John L. Hunsucker, PhD, PE, founded NASCO, the National Aquatic Safety Company in 1974. Since then NASCO has become the leader in developing new training programs and safety procedures for the aquatics and amusement industries that are based on sound engineering and risk management principals. NASCO is now the third largest lifeguard certification agency for water parks in the U.S. and has provided professional services to clients in almost every state plus several foreign countries. Before founding the National Aquatics Safety Company and during its early history, Dr. Hunsucker was a Professor of Mathematics at University of Georgia and served on several advisory committees for the American Red Cross, including those for swimming, canoeing and water safety. He was an instructor trainer for every safety course offered by the Red Cross. Dr. Hunsucker is estimated to have contributed 25,000 volunteer hours both as a lifeguard and then as an instructor, faculty member and Director for Red Cross safety classes, swimming classes, lifeguard courses and Aquatics schools in a 35-year association with the Red Cross. Dr. Hunsucker was a contributing author for the Red Cross textbooks on canoeing, swimming, water safety and adaptive aquatics. He was active on the boards of numerous charitable agencies at the local, state, and regional level that had aquatic interests. In addition, Dr. Hunsucker was on the small boat advisory committee for the US Coast Guard that developed the small boat handling course and text materials. He worked with the Health, Education, and Welfare department of the federal government (which is now the Department of Health and Human Services) on the development of material for use by youth camps in aquatic safety and he was on the Board of the Council for National Cooperation in Aquatics where he served as the chair of the Committee on Lifeguarding. In the field of lifeguarding, Dr. Hunsucker has helped develop many of the lifesaving techniques currently being used as standards in lifeguard training. More importantly, though, has been his development of new scanning procedures and protocols, victim identification procedures, risk management for water parks, accident investigation methodologies and training programs directed towards leading and motivating lifeguards and lifeguard managers. Dr. Hunsucker has developed one of the first methodologies to evaluate and monitor the performance of lifeguards that is based on sound engineering, risk management and safety principals. During the early history of NASCO, Dr. Hunsucker became a Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas and a licensed Professional Engineer1. He has published over fifty refereed articles in the fields of mathematics, engineering management, risk management, vigilance, and safety and has presented his findings at numerous professional meetings. Dr. Hunsucker’s funded research amounted to approximately $1,000,000 and included work for major agencies such as NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) on issues such as transitional management and risk management. Dr. Hunsucker holds four degrees, a BS in mathematics, physics, and engineering, Masters in mathematics, Masters in industrial engineering, and a PhD in mathematics. He has held membership in numerous professional organizations including the Institute of Industrial Engineers, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Aerospace, the American Society of Engineering Management, the American Society of Testing and Materials, and the Industrial Relations Research Association. He has been recognized for his service by numerous agencies. His awards in the aquatics arena include the National Water Safety Congress Award, the Council for National Cooperation in Aquatics Award, numerous Red Cross Awards, the Safety Award from The World Waterpark Association (twice), being elected to the World Waterpark Association Hall of Fame and being named one of the top inovators in aquatitcs in the Top 25 people in the Aquatics Industry in 2005 by Aquatics International Magazine. Dr. Hunsucker is currently devoting all of his time to the responsibilities of being President of the National Aquatics Safety Company and is now Professor Emeritus in Engineering at the University of Houston.
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