CPAs, CFOs, law enforcement officers, and administrators from Michigan and beyond: They're the candidates the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners is considering to be the county’s new administrator and chief financial officer. At a meeting on Tuesday, commissioners voted to interview eight applicants, with preliminary Zoom interviews scheduled for May 30-31. More in-depth in-person interviews will follow on June 10, with commissioners tentatively planning to bring back three finalists. Ahead of that interview process, the Leelanau Ticker has your cheat sheet to learn more about the eight candidates.

Ahmed Abou-Ismail
Abou-Ismail lives in Menlo Park, California, where he was most recently the CFO of a small private school called Menlo College. According to Abou-Ismail’s resume, he led the school’s financial, business, data integration, and information technology departments, with responsibilities that included drafting budgets, negotiating contracts, and developing “strategic financial planning, analysis, and forecasting techniques to enable and maintain informed and effective leadership and decision-making capabilities.” Before that, Abou-Ismail was chief financial and administrative officer for Plug In America, a nonprofit that advocates for the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles.

Abou-Ismail holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and business administration from the University of Cairo, in Egypt. His resume also lists “continuing education” at the University of Alberta in Canada.

Kipling Belcher
Belcher is the multijurisdictional task force commander for the Michigan State Police’s seventh district – headquartered in Gaylord – and has been an MSP officer for the past 34 years. “I oversee three MSP drug teams working in 19 northern Michigan counties,” Belcher writes in his cover letter. “Working with members of city councils and county commissions, and with sheriffs and chiefs, I ensure drug investigative services are efficiently provided throughout the region.” Belcher’s job also involves conflict mediation, budget management, and grant writing.

Belcher studied criminal justice and chemistry at the University of Michigan-Flint, attended the police academy at Lansing Community College, and graduated from the MSP trooper recruit school in 1989. He also holds both a bachelor’s in business administration and an MBA from Spring Arbor University in Gaylord.

Michael Belsky
Though he lives in Chicago, Belsky’s cover letter touts “deep ties to [Leelanau] County and the Traverse City region.” After growing up in Rochester, Michigan, Belsky was “sent to the Leelanau School” in 1975, where coursework around environmental studies instilled “a lifelong appreciation of nature and the need for conservation and environmental sustainability.”

Since then, Belsky has built a background that includes “over 30 years in the municipal bond industry.” In his current role as managing principal for EKI Digital, he is responsible “for financial analysis of state and local government clients to determine the fiscal wherewithal to invest in digital innovation.” On the public-facing side, Belsky was mayor of Highland Park, Illinois from 2003 to 2011.

Tracy Byard
Since 2022, Byard has been the county administrator for Oceana County, Michigan, south of Ludington, that boasts a population of 26,659 and covers 538 miles. Byard has 11 direct reports and indirectly supervises another eight people, out of the county’s 150 employees. The job also involves financial responsibilities, including “preparation of the County's $34 million budget and submission to the Board of Commissioners.”

Prior to taking that, Byard served as county administrator for Clare County from 2010 to 2022. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Northwood University and has pursued training in human resources, FOIA, the Open Meetings Act, grant writing, business ethics, and sexual harassment for managers/supervisors.

Mark Justin
As county administrator for Gladwin County from 2021 to 2023, Justin “directed and managed financial and budget operations,” “acted as liaison between Board of Commissioners, the public, and county employees,” and “initiated and managed various large projects including ARPA funding, opioid settlement, jail/juvenile center solutions, solid waste disposal, and broadband implementation.”

A CPA, Justin’s past jobs include: financial planning advisor for Hantz Financial Services in Midland (2012-2021); vice president of marketing and business strategy for Monogram Food Solutions in Memphis, Tennessee (2009-2010); and president and general manager of the Medical Consulting Group in Springfield, Missouri (2007-2009). He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Aquinas College, as well as an associate’s in criminal justice from Kirtland Community College.

James Kiessel
Kiessel is known to local residents as deputy sheriff and undersheriff for the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office, a role he’s held since 1999. According to Kiessel’s resume, several key responsibilities at the sheriff’s office – including liaising with Leelanau’s board of commissions and “oversight and drafting” of annual budgets – have fallen to him. Kiessel also serves as quartermaster for the Little Finger VFW Post 7731 in Lake Leelanau, a position he says amounts to being “chief financial officer for the organization.”

After graduating from Suttons Bay High School, Kiessel served a stint in the United States Army from 1989 to 1992. Following an honorable discharge, he began his law enforcement journey at Northwestern Michigan College’s police academy. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in management and organizational development from Spring Arbor University.

Anna Nelson
Based in Potomac, Maryland, Nelson has a background spanning 25 years of finance and accounting leadership in both governmental and nonprofit settings. She serves as controller for Kituwah Global Government Group (KG3) in Asheville, North Carolina, the government contracting arm of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. In that job, Nelson is responsible for the “accuracy of accounting records, financial statements, consolidated financial statements, budget, long term forecasts, [and] financial analysis for multiple operating subsidiaries of [KG3].”

Nelson holds multiple degrees from universities in Ukraine, including a bachelor’s in economics and business, a master of science in electrical engineering, and an MBA in finance. She is also a registered CPA in Ukraine and is “actively pursuing certification in the USA.”

Robert Reinshuttle
A resident of Tallahassee, Florida, Reinshuttle most recently served as deputy county administrator and acting public safety director for Florida’s Manatee County. He oversaw the county’s HR department, natural resources, administration, public outreach, records, community and veterans affairs, library system, legislative affairs, public safety, and utilities. Per his resume, Reinshuttle was also “responsible for developing a budget of $2 billion” and for directing “a department of 420 professionals. 

Once upon a time, Reinshuttle lived and worked in Michigan. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Aquinas College and a master’s in public administration from Western Michigan University. His resume also lists a 1977-1982 engagement as the chief legislative assistant for the state’s Senate majority leader.