Rocky Mountain Neurosurgical Society

2025 Annual Business Meeting

June 17th, 2025

Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 

Present: Dr. Erik Parker, Dr. Joel MacDonald, Dr. Justin Davis, Dr. Joe Sramek, Dr. Kelly Schmidt, Dr. John Clough, Dr. Jim Thoman, Dr. Michael Seiff, Dr. Stewart Levy, Dr. Ramesh Grandhi, Allie Whipple NP, Jessie Tarnow, RN.

The meeting was called to order by RMNS President, Dr. Erik Parker at 0739. The need for a meeting in 2026 was proposed to continue education and the unique needs of Neurosurgeons and Practitioners in the Rocky Mountain region.

Report of the President: No new business to report. 

Report of the Vice President: No new business to report.

Report of the Secretary: No new business to report. 

Report of the Treasurer: No new business to report. 

Report of the Website Administrator: No new business to report. 

Report of the Historian: No new business to report. 

2025-2026 Executive Board

The 2025-2026 executive board was proposed and voted upon by the group. All were unanimously in agreement to the new executive board. Dr. Lega and Dr. Aoun have expressed interest in serving on the 2026-2027 executive board, but were unable to serve this year due to prior commitments. Dr. Evan Joyce will be offered a member at large position until he is board certified and an official RMNS member. There were no volunteers for the secretary and CME committee positions. Dr. MacDonald, Allie Whipple, NP and Jessie Tarnow, RN will collectively help complete these roles. Dr. MacDonald has also volunteered to serve as treasurer this year. Dr. Sramek and Dr. Schmidt have a new partner (Dr. Joe Driver), whom they will discuss potential membership with. 

    • President: Dr. John Clough
    • President Elect – Dr. Justin Davis 
    • Vice President – Dr. Shervin Rahimpour (2nd term)
    • Secretary: Dr. Joel MacDonald/Allie Whipple, NP/Jessie Tarnow, RN 
    • Treasurer: Dr. Joel MacDonald 
    • Historian: Dr. Joel MacDonald
    • Member at Large: Dr. Evan Joyce 
    • Scientific Program: Dr. Ramesh Grandhi (2nd term)
    • CME Committee: Allie Whipple, NP
    • Local Arrangements (2026): Dr. Erik Parker
    • Local Arrangements (2027): TBD 
    • Nominating Committee: Dr. Erik Parker, Dr. Mark Mahan, Dr. Brad Duhon
    • Membership Committee: Dr. Salah Aoun, Dr. Wissam Asfahani, Dr. Joseph Sramek
    • Website Administrator: Dr. Joel MacDonald

Future Sites: 

2026: Park City, Utah

The 2026 meeting will take place at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in Park City, Utah. Dr. Erik Parker is serving as the local arrangements chairperson. Dr. MacDonald has also completed a recent site visit and reports the meeting and hotel rooms are very nice. This is the first public ski resort to open in the USA in 35 years and the resort officially opened just a few weeks ago. Several nice golf courses are nearby as options for the golf tournament. Continuation of the pickleball tournament next year was discussed. Success of today’s pickleball tournament will determine between a pickleball or tennis tournament next year. Members present anticipate good attendance at next year’s meeting since the meeting will be a US based location with easy travel options. A large population of members are based in this region as well. The 2026 meeting will likely be middle of the road in regard to cost. Vendor involvement will be needed to guarantee the success of the meeting. Members were urged to push their local vendors to sponsor the 2026 meeting. There is a 65 room commitment with the hotel, with a 20% forgiveness on rooms before attrition charges. 

2027: 

A site for the 2027 meeting was discussed. Given the 2025 meeting was at an international location, it was agreed that the 2027 meeting should be kept US based. A Colorado site was felt to be a good location. Several sites were proposed: Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods and Estes Park. Other sites outside of Colorado were also proposed by members: Big Sky, Taos, Tucson and Las Vegas. Canadian sites were also discussed for future meetings as well: Kelowna, Red Mountain Resort in Rossland, Banff and Whistler. It was requested that members investigate a potential site for 2027 and to share any potential sites with the group. A site has not been determined at this time. 

New Business: 

Ways to attract residents to attend the meeting were discussed. It was recommended to pay an honorarium to residents who present a talk. It was also suggested to waive their registration fee. This will continue to be discussed and determined once the financials are updated after the 2025 meeting. Members will continue to push resident programs to support resident involvement with the meeting. Vendor fees were discussed and all were in agreement to keeping the vendor package costs the same for the 2026 meeting. A suggestion was made to shorten the meeting, ending on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. A concern raised was whether enough CME would be offered with a shortened meeting. Extending the length of the meeting on Sunday, or having a guest speaker give a talk after the executive board meeting, were proposed. No plan will be implemented to shorten the meeting for 2026, but may be considered for 2027. It was also suggested to have members provide vendor associated talks to help justify vendor involvement and presence at the meeting. 

A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 0808.