Board of Directors

• Matt Zavadsky, President (2019-2020)

  Matt Zavadsky, MS-HSA, NREMT, is the Chief Strategic Integration Officer for MedStar Mobile Healthcare in Fort Worth, Texas. He has helped guide the implementation of several innovative programs with healthcare partners that have transformed MedStar fully as a Mobile Integrated Healthcare provider, including high utilizer, readmission reduction, observational admission reduction, hospice revocation avoidance, 9-1-1 nurse triage and partnerships with home health agencies.

  Matt also chairs the NAEMT EMS 3.0 Committee and is the co-author of the book “Mobile Integrated Healthcare – Approach to Implementation” published by Jones & Bartlett Publishing. He has a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration, with a Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Data Management.

  Matt is also adjunct faculty for the University of North Texas Health Science Center, Department of Health Management and Policy, as well as an appointed committee member to the Joint Commission’s Home Care Professional and Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC) and the Lewin Group’s Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (HOQR) Program Stroke and AMI Expert Work Group, developing metrics for use in value-based purchasing measures for emergency departments.
  
  

• Bruce Evans, President-elect (2019-2020)

  Bruce Evans, CFOD, SEMSO, NRP, MPA, is the Fire Chief for the Upper Pine River Fire Protection District, located outside Durango, Colo. He retired as the EMS chief for the North Las Vegas, Nev., Fire Department after serving 27 years in the Southern Nevada’s Fire and EMS system. Bruce is an adjunct faculty member of the National Fire Academy in EMS, Incident Management, and Terrorism Training programs. He has been a course developer for many of the National Fire Academy curriculums and serves as a technical writer. He is the recipient of the prestigious 2010 James O. Page EMS Achievement Award. Chief Evans was awarded the NAEMT Presidential Leadership Award in 2014. The Colorado Governor appointed Chief Evans to the State Emergency Medical and Trauma Advisory Committee in 2014. Bruce is the liaison to the National Academies of Medicine preparedness committee.  

  Bruce chairs the NAEMT Advocacy Committee and has been on the development teams for several of NAEMT’s courses. He is a certified faculty member for the International Public Safety Leadership and Ethics training program. Bruce has coauthored text on EMS management, Crew Resources Management, and has written a text on Quality Improvement. He authored a bimonthly column on EMS for Fire Chief Magazine for over a decade.
  
  

• Terry L. David, Treasurer (2019-2020)

  

  Terry L. David is Chief for Reno Co. EMS at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center in Kansas. He has been in EMS since 1982, beginning as an EMT while working for the Hutchinson Kansas Police Department. He moved to a full-time EMS position in 1986 after spending nine years with two different law enforcement agencies. While working for Reno County/Hutchinson Hospital EMS, Terry became a paramedic and served in that role, as well as a relief supervisor. In March 1995, he began a dual role for Rice County as Director of EMS and Emergency Management Director. 

  Terry is certified as a paramedic in the State of Kansas. He has held positions in his career with the American Heart Association as a regional faculty member and instructor and is the training coordinator for the local chapter of the Health and Safety Institute. Terry also has served as Team Commander of the Kansas Major Emergency Response Group (MERGe), which is the Kansas ESF-8 Disaster Response Team, and has had command roles in state disasters. He has also been requested by the state legislature to testify on EMS disaster response and preparedness issues

  Terry is involved in EMS issues on a state, regional and national level, and has served on the board of several organizations including the Kansas EMS Association, Kansas Association of Counties, South-Central Homeland Security Council, Hutchinson Community College EMS Education Advisory Board, South-Central Healthcare Coalition and the Kansas Healthcare Coalition Steering Committee. He is also the only EMS Director in Kansas to receive the Presidential Leadership Award from the Kansas EMS Association on three occasions and was the recipient of the 2008 Kansas EMS Administrator of the Year Award. He resides in Lyons, KS, with his wife Erna and they together have 5 children and 13 grandchildren.

   

• Troy Tuke, Secretary (2019-2020)

  

  Chief Troy Tuke began his EMS career after obtaining both Paramedic and RN degrees from Brigham Young University-Idaho in 1989. He worked full time as an RN, as well as a Paramedic specializing in Critical Care/ER and Flight Nursing, before joining the Clark County Fire Department (CCFD) as a Firefighter/Paramedic in 1996. He was promoted through the ranks of fire engineer, EMS Coordinator, and is currently working as the Assistant Chief-EMS for CCFD. 

  Troy was deployed to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita as a medical specialist for Nevada Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue Team. He maintains his RN license, National Registry Paramedic Certification and license, and is an EMS Master Instructor and Paramedic Preceptor. He also serves NAEMT as the Advocacy Coordinator for Nevada and as a member of the Membership, Data and Advocacy Committees.

  A Nationally Registered Paramedic since 1988, Troy’s hobbies include mountain biking and skiing, and he is involved in many church youth programs. He has been married to his wife Debbie for 30 years and has two daughters, Brittany and Rylie.
  
  

• Dennis Rowe, Immediate Past President (2019-2020)

  

  Dennis Rowe, Paramedic, is director of Government and Industry Relations for Priority Ambulance Corporation based in Knoxville, Tenn. In 2018, Priority was named Inc. Magazine’s 521st fastest growing company. Prior to this role, he had been the company's director of new business Integration and director of operations. 
  
  

  Dennis has extensive experience in emergency services in Tennessee. He spent 17 years at Rural-Metro Corporation, providing oversight of basic life support (BLS), advanced life support (ALS) and critical care ambulance transports for Knox County. Previously, he was the trauma coordinator for the Level One Trauma Center at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. He was actively involved in research publications, Trauma Center financial analysis, injury prevention and day-to-day operations. Before moving to the surgery department, Dennis was part of the UT LIFESTAR helicopter program startup team.

  Dennis is an instructor and has participated in medical research projects in the Knox County/East Tennessee area. He has served as president of the Tennessee Ambulance Service Association and on the Tennessee EMS Divisions Clinical Issues Committee. Also, he serves as a board member on the National Trauma Institute’s board of directors. Dennis currently serves on the Tennessee Board of Emergency Medical Services. He is a longtime member of NAEMT and has served on the Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) Committee, NAEMT Bylaws Committee and on numerous other committees and appointed liaison positions.

  
  

• Sean J. Britton, Director, Region I (2018-2019)

  

  Sean J. Britton, MPA, NRP, is the telehealth program manager for UHS Hospitals, and a paramedic for Superior Ambulance Service in Binghamton, NY.  He is also a research associate for the Prehospital Care Research Forum at UCLA, a deputy EMS coordinator for Broome County, NY, and an adjunct assistant professor of Health Behavior and Community Health at New York Medical College. Sean is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM), Certified in Public Health (CPH), and a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ).

  Sean was formerly the emergency preparedness planner for the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems in Baltimore, MD, the director of public health for Broome County, NY, and the program coordinator for Emergency and Trauma Services at UHS Hospitals.  Sean earned a bachelor's degree in Community and Human Services from SUNY Empire State College and a master's degree in Public Administration from Binghamton University, State University of New York. 

  Sean is an affiliate faculty member of the Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS), Advanced Medical Life Support (AMLS), and Geriatric Education for EMS (GEMS) courses. He was a co-author for the All Hazards Disaster Response (AHDR) course and a contributor to the PreHospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) 9th Edition course. Sean received an NAEMT Presidential Leadership Award in 2016.

  
  

• Robert Luckritz, Director, Region I (2019-2020)

  

  Robert Luckritz, JD, NRP, is the Executive Director of EMS for Jersey City Medical Center – RWJBarnabas Health, where he oversees a department of over 300 career and volunteer EMS providers responding to 90,000 calls annually. He has more than 20 years of experience in EMS, serving as an EMS provider in four states across the Mid-Atlantic and New England, where he has overseen all facets of EMS including Operations, Clinical Care, and Education. He also served as an adjunct professor of EMS Management at Springfield College in Massachusetts, and as the government affairs officer for a major New Jersey healthcare system.

  Robert received his bachelor's degree in EMS Management from Springfield College, a juris doctor degree from Western New England University, and is currently working towards a master's degree in Public Administration at Northeastern University. In 2015, he received the JEMS Magazine EMS10 Innovators in EMS Award, and was the recipient of a 2016 NAEMT Presidential Leadership Award. He has previously served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Urban Hospitals, and is the current President of the New Jersey Association of Paramedics.
  
  

• Susan Bailey, Director, Region II (2019-2020)

  

  Susan Bailey is the Director of the Louisiana Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, and has been active in the EMS Industry for 28 years. Starting her career in 1990, she has experience in both the rural and urban setting. She is the Vice-Chair of the Commission on Accreditation of Prehospital Continuing Education (CAPCE) Board of Directors and serves as a curriculum and site reviewer. She is a member of the National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEMSO) and is a Nationally Certified EMS Educator (NCEE).

  A lifetime NAEMT member, Susan serves on NAEMT’s Education Committee and Advocacy Committee and represents Louisiana on the Affiliate Advisory Council. She is an instructor and affiliate facility for numerous NAEMT and AHA courses. In 2014, she was awarded the NASCO/NAEMT Paramedic of the Year Award, and 2016 she was awarded an NAEMT Education Service Award for innovation in delivering NAEMT education programs to rural areas. Susan is a lifetime member of the Louisiana Association of National Registered EMTs (LANREMT), and has served as the Vice-President, Secretary, and Conference chair. LANREMT awarded her the Instructor of the Year Award in 1999, a Presidential Meritorious Award in 2013, and an Outstanding Achievement award in 2018.

  Passionate about the EMS Industry, Susan strives to bring positive attention to the work that EMS Practitioners do. She encourages EMS practitioners to expand their knowledge to grow with an ever-changing scope of practice within the EMS industry. In her presentation, “They Don’t Care How Much You Know Until They Know How Much You Care,” Susan combines her knowledge as an EMS practitioner as well as her knowledge as an EMS leader to illustrate that everyone leads and manages at least one person every day – yourself; and while we may not be able to control what happens around us, we can control how we handle the situation.

  A Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Susan has a Bachelor’s Degree in Management from Southeastern Louisiana University where she graduated magna cum laude, and earned Master’s Degree in Emergency Management from Millersville University in Pennsylvania. 

   

• Cory Richter, Director, Region II (2018-2019)

  Cory S. Richter, BA, NRP, is a retired Deputy Chief for Indian River Fire Rescue in Florida. He has been in EMS for 36 years and has worked for several agencies, including a private ambulance service doing both non-emergency transports and responding to 911 calls, until he took the position he is in today.

  Cory is active in NAEMT as an Advanced Medical Life Support (AMLS) affiliate faculty and instructor, Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) affiliate faculty and instructor, as well as an Emergency Pediatric Care (EPC) affiliate faculty and instructor. Cory is also an American Heart Association (AHA) training center coordinator, holds ACLS and BLS instructor certifications, and is a regional faculty for ACLS and BLS. Cory was the task force chair for his region in Florida and a member of the state Emergency Communication Center (ECC) committee. Cory is on the National Fire Protection Association 1917 and 451 technical committees.

  Cory earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Franklin Pierce College and an Associate degree in Fire Science and EMS from Indian River State College. He was chairman of the Florida EMS Advisory Council and served four years, he is the chairman of the Florida EMS Strategic Plan, and is active on several state committees. He has devoted many years to state-level EMS issues – one being the creation of the Florida Drug Shortage Committee.

   

• Chris Way, Director, Region III (2018-2019)

  Chris Way is Chief of Kootenai County Emergency Medical Services (KCEMSS), Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Previously, he served as an EMS Chief in a Southeast Kansas county. Chris has been involved in EMS for more than twenty-five years in a rural Ambulance service and a large metropolitan EMS system. He has held varied roles including paramedic, field training officer, clinical instructor, tactical paramedic, operations supervisor and shift commander. In his current role, he oversees the delivery of EMS in a fire-based EMS system. Providing basic and advance transport, as well as first response service, KCEMSS responds to over 18,000 service requests annually and transports more than 10,000 patients.  

  Chris serves on many local and regional EMS, fire, emergency management and healthcare committees, such as local response/clinical committees, the regional incident management team, the regional Homeland Security Council, state EMS response team, state incident management team, regional and state trauma councils, and the CDC/ACS National Committee on Field Triage. Chris is a Past President of the North Idaho Fire Chief’s Association, chairman of the Idaho EMS Advisory Council, member of the state Time Sensitive Emergency Commission, and chair of the NAEMT Membership Committee. He is also involved on the CDC/ACS Filed Triage Committee, serves on the Kootenai County Airport Board of Directors and is a member of the Heritage Health Board of Directors. Chris earned his Bachelor's of Arts degree in Business Management from Mid America Nazarene University.
  
  

• Jason Scheiderer, Director, Region III (2019-2020)

  Jason Scheiderer, MS, NREMT-P, is a paramedic and emergency responder for multiple agencies in Indiana.  Jason is paramedic with Rushville City Fire Departement as well as a paramedic in the Emergency Department and Ambulance at Rush Memorial Hospital. Jason also works with Seals Ambulance as a paramedic.  As many other EMS and Fire personal do, Jason volunteers as a firefighter/EMT with Rushville Township Fire Department. He still enjoys teaching various AHA, NAEMT, and other continuing education classes at his various departments.

  Previously, Jason worked as the EPIC implementation director of Training for Eskenazi Health with responsibility for EPIC and other IT training for Indianapolis EMS, Eskenazi Health, and part of the IU School of Medicine.  Prior to moving into IT training, Jason was an education lieutenant with Indianapolis EMS (IEMS), the largest 911 service in the city responding to roughly 100,000 calls each year. A division of the Indianapolis Department of Public Safety, IEMS has a unique partnership with the Indiana University School of Medicine, Marion County Health and Hospital Corporation, and the City of Indianapolis, with Eskenazi Health as the supervising hospital. Jason teaches specialty continuing education classes, such as Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS), Advanced Medical Life Support (AMLS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) and CPR. He also works in the field with students.

  Prior to the formation of IEMS, Jason worked for the Wishard Ambulance Service, first as an EMT, then paramedic and educator. He received his Master's degree in Emergency Service Management from The George Washington University and his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Religion from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., where he started as a volunteer firefighter and EMT, and continued in several part-time fire and EMS positions throughout Indiana. Jason serves as the NAEMT Advocacy Coordinator for Indiana and is a member of the Advocacy Committee and EMS Safety course author team. He was honored with the 2014 Field EMS Bill Advocate of the Year Award and is a member of the Indiana EMS education work group.

   

• William "Bill" Justice, Director, Region IV (2019-2020)

  Bill Justice is the Associate Director at the University of Oklahoma Department of Emergency Medicine, Center for Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. He is also a member of the U.S Marshals Task Force. Bill is a frequent educator at regional, national and international conferences. His user-friendly approach to emergency management topics provides a relaxed and interactive atmosphere for all participants. His background has spanned a 40-year career in fire-rescue, EMS and law enforcement.
  

  Bill is an NAEMT Regional Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) and Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) course coordinator, American Heart Association Regional Faculty, and a Tactical Emergency Medical Support (TEMS) operator/instructor for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Department and US Marshals Task Force. He continues to assist local, state and federal law enforcement and military agencies with education and response operations.

  
  

• Karen Larsen, Director, Region IV (2019)

  Karen L. Larsen, MSN, APRN, NP-C, CFRN, CEN, CPEN, FP-C, NRP, has more than three decades of healthcare experience with an extensive background in prehospital medical care and emergency nursing. She is a Nurse Practitioner for both St. Luke Hospital & Living Center and Heritage Medical Associates, and a Flight Nurse/Education Specialist for LifeSave Transport, all in Kansas. She also volunteers as a paramedic for Marion County EMS.

  Karen holds numerous certifications, is Board Certified with the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and is a Kansas Certified Paramedic. She is a member of several professional associations, serves as a Board member at large for the Kansas EMT Association (KEMTA), and is an Affiliate Faculty member for NAEMT.

  Karen has received many awards, including a KEMTA’s Advanced Life Support (ALS) Attendant of the Year award and Lyle Eckert award, as well as NAEMT’s education award for Advanced Medical Life Support (AMLS). She earned her Master’s in Nursing-FNP from Graceland University in Missouri, Bachelor’s in Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau Cum Laude, from Southwestern College, and Paramedic certification from Midwest Academy of Pre-Hospital Sciences in Kansas. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate from Chatham University. 

  
  

• Charlene Cobb, At-Large Director (2018-2019)

  

  Charlene Cobb, NREMT-P, has worked in EMS since 1980, beginning with the Sayville Community Ambulance Squad in Sayville, NY In 1989, she moved to Pinellas County, Fla., and continued her work with Sunstar Paramedics. She became a Nationally Registered Paramedic in 1992, quickly advanced to become a field training officer and then an education coordinator, a position in which she has spent the majority of her career. She now serves as Sunstar’s community outreach coordinator and public information officer.

  Charlene has been a member of the NAEMT EMS Safety Committee since 2009 and often travels throughout the country teaching the EMS Safety course, which she helped to develop. She also serves as a member of the international EMS Safety Foundation and was awarded the organization’s prestigious Objective Safety Award in 2008.

  Charlene is passionate about community safety and is the chairperson for the Suncoast Safekids Coalition. She is a frequent contributor to local and national publications on EMS and Public Safety. She was the proud recipient of the 1998 State of Florida’s Paramedic of the Year Award. That same year she was also selected as the Pinellas County Paramedic of the Year, for her work on a language translation guide for fellow EMS personnel. In 2009, Charlene received the State of Florida’s Injury Prevention Award for her work to promote child passenger safety, and in 2010 received the Pinellas County EMS Public Safety Award, for her work to enhance ambulance safety. Charlene has dedicated her career to the health and safety of EMS patients, the EMS workforce, and the greater Pinellas County community.
  
  

• Jonathan Washko, At-Large Director (2019-2020)

  

  Jonathan Washko started in the EMS industry in 1986 at the early age of 16 in the suburbs of Philadelphia where he was a volunteer fire fighter, police dispatcher and EMS provider. In 1990, he attended Hahnemann University (now Drexel University) where he received his State Paramedic Certification, National Registry Paramedic Certification and bachelor’s degree in Emergency Medical Services Administration with focused studies in EMS system design, adult education and studied under Jack Stout, father of System Status Management. Since graduating in 1994, Jonathan has held various progressive leadership positions at local, regional and corporate levels with small, medium and large sized EMS and healthcare agencies. 

  Jonathan is considered a leading industry expert on a variety of topics including EMS system design, high performance EMS concepts, industry best practices, EMS deployment, lean business processes, change management systems, system status management, technology and its use in improving EMS/healthcare, solutions ideation/innovation and EMS finance. He is often called upon by EMS systems in crisis for turnaround assistance, as well as those considered at the top of their game, in order to help transform these organizations to become the best they can be.

  Jonathan frequently speaks at national conferences, teaches on a variety of topics, provides expert witness testimony, is active in numerous industry associations at the committee and Board level. He sits on the editorial board with JEMS and is on the curriculum committee for EMS Today. He has published numerous articles, consults with organizations on an international basis on organizational improvement, and advises technology and venture capital companies in the EMS sector. Jon has published peer-reviewed research, won a variety of industry awards and accolades, works full-time as the Assistant Vice President for the Center for Emergency Medical Services with Northwell Health System in New York City and Long Island, New York. He holds an MBA in Global Health Services Administration from Hofstra University’s Zarb School of Business with recognition of his academic achievements through an induction into Beta Gamma Sigma.

  Jonathan works on driving change and innovation for EMS and healthcare through a diverse set of initiatives: Mobile Integrated Healthcare, Community Paramedicine, air-medical program development, care management, telemedicine, call center-based nurse advice and care navigation. Also through healthcare transfer and command center design and optimization, employee engagement improvement, employee and patient safety initiatives, and new emerging technology development. He advises on EMS policy formation with both the Federal Government and New York State, through direct and association based efforts.

  
  

• Craig A. Manifold, DO, FACEP, FAAEM, FAEMS, Medical Director

  

  Dr. Craig Manifold serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Health Sciences, School of Health Professions at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. He is the former Medical Director for the San Antonio Fire Department and surrounding areas in Texas County including San Antonio AirLIFE.

  He attended the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and continued his training in Emergency Medicine with his Internship at Wilford Hall Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas and his Residency with the Joint Military Medical Centers Emergency Medicine Residency in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Manifold is presently serving on several committees with the South Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC), American College of Emergency Physicians, and Governors EMS and Trauma Advisory Committee. He also serves as Joint Surgeon for the Texas Air National Guard, and Commander for the 149th Medical Group of the Texas Air National Guard in San Antonio.

  Presently, Dr. Manifold serves as Principal Investigator for several clinical trials. Dr. Manifold has had several publications and has presented at many national conferences as well as overseas in other world conferences.