SMTA CHAIR
Donna York, DNP, RN, FAASTN, CMTE, CAFO, CACO

General Manager of Air Medical Services, EMS | MC | Mobile Healthcare Consultant, PWW|AG

 Donna York is a nationally recognized leader in air medical and critical care transport, bringing over 30 years of experience as a flight nurse, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Chief Flight Nurse, educator, and program director. At the heart of her work is a steadfast commitment to one core value: safety in transport. Having lost close colleagues and friends to air medical accidents, Donna brings a deep sense of purpose to her leadership with the Safety Management Training Academy (SMTA), where she has served since its founding in 2009. Her mission has always been clear—strengthen the science, systems, and culture that protect both patients and providers.

From 2006 to 2025, Donna played a pivotal role at Golden Hour, later part of ZOLL. Her work focused on using integrated systems to support revenue cycle resilience for air and ground EMS providers navigating the complex landscape of finance, reimbursement, and regulatory compliance. She is particularly passionate about connecting clinical, operational, safety, and business intelligence to drive strategy and improve outcomes across the continuum of care.

To advance this work, Donna earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) with a focus on informatics and safety, positioning her to lead efforts that bridge data, practice, and policy in EMS.

In 2025, Donna began a new chapter as General Manager of Air Medical Services for EMS|MC and Mobile Healthcare Consultant for PWW|AG, two newly created roles that reflect the industry's growing need for integrated, future-focused leadership. She now brings her extensive expertise in EMS systems, data strategy, and safety leadership to support air medical providers nationwide championing revenue integrity, operational excellence, and collaborative innovation. Her lifelong commitment to transforming care delivery, strengthening EMS infrastructure, and mentoring the next generation continues to guide her every step.

Michael Benton

VyClimb Consulting

Michael is the founder and President of VyClimb Consulting, LLC, a specialized firm supporting air medical and aviation organizations with strategy, safety, compliance, and operational guidance. Leading VyClimb since 2015, he has worked with HEMS/HAA, Offshore, and SAR operators across the U.S., UK, Australia, Brunei, China, Haiti, Ghana, Canada, and Mexico gaining unique insight into global best practices and shared operational challenges.
 
He serves on the Boards of CAMTS and NEMSPA, is an Ambassador for the Fred North Helicopter Safety Mentoring Program, and contributes to multiple industry safety committees. Michael is adjunct faculty at ERAU and was a guest speaker for AAMS’s MTLI and SMTA graduate courses.
 
An Army veteran and former OH-58D instructor pilot, he also served as Director of Aviation Compliance at Air Methods. He has worked on scene and served as a party member in five major NTSB investigations, and speaks regularly at international safety events.

Greg Botz, MD, FCCM

UT MD Anderson Cancer Center

Greg H. Botz, MD, FCCM is the University of Texas Distinguished Teaching Professor and Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.  He also serves as an Adjunct Clinical Professor in Anesthesiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine.  He has served as the UT Chancellor’s Health Fellow in Quality of Care and Patient Safety.  He received the 2018 Pete Conrad Global Patient Safety Award for his work in the Medical-Tactical Bystander Rescue Care Program. 

Jeff Currin

Margin Safety

For the past 15 years, Jeff’s work has focused on human performance for pilots, Safety Management System performance, and leveraging helicopter flight data monitoring program use. Currently, Jeff is the owner of Margin Safety, a safety data analysis provider geared for small aircraft operators. Before this, Jeff has served several safety positions with helicopter air medical operators as a FOQA program manager or as a safety analytics manager. Jeff also has experience as a research associate at the University of Oregon and a contract researcher for NASA Ames. His research has included attention development in 3-5-year old children and various aviation focused human performance studies looking at decision making, attention, and the effects of low food intake on pilot performance. Jeff is also an active commercial F/W pilot and works to ensure safe practices are adopted in general aviation. 

Johnny Delgado, DM, MBA, BSc, REMT-P, CMTP

The Anastasia Group LLC

Johnny is an aviation, healthcare and public safety professional with over 40 years of service. Experiences include Chief of an Emergency Services agency with responsibilities including, emergency response, Domestic Preparedness and Communications and moved onto Program and Project Management as the Director for an air ambulance service based in South Florida. He’s also served on many of Florida’s disaster related task forces and authored Florida’s first Air Medical Disaster Response Plan. He has participated in disaster responses and delivery of international training programs in the U.S., Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, India and Asia.

Johnny is currently working as a governmental and public safety consultant as well as working as a reserve law enforcement officer for one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the U.S.   

Scott Hencshel, MS, MBB, BSP

Imminent Domain, LLC

David “Scott” Hencshel is a Business Transformation Leader, facilitator, and educator with over 35 years of distinguished federal government service in healthcare leadership, business transformation, strategic planning, process improvement, change management, and education. He currently serves as Chief of the Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) Support Branch at the Defense Health Agency, following his role as Senior Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Master Black Belt for the U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM), Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG). Scott also serves as adjunct faculty at Trinity University, where he teaches performance improvement in their MHA program. He additionally teaches LSS at the University of the Incarnate Word and at Baylor University through the Robbins Institute for Health Policy and Leadership. He is a retired Army Medical Service Corps Lieutenant Colonel and Master Aviator, rated in both rotary and fixed-wing aircraft. A self-proclaimed Chopin aficionado, he satisfies his inner artiste by playing the piano. 

Steve Kelly

REACH 

REACH Director of Safety Steve Kelly comes to the job with 36 years of aviation experience. Steve's experience's range from his time with the United States Air Force as a Non- Commissioned Officer serving in several positions for consolidated aircraft maintenance and control. After completing his enlistment and several undergraduate degrees to include a BS of Science and an AA of Business Administration, Steve continued with civilian aviation both as a licensed Airframe and Power Plant Mechanic and as an Air Transport Pilot. Steve’s career has spanned all areas of Part-135 aviation to include Instrument Helicopter Air Ambulance Pilot, Lead Pilot, Chief Pilot, Standardization Pilot, Aircraft Technician, Incident Review Board Investigator, Safety Officer, Safety Trainer, and Director of Safety for multiple organizations.

Steve has served as a Director of Safety for Air Ambulance Operations since 2017 and has experience directing all aspects of Safety Management Systems. His experience includes the direction, planning and coordination of the safety departments to develop and implement programs and procedures that provide all employees with the tools and skills necessary to perform jobs in a safe working environment. Steve has implemented and directs the REACH Internal Evaluation Program with a focus on safety system performance and continuous improvement. The Program is designed to be in alignment with all aspects of the FAA Voluntary Program.

Justin Koper

EmergyCare 

Justin Koper MS, CSP, MTSP-C, FP-C, DICO-C currently serves as the Director of Clinical Quality for EmergyCare based in Erie, PA. He has served in the emergency medical profession for nearly 20 years and spent over 10 years in the air medical field as a flight paramedic. His educational background includes a master’s degree in safety management from West Virginia University and undergraduate degrees from Youngstown State University. He has served as a safety subject matter expert for national EMS organizations, a textbook editor and content author, and a lecturer at national conferences. In addition to his work with EmergyCare, Justin is a member of the board of directors for the National Association for Public Safety Infection Control Officers (NAPSICO) and is an adjunct faculty member at Youngstown State University in their Public Health program.

Scott Morgan

Department of Justice, Aviation Div. 

Scott serves as the Aviation Safety Officer for an Aviation Division component of the Department of Justice that provides global aviation support.  In this role, he is responsible for briefing leadership on safety-related matters and facilitating the day to day operations of the organization’s Stage 3 IS-BAO certified Safety Management System (SMS).  Scott holds an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) rating with a Multi-Engine Instructor (MEI) certificate and serves as an Standardization and Instructor Pilot for his organization.  He also is an IS-BAO certified auditor and adjunct instructor on Safety Promotion for the Department of Transportation (DOT) Transportation Safety Institute (TSI).  

Matt Rigsby

Federal Aviation Administration

Matt Rigsby holds a Bachelor of Science is Aviation Science, and a Masters of Science in Aviation Safety Management. He is FAA licensed fixed wing, instrument rated and rotary wing pilot as well as holding an Airframe and Powerplant Mechanics certificate. Matt currently works for the Office of Accident Investigation and Prevention AVP-100 as a Senior Air Safety Investigator. Matt works at the FAA’s Accident Investigator In-Charge responsible for coordination of FAA activities and resources on major “Go Team” accident investigations.

Matt participates as a safety auditor for the FAA on reviewing other government agencies aviation programs. Before this Matt work for Southwest Region FAA’s Aircraft Certification Rotorcraft Standards Staff, Safety Management Group ASW-112 as an Air Safety Investigator and has responsibility for Continued Operational Safety issues for rotorcraft operating in the United States. Matt was also the Aircraft Certification Groups representative on the FAA’s Air Medical Task Force. Matt has participated in over 300+ on-scene aircraft accident investigations both in the US and abroad.

Previous to coming to the FAA in 2002, Matt worked as an Air Safety Investigator for the Bell Helicopter Textron Product line, and a System/Flight Test Safety Engineer, Flight Test Engineer on the MV-22 and CV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft. Previous, to Bell Helicopter Matt worked as a Helicopter Engineer for the US Army Aviation and Troop Command Center in St. Louis. Missouri.

Jeff White

HealthNet Aeromedical Services 

Jeff White, MS, CHSP, MTSP-C, FP-C has served twenty-seven years in Emergency Medical Services and the Fire Service. He currently holds the position of Director of Safety for HealthNet Aeromedical Services, Inc. His career has spanned volunteer, career, rural and urban. He currently works to increase safety awareness in EMS by assisting agencies build their own safety management systems. He currently supports NAEMT as the West Virginia Educational Representative. Aside from his full-time position at HealthNet he is still providing clinical care in the aeromedical and ground environment and serves as a volunteer firefighter. He is an instructor for WV Public Service Training, WVU Fire Service Extension, National Fire Academy and Spec Rescue International.