Directors and Officers
of the Cryonics Institute
Directors and Officers
The twelve Directors of the Cryonics Institute Board are elected for three years in groups of four every September at the Annual General Meeting held at the Cryonics Institute facility. All Officers of the Cryonics Institute are Directors. The Officers are elected from amongst the Directors.
Dennis Kowalski
Dennis Kowalski is a Fire Fighter and a Nationally Registered EMT-Paramedic (NREMT-P) for the city of Milwaukee. He is also certified in advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), advanced pediatric life support (PALS), and as a CPR Instructor for the American Heart Association. As a Fire Fighter and Paramedic Dennis has had a lot of experience dealing with life and death. His training and skills have given him numerous opportunities to be a part of saving lives while helping others in great distress. *CI OFFICER*
Andy Zawacki
CI Director Andy Zawacki is also the Chief Operations Officer and Secretary of the Cryonics Institute. Some of his responsibilities at CI are processing membership sign-ups, preparing documents for members, membership database entries, facility & patient maintenance, preparing cryostats for service and patient suspensions. Andy Zawacki has been working for the Cryonics Institute since 1985. * CI OFFICER*
Steve Luyckx
Steve Luyckx was born in Detroit, Michigan, the fifth of six children. He graduated from Michigan State in 1986 with a BA in Logistics and a Masters degree in Finance a few years later. His professional career includes Kraft Foods, Chrysler/DaimlerChrysler Financial and in 2009 became the President of a joint venture between ADP and Reynolds. He first became interested in Cryonics when a neighbor friend who was an important influence in his life introduced the topic. He has been one of the longest serving board members dating back almost 20 years and has attended every annual meeting since 1988. *CI OFFICER*
Vacant
Kevin Doyle
Kevin Doyle holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Queens University and a M.E.Sc from the University of Western Ontario. He also holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the University of Toronto. Kevin has worked in Nuclear Power Generation for many years and also has experience with optimization projects in the health care and equipment maintenance fields as well as the area of organizational behavior. In addition, he has run a large-scale beef farm all his life, providing hands-on experience of ground-level work and organization. He presently operates his own consulting organization.
Paul Hagen
Paul Hagen lives in Waupaca, Wisconsin and is retired from a Senior Financial Specialist position with the State of Wisconsin. In 2016 he launched a successful residential and vacation rental business which has grown to over fifty units throughout Central and Northwest Wisconsin.
Paul has a strong connection to CI as his Dad, Jerry Hagen, is Patient #81. He holds an Associate in Computer Science and a BA in Finance. He has decades of varied and thorough financial experience. “My only agenda is to foster the long-term safety and prosperity of CI. I believe in respectful discourse and common-sense solutions.”
Don Kleinsek, Ph.D.
Dr. Kleinsek is a businessman, inventor, author, educator, researcher and biotech pioneer.
His stated goal in science is to increase human longevity, noted as lifespan, while maintaining an optimal healthspan. This goal implies the reversal of systemic aging.
Accompanying this endeavor is his interest in cryonics, both from a science challenge and as a practical means of preserving one’s identity.
To achieve this goal Dr. Kleinsek delved into many areas of medical science to incorporate. This includes enzymology, chemistry, biochemistry, molecular genetics, cell biology, hormone action and diseases in gerontology.
Steve Lebel
Steve LeBel brings decades of nonprofit leadership, business acumen, unique problem-solving skills, and a deep personal investment in cryonics. He spent 17 years as the president of a Michigan hospital with 20 locations in three states, where he developed extensive expertise in governance, strategic planning, and fiduciary responsibility.
Since retiring from healthcare, Steve founded several technology companies offering computer networking, web design, hosting, and data centers. After selling those businesses, he focused on long-term investment strategies and later wrote a series of award-winning humorous fantasy novels. In recent years, his passion has turned to cryonics.
Constance Ettinger
Constance M. Ettinger, J.D. (Doctor of Jurisprudence), is a native of Michigan, and a resident of that state. She currently resides in Franklin, Michigan with her husband, David Ettinger, who is himself an attorney with a large Detroit law firm and the son of Robert Ettinger. Connie and David met at the University of Michigan as law students, and Connie is a long-time legal professional as well, having received both her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Michigan. She has been a licensed attorney for 19 years, previously specializing in personnel and employment law. *CI OFFICER*
Pat Heller
Pat Heller is a Certified Public Accountant, though for the most part he deals in Rare Coins and Precious Metals. He is the owner and chief executive officer of Liberty Coin Service, of Lansing, Michigan. He became Treasurer of CI in 1980, and has also served as Vice President of CI. He took office as Vice President in late 1995, following Andrea Foote, and stepped down in 2001, though he continues as Director and Treasurer. *CI OFFICER*
Joseph Kowalsky
Joseph Kowalsky was born and raised in the Detroit area in an Orthodox Jewish home. Both his parents are teachers, a fact he feels encouraged his own lifelong love of learning. He recalls that he first became aware of cryonics when a seventh grade science teacher brought some cryonics material to class. Joe was hooked: for the next fifteen years Joe kept abreast of the movement, eventually becoming an Associate member of the Immortalist Society. *CI OFFICER*
Lauren Fosco
Lauren Fosco is the Chief Operating Officer at Biostasis Technologies and has been involved in cryonics since 2021.
Coming from the aerospace engineering industry, she brings systems engineering, operations, and risk mitigation skills to the CI board.
As a younger Board Member, she hopes to help enable a more focused approach to this multi-generational problem and enjoys the challenge of tackling complex problems and implementing novel, data-driven solutions.
After mentoring under the late CI director Jim Broughton, one of Lauren’s greatest wishes is to be able to carry on his legacy by implementing his vision for the betterment of CI.