2022 Pace Awards

GREATER PENSACOLA CHAMBER HONORS HEALTH CARE EXCELLENCE AT THE 62ND ANNUAL PACE AWARDS

The Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce held its 62 annual Pensacola Area Commitment to Excellence (PACE) Awards on March 24 at the Blue Wahoos Stadium. The 2022 awards honored the hard work and dedication of local healthcare workers.

EMERGING LEADER OF THE YEAR

Joy Sharp, Director of Community Health Programs, Baptist Health Care

Awarded to an individual in the healthcare field who has shown significant potential for leadership recently in healthcare-related endeavors and who is expected to continue having a positive impact in the community.

Joy Sharp leads with a servant’s heart, and will, to make an impact. Those who benefit from the programs she has built for the past 22 years motivate her to be a servant leader. From Memphis Healthy Churches to Pensacola Baptist Health Care, she has been able to manage and build programs that have a positive effect on the community. She was recruited to Baptist to launch the Faith Health Network. No structured program existed that was focused solely on managing population health and helping congregations navigate the complexities of the health care system. The innovative Faith Health Network was created to build a bridge from the hospital to the people within the surrounding neighborhoods by developing personal relationships with local congregations, volunteers, and resolute healthcare professionals.

ADVOCATE LEADER OF THE YEAR

Halliday Leidner, B Virtual Health and Wellness

Advocate Leader of the Year is awarded to an individual in the healthcare field who has shown significant compassion to help or assist others within their leadership role and who is expected to continue having a positive impact in the healthcare community.

Halliday Leidner is a native of Baldwin County Alabama by way of Bay Minette and a graduate from the University of Alabama. She worked for the Department of Human Resources for the State of Alabama managing home health care for the poor and elderly. Her visits consisted of assessments, wellness checks, and coordination with home health care agencies across Baldwin and Mobile Counties. In 2019, she joined B Virtual Health and Wellness with a steady supply of Diet Coke and a tank full of enthusiasm. She has been on the frontline subduing COVID in our community. When the Delta variant surged last summer and there were not enough testing options available for the community, our winner stepped up to the plate and created a COVID drive-through line to help assist more patients at B Virtual Wellness. You could find her in 100-degree weather on most days in July for 12-14 hours with a smile on her face. With her help, B Virtual has built a consistent model to test and treat patients as our state sites have come and gone over time. Her willingness to get in the thick of things to support her leadership and team to care for our community’s families speaks volumes of her loyalty to the mission of a healthier community.

BUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR

Gay Nord, Chief Executive Officer, HCA Florida West Hospital

The Business Leader of the Year is awarded to an individual in the healthcare field for outstanding success in healthcare through the development of a new process, product, or service that meaningfully contributes to the healthcare community and who exemplifies the qualities of a business visionary.

Since arriving in Pensacola in 2019 Gay Nord has been a force in the community. Because of her transformative leadership, her hospital announced a residency program with the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. This program will ultimately lead to over 180 medical school residents moving to our area to participate in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, OGBYN, General Surgery, Family Practice and Emergency Medicine residency programs. This transformative leader has also opened a pediatric intensive care unit, a freestanding emergency room in the northwestern part of our county, established a comprehensive stroke program, a pediatric spine program, and a structural heart program.

has led her organization and our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was instrumental in helping secure vaccines and developing a distribution plan. Physicians who’ve worked under her leadership have said she’s he best admin they’ve every worked under.

COMMUNITY LEADER OF THE YEAR

Justin Labrato, Chief Operating Officer, Ascension Medical Group

Awarded to an individual in the healthcare field who has distinguished himself or herself through outstanding contributions in the form of a special project, service or a series of projects or services on behalf of the healthcare community and who exemplifies the true spirit of service.

Chandra Smiley exemplifies the spirit of this award with the impact she continues to make through the expansion of healthcare access in our community, along with the respect she’s earned from patients and colleagues.

She started her career path in social services with a desire to support and serve those most in need. She joined her organization, as a social worker under her predecessor Don Turner, whose leadership had a substantial influence on her.

Since becoming CEO in 2014 our recipient has gone above and beyond for her organization and the community she serves. She led her team in the expansion of Pediatric, Dental, Behavioral Health, and Pharmacy Services. In 2020 her organization’s overall economic impact was estimated at $64 million; up from $28 million in 2016.

Her proudest moments were in light of COVID and how the healthcare and community leaders, elected officials, and business partners worked together to respond and support our community.

Justin Labrato is a fourth generation Pensacolian that has cast a boulder into the tides of the community during this pandemic. He is set apart for his service to the Pensacola area community by leading his organization’s efforts to provide COVID-19 testing and vaccination clinics during 2020 and 2021. Like virtually all communities in the United States, Pensacola quickly found that it did not have resources to test for the virus in people who were showing symptoms of COVID-19. Initially, tests had to be sent away to a national lab or the Florida Department of Health in Tampa, both of which had limited capacity. Without large-scale, local testing, there was no effective way to isolate infected people in Escambia County and prevent them from infecting others. In March of 2020, he took on the task of setting up the first drive-through COVID-19 testing center in North Florida. Amid a global pandemic causing tremendous fear and uncertainty, the operational challenges were great, but thankfully he was up for the challenge.

Over the past 20 years Justin Labrato has demonstrated his commitment to improving the health of our community and providing compassionate care to all persons, with special attention to the poor and vulnerable. His integrity, drive, servant leadership, and ability to cultivate trusting relationships with everyone with whom he serves are truly exemplary.

PROFESSIONAL LEADER OF THE YEAR

Chandra Smiley, Executive Director, Escambia Community Clinics

Awarded to an individual in the healthcare field who has made a difference and contributed to the success of their profession by distinguished service within the healthcare field, has earned high respect for their integrity, and inspires others in the healthcare industry.

LEADER IN EDUCATION AWARD

Dr. Kurt Morrison, Ascension Medical Group

The Leader in Education Award is awarded to an individual in the healthcare field with a stellar record of educational service through outstanding contributions to the advancement, mentorship, and encouragement of students in and outside of the classroom.

Dr. Kurt Morrison has been with Ascension Sacred Heart for over 11 years and has earned the reputation of being skilled, compassionate, and a highly soughtafter orthopedic surgeon in our area. He performs the most joint revision surgeries in our area and saw the need to teach this important surgery to others. Using his forward thinking and expertise, he created and leads the Adult Joint Reconstruction Fellowship at Ascension Sacred Heart Orthopedics. His first fellow recently graduated in the fall of 2021 and has assisted with over 400 cases through the program. Due to this individual’s leadership, the reconstruction program is continuing to thrive and currently has students signed on through the year 2024. The fellows will stay with the organization to join the practice and growth of the hospital system here in Pensacola.

Tonight’s recipient’s teachings are the gold standard in adult reconstruction of the hip and knee according to his peers. The Physicians of the Gulf Coast recognize this as his patients have traveled up to 200 miles to seek his care.

SPIRIT OF PENSACOLA AWARD

John Porter, Vice President, Corporate Facilities and Support Services, Baptist Health Care

Each year, the “Spirit of Pensacola” is awarded to an individual in the healthcare field who embodies the “Spirit of Pensacola” and who has given many years of service to the healthcare industry and our community.

As a businessperson and community leader, John Porter is an ardent promoter of and truly exemplifies “Servant Leadership.” John Porter spends his days leading the daily operations and planning of one of the largest projects in his organization’s history. It may seem as though he was destined for this opportunity after spending 30 years overseeing the hospital’s corporate facilities. He has worked to ensure that a diligent focus is paid to engaging minority and local workers in the project to ensure maximum local economic impact.

In addition, he recognized the need for a robust community health navigator program for our area’s minority community. He studied the “Memphis Congregational Health Network” pioneered by Le Bonher Methodist Hospital in Memphis, TN and recruited leadership from their organization to launch Baptist’s own Faith Health Network.

He lifts our community through his service with several organizations including Community Health of Northwest Florida where he has been a Board Member since its inception in 1992. He also serves as a board member for Health & Hope Clinic, Waterfront Rescue Mission, and the YMCA.

In his spare time, he created First Priority, a notfor-profit entity, part of a national organization, teaching students to present the Gospel to their peers at school. Lastly, he is a member of Hillcrest Baptist Church, where he’s taught young men’s middle school bible study for the past 29 years.

PIONEER AWARD

Dr. Mark Stavros, Gulf Coast Addiction Medicine

The Pioneer Award was stablished in 1978 and awarded to honor an individual in the healthcare field who has made significant contributions, provided leadership with lasting impact and who has demonstrated a lifetime commitment to progress for the Greater Pensacola Area healthcare community.

Dr. Mark Stavros has been with Gulf Coast Addiction Medicine for over 20 years, and currently serves as Emergency Department Medical Director. For the past 19 years, he has traveled annually to Central America on medical mission trips, piloting a telemedicine health delivery project to expand medical care in rural Panama and establishing nonprofit organizations to help sponsor aspiring medical students from Panama. He also serves as the Education Director in Emergency Medicine at Florida State University and as the Medical Director of the EMT/ Paramedic programs at Pensacola State College. In both roles, he has helped educate and mentor future healthcare professionals.

In addition to his role as ED Medical Director, he is also an addiction medicine physician, advocating for the expansion of treatment for those with substance abuse disorders. He developed Gulf Coast Addiction Medicine in two locations and has established several jail programs. One of his goals is to educate others about substance abuse disorders in hopes of decreasing the negative stigma attached to addiction.

On top of his annual accomplishments, our recipient met the challenge of COVID-19 head on by making sure the Emergency Room was as prepared as possible to continue seeing patients who were impacted by COVID and those that were not. He recognized early in the pandemic that we were seeing a decrease in the number of heart attack and stroke patients coming to the ER because they were afraid. Because of his leadership, messages were sent out to the community alerting them that Emergency Rooms were safe and encouraging them to find care if they felt like they were experiencing an emergency.

Dr. Mark Stavros has served our nation in the United States Air Force and continues to serve by delivering high quality compassionate care to our community and outstanding educational experience for medical school students. He is motivated by his faith, family, and those he serves at work and in our community. He is a true servant leader who has made significant contributions that will have an impact on the way medicine is delivered in Northwest Florida for many years to come.