2024 Scottsdale Cluster Faculty

Laurie K. Baedke, FACMPE, FACHE

Author

<p>Laurie K. Baedke is the founder and CEO of Growth Edge Holdings. Baedke is a well-regarded keynote speaker at international conferences, an executive coach and the host of a weekly leadership podcast, <em>The Growth Edge</em>.</p> <p>Baedke holds a master's degree in healthcare administration and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and the American College of Medical Practice Executives. She has been certified by the Gallup organization as a Strengths Performance Coach since 2006. </p> <p>Baedke contributed a chapter titled "The Clinician Entrepreneur" in <em>The Handbook of Private Practice</em>, a book published by Oxford Press in 2017. She has written two editions of  <em>The Emerging Healthcare Leader: A Field Guide</em> published by Health Administration Press as well as her most recent book released in February 2023, <em>Mentor Coach Lead to Peak Professional Performance</em>. </p> <p>Baedke serves as lead faculty for the ACHE Executive Program and faculty for the following ACHE seminars: </p> <ul> <li>“Mentor Coach Lead to Peak Professional Performance”</li> <li>“The Emerging Healthcare Leader: A Field Guide”</li> <li>“Resilient Leadership: The Role of Well-Being in Individual and Organizational Performance”</li> </ul>

About Laurie K. Baedke, FACMPE, FACHE
Founder/CEO
Growth Edge Holdings

William Garrison

Speaker

William Garrison is a Chicago-based independent health care consultant. He previously led The RTI Center for Health Care Advancement, headquartered in North Carolina, where he leveraged RTI's payment/policy, care delivery and HIT/clinical informatics strengths, enabling transformation. Prior to RTI, he held executive roles with two regional health care systems and a private equity backed provider. With expertise in strategy and operations, he currently helps organizations identify and execute growth strategies. Mr. Garrison's skills in marketing, sales management, enterprise and business-unit strategic planning, and joint venture evaluation and execution puts him at the forefront of change management and business model redesign. He earned his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his BA from Northwestern University. <br /><br />Mr. Garrison serves as faculty for the following ACHE seminar: <ul> <li>Applying Design Thinking to Healthcare's Most Pressing Challenges</li> </ul>

Michael Gitman, MD

Speaker

<p>Michael Gitman, MD, FACP, is medical director, North Shore University Hospital. He is the chief physician executive responsible for medical affairs and clinical operations of the 800-bed quaternary care hospital. His responsibilities include day-to-day executive management, medical affairs, quality management and patient safety efforts.</p> <p> Previously, Dr. Gitman served as the vice chairman for academic affairs and quality, Department of Medicine, of the former North Shore–Long Island Jewish Medical Center. During that time, he held multiple committee roles including chair of the LIJ medication safety committee and chair of the Department of Medicine performance improvement coordination group.</p> <p> Dr. Gitman is associate professor of medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Over the past decade, he has been extensively involved in physician education. He served as program director for the North Shore University Hospital nephrology fellowship and as the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Long Island Jewish Medical Center Internal Medicine Clerkship site director.</p> <p> Dr. Gitman received a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a medical degree from SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse, where he was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He completed a residency and chief residency in internal medicine, as well as a fellowship in nephrology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.</p>

John M. Harris

Author

<p><strong></strong></p> <p>John Harris is a director with Veralon, a healthcare management consulting firm in Philadelphia. His work focuses on mergers and acquisitions, strategy and the transition to value-based payment. He leads strategic planning processes and serves as a consultant to health systems and hospitals, accountable care organizations, clinically integrated networks, physician–hospital organizations and health plans. Mr. Harris is also a frequent speaker for the American Association of Integrated Healthcare Delivery Systems, the Healthcare Financial Management Association and other organizations, and is a guest expert on The Wharton School’s Sirius XM radio station.</p> <div> Mr. Harris serves as faculty for the following ACHE seminars:</div> <ul> <li>Advanced Strategic Planning to Transform Your Organization</li> <li>Hospitals and Health Systems of the Future: Transforming to Thrive</li> <li>Strategic Planning: From Formulation to Action</li> </ul> <div>Mr. Harris has also authored the following Health Administration Press publications:</div><div><ul><li><em><u><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:107%; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;Times New Roman"; color:blue;"><a href="https://www.ache.org/learning-center/publications/books/2337I"><span style="color:blue">Healthcare Strategic Planning, Fourth Edition</span></a></span></u></em> </li></ul></div><div> </div><div> </div>

Rudd Kierstead

Speaker

<p>Rudd Kierstead brings 25 years of experience in a range of provider settings to his work on physician initiatives. He has focused on enterprise performance improvement, medical staff planning, financial analysis, physician alignment, compensation planning, acquisition and employment analysis and FMV projects. Kierstead has worked in academic medical centers and done extensive consulting with health system and community hospital clients. Kierstead’s experience includes compensation evaluation and design; valuation of entities and services; specification and valuation of unique arrangements with physicians; physician enterprise formation and evaluation; design and management of partnering ventures and balancing academic missions and cross-subsidy opportunities.</p> <p>He has worked extensively with physician leadership in medical centers, managing physician networks, practices and departments in several academic medical centers and in different specialties.</p> <p>Before joining Veralon, Kierstead was a director in the Weill Cornell Physician Network where he recruited and onboarded physicians, negotiated compensation and transition arrangements with prospective physicians and coordinated business planning, space arrangements and credentialing.</p> <p>Prior to working at Weill Cornell, Kierstead was a consultant in one of Veralon’s predecessor firms. Previously, he was vice chair for administration in the Department of Psychiatry with Weill Cornell Medical College, a department with 180 paid faculty, where his responsibilities included compliance, staffing, practice, research and teaching concerns.</p> <p>Beforehand, while at Continuum Health Partners Health System, Kierstead managed the centralized business planning and compensation evaluation functions in the Finance Department. Previously, at Mount Sinai Medical Center, Kierstead was the administrator at an off-site dialysis center, staffed the medical board on ambulatory care issues and served as special assistant to the senior vice president for clinical operations.</p> <p>He holds an MBA from the University of Michigan, an MPP from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and a BA from Wesleyan University. </p>

Jason Lesandrini, FACHE

Speaker

<p>Jason Lesandrini, FACHE, LPEC, HEC, is the Assistant Vice President for Ethics, Advance Care Planning and Spiritual Health at Wellstar Health System in Georgia, where he leads the strategy and implementation of ethics initiatives. He holds faculty appointments at Mercer University and South College. Jason is a widely recognized expert in outcomes metrics for ethics programs and served as an ethics expert to numerous professional organizations. </p> <p> Jason is also founder and principal of The Ethics Architect. The Ethics Architect is an outcomes-driven healthcare consulting firm specializing in the assessment and execution of ethics programming, the creation of ethical cultures and developing ethical leaders.</p>

Stephen J. Mrozowski, FACHE

<p>Stephen J. Mrozowski, FACHE, CPPS, serves as partner and vice president, External Peer Review and Patient Safety, Chartis. He has more than 25 years of healthcare experience in prehospital services, quality, safety, high reliability organizing and education. In his role, Mrozowski assists organizations in optimizing their capabilities to deliver harm-free, patient-centered and high-quality care. His expertise and passion are most prominent in the principles of patient safety structures, just culture, cause analysis, Lean Six Sigma and high reliability. </p> <p>Prior to joining Chartis, Mrozowski served as senior director, safety and high reliability, Cleveland Clinic, where he led the enterprisewide patient safety program, high reliability organizing activities, environmental health and safety. Previously, he was the inaugural director of patient safety at the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and led the organization to a reduction in serious safety events by more than 75% during his tenure. </p> <p>Mrozowski is an ACHE Dolan Scholar and received an ACHE Regent’s Award for Leadership. He also serves on the board of ACHE of Northern Ohio and as its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion chair. </p> <p>Mrozowski earned a Master of Health Administration from Penn State University and a bachelor’s degree in emergency medicine from the University of Pittsburgh, where he also completed paramedic training. He also completed graduate education in organizational development from Penn State. Steve is an ACHE Fellow and is a Certified Professional in Patient Safety. </p>

About Stephen J. Mrozowski, FACHE
Partner and Vice President, External Peer Review and Patient Safety
Chartis

Jonathan A. Sendach, FACHE

Speaker

<p>Jonathan A. Sendach, FACHE, is the executive director at North Shore University Hospital where he oversees the overall executive management for the 800-bed quaternary care hospital. His responsibilities include strategy, financial stewardship and leadership of a facility that serves as one of the cornerstones of Northwell Health, as well as an academic campus for the Zucker Hofstra/Northwell School of Medicine. Prior to being named executive director, he served as deputy executive director and associate executive director for hospital operations. </p> <p>Previously, Sendach was the associate executive director for finance at Glen Cove Hospital, a 265-bed acute care community hospital. There, he managed financial operations, patient financial services and health information management, as well as directed the annual budget process. In addition to business plan development and financial planning, he was also responsible for the oversight of the hospital’s faculty practice, comprised of 40 physicians and allied health professionals covering a range of specialties. He began his career in healthcare at Northwell as a staff emergency medical technician, working in both the 911 and critical care interfacility transport divisions. </p> <p>Prior to joining Northwell Health, Sendach worked as a senior account executive in the New York health and medical practice at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, an international public relations firm serving a range of clients. He worked on publicity campaigns for products from Pfizer Inc., Merck & Co. and AstraZeneca. Sendach began his career in public relations at the New York City offices of The Rowland Company, where he worked with the healthcare team and served as a co-director of the summer intern training program. </p> <p>Board certified in healthcare management as an ACHE Fellow, Sendach holds a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and a Master of Public Administration from the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, where he holds an appointment as adjunct associate professor of health policy and management. He completed a residency in healthcare administration at the corporate offices of Northwell Health, then known as the North Shore–Long Island Jewish Health System in Great Neck, N.Y.</p>

About Jonathan A. Sendach, FACHE
President
North Shore University Hospital

Leslie Wainwright, PhD

Speaker

<div>Leslie Wainwright is chief funding and innovation officer, Parkland Center for Clinical Innovations, Dallas. Her experience includes academic research, pharma/biotechnology and healthcare delivery; working with startups and multinational executive teams in creating growth strategies and alternative business models; and evaluating emerging clinical\care delivery technologies. Dr. Wainwright speaks on future of healthcare, enabling technologies, disruptive innovation and emerging business models. Prior to joining Parkland, she oversaw RTI International’s Innovation Advisors health practice, guiding the development and adoption of healthcare innovation. She has held executive roles with Sg2, AVIA and Business Models Inc. Dr. Wainwright earned her doctorate in microbiology at Northwestern University, and completed postdoctoral research training at the University of Maryland’s Center for Vaccine Development.</div><div> </div><div>Dr. Wainwright serves as faculty for the following ACHE seminars:</div><div><ul><li>Applying Design Thinking to Healthcare's Most Pressing Challenges</li></ul></div>