Our Team

Matthew Tirschwell

PRESIDENT

Matthew has been involved in volunteer firefighting since 1988 and received his EMT license in 1992. He has been a member of the Ithaca NY, and Sanbornville, NH fire departments as well as the Central Park Medical Unit. He currently volunteers with the Ocean Bay Park Fire Department and Ridgewood Volunteer Ambulance Corps, where he is also involved in strategic planning. In addition to his volunteer work, Matthew is the founder and owner of an architectural lighting design firm that bears his name. He earned a BFA from Ithaca College and an MFA from Parsons School of Design. He resides in Manhattan.

Michael Schlechter

Board Member

Michael has been involved in volunteer EMS for nearly 30 years. His experience began while still in high school. As an undergraduate at Bates College, in Lewiston, ME, he helped to found the on-campus, student run EMS, Bates College EMS. He would serve as the first chief of service. in 2003 Mike joined Weston Volunteer EMS, in Weston, CT, where he has been chief since 2017. He serves on the board of directors for the Connecticut Southwest Regional Communications Center, a 911 call-center and regional EMS dispatch site, in addition to sitting on the Executive Committee for Weston Volunteer EMS and Weston Volunteer Fire Rescue.

When not volunteering in and around EMS, Michael is an executive partner at North Highland, a leading management consulting firm. He oversees a constellation of clients across multiple industries, largely focused in the life sciences / pharma industry. His career focus is on transformation effectiveness and digital transformation.

Nicholas Sopkin

TREASURER

Nick has been involved in charitable organizations for over two decades. He was a founding board member of the Oxford Business Alumni in 1998, which now has over 10,000 members. Nick also spent 15 years on the Board of Trustees of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s New York City Chapter, including serving as its Treasurer for several years. In addition to his involvement in charitable organizations, he has been an investment banker for over 20 years, including positions with Bankers Trust, Deutsche Bank, Zurich Financial, Dresdner/Commerzbank and MUFG. Nick was also on Commerzbank, North America’s Pension and Investment Committee. Nick has an MBA from the University of Oxford’s Said Business School, a JD from the University of San Francisco School of Law (Law Review, cum laude), and a BA from the University of California at Berkeley (Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude).

Steven Blocker

Board Member

Steven has been a critical care paramedic and firefighter at his volunteer agency since 2007. He rose through the ranks of his agency, eventually being the first person to hold the position of EMS Chief in his department. Steven is the CEO & Founder of Muru, the Official Protocol App of New York State as well as several parts of the Department of Defense serving 100,000 EMS providers.

Before founding Muru, Steven worked as a developmental economist for Blackstone as well as several other financial and reinsurance organizations. Steven has also held several other EMS roles including the EMS Liaison for the Nassau County 8th Battalion, Northeast Regional Education Subcommittee for the American Heart Association, Chair of Quality Improvement for his agency, and Subcommittee Chair for the Improvement of Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation for Nassau County REMSCO.