OUTSTANDING FACULTY REPRESENTING REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE

Pinnacle 2010 has gathered the most experienced and knowledgeable faculty on the topics presented. You’ll receive up-to-the-minute information, insight into emerging trends and real-world tools you can put to use your next day on the job.

BARRY BAGWELL is assistant director of operations of the Mecklenburg County EMS Agency (MEDIC), which includes Charlotte, N.C. He has guided the implementation of new processes and technologies that have significantly reduced response times.

BLAIR BIGHAM is an advanced care flight paramedic in Southern Ontario, Canada. He is an investigator at Rescu, the resuscitation science program at the University of Toronto and St. Michael’s Hospital, and holds a faculty position at Centennial College.

TOM BLACKWELL, M.D., is medical director of MEDIC and an emergency physician at Carolinas Medical Center, the level one trauma center in Charlotte, N.C. He is also a clinical associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of North Carolina and has served as program chair for the National Association of EMS Physicians.

SCOTT BOURN, Ph.D., is vice president of Clinical Affairs at American Medical Response. He has 30 years of experience as a paramedic, emergency department and critical care nurse, EMS system coordinator and director of a university EMS degree program. He is an author, researcher and educator.

BRUCE EVANS is assistant chief of the North Las Vegas Fire Department. Coauthor of the recently published text Management of EMS, he has served as a director of the EMS section of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. He is also chair of the Health and Safety Committee of the National Association of EMTs.

JOSEPH (JAY) FITCH, Ph.D., is the founder of the leading EMS/public safety consulting firm, Fitch & Associates. Jay has been an innovative advocate for improved EMS systems and concepts for nearly 30 years. He is internationally recognized for his role in advancing modern EMS.

GUILLERMO FUENTES is chief administrative officer of the Niagara Regional Police, Niagara, Canada. He has been at the forefront of advanced deployment concepts for EMS and public safety and serves as a senior consultant with Fitch & Associates.

MICHAEL GREENE is a senior associate at the EMS/public safety consulting firm Fitch & Associates. His air medical career spans 25 years, from volunteer search and rescue experience to program director of a five-state air medical transport service.

JOHN GRISWELL, M.D., is medical director of MedStar and a member of the Emergency Physician Advisory Board that serves the City of Fort Worth, Texas and over 15 other surrounding communities. He is also medical director for Huguley Hospital in Fort Worth.

AJ HEIGHTMAN is the editor-in-chief at the Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) and an editorial director for Elsevier Publications. He is a former paramedic and ambulance corps director and regularly lectures on EMS issues.

ROBERTA JACKSON, a certified senior professional in human resources (SPHR) and a certified global professional in human resources (GPHR), is director of human resources at Touro College. A leading expert and consultant in emergency services human resources, she previously served as vice president of human resources for TransCare Corporation.

TOM JUDGE is board chair of the Association of Critical Care Transport and serves as the executive director of LifeFlight of Maine. He has served as a subject matter expert for the National Transportation Safety Board and has a special interest in assuring rural access to quality emergency healthcare.

RICK KELLER is a partner at the EMS/public safety consulting firm Fitch & Associates. He has developed and reviewed many major EMS system designs in North America. With nearly 25 years of consulting experience, Rick specializes in the economics of high quality air and ground EMS.

PAUL LEVY has been president and chief executive officer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Mass. since 2002. Previously, he served as executive dean of administration at Harvard Medical School, executive director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, commissioner/chairman of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, and director of the Arkansas Department of Energy.

GREG MEARS, M.D., is associate professor of Emergency Medicine and director of the University of North Carolina EMS Performance Improvement Center. He has been cited for his work in developing comprehensive systems for accumulation and structured use of prehospital data.

ANTHONY MINGE is director of MedServ Patient Accounts Services. In addition to extensive experience with both urban and rural ground and air medical transportation services, he has billing and collections expertise in pharmacy, home health, hospital and lab agencies.

SARAH MCENTEE is executive director of the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services. Previously, she served as program director for the New England EMS Institute in Manchester, N.H. Sarah has more than 20 years clinical and leadership experience with a broad range of EMS systems.

DAVID NELSON, D.Min., is an experienced executive/life coach and serves as a senior consultant at Fitch & Associates. For over a decade, he has been a core faculty member and coordinator of the Ambulance Service Manger (ASM) and Communications Center Manager (CCM) courses.

ERIC OSSMANN, M.D., is an associate professor and vice-chief of EMS and Out-of-Hospital Medicine in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Duke University. He previously served as the medical director of Grady Health System, the 911 ambulance provider for the city of Atlanta.

JERRY OVERTON is president and chief executive officer of Road Safety International, Inc. and previously served as director of the Richmond Ambulance Authority. A past president of the AAA, he served on the National Academies of Science IOM/EMS Committee. He is recognized worldwide as a leader in technology and system design.

MIKE RAGONE is a senior associate and fire service practice leader at the EMS/public safety consulting firm Fitch & Associates. He coauthored the “2010 JEMS 200-City survey.” His career spans more than 30 years in EMS and the fire service, including 10 years as a vice president at American Medical Response.

MARK RECTOR recently joined Priority Dispatch Corporation as director of consulting. In his 22-year career, he has provided project management and oversight for large multi-state managed healthcare clients, implementing the largest transportation contract of its kind.

DAVE ROSS, D.O., is an emergency physician at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colo. He serves as medical director of American Medical Response there, as well as at fire departments and other EMS agencies in the area.

RAFAEL SA’ADAH is assistant fire chief of EMS for the District of Columbia Fire & EMS Department. As a firefighter and paramedic, he has been in emergency services for nearly 20 years.

TONY SAVERINO is chief administrative officer at the EMS/public safety consulting firm Fitch & Associates. He is an experienced CPA and business executive with previous experience in healthcare, business operations management and sales.

PATRICK SMITH is president and chief executive officer of Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority and Care Flight of Reno, Nev., which provides emergency and interfacility ambulance, helicopter and wheel-chair services without local community tax support in Washoe County and northern Nevada. He is also president and chief executive officer of Sierra Emergency Medical Services Alliance.

TOM SOMERS is a captain in the Los Angeles City Fire Department, assigned to the communications division, and has led project teams for a number of innovative shared service projects. He frequently lectures on communications and large-scale incidents.

TODD STOUT is chief executive officer of Stout Solutions, based in Encinitas, Calif. He has been involved in improving productivity and pioneering early detection systems, situational awareness and data awareness software in emergency services through the FirstWatch software system.

MIKE TAIGMAN is general manager of American Medical Response’s division in Alameda County, Calif. A former paramedic and lifelong student, Mike has helped EMS leaders and organizations improve the care and service they provide to their communities. He has worked with advanced EMS for more than 25 years.

NIELS TANGHERLINI, a paramedic captain for the San Francisco Fire Department, created the Homeless Outreach and Medical Emergency (HOME) team as a collaboration between public health and the fire department. The successful program is now being modeled in several cities across North America.

RON THACKERY is senior vice president of professional services at American Medical Response. He has an extensive background in transportation and healthcare safety and risk management. He previously served as a senior attorney at FedEx for regulatory matters.

BILL VIDACOVICH is vice president of fleet maintenance for Acadian Ambulance Service. Acadian operates over 300 vehicles in nearly 40 counties in Miss., La., and Texas. Much of the Acadian service area is extremely rural.

DAVID WILLIAMS is a senior consultant at the EMS/public safety consulting firm Fitch & Associates. He is the coauthor of the annual “JEMS 200-City Survey” and “JEMS Salary & Workforce Survey.” He is on the faculty and an improvement advisor for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

MIKE WILLIAMS is vice president of the Regional EMS Authority serving Reno, Nev., and formerly served as Florida’s state EMS director. He previously led Grady Health System’s EMS in Atlanta and also served as chief executive officer/vice president of southwest operations for American Medical Response.

CHRISTINE ZALAR is a partner at the EMS/public safety consulting firm, Fitch & Associates. She leads the firm’s air medical consulting division and has developed and reviewed many major EMS system designs in North America. She has provided national leadership in air medical and safety matters.