CentreLearn: Training just got easier.

Our Senior Management Team

James N. Eastham, Jr., Sc.D

Chief Executive Officer

Jim brings considerable expertise to his role as Chief Executive Officer of CentreLearn. He has more than 30 years experience in emergency health services research, administration and education. He is a former faculty member in the Emergency Health Services Department at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and served for many years as department chairman and director of graduate studies. In 1996, he designed and directed the development of the nation's only online learning Master of Science degree program in Emergency Health Services Management Studies. He left the university in 1998 to create EMSED.COM, which rapidly became a leading provider of online continuing education support services for emergency services professionals. He served as President and CEO of EMSED and guided the company through its merger with CentreLearn in 2005. Dr. Eastham is a nationally recognized expert on the use of Internet-based learning strategies and has served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of EMS Educators and the Continuing Education Coordinating Board for Emergency Medical Services. He has also led several national committees to establish recommendations, policies and procedures for the appropriate use and accreditation of Internet-based learning programs in Emergency Medical Services education. He holds a Doctor of Science degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.

Jason Paluck, MS, NREMT-P

President

President and co-founder of CentreLearn, Jason directs all technical operations. He has an extensive background in education technology development and the delivery of online education programs. In 1996, he designed the instructional technology used in the nation's first online Master of Science degree program in Emergency Health Services Management Studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Between 2000 and 2004, he directed the assembly of the core training curricula and instructional design process of the online training program used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Disaster Medical System (NDMS). While guiding the development of the NDMS Online Training Programs, he co-developed the CentreLearn Learning Management System and the application hosting infrastructure to meet the unique training and record-keeping needs of federal multidisciplinary disaster response teams. He is an active New York State paramedic and a commanding officer of the FEMA NJ-1 Disaster Medical Assistant Team. He holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in Emergency Health Services Management and Administration from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Avraham Shtaygrud

Chief Technology Officer

As co-founder of CentreLearn and Director of Software Development, Avraham has more than 25 years experience in the software design industry. Prior to forming CentreLearn, he served as a software developer for Borland and Microsoft and worked on development of well-known products including Turbo Pascal, Quattro Pro, Internet Explorer and SQL Server. In addition to his corporate experience, he has many years of consulting experience developing cutting-edge Internet applications. He also designed a revolutionary new software modeling and design product called Conceptual Modeler, which dramatically reduces the amount of time needed to bring product innovations to market. Conceptual Modeler has been instrumental to the design and development of CentreLearn and provides the company with the advantage of incorporating client-inspired innovations into production quickly. He earned his Computer Science Master degree at Moscow University.

SUE AUMAN

Director of Operations

As Director of Operations, Sue is responsible for the leadership of CentreLearn's business and administrative operations. She also manages performance tracking, staff recruitment and collaborates with the CentreLearn team to establish and implement operating goals, metrics and improvement targets. Before joining CentreLearn, Sue led the Merrill W. Linn Land and Waterways Conservancy, a non-profit land preservation group with a long history in Central Pennsylvania. Previous to her work with the Conservancy, Sue gained experience managing all aspects of business operations by managing commercial properties. As a commercial property manager and leasing agent for Wasatch Properties in Logan, Utah, Sue oversaw 225,000 square feet of commercial office space. As a property manager at Forum Properties in Beaverton, Oregon, Sue was the on-site manager for a 645,255 square foot business park. Sue graduated from Oregon State University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration focusing on Venture Management. In 2008 she completed an advanced leadership program from Legacy Group in North Carolina earning her certification in personal coaching, team training and facilitation. Sue serves on the Board of Directors for the Merrill W. Linn Land and Waterways Conservancy.

Greg Friese, MS, NREMT-P

Director of Education

Greg Friese is responsible for all education programs and instructional design customer support. Greg has over twenty years of experience developing and delivering adult education programs, and is an expert in developing effective online and blended learning programs. Prior to joining CentreLearn, Greg was founder and President of Emergency Preparedness Systems, which produced online and blended learning education programs for EMTs, paramedics, firefighters, law enforcement officers, and hospital personnel. His instructional design credits include adapting the National Association of EMTs Emergency Pediatric Care course for online learning, and the National Emergency Number Association's Missing Persons for Telecommunicators online training program. Greg's numerous conference presentations, publications, blog postings and podcasts cover topics in online and blended learning, the use of social media in EMS training and rapid e-learning instructional design. In 2009, he co-founded the EMSEduCast Podcast - the only podcast by and for EMS educators. Greg earned his Bachelor's degree at the University of Wisconsin and a Master of Science degree from the University of Idaho. Greg continues to serves as a lead instructor for Wilderness Medical Associates and is active as a paramedic near his home in central Wisconsin.