater Preserve Committee as the grass-roots organization was beginning efforts to initiate Michigan’s 10^th Underwater Preserve. Serving as its President for over six years, and working with archaeologist and museum curator, Kenneth Pott, she coordinated activities of the group until the preserve was made official in 1999. Valerie was responsible for the documentation of several Preserve sites and the creation of a Preserve brochure.  She won a Michigan Humanities Council grant in 1997 to produce educational programming on the pleasure yacht Verano. She spearheaded the “Quest for the Chicora”, an unprecedented search for the region’s most enigmatic shipwreck. That quest instead led to the discovery of the H.C. Akeley, retold in a documentary directed by Valerie entitled “The Discovery of the H.C. Akeley”. The Chicora remains illusive.

Co-founder - The Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago 1988-1995

         Valerie co-founded the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago, serving as Director for eight years. Her first project. documenting the wreck of the 5-masted schooner David Dows occurred under the mentorship of Archeologist David Keene.  Later, she led archaeological documentation efforts on numerous Chicago-area shipwrecks including the intact and shallow schooner Wells Burt, the side-wheel steamer Seabird, the tug Tacoma and the Lake Huron schooner Goshawk. She worked on the initial reconnaissance documentation of the Civil War era side-wheeler Lady Elgin and then worked with  Smithsonian archaeologist, Paul Johnston, to further detail the site.  In 1992 she worked with UASC teammates, archaeologist Philip Wright, resource manager, Ken Vrana and historian, Jed Jaworski, to document the Alva Bradley in northern Lake Michigan.  In 1994 she traveled to Florida to participate in a project with archaeologist John Gifford of the University of Miami to document the Germania in Biscayne Bay. Valerie is responsible for producing in-situ drawings on over thirty shipwrecks, many of which have been published in a variety of maritime books and are held in the collection of the Milwaukee Public Library. She is also responsible for co-authoring three reports on shipwreck projects as well as co-producing numerous multi-media presentations about her work with the UASC.   

Other Accomplishments 

         Valerie is featured in the book “Voices from the Sweetwater Seas” by Bill Keefe and “Divers Guide to the Kitchen” by Joan Foresberg; and her work has been documented in several other books.  She has lectured extensively in the Midwest on the topic of shipwrecks, has been featured and quoted in dozens of newspaper articles, and is included in author Cris Kohl’s presentation “Shipwreck Hunters of the Great Lakes.”  Working with UASC and MSRA teammates and producer/editor Robert Gadbois, she wrote and directed over ten documentary films, their latest, “Icebound Found!” was selected for presentation at the prestigious Waterfront Film Festival in Michigan. She has also written several articles, some of which have been published in Michigan History Magazine. Valerie also served two terms on Michigan’s Underwater Salvage and Preserve Committee. She was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in a ceremony in New Jersey’s Beneath the Seas program in March, 2006, where she was also a presenter.

         While now focusing her efforts exclusively on the research and documentation of shipwrecks, Valerie holds her degree from a dual program with Loyola University and The Harrington Institute of Design in Chicago and has for 25 years specializied in architectural and graphic design, marketing and project management in both Illinois and Michigan. Valerie and her husband Jack live in Holland, Michigan with their daughters, Cella and Taya.