Alcor Staff

James Arrowood
James Arrowood
Co-CEO/President, General Counsel

James Arrowood started working with Alcor in 2015 as outside General Counsel and has helped Alcor successfully navigate through various complex legal and related business matters. James served for several years on the board of directors for a major local non-profit and as the public relations chair. He has served in various other public relations/press information positions over the decades. James has appeared numerous times as an expert on emerging technologies, both in print articles and television news appearances, including segments on PBS and all the major television networks. He taught the Arizona State Bar course on emerging technologies and is a published author on medical-legal issues. James has his Juris Doctorate from the University of Notre Dame (2002) and several undergraduate degrees from the University of California, Irvine, as well as numerous professional certifications and bar admissions.

Marji Klima
Marji Klima, MBA, CNP
Co-CEO/President

Marji Klima joined the Alcor team in May 2013 assuming an administrative position and presently serves as the co-CEO/President. Her diverse responsibilities encompass administrative oversight across membership services, marketing, office management, coordination of patient care, and technical operations.

Before joining Alcor, Marji established and managed a thriving medical transcription business in the Phoenix area for over two decades. During this time, she collaborated closely with physicians and their teams to ensure the accuracy and confidentiality of medical records. In her role as a business owner, Marji spearheaded IT management, payroll, accounting, and the recruitment of a skilled workforce. She also played a pivotal role in expanding the client base while maintaining strict confidentiality standards in document management systems.

In addition to her professional pursuits, Marji is a certified fitness instructor with a diverse background in Yoga, Pilates, and Spin. Her academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in education and special education, with a minor in biological sciences. Marji holds a Master of Business Administration enhancing her strategic proficiency in organizational management. She is also a Certified Non-profit Professional, further demonstrating her dedication to excellence across various fields.

Ashley Bettini
Ashley Bettini
Office Manager

Ashley Bettini joined Alcor in January 2019 as an Administrative Assistant. Her duties include assisting the Executive Administrator in filing paperwork, handling mail and emails, welcoming visitors to Alcor, and other administration work. Ashley graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Nonprofit Organizational Leadership and Management in May 2018. She is originally from California and much of her experience is working in the nonprofit sector in various fields. She has volunteered in the medical field, animal sanctuaries, children’s museum, and organized and ran a one day conference with fellow students while attending ASU.

Shelby Custer
Shelby Calkins, BSN, RN
Medical Response Director

Shelby Calkins is Alcor’s Medical Response Director. She has a background in emergency first response and fire service, trauma and neurological critical care, and home health with case management (just to name a few), giving her the wide range of medical skills and knowledge for performing the MRD role. She has her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and is obtaining her Master of Science in Nursing Education (MSN-Ed) in Spring 2024. Shelby was born and raised in Arizona, grew up around rodeo and ranching, and has a family of her own. Her passions include patient advocacy, therapeutic communication and care, and education across the lifespan and healthcare continuum.

Shelby writes: “I am very honored and excited to be chosen to join the already amazing, innovative, and intelligent team at Alcor Life Extension Foundation. My passion for nursing began with a passion for human life, and that has helped me lead a very healthy nursing career where patient advocacy was at the forefront of every single decision. I am very pleased to be (back) at Alcor, especially in a role that allows me to interact with our wonderful members and assist them in their journey with cryonics.”

Linda Chamberlain
Linda Chamberlain
Director of Special Projects

Linda Chamberlain is one of the co-founders of Alcor (Alcor Life Extension Foundation) and served as its first CEO. She and her husband, Fred Chamberlain III, started Alcor in 1972. Fred, together with his father and Linda’s mother, are all currently cryopreserved at Alcor.

After Fred was cryopreserved in 2012, Linda decided to come out of retirement and returned to Alcor full time in 2016. She is currently engaged in two projects. One is the writing of the medical case report for each patient and the other is helping Alcor members set up funding trusts and revival trusts. It is Linda’s desire to be close to her family and do whatever she can to protect them and help bring them back into her life as soon as possible.

Linda has two published works on the subject of cryonics. The first, LifeQuest, compiled in the 1970s, contains short stories written by Linda, Fred and others about cryonics, mind cloning and other transhuman adventures. In the 1990s, Linda wrote a cryonics novel called Star Pebble, available on amazon.com.

Diane Cremeens
Diane Cremeens
Director of Membership

As Director of Membership, Diane’s primary responsibility is assisting applicants in becoming Alcor members. In addition to explaining Alcor’s services to prospective clients, she also serves as the liaison between existing Alcor members and the organization by keeping the membership files updated and monitoring membership status issues such as funding.

Before coming to Alcor, Diane owned her own sewing business, “The Sewing Room”. She belonged to the North Valley Business Network, a group of small businesses in her local area. She networked to gain business leads and exchange business experience with other local business owners.

From 1989 to 1998 Diane worked for Community Care Network (CCN), a medical insurance company. Diane started out in the Provider Contracting department, working with physicians, hospitals and other medical facilities. She eventually moved up to Office Manager. She worked with six department heads and made sure everyone had what they needed to complete their jobs, from office supplies to computer equipment.

Sewit Ghermay
Sewit Ghermay
Controller

Sewit Ghermay joined Alcor in August 2023 as the Controller. As a dedicated and detail-oriented professional, Sewit has been meeting the accounting needs of corporations and non-profit companies for the past 10 years. Sewit got her start in the accounting industry while she was going to school to pursue her degree in accounting. During time in a public accounting firm, she learned to communicate with clients, leading to long-term trusting relationships. Additionally, she worked as part of the team to fulfill all necessary tasks. After she graduated from the University of Las Vegas with a bachelor’s in accounting, she moved to Arizona and started working for Maricopa County Medical Society, where she served as an Assistant controller and was promoted to the Controller position for the accounting department. Her experience working with both companies has allowed her to easily navigate the financial world. Sewit is originally from Eritrea, but she grew up in Germany and then moved to America in 2005 with her family. Sewit is happy and excited to be part of the Alcor team.

Jacob Graber
Jacob Graber
Manager of Engineering

Jacob Graber has worked for Alcor both as a volunteer and as a part-time employee since 2012. Jacob was officially brought onto the Alcor team as the Manager of Engineering in January 2020. His duties revolve around the research, development, and improvement of cryopreservation equipment and techniques. Jacob works to ensure that Alcor adopts and adheres to modern and secure practices in everyday work as well as in the long-term safety and handling considerations for preserved patients.

Jacob graduated from ASU’s School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy (SEMTE) in 2019 with his Master’s in Material Science and Engineering. As a graduate student, he worked for two years in ASU’s 4D Materials Science Center (4DMS) investigating the behavior of metals under various stimuli using a broad range of characterization techniques. He brings his research experience with x-ray computed tomography (CT) reconstruction and analysis, and is the primary operator of Alcor’s on-site CT scanner.

Steve Graber
Steve Graber
Director of Innovation

Steve Graber became Alcor’s Technical & Readiness Coordinator in July 2010. In this role, he works with Alcor’s Transport Coordinator to perform standbys, postmortem stabilization, and transport of Alcor patients to Alcor’s cryopreservation facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. Steve is also responsible for purchasing, inventorying, and maintaining supplies and equipment necessary for cryonics procedures at remote locations and at Alcor’s Scottsdale facility. Additionally, he participates in training and outfitting regional groups around the world that assist with stabilization and transport of Alcor patients. Utilizing his design and fabrication skills, Steve will also work with Alcor’s Research Fellow, Equipment Fabricator, and R&D Committee to design, construct, test, and validate new procedures and equipment.

Steve graduated with a degree in Architecture and Fine art from Goshen College. His background and expertise are widely varied, with practical and managerial experience in many areas. His IT skills range from computer software and hardware design, desktop application programming, 3D animation, video editing and desktop publishing, and CAD design. He is also proficient in automotive design, engineering, manufacturing, and fabrication, having constructed of his own two-seat, mid-engine sports car.

Before joining the Alcor staff, Steve worked as an outside contractor for Alcor for nearly a year. During that time he assisted in nearly all incoming patient cases, including participating in local standby work. He also redesigned and constructed the Alcor emergency response vehicle and produced ISO 9001 compliant SOP documentation for numerous Alcor procedures and equipment.

Hugh Hixon
Hugh Hixon, Jr.
Research Fellow

Hugh commenced employment at Alcor in 1982 as the Facilities Engineer. He is in charge of technology application and development, systems maintenance, and institutional memory research applications. Hugh has participated in a record number of cryopreservations.

Hugh is the inventor of the “crackphone”, a device which determines cracking temperature and degree of cracking, first with glycerol perfusion, and now with new cryoprotectant and vitrification systems. He is the initial fabricator of the Bigfoot Patient Pod System and modified the MVE Bigfoot dewar design for simpler manufacture. Hugh designed and was instrumental in constructing the Patient Care LN2 Bulk Fill System, in addition to conceiving, designing, and constructing the LN2 Vacuum Transfer System and the LN2 Vapor Cloud Extractor. He is the designer and builder of the Mobile Advanced Rescue Cart (MARC), and was involved in the construction of its predecessor, the Cryovita Labs Mobile Advanced Life Support System (MALSS).

Hugh served as a Captain in the United States Air Force from 1965 until 1972 as an Aerospace Munitions Officer. He was stationed at Nellis AFB, Taegu AFB in Korea, and Canon AFB. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Redlands and an M.S. in Biochemistry from California State University at Long Beach. Hugh is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Space Access, and Alcor.

Sarah Kelly
Sarah Kelly, MSc, CNP, NRENT
Director of Development

Sarah came to Alcor after having assisted with a companion animal case. Sarah was a vet tech for a local animal hospital that often helped us with our companion animal cases. In addition to experience in veterinary and medical fields, Sarah has an associate degree and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Arizona State University.

As the Readiness Coordinator and assistant to the medical response director, Sarah will be responsible for maintaining inventory levels for all supplies and equipment for patient standby, stabilization, and transport. The Readiness Coordinator reports directly to the Medical Response Director and will provide quarterly checklists of inventory levels as requested by the Medical Response Director. They will work as a team to improve response kits and preparedness. The Readiness Coordinator will also work under the direction of the Medical Response Director to contact members to update medical information and document information in the database.

Peyton McAdams
Peyton McAdams
DART Operations Manager

Peyton has joined Alcor as the Deployment and Recovery Team (DART) Operations Manager. His background is perfect for preparing for operational readiness in emergencies or stressful environments. As a former United States Navy SEAL, Peyton brings a decade of experience from among the country’s elite special operation forces. His expertise extends to (TCCC) Tactical Combat Casualty Care, a vital skill in combat scenarios. Demonstrating strong leadership, he has held significant roles within both a platoon and a troop in SEAL Team Three. His service includes multiple deployments, where he was instrumental in developing, planning, managing, and executing close quarters combat, land warfare, sniper operations, and TCCC training programs for foreign allies and host nations. In combat conditions, he excelled as a platoon lead sniper and secondary medic, playing a pivotal role in enabling his team’s successful execution of numerous ground and maritime operations in hostile territories, often marked by significant improvised explosive device activity.

Over his career, he has acquired substantial expertise in gear accountability and management, ensuring adaptability and prompt response to any mission requirements. His experience extends to logistics and personnel movement, both nationally and internationally. He has exceptional public speaking skills, training development abilities, and risk mitigation strategies. This expertise was further solidified during his two years as a SOCOM Level 1 Sniper Instructor at the Naval Special Warfare Advanced Training Command.

Mike Perry
R. Michael Perry, PhD
Care Services Manager

Dr. Perry was hired by Alcor in 1989 following two years of volunteer work at the Foundation. Dr. Perry monitors Alcor’s dewars, provides facility surveillance during off-work hours, and performs writing tasks and computer programming. He has authored or contributed to the automated cooldown and perfusion modeling programs and has maintained the patient log books for many years. He is a regular contributor to Alcor newsletters. He has been a member of Alcor since 1984.

Prior to working at Alcor, Dr. Perry worked as a computer programmer—from 1968 until 1987. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1969 with a B.S. in Mathematics. He received an M.S. in Computer Science from Colorado University in 1979 and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the same institution in 1984.

Dr. Perry is a Director and an ordained minister of the Society for Venturism and performs wedding ceremonies and memorial services for this IRS-recognized, scientific and religious organization. He is also a cofounder and past president of the Society for Universal Immortalism, a group dedicated to the hope that all persons who ever lived will eventually be resurrected through scientific means.

Dr. Perry has authored two books: Toward Self-Optimization of Machine Intelligence (Ph.D. Thesis), Los Osos, CA: Dove Systems, 1984; and Forever for All: Moral Philosophy, Cryonics, and the Scientific Prospects for Immortality, Parkland, FL: Universal Publishers, 2000. Prior to his Alcor experience Dr. Perry authored or coauthored several journal papers and technical reports on computerized tomography, for applications ranging from medicine to solar physics.