2006 Cryonics Institute Director Candidates

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. Here are the candidates for 2006, listed in the order in which they announced their candidacy (the first two, Constance Ettinger and Pat Heller, are incumbents).

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. An especially active member of the Cryonics Institute for several years, Connie assisted physically in a suspension in 1987, has often hosted meetings, and is currently serving as Contract Officer. (When members join or suspensions are performed, the Contract Officer signs on behalf of CI, verifies that the forms are properly executed, and also helps out members with individual problems or special circumstances.) Connie is now acting Vice President of the Franklin Community Association. Her main hobby (and delight) is comedy, and she occasionally performs stand-up routines in various clubs throughout the Detroit area. She says of herself, "Raised in the wilds of northern Michigan, Connie is adept at hunting and killing her own food. Such skills made it natural for her to become a disreputable attorney. Her favorite activities include thinking up new uses for the word "irregardless".

She can be contacted at cdettin@aol.com

Pat Heller is a Certified Public Accountant, though for the most part he deals in Rare Coins and Precious Metals, and 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. Apart from his financial, business, and managerial activities, Pat also has a literary gift and has written and published both fiction and poetry. Pat has been happily married for the past eight years to his wife, Pam. They have a two-year-old adopted son, and are legal guardians for a fifteen-year-old girl. The Hellers live in Lansing, Michigan. Pat can be contacted at path@libertycoinservice.com

Jack Nixon was born in Akron Ohio on 19 November, 1942, Akron was then known as the Rubber Capital of the World for all its tire and rubber product manufacturing. Jack went to Seiberling Grade School in Akron and several other schools in the Akron area growing up and remaining there in the area, graduating from Copley High School in 1960. Jack was interested in science, and electronics from the age of 10, building his first home made radio at 10 years old. By age 12 he owned his own TV and Radio repair service and a newspaper route. Throughout grade school, and high school Jack maintained his profitable business, accruing almost enough money to provide for his college tuition, and books. Jack attended Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, graduating in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree. Jack and his wife Gloria married in 1967, having 3 children, Scott, Elizabeth, and Lynn, one nice boy and two fine girls. Jack and Gloria now have 12 grand children, and is 63 years old. Jack has worked as an Electrical Engineer with several companies, as an Engineering Consultant over the years finally began working for the U. S. Department of Army in 1986 as an Energy Manager where he has worked in that position ever since.(For a little more about him, please see the Nov/Dec 2002 issue of The Immortalist )

Jack has over the years maintained much interest in Cryonics since attending the 1968 Anne Arbor Cryonics Conference sponsored by Robert Ettinger, but was out of circulation due to many of his relocations during his career over that time. Jack became a contracted member of the Cryonics Institute on 10 Feb, 2001, in an agreement with another working associate that he also become a member of CI. Jack now is an irrevocable paid up contract member of CI. Both Jack and his friend have been supporting members of CI ever since. Jack and his associate were interviewed by a local newspaper and an article written about them in the local press about their interest in Cryonics. Jack was elected a CI Board member in 2001, and was voted an honorary CI Board of Directors member in 2004. Jack volunteered to give up his board seat for another CI member who at that time sought a board seat from Europe to further enhance European participation in CI. Jack has the following agenda areas he wants to support as an active CI Board of Directors member:

1. Successful Whole Body vitrification protocol for CI patients, the Holy Grail. Implementation of improved methods of deanimation storage beyond vitrification. Implementing ways to expand numbers of Cryonics advocates, and increasing CI membership. Expansion of the Cryonics Institute to provide more and larger facilities for future growth of patient storage. Implementation of a Cryonics Institute Reanimation Support Structure with facilities and a planned protocol for patient reanimation.

I believe all of these to be very important to the success of our movement as Cryonicists and to CI.

I was born in 1963, and live in a small town in Georgia (United States), which is about 60 miles North of Atlanta. I currently work in a criminal prosecutor's office as an investigator, and have many years experience in the law enforcement field. While I do not have a string of academic letters after my name, I do have three years of college and have an Associates of Arts degree in psychology and a certificate in personal computer applications. (For a little more about me, please see the May/June 2004 issue of "The Immortalist" )

I have a lot of "life experience" both good and bad, and know how to make the tough decisions when and if the need arises. I am also use to navigating and cutting through bureaucratic red-tape when it rears its head. I have been familiar with cryonics since around the mid - late 1970's, and signed up for cryonics in 1993. I became a member of CI in 2002. I am excited about the progress that CI has made, and am optimistic about the future of the organization.

If I am elected as a director of CI, I will support the continued research in vitrification technology, explore avenues for the promotion of CI to the general public, and examine the feasibility of providing education either in the form of training or training materials for individuals who may be involved with a cryonics standby situation. First and foremost above all other considerations, I would consider it my duty to insure the protection of CI's patients. I appreciate your consideration and vote.

First, a bit of history. I joined the Army after high school, and was trained as a Russian linguist. Then, I went to Oregon State University, followed by Oregon Health Sciences University. I've been a dentist for 7 years. I became interested in computer programming about 5 years ago, and started a company that provides software to dental offices. The software company has been doing well, so I will probably be able to quit practicing dentistry within a year or two.

I was an Alcor member for 15 years, and switched to CI only recently. CI is a much better fit for my philosophy, and I really like the direction they are headed. I was not very involved with Alcor, mostly because my primary goal was to achieve financial success first. Over the last few years, however, I have become very much involved in cryonics. I am the director of Oregon Cryonics http://www.oregoncryo.com/ . We have an ambulance, and a half-built rescue cart. I will be attending school next year to become a funeral director, and after a few years, we should have a fully functional and legitimate cryonics rescue organization serving Oregon.

As a director of CI, there are some goals I would like to see achieved. But my agenda also leans very heavily towards maintaining the status quo. Many people are distracted by irrelevant technologies and certain emotional topics. I would like to help CI maintain focus. So here are some of the issues that I feel are important:1. Conservative fiscal policy. And although I'm not a lawyer, I might bring up the feasibility of creating a patient care trust similar to the one in place at Alcor. The money used to provide perpetual maintenance for the patients might be more secure in a fund separate from CI and legally protected from being depleted. 2. Scientific advancement. Ben and Yuri have done an outstanding job in this area, so there's not much for me to add. But let me be clear that I do not believe whole body vitrification is a practical or desirable goal anytime in the near future. I am interested in one organ only: the brain. Every tissue type in the body requires a different protocol for optimal vitrification. It is entirely impractical with today's technology to think that we can somehow vitrify an entire body. Every compromise that we make in that direction only serve to put the quality of the brain preservation at risk. There is very much work that still needs to be done to improve preservation of the brain. Let's focus on that much more important goal instead of the whole body. I would also support a neuro option for CI patients, although I'm not going to make a big deal about it. 3. I will oppose spending any significant amount of money on marketing and promotion. I might volunteer to help organize and spice up the website somewhat, but I can't think of any good reason to throw money at any kind of marketing campaign. That approach has repeatedly proven to be futile in the past. 4. I feel that local immediate response groups are important, as should be clear by the existence of Oregon Cryonics. I think that CI should encourage such groups and work with them to provide optimal patient care. Notice that CI already does an outstanding job in this area, while Alcor has policies in place that specifically exclude these types of arrangements. Of course, I do NOT feel that CI needs to be spending any of its own money building up local groups. It's just a simple matter of making sure that we are all cooperating in a way that benefits all patients. 5. Professionalization. We need the cooperation and involvement of more funeral directors and more physicians. This will take many decades, but it is something we should strive for. My approach as a director would be to act in the most reasonable and pragmatic manner possible. I think it's extremely important to maintain consistency and stability.

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