Cochlear Corp
Donna Sorkin (left) has joined the company as Vice President, Consumer Affairs. She will be responsible for educational and advocacy issues affecting the cochlear implant community.

Prior to joining the company, Sorkin was executive director of the Alexander Graham Bell Assn. for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell), where she was responsible for an advocacy program for children and adults, an extensive publications program, and for leading the Association’s effort to create a strong Internet presence for it and its constituencies. She also worked extensively with educators, representatives of the hearing health care field, researchers and government officials to increase awareness and understanding of hearing health issues.

Prior to joining AG Bell, Sorkin served as executive director of Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH), where she coordinated activities for the organization’s chapters, collaborated with authors to develop books on hearing loss to be sold in mainstream retail stores, and organized annual conventions that included the first scientific research symposia for consumers.

In 1994, Sorkin was appointed by President Clinton to a term on the US Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, and was appointed to a second term in 1998. The Secretary of Health and Human Services also appointed her to the National Deafness and Other Communications Disorders Advisory Council of the National Institutes of Health.

Sorkin earned her master’s degree in city planning from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard Univ. and her BA in economics from Mount Holyoke College. In addition, Sorkin experienced a progressive profound hearing loss as an adult and is a cochlear implant recipient.

InSonus
Susan Whichard (left) has been appointed vice president of sales and marketing for the company. Whichard previously worked as vice president of marketing for a major hearing instrument manufacturer. Prior to that, she was founder and director of an audiology clinic in Virginia that provided audiological and hearing instrument services directly to the public and via a network of affiliated ENT physicians. Whichard is a member of the American Academy of Audiology and is a past president of the Academy of Dispensing Audiologists, and has served on the editorial board of several health care journals. She holds an MS in Audiology from Radford Univ. and a BS in Speech & Hearing from East Tennessee State Univ.

Audina
Dale Kundis (left) has joined the company’s engineering department in Orlando, FL. He brings with him over 20 years of support in the areas of engineering design, production, and customer support in the hearing industry.

Sonus
The company has appointed Mark Richards as its senior vice president and chief financial officer. Prior to joining the company, Richards served as senior vice president and chief financial officer for a Dallas-based company that develops and operates pathology laboratories. He has also served as chief financial officer of a start-up pharmaceutical site management organization and of a diagnostic imagaine services management company. Richards is a certified public accountant and holds a BSBA degree from the University of Arkansas.

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