Meet the Team
Anthony Rystad, Director of Education, CPO
anthony.rystad@willowwood.com 614.312.9866
Anthony is the Director of Education at WillowWood. He’s an educator and clinician with over ten years of experience, having significant crossover into research, product development, branding strategy, and CRM. He previously served as a full-time lecturer and faculty at California State University Masters O&P Program. Anthony recently served on two NCOPE committees for residency and program accreditation. He’s also lead as Clinical Director at LIM Innovations, introducing modular Infinite Socket technology to major rehabilitation and healthcare systems throughout the U.S., UK, Australia, and New Zealand. He has extensive experience training, presenting, and designing instruction across numerous platforms. Anthony earned degrees from UCLA in Neuroscience and Physiological Sciences.
Raymond Speelman, CP, COF
ray.speelman@willowwood.com 614.512.3577
Raymond began his career in the U. S. Navy before entering the O&P field in 1999. After 16 years of clinical experience as a technician, an orthotic fitter, prosthetist, and a clinic owner, Ray joined WillowWood in 2015 as a Regional Account Manager. In December 2018, he became a member of the company’s clinical education team. As an Educational Practitioner, Ray conducts training programs and provides clinical support for WillowWood’s customers. View Ray’s Education Region
Favorite Downtime Activities: Spending time with family and friends enjoying a variety of activities like hiking, playing cards, or sitting around the fire pit.
Little Known Fact: I enjoy trying my hand at cooking…most of what I make is edible.
Rick Jones, Alpha DESIGN Liner Technician
rick.jones@willowwood.com
With over 30 years at WillowWood, Rick has experience in various aspects of the business having worked in production, administration, and marketing. Rick has attended numerous industry trade shows and courses throughout his tenure. With 14 years of experience in the DESIGN Liner department, Rick serves as the Customer Care Lead DESIGN Liner Tech. Keeping the end-users of our liners in mind is what drives Rick to do quality work for our clinical customers.
Favorite Food: Dark Chocolate
Little Known Fact: I worked as an on-air radio personality right out of high school.
Troy Rohrer, Alpha DESIGN Liner Technician
troy.rohrer@willowwood.com
Troy considers his role as a DESIGN Liner Tech a sincere privilege. As a tech Troy designs or collaborates with clinicians to create custom liners, which he finds endlessly rewarding. with over 10 years of experience in customer service, Troy concentrates his efforts on accuracy and anticipating the needs of our clinical customers.
Favorite Thing to Cook: Chicken Quesadillas
Loves: My wife and our four children
Wallace Ferguson, Customer Care Representative
wallace.ferguson@willowwood.com
With 10 years of customer service experience, Wallace was thrilled to join WillowWood in driving our mission to provide products that help those with limb loss lead a functionally normal lifestyle. Residing in Arizona, Wallace supports our west coast customers with friendly service, advice, and troubleshooting tips.
Favorite Downtime Activity: Fishing, without a doubt. One of my goals in life is to go deep-sea fishing.
Little Known Fact: I’m fascinated with model train sets.
Shawnee Corbin, Customer Care Representative – Custom Fabrication
shawnee.corbin@willowwood.com
Shawnee started her career with WillowWood in the plastics department and soon became a product expert on our foot products. With a desire to interact with customers, Shawnee joined the Customer Care team. Her perky personality and passion for helping others drive Shawnee to go above and beyond in meeting customer expectations.
Loves: Jesus and everything He’s blessed me with.
Favorite Downtime Activity: Taking a walk around town with my husband and 2 children and stopping at the local shops along the way.
Ashley Ooten, Customer Care Representative
Ashley gained a passion for patient care and helping people during her 9 years as a Certified Medical Assistant. Her experience and desire to learn a different area of the medical field led her to WillowWood where she offers friendly and enthusiastic service to our channel partners and customers.
Loves: Watching my son compete in Track and Cross Country.
Favorite Downtime Activity: Fishing and going to festivals.
Mike Yonkura, Customer Care Representative
Mike is a seasoned customer service professional with over 15 years of success in exceeding customer expectations. As a user of WillowWood liners, Mike understands the importance of working closely with our customers to find the perfect product and fit for their patients. His involvement in community theatre shines through in his personality and delivering exceptional service.
Loves: Being a Knight of Columbus and helping my Parish.
Favorite Downtime Activity: I make World-Famous Stromboli.
Jim Colvin
jim.colvin@willowwood.com
Jim is the Director of Research and Technology at WillowWood. His duties include product and technology development, outcomes studies, grant applications and management, and Intellectual Property portfolio management. Jim is a member of AOPA’s 2020 Medical Advisory Board Steering Committee, ISO/Technical Committee 168 tasked with developing safety and performance standards for lower limb prostheses, ASTM Subcommittee on Orthotics and Prosthetics, and The Ohio State University Biomedical Engineering Advisory Council. Prior to WillowWood, Jim worked as a Research Engineer for the Transportation Research Center of Ohio designing and testing automotive crash test dummies and passive restraint systems and as a Researcher at The Ohio State University evaluating the recovery of cardiac surgery patients. He earned his BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and MS in Biomedical Engineering from The Ohio State University.
I’m Inspired By: People who do as much as they can, as well as they can, as long as they can.
Favorite Downtime Activity: Spending time with my family
Matthew Wernke, PhD
matt.wernke@willowwood.com
Matthew is an applied research engineer. He earned a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of South Florida in 2013 and was a research assistant for the Center for Assistive, Rehabilitation, and Robotic Technologies. His dissertation focused on the development of an optic-based device and motion analysis model to quantify motion of the residual limb relative to the prosthetic socket. His duties include product and technology development, outcomes studies, grant applications and management, and disseminating the research results at conferences and peer-reviewed publications.
Favorite Food: Donuts, but there is no need for filling. My reputation for loving donuts has now reached the level where everyone lets me know when donuts are in the office.
Little Known Fact: I am a third degree black belt in Taekwondo.
