Mr. Washko started in the EMS industry in 1986 at the early age of 16 in the suburbs of Philadelphia where he was a volunteer fire fighter, police dispatcher and EMS provider. In 1990, Mr. Washko attended Hahnemann University where he received his Paramedic Certification and Bachelor degree in Emergency Medical Services Administration with focused studies on EMS system design, adult education and studied under Jack Stout, father of System Status Management. Upon graduating in 1994, Mr. Washko has held various progressive leadership positions at local, regional and corporate levels with small, medium and large sized EMS agencies and is considered the leading industry expert on EMS system design, System Status Management and High Performance EMS concepts. Mr. Washko frequently speaks at national industry venues on a variety of topics, is involved at the national level with various industry groups and has recently returned from an international project where he volunteered his services to USAID in order to help The Republic of Georgia (former Soviet Union) further develop their EMS and health care systems.