The Michigan Shipwreck Research Association is guided by a team of experienced underwater explorers, maritime historians, technicians, and educators who bring complementary skills to the search, study, and interpretation of Great Lakes shipwrecks. Together, MSRA’s leadership combines decades of historical research and diving experience with expertise in exploration, technology, documentation, preservation, and public interpretation. Meet the individuals who provide the leadership, expertise, and vision that guide MSRA’s research and exploration programs.
Valerie Olson van Heest
Valerie Olson van Heest, a founding member of MSRA, is an award-winning underwater explorer, maritime historian, author, and museum exhibit designer through her firm Lafferty van Heest & Associates.
Valerie began exploring Great Lakes shipwrecks in 1988, when she co-founded the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago. Since then, she has participated in the discovery, research, and archaeological documentation of numerous historic Great Lakes shipwrecks.
She is an inductee of the Women Divers Hall of Fame and has received numerous honors for her work in maritime history and interpretation, including the 2017 Award for Historical Interpretation from the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History, the 2025 Marine Historian of the Year Award from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit, and a Michigan State History Award for her contributions to preserving and promoting Michigan’s submerged maritime history. In 2026, she was inducted into the New Trier East High School Alumni Hall of Honor in recognition of her professional achievements.
Valerie is the author of numerous books on Great Lakes maritime history, including the award-winning Fatal Crossing: The Mysterious Disappearance of Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 and the Quest for Answers, Buckets and Belts: Evolution of the Great Lakes Self-Unloaders, Lost on the Lady Elgin, Icebound, Lost and Found: Legendary Lake Michigan Shipwrecks, and Unsolved Mysteries: The Shipwreck Thomas Hume. She has also authored two books on subjects outside maritime history.
Craig Rich
Craig Rich, a founding member of MSRA is a veteran Great Lakes diver, maritime historian, and author. His research into West Michigan shipwrecks began in the 1980s and helped establish the historical foundation for MSRA’s extensive online shipwreck database. He continues to maintain and update the organization’s website and its growing collection of vessel histories.
Craig is the author of For Those in Peril: Shipwrecks of Ottawa County, Michigan and Through Surf and Storm: Shipwrecks of Muskegon County, Michigan. His research has documented the vessels, people, and maritime communities associated with shipwrecks along the West Michigan shoreline.
A former radio personality and newsman, Craig brings extensive communications experience to MSRA. He provides professional narration for MSRA documentary films and other productions and serves as emcee for the organization’s annual Mysteries & Histories Beneath the Inland Seas program in Holland. He is also a frequent speaker for libraries, museums, historical societies, and news media on Great Lakes shipwrecks and local history.
His interests in genealogy and local history complement his work documenting the people and communities behind Michigan’s maritime history. Craig is retired from a career in radio, print marketing, and advertising.
Jack van Heest
Jack van Heest, a founding member of MSRA, is a mechanical engineer, underwater explorer, and technical diver. As MSRA’s principal field-operations leader, he manages the organization’s annual search expeditions and serves as captain of its research vessel.
A diver since 1988 and a technical diver since 2007, Jack has participated in numerous Great Lakes shipwreck searches, discoveries, and documentation projects. His engineering background provides a critical technical perspective in the field, from evaluating sonar targets and planning search operations to understanding the construction and mechanical systems encountered on shipwrecks.
Jack has played a central role in developing MSRA’s underwater search capabilities. He designed, built, and maintains much of the organization’s specialized equipment, including its side-scan sonar system. He also is developing a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to expand MSRA’s ability to investigate deeper and more challenging sites and to document wrecks without placing divers at unnecessary risk.
As captain of the research vessel, Jack coordinates the complex logistics required for extended search and survey operations. His responsibilities include vessel operations, navigation, deployment and recovery of sonar equipment, dive support, communications, and coordination of the research team.
Jack is also an accomplished underwater videographer. He has participated in the photographic and video documentation of MSRA discoveries and serves as an editor for many of the organization’s documentary films. He maintains MSRA’s extensive film archive, preserving a visual record of the organization’s exploration and research activities.
His combination of engineering expertise, diving experience, vessel operations, equipment development, and audiovisual documentation provides MSRA with much of its technical capability in the field. Since 2025 he has worked for Lafferty van Heest fabricating exhibits that are part of MSRA’s public interpretation work.
Neel Zoss
Neel Zoss is a Great Lakes maritime historian, researcher, author, and diver whose specialized research has focused on the distinctive whaleback vessels designed by Great Lakes innovator Alexander McDougall.
Neel is the author of McDougall’s Great Lakes Whalebacks, published in 2007, and Whalebacks: Wrecked, Scrapped, Lost and Forgotten, published in 2016. His research has documented the history, construction, careers, and ultimate fates of these unusual vessels and has made him a recognized authority on Great Lakes whalebacks.
A retired police officer and investigator, Neel brings decades of investigative experience to MSRA’s historical and field research. His background in investigation—particularly the systematic gathering, evaluation, and interpretation of evidence—translates naturally to shipwreck research, where historical records and underwater evidence must often be assembled to establish a vessel’s identity and reconstruct its history.
Neel is a regular member of MSRA’s research-vessel crew and participates in the organization’s search expeditions, wreck investigations, and documentation projects. His knowledge of Great Lakes vessels and his investigative approach contribute to the identification and interpretation of newly discovered wrecks.
His work illustrates one of MSRA’s fundamental approaches to shipwreck research: combining historical investigation with physical evidence from the lake bottom to reconstruct stories that may have remained unresolved for generations.
Associate member: William Lafferty, PhD
William Lafferty, PhD, is an award-winning maritime historian, retired professor at Wright State University, and partner in Lafferty van Heest & Associates, an exhibit design firm specializing in museums and historical interpretation. His academic background and expertise in maritime history contribute to MSRA’s research, interpretation, and educational programs. Through his work in museum exhibit development, he also helps translate historical research into engaging public experiences.