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Honoring Our Past Leadership

At Hooked on Healing, our story did not begin with the current leadership team. It was built over many years by dedicated volunteers who gave their time, energy, and experience to support veterans through the fly fishing experience. These past leaders helped shape the values, traditions, and culture that guide us today.

Their work laid the foundation for a program that puts veterans first, listens carefully, and moves at a pace that respects each person’s journey. They organized early outings, taught classes, handled the quiet work behind the scenes, and stood beside veterans on the water long before Hooked on Healing took its current form.

This page is dedicated to the men and women whose leadership, generosity, and steady presence created the path we now follow. By honoring their service to veterans and to this organization, we recognize that everything we do today is built on the work they offered in years past.

Steve Pereira

Founding Program Lead, 2023 through October 2025, Mentor and Advisor

Steve is a retired consultant who owned and operated his company, Certified Systems, for thirty years. He provided design, installation, monitoring, and servicing of fire alarms and electronic security systems. Based in Chico, California, the company primarily served Northern California with limited services in twelve other states. Steve is also a former Rotarian with more than thirty two years of community service with the Rotary Club of Chico.

Steve’s service in the US Navy included two tours of duty in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971 on the riverine force. After Vietnam he saw sea duty on the Harlen R. Dickson, DD 743, out of Boston, Massachusetts, and the USS Alamo, LSD 33, based out of San Diego, California. Steve received his electronics training while serving in the US Navy as an interior communications electrician, Petty Officer Third Class.

Steve started as a volunteer with Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing in the Chico program in 2013. After years of encouragement from his fellow veterans he returned to the VA and received his disability rating. During the COVID period he became acquainted with the Redding program. Wanting to be a participant and feeling a real connection with the Redding group, he decided that is where he belonged.

Steve was there at the beginning of what would become Hooked on Healing and served as Program Lead from 2023 to October 2025. Today he continues to support the organization as a mentor and advisor to the current leadership team, sharing his experience, steady guidance, and care for veterans who step into the program.

Scott Ercoline

Founding Member, Operations and Compliance, 2023 through June 2025

Scott began his career in the US Navy, serving aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, CVN 72, as an Aviation Boatswain Mate. During his service he participated in deployments that included Operation Southern Watch in the Persian Gulf and Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. After leaving the Navy in 1993, Scott transitioned back into civilian life and built a twenty five year career at Fortune 500 companies, including roles at WorldCom and Washington Mutual Bank, eventually spending fifteen years as a senior program manager at Microsoft while living in the Seattle area.

A dedicated lifelong learner, Scott graduated summa cum laude from Washington State University with a degree in Management Information Systems, earning the Outstanding Senior award for his academic performance and service to the university. In 2023 he completed his Executive MBA at the Carson College of Business at Washington State University.

Scott began fly fishing in 1988 while working at The Fly Shop in Redding, California. After a career break in 2023 and a return to his hometown of Redding, he started volunteering with the newly forming Hooked on Healing organization, drawn to its mission of supporting service connected disabled veterans through the fly fishing experience.

Scott served in operations and compliance for Hooked on Healing from 2023 through June 2025. He now supports the organization as an advisor to the leadership team, manages the club’s website, and continues to volunteer by teaching classes, leading one-on-one outings, and assisting with larger group excursions for veterans in the program.