Dana Garbo embraces risk management tools and nuanced decision-making in her leadership role at Medline Industries P45
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From the Editor
In January 2016, American Healthcare Leader sent out its very first issue. We wanted to bring together executives across the healthcare landscape to address how to effectively lead among the changes reshaping the industry. We’ve covered a lot in our pages. Our second issue featured the work of Penny Mills, then CEO of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. We spoke with cell biologist Sharon Presnell about 3-D bioprinting technology and the potential of replicating entire organs. Wes Williams shared how his IT efforts help the Mental Health Center of Denver reduce suicide. We’ve had leaders like Maurice Sholas, Peter Kim, Susan Constantino, Elizabeth Hendler, and Dexter Shurney show the importance of inclusion and equity when it comes to healthcare. And since 2020, we’ve adapted along with the rest of the world when the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. I’ve had a front-row seat to AHL’s evolution since I joined our parent company, Guerrero, in June 2016. There has always been something special in these pages, whether that’s been highlighting leaders who advocate for holistic care, hitting the streets of Chicago to showcase community care and mutual aid, or conceptual covers like our Great Realization issue just a year ago. This year brings our biggest change so far: we’re going all digital. In your hands is our final print issue. It’s a bittersweet moment, but it’s been something we’ve been moving toward as we’ve seen the need to expand our storytelling into the digital space. With the rapid pace of change in healthcare, accelerated by COVID-19, it only makes sense that we, too, meet change head on. I can’t wait for you to see where we take AHL next.
Cover: Cass Davis; this page: Gillian Fry
See you online,
Frannie Sprouls Editorial Director
Editor’s Letter 3
in this issue
The Path How Fahd Majiduddin leverages his litigation expertise to help Sandoz prepare for its spin-off from Novartis P8 Josh Horrocks manages a critical balance between his associate general counsel role and his family at Nature’s Sunshine Products ▶ P16 Steward Health Care’s Courtney Parecki talks the transition to in-house after seventeen years of medical malpractice excellence P25
Angel Hovanessian is both an advocate for her people and a relentless professional in revenue cycle and health information management at Emanate Health P28 Rodney Graves lived through a worst-case scenario ransomware attack at Greater Baltimore Medical Center—and his team came back stronger than ever P33 Mayil Dharmarajan is a change agent known for creating high-performing teams at Keck Medicine of USC ◀ P37
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Mayil Dharmarajan and Krut Mayilvahanan (Dharmarajan), Katy Page (Horrocks), Brian Shumway (Juetten)
The Issues
On the Cover
The Reason
This issue’s cover star, Dana Garbo, was photographed at Medline Industries’ Illinois headquarters by AHL’s Cass Davis.
Jill Updike shares how a holistic strategy, empathy, and volunteering have informed her HR career and current role with Children’s National Hospital P52 Susan Marsico credits her willingness to learn and explore new industries for much of her success as director of total rewards at Central Ohio Primary Care ◀ P62
The Business Lifelong learner Matt Flood relies on his deep understanding of the business to drive success through a cloud migration at Prestige Consumer Healthcare P75
Michael Vannest (Marsico), Green Gables (Smith)
Benefits director Jenni Lee talks employee wellness, benefits evolution, and the massive Amway family P81 Human resources and benefits have become more complex over the past twenty years. Stacy Juetten shares how she’s building robust benefits offerings at Sally Beauty. ◀ P85
The Impact Science Exchange, cofounded by Elizabeth Iorns, provides life sciences companies a single platform that unifies purchasing, supplier management, and payment processing P96 Mark Smith understands medical staffing won’t get easier, but that knowledge is leading to incredible HR innovation at Providence ▶ P99 JLL’s Kristy Lucksinger believes in aligning the business every step of the way to maximize growth and provide the best value P103
Contents 5
Masthead CREATIVE
CORPORATE
Editorial Director Frannie Sprouls
CEO & Publisher Pedro A. Guerrero
Senior Editors Melaina K. de la Cruz Brittany Farb Gruber
President, Group Publisher Kyle Evangelista
Editor Michele Cantos Garcia Staff Writers Noah Johnson Billy Yost Contributing Writers Zach Baliva Frank DiMaria Natalie Kochanov Donald Liebenson Sarah Verdi Art Director Anastasia Andronachi Designers Rebecca Kang Arturo Magallanes Photo Manager & Video Director Cass Davis Contributing Photo Editor Sarah Joyce
Chief of Staff Jaclyn Gaughan
SALES Senior Director, Sales Hannah Tanchon Director, Sales Onboarding Shannon Borner Enterprise Sales Executive Stuart Ziarnik Lead Recruiter, Guerrero Search James Ainscough Senior Director, Corporate Partnerships & DEI Solutions Krista Horbenko Director, Talent Acquisition & Engagement Haylee Himel
Chief Operating Officer Tere Pérez Lobatón VP, Finance David Martinez Director, Circulation Stacy Liedl Staff Accountant Natallia Kamenev Head Developer Jose Reinaldo Montoya Senior Director, Client Operations Cheyenne Eiswald Account Manager Abigail Stern Senior Manager, Client Services Rebekah Pappas Manager, Client Services Brooke Rigert Communications Coordinator, Creative Santiago Giordano
Talent Acquisition Managers Josie Amidei Jordyn Gauger Content & Advertising Managers Ashley Alcock Megan Apfelbach Stephanie Blum Maddie Keeler Kayla Plastiak Emily Quinn Caroline Ryan Drew Thomas
AUDIENCE & ENGAGEMENT VP, Hispanic Division and Head of Audience & Engagement Vianni Lubus Director, Events Jill Ortiz Community Engagement & Communications Manager Cristina Merrill Social Media Manager Suleidys Tellez
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OPERATIONS
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©2024 Guerrero, LLC guerrero.co 1500 W. Carroll Ave., Suite 200 Chicago, IL 60607 Reprints Reprinting of articles is prohibited without permission of Guerrero, LLC. Printed in China. For reprint information, contact Reprints & Circulation Director Stacy Liedl at stacy@guerreromedia.com.
7
The Path Every step executives take on their career journeys is pivotal to achieving their current successes. Along the way,
8. Fahd Majiduddin Sandoz 12. Kimberly Sinclair Sound Physicians
individuals accumulate technical skills,
16. Josh Horrocks Nature’s Sunshine Products
foster relationships, and develop the
19. Brian Whitlock Bristol Myers Squibb
leadership acumen that have turned them
25. Courtney Parecki Steward Health Care
into pioneers of the industry.
“The Work Will Get Done” How Fahd Majiduddin leverages his litigation expertise to help Sandoz prepare for its spin-off from Novartis By Billy Yost
Novartis announced its relatively new, and I would have the enjoyment that people get out of learning W hen intention to spin off its generic opportunity to lead, build and get creative something new are what I love about this and biosimilars company Sandoz in the summer 2022, the timing was perfect for Fahd Majiduddin. The intellectual property and litigation expert had spent nearly six years working as patent counsel in a role that he had mastered and was ready for a new level of litigation that the lawyer loves. “The opportunity to join a company that was preparing to blaze its own trail was too good to pass up,” Majiduddin explains. “It’s a unique opportunity where an organization can really shape itself into what it wants to be in the industry. The existing legal team was 8 AHL
in refocusing our litigation strategies as a separate company.” As senior IP litigation counsel at Sandoz, Majiduddin says that the working relationship with his colleagues is unlike any he’s experienced previously. Recently, he sat down with a colleague to discuss a legal issue that neither had encountered before. Taking the mindset of “what could it be” rather than “stay in line” mindset freed the two colleagues to better understand how to handle that issue and to generate a stronger solution. “The openness of everyone here and— this might sound strange—the genuine
company,” he says. “A lot of us are still in the early stages of getting to know the organization of today with an eye of what the organization can be in the future— you can feel that excitement to be part of something big.” An important part of the culture is diversity, equity, and inclusion at Sandoz, and Majiduddin joined the organization with an intention to help Sandoz stand firm on its commitment. In his previous role, the attorney helped his organization partner with the Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Certification program, a broad effort launched in 2017 to boost
TKTKTK Sheema Majiduddin
Fahd Majiduddin Senior IP Litigation Counsel Sandoz
The Path 9
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Sheema Majiduddin
the representation of diverse lawyers in law firm leadership. When Majiduddin was interviewing at Sandoz, he says continuing that effort needed to be part of his job. “Sandoz already has many great programs in place that help create a culture that encourages everyone to bring their whole self to work; there is a welcoming culture for you to thrive. From within the legal department, we continue to push for diverse lawyers internally and when we vet our outside counsel and vendors,” he explains. “These are questions we ask up front and are transparent about where we stand, which is incredibly important.” Majiduddin says that diversity goals have been an afterthought for far too long in the legal industry, and he’s glad to see companies like Sandoz willing to leverage their business to incur change. Whether it’s a first-year associate or a long-tenured litigation expert, Majiduddin says there is one rule that has stood the test of time (and one he hopes more lawyers can internalize): “the work will get done.” Explaining further, Majiduddin remembers scrambling to file a brief his first year as an associate. With a looming deadline and facing a whole slate of new issues for the first time, the attorney was at his wit’s end. “I will never forget the senior associate that came up to me and just told me to take a deep breath and realize that, somehow, the work will get done,” Majiduddin recalls. “Not by magic or getting someone else to do it, mind you. What that really means is that I had gone through the training and had enough
“A lot of us are still in the early stages of getting to know the organization of today with an eye of what the organization can be in the future— you can feel that excitement to be part of something big.”
experience and judgment to know I could do it. I had to trust myself and trust others. The shortcut of ‘the work will get done’ is a rally cry and gives you the confidence that you can and will do it. With that confidence, anything is possible.” The reason Majiduddin might be so determined to do what he loves is that he spent so long trying to figure out exactly what that was. The future attorney was initially working through a biochemistry PhD program that would, as Majiduddin explains, essentially meant working with the same enzyme or organism for the duration of his career. Majiduddin was able to continue working in the lab while he applied for law schools, to the credit of his thesis mentor. To be clear, Majiduddin was writing his thesis and studying for the LSAT concurrently. After pivoting to earn his JD at Rutgers Law School, the lawyer would eventually find his calling in litigation. “I didn’t get the job by accident. I made up my mind as to what I wanted to do, stayed the course to finish what I had started, while making the moves to be more in line with what I knew I would love to do,” he continues. “We can all apply this, regardless the path you
Congratulations to Dr. Fahd Majiduddin Polsinelli is proud to celebrate Dr. Fahd Majiduddin of Sandoz on this welldeserved recognition.
choose. I really hope more lawyers can remember that in the moment when you question what you are doing.” As far as preparation for a spin-off from a larger organization for Sandoz, the senior counsel goes back to his mantra: “the work will get done.” Alongside his legal team and the rest of the organization, Majiduddin is making great strides in the work required to spin-off and become an independent organization. Like Majiduddin, the organization is excited to help shape what Sandoz will be as a standalone. Associates see the opportunity to be one of the future leaders to bring the company into its leadership position in generics and biosimilars—a unique opportunity today and in the future. AHL
Polsinelli’s Hatch-Waxman Practice has experience working with some of the world’s largest, best-known, and most influential generic and specialty pharmaceutical companies. Our multidisciplinary team relies on a deep bench of experience and technical expertise to assist clients every step of the way—from pre-filing to trial, appeal, and/or settlement. Learn more: polsinelli.com/hatch-waxmanlitigation-opinion
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The Path 11
Never Say “No” Kimberly Sinclair’s career success is a direct result of her willingness to take risks, and she brings that the experience to Sound Physicians By Frank DiMaria
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Patrick Sinclair
Kimberly Sinclair VP of Operations, Business Strategy & Solutions Sound Physicians
The Path 13
in her career, Kimberly Sinclair the team and the day-to-day office E arly discovered the advantages of having operations. “I saw what my managers the confidence to take risks. After earning a master’s degree in communication sciences and disorders, she began her career as a practicing speech-language pathologist. She’s now vice president of operations, business strategy, and solutions for Sound Physicians’, which offers remote and on-site advisory services to healthcare facilities across the country. How she got to where she is now involved learning the importance of accepting opportunities for growth as they arise. “Don’t say ‘no’ to the opportunity, even if you think you’re not qualified. It’s very easy to doubt
were doing, and I said, ‘I can do that,’” she remembers. Sinclair took to the business side of healthcare and landed a consultant job as a traveling operations consultant for another rehab company, managing teams around the Midwest to ensure they delivered quality patient care while remaining complaint. “Anyone can pivot in their industry if they want to. It was a scary thought when I decided to no longer be clinical. It was part of my identity, but I took the chance,” she explains. As a clinician, Sinclair enjoyed working with nurses and physicians, establishing professional relationships and adding value to her work. But when she jumped to the business side of healthcare, to manage teams in multiple states, she lost that connection she valued. Once she learned Sound Physicians was searching for an account manager in its advisory services division, she seized the opportunity to work with nurses and physicians again. In her role overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Sound Physicians’ advisory services business, Sinclair draws on her experience with the clinical side of operations and the role technology plays in healthcare. “It’s really helped that I started as an account manager because when developing technology, I think about it from a business standpoint and what’s going to be valuable for our hospital partners,” she says.
“Anyone can pivot in their industry if they want to. It was a scary thought when I decided to no longer be clinical. It was part of my identity, but I took the chance.” ourselves. Being goal-driven, I told myself, ‘Even if you’re uncertain, say yes,” Sinclair says. In her first job as a speech-language pathologist at a rehabilitation facility, Sinclair grew close enough to her director to ask if she could learn to manage 14 AHL
Her current position is also a result of her ability to always be on the lookout for her next move. Sinclair wanted to understand the technology side of healthcare and saw an opportunity to manage and enhance Sound Physicians’ advisory services application; she approached her boss, who took her up on her offer. About a 1,000 nurses in over 150 healthcare facilities across the US use the Sound Physicians’ advisory services application to obtain feedback to support their patients. The team of physician advisors use their clinical background, knowledge of Medicare, and payer guidelines to review patient charts and determine if the documentation found in the medical record justifies the level of care the patient is receiving. “It’s important we support our nurses as much as possible, so they can better serve their patients,” Sinclair says. Sound Physicians has several ongoing initiatives that Sinclair finds exciting. During COVID-19, insurers were approving and processing nearly all claims, she says, but now denials are back to pre-pandemic levels. “That’s bad for hospitals’ bottom lines and harmful to patients,” she adds. Given this shift, Sound Physicians has changed the way it views appeals and denials, specifically on education, messaging to nurses and physicians, and the appeal letters themselves. “We work really hard to make sure our team can get that payment they deserve for services rendered that are supported by medical documentation, and that’s pretty exciting.” Sinclair is also enthusiastic about the Sound Physicians’ Medicare advisory business. Hospitals that have Sound Physicians’ hospital medicine programs collaborate with advisory services who
leverage technology and human intervention to screen patients who may be eligible for a different level of care, based on severity of illness of the patient and documented medical records by the attending physician. Using a team of physician advisors, Medicare guidelines and collaboration, they assist in “delivering the highest level of care possible,” the VP explains. As a leader, Sinclair doesn’t operate under a hierarchical structure. She rolls up her sleeves and acts when necessary. “If I have the bandwidth or I’m between calls I’ll say, ‘Let me handle that,’ or, ‘What can I do to support you and get this closed?’” she says. Throughout her career, as opportunities have presented themselves, Sinclair has said “yes” and encourages her team members to do the same. She recalls a review she had some years ago, during which her boss said, “For somebody who does so much, you always manage to take on more and do well.” “It’s allowed me to develop real life skills and a knowledge base I may not have otherwise had,” Sinclair recalls. “These skills allowed me to become more confident and take bigger risks, and that has fortunately paid off.” AHL
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The Path 15
How to Live a Full Life Josh Horrocks manages a critical balance between his associate general counsel role and his family at Nature’s Sunshine Products By Billy Yost
is a sign that hangs in the home of Josh “Working with the general counsel was really where T here Horrocks, assistant general counsel (AGC) at I hit my stride,” he remembers. “I loved working with Nature’s Sunshine Products (NSP). Every day, Horrocks, his wife of fifteen years, and his five children see a quote from Peter Pan playwright J. M. Barrie: “To live will be an awfully big adventure.” The attorney understood early that the competition and unending cycle of billable hours wasn’t what he wanted out of his career or his life. The AGC has a countdown clock on his desk that he resets a few times a year, letting him know how many days, hours, and minutes his family are from their next great adventure. It’s those escapes when he intentionally stays out of communication. Horrocks’s early realization that he wanted to go in-house wasn’t just a feeling, it was the result of seeking out as many possible experiences as he could early in his law journey. He took on a legal externship for a Utah property rights ombudsman, served as an intern for the chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court, and clerked for a general counsel at a Provo, Utahbased business. 16 AHL
different departments and not having to pigeonhole myself into a certain area of law. I loved the variety, the adaptability required, and the challenge that comes with being in-house.” Just three years out of law school, Horrocks landed at NSP, his first in-house role. Initially a growth hire, the lawyer’s responsibilities have continued to escalate; he now handles all legal support for NSP’s Asian and European business units along with securities work and human resources support. And while he’s willing to juggle and trade different areas of NSP’s business, there’s one he’ll go to the mat to keep. “You can switch me around anywhere you want, but nobody is taking the international work away from me,” the lawyer says, laughing. “I just love it, and I think it takes a level of humility to understand there are a lot of things you’re just going to have to figure out. You know it’s probably going to be different from the US, but you’re never sure what that might actually mean until you really dig into it.”
Katy Page (top), Ryan Lindahl (bottom)
Josh Horrocks Associate General Counsel Nature’s Sunshine Products
“You can switch me around anywhere you want, but nobody is taking the international work away from me.”
The Path 17
MORE THAN JUST PROFESSIONAL COURTESY Josh Horrocks’s in-house role at Nature’s Sunshine Products requires him to be in regular communication with employees and outside counsel across the globe. But like most things in the associate general counsel’s life, he takes the maintenance of those responsibilities seriously and with a heavy infusion of heart. One year during the Christmas season, Horrocks put together a five-page letter about his family’s Christmas traditions and shared it with his fellow employees and outside counsel around the world. The responses that came back highlight just how much of a bond he’s created with people he calls friends first and foremost. “People sent back stories of their own family traditions,” Horrocks remembers. “I got to learn how they celebrate Christmas in so many countries where they have grown up. I got to teach my children about these traditions and hopefully give them a broader view of the world.” 18 AHL
One of Horrocks’s other responsibilities includes drafting NSP’s annual proxy statement. Every year, he spends the first few months drafting, updating, reformatting, and perfecting the proxy statement. In fact, the lawyer and in-house designer have spent so much time on this year after year, Horrocks figures they’ve saved the company five figures in outside design fees alone. This year (a year he’s unlikely to forget) Horrocks’s time to prepare the proxy statement was condensed significantly and with very little warning. A multimillion-dollar cyber incident hit, and suddenly, the AGC was on a plane to Japan. He spent a week investigating during the day and tweaking the proxy statement at night. He had early morning calls to update the executive team and late night FaceTimes with his family. “After I came home, I had to stay on Japanese time for the next month. I would work a full day, spend some time with my kids, then work another four hours with the Japanese investigation team,” the AGC says. “But everything went as it needed, and the proxy got filed on time.” It’s an adventure Horrocks wanted, and it’s one he gets both inside and outside NSP. But it’s clear that what matters most is his faith, family, and friends. His children range from toddlers to teenagers, and he has coached every one of their baseball and T-ball teams. Whether it’s a family cruise, a four-day hiking trip to the tallest peak of Hawaii, or whatever adventure comes when Horrocks’s clock counts down next, he will be there fully present. There’s no better way to live an adventure. AHL
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Always Anticipating Bristol Myers Squibb’s Brian Whitlock looks ahead to expedite research and take years out of the drug development cycle so patients can get quickly drugs they need By Zach Baliva
The Path 19
Brian Whitlock VP and Head of Global Procurement Research & Development Bristol Myers Squibb
Click. Click. As one of the more junior staff in the lab at Covance, the major life sciences company now known as Labcorp Drug Development, Whitlock was assigned the most basic job. He was hired as a genetic and molecular toxicologist and spent every day culturing cells and counting them under a microscope for hours on end. Each day, he peered through an ocular lens with a clicker in his hand counting. Whitlock estimates that he pressed the clicker button “at least a million times.” 20 AHL
working at the mall or taking other random part-time or entry-level jobs, he was paying his dues and putting himself in proximity to the people who could help him achieve his goal of building a career in life sciences. The strategy paid off. Before long, Whitlock’s dedication and perseverance earned him the trust of his more senior colleagues. He made his ambitions clear, asked for more work, and slowly learned how to run and maintain the lab he was working in. “Doing the basic jobs and the dirty work was an asset because it
Whitlock says. Whitlock, the current vice president and head of global procurement research and development (R&D) at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), is now a twenty-threeyear veteran in his industry. In the role that he’s held since 2017, Whitlock engages R&D leadership and his counterparts to help the nearly $50 billion corporation create and implement innovations in sourcing to meet its mission-critical strategies. One thing has remained constant over the past two-plus decades: his passion for
Greg Dematteo
Click. Click. Brian Whitlock It wasn’t exciting work. But, while other led to me becoming a more complete lab C lick. heard the sound all day long. Click. students and recent graduates were technician and a well-rounded scientist,”
22 AHL
Greg Dematteo
ongoing education. “I’m very inquisitive. I’m curious, and I always want to learn something new,” Whitlock says. The approach set him on the fast track after he left his clicker behind. Whitlock took a role outside of the lab as a quality assurance administrator to build relationships and understand other groups in the organization. In just eighteen months, he built key relationships with other scientists and seized the opportunity to get to know study directors, lab managers, and others. Then, leaders tapped him on the shoulder to serve as the principal scientist for an analytical group. It was a major task for someone who had earned a degree in biochemistry just a few years earlier. His rise continued from there. Whitlock soon found himself managing Covance’s important relationship with Amgen and moved across the country to manage scientific services for that company in 2009. By the end of his five-year tenure with Amgen, he learned business strategy, helped shape an organization, honed his influencing skills, and learned the ins and outs of procurement. By February 2015, Whitlock was ready for a change and joined BMS to develop new sourcing solutions. Now, he leads seventy sourcing professionals across North America, Europe, and Asia, who together manage nearly $3 billion of spend annually. While drug development is complex, Whitlock easily explains his team’s impact. “Our job is to look around the corner and be proactive,” he says. “We are always looking to spot opportunities and/or challenges that may impact Bristol Myers Squibb so we can respond in a way that ultimately lets us get medicine to patients faster.” Procurement leaders may specialize in looking around the corner, but none
“Me and my team do what we do because we know that there are people out there that depend on us each and every day.”
The Path 23
“We are always looking to spot any opportunities and/or challenges that may impact Bristol Myers Squibb so we can respond in a way that ultimately lets us get medicine to patients faster.”
could have fully predicted the lasting impact of COVID-19. “Companies are always having to change, but we have faced more threats over a shorter period of time than in any previous era,” Whitlock says of the pandemic. BMS’s R&D teams are headquartered in New Jersey with sites in Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Europe, India, and elsewhere. The pandemic forced Whitlock and his colleagues to find ways to ensure employee safety and serve patients at the same time. They invested in key partnerships to share information and even collaborate with competitors. Organizations are now navigating ongoing challenges related to changing legislation, inflation, and geopolitical strife. These issues compel Whitlock to find innovation from other companies and other industries. The pu s h comes a s BM S h a s announced a company-wide transformation designed to diversify its product lineup, introduce new medicines, and 24 AHL
quicken its product pipeline. Whitlock’s main goal is to simplify the complex work that BMS does. “Procurement enables the business, and we have to spend the company’s money on the greatest value-added opportunities,” he says. Whitlock points to two big projects that will help him achieve that goal. First, he helped identify a new opportunity in Hyderabad, India, where BMS is investing into a new life sciences center for IT and drug development. The move will help the company tap into a region seeing 1.5 million life sciences students graduate each year. Second, the BMS procurement team is working with Thermo Fisher Scientific and R&D procurement technology company Science Exchange to create more “Amazon-style buying experiences” for its scientists. These simple, digital on-demand e-procurement ordering systems enable speed to science and help improve the overall buying experience for its scientific teams.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Brian and BMS to streamline and modernize how R&D organizations purchase goods and services,” says Dr. Elizabeth Iorns, CEO and cofounder of Science Exchange (p.96). “Brian shares our vision to transform outdated and time-consuming procurement processes into an automated, consumer-like experience, enabling scientists faster access to essential resources for advancing their research.” When Whitlock got into the industry, he had no idea how much it would hit home. He was just one year into his career when his mother was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer. She passed away just six weeks later. Today, patients like her face better outcomes. “I get to come to work each day knowing that what this company does may prevent another family from going through the awful experience my family had twenty years ago,” Whitlock says. “Me and my team do what we do because we know that there are people out there that depend on us each and every day.” AHL
Science Exchange is the first supplier orchestration platform for life sciences companies. We’re on a mission to modernize the way R&D organizations work with suppliers so that scientists can focus on what they love doing most—science. We simplify purchasing, supplier management, and payment processing enabling scientists to purchase the services and goods they need when they need. Our automated approval workflows and guided buying drive operational efficiencies and cost savings. The world’s top life sciences companies, including BMS, Merck, AbbVie, Gilead, and Astellas, rely on Science Exchange to help simplify their procurement, automate manual processes, and advance their programs faster.
Courthouse to In-House Steward Health Care’s Courtney Parecki talks the transition to in-house after seventeen years of medical malpractice excellence By Billy Yost
Courtney Parecki, the hardest part about going practice. Having spent so many years in strictly F orin-house after seventeen years of firm litigation is medical malpractice work, an in-house role would not taking every case to the courtroom. It’s where the vice president of claims and legal services at Steward Health Care earned her stripes, it’s what earned her partnerships in three different firms, and it’s where, traditionally, she’s sought the right outcome for her clients. “I spent a lot of years thumping my chest and saying, ‘This case is nonsense and we’re going to try it,’” the VP explains. “But when you go in-house, there are so many other factors you have to take into account in terms of what’s right for the business. My gut instinct has always been to win for my client, but in-house, that doesn’t always mean pushing forward with a case.” Parecki came to Steward Health Care in May 2022 after doing a significant amount of medical malpractice defense for the organization in her last outside counsel role. Her now-manager was seeking someone to join the organization who understood the space well and could work directly under him to support its captive insurance practice. The ask came at the right time for Parecki. After seventeen years, the litigator says that while she was always learning something new, she felt like she’d had virtually every experience she could in private
give the chance to broaden her practice and learn what it’s like to have a single client, though one with countless stakeholders. But the skills that landed her in the role also aren’t necessarily the ones that mirror in-house mastery, and Parecki is working on it. “I’ve just never been someone that’s easily bullied by plaintiff’s attorneys,” Parecki explains. “I don’t roll over. I’m a little bit fiery, and I think I can let my emotions and notions of right and wrong take over at times. That’s not always right for the business, and I think I’m growing there.” Parecki left law school unsure of where she belonged in the legal world, but was able to spend a year clerking for a federal district court judge in Arizona. That clerkship came about as a result of the young attorney traveling to Arizona to run a marathon and a chance meeting with a judge who was the father of her law school evidence professor. “I’ve run exactly one marathon in my life, and I was able to schedule an interview with my professor’s dad at the same time,” Parecki explains. “It was quite an experience. He was so sweet and almost grandfatherly to me, but really hard on the attorneys who appeared The Path 25
“My gut instinct has always been to win for my client, but in-house, that doesn’t always mean pushing forward with a case.”
before him in court. It made me a little terrified to practice law, honestly.” The VP’s early struggles and fears are important to highlight because, despite them, she flourished. Eventually, her interest in healthcare—she initially was a premed undergrad—gave way to a wide range of medical malpractice work. It took time to figure out where the lawyer belonged, as it does for many, but once Parecki found her niche, there was no amount of fear that could keep the attorney from becoming a litigation expert. Having acted as a partner for so long, the lawyer has strong recommendations for those leading their own teams of lawyers. “I struggled a lot with trying to balance seeing areas where people needed to improve and having those hard conversations that too often could fall on the side of hurt feelings, and I wasn’t being clear about my expectations,” Parecki says. “As an associate, I remember feeling blindsided in annual reviews where I would think, ‘Why didn’t we have this discussion six months ago?’” She continues, “I’ve been on both sides, and know those discussions can be challenging, but you have to work hard to be clear with your people about how they can improve, and how you can help them along the way.” It’s clear that Parecki has thought a lot about her own burgeoning leadership, but at present, she’s happy to work as a lone wolf on behalf of Steward Health. Every case can’t go to trial, but should she need to take one there, plaintiffs better be bringing something legitimate to the table. AHL 26 AHL
THE COLORS OF CALM For someone with Courtney Parecki’s spark, it’s interesting to note how she spends her free time. The mother of two daughters loves to throw on some mindless television and pull out her colored pencils. Art relaxes the VP, and it’s always her go-to leisure activity. “There’s just something about coloring that puts me at ease,” Parecki says. “If I’m not walking or getting some exercise, I’m probably working with my colored pencils. It may seem silly, but it’s just something I love.”
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The Issues National, and even global, forces have an unmistakable impact on an executive’s work. Whether it’s a legislative change
28. Angel Hovanessian Emanate Health 33. Rodney Graves Greater Baltimore Medical Center
or an industry-disrupting technological
37. Mayil Dharmarajan Keck Hospital of USC
breakthrough, executives must constantly
41. Ryan Goodwin CareOne
adapt their business strategies to keep
45. Dana Garbo Medline Industries
their company thriving.
Two-Sided
Angel Hovanessian is both an advocate for her people and a relentless professional in revenue cycle and health information management at Emanate Health By Billy Yost
are at least two sides to Angel If she doesn’t have the answer she needs, speaking in April 2023. “And by January T here Hovanessian. There is the pas- she’s unafraid to go knocking on the 1 [2024], we’ll make sure all of our prosionate team builder, the veteran who is constantly pushing her people to continue their education and learn something new. She loves to cook a new dish, she loves to travel, and gives the impression that she would make an incredible teacher. Then there is the vice president of revenue cycle and health information management for Emanate Health. That side of Hovanessian is not afraid to go the distance to guarantee her organization can keep providing care to its massive patient population as well as ensure employment for the organization’s three thousand-plus employees. 28 AHL
CEO’s door. That is to say, it’s heaven to be on Hovanessian’s good side, and something else entirely to be an obstacle in her way to ensuring smooth operations for Emanate Health. That duality is what makes her such a great interview, and laughs come easily throughout the conversation. Case in point: the gargantuan undertaking she and her team are currently focused on, to streamline Emanate’s entirely outsourced physician billing and bring it in-house. “We’re going to have this done by July 2023,” Hovanessian says, at time of
viders and all of our clinics are in our EMR so everything can be generated from one single system.” The scale of the project and the relative certainty that, given the VP’s decades in revenue cycle, she’ll make good on that promise. But the weight of that lift still needs to be recognized. Emanate encompasses an extensive network of physicians and treatment providers that run the gamut: orthopedics, OBGYNs, pediatrics, neurology, oncology, family practice, urgent care, and much more. Hovanessian says that streamlining billing and encompassing that information within a single
“This will be a single source for a patient’s medical records and balances across the organization . . . We’re trying to make the system as easy for the patient, the provider, and for our own employees as possible.”
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Steven Miller
Angel Hovanessian VP of Revenue Cycle & Health Information Management Emanate Health
EMR will ensure continuity of care for Emanate’s patients, regardless of whether they consult physicians within the health system or out. “This will be a single source for a patient’s medical records and balances across the organization,” she explains. “Patients themselves will be able to pull this information through our portal. We’re trying to make the system as easy for the patient, the provider, and for our own employees as possible.” For Hovanessian, it’s work as usual. She has tracked Emanate patient journeys from beginning to end for over a decade. “I’m responsible from the time that the patient is scheduling their visit to the hospital, all the way until the balance is collected,” she says. “It is my responsibility, and I’ve always taken it very seriously.” But those working underneath Hovanessian also know a different side of their boss. The VP is always encouraging her people to grow, whether that is by taking on a new role, continuing their education, or simply taking a risk in their lives. Education, especially, is a passion point for the revenue cycle leader. “Education is your ticket to fly,” she attests. “That opportunity was given to me by my parents, and that’s not a chance everyone gets. I try to be a mentor and a big sister . . . to show them how they can eventually replace me in this role.” For some employees, that means helping them find ways to achieve their bachelor’s degrees, and for others, that might mean taking a chance on a promotion. She remembers one employee confiding in her that she was considering a move to another employer because of her elevated salary requirements. Good bosses will encourage their people to leave if they have a better opportunity.
“Education is your ticket to fly. That opportunity was given to me by my parents, and that’s not a chance everyone gets. I try to be a mentor and a big sister . . . to show them how they can eventually replace me in this role.”
Congratulations
Angel Hovanessian on your incredible success, hard work and dedication to the healthcare industry.
Since 1989, CompSpec, Inc., a leading eligibility and third-party vendor has been providing a wide range of revenue cycle services to healthcare providers. Through Medi-Cal/Medicaid eligibility, Self-Pay Management, Appeals, Third Party Liability, and billing/follow-up, CompSpec has recovered more than 1.4 Billion dollars in net revenue for our clients, while improving the patient satisfaction experience.
www.compspec.com
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Hovanessian somehow did better. “I told her that I’d give her more than what she was looking for if she’d let me train her and grow her into a role,” she remembers. “She’s a supervisor now, but I think by this time next year she’ll be a manager because she’s doing such a great job. Those are the kind of stories that mean so much to me.” The VP is fully cognizant that regardless of salary, life can be difficult for her team. Paycheck-to-paycheck living is an all-too-frequent phenomenon for what are considered white-collar positions. Hovanessian wants the best for her people, and she’s willing to invest the time and effort to ensure anyone she feels responsible for finds a way to a healthier and happier life. For those looking to earn Hovanessian’s title of revenue royalty, the VP says early investment is the key to future success. “Make relationships with insurance companies, with your colleagues, and put in the work to understand the business you’re in,” she advises. “And if everything is correct at the time of registration—the coding and so forth— the backend will be much easier. That is time you can spend working with your front office staff, time to educate them and give them the tools they need to be successful.” Hovanessian has a lifetime of revenue cycle experience and could fill a few volumes with her practical knowledge for those on the job. But right now, the only book she’s writing is a cookbook. The rest of her experience is still being passed on with passion, in person. AHL
SAC represents major hospitals nationwide, offering specialized healthcare recovery programs to address reimbursement issues with commercial and government payors. With a strong reputation and recognized leadership in healthcare law, SAC is a top choice for the industry, known for their exceptional client service and commitment to resolving complex issues.
Always Be Prepared How Rodney Graves lived through a worst-case scenario ransomware attack at Greater Baltimore Medical Center—and how his team came back stronger than ever By Billy Yost
best thing Rodney Graves can hear is nothing’s T hehappening. It’s a funny thing to hear from a chief information security officer (CISO) who is relentless in his own development and spends his limited free time—a father of three whom all have busy schedules of their own—taking the occasional strike to the face as a Muay Thai boxing enthusiast. But it’s true. “We build strategy and invest resources around making sure nothing happens, which makes ROI a little challenging to defend at times,” Graves says. “It’s a 24/7 job to keep this health system secure and supported, so a quiet, uneventful week is worth toasting.” But nothing happening doesn’t mean malicious actors aren’t actively plotting cyberattacks against institutions like Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), where he first joined as a network engineer in 2015. To Graves, it just means the attack isn’t an immediate crisis. As any good cybersecurity expert will tell you, it’s just a matter of time. For GBMC, that time came in December 2020, when he was a cybersecurity specialist. Following the ransomware incident and Graves’ leadership navigating it, he was immediately promoted to
“It’s a 24/7 job to keep this health system secure and supported, so a quiet, uneventful week is worth toasting.”
The Issues 33
cybersecurity manager and then into his current CISO role in January 2023. In 2020, Graves was unaware his performance would earn him repeated promotions. He just knew the day he had been dreading was finally here. “All systems were down,” he remembers with a shudder. “It was Christmas time. The COVID-19 pandemic already had stress levels high. The attackers were able to impact systems at the roots of our infrastructure, so we had to rebuild everything from scratch.” A ransomware attack is a catastrophic event for any organization, but Graves knew systems being down meant the health system’s most vulnerable patients were at risk. Every second counted. His team was communicating with various ransomware recovery specialists,
“We have multiple committees dedicated to recovery/downtime preparation, and another committee providing monthly cybersecurity education. As you can expect, our audience is a lot more receptive.”
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the FBI, the State of Maryland, GBMC’s CEO, and the insurance company. Everyone told him the same thing: this would be a marathon, not a sprint. “Imagine the conflict we were feeling,” he remembers. “In one sense, we heard the advice and understood the reasons behind pacing ourselves during the recovery period. We wanted to recover in a way that would prepare our systems for potential future attacks and were conscious of the impact burnout would play, but every minute we were concerned about the lives that were being impacted.” Graves’s team was able to get GBMC’s fetal monitoring system back online in what felt like an eternity of twoand-a-half weeks, working without stopping for the bulk of that time. He remembers multiple people shedding tears when the system was restored, knowing nurses had been doing nonstop rounds to ensure the health and safety of newborns. But there was no time to celebrate. His team had to immediately pivot to getting the system’s cancer readout system back online, knowing people had been without desperately needed test results for weeks. It’s no surprise Graves still feels a significant amount of anxiety when reflecting on the 2020 ransomware attack. Despite the event, the CISO says there were positive aspects. The IT team came back stronger than ever with more flexibility and prioritization when it comes to protecting systems. The department was also able to expand, but since the attack, 85 percent of his original team remains intact. “We had and continue to have a very strong team,” Graves explains. “Everyone worked with so much dedication, it was inspiring to be part of, even in the midst of such a challenging situation.” Along with its internal team, GBMC was able to partner with, and receive crucial contributions during the recovery from security specialists such as CDI. “At CDI, we take pride in our trusted relationships with businesses like GBMC HealthCare,” says Felix Vargas, chief technology officer for security at CDI. “The healthcare industry is facing increasing threats from cybercrime, and we understand the critical importance of protecting sensitive data and ensuring the continuity of healthcare providers’ operations. CDI employs cutting-edge technologies and a team of highly skilled
Tyler Scheff
Rodney Graves CISO Greater Baltimore Medical Center
The Issues 35
DIGITAL
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MODERN IT OPS
true love, Muay Thai kickboxing. He even traveled to Singapore to train at a legendary gym. The rapid-fire kicks and punches are how he looks forward to tiring out his body every day. Those two disciplines perfectly illustrate the ideology of Rodney Graves. Meditative and thoughtful while being able to spring into an all-out offensive when called upon. Graves isn’t hoping for another worst-case scenario, but he will certainly be ready for when the time comes. AHL CDI Healthcare delivers robust digital solutions for the healthcare industry. Utilizing collective expertise across CDI’s diverse pillars, the industry-specific segment of CDI offers best-in-class solutions for intelligent operations, automation, and DevOps with the aim to enhance the effective management and operation of healthcare systems. CDI Healthcare combines infrastructure optimization, elite security solutions, and industry-leading penetration testing to ensure high performance and secure data management, whether on-premises or in the cloud. With a proven record in healthcare applications, VDI, cybersecurity and resiliency, automation, and DevOps, CDI Healthcare helps clients achieve cost savings and compliance relief, driving value and managing risk.
Tyler Scheff
SECURITY
professionals to counter the rising tide of cyberthreats, enabling providers to focus on delivering essential care with peace of mind.” In his new role, Graves sees the preand post-2020 cybersecurity environment at GBMC as two different worlds. In one, he had to continually be the advocate for more resources. In the other, he feels empowered to continually offer new education to employees, stress cyber initiatives, and get more leeway because more people understand the minor inconvenience of a system needing an update versus the complete shutdown of its entire system. “We now have the ear of the organization,” he says. “We have multiple committees dedicated to recovery/downtime preparation, and another committee providing monthly cybersecurity education. As you can expect, our audience is a lot more receptive.” Graves credits his continued love and appreciation for martial arts for not only getting him through 2020, but also making him a better leader. The CISO started first with Tai Chi, slow and intentional movements to promote breathwork and mindfulness. And then there is his
People, Process, and Patients Mayil Dharmarajan is a change agent known for creating high-performing teams at Keck Medicine of USC By Billy Yost
The Issues 37
Dharmarajan is leveraging A unified solution will also create much “One of the core aspects of what I do M ayil technology to enable the best care, more streamlined systems for working is building trust,” Dharmarajan explains. research, and innovation possible in healthcare. As the head of analytics and data and senior director of enterprise data management at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC), he is tasked with technologically unifying an academic medical system with a sterling reputation, not just for its continual medical breakthroughs, but in applying those breakthroughs quickly for the betterment of its patient population. “Our aim is to expedite and translate the innovation happening on our research and medical school side to our patients,” Dharmarajan explains. “All of the clinical trials and advanced treatment methods need to be taken to our patients in the shortest and most responsible way possible.” Dharmarajan is at the forefront of building out a data and analytics infrastructure that can be a centralized and combined platform throughout the entire academic and medical system. That platform will ultimately be one source of truth the entire organization can unify around to communicate and move ideas forward.
through federal and state-mandated regulatory, compliance, and internal data governance processes. “Unifying our data means we avoid islands of data, tools, and technology,” Dharmarajan explains. “Creating a centralized center for data allows us the opportunity to exchange information, share knowledge, and coordinate activities between research and direct patient care.”
The Man Behind the Mission Enabling this kind of coordination requires Dharmarajan to build consensus across Keck’s entire organization, but building trust is one of the executive’s most defining characteristics. He began his career in pharmaceutical research working as a scientist in bioprocess development of biopharmaceuticals. But the last twenty-plus years of Dharmarajan’s career have come in the form of driving analytical innovation across healthcare including the City of Hope Hospitals and Beckman Research Institute and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. How does he do it?
“Our aim is to expedite and translate the innovation happening on our research and medical school side to our patients.”
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“I take the faith placed in me by leaders very seriously, so in every step that I take, I seek to create trust through communication and providing explanations for why my team does what they do.” For any organization, it can be challenging to bring change to a health system that has a track record of innovation, but Dharmarajan says that’s exactly why his role is so important. Operating on the front lines of innovation means a constant reassessment of both what has worked and what will create more viable opportunities to move forward. The executive sees himself as a change agent who takes it upon himself to provide the business case for that change. “I try to be very proactive in challenging the status quo,” Dharmarajan says. “If there is a case for change, I will take it directly to the teams and make that case. There might be pushback and there may be a reason why change might not make sense at the time, but in having those direct discussions, I can both provide a road map for change and understand where others are coming from. That communication is so important for creating meaningful change.” Dharmarajan’s talent for making the case for change comes part and parcel with a reputation for building great teams. The executive has earned this reputation by demonstrating a willingness to allow his people to lean into their strong suits as well as give them the space they need to build out new ones. He says a good leader understands and supports their people’s need for growth and development. “I believe that delegating some authority is important while also providing clear expectations and entrusting people with delivering quality results,” Dharmarajan explains. “It’s also important to recognize that not every outcome is going to be what you expect. You need to celebrate the successes but also recognize the effort people have put in, even if
Mayil Dharmarajan and Krut Mayilvahanan
Mayil Dharmarajan Head of Analytics & Data and Senior Director of Enterprise Data Management Keck Medicine of USC
The Issues 39
PICTURE PERFECT LEADERSHIP When Mayil Dharmarajan isn’t driving technological transformation in healthcare, he’s more than likely getting another scene into focus. The executive is an avid photographer who recently snapped over 2,800 photos on a trip to Israel and Jordan. “Photography is relaxing and provides me with amazing memories,” he says. “It requires a lot of time editing, but it’s just part of the process. I always feel like I’m learning something new.” 40 AHL
View Mayil Dharmarajan’s photography
it doesn’t work out the way you hoped. If the effort is there, you can always learn something from the process.” It may not come as a surprise then that Dharmarajan believes in tackling big challenges with a positive mindset. That isn’t to say he’s naive or unaware of the challenge. The executive says he’s able to recognize the best parts of his people and hones in on those qualities. That positivity comes in especially handy when working across an organization building trust, creating a sense of ownership amongst his team, and acting as a change agent for Keck. Dharmarajan says he learned early in his healthcare data journey that serving patients should always be the objective of anyone in a healthcare organization. By seeing a patient at the end of all of those ones and zeros, the tech leader is able to create more harmony when it comes to unifying people, processes, and technology. AHL
Mayil Dharmarajan and Krut Mayilvahanan
“I try to be very proactive in challenging the status quo. If there is a case for change, I will take it directly to the teams and make that case.”
Curious, Not Judgmental
Active listening, openness, and dialogue are at the heart of Ryan Goodwin’s approach as CareOne’s in-house counsel By Noah Johnson
The Issues 41
not judgmental.” “B e curious, That’s a phrase that stood out to Ryan Goodwin while watching the Emmy-award winning comedy drama Ted Lasso. It resonated with him so much that he decided to put it on the wall in his office to encourage him to think about its implications on a daily basis. For the senior vice president and deputy general counsel at CareOne, it not only encapsulates his values as an in-house counsel but as a leader. “It’s such a good phrase for my role and how I serve the employees of the corporation, which is to listen to their concerns and their issues when they’re seeking legal advice,” he says. “Rather than be judgmental about a challenging legal concern or issue facing the company, I think it’s important to be curious. It’s important to learn what the issue is, provide guidance on how to properly address it, and recommend strategies to improve our current practices to limit similar issues in the future. “As in-house counsel, listening is such an important part of my role,” he continues. “That’s why, for me, being a trusted resource and advisor is such a central component of my role as corporate counsel.” Since Goodwin stepped into his role in August 2022, that mentality has been a bedrock for the legal department and its initiatives. It’s helped his team members understand the needs of the organization while allowing them to install various process improvement measures in the department. Through analytics and a more defined mission, the department has been able to better educate its colleagues on the services at their disposal and provide them in ways that are more efficient and cost effective. “We pore over data analytics to measure our caseload so that we may identify ways to reduce the company’s legal spend. It’s importing the Moneyball model to corporate 42 AHL
“As in-house counsel, listening is such an important part of my role. That’s why, for me, being a trusted resource and advisor is such a central component of my role as corporate counsel.”
legal departments,” says Goodwin, referring to the best-selling book by Michael Lewis. So far, those efforts have already paid off through reduced legal spend and improved budget forecasting, and has informed decisions on legal strategy. Goodwin’s fresh approach has also fostered collaboration between the legal department and its business partners. “Oftentimes the in-house legal department can be seen as a barrier to getting through what operational units want to accomplish,” he says. “But, I want to be a trusted resource to my corporate colleagues so that we may collaboratively identify legal and business solutions that move the company forward.” Active listening, asking questions, and open dialogue are paramount to Goodwin’s approach—skills that developed in him before he even went to law school. He started his career on Capitol Hill, serving as a press secretary and aide to US Representative Christopher H. Smith. During his time in that role, he saw Smith actively listen to his constituents’ concerns and witnessed how they’d inform legislation that sometimes became law.
Sean Sime
Ryan Goodwin SVP and Deputy General Counsel CareOne
The Issues 43
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“Having a front-row seat to the congress- focused on the outcome of a particular man’s interactions with his constituents case, I’m also thinking about process was rewarding and energizing,” he says. improvements that we can implement “By listening to a constituent over a phone to strengthen our practices and improve call or during a meeting really impacted our outcomes,” Goodwin explains. the drafting and development of federal “Working collaboratively with my collaw and that stuck with me. It showed me leagues, we can drive improvements that one person can really make a differ- in the organization, so it operates more ence, whether you’re the congressman or efficiently and with less risk.” a constituent with an idea.” In his current role, collaboration, openBeing a part of that process made ness, and dialogue are at the heart of his Goodwin hungry for a better under- leadership style. For him, that means standing of the law, driving him to get prioritizing regular in-person meetings his law degree from Syracuse University. and getting to know team members on He went on to work as senior advisor and a personal level. Those habits help drive counsel to New Jersey Governor Chris business results and push legal departChristie before moving in-house at ments forward, he says. University Hospital, where his passion “Working in a large, diverse company, for data analytics helped bring down the your colleagues bring different expertise hospital’s legal spend over 60 percent in and approaches to problem-solving. The just three years. more cross-collaboration the legal departThe next few years saw him clerk for ment has with business units will improve Hon. Paul B. Matey of the US Courts of the ultimate recommendations you’ll Appeals before moving to private practice make to the client,” Goodwin says. AHL at Lowenstein Sandler. Those experiences honed his legal skills as a litigator, before making the decision to go back in-house As a carefully crafted midsized firm, O’Toole at CareOne, a post-acute and senior care Scrivo combines large-firm expertise with company with over fifty care centers small-firm attention to its clients’ needs. The Firm provides a variety of legal services across five states. to the healthcare industry, including labor “When you’re a litigator in private and employment, compliance, and litigation, practice, you’re focused on the case using a multidisciplinary approach to meet the industry’s vast and unique needs. before you, but as in-house counsel, your focus is much broader. Not only am I
The Importance of Privacy by
DESIGN
At Medline Industries, Dana Garbo spearheads adoption of the NIST Privacy Framework, a tool she selected to build privacy capabilities into the organization’s systems, products, and services By Noah Johnson Photos by Cass Davis
Garbo has been in the privacy domain of health- With the perfect storm of emerging privacy laws, rapidly D ana care for over twenty years. During that time, she’s evolving technology and related digital risk, and impleseen organizations approach privacy compliance in a law-by-law manner, despite the constant evolution of technology and related digital risk, industry innovation, and implementation complexity. At this stage in her career, Garbo no longer views that approach as sustainable or scalable for many organizations. “It’s just not possible to promise anyone that a company can comply with every single emerging law perfectly from one day to the next, in the same way that an individual household can’t make all of their desired home renovations overnight,” she explains. “You don’t have infinite budget, infinite time, or infinite personnel.
mentation timelines and other requirements that change, you have to find a way to standardize and harmonize your approach.” Garbo got an opportunity to do just that at Medline Industries LP as the company’s chief privacy officer. There, she’s fortunate to be in a position to spearhead Medline’s adoption of the NIST Privacy Framework. Using this risk management tool—which is agnostic to any one law, technology, or region—makes it possible for any company to enable and embed privacy by design principles into an organization’s systems, products, and services through an authoritative yet flexible road map. This “privacy engineering” supports privacy risk The Issues 45
Dana Garbo Chief Privacy Officer Medline Industries LP
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management both within the organization as well as throughout its data processing ecosystem. The framework reinforces privacy risk management by connecting business drivers, organizational roles and responsibilities, and privacy protection activities, according to NIST.gov. But Garbo is doing more than just championing the NIST Privacy Framework at Medline. In her role, the chief privacy officer believes that she and her team have a duty to not only work to improve Medline’s internal privacy practices, but also “shape the future of the privacy domain” outside the company. That’s why she and her team are active participants in the AdvaMed Data Stewardship & Privacy Working Group and the NIST Privacy Workforce Public Working Group (PWWG). The former is a working group of the AdvaMed Center for Digital Health that advocates for patient-centered data stewardship and privacy policies. In 2020, as a former cochair of that working group, Garbo shepherded AdvaMed’s first-ever US Health Data Privacy Principles through development and board approval. Garbo and her team were behind an AdvaMed working group effort to map HIPAA to the NIST Privacy Framework in 2023, in addition to the PWWG work with NIST. The PWWG is part of NIST’s workforce advancement effort and goal to create the content of the NIST Privacy Workforce Taxonomy through development
“With the perfect storm of emerging privacy laws, rapidly evolving technology and related digital risk, and implementation timelines and other requirements that change, you have to find a way to standardize and harmonize your approach.”
The Issues 47
of Task, Knowledge, and Skill (TKS) Statements aligned with the NIST Privacy Framework and the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity. The PWWG is a forum for participants from the general public—including private industry, the public sector, academia, and civil society—to work together as volunteers in a consensus-driven public process. All of this is harmonious with Garbo’s belief in the concept of privacy by design, a concept that informs her work at Medline and her interactions with privacy working groups. Privacy by design stems from Ann Cavoukian’s seven foundational principles back in the 1990s. “She basically said you don’t think of considering the privacy elements of a commercial transaction or a processing
“Operating in a business environment means there is always a need for nuanced decision-making based on risk management principles.”
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Make trust your competitive advantage Our Trust Intelligence Platform gives your business visibility, actionable insights, and automation across privacy and data discovery, GRC, ethics, and ESG — so you can turn trust from an abstract concept into your competitive advantage.
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activity at the end,” she explains. “You inject privacy considerations into everything you do early and at every stage or gate, rather than at the eleventh hour while you’re trying to get a finished product or service commercialized and in the hands of customers. It’s about getting everybody to think about privacy rights and privacy promises at every step of the development of products or services or technology platforms that are used by organizations.” Garbo’s advocation for privacy by design and privacy engineering aligns with the organizations with whom she partners. “Embedding privacy by design into your business not only safeguards personal data and minimizes risk but also nurtures trust and unlocks value,” says Kabir Barday, founder and CEO of OneTrust. “This is what OneTrust aims to enable through our platform. Bringing this philosophy to her role as CPO at Medline, Dana shows that running a privacy-first organization means more than compliance. It’s about positioning the business to thrive and be
resilient, transforming the technological, ethical, legal, and societal challenges companies are facing into opportunities to build trust.” Garbo was selected by NIST cochairs to colead the project team creating TKS Statements for the Risk Management Strategy category, under the Govern Function of the NIST Privacy Framework. “The need to manage risk is a reality. If we want to shut down all potential risk in our commercial operations, then we’d just be out of business. That wouldn’t be the right outcome for us or our customers and patients,” she says. “Operating in a business environment means there is always a need for nuanced decisionmaking based on risk management principles, which is why risk-based frameworks exist and why I’m eager to adopt the NIST Privacy Framework.” Garbo says the tool will not only assist Medline in maturing its privacy program through a pragmatic enterprise risk management methodology, but also help develop a workforce that’s capable of managing privacy risk. AHL
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The Reason Some executives feel the importance of their work because they have experienced its impact firsthand. Shaped by their
52. Jill Updike Children’s National Hospital 58. Leanne Murphy CPS Solutions LLC
mission to help others or by their personal
62. Susan Marsico Central Ohio Primary Care
experiences with healthcare, many
65. Lesli Whisenant AssuredPartners
executives are drawn to the industry from a sense of empathy and a desire to make a difference for others.
“HR Is a Long Game” Jill Updike shares how a holistic strategy, empathy, and volunteering have informed her HR career and current role with Children’s National Hospital By Noah Johnson
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Chris Marcinek
since she was a kid, Jill Updike building that happens in the home,” E ver had a passion to serve. Updike says. “These programs help to “Although my family didn’t have much economic wealth, I was fortunate that my first-generation immigrant parents were able to provide focused parenting and strong examples of work ethic and emotional resilience needed for me to achieve better than what they had as young adults,” she says. “Because of this foundation, I was able to be involved in my children’s activities such as being a Girl Scout leader, a Band Booster leader, and PTA member as they grew up.” After her kids graduated high school, Updike turned her attention toward volunteer opportunities that could make an impact in her Maryland community. She participated in the Leadership Baltimore County program to help improve civic engagement in the region. She started serving on the advisory board for the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra. She also started volunteering as a coordinator for the Cadets Drum Corps. Those experiences have not only given her a chance to set others up for success but have served as a crash course for well-being, informing her work as the head of total rewards at Children’s National Hospital, an organization that shares her mission to serve young people. “Through these extra ‘parenting’ roles, I have realized the importance of these programs in augmenting the skill
ensure that our future generations of leaders receive enriching experiences which will enable their success.” In her current role, which oversees a system consisting of hospitals, health plans, and a pediatrics network, Updike has helped to bring similar benefits to Children’s National employees through well-being programming. She and other leaders have put a lot of time into soliciting feedback on the kinds of resources employees need and as a result, have developed more holistic offerings. “HR has been proud to work alongside our clinical leaders to address these well-being concerns in a holistic way,” she says. “We have a full range of opportunities already in place for employees to find solace and support which include emotional support programs like our peer-to-peer counseling, Healing Garden, mindful meditation, and other departmental programs to address local concerns, and we also have the traditional benefit plans like EAP [employee assistance program], condition management, exercise, and nutrition programs.” Children’s National is supplementing those efforts with the launch of an Interprofessional Center for Well-Being, which will provide a strategic framework for addressing cultural and process issues that impact employee engagement and satisfaction.
Jill Updike Head of Total Rewards Children’s National Hospital
Those efforts have been especially important as Children’s National and other nonprofit organizations in the healthcare industry continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Updike says she and other industry leaders are still grappling with skilled worker shortages as a result of economic impacts and revenue interruptions that came with COVID. That reality necessitates rewards The Reason 53
strategies that do a better job at responding to what employees need, she notes. “Ensuring ever yone has access to well-being resources and continuous reinforcement to all team members that they are appreciated is key to strengthening the engagement and resiliency of the workforce,” she says. “Jill Updike’s approach to HR is commendable,” says Rob Hoyt, senior vice president at NFP. “Her comprehensive strategies prioritize team welfare and operational efficiency, serving as a model for HR leadership.” In addition to the well-being offerings and strategies she’s helped develop, another highlight from Updike’s time at Children’s National is having the opportunity to be the teacher she always wanted to be. She’s proud to lead with a mind for inclusion and with a coach’s mentality. “I believe leadership is about coaching: teach relevant skills, reinforce the good behaviors, put team members in positions that capitalize on individual strengths, help people learn from past experiences,” she says. “All of this takes honest communication from a place of authentic care for all team members and the patients we serve.” Volunteer opportunities aren’t the only experiences that inform Updike’s well-being 54 AHL
“Ensuring everyone has access to well-being resources and continuous reinforcement to all team members that they are appreciated is key to strengthening the engagement and resiliency of the workforce.”
Helping Those Who Help Others NFP is proud to partner with Jill Updike to provide exceptional employee benefits to Children’s National Hospital employees. Together, we can ensure that caregivers get the care they deserve to succeed at work and at home. Thank you, Jill, for your continued partnership and commitment to excellence.
For your business. For your people. For your life. NFP.com Copyright ©2023 NFP. All Rights Reserved.
“[HR] blends the technical—compliance and analytics— application with social and political savvy. The most effective HR people I have observed understand that HR is a long game.”
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work. She has also gleaned lessons from her decorated career. She’s worked in a wide variety of industries in various managerial-level HR and compensation roles, as well as an HR consultant. Some of her most enriching career experiences have been in start-up tech companies, where she built HR systems and participated in ground floor strategy development. “These experiences have provided exposure on a small scale to the full corporate scope of functional areas,” she says. “I use this perspective—scaled to the larger organization—to empathize with functional partners in addressing organizational needs holistically.” Updike admits that her journey to being a HR leader hasn’t been easy due to the multifaceted nature of her profession. “It blends the technical—compliance and analytics—application with social and political savvy. The most effective HR people I have observed understand that HR is a long game,” she describes. “It is a perfect blend of consultant, police officer, and teacher. Learning how to formulate the appropriate mix of these roles to get the best outcome in each situation is a nuanced skill which has taken me years of trial and error to get right more often than not. Learning from prior experiences has been key along with the persistence to keep trying.” There are many lessons young professionals can draw from Updike’s career if they hope to see success along their
journeys. They can start with this: “Focus on the big picture and the end game.” “Be tenacious with critical thinking, continuous learning, trying new approaches,” she advises. “Prioritize intent to grow yourself and everyone around you.” AHL
Aetna is honored to work with health care leaders from Children’s National Hospital. Aetna, a CVS Health business, not only offers specialized solutions for healthcare employers but serves an estimated 34 million people—offering a broad range of traditional, voluntary, and consumerdirected health insurance products and related services. Aetna covers employer groups in all industries.
The Wagner Law Group’s welfare benefits group has extensive knowledge and experience in all aspects of health and welfare plans, and is adept in helping employers maintain their plans in compliance with state and federal requirements. Our attorneys routinely work on matters involving the ACA, No Surprises Act, Health Plan Transparency rules, HIPAA, Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, COBRA, Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement issues, Medicare Secondary Payer rules, Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, general ERISA requirements for welfare plans, Americans with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and Family and Medical Leave Act rules. The firm congratulates Jill Updike on her outstanding achievements in the healthcare field.
Better Together Aetna is proud to support Children’s National Hospital.
Aetna.com ©2023 Aetna, Inc. 234635
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The Approachable Attorney CPS Solutions’ EVP and General Counsel Leanne Murphy uses lessons gleaned from her mentors to pay it forward and lead her own team to success By Noah Johnson
taking a business law class She leads a small but mighty team with in the field from whom they can glean A fter in high school, a sixteen-year-old a passion for mentorship that drives her insights, and working side-by-side with Leanne Murphy went home and told her parents that she wanted to be an attorney. Since then, Murphy has accomplished that goal and more throughout a successful career that’s seen her provide legal and business support to companies like Sears, Roebuck and Company; Walgreens; and Walmart. Today, she makes it her mission to help young professionals accomplish their goals as the executive vice president and general counsel at CPS Solutions LLC. 58 AHL
to create opportunities for others. “I like to see a person’s professional development,” Murphy says. “I like to see them starting out and exploring, being a little bit nervous and not knowing which direction to go in, and helping them work through it by letting them know they have the analytical skills to ask the right questions and form solutions.” She does that by assigning projects to team members that align with their interests, pairing them with experts
them on drafts of legal documents and other legal projects. She also shares stories from her own career journey to let them know that, years ago, she was where they are today. “I think you can learn from a lot of different people and from their stories and not make the [same] mistakes. You don’t have to test the water to see if it’s hot or cold if someone already has,” Murphy says. “Learn from others’ experiences, ask them about challenging situations
and how they resolved them, and take that knowledge in.” Working with early career professionals takes her back to the way she began her career at Sidley Austin LLP, after getting her law degree from John Marshall Law School (now University of Illinois Chicago School of Law). She
“Both of [my mentors] were approachable and were people who I respected, who were learned, and had an open-door policy for answering questions and working through legal issues.”
spent five years advising on M&A, corporate law, and securities matters for the firm’s telecommunications and cellular telephone industry clients. Murphy learned to work with different kinds of people in stressful situations and on complex issues. She credits much of that success to two mentors, who helped
her navigate challenges and were always willing to offer guidance, legal expertise, experience, and a helpful hand. “Both of them were approachable and were people who I respected, who were learned, and had an open-door policy for answering questions and working through legal issues,” the attorney recalls. “Instead of sitting opposite of me in a desk—in a more authoritarian position—the more senior partner would come around and sit next to me and work through the legal matter. It was different than how many legal leaders now work with junior lawyers but, looking back, I don’t think I could’ve learned any better.” Murphy continued her development at First Health Group Corporation as a senior attorney before serving in various roles at Sears, Walgreens, and Walmart—experiences that exposed her to a wide variety of domestic and international legal matters in the healthcare and retail industry. In those roles, she developed an expertise in transactional and general business law while advising on areas like litigation, health care regulation, privacy, and intellectual property. The breadth of that experience made her the perfect fit for her current role when the opportunity arose in 2019. The bulk of her team’s work currently revolves around advising on legal issues relating to providing services to hospital pharmacies in a company that has largely grown over the years through acquisitions. “When you have that sort of situation, you have contracts from company The Reason 59
Scott Pfeiffer
Leanne Murphy EVP and General Counsel CPS Solutions LLC
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“Learn from others’ experiences, ask them about challenging situations and how they resolved them, and take that knowledge in.”
Leanne Murphy Executive Vice President and General Counsel, CPS Solutions, LLC
We are honored to work with the entire CPS Solutions, LLC team. And we congratulate Leanne Murphy for being recognized by American Healthcare Leader not only for her leadership in the health A that’s very different from company B and C, and you have to bring all of that together, make sense of it, and not only look at it from the service perspective but from a variety of other legal areas,” Murphy says. When she isn’t working on contracts or protecting the companies IP, Murphy mentors her team of six on time management, an effort that has already bore fruit. The group closed over fifteen hundred matters in 2022, despite being one attorney short. “To finish all of those projects with this size of a legal department and the volume of work we handle each and every day is amazing,” Murphy says. “I teach my team members to keep in mind our ethics and responsibilities to zealously represent our client to the fullest extent of the law on each-and-every project—not just sending something to get it out the
door, but to spend the time, do it right, and turn in a product they’re proud of.” “Leanne is a highly respected and effective leader in the healthcare space. Beyond that she sets a great example as someone deeply committed to the mentoring and development of young legal professionals,” says Megan Thibert-Ind, healthcare litigation partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP. “It’s a pleasure to know her and to collaborate with her and the rest of the CPS team.” Murphy aims to be a sound, peopleoriented, and participative leader, willing to put contracts on a television screen in her office and work through them with junior attorneys, line by line. “I hope that collaboration gives them confidence to walk in my office, lay down a question, put forth a proposal, challenge me on ideas, and challenge us both to work through something,” she says. AHL
care space, but also her commitment and passion for mentoring and supporting the next generation of lawyers. With respect, Your friends at Manatt
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, llp manatt.com
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Diverse Experience Susan Marsico credits her willingness to learn and explore new industries for much of her success as director of total rewards at Central Ohio Primary Care By Sara Verdi
retail to academia to healthcare, I would be a great fit for the role,” she F rom Susan Marsico has worked in human recalls. “I said, ‘Sign me up!’ That was resources and total rewards across a variety of sectors. Her vast experience in these fields has allowed her to create unique yet competitive total rewards programs for employees at Central Ohio Primary Care (COPC). Now a seasoned HR professional, her journey in human resources began in college. “I started out as an accounting major, but then became intrigued by well-being so changed to dietetics, but ultimately learned about a new degree in human resources at the time, and it sounded interesting to me, so I just went for it,” she remembers. Upon graduation, Marsico picked up her first HR job at the Central Ohio Transit Authority, where she was given a unique opportunity. “The comp and benefits person was leaving her job to have a baby, which meant her role would be open, and she told my manager that 62 AHL
my first introduction into the total rewards space.” The role served as a launchpad for Marsico’s compensation and benefits career, which propelled her to a manager-level role at Bath & Body Works and then a director-level role at the Ohio State University. However, when she moved on to her role at Ohio State, she didn’t jump right into the director level. “It was interesting because I had always been the top person doing benefits, but I took sort of a step down at Ohio State, and I reported up to the director of benefits,” she explains. “I did that because I really wanted to learn from someone.” This type of mentorship, Marsico believes, taught her a valuable lesson for her career, which is also a piece of advice she thinks is important for all HR professionals. Don’t be overly focused on
Michael Vannest
Susan Marsico Director of Total Rewards Central Ohio Primary Care
The Reason 63
job titles to the point where it limits your growth. “If I hadn’t been willing to take that step down, I would never have done the work to really grow into my role,” she attests. “I think because I have truly done the work and I have held the roles that my employees have, that builds a special type of trust and respect between us.” Following her time at Ohio State, Marsico went on to work in the technology and private equity fields at OCLC
has been able to scale a full team and spearhead a brand-new wellness and well-being program for their employees. “Prior to my joining, COPC didn’t have any wellness programs,” she says. “And I thought, ‘We take care of our patients really well, but we need to take care of ourselves too.’” Marsico organized a wellness committee to service both the employees and physicians at COPC and align employee
“I think because I have truly done the work and I have held the roles that my employees have, that builds a special type of trust and respect between us.”
and Vertiv, which further diversified her experience and gave her valuable exposure to different policies and processes. “By having worked in all of these different industries, including transit, technology, retail, healthcare, and academia, I have a broader perspective,” she says. “I know what is happening in different industries, working with both higher- and lower-income employees, in both fast-paced and slower-paced industries, and all of that has combined to set me up for my current role.” Now, Marsico serves as director of total rewards at COPC, where she 64 AHL
needs with wellness offerings and options. This program not only focuses on the mental and physical health of employees, but also financial wellness and offers employees resources such as free financial advising services. Additionally, Marsico helped develop and roll out a new career ladder program for COPC’s patient service representatives. “The new program outlines several new higher-level jobs to help enhance these employees’ development and create career progression within COPC,” she says. She also created a new recognition program that allows managers and
employees to recognize others publicly for their achievements. At the core of all she does at COPC, Marsico believes that clear communication and messaging is how she has best been able to support her employees. While her experience provides her a lot of know-how, she emphasizes the importance of listening to what employees find valuable so she can provide them with the best resources to be successful both in and out of the workplace. “We have worked really hard to create communications in the benefits space, because before I joined, there were very limited written communications,” she says. “I wanted to create benefits and enrollment materials to enhance communications and make sure every person knows what’s available to them so they can take advantage of our comprehensive benefits package.” For those looking to pursue a career path in human resources, Marsico has another piece of advice: be open. “At the start of my career, I just assumed that HR was employee relations or recruiting. I didn’t know what this job could be until I was open to trying that first role in comp and benefits,” she says. “Now I’ve been exposed to so many other areas like rewards and wellness. It’s incredibly important to be willing to explore other things. You might be surprised at what you find.” AHL
Delta Dental of Ohio and its affiliates in Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Tennessee make up one of the largest dental plan administrators in the nation. The Delta Dental plans are members of the Delta Dental Plans Association, a nationwide system of independently operated dental health service plans. Together, the plans provide coverage to more than 83 million Americans and operate two of the nation’s largest networks of participating dentists.
“Work for People, Not Places” Lesli Whisenant shares the value of developing relationships with employees, giving them flexibility, and being a vulnerable leader By Noah Johnson
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Lesli Whisenant SVP of Tax AssuredPartners
Whisenant, senior vice president “You work for people, not places, L esli of tax at AssuredPartners, spends her
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and happy employees are productive employees. . . . It’s all about investing in people, relationships, and collaborating with other departments.” Fusion Studios Orlando
days at the company focused on strategic planning, tax modeling, and analysis while balancing other priorities like compliance, tax accounting, and acquisition diligence and integration. As vital as those functions are to the business, Whisenant says keeping her employees happy is often a more pressing and fulfilling project. “You work for people, not places, and happy employees are productive employees,” Whisenant shares. “If they leave the company for a better career opportunity, that’s fine, but my goal is to make sure I’m never the reason we’re doing exit interviews for someone who wants to
leave. It’s all about investing in people, relationships, and collaborating with other departments.” Since Whisenant joined the company in 2017, those investments have paid off, helping the tax department become more cohesive and a stronger business partner. She sets the tone for those successes by leading vulnerably and authentically. She begins meetings with icebreakers to help facilitate intimate conversations among her team. She schedules individual check-in meetings and team events. As the mother of three, she stresses the importance of putting family first and gives team members the flexibility to take care of personal responsibilities as needed. And for every accomplishment she shares with her colleagues, she also shares a mistake. With these habits, she hopes to send a clear message: it’s OK to be human. “As a leader, it’s not effective to appear perfect all the time,” she says. “I probably share more than most leaders do. It’s because I want them to know they matter to me as a person, not just a worker. I also want them to see that I’m willing to adapt, change, and learn. Besides, I’m not a good liar anyway.” This writer can attest to Whisenant’s authenticity. Throughout the conversation, she speaks openly and honestly about her more than twenty-five-year journey in tax, both in public accounting and private industry. It’s a journey that required a balancing act in the first decade of her career when she became a mother while at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Leaders allowed her to work flexible schedules, a practice she says was unheard of at the time and that influenced the leader she is today. “If you had a baby, you left the firms— you didn’t stay,” Whisenant says. “I’m fairly certain I’m one of the first people to work a flex schedule in public accounting back then. I’m very grateful to the firm for agreeing to let me balance my work and life. Today, I aim to do that for my team.”
ASSURED EMPOWERMENT Insurance is a primarily male-dominated industry, so Lesli Whisenant wants to help other women find leadership opportunities in the space like she has. “About twothirds of our employees are women but not nearly that many are in leadership positions. That’s why I colead the Women’s Coalition Employee Resource Group which provides relevant programs, topics, [and] conversations with the women of AssuredPartners and the men who support them,” she says. “We’re striving to recognize and empower more women through spotlights, education on topics such as financial literacy and navigating conflict, collaboration, and mentorship,” Whisenant adds. “We send out surveys to ask what the employees would like to learn and hear about to help address their needs.”
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“As a leader, it’s not effective to appear perfect all the time. . . . I also want them to see that I’m willing to adapt, change, and learn.”
After a decade at PwC, she has spent the past seventeen years in the financial services, insurance, healthcare, and technology industries, where she led and managed tax functions for both public and private companies. During that time, she has watched the tax function transition from a heavy focus on compliance to becoming a more strategic business partner due to the emergence of various technology and business needs. As a result, she tries “very hard not to be a cost center but a profit center.” “Even though I’m in the accounting function, which is typically a cost center, I try to focus on tax planning that will provide either tax benefits or reduce expenses, so I more than pay for my department’s costs,” she says. Her working relationship with Forvis LLP has made that goal more attainable in her current role. Forvis has helped Whisenant and her team prepare for tax filings with a platform that automates data processes while providing analytics capabilities. “Forvis has been a fantastic partner,” she says. “Their platform has been really
helpful for us to automate and enhance some of the tax compliance support we need while analyzing the results in order to make strategic tax decisions. It’s helped us save quite a bit of time and become more efficient.” Leaders who want to get the most out of their team like Whisenant should get to know them on a personal level. “You can’t treat everyone the same,” she says. “They all have different learning styles and needs, and you should tailor your approach to each person. Also, be honest, open, and empathetic so they know we’re all human and we’re here to support each other.” AHL
FORVIS LLP is a professional services firm providing assurance, tax, and consulting services. We have over 5,700 dedicated professionals who serve clients in all 50 states as well as across the globe. FORVIS is driven by the commitment to use our forward vision to deliver an Unmatched Client Experience™. forvis.com
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The Business Healthcare is a constantly evolving industry that demands executives to plan ahead. Often, this means business leaders need
70. Dan Howard San Ysidro Health 75. Matthew Flood Prestige Consumer Healthcare
to address department- or company-
81. Jenni Lee Amway
wide issues to remain focused on driving
85. Stacy Juetten Sally Beauty Holdings
innovation and devising strategies to maintain a high level of care.
It’s in the Way That You Use It CIO Dan Howard uses AI to enhance the patient experience at San Ysidro Health By Donald Liebenson
intelligence (AI) has been trending in the perspective. He views AI as a helpful tool in fulfilling Artificial news, and the public’s reaction to its development the non-profit’s mission to “offer high-quality, comis largely divided. For example, the 2023 strike by the Writers Guild of America that brought movie and television production to a halt involves the discussion over whether studios should be allowed to use AI to write or rewrite stories at the expense of the writer. “Everyone should be scared of AI,” writer and director Joe Russo told Variety. But Dan Howard, vice president and chief information officer (CIO) at San Ysidro Health has a different 70 AHL
passionate, accessible, and affordable healthcare and support services for patients of all ages.” “It depends on the way that you use it,” he says. “We started dipping our toes into the water to see how we could leverage it in a safe fashion with the goal around patient satisfaction. One of our challenges was with our contact centers: we get hundreds of thousands of calls a month from our patients. We need people to answer the phones and answer questions, book
Luz Saucedo/San Ysidro Health
Dan Howard VP and CIO San Ysidro Health
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appointments, and provide feedback, but since the pandemic, there has been a labor shortage. “At issue was how conversational AI could bridge that gap so when a patient calls the phone is picked up every single time. It might not be a live agent, but if someone’s not sitting on hold, it’s a huge satisfier,” Howard says. “We’ve had the ability to implement conversational AI technology that supports multiple languages our patient communities speak, is able to book an appointment, request an prescription refill, [and] request basic information such as locating the closest pharmacy or doctor’s office to where they live. If they do want to transfer to a live agent, they can.” Howard came to San Ysidro Health in January 2022. Previously, he was CIO at the University of South Alabama Health and before that Loma Linda University Health. “I was always around healthcare growing up,” he says. “My father was a medical pathologist. I would go to the hospital with him. I was familiar with that setting.” But when Howard left high school, he had no idea what he was going to do. He was an undeclared major at what was then called Walla Walla College. His roommate had an idea: enter the nursing program. “After two-and-a-half years, you can get your RN and make plenty of money,” his roommate told him. “I jumped in immediately,” Howard says. His career path took a turn after returning to school to earn a degree in biology and taking the MCAT. “I 72 AHL
“We’ve had the ability to implement conversational AI technology that supports multiple languages our patient communities speak, is able to book an appointment, request an prescription refill, [and] request basic information such as locating the closest pharmacy or doctor’s office to where they live. If they do want to transfer to a live agent, they can.”
thought I was going to be a physician, but it was a lot of work, and I was burnt out,” he says. “I thought about what else I could do. I love technology, and I had a friend who worked at Kaiser Permanente who said they were looking for someone to work in their information technology department.” Initially told he would be a system administrator at level two, Howard admits he didn’t even understand what that meant. But in eighteen months, he went from full-time RN to full-time IT. Howard describes his role at San Ysidro Health as “leveraging technology to improve the quality of care we’re providing as well as the patient experience.” This involves digitizing the care delivery process. He is currently overseeing a consolidation of five separate clinical electronic health records onto a single platform. “It is a monumental amount of effort,” he says, “but it will provide us a truly holistic view of our patents that will offer a provider the truest understanding of their patient during a visit.” The project, scheduled to be completed by October 2023, has been years in the making. “The pandemic slowed down a
lot of our efforts,” Howard says. “It’s a very complex project. It has taken roughly three years to get to the point where we are going to embark on this.” “Dan brings a unique mix of clinical and technical expertise to the table,” says Chip Steiner, senior product manager of healthcare practice at Kore.ai. “He is passionate about patient care and has driven this initiative with the goal of better serving patients and the community.” San Ysidro Health serves all of San Diego County in California. “I’ve worked for larger organizations,” Howard says, “but there is less bureaucratic red tape here. It’s easier to get things done, and you can see the fruits of your labor. The cultural environment drives a deep commitment to the mission of improving the health and well-being of the communities we serve, while ensuring we are providing access to all.” Howard leads a team of 150 from various departments. His leadership style was inspired by former mentors. “I’ve been fortunate with all the individuals I’ve had to report to over the last thirty years; none have been a micromanager,” he reflects. “You must learn to delegate The Business 73
well and trust your folks. It’s important to give them as much leeway as possible to operate at the top of their skill level. If you make mistakes or we find out things could have been done better, great. That’s how I learned.” The best advice Howard says he received from a mentor was that there is nothing wrong with being in a job for a longer period and mastering that position. “I was in a hurry to be promoted,” he admits, “but I was advised that these are the formative years when you are going to distinguish yourself in terms of developing a work ethic and becoming a subject matter expert. Based on that, opportunities will arrive. You have to put in the time.” AHL 74 AHL
“There is less bureaucratic red tape here [at San Ysidro Health]. It’s easier to get things done, and you can see the fruits of your labor. The cultural environment drives a deep commitment to the mission of improving the health and well-being of the communities we serve, while ensuring we are providing access to all.”
Aim as High as the Cloud Lifelong learner Matt Flood relies on his deep understanding of the business to drive success through a cloud migration at Prestige Consumer Healthcare By Natalie Kochanov
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twenty years ago, Matt Flood deepen his connection to the busiS ome read an article about how to be a ness. “I went back within nine months successful chief information officer (CIO) that contained a piece of advice he still follows to this day: learn the business better than you know IT. “Ever since then, I’ve wanted to know how the business was running. From finance and supply chain to warehousing and manufacturing, I really wanted to understand the whole business,” Flood says. “Now, I pride myself in the fact that I probably do know the business better than I know IT.” Currently, the business in question is Prestige Consumer Healthcare, a leader in over-the-counter healthcare products. As vice president of IT, Flood is steering Prestige toward a major cloud migration that will enable the company to reach new heights. At the same time, he continues to grow his own knowledge through his commitment to continuous learning, while also carving out time to build relationships with and create opportunities for the people around him. Flood’s educational journey began in earnest at St. John’s University, where he started out as a business student. “In my second year, I changed my major to computer science. I knew it was an area that was really going to explode over the years,” he says. “That was a major decision-making milestone for me, leaving the business degree for computer science. It changed my life.” Degree in hand, Flood entered the workforce as a computer programmer at chemical company W. R. Grace. His role there prompted him to return to school, to broaden his expertise and 76 AHL
and achieved an MBA in international finance,” he explains. “I was working in the finance division at the time, and I figured that to really know the business, I needed to understand the finance aspect. That degree opened a lot of doors for me.”
“From finance and supply chain to warehousing and manufacturing, I really wanted to understand the whole business. Now, I pride myself in the fact that I probably do know the business better than I know IT.”
Indeed, Flood went on to gain diverse programming and IT experience in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry at Purdue Pharma and Taro Pharmaceutical Industries. He was leading an IT staff of forty-five as CIO and senior vice president at Taro by the time he made the jump to Prestige in late 2011.
Ivone Milani
“It was a small company, but they were ready to grow,” he says of joining Prestige. “We were moving to a new facility, and I knew the infrastructures were going to have to be rebuilt. We were going to put in a new ERP [enterprise resource planning] system, and I convinced them to do SAP, which ended up being a great move for us.” Despite the significant up-front expense, the ERP and SAP implementation has paid dividends over the past decade, and the relationship between Flood and his partners is just as strong. “Consistently focused on innovation excellence and education, Matt Flood helped Prestige Consumer Healthcare become an intelligent enterprise by upgrading their SAP environment,” says John McGrath, principal and managing director at Answerthink. “Answerthink is proud to be their chosen SAP partner, providing solutions that meet Prestige’s business needs today, and in the future.” Now, Flood has his eye on the next stage of Prestige’s IT evolution: a cloud migration. “Our manufacturing site already has quite a few cloud applications, but we’re looking at ways to take advantage of the cloud on the network side as well, to reduce costs
Matt Flood VP of IT Prestige Consumer Healthcare
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Congratulations Matt Flood for being recognized for his dedication and leadership. Answerthink is proud to partner with Prestige Consumer Healthcare – a company that embraces SAP technology to support their ongoing mission of enriching and improving lives.
Answerthink, a division of The Hackett Group®, is an SAP Platinum Partner that develops and offers certified SAP software solutions, Cloud, SAP HANA®, analytics, services, support, and training. Learn more at www.answerthink.com or contact us at SAPinfo@answerthink.com
“When you move to the cloud, you become a leaner organization from an infrastructure standpoint. It’s a much better value for our spend.”
and resource overhead and be a little nimbler,” he says. “When you move to the cloud, you become a leaner organization from an infrastructure standpoint. It’s a much better value for our spend.” To navigate this major project, Flood is turning to his colleagues on the business side for user input and to his internal team and external partners for on-theground support. He has built out the IT team during his tenure at Prestige, but it remains small, meaning he balances his days between long-term strategic planning and hands-on project work. In both settings, he practices an open and honest style of communication that encourages his team members to connect with him on matters professional and personal alike. “I’m not just a strong technical leader; I’m trying to make this a good place to work, where people can be happy,” Flood says. “IT folks want to learn new technologies. If they’re stagnant, they get bored, so we have to create opportunities for them. I’m always asking my
team what they want to learn and where they want to get involved, and then I try to fulfill those needs.” Flood’s growth-minded approach to leadership mirrors his own trajectory as a learner. Since completing his formal education, he has kept his knowledge up to date by pursuing certifications and attending trainings, seminars, and conferences in the field. “As I moved up the ranks in IT, I had really good managers and I learned from them,” he says. “I’ve learned a lot from my counterparts in other companies and from other folks in the business, too. People tend to be pretty open because we’re all learning from each other.” Flood has always emphasized education within his own household as well. “My father made me promise to have both of my children graduate college, without any loans, and I delivered on that promise,” he says. “I wanted my wife and my children to have a good life, The Business 79
Presidio is a Global Digital Services And Solutions Provider accelerating business transformation by modernizing and securing our clients information technology.
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and I actually wanted my children to have a better life than I did. I’ve worked hard my whole life for my family.” Flood has worked just as hard striving to enhance the ways he aligns with and serves the business at Prestige. “The IT team has helped deliver solutions, so the business has pretty good faith in us,” he says. “My job is to make sure the company continues to be successful, and by upgrading our ERP and moving it to the cloud, we’re going to set the company up for many years to come.” AHL
Important pharmaceutical and health care organizations partner with Bizbrain Technologies to adopt SAP Integrated Business Planning and SAP Business Network. Since 2013, our experts served more than forty companies around the globe, producing outstanding results. To unlock the potential of your supply chain, contact us at bizbraintech.com
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Amway’s Advocate
Benefits director Jenni Lee talks employee wellness, benefits evolution, and the massive Amway family By Billy Yost
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Emily Mott
Jenni Lee Director of US Benefits & Employee Programs Amway
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Lee took time away from her day job as director J enni of US benefits and employee programs at Amway— the family-founded health and wellness company whose products can be found in households across the world— to talk about her career and the world of benefits at a local school’s career day. She asked four different students to stand together and join hands with two of their peers. Those students represented the different situations and setbacks that can impact an employee’s life, be it financial, social, emotional, or physical. Moving one single individual from their place inherently moved everyone. That’s exactly the point Lee was trying to make. One challenge in a person’s life isn’t a singular or isolated experience. It affects their entire life: financial health impacts physical health, emotional health impacts social health, and so on. It’s not just a great illustration of how vital the benefits role is in any business, it highlights Lee’s dedication and feeling of responsibility for her people, whom she calls her family, at Amway. “We are a global family of people—employees, business owners, and the communities we serve—who lead with heart, live to serve, and love to learn,” Lee explains. “We are empowered by our mission to help people live better, healthier lives. But this starts with our employees. We support and bring balance to their lives so they can feel like products of the products.” Lee and her team have a unique opportunity to bring Amway’s mission to life for employees by integrating products into more experiences on campus. They are also introducing more group activities, health and wellness education, and well-being communities. This focus on evolution for Amway’s benefits team—even through challenging times—continues to define Lee and her people. Over ten years, Lee has continually found a variety of ways to support more than fourteen thousand Amway employees across the world. More than any other time,
“We are a global family of people . . . who lead with heart, live to serve, and love to learn.”
the pandemic years and the aftermath have shown a light on just how much Lee and her team are emphasizing their strengths and building out new ones for the betterment of their organization. Lee served as one of the key leaders of Amway’s COVID-19 task force. She worked around the clock to ensure safety at all of Amway’s US sites and made adjustments as quickly as new protocols were being released, often daily. “Helping our employees through this difficult time is probably the number one accomplishment of my career,” Lee explains. “I think the pandemic brought a lot of exposure to just how many difficult situations those in benefits have to tackle every day. We dealt with the hardest issues: death and serious illness, just heartbreaking circumstances, and my team’s ability to be resilient was just incredible.” The Business 83
“There isn’t one specific approach and that’s the point. Every person’s journey is different and can change over time.”
The HSA that starts with health
Learn more at optum.com/ healthfinancejourney
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Lee has strived to create new ways to attract, retain, and recognize talent. For Lee and her team, that means taking care of each employee who brings their talents to the table by considering all different parts of their lives. Health and wellness, time off, appreciation events, specialized programs and resources, and other benefits that offer balance are all part of the package. “There isn’t one specific approach and that’s the point,” Lee says. “Every person’s journey is different and can change over time. Our goal is to create meaningful opportunities that fit their unique path and meet their needs along the way.” But there is a constant theme in Lee’s efforts. Every idea always traces back to the concept of family. This year, Amway is bringing back its family-friendly Fall Fest celebration, as well as a few other family-themed holiday events to appreciate employees and those who support them. Lee, who was nominated for a Solvies award by her team, says that while her team was able to truly demonstrate its
lasting value during the pandemic, she’s not interested in looking back for any other reason than to help build strategy moving forward. And the progress continues. Amway’s employee wellness programs have achieved great success already, providing health screenings, consultations, and health risk assessments along with guided education about how it all connects. Tami Eckstein, vice president at Optum Financial, works closely with Lee. “Jenni’s dedication to developing benefit programs that support the whole person health of employees is inspiring,” Eckstein says. “Prioritizing flexible health and wellness benefits enable employees to focus on doing their best work, while also having better health outcomes.” It’s just one part of the broader benefits team strategy, but it all adds up to something fundamental. Lee says she’s stayed at Amway because she knows her organization truly cares about its people. A nd she gets to put t hat ca re into action. AHL
Not Your Mother and Father’s Benefits Human resources and benefits have become more complex over the past twenty years. Stacy Juetten shares how she’s building robust benefits offerings at Sally Beauty. By Frank DiMaria
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Stacy Juetten began her “Benefits must be a W hen career over twenty years ago, HR was mostly viewed as the department responsible for policing employee activities and benefits were an afterthought. “HR primarily focused on employee relations. Often, we took a direct, hardline approach in managing employees, enforcing company policies, and ensuring everyone had a clear understanding of what was expected of them,” she says. “Policy and handbook development was top of mind and evaluated regularly.” Today HR is more complicated than ever and must act as business partners. “HR is no longer the personnel department of yesteryear. Today, HR is comprised of various specialty functions, and the benefits team must ensure organizations meet the needs of their employees and their family members,” says Juetten, who is the senior director of benefits at Sally Beauty Holdings (SBH). In her role, she manages benefits for North America and Mexico, and she is responsible for SBH’s philanthropic oversight. With complexity comes challenges, one of which is offering robust, affordable benefits in an environment with significant economic and corporate cost 86 AHL
responsible fiduciary for the employer as well as an advocate for the associate seeking the leave.”
Brian Shumway
Stacy Juetten Senior Director of Benefits Sally Beauty Holdings
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an individual works for 12 months, has 1,250 hours, and is eligible for unpaid protected leave, it can be difficult to manage from a departmental and administration perspective providing appropriate staff coverage while accommodating the needs of the associate.” The key to successfully navigating leaves is remaining compliant, something that is easier said than done for a national company. “As a business leader, it can be challenging in helping managers coordinate leaves and ensuring all parties are supported,” Juetten explains. “Benefits must be a responsible fiduciary for the employer as well as an advocate for the associate seeking the leave.” Immediately upon joining SBH, Juetten implemented part-time benefits. Those associates who work fewer than
thirty hours are eligible for a part-time plan, which includes medical, wellness, dental, vision, and other ancillary coverage. In addition, SBH includes several employer-paid benefits, advocacy services, a nurse line, critical insurance, hospital indemnity, and pet insurance. And because SBH’s majority company demographic is women, many of whom are in their childbearing years, SBH expanded benefits to include fertility advocacy services and support family planning. Full-time associates receive a paid parental leave benefit, and SBH continues to evaluate enhancement opportunities to its family planning strategy. Another focus for Juetten is supporting SBH’s various employee resource groups, which include support for women, Black associates, and Hispanic
Brian Shumway
pressures. SBH, a specialty retailer and the largest distributor of professional beauty products in the US, is a publicly traded company with a mission to “inspire a more colorful, confident, and welcoming world.” “It is essential to work well interdepartmentally to meet the associates where they are to strike a healthy balance in attaining the overall business objectives,” she says. Juetten’s benefits department works in concert with various department leaders to develop sound, affordable benefit strategies that support all associates. “The benefit landscape has changed over the years,” she explains, “and so has the responsibility of leaders. It is imperative to listen to associates to understand what is most important to them and their families to confidently provide affordable, meaningful healthcare.” Another challenge for Juetten is navigating a variety of associate leave regulations, chief among them Family and Medical Leave Act and statutory leaves. “Leave of absence can be a challenge for even the savviest in the industry as we contend with federal and ongoing state mandate changes,” Juetten says. “If
“In all that I do, it is my goal to make a positive difference, and it starts with building relationships creating a solid foundation for the future.”
associates, to name a few. “These groups have their own distinct focus that showcase their personalized ideas and initiatives,” she explains. “Benefits has partnered with these groups to listen to their needs and help provide a voice to SBH’s minority associates.” In addition, Juetten is excited about the establishment of the company’s firstever nonprofit public foundation named SBH Inspires, which has the mission of eradicating domestic violence and abuse. Individuals who are held captive in a violent and abusive relationship can get a respite from their situation when they visit a store or the salon, Juetten explains. Cosmetologists, hair stylists, and nail technicians are often the first individuals to which victims bare their souls. “They are their counselors—not
formally trained but by association,” Juetten says. Some states have mandated that individuals who earn a cosmetology license must undergo required domestic violence training to provide them the tools to recognize the potential signs of abuse and offer resources to seek refuge. “We also believe our stores and e-commerce sites can be places for those in need to learn about resources to provide the necessary help.” Over her twenty-year career, Juetten has experienced HR and benefits as an employer, as a third-party administrator, and as a broker. “Having the broad experience in various roles has allowed me to have perspective from every angle, and I understand people’s needs and challenges to better navigate the process,” Juetten says. The Business 89
Having a team member who leads the way is the ultimate benefit.
Cigna Healthcare is proud of our partnership with Sally Beauty. We commend
Stacy Juetten on the work she
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
and her team
Texas is proud to recognize
have and continue
our partner Stacy Juetten,
to do to make their associates
Senior Director, Benefits at Sally Beauty, as an HR Leader.
lives better.
CignaHealthcare.com
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A Division of Health Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company, an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association
“Stacy brings a unique perspective to how to manage benefits and integrate with the broader HR team, the business, and our associates,” says Scott Sherman, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at SBH. “She drives change that balances how to benefit all of those constituent groups and does so with great positivity, energy, and inclusivity that have a big impact on those who work with her.” As a servant leader, Juetten is most proud of her collaboration and coordination skills, and she considers her team’s success her success. “Great leadership is not transactional—it’s transformational,” she says. “In all that I do, it is my goal to make a positive difference, and it starts with building relationships creating a solid foundation for the future.” AHL
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The Impact Executives know there is an increasing need to help individuals manage their own health anywhere and anytime.
92. Heather Veldman Pactiv Evergreen Inc. 96. Elizabeth Iorns Science Exchange
To do that, healthcare leaders are
99. Mark Smith Providence
developing products and services and
103.Kristy Lucksinger JLL
offering resources catered to different
108.Christopher Gregg Honeywell
communities’ needs—all aimed at motivating them to stay engaged with their health and empowering them to be their best, at home or at work.
The Journey of the “Doer” Heather Veldman talks compensation and HR expertise at a critical moment for Pactiv Evergreen By Billy Yost
you want to get at the root of what roles. But early on in my career during In fact, people were already taking I fmakes Heather Veldman thrive in her my time with Jewel-Osco, not being in notice of her leadership abilities from role as director of compensation at Pactiv Evergreen, it’s best to go all the way back. While Veldman was mowing lawns, pet sitting, and doing all sorts of odd jobs well before she was thinking about her career, the future HR compensation and benefits pro would begin her career at Illinois and Indiana staple grocery chain Jewel-Osco. “I knew I wanted to be around people, finding ways to serve,” the director remembers. “I’ve worked in hourly roles and understand that side of the fence, and I’ve moved on to salary 92 AHL
an HR position taught me that people are the backbone of any organization. We’re all fighting the clock trying to get things done.” Veldman’s continued willingness to put herself through the wringer for her people is just part of who she is. Just as much as her customers, Veldman was also aware of how impactful leadership and compassion could shape and build culture. The benefits and compensation expertise would come later, but the leadership building blocks were already there.
the time she was a child, though Veldman admits it wasn’t until recently that she fully understood what this meant. She always liked to make people happy, a key trait of influential managers, but she believed that productivity was the secret sauce of an effective leader. “I have always been a ‘doer.’ I naturally gravitate to ‘doing’ or being productive and figured that good job performance meant the ability to effectively manage or lead,” she explains. “I thought this because good performance speaks for itself and can lead to promotions and
Charles Silverman/Indigo6
Heather Veldman Director of Compensation Pactiv Evergreen
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more responsibility. I understand now that is just a small part of it because leadership is different than being a supervisor or manager. Leadership is something you portray regardless of your role.” That lesson helped her as she progressed throughout her career and realized that she would need to let go of always being the doer, so that she could be the one to guide the doers that came after her. Fast forward to January 2020. Veldman had just arrived at Pactiv Evergreen from digital consulting firm Sutherland, where she already established a long-running reputation of coming into an organization, getting promoted several times, and leaving her department far better than she found it. But this challenge would be unlike any other. “My job here started two months before COVID,” says Veldman, who is now able to laugh about the timing. “As we manufacturer of food and beverage packaging, we were considered essential.” Veldman kept her phone on her and was readily available whether it be a Monday morning or a Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t anyone’s idea of a good time, but Veldman says she was heartened by the way she saw the organization come together, an organization that would ultimately unite as Pactiv Evergreen in September 2020. Weathering this storm brought back the natural doer in her. Veldman says she was happy to pull up her sleeves and lend a hand to her team wherever needed, but she quickly realized that it wasn’t sustainable long term. “I am now a leader of more experienced professionals that don’t need as much tactical help as I was used to providing. My value was no longer constantly ‘in the weeds’ with them but to only join them there if my assistance is needed or requested,” she says. “I quickly realized I needed to adjust my working/managing style to ensure my team was successful in the long run so they could find their own value.” Veldman has continued to grow herself, as well. Between her first day and this interview— in keeping with her reputation—she has been promoted twice, moving from health and welfare to overseeing the entire benefits function and now compensation. “This role requires a different perspective when it comes to what kind of levers need to be 94 AHL
“[Leadership is] about seeing beyond the moment, individual task, or project and understanding the impacts to better plan for the future. Ultimately, it’s about doing your best to live the values of your organization and lead by example.”
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Heather Veldman knows what it’s like to work through a crisis but says it shouldn’t really be anyone’s norm. “If your work is what drives you, if that’s your sole purpose in life, then go for it,” she says. “But I learned early in my career that my life shouldn’t be about being connected all of the time. If I’m at my son’s baseball game, I’m 100 percent there. I try and be 100 percent in whatever I do, just not at the same time.”
C o m p a s s F P.c o m pulled harder for what roles,” Veldman explains. “It’s tying roles back to our philosophy from a pay-performance perspective while also understanding external factors outside the company, factors that are changing constantly.” Veldman said that one thing that stays consistent is her desire to act as a uniter, negotiator when necessary, and advocate for the collective good at Pactiv Evergreen. What may be good for one isn’t always for all, and Veldman has worked across many different departments and organizations to understand how important it is to maintain a broader perspective than just her department. The definition of true leadership is broad in itself. “There are countless experiences that I have had over the past three years that led to me to realize that leadership is beyond a definition but way of working, living, and supporting each other,” Veldman says. It factors in ownership, bravery, and a willingness to learn from and understand each other. In her own words, “it’s about understanding the needs, wants, and expectations of your teams, stakeholders, leaders, external partners, etc. It’s about trust, trusting that those ‘doing’ the work not only understand it but will complete it timely, accurately, and efficiently.
“It’s about being vulnerable to showing your team that leaders make mistakes, that we are human beings with lives outside of work, that when times get tough, we give ourselves grace and then hit the reset button,” she continues. “It’s about seeing beyond the moment, individual task, or project and understanding the impacts to better plan for the future. Ultimately, it’s about doing your best to live the values of your organization and lead by example.” That’s the kind of leadership Veldman says she saw during the pandemic. Throw in in a heavy dose of heart, and you’re also talking about Heather Veldman. AHL
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Retirement Plan Consulting Private Wealth Management
Compass Financial Partners would like to congratulate Heather Veldman for her commitment to advancing a culture where people are passionate about achieving their goals, including financial well-being and retirement readiness. We are honored to work with Heather and Pactiv Evergreen and wish them continued success.
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The Power of Supplier Orchestration Science Exchange, cofounded by Elizabeth Iorns, provides life sciences companies a single platform that unifies purchasing, supplier management, and payment processing By Frank DiMaria
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George Lange
corporations spend a signifiL ifecantsciences portion of their budget establishing and maintaining their external supplier networks. Yet, working with suppliers can often seem like a maze filled with lengthy delays, multiple stakeholders, and manual processes, which often leads to significant research delays. This is more than just a headache for scientists; it’s also a hurdle for procurement, finance, and legal teams. As supplier networks expand, so does the complexity of these challenges. “There’s a lot of complexity in how biotech and pharma companies work with their suppliers, even seemingly simple things like transferring data or experiment results,” says Elizabeth Iorns, CEO and cofounder of Science Exchange. “We are at a critical inflection point for many of these pharmaceutical companies.” Iorns, who holds a PhD in cancer biology, launched Science Exchange in 2011 after having difficulty finding collaborators and suppliers while researching immunology at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. Science Exchange provides pharmaceutical companies with a single platform that unifies purchasing, supplier management, and payment processing, allowing scientists and procurement teams to purchase products and services, collaborate with suppliers, automate approvals, exchange data, and manage projects, automating all the steps from intake to payment. In the past, each department had to perform these tasks manually, pulling them from more strategic projects. “What I really wanted to do was eliminate all of the manual steps that you have to do each time you want to work with a supplier,” Iorns says. To compete in today’s environment, pharmaceutical companies must optimize their
Elizabeth Iorns CEO and Cofounder Science Exchange
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business processes and enhance efficiency across the organization. Automating mundane tasks such as guided buying, statement of work (SOW) creation, purchasing, and payment processing is crucial to achieving this. Science Exchange automates and standardizes these administrative processes to liberate “highly valuable and skilled resources throughout the organization,” the CEO says, which will save teams from “being tied down by manual, repetitive processes.” By leveraging the power of orchestration, pharmaceutical companies can unlock their true potential and drive innovation in the industry.
“Suppliers and buyers set up a single integration once and can share files seamlessly with anyone else on the platform. This allows the transfer of large files quickly and efficiently while protecting against loss or corruption.”
Currently fifteen of the top twenty-five pharmaceutical companies worldwide use Science Exchange, among them AbbVie, Astellas, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, and Merck. The primary goal of these, and all pharmaceutical companies, is to use the research data generated internally and externally to develop therapeutics for the greater good. However, the challenge lies in being able to transfer large data sets and ensure the secure handling of data by suppliers. “These data sets are enormous, often tens of terabytes,” Iorns says. “It’s often very hard for 98 AHL
them to transfer that data efficiently from suppliers, and more importantly, they need to make sure all the suppliers generating that data meet their information security requirements and maintain those continuously.” Prior to Science Exchange, most communication between scientists, procurement, and suppliers was via email and attachments. “That’s not the best way to ensure that everything is compliant and secure. Our SOC 2-certified platform automatically syncs experiment data to our customers’ cloud-based storage,” Iorns says. “Suppliers and buyers set up a single integration once and can share files seamlessly with anyone else on the platform. This allows the transfer of large files quickly and efficiently while protecting against loss or corruption.” Supplier due diligence and management are crucial aspects of supplier orchestration. Science Exchange’s supplier qualification and risk management process uses the industry’s most comprehensive risk intelligence and assessments to ensure suppliers in its network meet all regulatory compliance requirements for IT security, animal welfare, human biospecimens, and other high risk purchasing categories. “It’s important to have real time monitoring of your suppliers,” Iorns explains. “You don’t want to do just a once-a-year assessment that only gives you a snapshot in time; you also want continuous monitoring of regulatory compliance or business sanctions and alerts to notify you if anything changes.” Orchestration technology is changing life sciences by providing a common platform to integrate the underlying business systems on both the buyer side and the supplier side while automating workflows and giving users a seamless experience. Moving forward, Iorns plans to find new ways to make it easier for life sciences organizations to work with suppliers, whether that be through system integrations, artificial intelligence, or leveraging the highly structured data that Science Exchange has gathered to educate scientists and researchers on how to collaborate more efficiently with their suppliers—ultimately resulting in new product innovation. AHL
Embracing the Workforce Reality Mark Smith understands medical staffing won’t get easier, but that knowledge is leading to incredible HR innovation at Providence By Billy Yost
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Green Gables
Mark Smith Group VP of Workforce Insights, Optimization & Staffing Providence
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Smith stopped calling it a That ecosystem expansion has created data insights,” Smith explains. “From a M ark “workforce crisis” a while ago. innovation in other areas. Smith says the human resources perspective, it’s given During the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 100,000 nurses left their positions, and while many of them returned in some capacity, Smith says he did not rely on best-case scenarios to direct his efforts. “I just call this our workforce reality,” explains Smith, who is the group vice president of workforce insights, optimization, and staffing at Providence, one of the largest not-for-profit healthcare systems in the United States. “We’re never going to have more caregivers again than what we have today. It’s shrinking every day, and once you accept that, your mind begins opening to all the possibilities of, well, how to face reality.” Smith isn’t discouraged, and maybe that’s what kept him at the front lines of healthcare HR innovation since 2003. The leader knows what’s at stake, and he’s got more than a few innovative ideas for how to tackle a talent gap in a field combatting an aging baby boomer generation, not to mention a worldwide pandemic and its continuing ripple effects. When considering the nursing shortage, Smith’s approach is well ahead of the curve. He, along with key clinical partners, has begun incubating a clinical gig workforce, a pool of almost three hundred caregivers who are available to pick up unclaimed shifts at Providence healthcare centers. In the thirteen months prior to his May 2023 interview with American Healthcare Leader, those professionals picked up fifteen thousand shifts. “These workers are able to provide some relief for our full-time caregivers,” Smith explains. “It has allowed us to expand our talent ecosystem with people who may not want to return to a traditional employment setting but have great skills and abilities to provide care.”
clinical gig workforce has allowed his team to reevaluate how to strategically invest in contingent workforce options. During the pandemic, agency work was critical in filling roles left vacant by departing healthcare workers. That need landed Smith on a team with other forward-thinking leaders to completely rethink strategy around contingent workforce management. Providence implemented a modern platform vendor management system (VMS) to accommodate acquisitions, viewing credentials, and gathering other employee information. “The platform VMS is where we are really able to start thinking about harnessing the power of the total talent ecosystem. On one platform, we gain direct access to talent supply, clinical gig workers with app-based deployment, and vendor management with advanced
us a chance to demonstrate operational acumen, partner cross-organizationally, and show how innovative solutions can lead to critical operational outcomes.” Smith and his team have also drilled down on what he calls job description simplification. By understanding core tasks, requirements, education, and licensure issues—a study made easier with analytical tools—Providence can break down roles to understand, for example, if certain roles may not require certification compared to roles that have make-or-break hiring requirements. “It’s just about looking at jobs differently by having certain jobs be ‘certification preferred’ but not required,” Smith says. “By leveraging all of the great work our workforce development team is providing in terms of training for certification, it opens up a whole new population to a job where they’ll be able
“[The healthcare workforce is] shrinking every day, and once you accept that, your mind begins opening to all the possibilities of, well, how to face reality.”
The Impact 101
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to work and be paid to prepare for certification, for example, become certified medical assistants.” Smith is also excited at the insights and optimization some simple artificial intelligence and robotic processes have provided. His team, in partnership with operational, clinical, and IT leaders, has been able to automate the tasks required to create schedules for various healthcare settings. A process that could take anywhere from three to twenty hours can now provide three different scheduling options in thirty minutes. Those schedules can then be exported directly into Excel and Providence’s timekeeping system, where caregivers can access it directly and choose their own schedules in many cases. “We’re so excited about the ability to reduce the administrative burden for leaders by understanding a process they need to be focused on regularly, automating it, and giving them more time to be making important decisions and handling critical tasks,” he says. Smith has been in HR for thirty-two years, but his excitement around innovation could make you believe he’s fresh out of school. The leader says he’s continually fascinated by how a seemingly intangible outcome can be made clearer by breaking it down into actionable steps. It’s as true for the newest tech and AI innovations as it was for manual punch cards. “Mark is a seasoned leader, one who predicts trends and is able to pivot quickly to ensure he is doing what is best for the thousands of employees at Providence,” says Will Patterson, former ICU trauma nurse and CareRev founder and CEO. “When the first case of COVID appeared in Washington state, Mark was able to quickly support his workforce through flexible technology solutions like CareRev, and now, three years later, the Providence workforce is stronger because of his foresight. We are proud to partner with Mark to offer flexible,
easy-to-use solutions to complement Providence’s workforce strategy.” But what has kept Smith, an executive always interested in the next possible solution, at Providence for twenty years? His heart and his mission. “Working at Providence is a blessing,” Smith says. “My job is to make sure that I’m doing work that is in service to our mission of Christ’s healing ministry, particularly for the poor and vulnerable. Our mission is my mission. When our caregivers and our leaders feel like they have everything they need to take care of our patients, then I know the work I’m doing is making a difference.” With 117,000 total caregivers, Smith says there is still a great deal that can be done at Providence. But while many others in the space may view the current climate as one of the toughest in memory, Smith chooses to see it differently. That has made all the difference. AHL
Aya Healthcare operates the nation’s largest digital platform for the flexible workforce, connecting employers with the largest healthcare talent pool for full-time, part-time, and gig employment. Thousands of healthcare organizations trust Aya for their workforce fulfillment and mobilization needs. Customize your solution at ayahealthcare.com.
Health systems are using CareRev’s marketplace platform to connect with experienced, flexible healthcare professionals in their own communities and reduce staffing gaps with on-demand shifts. Our automation eliminates manual processes and streamlines credentialing, allowing facilities to quickly connect to local, pre-qualified professionals; our ML/AI technology optimizes workforce strategies to meet current and future demands. Having a technology-enabled talent pipeline allows facilities to support their core staff, rely less on expensive travelers, and control labor costs. CareRev serves over 70 hospitals and over 540 outpatient centers and skilled nursing facilities with more than 22,000 clinical professionals in our marketplace. Visit CareRev.com to learn more.
The Select Few of Global Benefits JLL’s Kristy Lucksinger believes in aligning the business every step of the way to maximize growth and provide the best value By Billy Yost
Lucksinger arrived at JLL just over K risty a year ago with three decades of human resources excellence in tow. The head of global benefits operates on the highest level of innovation and is responsible for more than 103,000 colleagues across 80 countries. “I’m proud of the years I’ve spent in the global benefits space, as I see it as a competitive strength to develop strategies that resonate around the world,” she explains. “I was excited to take on this role because, given the size
and breadth of the company, there was tremendous opportunity for benefits innovation and optimization.”
Picking Pools Lucksinger says that the $20 billion real estate services company has historically considered benefits very local, as benefits practices vary significantly by country. She doesn’t inherently disagree with that approach, as it is one common to a company in hypergrowth mode. The Impact 103
However, she plans to create a central strategy and benefits philosophy with greater support and oversight, which will help JLL provide enhanced value for its employees with continued local nuance where appropriate. The head of global benefits and her team developed renewal guardrails so local experts can make important decisions, while keeping aligned with JLL’s overall strategic approach. She also has significant experience implementing and managing advanced benefits funding mechanisms like captive funds, which are privately managed pooled investment vehicles used exclusively for a business’s employees. Currently, the organization does not have a captive fund in place, but Lucksinger believes moving in that direction is the right move. “In the past, the pools were relatively small without a global process in place. Over the last year, JLL has established a new model to make sure employees get the best value from the services and coverage we provide, while also providing financial benefit to the company,” Lucksinger says. “It’s been a process of putting rules in place to identify how we manage those pools and how best to move forward, so we’re not only able to provide the best value financially for the company, but [ensure] that our employees are getting the best value from the services and coverage.” The key, she adds, is finding the ideal sweet spot that maximizes JLL’s size and brings the best value for the organization and its employees.
Becoming True Partners While the HR and benefits space has evolved over the past three decades, Lucksinger thinks it can go further. 104 AHL
She would know. Lucksinger has worked across real estate, media, technology, manufacturing, insurance, and other industries. She designed international benefits for Comcast’s ballooning global employee groups, reduced costs by over $40 million for a privately held hospitality company, and racked up an impressive list of accreditations and certifications. She has also worked expat
“I’m proud of the years I’ve spent in the global benefits space, as I see it as a competitive strength to develop strategies that resonate around the world.”
assignments in the UK and invested significant time into the organizations she’s joined, understanding transformation takes time. She believes that the best organizations understand and capitalize on the important connection between the benefits strategy and its broader business. “Everything we do should be supporting the business,” Lucksinger says. “The
Suzanne Wynveen
Kristy Lucksinger Head of Global Benefits JLL
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“The way our employees interact with our clients, and our clients’ clients, is going to be significantly different if they’re healthy, happy, and enjoying life.”
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reason we’re in the roles we’re in is because of the business.” Recently, she worked closely with the firm’s sustainability team to execute on an inherited strategy to get 50 percent of the firm’s managers trained to foster team wellbeing. “The way our employees interact with our clients, and our clients’ clients, is going to be significantly different if they’re healthy, happy, and enjoying life,” Lucksinger attests. “We empower our employees to shape a brighter way forward to provide service to our clients by offering them a suite of benefits that supports their physical, mental, and financial well-being in an inclusive manner.” She continues, “The ability for us to service our clients is significantly improved if we have the right services and benefits in place for our people. Telling that story is incredibly important. We have to understand our partnership with the business so we can get the best for everyone.”
Understanding the Struggle Lucksinger is business focused, and she lives with a daily reminder of how critical meaningful benefits can be. For nearly all of her professional career, she has lived with a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. The side effects of the disease include a variety of autoimmune disorders, disruptive treatments like chemotherapy, as well as the side effects of treatments, including the near-complete loss of her thyroid function. Lucksinger vividly recalls an episode where she woke up one morning unable to walk. She was traveling extensively for work, but what she remembers most is her previous employer’s patience and kindness. She was
given the time she needed to work through physical therapy and return to work at her own—very self-motivated—pace. “I often joke that I got my entire family’s health issues, but it’s helped me be better at my job because I care about how people interact with our benefits plans,” she says. “I care about their experience because I know it well. I want everyone across the world to be able to have the same positive interaction I’ve had throughout my career. I’m passionate about bringing that empathy to my work at JLL.” This passion doesn’t go unnoticed. “Kristy Lucksinger is one of the most passionate healthcare leaders I’ve had the pleasure to work with,” says JoAnne L. Jones, regional vice president at UnitedHealthcare National Accounts. “Kristy always wants to do what is right for her employees and their family members. Jones Lang LaSalle [JLL] strives to offer competitive benefits, and Kristy provides a depth of understanding and knowledge to achieve those goals.” Lucksinger doesn’t let her diagnosis control her life. She’s a proud mother, avid exerciser, and her passion for what she does remains as fierce as her first day on the job. AHL
Virta Health congratulates Kristy Lucksinger on this well-deserved honor! Virta is proud to partner with Kristy and her team to help JLL’s employees reverse their type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. Find out how Virta reduces medical costs, decreases dependence on prescription medications, and helps members take back their life!
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Honey Wellness VP of Global Total Rewards Christopher Gregg shares his strategies for addressing employee well-being at Honeywell By Noah Johnson
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Courtesy of Christopher Gregg
Christopher Gregg VP of Global Total Rewards Honeywell
The Impact 109
Gregg knows a thing or reward programs and we put more focus, C hristopher two about caring for people. Originally and funding, on the ones that work.” intent on becoming a doctor, a difficult organic chemistry class made him realize that a medical profession wasn’t his path. He would have to find some other way to help—and he did, via a career in HR. He stepped into his first role as a business compensation analyst at Morgan Stanley in 1998. Working for a big investment bank on Wall Street amid an internet boom leading up to 2000 introduced Gregg to keeping up with trends in a fast-paced business world, a skill he would rely on for the rest of his career. In 2003, he found his home at Honeywell, where he served in a wide range of leadership roles before taking on his current position as vice president of global total rewards. The organization operates in eighty countries and is home to about one hundred thousand employees worldwide, and Gregg oversees every aspect of total rewards for them all, a responsibility that requires a deep understanding of employee needs on a global scale in order to develop cohesive strategies. “To understand global trends, you have to look inside and outside the company,” explains Gregg of his multifaceted approach. “Outside, we rely a lot on our third-party vendors and consultants who provide information of what other companies are doing and what trends they’re seeing. Our team focuses on global macro trends and how that might impact the company, HR, and total rewards. “Internally, you need deep data analytics across the globe to understand things like the root causes of employee turnover and to develop practical solutions,” he continues. “We spend a lot of time understanding the effectiveness of our total 110 AHL
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, one of those trends has been a rise in well-being benefits and offerings for employees, which have remained a priority for companies all over the world even as COVID numbers fall and public health emergency declarations expire. At Honeywell, Gregg and other company leaders place financial, physical, mental, and individual considerations at the heart of the company’s wellness strategy and its initiatives—pillars that reflect the values that grew in prominence as employees took stock of what mattered in their lives during the crisis. “During the pandemic what happened was mental health service providers and doctors were booked pretty quickly and it became difficult to get sessions. It made employers step in and help people get what they needed,” says Gregg, adding that physical health became a necessity too as most people had fallen out of their routines. “At the same time, they wanted to take a look at their financial lives, saving for retirement, and how they could set themselves up for the future,” he adds. “As a company, we wanted to better coordinate across the globe and focus our efforts on those pillars while finding ways to make sure the strategy works and that we can measure it.” Honeywell has made strides in advancing that strategy on many fronts. It’s beefed up marketing efforts to let employees know about the benefits they already have. It launched a contemporary website to give employees a comprehensive view of all benefits programs in one place. It developed a mental health navigator, which allows employees and their dependents to
Fidelity HealthSM
“Instead of just talking about programs, I shared with my team what I was doing for my personal health in ways I hadn’t before.”
be easily connected to the programs they need. The company has also continued to build out its global wellness programs by finding creative ways to boost utilization rates. Implementing global initiatives like this isn’t a one-time event, Gregg says. “As benefit professionals, we can’t launch a program by sending out an email and call it done. It’s a constant marketing and communication plan that you have to drive to really get the utilization and awareness that you want.” In addition to transforming the company’s focus on well-being, Gregg shares that the pandemic changed aspects of his leadership style. “[It] inspired me to open up to my employees about my wellness journey,” he says. “It’s easy to send out an email or campaign to talk about a new program but when leaders talk about their own personal journeys it becomes more real for people. It helps provide more empathy towards what others are going through and helps you understand how
you can help. Instead of just talking about programs, I shared with my team what I was doing for my personal health in ways I hadn’t before.” One way that Gregg nurtures both his own wellness and his ability to lead in a global role is through travel. “The best thing about traveling is getting a different perspective outside of my own situation. It’s important to see how different people live,” he says. “Expanding one’s mindset through learning different cultures and how different people react to situations helps a lot in your own personal and professional life.” AHL
Fidelity Health℠ is committed to providing comprehensive health benefits solutions that drive confidence among employers and employees. More than 1,600 organizations and millions of employees rely on us to help enroll in benefits, manage health expenses, and save for health care in retirement. Visit fidelityworkplace.com/s/health
The way to do more with your health benefits. fidelityworkplace.com/s/health
For plan sponsor and investment professional use only The trademark and service mark are the property of FMR LLC and may be registered. Fidelity Health is a service mark of FMR LLC. Fidelity Workplace Services LLC, 245 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210. © 2023 FMR LLC. All rights reserved. 1075564.3.0
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Amway 81 AssuredPartners 65
Keck Hospital of USC
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Lee, Jenni 81 Lucksinger, Kristy 103
Bristol Myers Squibb
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CareOne 41 Central Ohio Primary Care 62 Children’s National Hospital 52 CPS Solutions LLC 58
Majiduddin, Fahd 8 Marsico, Susan 62 Medline Industries LP 45 Murphy, Leanne 58
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Nature’s Sunshine Products
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Flood, Matthew 75
Pactiv Evergreen Inc. 92 Parecki, Courtney 25 Prestige Consumer Healthcare 75 Providence 99
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Garbo, Dana 45 Goodwin, Ryan 41 Graves, Rodney 33 Greater Baltimore Medical Center 33 Gregg, Christopher 108
Sally Beauty Holdings 85 San Ysidro Health 70 Sandoz 8 Science Exchange 96 Sinclair, Kimberly 12 Smith, Mark 99 Sound Physicians 12 Steward Health Care 25
Emanate Health 28
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H Honeywell 108 Horrocks, Josh 16 Hovanessian, Angel 28 Howard, Dan 70
Updike, Jill 52
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Veldman, Heather
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JLL 103 Juetten, Stacy 85
Whisenant, Lesli 65 Whitlock, Brian 19
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