Tom P. Aufderheide, MD

Dr. Aufderheide is a nationally and internationally recognized researcher in the field of cardiac resuscitation and emergency cardiac care. He has authored numerous textbooks, chapters, CPR courses, and over 100 original research papers in the peer-reviewed literature, including 2 papers in the New England Journal of Medicine. He is a Professor of Emergency Medicine, past Basic Life Support Science Editor for the National American Heart Association, and directs the NIH-funded Resuscitation Research Center located in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Along with these significant accomplishments in research and education, Dr. Aufderheide has achieved many additional scholarly accomplishments that include: member of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute’s National Heart Attack Alert Program Working Group on Methods/Technologies for Early Identification of Acute Cardiac Ischemia/Acute Myocardial Infarction in the Emergency Department; member of the NIH Small Business Innovation Research Grant Review Committee; International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation, developing international CPR guidelines; and member of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Steering Implementation Committee for the "EMS Agenda for the Future". Wisconsin’s governor, Tommy Thompson (past United States Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Welfare) recognized Dr. Aufderheide for his work in writing and supporting Automated External Defibrillation (AED) legislation in the state of Wisconsin. Dr. Aufderheide was recently elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine, and Research. Election to the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement, commitment to service, and have made significant contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health.

William H. Montgomery, MD

Dr. William H. Montgomery was a co-founder of the Foundation in 1987 and served as its President until 2004. He is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Hawaii School Of Medicine. He recently retired from the multispecialty Straub Clinic and Hospital in Honolulu where he was Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology for 38 years. He remains in private practice. During his career at Straub he held many other administrative posts including Chief of Staff, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer. His activities outside Straub include active participation in the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), He currently serves on its Board of Directors and is the Director of the ASA Consultation Program. He is also the President of the Hawaii Society of Anesthesiologists. Additionally he is a member of the Hawaii State Ethics Commission.

Dr. Montgomery’s interest in CPR and resuscitation began in 1973 at the Hawaii Heart Association where he began teaching American Heart Association (AHA) CPR courses. In 1975 he was invited to join the AHA activities at the national level and he has been very active in teaching, writing educational materials and ECC program administration. He served as chair of the AHA national BLS, ECC and program administration committees to name a few. He was chair of the 1985 Silver Anniversary National Conference to review the Standards and Guidelines for CPR and ECC and has coordinated subsequent conferences including the most recent 2010 International Consensus Conference on CPR and ECC. His special interest is fostering international cooperation in the resuscitation field and was an organizer of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) and its chairman from 1998-2006.

He has received numerous awards recognizing these achievements including the American Heart Association’s Meritorious Achievement award in 1995, induction as an Honorary Member of the European Resuscitation Council in 2004 and honored as a “Giant” in resuscitation by ILCOR and the AHA in 2000.

Dr. Montgomery served as the ECCU program chair for several of the conferences. The Foundation created the William H. Montgomery, MD Excellence in Education Award in 2006. This award, sponsored by the Laerdal Foundation for Acute Medicine, is named in his honor and serves as encouragement to ECCU concurrent session presenters to strive for excellence in their presentations.

John C. Amato

John C. Amato is president, CEO, and founder of WorldPoint ECC, Inc. WorldPoint is a leading international distributor of life-support training materials, training manikins, Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) and other health-related products. John’s professional experience spans the full spectrum of business management. He began his career as a Certified Public Accountant working for Touche Ross & Co. His auditing career continued with Taco Bell and was followed by an eight years tenure in Planning, Marketing, and Sales with Frito Lay, Inc. in Dallas, TX. Key areas of expertise include the development of quality efficient operational/business systems as well as financial planning. John prides himself on being a hands-on executive who believes that excellent customer service is the ‘alpha’ and the ‘omega’ for business. As a former athlete, John seeks to engender a positive team environment within his company and with business associates. John has been working with the American Heart Association’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) Division since 1996, helping to increase survival rates from acute events as well as increase the number of persons trained to save lives. As part of this mission, John requires that all of his employees are trained in CPR and AED use.

John served as the Chairman for the American Heart Association Metro Chicago Board of Directors from 2007 to 2009. Additionally, WorldPoint is a model employer for the American Heart Association’s new Start! corporate wellness and walking program. He has made fitness and health a priority at WorldPoint. The company has been recognized by the American Heart Association as ‘Fit-Friendly’ company for each of the last four years.

John Amato has a BBA in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Marc Gay

Marc Gay is Executive Director for an Emergency Medical Dispatch Center in Sherbrooke Québec. He currently chairs the College of Fellows and the Dispatch CPR committee for the National Academy of Emergency Dispatch. He has served as chair of the ECC committee for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada from 1996-2003 and was a member of the AHA BLS subcommittee from 1996-2005.

Ward M. Hamilton

Ward M. Hamilton is Senior Vice President and Vice President of Marketing at ZOLL Medical Corporation a leading company in the field of resuscitation. He is actively involved in most of the company's product development and research. Prior to his current role at ZOLL, Mr. Hamilton served as Director of New Business Development and Director of Marketing for ACLS products for Laerdal Medical, and earlier was employed as Marketing Manager for defibrillators and non-invasive blood pressure monitors for Datascope Corporation. Early in his career he was an EMT, Los Angeles County paramedic and firefighter and taught emergency care and fire science. Mr. Hamilton holds a B.A. in political science from Hartwick College and a M.P.A. from the University of Southern California.

Tore Laerdal

Tore Laerdal is Chairman of the Board of the Laerdal Foundation for Acute Medicine, which since 1980 has provided financial support to nearly 2000 practically oriented research projects. www.laerdalfoundation.org

Mr Laerdal is also Chairman of the Board of the Laerdal Medical, a world leading company within training material and therapeutic equipment for acute medicine. www.laerdal.com

Mr Laerdal serves as Chairman of the Board of three external research foundations in Norway. He holds a degree from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, and has received a Honorary Doctorate in Science from the University in Hertfordshire in the UK.

Don Vardell

Don Vardell is the National Chair of Preparedness and Health & Safety Services for the National Headquarters of the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C. The American Red Cross is one of the nation’s leading training organizations in CPR, First Aid, AED and Water Safety related programs as well as emergency preparedness information, products and training. Don has been a board member of the Citizen CPR Foundation twice – once in 2000 – 2001 and his most recent appointment in 2006. Don’s experience includes 8 years as a US Army Reserve Officer and Desert Storm Veteran, volunteer EMS member, and over 25 years as an American Red Cross instructor, volunteer and paid staff member focusing on local chapter governance, national service delivery, health and safety program development and instructional design.

From 1994 – 2001 Don served as a project manager and then Director of Product Development for the American Red Cross, leading the development of the organization’s first AED training programs as well as serving on the team that developed the national outreach and AED sales program for the charity’s local units. These activities were part of the original grass-roots effort that resulted in AEDs being placed in airports, shopping malls, schools and other public gathering places.

Currently Don is a senior healthcare administrator with CRC Health Group and leads two private adolescent behavioral health facilities in the Salt Lake City area.

Don Vardell is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a BA in Psychology and an MS degree.

Merrilee Sweet

Merrilee Sweet is the national director of Emergency Cardiovascular Care for community markets for the American Heart Association. In this role, Sweet is focused on developing global strategies to increase survival from sudden cardiac arrest emergencies. Most recently, developing and implementing the Hands-Only CPR public awareness campaign in conjunction with the Ad Council. Prior to her current role, she was vice president of communications and marketing for the American Heart Association’s Northeast Affiliate. Sweet has more than 15 years of experience in strategic marketing, specializing in brand and project management, program development and event planning. Among her numerous honors, she received the 2004 “Women of Distinction” Award from New York Governor George E. Pataki.

Brad Holland

Brad Holland is the General Manager of Resuscitation Programs Development for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. Brad has responsibility for the management and business development of the Heart and Stroke Foundation resuscitation program. Brad has worked over 15 years in the private and public sector in Canada and the United States focusing on strategic planning, product development, business and program development.

Brad is a graduate of the University of Toronto.

Dr. Berger

Dr. Berger is Professor of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Medical Director of the Herma Heart Center at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. It is under Dr. Berger’s direction that Project ADAM was established, in November of 1999, after the sudden, unexpected deaths of several student athletes in Southeastern Wisconsin. He along with others advocated for passage of the ADAM Act in the United States Congress, a bill that will provide funding for a national clearinghouse for the dissemination of information that will assist schools establish AED programs.

Dr. Berger has published several papers, chapters and has edited books in the field of pediatric cardiology as well as on the topic of sudden cardiac death in children and adolescents.

Louis Gonzales

Louis Gonzales utilized his engineering education and experiences to develop expertise in the areas of process and performance improvement as well as systems-based approaches to community cardiovascular emergencies. Starting his career over 25 years ago as a volunteer EMS provider, Louis' career now focuses on performance improvement and strategies to improve survival from sudden cardiac arrest. Louis currently serves as the Performance Management & Research Coordinator in the Office of the Medical Director for the City of Austin/Travis County EMS System in Austin, Texas. He also serves as the Program Manager for the Take Heart Austin Sudden Cardiac Arrest Survival Initiative.

While gaining invaluable experience as a paramedic in the King County, Washington Medic One System, Louis Gonzales also served as the Early Defibrillation Program Coordinator for King County EMS. In this role, Louis revitalized the county-wide defibrillation program by focusing on quality improvement and instructor development. During this time, Louis co-authored EMT Manual, 3rd edition under the mentorship of Dr. Mickey Eisenberg and has since written a number of articles on the topics of community CPR and AED training, workplace emergency response and community resuscitation systems of care. Inspired by world-renowned resuscitation researchers in the Seattle/King County System, Louis continues his interest in resuscitation research. He served as a member of the North American Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) Trial's data safety monitoring board (DSMB) and is currently collaborating on a number of resuscitation related research projects.

Louis has also served in a number of leadership and science roles within the National American Heart Association including ECC Committee member, First Aid Subcommittee Chair, International First Aid Science Advisory Board member, Senior Oversight Editor for Student Materials and Mission Lifeline ECC Task Force member. He currently serves as the Senior Science Editor for Community products, Resuscitation Science Symposium planning committee member, and co-chairs the Capital Area Regional Mission Lifeline QI group. Louis received a Bachelor of Science in Safety Engineering from Texas A&M University and completed paramedic training through the University of Washington School of Medicine/Seattle Medic One Paramedic Training Program. He currently serves as Adjunct Faculty in the Department of EMS Professions of Temple College.

Sherrie Wilson

Sherrie Wilson is a 33 year veteran firefighter and retired Paramedic with the Dallas Fire Rescue Department. She is a nationally recognized writer and speaker, and motivator. She currently serves as the Founder, Director of Education and Clinical Manager for Emergency Management Resources (EMR). EMR specializes in providing business and industry with AED programs. These programs include, providing AED equipment, web-based tracking of equipment, medical direction, 3rd party inspections and training.

Sherrie has served on editorial and advisory boards for Industrial Fire World Magazine, Emergency Medical Services Magazine, Texas EMS Magazine, and as a reviewer of EMS text for both Mosby Lifeline and Brady Publishing. She has fifty plus published Fire and/or EMS related articles, publications and conference presentations. She has authored two manuals, Rescue Team Training, published by Emergency Management Resources and Medical Terminology, published by Fun Ed Inc. She is currently working on her third book Faith and Fire, about her life and career as the first female firefighter in Dallas. Faith and Fire is scheduled for publication summer 2011.

Sherrie has also served in a number of leadership roles within the American Heart Association including ECC Committee member, International Volunteer Trainer in Russia, India and Mexico. She currently serves as a Basic Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Life Support Regional Faculty.

Sherrie received a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from Hawthorne University and completed paramedic training through the University of Texas Health Science Center, Dallas, Texas. She is a graduate of Landmark Education Leadership and Communication Programs.