Meet the Team

Deb is the founder and CEO of Innovative SimSolutions LLC and has over 35 years in healthcare experience. The majority of Deb's clinical experience has been in emergency medicine. Her experience includes working at 5 major hospital systems in the Chicago Metropolitan area. Deb held positions in ICU, Telemetry, ER and various clinical educator roles spanning over 25 years.

Currently Deb volunteers with the Society of Simulation and Healthcare (SSiH) serving on the Accreditation Council, Chair of Risk Management and an as active site reviewer for the society since 2014. 

Deb is the host of the popular FREE Podcast Series, The Sim Cafe~ featuring subject matter experst from across the globe. Interviewing guests on their pioneer journey into simulation.

She offers several CE courses on simulation and telehealth to help educate the simulation community.

Deb is a simulation subject matter expert and has presented nationally and internationally on simulation at both IMSH as well as INASCL, and many other institutions and organizations. 

Jim is the CFO of Innovative SimSolutions and has 25+ years of consulting in tax, technology and advisory services related to indirect taxes and unclaimed property. Jim assists companies with audit defense, appeals, compliance, M&A, escheat, nexus reviews, planning, process improvement/automation, refund analysis, settlement negotiations, SOX 404 compliance, training, transaction analysis, and voluntary disclosure.  

Jim is a Managing Director and national resource at Andersen, one of the largest tax only global consulting firms. Prior to Andersen, Jim worked with two global Big 4 professional service firms and served as regional leader for the indirect tax process improvement/automation practice at both firms. Jim also worked in the retail food/drug industry for 15 years (Accounting, Internal Audit & Tax).   

Jim has a BS in Accountancy (Elmhurst College,1986); Certified Member of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation (IPT); Jim has been a speaker at the Chicago Tax Club (CTC), IPT S&U Tax Symposium, Counsel on State Taxation (COST) and the Strafford Publishing. 

Ferooz Sekandarpoor has over 18 years of experience as a Simulation Technology Specialist, IT professional, and Audiovisual Specialist in the Healthcare and Academic Environment. He has helped design and equip more than 26 simulation centers globally. He has been a regular keynote speaker and presenter at many national and international conferences discussing clinical and simulation spaces.

Ferooz Sekandarpoor is one of the authors of Comprehensive Healthcare Simulation: Operations, Technology, and Innovative Practice    Book  where his chapter about designing a simulation center. To find out more about Ferooz, please follow him on his LinkdIn page. 

Shelly is the Producer and Editor for The Sim Cafe. 

Dawn is the Assistant Vice President (AVP) of Simulation Services for Carolinas Simulation Center (CSC) and Atrium Health. She began her career as a nurse in the trauma intensive care unit in 1996 and started the simulation center in 2007. Dawn leads the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of simulation education, systems testing, and patient safety initiatives using experiential learning and assessment. She provides comprehensive strategic and operational planning strategies in support of the simulation services across the enterprise. As the AVP, Dawn is responsible for identifying opportunities for improvement, innovation, research, and operationalizing the implementation of change initiatives for the integration of simulation for clinician and student education across all disciplines and level of learners. Dawn became a Certified Healthcare Simulation Education in 2012 in the inaugural group and was inducted in the Society for Simulation in Healthcare Academy of Fellows in 2020. She provided leadership to achieve accreditation by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) as a Comprehensive Education Institute in 2008 and the Society for Simulation in Healthcare in the areas of Core, Assessment, Research, Teaching/Education, and Systems Integration in 2010. Dawn led the design of a newly renovated simulation center in 2020 and the addition of virtual simulation as another service line offering to meet stakeholders needs during the pandemic. She has mentored countless individuals and centers in achieving certification and accreditation. Dawn has an extensive scholarly portfolio including presentations, manuscripts, and book chapters. She is a member of the Administrative and Management committee for ACS Accredited Education Institutes and the Council of Accreditation for the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. 

Lisa is the Vice President of Education for Innovative SimSolutions and an accomplished Senior Executive and Advisory Board Member, with more than 20 years of success across the education, healthcare, startup, recruitment, and higher  industries. Leveraging extensive experience in communication for consulting companies, she is a valuable asset for education, healthcare, startup and recruitment companies of any size, seeking assistance with training, evaluations, employee retention, and building an online curriculum. Her broad areas of expertise include organizational leadership, executive coaching, and talent management and acquisition.

Throughout her executive career, Lisa has held leadership positions with

Corporate Executive Consulting, Education Future Groups LLC, and Chamberlain University. In her current role as director of education with Innovative SimSolutions, she has been responsible for curriculum development. She has also proved instrumental and providing individual, group and leadership training, as well as facilitating various leadership workshops and communication seminars. 

In a prior role as Regional Director of Nursing with Education Future Groups LLC, she played an integral part in leading accreditation initiatives, assisting in hiring and retaining faculty, and aiding in meeting benchmarks of regulated program outcomes, including NCLEX passage rates, program completion rates, and employment rates.  Additionally she participated in development, evaluation and revision of policies and practices related to the campus nursing education programs. Furthermore, in various roles with Chamberlain University, she managed an operating budget of $1.2M across multiple departments, as well as 400 on campus students. Notably, she navigated recruiting, hiring, performance review and termination for the college, and assumed campus responsibilities in absence of the campus president. 

Lisa holds an ASN in Nursing from Central Ohio Technical College, a BSN in Nursing from Franklin University, an MSN in Nursing from Capital University, and a PhD in Education from Capella University. She has held advisory board positions with Columbus Community College, and Columbus Public Schools.

Christina is the Director of Technology Solutions at Innovative SimSolutions, a 7th/8th grade math teacher and currently holds the position of math department chair at Barker Middle School, Michigan City, IN. Christina brings years of experience in the field of implementing new age technology into the school and classroom. She is a valuable asset for education, providing teacher training on google apps and other LMS to the school. She is a mentor for new teachers, and builds curriculum to fit the needs of her students. Her broad areas of expertise include organizational, task master, and team management.

Christina holds a BS in Elementary Education from Eastern Illinois University and Masters Degree in Educational Technology from DeVry University. 

Jacqueline is the Director of Marketing at Innovative SimSolutions and is a brand and marketing strategist with years of print industry knowledge and graphical communication mediums. Aiding both personal and professional brands in their growth, she remains relevant in her initiatives for both the digital and print marketing space in this new era. 

Throughout the last 10+ years, Jacqueline has focused her efforts on building client relationships and giving their brand a voice. A brand speaks a multitude of languages and is the sole connection between product or service and end user.

Jacqueline has worked in print manufacturing facilities and more recently for BPO's showcasing her knowledge and extent of resources in the print marketing industry. Jacqueline holds a BA in Marketing and Graphic Communications from Illinois State University. 

Lori Lioce is a Clinical Professor and the Executive Director of the Learning and Technology Resource Center at The University of Alabama in Huntsville's College of Nursing. She is an ANCC board-certified family nurse practitioner,  a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioner’s, a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and a Fellow of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare Academy. Dr. Lioce earned her BSN, MSN in Nursing Administration and Post-Master Family Nurse Practitioner Certificate from The University of Alabama in Huntsville and her Doctor of Nursing Practice from Samford University and a post-doctoral Simulation Edication certificate from Bryan College of Health Sciences.  She has sustained scholarly contributions with over 55 international presentations and 68 publications which have been used to advanced healthcare simulation education globally through her seminal, enduring, and collaborative work in setting international best practice standards for simulation-based education (SBE), and research in standardizing terminology used by simulationists.  Dr. Lioce has had an exceptional career as a pioneer in simulation education with international certifications as a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator-Advanced and Certified Healthcare Simulation Operation Specialist one of the first on the world to have both certifications.  Lori has over 30 years of highly-engaged service to the healthcare professions and specializes in simulation operations, curriculum development and implementation, strategic planning, faculty development, simulation design, and programmatic quality improvement. She has received 30 honors and awards, including teaching, service, commendations from the legislature for her contributions as well as the Living Legacy Award from Samford University.  Lori serves on the Huntsville Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees and is the Editor for the Healthcare Simulation Dictionary for the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. 

Veronica is the Obstetrics and Emergency Medicine Clinical Subject Matter Expert at Innovative SimSolutions.  She has been an RN for the past 16+ years.  She is Bilingual and fluent in Spanish, certified in CPR, ACLS, PALS and NRP.  She graduated with her Bachelor’s in the Science of Nursing in December 2003 from The University of Illinois at Chicago where she earned Dean’s List academic status.  She is currently an AWHONN and Hispanic Nurses Association member.   In her role as Bilingual translationalist Veronica is able to assist clients in clinical simulation needs. 

Stephanie is the Critical Care Clinical Subject Matter Expert at Innovative SimSolutions.  She has been an RN for the past 8+ years moving more recently into a managerial role. She is certified in CPR, ACLS, NIHSS, ATCN and CCRN. As the lead RN for RRT and code blue events, Stephanie focuses on patient and patient family comfort. As an ICU nurse, Stephanie currently manages a diverse patient population including trauma, neurosurgical, post cardiothoracic surgery, stroke, post surgical, post-arrest and most recently acutely ill COVID-19 patients.   

Stephanie has a BS in Biology from DePaul University and a BS in Nursing from Chamberlain College of Nursing. 

John is a Critical Care & EMS Clinical Subject Matter Expert at Innovative SimSolutions. He has been an active member of the healthcare community for over 8 years functioning in many roles including that of a paramedic, educator and currently as a critical care RN at a large metropolitan magnet recognized hospital. He also functions as the AHA instructor for Innovative SimSolutions for BLS, ACLS and PALS. While holding certifications in numerous other disciplines including CFRN, CCRN, FP-C and CCP-C. His current role has him specializing in neurosurgical nursing critical care services.      

John has a BS in Nursing from Resurrection University.