2012 NEMSMA Board of Directors
President Skip Kirkwood
President-Elect Troy Hagen
Treasurer Sean Caffrey
Secretary Mike Touchstone
Member at Large Aarron Reinert
Member at Large Lanny Bernard
Member at Large Todd Stout
Member at Bruce Evans
Immediate Past President (non-voting) Gary Wingrove
Board Bios
President Skip Kirkwood, M.S., J.D., NREMT-P, EFO, CMO
Wake Forest, NC
Skip Kirkwood currently serves as the Chief of the Wake County (NC) Emergency Medical Services Division. He has been involved in EMS since 1973, as an EMT, paramedic, supervisor, educator, manager, consultant, state EMS director, and chief EMS officer. Skip holds a Master of Science in Health Services Administration from Central Michigan University and a Juris Doctorate from the Rutgers University School of Law. He is a graduate of the U. S. Fire Administration’s Executive Fire Officer program, and holds the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) credential from the Centers for Public Safety Excellence.
Skip currently serves (2011-2012) as President of the National EMS Management Association, having serviced on the Board of Directors since 2004. He served as chair of the Leadership Development Project Group (2008-2011) and as principal author of NEMSMA’s leadership agenda white paper, EMS Management and Leadership Development in the United States: An Agenda for the Future. Skip’s current NEMSMA projects include the development of an implementation model and supporting materials for the EMS Field Training and Evaluation Program; serving as principal editor for NEMSMA’s contribution to the Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education Consortium (FESHE) textbook collection, with a text called Managing Ambulance Services to be published next year by Pierson Publishing Company. In addition, Skip represents NEMSMA on the Joint National EMS Leadership Conference, which is made up of the presidents of most major national EMS-related associations, and serves as NEMSMA’s liaison to the International Association of Fire Chiefs – EMS Section.
Skip is a frequent speaker at regional and national EMS conferences. A précis of his available presentations can be seen here.
President-Elect Troy Hagen, Boise, ID
Troy is the Director of Ada County Paramedics. Troy has been involved in EMS since 1989. He has held many positions from Field Paramedic through Supervisory roles prior to his current administrative position. He also has a background as a volunteer firefighter, reserve deputy sheriff, tactical medic, and technical rescue team commander. Troy represents EMS as a Commissioner on Idaho’s Emergency Communication Commission and serves on both the Idaho EMS Code and EMS Licensure Task Forces. He is also an Incident Commander for Idaho’s Type 3 Incident Management and Support Team and the Medical Commissioner for the 2009 Special Olympic World Winter Games. Troy holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry and holds a Master in Business Administration. He is a frequent lecturer on emergency preparedness, special events planning, and multi-agency coordination. He is an ICS 100-400 Instructor and adjunct faculty for Idaho State University’s Institute of Emergency Management.
Treasurer Sean Caffrey
Secretary Mike Touchstone, Philadelphia, PA
Michael Touchstone is Chief of EMS Training for the Philadelphia Fire Department. He has been involved in EMS since 1980 and earned paramedic certification in 1983. Chief Touchstone started his career as a volunteer in a third service ambulance corps, and worked in paid third service and hospital based EMS systems before joining the Philadelphia Fire Department in 1989. He has served as a CQI officer, field supervisor, EMS instructor, and is AHA BLS Training Center Faculty. Mike was also a contract instructor at the National Fire Academy where he taught “Management of EMS”. He has presented at local, regional, national and international EMS conferences. Chief Touchstone is a published author and holds a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences from the George Washington University where he completed the EMS Management program.
Member-at-Large Lanny Bernard, Lancaster, SC
Lanny has been involved in EMS since 1977, became a paramedic in 1979 and and EMS Director in 1989. He has remained EMS Director at Lancaster County (SC) EMS for 21 years and feels fortunate to be a part of such a great organization. He has a BS in Biology from Winthrop College (now Winthrop University) and is a life-long learner whether that includes classes at the NFA, in-service training, conferences, or other opportunities. He taught EMT, EMTI and Paramedic classes for 20 before his wife informed him he did not want to teach anymore. Lanny is a member of the Executive Committee of the SC EMS Association, member and Past Chairman of the SC EMS Advisory Council, member of the SC Trauma Advisory Council, Board Member and Past Chairman for SC Midlands EMS Management Association, member of the SC EMS Training Committee, and current Chairman of the United Way of Lancaster County Board of Directors, and an active member of Higher Ground Church.
Member-at-Large Aarron Reinert, North Branch, MN
Aarron is the Executive Director for Lakes Region EMS. Lakes Region EMS is a rural ambulance service covering a 450 square mile service area composed of 40 full-time staff with a Paramedic/EMT staffing pattern. Previous to Lakes Region EMS, Aarron was the Field Services Manager for the Minnesota Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board. At the EMSRB, his projects included creating and implementing a statewide, web-based data collection system, developing statewide EMS communication systems, and coordinating EMS bioterrorism preparedness. Aarron is considered a national expert in EMS data collection and also a leader in leadership training for current and future leaders in EMS. He has served as a subject matter expert for numerous states, such as Georgia, Nebraska, and New Hampshire, as they developed statewide EMS data collection systems. He also assisted the country of Ireland explore the development and implementation of a national EMS data collection system. Aarron was recently appointed by the US Secretary of Transportation to serve on NHTSA’s National EMS Advisory Council. He has pioneered the use of the Balanced Score Card within ambulance services. He continues to be a practicing paramedic of 18 years, has a B.A. in Organizational Leadership, and is regular educator for ambulance management, leadership and a consultant for public safety communications and EMS data collection. Aarron is a partner in SafeTech Solutions with Gary Wingrove and John Becknell.
Member at Large Vince Robbins, Neptune, NJ
Since 1990, Mr. Robbins has served as MONOC’s President & Chief Executive Officer, responsible for the oversight, administration & management of three health care services companies.
Together, under his leadership, the corporations have continued to provide reduced cost shared services, co-operative joint ventures and direct clinical care as well as several diversified product lines for MONOC’s 15 member hospitals, in multiple New Jersey counties. In the last eighteen years, under his stewardship, MONOC has grown fifteen fold, dramatically expanding the wide range of serves it provides, more than doubling the hospital members of the consortium and securing its financial stability.
Mr. Robbins holds a Bachelor’s degree in Medical Services Management and a Master’s of Science in Healthcare Administration. He is also a Fellow with The American College of Health Care Executives.
Member at Large Todd Stout, Encinitas, CA.
Todd, the President of FirstWatch, has worked in a variety of EMS systems at just about every level. A member of the board of the National EMS Management Association, over the past decade he’s focused on helping EMS and public health agencies improve situational awareness, operational performance and clinical assessments.
Past-President Gary Wingrove, Buffalo, MN
Gary has volunteered or worked for governmental, non-profit and independent EMS agencies since 1978. He is a former state EMS director and recently retired as a paramedic after 25 years of service. He serves on several federal agency national advisory committees and has leadership posts in several state and national EMS and rural health associations. Gary frequently lectures on EMS public policy. He is currently the director of government relations and strategic affairs for the Mayo Clinic's non-profit air and ground transportation company, serving multiple geographies in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.Gary is a partner in SafeTech Solutions with Aarron Reinert and John Becknell. Gary also serves in an uncompensated position on the Best Practices editorial board; however, neither he nor Aarron have any business or financial interest in Best Practices.