Our Staff in Portland, Oregon

Matt Perluss

Operations Manager

Matt Perluss started at Cascade Training in 2014 as a BLS instructor and worked his way up to Course Director across all AHA curriculums. Matt studied outdoor education and recreation at California State University Monterey Bay. During his time leading outdoor experiences, he took a Wilderness First Responder Course that began his journey into healthcare that would eventually lead to him working as a Paramedic in the Portland Metro area. In addition to working as a guide and consultant, Matt has over a 20-year history in customer service, management, teaching, and team building. Matt is a leader and teacher that loves seeing others get excited about his passions, like emergency medicine, helping people, and the outdoors. Sharing his knowledge and seeing other's build upon that is what drives him.

In his spare time, Matt enjoys spending time with his wife Jaci and their awesome dog, Teddy. Matt enjoys spending time outdoors, whether that is in the mountains, in the desert, or on the water. Matt is also an avid sports fan and you can often find him in the North End at Providence Park cheering on his beloved soccer teams, the Thorns and Timbers.

Angel Salser

Program Coordinator

Angel joined the Cascade team in the spring of 2016 with over 10 years of customer service experience. Angel likes to spend her time out side of work exploring all that Oregon has to offer with her two children, going to concerts, experimenting with new recipes and watching the Seattle Seahawks!

Ezra Matterson

Client Support Specialist

Ezra joined Cascade in August of 2018 with a background in high volume retail management and in-home healthcare service. They are excited to begin school at Portland State University in 2019 with the ultimate goal of becoming an OB-GYN, and improving access to quality care and advocacy programs for the LGBTQIA community.

When not at work, you can find Ezra exploring the Pacific Northwest and going to concerts with their son and partner, or at home playing Dungeons and Dragons with friends. They are a passionate artist of both physical and digital mediums, taking inspiration from Oregon's breathtaking scenery and both classic and modern horror.

Jennifer Mendez

Client Support Specialist

Jennifer joined the Cascade team in December of 2019, bringing with her an extensive background in customer service. Jennifer became interested in healthcare services after taking biology courses at Portland Community College and hopes to continue her education in the near future. She is excited to be with the company and eager to help others further their own education.

Outside of Cascade, Jennifer is a freelance translator with a certificate in Anatomy and Medical Terminology for Interpreters. When she’s not hard at work, Jennifer loves to sing, learn new languages, work on her amateur photography skills, make good art, and spend some downtime binge-watching Grace & Frankie with her husband and their adorable cat. She is fluent in German and is currently learning two Norwegian dialects, Spanish, Greek, and Arabic.

Payton Baker

Program Coordinator, California

Payton began working with Cascade in 2021 after wanting to do more in the world to help other people. Her passion for making others happy gives her great drive in being a Customer Support Specialist. In her free time, she will take any excuse to travel somewhere new, and then think about moving there for a period before she remembers how much she loves California. Payton also likes to play video games as well as play a few instruments here and there with the company of her black cat, Salem.

Cindy Bellamy

Senior Accountant

Cindy is a highly organized and detail-focused accountant with an exceptional track record of accurately handling all aspects of financial reporting for over 20 years. She is an integral part of our Accounting and Finance team who works tirelessly to ensure that our payroll, HR, and accounting functions are organized and supporting the needs of Cascade, our vendors and clients.

Amanda Bernhardt

Registration & Compliance Manager

Amanda has a bachelor's degree in biology and a background as an EMT. She has been part of the Cascade team since 2012 and has worked in a variety of roles within the company, allowing her to foster relationships with many of our clients and partners throughout the organization. In her current role as Compliance Manager, Amanda focuses a lot of her time on process implementation and maintenance. She is our American Heart Association Training Center Coordinator and acts as a liaison between Cascade and AHA, ensuring that all courses are compliant and up-to-date with the most current science available. Amanda also oversees our continuing education accreditation status with a variety of credentialing boards. In addition, Amanda manages our inventory supply chain and works with our vendors to ensure we have an adequate stock of products for all of our students and clients.

Outside of work, Amanda and her husband lead a full life. You will find them cooking, enjoying all the outdoor activities available in the Northwest, playing board games or trivia, and traveling as often as possible.

Kaite Correia

Client Support Specialist, California

Katie joined Cascade in May of 2022. She has an associate's degree in history from Sacramento City College and a bachelor's degree in history from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She also went to Utah State University for a Masters's program in History. She studied the Puritan Gentry in 17th century England but decided against pursuing a Ph.D. and moved back to California in 2019. She has worked in customer service and related fields both before and after college.

She currently lives with her son in Citrus Heights and enjoys interacting with people, gardening, creative projects, reading, cooking, and going to the beach.

Erica Cruz

Registration Support Specialist

Erica was born and raised in Southern California, but has lived in Oregon for over 25 years and considers it home. She is a former Certified Ophthalmic Technician with a long background in customer service. Erica loves nature and the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, and spends as much time outside as she can. When not at work, she enjoys spending time with her children, reading, printmaking, painting and working on her calligraphy skills.

Sarah David

Director of Operations, California

Sarah is the Operations Manager for the Roseville Training Center. Sarah comes from a background in Personal Training and Customer Service in the medical field. She has a degree in Health and Wellness and is passionate about helping people which makes her a perfect fit for Cascade. Sarah is a Californian born and raised and currently lives in Auburn, CA with her husband and two kids. In her down time, she enjoys watching movies, cooking, and beating her kids at Mario Kart.

Jeffery "Jay" Davis

Program Coordinator, Washington

Jay started with Cascade as a Customer Support Specialist and is now our Washington Region Program Coordinator. He was born and raised in Florida and moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2016. He is currently pursuing his EMT certification is passionate about photography in his spare time.

Christina Guzman

Registration Support Specialist

Christina Guzman joined Cascade in 2022 with over 15 years of customer service experience, eight of those years in healthcare. Christina is passionate about helping others. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, exploring new places, and spending time with family and friends.

Jaida Jones

Client Support Specialist, Washington

Jaida joined the Cascade team in 2021 with 5 years of customer service experience. She was born and raised in Washington. She is currently studying to obtain a bachelor's degree in Political science and is a member of SPU’s rowing team. In her spare time, She enjoys rowing, sleeping, and spending time with her family.

Karl Kaufmann, MD

Medical Director

Dr. Kaufmann is Cascade's Medical Director. Karl's duties include curriculum CQI, strategic sales support, and oversight of clinical programs. Karl works for Cascade part-time and is also a practicing emergency medicine physician. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati's College of Medicine and has worked as a rotary wing and tactical medicine physician. In addition to being an active member of multiple emergency medical associations, Karl has also been involved in numerous innovative medicine related programs involving credentialing, technology and business. His enthusiasm for improving patient outcomes by optimizing real-world scenario and skill based medical education is second to none.

Joanna Kurimsky

Client Support Specialist, Oregon

Joanna is originally from New Jersey and has lived in Portland, Oregon since 2013. She has decades of experience in various customer service roles, including retail, paralegal, and front desk manager at a gym.

Joanna enjoys powerlifting, writing, and heading to the coast whenever possible. She has an extremely vocal cat named Hank and feels very close to convincing him that he is, in fact, a dog.

Rhianna Mathisen-Weitzel

Registration Support Specialist

Rhianna joined the Cascade team in Fall of 2019. She is a native Washingtonian and holds a degree in Psychology from Linfield College. She joined our team with eight years of experience in customer service and administration and enjoys helping others. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with her spouse and their cat.

Izabelle "Izzy" Mendoza

Operations Manager, California

Izzy joined Cascade in July of 2019 with experience in emergency veterinary medicine. After a few years working as a vet technician, she decided that it was time for a change and joined Cascade as a client support specialist. She has since moved to the program coordinator role in California where she schedules and bills off site courses with our contracted clients.

She loves all things Disney and even worked at Walt Disney World in Animal Kingdom driving for Kilimanjaro Safaris. In her free time, you can find Izzy expressing her creativity through art of all kinds as she has a knack for tinkering and crafting new things. She is passionate about finding solutions to problems, no matter how miniscule.

Lacey Nelson

Client Support Specialist, Washington

Lacey joined the Cascade team in 2021. She has 20 years of customer service experience. Ten of which were spent in healthcare. She has always had a heart for helping others. She lives in the PNW with her husband and two children. She enjoys beachcombing for agates with her family and their golden retriever. She is passionate about photography and enjoys spending quality time with friends.

Travis Pittman

Operations General Manager

Travis became involved in public safety and resuscitation right out of high school in his first job as an emergency medical technician. Travis has worked as a Paramedic in the hospital and pre-hospital settings before joining Cascade in 2011 as an advanced provider instructor. His passion for resuscitation education is driven by the improved outcomes he has seen through high quality training programs. Travis has "worn numerous hats" at Cascade. In addition to being an instructor, he has developed and reviewed curriculum, been an operations manager and now heads our operations team as the General Manager. In his free time, Travis enjoys spending time cooking, camping, and adventures outdoors with his wife and daughter.

Paul Regalia

Founder/President

As a Registered Nurse and Mobile Intensive Care Paramedic with more than 25 years of patient care experience, Paul's core belief is that individuals and healthcare entities must value and promote quality and relevant team based continuing education to continuously improve patient outcomes. Paul's direct patient care experience has included over two decades as a Mobile Intensive Care Paramedic with the world-renowned King County Medic One receiving his Paramedic Certification directly from many of the physician pioneers in resuscitation at the University of Washington School of Medicine Paramedic Training Program.

His work as a Medical Services Officer, Field Training Officer and Air Support Unit Paramedic in addition to his work as a registered nurse in primary care, public health, correctional healthcare and hyperbaric medicine, has reinforced his passion for collaborative training programs that focus on crew resource management and effective team dynamics. His healthcare management experience has focused on training program design, CQI, curriculum development and collaborative care initiatives. He continues to work clinically, leading cardiac arrest resuscitations as well as participating as a data collector for many ongoing cardiac arrest and trauma related studies.

Paul's responsibilities at Cascade center around building a culture of excellence with a team of experts at every level of our organization. His focus is on exceeding customer expectations with industry leading customer service and collaborating with our clients to ensure Cascade is contributing to improved patient outcomes with cost effective solutions.

Angel Salsar

Operations Manager, Oregon

Angel joined the Cascade team in the spring of 2016 with over 10 years of customer service experience. Angel likes to spend her time outside of work exploring all that Oregon has to offer with her two children, going to concerts, experimenting with new recipes and watching the Seattle Seahawks!

Kirsten Schmuck

Operations Manager, Washington

Kirsten has been a member of Cascade Training Center since February 2017. She has always wanted to pursue a career that would allow her the opportunity to help others. Kirsten attended Western Washington University in 2013; while there she began working as a nanny, which required her to attend a Heartsaver class. In April 2015, her father suffered an episode of sudden cardiac arrest while at his home; Kirsten performed CPR continuously for several minutes until EMS arrived to take over. After six days in the hospital, her father got to come home to his family and the hospital staff said that her quick action saved his life. Kirsten promptly began teaching First Aid, CPR & AED courses all over Washington State before getting hired by Cascade. She now manages the offices in Washington while continuing to build strong relationships with the community and Cascade's existing clients.

When Kirsten is not working she enjoys running, biking, rollerblading, and hiking, and if the Washington weather permits, nature and wildlife photography. If it's an indoor type of day, she loves to bake and spend time with her Shih Tzu, Finnegan and Ball Python, Monty.

Ann Weinzierl

Controller

Ann is a financial professional with over 30 years of experience managing and reorganizing entities, preparing, and analyzing financial data, and overseeing Human Resources. She has worked in many industries including Investment Banking, Construction, Manufacturing, Government, and Healthcare. At Cascade, Ann manages all things financial and HR as well as developing forward looking budgets and forecasts. She attended the University of Michigan, holds a BBA in Accounting, has owned, and operated a Yacht Sales business, and is an avid sailor and skier.

She is originally from the Midwest but has lived on both the East coast, West coast, and internationally. Ann currently calls the Pacific Northwest her home. She embraces Cascade's culture of excellence and is collaborating with our organization as an integral part of our Management Team.