Here are 30 ambulatory surgery center leaders and industry representatives under the age of 40. Note: Leaders are listed in alphabetical order by last name, with their age provided in parentheses.
Chris Bishop, Blue Chip Surgical Partners (38). Mr. Bishop is a partner and senior vice president of acquisitions & business development for Blue Chip Surgical Center Partners. His responsibilities include optimizing performance at ASCs within the Blue Chip network and acquiring and "turning around" underperforming surgery centers. Prior to joining Blue Chip in 2010, Mr. Bishop served as vice president with ASCOA. In his five years with the company, he succeeded in developing or acquiring 11 surgery centers, leading to substantial revenue and profit increases. He was also instrumental in refocusing the firm's core strategy on acquisitions and turnarounds. In addition to his work with Blue Chip and ASCOA, Mr. Bishop has extensive leadership experience and a proven track record in developing surgeon partnerships within the medical device industry.
Craig Bryan, Gateway Surgery Center in Concord, N.C. (31). Mr. Bryan serves as the administrator for Gateway Surgery Center, a facility that has seen massive growth in volume and revenue since he began as its leader. According to Kyle Goldammer, CEO of Partners Medical Consulting, when Mr. Bryan started with Gateway Surgery Center, "he walked into a situation where the physicians and management company were at odds. He showed maturity and experience beyond his years in negotiating the buy-out of the management company while keeping his stakeholders satisfied with the settlement." Since Mr. Bryan joined Gateway, case volumes have grown at an annual rate of 26 percent, revenues have increased 56 percent and profitability has increased 314 percent. Mr. Bryan earned his MHA from the University of Minnesota and currently serves as an advisor on North Carolina CON matters.
Dan Beuerlein, Symbion (36). Mr. Beuerlein has spent the last four years as regional vice president of operations for Symbion Healthcare, where his role encompasses full operational and profit and loss responsibility for seven facilities. Together, the facilities represent $45 million in revenue and 300 employees. His primary focus is continued organic growth of same-store revenues in existing facilities, while finding opportunities in new and existing markets for potential acquisitions and joint ventures. He has extensive knowledge and experience with the dynamics of physician partnerships and stresses the importance of aligning incentives to create and maintain a successful venture. Prior to his current role, Mr. Beuerlein served as assistant vice president of acquisitions and development, where he led merger, acquisition and de novo development activities for five facilities within a two-year period.
Aric Burke, CPA, Health Inventures (33). Mr. Burke leads the Health Inventures development and consulting department, with responsibility for directing consulting engagements and developing new projects from inception through opening. With more than eight years of healthcare consulting experience, Mr. Burke understands how to guide clients through all phases of business development, including financial feasibility assessments, preparation of detailed business plans, formation of joint ventures and facility development. He also has significant experience working with hospitals and physicians to negotiate partnership terms and prepare organizational documents, and has managed numerous multi-million dollar private investment offerings to successful formation of new businesses. He began his career working for Deloitte, providing consulting and accounting services to private and public companies.
Jill Dowe, Blue Chip Surgical Partners (34). Ms. Dowe was recently appointed director of business office operations for Blue Chip Surgical Partners, joining the company from a position as business office manager of Surgery Center Cedar Rapids (Iowa). In her role at SCCR, Ms. Dowe supervised office teams and worked with other members of the management team to ensure interdepartmental continuity and efficient operations in key areas, including scheduling, registration, admissions, coding and billing, accounts receivable and medical records. She has also worked as a consultant for Health Inventures, where she trained new business office managers in daily and monthly tasks. Ms. Dowe obtained her MHA from the University of Iowa.
Michael Doyle, Surgery Partners (38). As CEO of Surgery Partners, Mr. Doyle is responsible for overseeing the firm's day-to-day operation and expansion through partnerships. He brings to the company many years of experience developing and managing hospitals, surgery centers and imaging centers. Throughout his career, Mr. Doyle has been a hands-on manager, and he currently applies practical experience of managing and developing healthcare services to his position with Surgery Partners. Prior to joining the company, he spent 10 years in a large, corporate healthcare organization, where he became senior vice president of operations. He earned his MBA from Troy (Ala.) State University.
Viva Elia, Surgical Care Affiliates (34). Ms. Elia is the southern California vice president of operations with Surgical Care Affiliates, where she manages and serves on the board of six ambulatory surgery centers. Ms. Elia has been in the ASC industry for nine years and has been invited to speak at California Ambulatory Surgery Association meetings on topics ranging from marketing to diversifying specialty mix. Her breadth of experience includes single-site, multi-specialty and health system partnerships, and she has a passion for turnaround centers. Ms. Elia is accomplished in identifying opportunities to improve earnings in even the most profitable centers and has formulated health system partnerships with University of California San Diego and Tri City Medical Center in her market.
Andrea Fann, Orthopaedic South Surgical Center in Morrow, Ga. (38). Ms. Fann serves as the administrator of Orthopaedic South Surgical Center, a United Surgical Partners International facility. She has served in the position since 2005, before which she worked as business office manager for Buckhead (Ga.) Ambulatory Surgery Center and as director of front office operations for Atlanta Outpatient Surgery Center in Sandy Springs, Ga. Ms. Fann believes that a manager does not automatically become a leader and that installing the right team is essential for ASC success. In 2010, Orthopaedic South Surgical Center was recognized as a Clayton County Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Finalist.
John Gol, Borland-Groover Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. (38). Mr. Gol is the CFO for Borland-Groover Clinic, which owns two endoscopy ASCs. He also serves as executive administrator for the Fleming Island Surgery Center in Orange Park, Fla., and is Borland-Groover Clinic's representative for ownership interest in St. Augustine (Fla.) Surgery Center. His background in applying financial knowledge to real-world situations has helped BGC's surgery centers run efficiently and turned around Fleming Island Surgery Center from near bankruptcy.
Heidi Gwynn, Laser Spine Institute in Scottsdale, Ariz. (31). Ms. Gwynn is the executive director for Laser Spine Institute in Scottsdale, Ariz., a surgery center that recently celebrated its two-year anniversary. In its first two years, the surgery center has experienced tremendous growth and success, achieving accreditation from the AAAHC in July 2009. Ms. Gwynn shares leadership of the center with chairman of surgery Michael Weiss, MD, and director of medical operations Stacy Danahy. She joined Laser Spine Institute in 2008 as a seminar patient coordinator and transitioned into the role of consult specialist, where she worked side-by-side with the Laser Spine Institute Arizona clinical team to facilitate the patient process. Under Ms. Gwynn's leadership, the center maintains a patient satisfaction rate of more than 90 percent and cares for more than 100 surgical patients each month.
Bill Heath, Practice Partners in Healthcare (36). Mr. Heath is the chief development officer at Practice Partners in Healthcare in Birmingham, Ala., an ASC management and development company. He has had more than eight years of experience in the healthcare field, previously serving as the director of development for a large provider of ASC services where he assisted in acquisitions, de novo projects and syndications. His background includes treasury and finance experience. He began his career in the financial arena with a Fortune 500 company. He earned his master's degree from the University of Alabama.
Steve Henry, CASC, Fremont Surgical Center in Fremont, Neb. (34) Mr. Henry joined Fremont Surgical Center as administrator in July 2010. During the past year, he has enjoyed a 4 percent case volume growth and 9 percent increase in net revenues. He recently earned CASC certification at ASCs 2011 in Orlando. He began his career in market research for a well-known ASC management and development company before earning his MBA in healthcare administration. His background includes experience as a financial analyst, business office director and administrator of a start-up surgery center.
Jeremy Hogue, Sovereign Healthcare (38). Mr. Hogue is the president and CEO of Sovereign Healthcare, as well as the founder and chairman of MedMedia and an investor and consultant to numerous other healthcare ventures. Prior to joining Sovereign, he served as the vice president of Audax Group, a Boston-based private equity firm with over $1 billion under management. With Audax, Mr. Hogue headed the firm's west coast office and served on the boards of six companies in various high-growth sectors. He earned his JD from Harvard Law School and his MBA from the University of Southern California, where he was also an academic all-American football player and a three-year starter on the USC football team. Mr. Hogue continues to work with Fox Sports Net as an analyst for pre- and post-game USC football coverage.
Jennifer Hunara, MHA, MBA, Surgery Center of Allentown in Allentown, Pa. (33). Ms. Hunara has managed the Surgery Center of Allentown, a large multi-specialty ASC, for the last four years. She began her healthcare career at the age of 24 as a business manager of perioperative services at Lehigh Valley Health Network, headquartered in Allentown, Pa., and then moved on to the role of executive director of surgical services for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton (N.J.). Her background includes experience in financial and IT management of perioperative services, oversight of surgical processes and management of a profitable surgery center. She maintains her success has been due hard work and great mentors. "I firmly believe mentoring in our field is extremely important to developing the next set of leaders," she says.
Brian Jackson, Surgical Care Affiliates (30). Mr. Jackson serves as vice president of finance for Surgical Care Affiliates, taking responsibility for corporate finance, operational finance and treasury groups. He joined SCA in 2008 as director of financial operations and transitioned into the leadership role for the finance team in 2010. According to his colleagues, Mr. Jackson leads with a servant heart and demonstrates a passion for developing leaders of tomorrow. Recently, Mr. Jackson helped lead SCA through a $100 million capital raise to fund a large multi-site acquisition. He graduated from the University of Central Florida and is a CPA in the state of Alabama.
Emilie Keene, Parkridge Surgery Center in Columbia, S.C. (31). Ms. Keene is the administrator of Parkridge Surgery Center, and president-elect of the South Carolina Ambulatory Surgery Center Association. She earned her MHA at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and was promoted to administrator just eight months after joining Parkridge as an assistant to the vice president and administrator. During her time with the surgery center, she successfully recruited eight surgeons, increased net revenues by $1 million, increased employee satisfaction scores by 30 percent and patient satisfaction scores by 4 percent. She also led the ASC through the accreditation process and identified cost savings of nearly $200,000 per year.
Angela Laux, Bellin Orthopedic Surgery Center in Green Bay, Wis. (37). Ms. Laux started as the administrator of Bellin Orthopedic Surgery Center in June 2010. The center opened in March 2010. Prior to joining Bellin Orthopedic, Ms. Laux served as director of quality and outpatient joint program coordinator at The Orthopedics and Sports Institute in Appleton, Wis. In this role, she assured the institute followed all AAAHC/CMS requirements and served as staff educator for the facility. Ms. Laux graduated from Marian University with a master's degree in organizational leadership and quality in 2009.
Brian Mathis, Surgical Care Affiliates (31). Mr. Mathis joined Surgical Care Affiliates in Feb. 2009 as the vice president of strategy. The strategy group at SCA focuses on providing insight to each SCA partnership regarding opportunities to grow, based on SCA's "every case optimized" system. The group also structures the company's overall strategic plan for growth. Prior to SCA, Mr. Mathis worked for Blue Ridge Partners, a strategy-consulting firm, where he worked with numerous private equity companies in developing revenue growth strategies. He also spent several years analyzing the U.S. automotive market as well as performing macroeconomic forecasts for the Congressional Budget Office. Mr. Mathis holds an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia.
Angela McComb, Innovative Health Resources (39). One of the founders of Austin, Texas-based Innovative Health Resources, Ms. McComb has extensive experience in management, strategic planning and negotiations of insurance contracts. Prior to forming Innovative Health Resources in 1999, Ms. McComb worked for three insurance companies in Texas and Arkansas, including three start-up locations. She was also the director of managed care for a start-up, full-service outpatient radiology facility in Austin. She completed her MBA in 19999.
Kevin McDonough, VMG Health (31). Mr. McDonough is a senior manager with VMG Health, a leading provider of valuation services to the surgery center industry. Mr. McDonough began his career with VMG in 2003 and now leads the firm's ASC business valuation department. He has had the privilege of working with industry leaders in helping them navigate today's market challenges and the experience of providing valuation services to over 100 ASCs each year. He is a frequent speaker at national and regional surgery center conferences and has authored a number of articles for Becker's ASC Review and other publications over the years. Mr. McDonough holds a CFA designation and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
Amy McKiernan, Louisville Surgery Center in Kentucky (35). Ms. McKiernan joined Louisville Surgery Center, an ASD Management facility, in Jan. 2005, three months after the center opened. She says the center has grown tremendously since her first day; in the first year, the ASC performed 814 cases, and in 2010, the number had jumped to 3,431 cases. The center currently performs plastics, orthopedics, ENT and pain management in two ORs and seven pre-op/recovery bays. She says the center has benefitted from ASD Management's bonus program. Since the implementation of the program, the staff has looked to every area of the center for cost savings.
Amber Patterson, Westside Surgery Center in Douglas, Ga. (26). "I'm young, but I'm working extremely hard to become an excellent administrator," says Ms. Patterson, practice administrator of Ear Nose & Throat Clinic and Westside Surgery Center. She came to Westside Surgery Center in Dec. 2008, when she inherited the administrator position of the freestanding, physician-owned ASC. In her first three years with the center, she has researched the best deals on ASC equipment, worked with a consultant to ensure the facility was built according to state guidelines, hired and trained new staff, completed the state survey and Joint Commission accreditation and maintained compliance with federal regulations. In constant pursuit of professional development, Ms. Patterson is currently pursuing a degree in business administration.
Rebecca Overton, Surgical Management Professionals (35). Ms. Overton brings more than 15 years of healthcare receivables and revenue cycle experience to her role as director of revenue cycle management for Surgical Management Professionals. Prior to joining the company, she served as director of A/R and materials management for SurgCenter Development, where she provided overall direction in her respective areas for more than 20 multi-specialty surgery centers. Before joining SurgCenter Development, she worked as the business director for two successful, freestanding, multi-specialty surgery centers in Florida and worked as an A/R coordinator for an ASC in Little Rock, Ark. With SMP, Ms. Overton has improved EOM processes internally and with clients; reviewed adjustment history to identify opportunities for appeals and increased collections; and implemented contract management.
Stephen Rosenbaum, Interventional Management Services (39). Mr. Rosenbaum is the CEO of Interventional Management Services, where he is responsible for the day-to-day operations of 10 healthcare companies and more than $60 million in annual revenues. He has more than 18 years of experience in the healthcare industry, beginning his career at Ernst & Young's healthcare consulting practice. The majority of his work has been for physician-owned hospitals, surgery centers and physician practices, and he was a leading factor in the development of MedCath's heart hospitals throughout the country. Before joining IMS, he founded SourceRevenue, an independent healthcare consulting company, which provided syndication, development, management and transaction advisory services to physician-owned hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers throughout the country.
Tara Sellers, RN, BSN, Surgery Center of Key West, Fla. (39). Tara Sellers, administrator of Surgery Center of Key West, assisted in starting her facility in July 2008. Prior to her position with the surgery center, Ms. Sellers served as the OR charge nurse at a local hospital and also owned and managed a physician billing company. While in nursing school, she was voted "Most Likely to Become an Administrator" and received an "Excellence in Nursing" award from the local hospital in 2007. Surgery Center of Key West is also financially successful and received a three-year certification from AAAHC in 2009.
Brooke Smith, Maryland Surgery Center for Women in Rockville, Md. (35). In her two years with Maryland Surgery Center for Women, Ms. Smith has successfully taken a struggling ASC and turned it into a safe, profitable, professional facility. She has worked to increase collections from an average of $70K per month to an average of $240K per month, all while decreasing the center's days in A/R significantly to an average of 25 days. She also led a pilot program for online pre-surgical admission, trialing the program for presentation to the center's management company, Ambulatory Surgery Centers of America, for consideration among 30 other ASCs. Her cost savings in 2010 alone added up to $110,000.
Kim Stevens, Innovative Health Resources (39). Ms. Stevens brings more than 15 years of healthcare experience to her role as one of the founders of Innovative Health Resources, an affiliate of ASD Management. Her expertise lies in management, human resources, operations, marketing, HIPAA, OSHA, coordination of health and vendor fairs and managed care contracting, among other areas. She has extensive experience with large and small physician groups as well as solo practitioners and has held positions with one of the largest cardiovascular groups in Texas, an international insurance company and an allergy and asthma clinic.
Jason Strauss, Surgical Care Affiliates (31). As a vice president of operations for Surgical Care Affiliates, Mr. Strauss currently oversees 13 ASCs representing close to $80 million in annual net revenues in the greater Los Angeles area. Mr. Strauss joined SCA in April 2008 as a consultant for special projects at the company's Birmingham, Ala., office. His talents were quickly recognized, and within three months, he was brought on board as director of financial operations. One year later, he was promoted into the operational role and entrusted with a highly competitive Los Angeles market. Applying his value-based servant leadership philosophy, he was effective in engendering deep relationships based on trust with his physicians and developing a strong, unified team with the staff. This combination of analytical and interpersonal skills helped Mr. Strauss achieve the highest improvements in physician satisfaction scores across the entire enterprise while delivering bottom line growth of 10-12 percent over three years.
Stacey Taylor, ASCOA (39). Ms. Taylor is a senior vice president of operations with Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America and holds over 15 years of experience in healthcare. Prior to joining ASCOA, Ms. Taylor served as the regional administrator of four multi-specialty surgery centers and was recognized for her resourceful management skills and the exceptional ability to lead projects. She has been involved in the ambulatory surgery industry in various management roles since 1997 and has worked in all areas of freestanding ASCs, including pre-assessment, pre-op, OR and PACU. She currently oversees projects in Maryland, Michigan and Florida.
Parth A. Zaveri, MHA, MBA, The Endoscopy Center of St. Louis (32). Mr. Zaveri is the administrator of The Endoscopy Center of St. Louis, located in St. Louis and St. Charles, Mo. The two Endoscopy Center locations are independently-owned, single-specialty and have six procedure rooms between them. He joined the Endoscopy Centers of St. Louis in 2007 as the practice administrator. During his time as administrator, Mr. Zaveri's team has been able to undertake several successful initiatives: the ASC has a capsule endoscopy program that was started last year, as well as a new in-house pathology department for patients. Prior to coming to the Endoscopy Center of St. Louis, he worked with a large multi-specialty physician practice in St. Louis as a business analyst. He has also worked for several large hospital systems in the St. Louis and Columbia, Mo., region.
Chris Bishop, Blue Chip Surgical Partners (38). Mr. Bishop is a partner and senior vice president of acquisitions & business development for Blue Chip Surgical Center Partners. His responsibilities include optimizing performance at ASCs within the Blue Chip network and acquiring and "turning around" underperforming surgery centers. Prior to joining Blue Chip in 2010, Mr. Bishop served as vice president with ASCOA. In his five years with the company, he succeeded in developing or acquiring 11 surgery centers, leading to substantial revenue and profit increases. He was also instrumental in refocusing the firm's core strategy on acquisitions and turnarounds. In addition to his work with Blue Chip and ASCOA, Mr. Bishop has extensive leadership experience and a proven track record in developing surgeon partnerships within the medical device industry.
Craig Bryan, Gateway Surgery Center in Concord, N.C. (31). Mr. Bryan serves as the administrator for Gateway Surgery Center, a facility that has seen massive growth in volume and revenue since he began as its leader. According to Kyle Goldammer, CEO of Partners Medical Consulting, when Mr. Bryan started with Gateway Surgery Center, "he walked into a situation where the physicians and management company were at odds. He showed maturity and experience beyond his years in negotiating the buy-out of the management company while keeping his stakeholders satisfied with the settlement." Since Mr. Bryan joined Gateway, case volumes have grown at an annual rate of 26 percent, revenues have increased 56 percent and profitability has increased 314 percent. Mr. Bryan earned his MHA from the University of Minnesota and currently serves as an advisor on North Carolina CON matters.
Dan Beuerlein, Symbion (36). Mr. Beuerlein has spent the last four years as regional vice president of operations for Symbion Healthcare, where his role encompasses full operational and profit and loss responsibility for seven facilities. Together, the facilities represent $45 million in revenue and 300 employees. His primary focus is continued organic growth of same-store revenues in existing facilities, while finding opportunities in new and existing markets for potential acquisitions and joint ventures. He has extensive knowledge and experience with the dynamics of physician partnerships and stresses the importance of aligning incentives to create and maintain a successful venture. Prior to his current role, Mr. Beuerlein served as assistant vice president of acquisitions and development, where he led merger, acquisition and de novo development activities for five facilities within a two-year period.
Aric Burke, CPA, Health Inventures (33). Mr. Burke leads the Health Inventures development and consulting department, with responsibility for directing consulting engagements and developing new projects from inception through opening. With more than eight years of healthcare consulting experience, Mr. Burke understands how to guide clients through all phases of business development, including financial feasibility assessments, preparation of detailed business plans, formation of joint ventures and facility development. He also has significant experience working with hospitals and physicians to negotiate partnership terms and prepare organizational documents, and has managed numerous multi-million dollar private investment offerings to successful formation of new businesses. He began his career working for Deloitte, providing consulting and accounting services to private and public companies.
Jill Dowe, Blue Chip Surgical Partners (34). Ms. Dowe was recently appointed director of business office operations for Blue Chip Surgical Partners, joining the company from a position as business office manager of Surgery Center Cedar Rapids (Iowa). In her role at SCCR, Ms. Dowe supervised office teams and worked with other members of the management team to ensure interdepartmental continuity and efficient operations in key areas, including scheduling, registration, admissions, coding and billing, accounts receivable and medical records. She has also worked as a consultant for Health Inventures, where she trained new business office managers in daily and monthly tasks. Ms. Dowe obtained her MHA from the University of Iowa.
Michael Doyle, Surgery Partners (38). As CEO of Surgery Partners, Mr. Doyle is responsible for overseeing the firm's day-to-day operation and expansion through partnerships. He brings to the company many years of experience developing and managing hospitals, surgery centers and imaging centers. Throughout his career, Mr. Doyle has been a hands-on manager, and he currently applies practical experience of managing and developing healthcare services to his position with Surgery Partners. Prior to joining the company, he spent 10 years in a large, corporate healthcare organization, where he became senior vice president of operations. He earned his MBA from Troy (Ala.) State University.
Viva Elia, Surgical Care Affiliates (34). Ms. Elia is the southern California vice president of operations with Surgical Care Affiliates, where she manages and serves on the board of six ambulatory surgery centers. Ms. Elia has been in the ASC industry for nine years and has been invited to speak at California Ambulatory Surgery Association meetings on topics ranging from marketing to diversifying specialty mix. Her breadth of experience includes single-site, multi-specialty and health system partnerships, and she has a passion for turnaround centers. Ms. Elia is accomplished in identifying opportunities to improve earnings in even the most profitable centers and has formulated health system partnerships with University of California San Diego and Tri City Medical Center in her market.
Andrea Fann, Orthopaedic South Surgical Center in Morrow, Ga. (38). Ms. Fann serves as the administrator of Orthopaedic South Surgical Center, a United Surgical Partners International facility. She has served in the position since 2005, before which she worked as business office manager for Buckhead (Ga.) Ambulatory Surgery Center and as director of front office operations for Atlanta Outpatient Surgery Center in Sandy Springs, Ga. Ms. Fann believes that a manager does not automatically become a leader and that installing the right team is essential for ASC success. In 2010, Orthopaedic South Surgical Center was recognized as a Clayton County Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Finalist.
John Gol, Borland-Groover Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. (38). Mr. Gol is the CFO for Borland-Groover Clinic, which owns two endoscopy ASCs. He also serves as executive administrator for the Fleming Island Surgery Center in Orange Park, Fla., and is Borland-Groover Clinic's representative for ownership interest in St. Augustine (Fla.) Surgery Center. His background in applying financial knowledge to real-world situations has helped BGC's surgery centers run efficiently and turned around Fleming Island Surgery Center from near bankruptcy.
Heidi Gwynn, Laser Spine Institute in Scottsdale, Ariz. (31). Ms. Gwynn is the executive director for Laser Spine Institute in Scottsdale, Ariz., a surgery center that recently celebrated its two-year anniversary. In its first two years, the surgery center has experienced tremendous growth and success, achieving accreditation from the AAAHC in July 2009. Ms. Gwynn shares leadership of the center with chairman of surgery Michael Weiss, MD, and director of medical operations Stacy Danahy. She joined Laser Spine Institute in 2008 as a seminar patient coordinator and transitioned into the role of consult specialist, where she worked side-by-side with the Laser Spine Institute Arizona clinical team to facilitate the patient process. Under Ms. Gwynn's leadership, the center maintains a patient satisfaction rate of more than 90 percent and cares for more than 100 surgical patients each month.
Bill Heath, Practice Partners in Healthcare (36). Mr. Heath is the chief development officer at Practice Partners in Healthcare in Birmingham, Ala., an ASC management and development company. He has had more than eight years of experience in the healthcare field, previously serving as the director of development for a large provider of ASC services where he assisted in acquisitions, de novo projects and syndications. His background includes treasury and finance experience. He began his career in the financial arena with a Fortune 500 company. He earned his master's degree from the University of Alabama.
Steve Henry, CASC, Fremont Surgical Center in Fremont, Neb. (34) Mr. Henry joined Fremont Surgical Center as administrator in July 2010. During the past year, he has enjoyed a 4 percent case volume growth and 9 percent increase in net revenues. He recently earned CASC certification at ASCs 2011 in Orlando. He began his career in market research for a well-known ASC management and development company before earning his MBA in healthcare administration. His background includes experience as a financial analyst, business office director and administrator of a start-up surgery center.
Jeremy Hogue, Sovereign Healthcare (38). Mr. Hogue is the president and CEO of Sovereign Healthcare, as well as the founder and chairman of MedMedia and an investor and consultant to numerous other healthcare ventures. Prior to joining Sovereign, he served as the vice president of Audax Group, a Boston-based private equity firm with over $1 billion under management. With Audax, Mr. Hogue headed the firm's west coast office and served on the boards of six companies in various high-growth sectors. He earned his JD from Harvard Law School and his MBA from the University of Southern California, where he was also an academic all-American football player and a three-year starter on the USC football team. Mr. Hogue continues to work with Fox Sports Net as an analyst for pre- and post-game USC football coverage.
Jennifer Hunara, MHA, MBA, Surgery Center of Allentown in Allentown, Pa. (33). Ms. Hunara has managed the Surgery Center of Allentown, a large multi-specialty ASC, for the last four years. She began her healthcare career at the age of 24 as a business manager of perioperative services at Lehigh Valley Health Network, headquartered in Allentown, Pa., and then moved on to the role of executive director of surgical services for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton (N.J.). Her background includes experience in financial and IT management of perioperative services, oversight of surgical processes and management of a profitable surgery center. She maintains her success has been due hard work and great mentors. "I firmly believe mentoring in our field is extremely important to developing the next set of leaders," she says.
Brian Jackson, Surgical Care Affiliates (30). Mr. Jackson serves as vice president of finance for Surgical Care Affiliates, taking responsibility for corporate finance, operational finance and treasury groups. He joined SCA in 2008 as director of financial operations and transitioned into the leadership role for the finance team in 2010. According to his colleagues, Mr. Jackson leads with a servant heart and demonstrates a passion for developing leaders of tomorrow. Recently, Mr. Jackson helped lead SCA through a $100 million capital raise to fund a large multi-site acquisition. He graduated from the University of Central Florida and is a CPA in the state of Alabama.
Emilie Keene, Parkridge Surgery Center in Columbia, S.C. (31). Ms. Keene is the administrator of Parkridge Surgery Center, and president-elect of the South Carolina Ambulatory Surgery Center Association. She earned her MHA at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and was promoted to administrator just eight months after joining Parkridge as an assistant to the vice president and administrator. During her time with the surgery center, she successfully recruited eight surgeons, increased net revenues by $1 million, increased employee satisfaction scores by 30 percent and patient satisfaction scores by 4 percent. She also led the ASC through the accreditation process and identified cost savings of nearly $200,000 per year.
Angela Laux, Bellin Orthopedic Surgery Center in Green Bay, Wis. (37). Ms. Laux started as the administrator of Bellin Orthopedic Surgery Center in June 2010. The center opened in March 2010. Prior to joining Bellin Orthopedic, Ms. Laux served as director of quality and outpatient joint program coordinator at The Orthopedics and Sports Institute in Appleton, Wis. In this role, she assured the institute followed all AAAHC/CMS requirements and served as staff educator for the facility. Ms. Laux graduated from Marian University with a master's degree in organizational leadership and quality in 2009.
Brian Mathis, Surgical Care Affiliates (31). Mr. Mathis joined Surgical Care Affiliates in Feb. 2009 as the vice president of strategy. The strategy group at SCA focuses on providing insight to each SCA partnership regarding opportunities to grow, based on SCA's "every case optimized" system. The group also structures the company's overall strategic plan for growth. Prior to SCA, Mr. Mathis worked for Blue Ridge Partners, a strategy-consulting firm, where he worked with numerous private equity companies in developing revenue growth strategies. He also spent several years analyzing the U.S. automotive market as well as performing macroeconomic forecasts for the Congressional Budget Office. Mr. Mathis holds an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia.
Angela McComb, Innovative Health Resources (39). One of the founders of Austin, Texas-based Innovative Health Resources, Ms. McComb has extensive experience in management, strategic planning and negotiations of insurance contracts. Prior to forming Innovative Health Resources in 1999, Ms. McComb worked for three insurance companies in Texas and Arkansas, including three start-up locations. She was also the director of managed care for a start-up, full-service outpatient radiology facility in Austin. She completed her MBA in 19999.
Kevin McDonough, VMG Health (31). Mr. McDonough is a senior manager with VMG Health, a leading provider of valuation services to the surgery center industry. Mr. McDonough began his career with VMG in 2003 and now leads the firm's ASC business valuation department. He has had the privilege of working with industry leaders in helping them navigate today's market challenges and the experience of providing valuation services to over 100 ASCs each year. He is a frequent speaker at national and regional surgery center conferences and has authored a number of articles for Becker's ASC Review and other publications over the years. Mr. McDonough holds a CFA designation and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
Amy McKiernan, Louisville Surgery Center in Kentucky (35). Ms. McKiernan joined Louisville Surgery Center, an ASD Management facility, in Jan. 2005, three months after the center opened. She says the center has grown tremendously since her first day; in the first year, the ASC performed 814 cases, and in 2010, the number had jumped to 3,431 cases. The center currently performs plastics, orthopedics, ENT and pain management in two ORs and seven pre-op/recovery bays. She says the center has benefitted from ASD Management's bonus program. Since the implementation of the program, the staff has looked to every area of the center for cost savings.
Amber Patterson, Westside Surgery Center in Douglas, Ga. (26). "I'm young, but I'm working extremely hard to become an excellent administrator," says Ms. Patterson, practice administrator of Ear Nose & Throat Clinic and Westside Surgery Center. She came to Westside Surgery Center in Dec. 2008, when she inherited the administrator position of the freestanding, physician-owned ASC. In her first three years with the center, she has researched the best deals on ASC equipment, worked with a consultant to ensure the facility was built according to state guidelines, hired and trained new staff, completed the state survey and Joint Commission accreditation and maintained compliance with federal regulations. In constant pursuit of professional development, Ms. Patterson is currently pursuing a degree in business administration.
Rebecca Overton, Surgical Management Professionals (35). Ms. Overton brings more than 15 years of healthcare receivables and revenue cycle experience to her role as director of revenue cycle management for Surgical Management Professionals. Prior to joining the company, she served as director of A/R and materials management for SurgCenter Development, where she provided overall direction in her respective areas for more than 20 multi-specialty surgery centers. Before joining SurgCenter Development, she worked as the business director for two successful, freestanding, multi-specialty surgery centers in Florida and worked as an A/R coordinator for an ASC in Little Rock, Ark. With SMP, Ms. Overton has improved EOM processes internally and with clients; reviewed adjustment history to identify opportunities for appeals and increased collections; and implemented contract management.
Stephen Rosenbaum, Interventional Management Services (39). Mr. Rosenbaum is the CEO of Interventional Management Services, where he is responsible for the day-to-day operations of 10 healthcare companies and more than $60 million in annual revenues. He has more than 18 years of experience in the healthcare industry, beginning his career at Ernst & Young's healthcare consulting practice. The majority of his work has been for physician-owned hospitals, surgery centers and physician practices, and he was a leading factor in the development of MedCath's heart hospitals throughout the country. Before joining IMS, he founded SourceRevenue, an independent healthcare consulting company, which provided syndication, development, management and transaction advisory services to physician-owned hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers throughout the country.
Tara Sellers, RN, BSN, Surgery Center of Key West, Fla. (39). Tara Sellers, administrator of Surgery Center of Key West, assisted in starting her facility in July 2008. Prior to her position with the surgery center, Ms. Sellers served as the OR charge nurse at a local hospital and also owned and managed a physician billing company. While in nursing school, she was voted "Most Likely to Become an Administrator" and received an "Excellence in Nursing" award from the local hospital in 2007. Surgery Center of Key West is also financially successful and received a three-year certification from AAAHC in 2009.
Brooke Smith, Maryland Surgery Center for Women in Rockville, Md. (35). In her two years with Maryland Surgery Center for Women, Ms. Smith has successfully taken a struggling ASC and turned it into a safe, profitable, professional facility. She has worked to increase collections from an average of $70K per month to an average of $240K per month, all while decreasing the center's days in A/R significantly to an average of 25 days. She also led a pilot program for online pre-surgical admission, trialing the program for presentation to the center's management company, Ambulatory Surgery Centers of America, for consideration among 30 other ASCs. Her cost savings in 2010 alone added up to $110,000.
Kim Stevens, Innovative Health Resources (39). Ms. Stevens brings more than 15 years of healthcare experience to her role as one of the founders of Innovative Health Resources, an affiliate of ASD Management. Her expertise lies in management, human resources, operations, marketing, HIPAA, OSHA, coordination of health and vendor fairs and managed care contracting, among other areas. She has extensive experience with large and small physician groups as well as solo practitioners and has held positions with one of the largest cardiovascular groups in Texas, an international insurance company and an allergy and asthma clinic.
Jason Strauss, Surgical Care Affiliates (31). As a vice president of operations for Surgical Care Affiliates, Mr. Strauss currently oversees 13 ASCs representing close to $80 million in annual net revenues in the greater Los Angeles area. Mr. Strauss joined SCA in April 2008 as a consultant for special projects at the company's Birmingham, Ala., office. His talents were quickly recognized, and within three months, he was brought on board as director of financial operations. One year later, he was promoted into the operational role and entrusted with a highly competitive Los Angeles market. Applying his value-based servant leadership philosophy, he was effective in engendering deep relationships based on trust with his physicians and developing a strong, unified team with the staff. This combination of analytical and interpersonal skills helped Mr. Strauss achieve the highest improvements in physician satisfaction scores across the entire enterprise while delivering bottom line growth of 10-12 percent over three years.
Stacey Taylor, ASCOA (39). Ms. Taylor is a senior vice president of operations with Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America and holds over 15 years of experience in healthcare. Prior to joining ASCOA, Ms. Taylor served as the regional administrator of four multi-specialty surgery centers and was recognized for her resourceful management skills and the exceptional ability to lead projects. She has been involved in the ambulatory surgery industry in various management roles since 1997 and has worked in all areas of freestanding ASCs, including pre-assessment, pre-op, OR and PACU. She currently oversees projects in Maryland, Michigan and Florida.
Parth A. Zaveri, MHA, MBA, The Endoscopy Center of St. Louis (32). Mr. Zaveri is the administrator of The Endoscopy Center of St. Louis, located in St. Louis and St. Charles, Mo. The two Endoscopy Center locations are independently-owned, single-specialty and have six procedure rooms between them. He joined the Endoscopy Centers of St. Louis in 2007 as the practice administrator. During his time as administrator, Mr. Zaveri's team has been able to undertake several successful initiatives: the ASC has a capsule endoscopy program that was started last year, as well as a new in-house pathology department for patients. Prior to coming to the Endoscopy Center of St. Louis, he worked with a large multi-specialty physician practice in St. Louis as a business analyst. He has also worked for several large hospital systems in the St. Louis and Columbia, Mo., region.