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
Co-CEO/President

Marji Klima joined the team at Alcor in an administrative position in May 2013. Marji’s responsibilities include administrative support in membership services, marketing, office management, media engagement and coordination and technical operations.

Prior to coming to Alcor, Marji owned and operated a medical transcription business in the Phoenix area for over 20 years and worked with physicians and their staff to maintain up to date and accurate confidential medical records. As a business owner she was responsible for IT management, payroll and accounting, recruiting and hiring reliable and professional staff to cover work flow as well as procuring new clients. Marji also collaborated with physicians and their staff on managing document management systems to maintain confidentiality. Marji is also a certified fitness instructor and teaches a variety of classes including Yoga, Pilates, and Spin. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in education and special education with a minor in biological sciences and taught primary special ed prior to becoming a business owner.

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.

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
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.

Shelby Custer, BSN, RN
Medical Response Director

Shelby Custer 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 2023. 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.”

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
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, 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, NRENT
Case Logistics Manager

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.

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.