INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE SERVICES

 For over 20 years, Ms. Ruschke has been actively involved in all aspects of professionalizing the healthcare interpreting industry, playing an integral role in raising the awareness of standards for healthcare interpreters. As a founding member of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care, Ms. Ruschke served as Co-chair of the Standards, Training and Certification (STC) committee (now ST committee) from 1999-2011. During her tenure, Ms. Ruschke spearheaded the development and dissemination of critical industry benchmarks such as the National Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for Interpreters in Health Care as well as National Standards for Healthcare Interpreter Training Programs.

 As a founding member of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI), Ms. Ruschke served as Vice-Chair, Certification. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the CCHI. 

As a technical advisor for The Joint Commission research project Hospitals, Language and Culture: A Snapshot of the Nation, Ms. Ruschke was one of only 26 members on the expert advisory panel for the Commission's project Developing Hospital Standards for Culturally Competent Patient-Centered Care: A Roadmap for Hospitals. As a member of the expert advisory panel of the American Medical Association she assisted on a project to assess ways in which physicians can overcome barriers to language access of their limited English-speaking patients. 

  Brad Snook joined International Language Services, Inc., in 2006 and currently serves as the VP/COO. In that role, Brad is responsible for most of the behind-the-scenes tasks at ILS, including IT systems, process management, contract/pricing negotiation, and banking relationships.

Brad received his BA Journalism in Advertising with a minor in Marketing from the University of Missouri, and has spent his career in product and brand management for large blue chip companies such as Dow Chemical, GTE, UPS and AT&T. Prior to joining ILS, Brad was the VP Marketing for a telecom startup that vaulted to 24th place on the annual Inc. 500 listing of the fastest growing companies in American over a sustained, 5-year period. He brings to ILS a unique combination of big company marketing and process management experience, along with a solid understanding of how to successfully manage small, high-growth companies. If he ever leaves ILS, Brad's goal is to finally work for a company with 4 or more letters in its name.

  Matthew Graville Bricker is head of recruiting and lead trainer at ILS, as well as the field evaluator for ILS interpreters. His 15 years of experience as a Mandarin and French interpreter inform his experiential approach to turning Chicago-area bilinguals into qualified professional healthcare interpreters. He actively interprets in various hospital and clinic settings, observing first-hand the impact that language access can have on patients' and providers’ ability to communicate more fully, and appreciates the opportunity to be of service across a number of multicultural communities.