Here are 60 leaders of management and development companies in the ambulatory surgery center industry.
G. Edward Alexander (Surgical Development Partners). Mr. Alexander is president and CEO of SDP, which partners with physicians and hospitals and provides professional management, project development and access to capital. Prior to joining SDP, he served as CFO of TeamHealth; founder and CFO of OrthoLink Physicians; founding president and CEO of Surgical Alliance; and vice president of finance and treasurer of Medaphis. He has also served as vice president of finance and controller of Realty Development and CPA at Deloitte and Touche. He earned his degree from Emory University in Atlanta.
David Ayers (Nueterra Healthcare). Mr. Ayers, CEO of U.S. operations at Nueterra Healthcare. He offers 30 years of experience developing, building and managing hospitals in addition to leading the development of a several ambulatory surgery centers, imaging, physical therapy and urgent care centers. Mr. Ayers continues to expand his considerable experience working with physicians and health systems to develop domestic and international partnerships through Nueterra Healthcare's global growth strategy. He also serves on the board of directors of Physicians Hospitals of America and the government affairs committee for ASCA.
Robert O. Baratta, MD (Ascent Surgical Partners). Dr. Baratta is partner and CEO of Ascent Surgical Partners. He also serves as president and CEO of 3D Custom Collagen, a biotechnology company that provides 3D Collagen scaffolds and customized collagen products to the healthcare and research industry. He is also chairman of the board of MedAmerica HealthCare Suppliers. He previously served as chairman and CEO of Ascent Health Care Advisors. Since 1996, Dr. Baratta has been on the board of directors of FPIC Insurance Company, where he served as chairman from 1999 to 2007. He has also served as a director of First Professionals Insurance Company and president and board chairman of the Surgery Center of Stuart. He is an ophthalmologist who has 25 years of experience managing surgery centers.
Gregary W. Beasley (Ambulatory Surgery Division, Hospital Corporation of America). Mr. Beasley serves as president of HCA's Ambulatory Surgery Division. He has been with HCA's ambulatory surgery division since 1995 and previously served as COO of the division, in charge of daily operations. Mr. Beasley and his team have been responsible for the development and acquisition of numerous ambulatory surgery centers and the continuous refinement of the operations processes. Prior to joining HCA, Mr. Beasley spent nearly four years at HealthSouth Medical Center as controller and chief operating officer. He also worked for the VHA for three years and Ernst and Young for two years. Mr. Beasley became a certified public accountant in 1989.
Kyle Burtnett (Tenet Healthcare). Mr. Burtnett serves as senior vice president of outpatient services for Tenet Healthcare. He oversees the development and management of Tenet's ASCs, urgent care centers and diagnostic centers. He joined Tenet in 2003 as an associate in its leadership development program and has filled several roles since then, including key work on quality and growth initiatives, before being named chief of staff to the CEO and, later, a vice president. He is a member of the Greater Dallas Chamber 2008 Leadership Class, a program that aims to promote leadership and civic involvement. Mr. Burtnett is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and a former air force officer. He earned his MBA from the University of Southern California.
Robert Carrera (Pinnacle III). Mr. Carrera is the president and CEO of Pinnacle III, a Lakewood, Colo.-based ambulatory surgery center management and development company. Mr. Carrera has spent 15 of his 20 years in the healthcare industry focused on the development of ASCs. He also has experience with rehabilitation centers, medical clinics and diagnostic imaging centers. Mr. Carrera helps surgery centers build operational strategies resulting in improved performance and volume. He is a founding member of Colorado Ambulatory Surgery Center Association and previously served as the organization's vice president. Mr. Carrera has actively worked to affect Colorado, Utah and Minnesota legislation impacting ambulatory surgery centers.
Jesse Chamberlain (Artisan Medical). Mr. Chamberlain is managing partner of Artisan Medical and has more than 15 years of experience in healthcare, including healthcare sales, international sales and product development for Johnson & Johnson, Chiron Vision and Bausch & Lomb. He specializes in organizing strategic ASC partnership teams and in recruiting new surgeons to join ASCs. He previously managed Procter & Gamble's co-op merchandising agreements compliance program in Cleveland. He earned an MBA in organizational development. The company was founded in 2003 and has grown through partnerships with key leaders in the ASC industry.
Ravi Chopra (The C/N Group). Mr. Chopra serves as president and CEO of The C/N Group, which has completed healthcare-related projects totaling more than $75 million in capital expenditures. The company and its affiliated entities comprise an annual revenue base in excess of $20 million. He founded The C/N Group in 1980, before which he served in various executive management positions in the steel industry, including chief industrial engineer for Youngstown Steel (now International Steel Group) and director of engineering services for Wisconsin Steel (now Envirodyne Industries). He holds a master's degree in electrical engineering from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater and an MBA from Xavier University in Cincinnati.
Glenn Cozen, CPA (Physicians Surgery Centers). Mr. Cozen is one of the founding principals of Physicians Surgery Centers, which helps create and manage outpatient surgical facilities. He co-founded the company in 1999 and has more than 30 years of business experience in the healthcare industry. Throughout his career, he has served in numerous executive roles, including CFO of Southern California Orthopedic Institute in Van Nuys. He was instrumental in growing the group from a six-physician, one-location medical practice to an 18-physician, six-location group. He has also served as Western Regional Vice President of a publicly traded physician practice management company called BMJ.
Ann Deters (Vantage Outsourcing). Ms. Deters is co-founder and CEO of Vantage Outsourcing, a cataract outsourcing service serving hospital and surgery center clients throughout the country. Vantage provides clients with ophthalmic equipment, trained ophthalmic surgical coordinator technicians, intraocular lens and other cataract surgery supplies and products. Vantage Outsourcing is recognized for saving healthcare organizations more than $93 million in capital and supply costs to date. She is also the founder of 7D & Associates, a consulting and management-service company for ASCs across the United States. Ms. Deters draws from her experience operating an ASC in Missouri and consulting with hospitals and ASCs across the United States to further Vantage's mission of reducing healthcare costs and increasing healthcare quality.
Douglas Dewey (Murphy Healthcare Group). Mr. Dewey is the CEO of Murphy Healthcare, a Montvale, N.J., and New York-based ASC development, management and turnaround company founded by Robert Murphy. He focuses on strategic planning and sales. Mr. Dewey has years of experience in manufacturing, finance and public policy. Prior to joining Murphy Healthcare in 2012, he served as director at Barclays, a financial services provider, and a principal at Sanford C. Bernstein, a broker-dealer.
Michael Doyle (Surgery Partners). Mr. Doyle is CEO of Surgery Partners, where he is responsible for overseeing the firm's day-to-day operation and continued growth. He has experience developing and managing hospitals, surgical centers, rehabilitation facilities and imaging centers. He previously spent 10 years with a large corporate healthcare organization. Throughout his career, Mr. Doyle has been a hands-on manager with a wealth of healthcare knowledge, and he applies his practical experience of managing and developing healthcare services to his current position. In 2012 he led the Surgery Partners team in the successful acquisition and integration of Novamed. Mr. Doyle earned an MBA from Troy (Ala.) State University.
Ronald A. Duperroir (Clarity Development). Mr. Duperroir serves as CEO of Clarity Health and Clarity Government Services. He has 24 years of operations experience, specifically in resource loading, resource leveling, scope preparation, client relationships, cost avoidance, continuous design improvement and conducting executive status meetings and client reviews. He earned a bachelor's degree in public policy from the University of Oregon and a master's degree in healthcare administration from Baylor University.
Richard E. Francis Jr. (Symbion Healthcare). Mr. Francis has served as chairman of Symbion since 2002 and as its CEO since 1999. Under his leadership, Symbion became a publicly held company and an ASC chain with nearly 100 successful surgery centers. He previously served as president and CEO of UniPhy — a multispecialty clinics operator, independent practice associations and related outpatient services — which formed Symbion with Ambulatory Resource Centres in 1999. He has also served as senior vice president of development and regional vice president of HealthTrust. During his time with HealthTrust, he was responsible for operations of 11 hospitals in five states.
Gregory George, MD (SurgCenter Development). Dr. George and Mr. O'Neal are founding principals and CEOs of SurgCenter Development. Dr. George, an ophthalmologist, received his medical degree and PhD in ocular physiology from Duke University in Durham, N.C. Under Dr. George and Mr. O'Neal's leadership, SurgCenter Development has developed more than 100 physician-owned ASCs.
Kyle Goldammer (Partners Medical Consulting). Mr. Goldammer is the CEO of Partners Medical Company, a healthcare consulting company based in Sioux Falls, S.D. He has nearly three decades of experience in the healthcare industry. Prior to Partners Medical Company, he served as CFO of a community hospital and long-term care facility, CFO of Sioux Falls Surgical Hospital, senior vice president of finance at Surgical Management Professionals and worked in the nonprofit sector. Mr. Goldammer concentrates on full-service finance functions, clinical operations, business processes and reimbursement. Mr. Goldammer and his team specialize in turning around underperforming centers and developing successful centers from scratch.
Kenneth Hancock (Meridian Surgical Partners). Mr. Hancock is president and chief development officer of Meridian Surgical Partners. He is the former executive vice president, chief development officer and co-founder of Surgical Alliance Corporation, a specialty surgical hospital company. He has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry and also co-founded OrthoLink Physicians, which was eventually acquired by United Surgical Partners International. He is a published author and frequently presents at industry events.
John H. Hajjar, MD (Surgem). In 2005, Dr. Hajjar founded Surgem, a development and management company that has equity in and manages surgical centers. He earned his medical degree at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. He completed his surgical and urological training at New York University Medical Center in Manhattan. After spending some time researching the genetic aspects of kidney cancer, Dr. Hajjar decided to focus his energies on clinical urology and patient care. Since 1987, Dr. Hajjar has been practicing urology in northern New Jersey, where he developed a reputation as a skilled urologic surgeon and is currently the CEO of a large multispecialty practice called Sovereign Medical Group. In 1992, he pioneered the first ambulatory surgery center in Bergen County. He has also earned his MBA at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, with specialization in office-based ASCs.
Andrew Hayek (Surgical Care Affiliates). Mr. Hayek serves as president and CEO of Surgical Care Affiliates and is a member of the SCA board of directors. Prior to SCA, Mr. Hayek served as president of a division of DaVita Inc., a renal dialysis provider, and as president and COO of Alliance Healthcare Services Inc., a diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy provider. Mr. Hayek also worked at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., a private equity firm, and the Boston Consulting Group, a strategy consulting firm, prior to joining SCA. He currently serves on the board of advisors of Sg2, a healthcare consulting company, and is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organization. Mr. Hayek earned his bachelor's degree from Yale University. SCA operates 150 surgical facilities in partnership with more than 2,000 physicians and 30 health systems.
Edward P. Hetrick (Facility Development & Management). Mr. Hetrick, the founder and president of Facility Development & Management, has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Before founding FDM, he was a vice president at a firm that specialized in reimbursement consulting for physicians and outpatient hospital accounts. He has held key administrative positions in major teaching hospitals, national consulting firms and practice management companies. Mr. Hetrick and FDM have developed more than 50 surgery centers nationally and managed numerous centers on an ongoing basis. Mr. Hetrick earned a dual Masters' degrees Business and Public Health from Columbia University in New York City.
Jeremy Hogue (Sovereign Healthcare). Mr. Hogue is co-founder, president and CEO of Sovereign Healthcare, which operates surgery centers in California and Arizona, as well as provides management services for physician group practices. He previously served as vice president of Audax Group, a $1 billion private equity investment firm where he launched and ran the firm's West Coast office. He also previously consulted with numerous businesses and was an associate in the investment banking group of Lehman Brothers. Mr. Hogue received his JD from Harvard Law School in Boston and his MBA from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Christopher A. Holden (AmSurg). Mr. Holden has been AmSurg's president, CEO and director since October 2007. The company focuses on managing and developing 3,000- to 4,000-square-foot single specialty centers. He has more than 21 years of experience, primarily with multi-facility and multi-market healthcare management. The company's growth has accelerated through acquisitions during his time with AmSurg. Most recently, the company acquired anesthesia provider Sheridan Healthcare for $2.35 billion. He previously served as senior vice president and a division president of Triad Hospitals, where he was a founding team member and officer. Mr. Holden also held several officer positions with Nashville, Tenn.-based Columbia/HCA Healthcare.
James L. Horrar (Quorum Health Resources). Mr. Horrar is the president and CEO of Quorum Health Resources, a hospital management services company working with clients representing $5.7 billion in net patient revenue and more than 48,000 employees. The company has become one of the largest healthcare management consulting firms in the United States under Mr. Horrar’s leadership. He added several new business units to expand QHR’s ability to meet market needs and has driven significant improvement in client hospital performance. He has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry.
Bill Horne (Laser Spine Institute, Tampa, Fla.). Mr. Horne is CEO of Laser Spine Institute. Laser Spine Institute's flagship facility is in Tampa, Fla., and it has grown to include five other surgical facilities in Scottsdale, Philadelphia, Oklahoma City and Houston. Earlier this year, LSI announced that it is opening three new centers in the Midwest — Cleveland, St. Louis and Cincinnati. Before joining Laser Spine Institute, Mr. Horne founded Club Operations and Property Management, a leading management company for country, city and yacht clubs.
Richard K. Jacques (Covenant Surgical Partners). Mr. Jacques is president and CEO of Covenant Surgical Partners, and has more than 19 years of experience in the ASC industry, including senior management positions with both public and private healthcare companies. He was previously president and director of Surgical Health Group, a developer and manager of single and limited specialty surgery centers. He has also previously served as vice president of business development for AmSurg, where he helped develop a system and methodology the company used to acquire or develop almost 100 ASCs during his time there.
Debbie James (Vivere Health). Ms. James is president and CEO of Vivere Health, a company that builds and manages multispecialty ASCs as well as and laboratories for comprehensive reproductive health. Ms. James most recently served as COO for Vivere. She has more than 25 years of corporate leadership experience in the healthcare industry. She has also served as market president for fitness and physical medicine business units at Healthways. Since Ms. James started with Vivere in November 2013, the company has been named one of the top 25 fastest growing private companies in Nashville and the company’s ASCs and laboratories are exceeding the national goals for quality, safety and patient satisfaction.
I. Naya Kehayes, MPH (EVEIA Health Consulting & Management). Ms. Kehayes is the managing principal and founder of EVEIA Health Consulting & Management, a consulting and management company that has serviced more than 500 clients in 43 states. Ms. Kehayes specializes in managed care contract negotiations and analysis for ASCs, physician practices/clinics, surgical hospitals and health systems affiliates. She founded the company in 1998, previously having served as a regional director of operations and managed care for a national ASC corporation. She has served as the past president of the Washington Ambulatory Surgery Center Association and currently serves as the co-chair of its Payment Policy Committee.
Tony Knapp (Physicians Surgery Centers). Mr. Knapp is a principal at Physicians Surgery Centers, which helps create and manage outpatient surgical facilities. He joined the company in 2003, before which he was a vice president in Citibank's Citicapital HealthCare & Energy Finance Group. During his tenure at Citicapital and its predecessor, Copelco Capital, he originated funding for more than 40 start-up ambulatory surgery centers. He has also structured financing for stand-alone endoscopy centers, diagnostic imaging centers, fertility clinics, large group practices, radiation therapy centers, a start-up Medicaid HMO and other profitable outpatient facilities.
Luke Lambert (Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America). Since 2002, Mr. Lambert has served as CEO of Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America, before which he served as CFO for five years at the organization. He joined ASCOA in 1997 and previously worked for Smith Barney in international sell-side equity research. He has also worked at Booz, Allen & Hamilton and Ernst & Young in venture exploration and reengineering business processes. Mr. Lambert completed his MBA from Columbia University in New York City and was among the first to earn the CASC designation in 2002. ASCOA currently operates 32 facilities across the country.
Jared Leger (Arise Healthcare). Mr. Leger is a co-founder and managing partner of Arise Healthcare. The company currently owns and operates various healthcare-related businesses with a focus on ASCs. He is a registered nurse, and his previous experience includes healthcare finance, mergers and acquisitions, development and operations. He has also syndicated and operated a number of physician-owned surgery centers. Mr. Leger owns a real estate investment company based out of Austin, Texas, in addition to leading Arise.
Scott Leggett (Surgery One). Mr. Leggett is CEO of Surgery One and has more than 17 years of experience in orthopedics. Surgery One manages four outpatient surgery centers located in San Diego County. He has served in a development and regional management role for U.S. Orthopedics, which was acquired by National Surgical Hospitals in 2001. Mr. Leggett previously developed and managed the OrthoMed Spine & Joint Conditioning and WellStrong Centers for the orthopedic department of the University of California, San Diego. He was president of the California Ambulatory Surgery Association from 2006 to 2007 and now serves on the board as the legislative co-chair.
Jeff Leland (Blue Chip Surgical Center Partners). Mr. Leland is CEO of Blue Chip Surgical Center Partners. The company develops and manages surgery centers, many of them focused on spine surgery. He previously served as executive director of Lutheran General Medical Group, a 260-physician, multispecialty medical group in Chicago, and as a senior-level executive with Advocate Health Care in Chicago, where he was responsible for both business development and Advocate's 225,000-member health plan. He was also president of HealthSpring Medical Group and CEO of Western Ohio Health Care, an HMO that was acquired by United HealthCare. Mr. Leland is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School in Boston.
Michael Lipomi (Surgical Management Professionals). Mr. Lipomi is the president and CEO of Surgical Management Professionals, a Sioux Falls, S.D.-based surgery center and specialty hospital management company. He has more than 30 years of experience operating ASCs and specialty hospitals. Mr. Lipomi has previously served as CEO of Stansilaus Surgical Hospital in Modesto, Calif., which he grew from a small surgery center into a leading specialty hospital. He also owned and operated a number of surgery centers while serving as president of RMC MedStone.
Rodney H. Lunn (PhyBus). Mr. Lunn serves as the president and CEO of PhyBus, which aims at increasing profitability and improving management and operations at ASCs. He is considered by many as the original pioneer of the contemporary ambulatory surgery center concept, having transformed the traditional ASC into a practical, successful business model. During his 25-year career in the ASC industry, he has developed more than 150 ASCs throughout the United States. Mr. Lunn has also served in numerous chief management roles for various healthcare companies. His experience also includes founder, director, and senior vice president of AmSurg, vice president of finance and CFO of American Medical Centers, CFO of INA (now Cigna) Healthplan of Texas, and vice president of HealthAmerica in Florida.
Thomas Mallon (Regent Surgical Health). Mr. Mallon co-founded Regent Surgical Health in 2001 and now serves as CEO. Over the past 11 years, the surgery center management and development company has grown to include 24 facilities in the United States and Europe. Nineteen of those partnerships are hospital/physician joint ventures, and the leadership team is committed to structuring sustainable partnerships that align the interests of all parties, and positioning its centers to meet the constantly changing market conditions. Mr. Mallon offers each facility his expertise on all aspects of clinical and financial operations, as he has significant experience in venture capital funds, turnarounds and physician recruitment. He earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Bryan Massoud, MD (Spine Centers of America). Dr. Massoud is founder and head surgeon at Spine Centers of America in Fair Lawn, N.J. He performed more than 1,000 endoscopic spine surgeries, including endoscopic cervical spine surgery. He also trains spine surgeons in endoscopic procedures, and articles he has authored on the subject are published in professional journals. Along with his clinical practice, Dr. Massoud is an assistant clinical professor of orthopedic surgery at Seton Hall University's School of Health and Medical Sciences in South Orange, N.J. He earned his medical degree from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J., and completed his orthopedic surgery residency at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Paterson, N.J. He has also completed a fellowship in open and minimally invasive spine surgery at Plano-based Texas Back Institute. He is a member of the North American Spine Society, New Jersey Spine Society and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Krystal Mims (Texas Health Partners). Ms. Mims is president of Texas Health Partners, the joint venture development and management arm of Texas Health. She also serves on the executive team of Texas Health Resources. Since joining Texas Health Partners in 2004, Ms. Mims has participated in the development of several newly-constructed joint ventures and oversaw operations. Before being named president, she served as Texas Health Partners' executive vice president and COO. Ms. Mims is an advocate for physician leadership within the healthcare organization and works closely with physician and clinical leaders in her role as president.
Kris Mineau (Constitution Surgery Centers). Mr. Mineau co-founded CSC in 1997 and serves as its president and CEO. He led the company's growth since its inception, partnering with over 200 physicians to build surgery centers and three hospital systems in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Mr. Mineau was previously a pilot in the U.S. Air Force and earned a Bachelor's degree in management from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He has been involved in many professional organizations, and was a founding president of Connecticut Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers.
Jessica Nantz (Outpatient Healthcare Strategies). Ms. Nantz is the founder and president of Outpatient Healthcare Strategies, a Houston-based management and consulting company. She focuses on providing clients with the tools needed to improve operational efficiency. Ms. Nantz has 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry, more than half of which she has spent concentrating on the outpatient care field. Prior to founding Outpatient Healthcare Strategies, she served as a senior executive for HealthSouth, which operated and managed various healthcare facilities. Ms. Nantz then founded, and later sold, ASC coding company mdStrategies. She also went on to found ASC Strategies, which concentrated on serving ambulatory surgery centers and hospital's outpatient divisions.
Stanton M. Nelson (Foundation HealthCare). Mr. Nelson is CEO of Foundation HealthCare, a company focused on owning, operating, developing and partnering with physicians in surgical hospitals, ASCs and sleep centers. The company was founded in 1996 by current Chairman Tom Michaud and includes three surgical hospitals, 12 ASCs and 56 sleep centers. Mr. Nelson also serves on the board for Valliance Bank as vice chairman and previously served as CEO of Monroe-Stephens Broadcasting.
Sean O'Neal (SurgeCenter Development). Mr. O'Neal, who has more than 25 years of experience in healthcare management, completed postgraduate studies in health services administration at California State University, Northridge. He previously served as a hospital CEO and worked to bridge the gap between physicians and hospital administration. Under Dr. George and Mr. O'Neal's leadership, SurgCenter Development has developed more than 100 physician-owned ASCs.
Vito Quatela, MD (Ambulatory Healthcare Strategies). Dr. Quatela is the co-founder and CEO of AHS. He developed and owns two ASCs in Rochester, N.Y., and founded HUGS, a nonprofit organization that does medical mission trips into third-world countries. He is a board-certified facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon and serves as clinical associate professor at the University of Rochester's otolaryngology department. He is also the immediate past president of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons and serves annually as a board examiner for the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Lori Ramirez (Elite Surgical Affiliates). Ms. Ramirez founded Elite Surgical Affiliates in 2008 and now leads as its president and CEO. Elite provides management and development for surgical facilities, with a special focus on orthopedics, spine and pain. Prior to founding Elite Surgical Affiliates, Ms. Ramirez was a senior vice president at United Surgical Partners International. In this role, she gained experience in creating joint ventures, including one between Memorial Hermann in Houston and CHRISTUS Health System in South Texas. She also was directly responsible for developing the second-largest network of surgical facilities for USPI in Houston and supervised more than 600 employees. Ms. Ramirez oversaw more than 20 surgical facilities, including two surgical hospitals, one of which included an imaging center and three breast imaging centers. In addition to the development of those facilities, she was also responsible for strategic planning, operations management, physician partnerships and financing.
Stephen Rosenbaum (Interventional Management Services). Mr. Rosenbaum is co-founder and CEO of IMS. He began his career at Ernst & Young in the Carolinas Healthcare Consulting Practice and over the course of his more than 17 years of healthcare-related experience, Mr. Rosenbaum has served as vice president of finance for development at MedCath and helped develop Carolinas Surgery Center. In addition, Mr. Rosenbaum created an independent healthcare consulting company, SourceRevenue, where he was involved in the development of a neurosurgical hospital and a physician-owned hospital. He also worked with The Bloom Organization to provide investment banking services to physician-owned ASCs, during which time he was involved in more than $100 million of ASC transactions. In 2008, Rosenbaum joined The Interventional Spine and Pain Management Center and created IMS with Robin Fowler, MD. As CEO of IMS, Mr. Rosenbaum is responsible for the day-to-day operations of 10 healthcare companies and more than $35 million in annual revenues.
Kenneth R. Ross (Solara Surgical Partners). Mr. Ross is started Solara Surgical Partners and currently serves as its CEO. He has more than 30 years of management experience in healthcare, energy and finance, including 17 years in operations management, finance, strategy and business development in several healthcare industries. He previously founded and developed Solara Healthcare, where he helped develop seven long-term acute care hospitals. Mr. Ross is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, a member of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Adjunct Faculty and a CPA.
Bob Scheller (Nikitis Resource Group). Mr. Scheller is CEO and COO of Nikitis Resource Group. He previously served as senior vice president of Aspen Healthcare. Before becoming involved in the ASC industry, he worked in public accounting and later hospital administration and physician practice consulting. He earned his MBA from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Donald Schellpfeffer, MD (Medical Facilities Corp.). Dr. Schellpfeffer is the CEO of Medical Facilities Corporation and Sioux Falls (S.D.) Specialty Hospital. As an original founder of Sioux Falls Specialty Hospital, Dr. Schellpfeffer has been its CEO and a member of the management committee since the facility's inception in 1985. He has more than 30 years of experience in ambulatory surgical environments and in general, cardiovascular and trauma practices. Dr. Schellpfeffer received a master's degree and a bachelor of science degree from the College of Veterinary and Medicine; a PhD in animal physiology from the University of Minnesota; and an MD from the University of South Dakota School of Medicine. He completed his residency in anesthesiology in Wisconsin.
Matt Searles (Merritt Healthcare). Mr. Searles has been a partner with Merritt Healthcare for more than 10 years. During that time, he has managed, developed and advised for dozens of healthcare facilities across the country. Mr. Searles is also a registered investment banking agent holding Series 79 and Series 63 licenses. His background includes experience in corporate finance and venture capital-backed companies. Prior to Merritt, he served as senior vice president of finance for a service company based in Greenwich, Conn. He earned his MBA from Duke University in Durham, N.C.
John R. Seitz (ManageMyASC). Mr. Seitz is president and CEO of ManageMyASC, a real-time, interactive management tool that provides a view into the financial and operational performance of a surgical center with tracking, benchmarking, analysis and recommendations. He has more than 25 years of experience in healthcare, including founding and leading start-up companies. He was one of the founders and president of Surgem and was responsible for building the company from the ground up. Prior to founding Surgem, Mr. Seitz served as founder and CEO of Cornerstone Physicians, a medical practice management company. Mr. Seitz is a graduate of Boston's Harvard Business School Owners and Presidents Management program.
Sue Shelley (Surgical Partners of America). Ms. Shelly is a partner and founder of Surgical Partners of America, a Dallas-based ambulatory surgery center consulting services company. Before starting Surgical Partners of America, she co-founded United Surgical Partners International in 1998 and served as the company's executive vice president until 2002. She has also developed and operated over 100 ambulatory surgery centers at Columbia/HCA, Medical Care International and University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Ms. Shelley utilizes her experience at nonprofit hospitals to bring the best hospital practices to freestanding centers. She has a masters degree in healthcare administration from Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Barry Tanner, CPA (Physicians Endoscopy). Mr. Tanner has been CEO of Physicians Endoscopy since 1999 and co-authored the company's business plan together with CFO Karen Sablyak. The company currently owns and manages 28 endoscopy centers in partnership with physicians and hospitals. Before joining PE, Mr. Tanner held various senior executive positions in healthcare for more than 20 years, working both on the provider side and in financial services. He previously served as CFO of Navix Radiology Systems, a physician practice management company based in Miami, which he also co-founded.
Larry D. Taylor (Practice Partners in Healthcare). Mr. Taylor is founder, president and CEO of the company. He has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare delivery, management and physician relations, and prior to founding Practice Partners in Healthcare, he served as president and COO of the largest provider of ambulatory surgery centers in the United States. His initial entry into healthcare was focused in the delivery of sports medicine and orthopedic care. Since founding Practice Partners, the team has developed and opened multiple surgery centers and has a pipeline of centers under development and construction. Mr. Taylor also has a background in education and currently serves as an adjunct professor in healthcare at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and participates as a board member for ASCA and the Ambulatory Surgery Center Foundation.
Pedro Juan Vergne-Morell (PCI | HealthDev). Mr. Vergne-Morell is the CEO of PCI | HealthDev, a Dallas-based healthcare facility construction and investment company. He develops and maintains PCI | HealthDev's corporate identity and marketing direction. Mr. Vergne-Morrell concentrates on cultivating investor relationships and partnerships. He has more than 17 years of business leadership experience. He earned his Master's in Business Administration in marketing and finance from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Terry Weisman (Denovo Development). Mr. Weisman serves as president of Denovo Development, which focuses on ground-up development of surgical centers including physicians LLC formation, real estate investment and development, operations and management. He began his career in the workers' compensation industry, developing urgent care, physical therapy and industrial medicine facilities in partnership with physicians. After 11 years in that business, he was hired by Andrew Brooks of California-based Specialty Surgical Center in order to grow the business. There he developed six surgical centers in southern California. After the company was sold to Symbion, he started Denovo Development.
William Wilcox (United Surgical Partners International). Mr. Wilcox has served as CEO of USPI since April 2004. The company currently owns and operates outpatient surgical facilities across the United States and United Kingdom. More than half of the facilities in the United States are jointly owned facilities with nonprofit healthcare systems and hospitals. Prior to joining USPI in 1998, Mr. Wilcox served as CEO of United Dental Care, president of the Surgery Group of HCA, president and CEO of the ambulatory surgery division of HCA and president, COO and director of Medical Care International. He earned his master's degree in health systems management from Tulane University in New Orleans.
John C. Wilson Jr. (Meridian Surgical Partners). Mr. Wilson is CEO of Meridian Surgical Partners, a role he assumed in October 2013. He previously served as CFO of the company. He has also served as COO of Xtensia, a revenue cycle management company and executive vice president of finance and operations for Working Rx, a workers' compensation pharmacy services company and formerly a division of Medifax-EDI. He is a certified public accountant and has more than six years of experience in public accounting.
Tom Yerden (TRY Health Care Solutions). Mr. Yerden serves as CEO of TRY Health Care Solutions. During his more than 31 years of experience in the ASC industry, Mr. Yerden has worked with group practices and healthcare systems. He previously founded Aspen Healthcare and helped plan, develop, open and manage more than 75 surgery centers. Prior to forming Aspen Healthcare, Mr. Yerden held COO and other executive positions in several healthcare systems and large physician group practices where he developed outpatient surgery centers and new outpatient surgical delivery systems. Mr. Yerden has authored several publications on ASC issues and is a national speaker on those topics. He is also the host of an ASC governing board retreat program in Salmon, Idaho.
Joseph Zasa, JD (ASD Management). Mr. Zasa is the co-founder and managing partner of ASD Management (formerly Woodrum/ASD). Founded in 1986, the company is one of the oldest continually operating surgery center companies, with more than 125 surgery centers developed and managed over the last 26 years. ASD is an operations-focused company and has had great success with ASC turnarounds and hospital/physician joint ventures, according to Mr. Zasa. In addition to his work with ASD Management, Mr. Zasa is the former president of the Texas Ambulatory Surgery Center Society. He also serves on the board of the ASC Advocacy Committee.
Robert Zasa (ASD Management). Mr. Zasa is co-founder and managing partner of ASD Management, which is a national healthcare services firm that consults with physicians, physician groups and hospitals to develop and manage ambulatory surgery businesses. In the early 1990s, Mr. Zasa founded and served as president and CEO of Premier Ambulatory Systems, a firm that acquired, developed, owned and operated ambulatory surgery centers across the United States. Previously, Mr. Zasa was managing general partner of a national ambulatory care consulting firm and was involved in the founding and public offering of the AlternaCare Corporation. He began his career as an administrator for the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans.
J.A. Ziskind (Global Surgical Partners). Mr. Ziskind is founder, president and CEO of Global Surgical Partners, which currently manages nine surgical centers in Florida and Mississippi. He has been involved in Florida's healthcare industry since the 1970s, and has previously served as CEO of Miami's Cedars Medical Center. He is also a board-certified healthcare attorney and has helped develop and manage several physician-hospital joint venture ASCs. Mr. Ziskind co-founded and was general counsel to the Florida Society of Ambulatory Surgical Centers, served on the Pan American hospital board of directors and has served as general counsel to the Dade County Medical Association for more than two decades. He currently serves as chairman of the board of directors for Mercy Foundation.
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G. Edward Alexander (Surgical Development Partners). Mr. Alexander is president and CEO of SDP, which partners with physicians and hospitals and provides professional management, project development and access to capital. Prior to joining SDP, he served as CFO of TeamHealth; founder and CFO of OrthoLink Physicians; founding president and CEO of Surgical Alliance; and vice president of finance and treasurer of Medaphis. He has also served as vice president of finance and controller of Realty Development and CPA at Deloitte and Touche. He earned his degree from Emory University in Atlanta.
David Ayers (Nueterra Healthcare). Mr. Ayers, CEO of U.S. operations at Nueterra Healthcare. He offers 30 years of experience developing, building and managing hospitals in addition to leading the development of a several ambulatory surgery centers, imaging, physical therapy and urgent care centers. Mr. Ayers continues to expand his considerable experience working with physicians and health systems to develop domestic and international partnerships through Nueterra Healthcare's global growth strategy. He also serves on the board of directors of Physicians Hospitals of America and the government affairs committee for ASCA.
Robert O. Baratta, MD (Ascent Surgical Partners). Dr. Baratta is partner and CEO of Ascent Surgical Partners. He also serves as president and CEO of 3D Custom Collagen, a biotechnology company that provides 3D Collagen scaffolds and customized collagen products to the healthcare and research industry. He is also chairman of the board of MedAmerica HealthCare Suppliers. He previously served as chairman and CEO of Ascent Health Care Advisors. Since 1996, Dr. Baratta has been on the board of directors of FPIC Insurance Company, where he served as chairman from 1999 to 2007. He has also served as a director of First Professionals Insurance Company and president and board chairman of the Surgery Center of Stuart. He is an ophthalmologist who has 25 years of experience managing surgery centers.
Gregary W. Beasley (Ambulatory Surgery Division, Hospital Corporation of America). Mr. Beasley serves as president of HCA's Ambulatory Surgery Division. He has been with HCA's ambulatory surgery division since 1995 and previously served as COO of the division, in charge of daily operations. Mr. Beasley and his team have been responsible for the development and acquisition of numerous ambulatory surgery centers and the continuous refinement of the operations processes. Prior to joining HCA, Mr. Beasley spent nearly four years at HealthSouth Medical Center as controller and chief operating officer. He also worked for the VHA for three years and Ernst and Young for two years. Mr. Beasley became a certified public accountant in 1989.
Kyle Burtnett (Tenet Healthcare). Mr. Burtnett serves as senior vice president of outpatient services for Tenet Healthcare. He oversees the development and management of Tenet's ASCs, urgent care centers and diagnostic centers. He joined Tenet in 2003 as an associate in its leadership development program and has filled several roles since then, including key work on quality and growth initiatives, before being named chief of staff to the CEO and, later, a vice president. He is a member of the Greater Dallas Chamber 2008 Leadership Class, a program that aims to promote leadership and civic involvement. Mr. Burtnett is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and a former air force officer. He earned his MBA from the University of Southern California.
Robert Carrera (Pinnacle III). Mr. Carrera is the president and CEO of Pinnacle III, a Lakewood, Colo.-based ambulatory surgery center management and development company. Mr. Carrera has spent 15 of his 20 years in the healthcare industry focused on the development of ASCs. He also has experience with rehabilitation centers, medical clinics and diagnostic imaging centers. Mr. Carrera helps surgery centers build operational strategies resulting in improved performance and volume. He is a founding member of Colorado Ambulatory Surgery Center Association and previously served as the organization's vice president. Mr. Carrera has actively worked to affect Colorado, Utah and Minnesota legislation impacting ambulatory surgery centers.
Jesse Chamberlain (Artisan Medical). Mr. Chamberlain is managing partner of Artisan Medical and has more than 15 years of experience in healthcare, including healthcare sales, international sales and product development for Johnson & Johnson, Chiron Vision and Bausch & Lomb. He specializes in organizing strategic ASC partnership teams and in recruiting new surgeons to join ASCs. He previously managed Procter & Gamble's co-op merchandising agreements compliance program in Cleveland. He earned an MBA in organizational development. The company was founded in 2003 and has grown through partnerships with key leaders in the ASC industry.
Ravi Chopra (The C/N Group). Mr. Chopra serves as president and CEO of The C/N Group, which has completed healthcare-related projects totaling more than $75 million in capital expenditures. The company and its affiliated entities comprise an annual revenue base in excess of $20 million. He founded The C/N Group in 1980, before which he served in various executive management positions in the steel industry, including chief industrial engineer for Youngstown Steel (now International Steel Group) and director of engineering services for Wisconsin Steel (now Envirodyne Industries). He holds a master's degree in electrical engineering from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater and an MBA from Xavier University in Cincinnati.
Glenn Cozen, CPA (Physicians Surgery Centers). Mr. Cozen is one of the founding principals of Physicians Surgery Centers, which helps create and manage outpatient surgical facilities. He co-founded the company in 1999 and has more than 30 years of business experience in the healthcare industry. Throughout his career, he has served in numerous executive roles, including CFO of Southern California Orthopedic Institute in Van Nuys. He was instrumental in growing the group from a six-physician, one-location medical practice to an 18-physician, six-location group. He has also served as Western Regional Vice President of a publicly traded physician practice management company called BMJ.
Ann Deters (Vantage Outsourcing). Ms. Deters is co-founder and CEO of Vantage Outsourcing, a cataract outsourcing service serving hospital and surgery center clients throughout the country. Vantage provides clients with ophthalmic equipment, trained ophthalmic surgical coordinator technicians, intraocular lens and other cataract surgery supplies and products. Vantage Outsourcing is recognized for saving healthcare organizations more than $93 million in capital and supply costs to date. She is also the founder of 7D & Associates, a consulting and management-service company for ASCs across the United States. Ms. Deters draws from her experience operating an ASC in Missouri and consulting with hospitals and ASCs across the United States to further Vantage's mission of reducing healthcare costs and increasing healthcare quality.
Douglas Dewey (Murphy Healthcare Group). Mr. Dewey is the CEO of Murphy Healthcare, a Montvale, N.J., and New York-based ASC development, management and turnaround company founded by Robert Murphy. He focuses on strategic planning and sales. Mr. Dewey has years of experience in manufacturing, finance and public policy. Prior to joining Murphy Healthcare in 2012, he served as director at Barclays, a financial services provider, and a principal at Sanford C. Bernstein, a broker-dealer.
Michael Doyle (Surgery Partners). Mr. Doyle is CEO of Surgery Partners, where he is responsible for overseeing the firm's day-to-day operation and continued growth. He has experience developing and managing hospitals, surgical centers, rehabilitation facilities and imaging centers. He previously spent 10 years with a large corporate healthcare organization. Throughout his career, Mr. Doyle has been a hands-on manager with a wealth of healthcare knowledge, and he applies his practical experience of managing and developing healthcare services to his current position. In 2012 he led the Surgery Partners team in the successful acquisition and integration of Novamed. Mr. Doyle earned an MBA from Troy (Ala.) State University.
Ronald A. Duperroir (Clarity Development). Mr. Duperroir serves as CEO of Clarity Health and Clarity Government Services. He has 24 years of operations experience, specifically in resource loading, resource leveling, scope preparation, client relationships, cost avoidance, continuous design improvement and conducting executive status meetings and client reviews. He earned a bachelor's degree in public policy from the University of Oregon and a master's degree in healthcare administration from Baylor University.
Richard E. Francis Jr. (Symbion Healthcare). Mr. Francis has served as chairman of Symbion since 2002 and as its CEO since 1999. Under his leadership, Symbion became a publicly held company and an ASC chain with nearly 100 successful surgery centers. He previously served as president and CEO of UniPhy — a multispecialty clinics operator, independent practice associations and related outpatient services — which formed Symbion with Ambulatory Resource Centres in 1999. He has also served as senior vice president of development and regional vice president of HealthTrust. During his time with HealthTrust, he was responsible for operations of 11 hospitals in five states.
Gregory George, MD (SurgCenter Development). Dr. George and Mr. O'Neal are founding principals and CEOs of SurgCenter Development. Dr. George, an ophthalmologist, received his medical degree and PhD in ocular physiology from Duke University in Durham, N.C. Under Dr. George and Mr. O'Neal's leadership, SurgCenter Development has developed more than 100 physician-owned ASCs.
Kyle Goldammer (Partners Medical Consulting). Mr. Goldammer is the CEO of Partners Medical Company, a healthcare consulting company based in Sioux Falls, S.D. He has nearly three decades of experience in the healthcare industry. Prior to Partners Medical Company, he served as CFO of a community hospital and long-term care facility, CFO of Sioux Falls Surgical Hospital, senior vice president of finance at Surgical Management Professionals and worked in the nonprofit sector. Mr. Goldammer concentrates on full-service finance functions, clinical operations, business processes and reimbursement. Mr. Goldammer and his team specialize in turning around underperforming centers and developing successful centers from scratch.
Kenneth Hancock (Meridian Surgical Partners). Mr. Hancock is president and chief development officer of Meridian Surgical Partners. He is the former executive vice president, chief development officer and co-founder of Surgical Alliance Corporation, a specialty surgical hospital company. He has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry and also co-founded OrthoLink Physicians, which was eventually acquired by United Surgical Partners International. He is a published author and frequently presents at industry events.
John H. Hajjar, MD (Surgem). In 2005, Dr. Hajjar founded Surgem, a development and management company that has equity in and manages surgical centers. He earned his medical degree at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. He completed his surgical and urological training at New York University Medical Center in Manhattan. After spending some time researching the genetic aspects of kidney cancer, Dr. Hajjar decided to focus his energies on clinical urology and patient care. Since 1987, Dr. Hajjar has been practicing urology in northern New Jersey, where he developed a reputation as a skilled urologic surgeon and is currently the CEO of a large multispecialty practice called Sovereign Medical Group. In 1992, he pioneered the first ambulatory surgery center in Bergen County. He has also earned his MBA at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, with specialization in office-based ASCs.
Andrew Hayek (Surgical Care Affiliates). Mr. Hayek serves as president and CEO of Surgical Care Affiliates and is a member of the SCA board of directors. Prior to SCA, Mr. Hayek served as president of a division of DaVita Inc., a renal dialysis provider, and as president and COO of Alliance Healthcare Services Inc., a diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy provider. Mr. Hayek also worked at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., a private equity firm, and the Boston Consulting Group, a strategy consulting firm, prior to joining SCA. He currently serves on the board of advisors of Sg2, a healthcare consulting company, and is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organization. Mr. Hayek earned his bachelor's degree from Yale University. SCA operates 150 surgical facilities in partnership with more than 2,000 physicians and 30 health systems.
Edward P. Hetrick (Facility Development & Management). Mr. Hetrick, the founder and president of Facility Development & Management, has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Before founding FDM, he was a vice president at a firm that specialized in reimbursement consulting for physicians and outpatient hospital accounts. He has held key administrative positions in major teaching hospitals, national consulting firms and practice management companies. Mr. Hetrick and FDM have developed more than 50 surgery centers nationally and managed numerous centers on an ongoing basis. Mr. Hetrick earned a dual Masters' degrees Business and Public Health from Columbia University in New York City.
Jeremy Hogue (Sovereign Healthcare). Mr. Hogue is co-founder, president and CEO of Sovereign Healthcare, which operates surgery centers in California and Arizona, as well as provides management services for physician group practices. He previously served as vice president of Audax Group, a $1 billion private equity investment firm where he launched and ran the firm's West Coast office. He also previously consulted with numerous businesses and was an associate in the investment banking group of Lehman Brothers. Mr. Hogue received his JD from Harvard Law School in Boston and his MBA from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Christopher A. Holden (AmSurg). Mr. Holden has been AmSurg's president, CEO and director since October 2007. The company focuses on managing and developing 3,000- to 4,000-square-foot single specialty centers. He has more than 21 years of experience, primarily with multi-facility and multi-market healthcare management. The company's growth has accelerated through acquisitions during his time with AmSurg. Most recently, the company acquired anesthesia provider Sheridan Healthcare for $2.35 billion. He previously served as senior vice president and a division president of Triad Hospitals, where he was a founding team member and officer. Mr. Holden also held several officer positions with Nashville, Tenn.-based Columbia/HCA Healthcare.
James L. Horrar (Quorum Health Resources). Mr. Horrar is the president and CEO of Quorum Health Resources, a hospital management services company working with clients representing $5.7 billion in net patient revenue and more than 48,000 employees. The company has become one of the largest healthcare management consulting firms in the United States under Mr. Horrar’s leadership. He added several new business units to expand QHR’s ability to meet market needs and has driven significant improvement in client hospital performance. He has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry.
Bill Horne (Laser Spine Institute, Tampa, Fla.). Mr. Horne is CEO of Laser Spine Institute. Laser Spine Institute's flagship facility is in Tampa, Fla., and it has grown to include five other surgical facilities in Scottsdale, Philadelphia, Oklahoma City and Houston. Earlier this year, LSI announced that it is opening three new centers in the Midwest — Cleveland, St. Louis and Cincinnati. Before joining Laser Spine Institute, Mr. Horne founded Club Operations and Property Management, a leading management company for country, city and yacht clubs.
Richard K. Jacques (Covenant Surgical Partners). Mr. Jacques is president and CEO of Covenant Surgical Partners, and has more than 19 years of experience in the ASC industry, including senior management positions with both public and private healthcare companies. He was previously president and director of Surgical Health Group, a developer and manager of single and limited specialty surgery centers. He has also previously served as vice president of business development for AmSurg, where he helped develop a system and methodology the company used to acquire or develop almost 100 ASCs during his time there.
Debbie James (Vivere Health). Ms. James is president and CEO of Vivere Health, a company that builds and manages multispecialty ASCs as well as and laboratories for comprehensive reproductive health. Ms. James most recently served as COO for Vivere. She has more than 25 years of corporate leadership experience in the healthcare industry. She has also served as market president for fitness and physical medicine business units at Healthways. Since Ms. James started with Vivere in November 2013, the company has been named one of the top 25 fastest growing private companies in Nashville and the company’s ASCs and laboratories are exceeding the national goals for quality, safety and patient satisfaction.
I. Naya Kehayes, MPH (EVEIA Health Consulting & Management). Ms. Kehayes is the managing principal and founder of EVEIA Health Consulting & Management, a consulting and management company that has serviced more than 500 clients in 43 states. Ms. Kehayes specializes in managed care contract negotiations and analysis for ASCs, physician practices/clinics, surgical hospitals and health systems affiliates. She founded the company in 1998, previously having served as a regional director of operations and managed care for a national ASC corporation. She has served as the past president of the Washington Ambulatory Surgery Center Association and currently serves as the co-chair of its Payment Policy Committee.
Tony Knapp (Physicians Surgery Centers). Mr. Knapp is a principal at Physicians Surgery Centers, which helps create and manage outpatient surgical facilities. He joined the company in 2003, before which he was a vice president in Citibank's Citicapital HealthCare & Energy Finance Group. During his tenure at Citicapital and its predecessor, Copelco Capital, he originated funding for more than 40 start-up ambulatory surgery centers. He has also structured financing for stand-alone endoscopy centers, diagnostic imaging centers, fertility clinics, large group practices, radiation therapy centers, a start-up Medicaid HMO and other profitable outpatient facilities.
Luke Lambert (Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America). Since 2002, Mr. Lambert has served as CEO of Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America, before which he served as CFO for five years at the organization. He joined ASCOA in 1997 and previously worked for Smith Barney in international sell-side equity research. He has also worked at Booz, Allen & Hamilton and Ernst & Young in venture exploration and reengineering business processes. Mr. Lambert completed his MBA from Columbia University in New York City and was among the first to earn the CASC designation in 2002. ASCOA currently operates 32 facilities across the country.
Jared Leger (Arise Healthcare). Mr. Leger is a co-founder and managing partner of Arise Healthcare. The company currently owns and operates various healthcare-related businesses with a focus on ASCs. He is a registered nurse, and his previous experience includes healthcare finance, mergers and acquisitions, development and operations. He has also syndicated and operated a number of physician-owned surgery centers. Mr. Leger owns a real estate investment company based out of Austin, Texas, in addition to leading Arise.
Scott Leggett (Surgery One). Mr. Leggett is CEO of Surgery One and has more than 17 years of experience in orthopedics. Surgery One manages four outpatient surgery centers located in San Diego County. He has served in a development and regional management role for U.S. Orthopedics, which was acquired by National Surgical Hospitals in 2001. Mr. Leggett previously developed and managed the OrthoMed Spine & Joint Conditioning and WellStrong Centers for the orthopedic department of the University of California, San Diego. He was president of the California Ambulatory Surgery Association from 2006 to 2007 and now serves on the board as the legislative co-chair.
Jeff Leland (Blue Chip Surgical Center Partners). Mr. Leland is CEO of Blue Chip Surgical Center Partners. The company develops and manages surgery centers, many of them focused on spine surgery. He previously served as executive director of Lutheran General Medical Group, a 260-physician, multispecialty medical group in Chicago, and as a senior-level executive with Advocate Health Care in Chicago, where he was responsible for both business development and Advocate's 225,000-member health plan. He was also president of HealthSpring Medical Group and CEO of Western Ohio Health Care, an HMO that was acquired by United HealthCare. Mr. Leland is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School in Boston.
Michael Lipomi (Surgical Management Professionals). Mr. Lipomi is the president and CEO of Surgical Management Professionals, a Sioux Falls, S.D.-based surgery center and specialty hospital management company. He has more than 30 years of experience operating ASCs and specialty hospitals. Mr. Lipomi has previously served as CEO of Stansilaus Surgical Hospital in Modesto, Calif., which he grew from a small surgery center into a leading specialty hospital. He also owned and operated a number of surgery centers while serving as president of RMC MedStone.
Rodney H. Lunn (PhyBus). Mr. Lunn serves as the president and CEO of PhyBus, which aims at increasing profitability and improving management and operations at ASCs. He is considered by many as the original pioneer of the contemporary ambulatory surgery center concept, having transformed the traditional ASC into a practical, successful business model. During his 25-year career in the ASC industry, he has developed more than 150 ASCs throughout the United States. Mr. Lunn has also served in numerous chief management roles for various healthcare companies. His experience also includes founder, director, and senior vice president of AmSurg, vice president of finance and CFO of American Medical Centers, CFO of INA (now Cigna) Healthplan of Texas, and vice president of HealthAmerica in Florida.
Thomas Mallon (Regent Surgical Health). Mr. Mallon co-founded Regent Surgical Health in 2001 and now serves as CEO. Over the past 11 years, the surgery center management and development company has grown to include 24 facilities in the United States and Europe. Nineteen of those partnerships are hospital/physician joint ventures, and the leadership team is committed to structuring sustainable partnerships that align the interests of all parties, and positioning its centers to meet the constantly changing market conditions. Mr. Mallon offers each facility his expertise on all aspects of clinical and financial operations, as he has significant experience in venture capital funds, turnarounds and physician recruitment. He earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Bryan Massoud, MD (Spine Centers of America). Dr. Massoud is founder and head surgeon at Spine Centers of America in Fair Lawn, N.J. He performed more than 1,000 endoscopic spine surgeries, including endoscopic cervical spine surgery. He also trains spine surgeons in endoscopic procedures, and articles he has authored on the subject are published in professional journals. Along with his clinical practice, Dr. Massoud is an assistant clinical professor of orthopedic surgery at Seton Hall University's School of Health and Medical Sciences in South Orange, N.J. He earned his medical degree from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J., and completed his orthopedic surgery residency at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Paterson, N.J. He has also completed a fellowship in open and minimally invasive spine surgery at Plano-based Texas Back Institute. He is a member of the North American Spine Society, New Jersey Spine Society and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Krystal Mims (Texas Health Partners). Ms. Mims is president of Texas Health Partners, the joint venture development and management arm of Texas Health. She also serves on the executive team of Texas Health Resources. Since joining Texas Health Partners in 2004, Ms. Mims has participated in the development of several newly-constructed joint ventures and oversaw operations. Before being named president, she served as Texas Health Partners' executive vice president and COO. Ms. Mims is an advocate for physician leadership within the healthcare organization and works closely with physician and clinical leaders in her role as president.
Kris Mineau (Constitution Surgery Centers). Mr. Mineau co-founded CSC in 1997 and serves as its president and CEO. He led the company's growth since its inception, partnering with over 200 physicians to build surgery centers and three hospital systems in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Mr. Mineau was previously a pilot in the U.S. Air Force and earned a Bachelor's degree in management from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He has been involved in many professional organizations, and was a founding president of Connecticut Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers.
Jessica Nantz (Outpatient Healthcare Strategies). Ms. Nantz is the founder and president of Outpatient Healthcare Strategies, a Houston-based management and consulting company. She focuses on providing clients with the tools needed to improve operational efficiency. Ms. Nantz has 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry, more than half of which she has spent concentrating on the outpatient care field. Prior to founding Outpatient Healthcare Strategies, she served as a senior executive for HealthSouth, which operated and managed various healthcare facilities. Ms. Nantz then founded, and later sold, ASC coding company mdStrategies. She also went on to found ASC Strategies, which concentrated on serving ambulatory surgery centers and hospital's outpatient divisions.
Stanton M. Nelson (Foundation HealthCare). Mr. Nelson is CEO of Foundation HealthCare, a company focused on owning, operating, developing and partnering with physicians in surgical hospitals, ASCs and sleep centers. The company was founded in 1996 by current Chairman Tom Michaud and includes three surgical hospitals, 12 ASCs and 56 sleep centers. Mr. Nelson also serves on the board for Valliance Bank as vice chairman and previously served as CEO of Monroe-Stephens Broadcasting.
Sean O'Neal (SurgeCenter Development). Mr. O'Neal, who has more than 25 years of experience in healthcare management, completed postgraduate studies in health services administration at California State University, Northridge. He previously served as a hospital CEO and worked to bridge the gap between physicians and hospital administration. Under Dr. George and Mr. O'Neal's leadership, SurgCenter Development has developed more than 100 physician-owned ASCs.
Vito Quatela, MD (Ambulatory Healthcare Strategies). Dr. Quatela is the co-founder and CEO of AHS. He developed and owns two ASCs in Rochester, N.Y., and founded HUGS, a nonprofit organization that does medical mission trips into third-world countries. He is a board-certified facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon and serves as clinical associate professor at the University of Rochester's otolaryngology department. He is also the immediate past president of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons and serves annually as a board examiner for the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Lori Ramirez (Elite Surgical Affiliates). Ms. Ramirez founded Elite Surgical Affiliates in 2008 and now leads as its president and CEO. Elite provides management and development for surgical facilities, with a special focus on orthopedics, spine and pain. Prior to founding Elite Surgical Affiliates, Ms. Ramirez was a senior vice president at United Surgical Partners International. In this role, she gained experience in creating joint ventures, including one between Memorial Hermann in Houston and CHRISTUS Health System in South Texas. She also was directly responsible for developing the second-largest network of surgical facilities for USPI in Houston and supervised more than 600 employees. Ms. Ramirez oversaw more than 20 surgical facilities, including two surgical hospitals, one of which included an imaging center and three breast imaging centers. In addition to the development of those facilities, she was also responsible for strategic planning, operations management, physician partnerships and financing.
Stephen Rosenbaum (Interventional Management Services). Mr. Rosenbaum is co-founder and CEO of IMS. He began his career at Ernst & Young in the Carolinas Healthcare Consulting Practice and over the course of his more than 17 years of healthcare-related experience, Mr. Rosenbaum has served as vice president of finance for development at MedCath and helped develop Carolinas Surgery Center. In addition, Mr. Rosenbaum created an independent healthcare consulting company, SourceRevenue, where he was involved in the development of a neurosurgical hospital and a physician-owned hospital. He also worked with The Bloom Organization to provide investment banking services to physician-owned ASCs, during which time he was involved in more than $100 million of ASC transactions. In 2008, Rosenbaum joined The Interventional Spine and Pain Management Center and created IMS with Robin Fowler, MD. As CEO of IMS, Mr. Rosenbaum is responsible for the day-to-day operations of 10 healthcare companies and more than $35 million in annual revenues.
Kenneth R. Ross (Solara Surgical Partners). Mr. Ross is started Solara Surgical Partners and currently serves as its CEO. He has more than 30 years of management experience in healthcare, energy and finance, including 17 years in operations management, finance, strategy and business development in several healthcare industries. He previously founded and developed Solara Healthcare, where he helped develop seven long-term acute care hospitals. Mr. Ross is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, a member of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Adjunct Faculty and a CPA.
Bob Scheller (Nikitis Resource Group). Mr. Scheller is CEO and COO of Nikitis Resource Group. He previously served as senior vice president of Aspen Healthcare. Before becoming involved in the ASC industry, he worked in public accounting and later hospital administration and physician practice consulting. He earned his MBA from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Donald Schellpfeffer, MD (Medical Facilities Corp.). Dr. Schellpfeffer is the CEO of Medical Facilities Corporation and Sioux Falls (S.D.) Specialty Hospital. As an original founder of Sioux Falls Specialty Hospital, Dr. Schellpfeffer has been its CEO and a member of the management committee since the facility's inception in 1985. He has more than 30 years of experience in ambulatory surgical environments and in general, cardiovascular and trauma practices. Dr. Schellpfeffer received a master's degree and a bachelor of science degree from the College of Veterinary and Medicine; a PhD in animal physiology from the University of Minnesota; and an MD from the University of South Dakota School of Medicine. He completed his residency in anesthesiology in Wisconsin.
Matt Searles (Merritt Healthcare). Mr. Searles has been a partner with Merritt Healthcare for more than 10 years. During that time, he has managed, developed and advised for dozens of healthcare facilities across the country. Mr. Searles is also a registered investment banking agent holding Series 79 and Series 63 licenses. His background includes experience in corporate finance and venture capital-backed companies. Prior to Merritt, he served as senior vice president of finance for a service company based in Greenwich, Conn. He earned his MBA from Duke University in Durham, N.C.
John R. Seitz (ManageMyASC). Mr. Seitz is president and CEO of ManageMyASC, a real-time, interactive management tool that provides a view into the financial and operational performance of a surgical center with tracking, benchmarking, analysis and recommendations. He has more than 25 years of experience in healthcare, including founding and leading start-up companies. He was one of the founders and president of Surgem and was responsible for building the company from the ground up. Prior to founding Surgem, Mr. Seitz served as founder and CEO of Cornerstone Physicians, a medical practice management company. Mr. Seitz is a graduate of Boston's Harvard Business School Owners and Presidents Management program.
Sue Shelley (Surgical Partners of America). Ms. Shelly is a partner and founder of Surgical Partners of America, a Dallas-based ambulatory surgery center consulting services company. Before starting Surgical Partners of America, she co-founded United Surgical Partners International in 1998 and served as the company's executive vice president until 2002. She has also developed and operated over 100 ambulatory surgery centers at Columbia/HCA, Medical Care International and University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Ms. Shelley utilizes her experience at nonprofit hospitals to bring the best hospital practices to freestanding centers. She has a masters degree in healthcare administration from Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Barry Tanner, CPA (Physicians Endoscopy). Mr. Tanner has been CEO of Physicians Endoscopy since 1999 and co-authored the company's business plan together with CFO Karen Sablyak. The company currently owns and manages 28 endoscopy centers in partnership with physicians and hospitals. Before joining PE, Mr. Tanner held various senior executive positions in healthcare for more than 20 years, working both on the provider side and in financial services. He previously served as CFO of Navix Radiology Systems, a physician practice management company based in Miami, which he also co-founded.
Larry D. Taylor (Practice Partners in Healthcare). Mr. Taylor is founder, president and CEO of the company. He has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare delivery, management and physician relations, and prior to founding Practice Partners in Healthcare, he served as president and COO of the largest provider of ambulatory surgery centers in the United States. His initial entry into healthcare was focused in the delivery of sports medicine and orthopedic care. Since founding Practice Partners, the team has developed and opened multiple surgery centers and has a pipeline of centers under development and construction. Mr. Taylor also has a background in education and currently serves as an adjunct professor in healthcare at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and participates as a board member for ASCA and the Ambulatory Surgery Center Foundation.
Pedro Juan Vergne-Morell (PCI | HealthDev). Mr. Vergne-Morell is the CEO of PCI | HealthDev, a Dallas-based healthcare facility construction and investment company. He develops and maintains PCI | HealthDev's corporate identity and marketing direction. Mr. Vergne-Morrell concentrates on cultivating investor relationships and partnerships. He has more than 17 years of business leadership experience. He earned his Master's in Business Administration in marketing and finance from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Terry Weisman (Denovo Development). Mr. Weisman serves as president of Denovo Development, which focuses on ground-up development of surgical centers including physicians LLC formation, real estate investment and development, operations and management. He began his career in the workers' compensation industry, developing urgent care, physical therapy and industrial medicine facilities in partnership with physicians. After 11 years in that business, he was hired by Andrew Brooks of California-based Specialty Surgical Center in order to grow the business. There he developed six surgical centers in southern California. After the company was sold to Symbion, he started Denovo Development.
William Wilcox (United Surgical Partners International). Mr. Wilcox has served as CEO of USPI since April 2004. The company currently owns and operates outpatient surgical facilities across the United States and United Kingdom. More than half of the facilities in the United States are jointly owned facilities with nonprofit healthcare systems and hospitals. Prior to joining USPI in 1998, Mr. Wilcox served as CEO of United Dental Care, president of the Surgery Group of HCA, president and CEO of the ambulatory surgery division of HCA and president, COO and director of Medical Care International. He earned his master's degree in health systems management from Tulane University in New Orleans.
John C. Wilson Jr. (Meridian Surgical Partners). Mr. Wilson is CEO of Meridian Surgical Partners, a role he assumed in October 2013. He previously served as CFO of the company. He has also served as COO of Xtensia, a revenue cycle management company and executive vice president of finance and operations for Working Rx, a workers' compensation pharmacy services company and formerly a division of Medifax-EDI. He is a certified public accountant and has more than six years of experience in public accounting.
Tom Yerden (TRY Health Care Solutions). Mr. Yerden serves as CEO of TRY Health Care Solutions. During his more than 31 years of experience in the ASC industry, Mr. Yerden has worked with group practices and healthcare systems. He previously founded Aspen Healthcare and helped plan, develop, open and manage more than 75 surgery centers. Prior to forming Aspen Healthcare, Mr. Yerden held COO and other executive positions in several healthcare systems and large physician group practices where he developed outpatient surgery centers and new outpatient surgical delivery systems. Mr. Yerden has authored several publications on ASC issues and is a national speaker on those topics. He is also the host of an ASC governing board retreat program in Salmon, Idaho.
Joseph Zasa, JD (ASD Management). Mr. Zasa is the co-founder and managing partner of ASD Management (formerly Woodrum/ASD). Founded in 1986, the company is one of the oldest continually operating surgery center companies, with more than 125 surgery centers developed and managed over the last 26 years. ASD is an operations-focused company and has had great success with ASC turnarounds and hospital/physician joint ventures, according to Mr. Zasa. In addition to his work with ASD Management, Mr. Zasa is the former president of the Texas Ambulatory Surgery Center Society. He also serves on the board of the ASC Advocacy Committee.
Robert Zasa (ASD Management). Mr. Zasa is co-founder and managing partner of ASD Management, which is a national healthcare services firm that consults with physicians, physician groups and hospitals to develop and manage ambulatory surgery businesses. In the early 1990s, Mr. Zasa founded and served as president and CEO of Premier Ambulatory Systems, a firm that acquired, developed, owned and operated ambulatory surgery centers across the United States. Previously, Mr. Zasa was managing general partner of a national ambulatory care consulting firm and was involved in the founding and public offering of the AlternaCare Corporation. He began his career as an administrator for the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans.
J.A. Ziskind (Global Surgical Partners). Mr. Ziskind is founder, president and CEO of Global Surgical Partners, which currently manages nine surgical centers in Florida and Mississippi. He has been involved in Florida's healthcare industry since the 1970s, and has previously served as CEO of Miami's Cedars Medical Center. He is also a board-certified healthcare attorney and has helped develop and manage several physician-hospital joint venture ASCs. Mr. Ziskind co-founded and was general counsel to the Florida Society of Ambulatory Surgical Centers, served on the Pan American hospital board of directors and has served as general counsel to the Dade County Medical Association for more than two decades. He currently serves as chairman of the board of directors for Mercy Foundation.
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