Officer Bios

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Name	Bio
Neil Van Dyke President	Neil Van Dyke is a founding member (1980) and current team leader for Stowe Mountain Rescue. Over the past 25+ years he has been involved in hundreds of SAR missions throughout Vermont. In 2005 he was honored by the State of Vermont for his statewide role in search and rescue by being presented with the Vermont State Police Director's Award. In his other life Neil owns and operates a family resort in Stowe, Vermont. He also works as a seasonal backcountry Assistant Forest Ranger in New York’s Adirondack Park in the summer. Neil serves as the Town of Stowe Emergency Management Director, is a member of Stowe's Selectboard and volunteers his time on the boards of a number of different organizations throughout New England. Neil has previously served MRA as Vice President, Member at Large and Appalachian region chair.
Doug Wesson Vice President	Doug Wesson is the Vice President of Juneau Mt. Rescue, He has been a member of JMR since 1992 as well as a member of Capital City Fire/Rescue Rope Rescue and Swiftwater Rescue Team for 10 years. He is a retired school psychologist and works summers as a glacier guide with Northstar Trekking in Juneau. Doug also serves on the board of directors of the Southeast Alaska Critical Incident Stress Management Team and Eaglecrest Ski Area. He is former president of the Alaska School Psychologist Association. He has appeared in Baywatch, White Thunder in Glacier Bay, NBC Dateline survivor, and on the Martha Stewart show when she visited the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau and a number of cable TV shows about trekking on the glaciers. In 1999 Doug received the Meritorious Service Award from the Untied States Coast Guard as a result of a rescue of 10 individuals stranded on the Juneau Icefield overnight after 3 helicopters crashed in one day. Doug is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Alaska Southeast for mountain rescue courses. Doug keeps involved in a number of public education programs for preventative search and rescue with different tourist organizations in Juneau, Alaska
John Chang Secretary/Treasurer	Growing up in the flat topography of the Midwest, John's early training for the mountains is waiting for the late school buses in blizzards and minus 40 degree wind chills. John began his SAR activities in the winter of 1995 when he joined the Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team under the auspice of the Dartmouth Medical School serving the SAR needs of Vermont and New Hampshire. He achieved the level of NREMT/WEMT and elected as the Team Leader for 1998-1999. In 1999 he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and joined the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit (BAMRU). John has served BAMRU in several capacities including Unit Leader for three terms and has been a Board of Director member and Operations Leader since 2002. He currently holds the Executive Officer role for BAMRU. John has also been the California Region Vice Chairman since 2007. In addition to BAMRU and CRMRA, he is actively involved with the Bay Area Search and Rescue Council and affiliated with the San Francisco Paramedic Association. He is active in leading and teaching various topics in SAR with particular emphasis on technical rope rescue. He is an active mountaineer with experience in the White and Green Mountains of the New England States, Sierra Nevada of California, and Northern Cascades of the Pacific Northwest. John also enjoys tramping off the beaten paths domestically and internationally whether through the alleyways of urban jungles or scree fields somewhere 'out there'. Professionally he holds a doctorate in electrical engineering with emphasis on biomedical engineering. His efforts include the development of advanced technologies for trauma medicine. One such example is the creation of a non-invasive pneumothorax detector for in-field assessments based upon the ultrawideband electromagnetic technology.
Dave Clarke Member-at-Large	Dave has volunteered with Portland Mountain Rescue since 2000. In that time he has served on the Board of Directors and as President. He led the planning team for the 2009 MRA 50th anniversary conference at Timberline Lodge. In addition he is a rescue level member, mission team leader, and frequently instructs classes in rigging, mechanical advantage, high lines, belay and search. He has served as the Equipment and Technology Committee Chair for the MRA and as an out of region re-accreditation evaluator. Dave is employed by the Gresham, Oregon (suburb of Portland) Fire Department as a Fire Captain/EMT. In that role he is in charge of a fire station, its personnel and als the Department's Technical Rescue Team. When he's not working or volunteering Dave enjoys spending time with Laurie, his wife of 30 years and his two children, Annie and Dale, backcountry skiing, mountaineering, bicycling and gardening.
Jim Frank Member-at-Large	Jim Frank’s introduction to search & rescue began as a climbing and rappelling coach for the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s SAR Team in 1970 while an Aeronautical Engineering student. Jim joined the Los Padres Search & Rescue Team in 1976. He served over 25 years on the team’s board of directors and a two-year then later a six-year term as President. During the latter term he helped guide the merger of the county teams into Santa Barbara County Search & Rescue. Jim is an Incident Commander, EMT-1, OEC, and has held qualifications in SRT and WEMT. He is also an Auxiliary Member of the Mt. Pinos Nordic Ski Patrol and an Apprentice member of the California Rescue Dog Association. In 2005, the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department presented Jim with their Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to the department’s search & rescue program. Jim is the founder and chairman of the board of CMC Rescue, Inc. where for over 30 years he has been involved with product design, training, and technical writing as well as the usual duties of a small business owner. He serves the rescue community as a member of the ASTM F-32 Committee on Search & Rescue, ANSI-ASSE Z359 Committee on Fall Protection, NFPA 1670 on Technical Rescue Operations and NFPA 1983 on Life Safety Rope & Equipment.

Name

Bio

Neil Van Dyke

President

Neil Van Dyke is a founding member (1980) and current team leader for Stowe Mountain Rescue. Over the past 25+ years he has been involved in hundreds of SAR missions throughout Vermont. In 2005 he was honored by the State of Vermont for his statewide role in search and rescue by being presented with the Vermont State Police Director's Award.

In his other life Neil owns and operates a family resort in Stowe, Vermont. He also works as a seasonal backcountry Assistant Forest Ranger in New York’s Adirondack Park in the summer. Neil serves as the Town of Stowe Emergency Management Director, is a member of Stowe's Selectboard and volunteers his time on the boards of a number of different organizations throughout New England.

Neil has previously served MRA as Vice President, Member at Large and Appalachian region chair.

Doug Wesson

Vice President

Doug Wesson is the Vice President of Juneau Mt. Rescue, He has been a member of JMR since 1992 as well as a member of Capital City Fire/Rescue Rope Rescue and Swiftwater Rescue Team for 10 years. He is a retired school psychologist and works summers as a glacier guide with Northstar Trekking in Juneau. Doug also serves on the board of directors of the Southeast Alaska Critical Incident Stress Management Team and Eaglecrest Ski Area. He is former president of the Alaska School Psychologist Association.

He has appeared in Baywatch, White Thunder in Glacier Bay, NBC Dateline survivor, and on the Martha Stewart show when she visited the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau and a number of cable TV shows about trekking on the glaciers.

In 1999 Doug received the Meritorious Service Award from the Untied States Coast Guard as a result of a rescue of 10 individuals stranded on the Juneau Icefield overnight after 3 helicopters crashed in one day. Doug is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Alaska Southeast for mountain rescue courses. Doug keeps involved in a number of public education programs for preventative search and rescue with different tourist organizations in Juneau, Alaska

John Chang

Secretary/Treasurer

Growing up in the flat topography of the Midwest, John's early training for the mountains is waiting for the late school buses in blizzards and minus 40 degree wind chills. John began his SAR activities in the winter of 1995 when he joined the Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team under the auspice of the Dartmouth Medical School serving the SAR needs of Vermont and New Hampshire. He achieved the level of NREMT/WEMT and elected as the Team Leader for 1998-1999. In 1999 he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and joined the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit (BAMRU).

John has served BAMRU in several capacities including Unit Leader for three terms and has been a Board of Director member and Operations Leader since 2002. He currently holds the Executive Officer role for BAMRU. John has also been the California Region Vice Chairman since 2007. In addition to BAMRU and CRMRA, he is actively involved with the Bay Area Search and Rescue Council and affiliated with the San Francisco Paramedic Association. He is active in leading and teaching various topics in SAR with particular emphasis on technical rope rescue. He is an active mountaineer with experience in the White and Green Mountains of the New England States, Sierra Nevada of California, and Northern Cascades of the Pacific Northwest.

John also enjoys tramping off the beaten paths domestically and internationally whether through the alleyways of urban jungles or scree fields somewhere 'out there'. Professionally he holds a doctorate in electrical engineering with emphasis on biomedical engineering. His efforts include the development of advanced technologies for trauma medicine. One such example is the creation of a non-invasive pneumothorax detector for in-field assessments based upon the ultrawideband electromagnetic technology.

Dave Clarke

Member-at-Large

Dave has volunteered with Portland Mountain Rescue since 2000. In that time he has served on the Board of Directors and as President. He led the planning team for the 2009 MRA 50th anniversary conference at Timberline Lodge. In addition he is a rescue level member, mission team leader, and frequently instructs classes in rigging, mechanical advantage, high lines, belay and search. He has served as the Equipment and Technology Committee Chair for the MRA and as an out of region re-accreditation evaluator. Dave is employed by the Gresham, Oregon (suburb of Portland) Fire Department as a Fire Captain/EMT. In that role he is in charge of a fire station, its personnel and als the Department's Technical Rescue Team.

When he's not working or volunteering Dave enjoys spending time with Laurie, his wife of 30 years and his two children, Annie and Dale, backcountry skiing, mountaineering, bicycling and gardening.

Jim Frank

Member-at-Large

Jim Frank’s introduction to search & rescue began as a climbing and rappelling coach for the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s SAR Team in 1970 while an Aeronautical Engineering student. Jim joined the Los Padres Search & Rescue Team in 1976. He served over 25 years on the team’s board of directors and a two-year then later a six-year term as President. During the latter term he helped guide the merger of the county teams into Santa Barbara County Search & Rescue.

Jim is an Incident Commander, EMT-1, OEC, and has held qualifications in SRT and WEMT. He is also an Auxiliary Member of the Mt. Pinos Nordic Ski Patrol and an Apprentice member of the California Rescue Dog Association. In 2005, the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department presented Jim with their Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to the department’s search & rescue program.

Jim is the founder and chairman of the board of CMC Rescue, Inc. where for over 30 years he has been involved with product design, training, and technical writing as well as the usual duties of a small business owner. He serves the rescue community as a member of the ASTM F-32 Committee on Search & Rescue, ANSI-ASSE Z359 Committee on Fall Protection, NFPA 1670 on Technical Rescue Operations and NFPA 1983 on Life Safety Rope & Equipment.