Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Abby Sears, President and CEO of OCHIN, a nonprofit health care innovation center designed to provide knowledge solutions that promote quality, affordable health care for all. Early on Abby learned she had a passion for business and science. Then someone opened the door to leadership. Every day Abby feels a responsibility to honor that opportunity, for her employees, her members, her supportive network which includes her board. More than ever, Abby believes that team members/employees should not be forced to separate their professional life from their personal life. She spent years leading OCHIN taking calls from the soccer field or the parking lot of where she was picking up her kids. Having to choose family over career was never a choice she was willing to make and if that means getting your work done with your toddler or your dog by your side, so be it. What started out as a grant project, laden with stigma and obstacles, Abby has built a sustainable business which was required to ensure that she could provide premiere systems to support the needs of Medicaid populations and the uninsured. And having data matters. With data, Abby and OCHIN have been able to pinpoint key equity issues during this pandemic like vaccine availability to vulnerable populations and with that, support policy changes. Abby is incredibly optimistic that we can build sustainable systems and realize OCHIN’s vision of providing ”quality, affordable healthcare for all”. Abby Sears | President & Chief Executive Officer As Chief Executive Officer, Abby Sears is responsible for the overall strategy and executive leadership at OCHIN. Abby has been with OCHIN since its inception and has helped grow the organization nationally, focusing on building a learning organization that supports the transformation of healthcare through the use of data and technology. A prominent national speaker and HIT advisor with over 15 years of healthcare expertise, she is focused on building a premier information and technology network leveraging Health IT products, services, and the use of practice-based research to help community practices nationwide achieve federal and industry standards for healthcare delivery, quality, and cost control. Abby was appointed to the federal Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC) for a three-year appointment, starting in January of 2020, where she will work to help elevate the voices of the patients and providers in historically underserved communities throughout the nation. HITAC advises policy makers on how to safely advance electronic access, exchange, and use of health information nationwide. In 2012, Abby was named CEO of the Year for Nonprofits in Oregon by the Portland Business Journal. She holds an MBA and MHA, both from the University of Minnesota. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Ann Barnes, CEO of IMO a healthcare company focused on data and insights. Ann has purposefully built her teams to focus on diversity because this simply makes sense for her business. She encourages other leaders to move from the discussion of DEI to doing the work of DEI. As a senior leader she also believes it is both an imperative and a responsibility to pay it forward. Early on she was struck by how few seats there were for women at senior tables and today she is committed to ensuring there are more of them. Ann Barnes, Chief Executive Officer Ann Barnes joined IMO in 2018 as Chief Executive Officer, leading the company’s day-to-day operations. In November 2008, she joined MedData as Vice President of Client Services and rose quickly to the position of Chief Operating Officer. In February 2013, Ann was promoted to President, then to CEO soon after. She also served on their Board of Directors. Prior to MedData, Ann was Executive Vice President for the student loan division of Wachovia Bank, she led a national sales force for New Horizons Computer Learning, and held leadership roles with Avolent, an enterprise software solution for electronic bill payments. Ann is a graduate of the University of the Pacific in San Francisco where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing. You can follow Ann on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Stacey Vanek Smith, acclaimed business and economics correspondent for NPR and author of Machiavelli for Women: Defend Your Worth, Grow Your Ambition and Win the Workplace. Stacey recognizes that we are in a powerful moment right now with a convergence of forces that has the potential to be very good for women. She turns to the unlikely hero of Machiavelli to write this women’s power playbook recognizing the clarity that comes when you remove the emotion of gender disparity issues. Women may make 15% less in certain areas, and while that’s wrong, that also means there is 15% more on the table somewhere, now how do I go get it? Stacey tackles tough and relatable issues with precise guidance from 500 years ago. The combination of humor, wit, and personal stories tied to history lessons makes Machiavelli for Women one of the best business books I have read in quite some time and the top gift for my daughter this coming holiday! Stacey Vanek Smith, Co-Host, The Indicator from Planet Money; Correspondent, Planet Money Author, Machiavelli for Women: Defend Your Worth, Grow Your Ambition and Win the Workplace Stacey Vanek Smith is the co-host of NPR’s The Indicator from Planet Money. She’s also a correspondent for Planet Money, where she covers business and economics. In this role, Smith has followed economic stories down the muddy back roads of Oklahoma to buy 100 barrels of oil; she’s traveled to Pune, India, to track down the man who pitched the country’s dramatic currency devaluation to the prime minister; and she’s spoken with a North Korean woman who made a small fortune smuggling artificial sweetener in from China. Prior to coming to NPR, Smith worked for Marketplace, where she was a correspondent and fill-in host. While there, Smith was part of a collaboration with The New York Times, where she explored the relationship between money and marriage. She was also part of Marketplace‘s live shows, where she produced a series of pieces on getting her data mined. Smith is a native of Idaho and grew up working on her parents’ cattle ranch. She is a graduate of Princeton University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature and creative writing. She also holds a master’s in broadcast journalism from Columbia University. You can follow Stacey on LinkedIn, her website, or Twitter. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Rona Matthew, a leading woman in marketing and entertainment and currently a senior product marketing manager at TikTok. Rona’s career has already been an adventure from when she started at Howard University to spending eight years in South Africa leading her own brand agency. Being part of the majority, surrounding herself with other creatives has been very meaningful to Rona, so when she decided to “upskill” and go to Columbia Business School she had to develop a new network. Finding her tribe and being a leader today at TikTok’s black employee resource group is important to Rona. As a woman, a woman of color, Rona knows she is part of a small community in the workplace and affinity groups are just not enough. Rona is pleased that TikTok took her advice to begin recruiting from HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities) as an important step to creating a more diverse workforce. With her work, Rona aims to sustain artists and creatives and she is just getting started. Rona Matthew is a Product Marketing Manager at TikTok where she drives the development, positioning, and sales of the company’s marquee advertising product, the Branded Hashtag Challenge. She’s an accomplished marketing professional, collaboration facilitator, and dealmaker with a passion for creating and growing meaningful brands in tech, CPG, media and entertainment. Rona started her career in branding and advertising in Johannesburg, South Africa. While in Johannesburg, she founded a brand consulting company, Brandpulse and also led business development at Bamboo Network, a brand innovation firm. Rona has worked with a number of budding start-ups and multinationals including Spotify, IBM, Unilever, 3M, BET, Ericsson, and Pernod Ricard. Rona holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Marketing from Howard University. You can follow Rona on LinkedIn or Twitter. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Dana Zanone, a family medicine physician who has been implementing technology solutions for most of her career. Now she wants physicians to have less time with the computer and much more of it focused on the more important work of being a physician – time with the patient. Dana is a self-described “click-counter” and knows how valuable that time with patients can be. She also shares how patients can get lost in the system and her own very personal experience with mental illness in her family. Talking about these topics is important to Dana to remove stigma and to find solutions. Dana Zanone,MD VICE PRESIDENT, HIO, ADVENTIST HEALTH Dr. Dana Zanone is a health information physician with experience in implementing and optimizing EMR for Epic, Allscripts Enterprise and Professional, and Nextgen for greater than 12 years. She was the chief medical information officer during large-scale implementation of >130 clinics using a cooperative team-building approach between IT and organizational leaders. Zanone also coordinated the development of a physician builder program, and development of policies and procedures for all aspects of the project for the outpatient workflows. She also supported and adapted the analytics for organizational goals in Meaningful Use Stage 1 and 2 and implemented accountable care organization metrics and population health management into the Epic EMR. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Janet Dillione. Janet is an incredibly accomplished executive in healthcare that is focused, at this stage of her career, on leaving healthcare better than when she found it. As she reflects on key pivot points in her storied career, Janet has learned that progression is not a ladder and that careers are not linear. Learning, working with a team, being at Phase 0 when starting something new are all energizing to Janet and have led to other opportunities. And as Janet reflects on the industry today, she is very optimistic about the talent coming into healthcare. When we all know the denominators, having this level of creativity to solve complex problems is something that she is inspired by as she continues to enjoy the ride! Janet is: a proven CEO with experience building innovative strategies and strong teams that transform businesses for sustained growth and profitability. Throughout my career, I have always looked for opportunities where technology can support patients and clinicians by helping to solve long-standing issues in the delivery of care. As I like to share with my teams, we are compelled to “leave it better than we found it.” With leading roles in both large-scale global businesses as well as start-up scenarios, I am a dynamic leader who knows how to effectively instill a customer- and market-centric culture within an organization to drive the business forward. As a champion of sustainable and differentiated innovation, my experience managing the complexities of global deployments and FDA-regulated products extends to businesses across North America, Europe and Asia with companies developing solutions that have been sold into diverse markets including the Federal market in the US. Throughout my career progression, I have been a frequent presenter at industry conferences and have authored dozens of articles for multiple healthcare publications. Since 2015, I have served as a member of the Board of Directors for CorMedix, and in 2019, also joined the Board of CortiCare. Additionally, I continue to provide strategic advisory services to several private equity firms that are assessing M&A opportunities, strategic expansion, or repositioning of current portfolio assets. Follow Janet on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Katie Goodman. Katie is a podcast host, an influencer (in the world of soccer), a business owner, a yoga instructor, PR consultant and several other things. In other words, a millennial! Katie graduated from Mississippi State and spent a few years in “big girl jobs” and learned that being in a cubicle just wasn’t for her. She did learn that she was a business person. Katie has been influenced by Ikigai, a Japanese concept that means your ‘reason for being”. She began putting her business background to work with a number of her personal interests that she found deeply purposeful. What started out as a lot of hustling, has turned into a series of opportunities such as Katie’s current work as a podcast host of Tidal League FC as well as Our Cup of Tea. Katie discusses what it means to be a millennial today and how she thinks about career progression. She is unafraid to take on learning new skills and try out her new business ideas knowing that they will not always work out. Katie Goodman is going places and don’t be surprised if you see her reporting on ESPN some Katie Goodman: Podcast Host, Influencer, Yoga and Wellness, PR and Production Management. Follow Katie on Twitter or Instagram Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Patrice Harris. Dr. Harris speaks about what it means to be the first, one of the first, the only …..African American woman in so many spaces. She has always gravitated to where the decisions are being made and if she sees something that is not working, she feels this is usually a place where she wants to get involved and shape the direction. Her views on leadership are simply – this is where the work gets done. In her current role as CEO and founder of a digital health company, she is quite clear that with all the promise in the innovation space today – separating out the hype is key. Being HYPER vigilant when it comes to healthcare is critical – why? It’s about patients’ lives. Period. So disrupt with care and get out of your own bubble. Inspiring Women Book Club/Article: Nice Girls Don’t Ask (Harvard Business Review, 2003) Dr. Patrice A. Harris is board-certified in psychiatry and has diverse experience as a private practicing physician, public health director and patient advocate. In 2019, Dr. Harris was elected as the 174th President of the American Medical Association, the first African-American woman to ever hold the position. Dr. Harris’ life is marked by her passion to improve the lives of children and communities around her, especially communities of color. She is a recognized expert in children’s mental health and childhood trauma, leading both local and national efforts to integrate public health, behavioral health and primary care services. She has received numerous awards in recognition of her service and leadership. Upon completing her term as President of the AMA, Dr. Harris has continued in private practice. She regularly consults with public and private organizations on health service delivery and emerging trends in health policy. She is a Visiting Professor at Columbia University, an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine and an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Harris is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. You can follow Dr. Patrice Harris on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Julie Castro Abrams, founder and CEO of How Women Invest and How Women Lead. For over 30 years, Julie, who describes herself as a social justice warrior, has been intent on affecting everyone’s opportunity to advance. She takes a scientific approach to supporting and advancing women at the investment and board level. The approach covers regulatory and legislative issues; movement building; training women on the how to; and then actually doing placements. By demystifying the process, Julie aims to bring 10,000 women into the world of venture. Julie credits asset management companies being the first to move on creating more diverse boards to reduce their risk. Group think makes for bad investments. And Julie encourages women to start early. Start looking at non-profit boards while in your twenties for example as a way to add scaffolding to your career. And because 85% of all board seats get placed through word of mouth, Julie also asks women to be fierce advocates for each other including making those important introductions. How Women Invest; How Women Lead Julie Castro Abrams is an expert on building boards that add a strategic advantage including proactive searches for women on corporate boards. An experienced CEO and sought-after speaker in entrepreneurship and how women lead, she is a widely recognized because of her unique ability to connect people and facilitate rich conversations that make change happen. Julie partners with terrific CEO’s to build high performance, multicultural teams, in particular boards that make organizations better. She has a successful consulting practice with leaders she admires to achieve their growth and breakthrough goals. Julie’s commitment to justice and community are well known in her personal and professional endeavors. She serves as a leader on the boards of organizations focused on women and children, Latinos, economic development and the arts. Julie is a philanthropist who launched How Women Give and serves as the Governance Chair for the Women’s Funding Network. Thousands of new businesses attribute their launch and growth to her support which has resulted in millions toward the economic growth in communities. She is a leader in the country’s movement to build and fund start ups. Julie has won many awards including the Jobs Genius Award, Morgan Stanley Innovation Award, Cisco Innovation in Technology, “Women Who Could Be President” League of Women Voters, Stevie Award for Best Non Profit Executive, Human Rights Award from the Commission on the Status of Women, the Women of Color Action Network, Leadership California and the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011. You can follow Julie on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman May Busch, a sought after executive coach, speaker, advisor, and author. May was just one more incredibly smart, talented, hardworking financial analyst at Morgan Stanley when at age 23 she found she had a special strength – reading the room and performing some tai chi moves to change the energy. Being a student of the environment meant May understood how to navigate not just the org chart, but the informal powerchart. And for women to succeed, May tells women to be in the READY position – be READY to return anything that comes as you. Her teaching, coaching, writings will help you be READY. May’s passion is helping people succeed in their career and life – to be better, do more, and make the difference they are meant to make. May’s book, ACCELERATE: 9 Capabilities to Achieve Success at Any Career Stage, helps identify, understand and master the hidden skills needed to get – and stay – ahead. Previously, May enjoyed a 24-year career at Morgan Stanley spanning two continents and nine different business roles across Investment Banking, Capital Markets and Firm Management. She was most recently Chief Operating Officer for Europe where she was responsible for the development and implementation of the Firm’s business strategy in Europe, Middle East and Africa. She chaired the firm’s European Diversity Council and was a member of Morgan Stanley’s European Management Committee as well as a Board Member of the Firm’s FSA-regulated UK broker dealer. May is also Senior Advisor and Executive in Residence in the Office of the President, and Professor of Practice at W.P. Carey School of Business, at Arizona State University. She lectures on leadership, and works on interdisciplinary initiatives across the university with an emphasis on leadership, entrepreneurship and enhancing the engagement between business and academia. She chairs The Idea Enterprise, a program for bringing experienced business leaders to ASU to help turn its best ideas into forces for change in the world. ASU is the largest US public research university, and pioneer of the New American University model for higher education. You can follow May on her WEBSITE, TWITTER, or FACEBOOK. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Natalie Davis, CEO and Co-Founder of United States of Care. Natalie has been working to improve people’s lives and opportunity for health for nearly two decades. This means bringing together a lot of stakeholders including many of healthcare’s power brokers. You might find that intimidating, but not for Natalie. She looks for the human connections to drive the important issues and make progress. In addition to leading United States of Care, Natalie has a busy life with her young family and awesome husband. Balancing it all also means staying sharp and keeping herself challenged. For Natalie, that means a lot of reading and spending time talking to smart people. Inspiring Women Book Club – Natalie’s Pick: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. By Brené Brown Natalie Davis has worked for nearly two decades shaping and implementing American health care policies to improve the lives of all people. In 2018, she and fellow national health care leader Andy Slavitt launched United States of Care to ensure that everyone in the country has access to quality, affordable health care regardless of health status, social need, or income. She is relentless in her person-centered approach to building health care solutions and has a history of building partnerships – with organizations, patient advocacy groups and everyday people – that work to create positive change in our country’s health care system. From 2010-2016, Natalie served at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, with the final two years as Senior Advisor to former CMS Administrator, Andy Slavitt. At CMS, she was deeply engaged in the implementation of one of the country’s largest expansions of health care in modern history. Natalie provided strategic and tactical support during the development of the agency’s internal and external priorities, and served as a liaison between CMS and stakeholders across the country. In 2017, Natalie served as the Director of Strategic Engagement at the Bipartisan Policy Center. There she worked to launch the Future of Health Reform initiative which serves as a resource to policymakers by developing effective and politically viable solutions to our nation’s health care challenges. This effort is led by former Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle and Bill Frist, as well as by Andy Slavitt, Gail Wilensky, and other leaders. Natalie knows firsthand that it is possible to bring the smartest minds together to innovate and get things done — regardless of political party. A social entrepreneur, Natalie also helped found Town Hall Ventures and The Medicaid Transformation Project, both of which focus on bringing the best of innovation and care delivery to diverse communities. An advocate and a mother, Natalie currently serves on the board of directors of the Preeclampsia Foundation. Natalie believes that it has never been more important to make our health care system work better for everyone. She is dedicated to bringing together leaders and advocates from across the country who can help create meaningful change in our nation’s inequitable health care system. She brings all her personal and professional experiences to the fight for better health care, working to expand access to quality, affordable health care to help people right now, while working towards durable federal policies centered on the needs of people to provide real and lasting solutions for everybody. Natalie holds an M.A. in Social Policy from George Washington University and is an alumna of Salisbury University schools of Sociology and Art History. Natalie lives in Washington, DC with her amazing husband and four children. You can find Natalie on LinkedIn and Twitter Listen to the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Miruna Sasu, PhD, and Chief Strategy Office of COTA, Inc. Always a risk taker, Miruna thrives on the challenges of pursuing big ideas and changing something drastically. But risk taking comes with having a support system, one that she trusts, not only her husband and family, but also trusted friends and mentors. With that, Miruna believes there is never a wrong time to pursue something next. Miruna has more than 20 years of experience at leading life science organizations such as Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Most recently, Miruna was serving as the head of Johnson & Johnson’s Clinical Trial Feasibility and Advanced Analytics team where she drove global adoption of integrated real-world data and innovation strategies across several therapeutic areas. Miruna is an accomplished executive with a track record of success when it comes to driving broad-based digital innovation. Miruna brings deep experience in the utilization and scaling of emerging innovations to advance drug portfolios. She also has both a Ph.D. in biology and statistics, and a master’s in business administration. With decades of in-house life science experience, Miruna’s guidance and collaboration will prove invaluable to COTA clients that are looking to drive innovation and accelerate availability of much-needed cancer drugs and therapies through the adoption and at-scale use of real-world data. In her new role as Chief Strategy Officer, Life Sciences, Miruna will play a critical role in setting the strategy and executing the solutions delivery to meet critical needs in partnership with life science companies to drive efficient and optimal drug development. You can find Miruna Sasu, PhD on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Fran Ayalasomayajula. She still doesn’t understand why it took a pandemic to embrace telehealth but she urges us to continue to accelerate and to double down on universal design. Fran is clear that digital health holds great promise for global health issues, but personalization, form factors, and honing in on data science are key to sustained change. When she began her focus on public health and global populations, she was not focused on a career destination. She has been enjoying the journey ever since. Inspiring Women Book Club – Fran’s Pick: Finding Yourself in Transition: Using Life’s Changes for Spiritual Awakening By Robert Brumet With over 20 years of dedication, Fran Ayalasomayajula, executive healthcare strategist and technologist, serves the interests of populations around the world to improve the quality of healthcare, increase access to healthcare, and obtain higher rates of health literacy and patient engagement. Currently the Head of Digital Health Strategy, Worldwide at HP, Fran leads the organization in devising strategies and innovations designed to advance and deliver improved clinical outcomes and better population health. Prior to HP, Frances worked for major healthcare institutions, including PAHO – WHO, CDC, BMS, and UHG. Fran is the recipient of national awards for motivational and collaborative leadership including the National Campaign for Tolerance. She is a member of the Wall of Tolerance, the United Nations Association, and multiple global organizations on population health. She is a renown international public speaker and writer. The author of several publications on technology-enabled population health management solutions, including best practices for the successful adoption of virtual reality in the clinical setting. An acclaimed thought leader, Fran engages and inspires audiences through storytelling from the front-lines of public health and “How To” presentations sharing approaches to applied innovation and technology enabled methodologies. You can find Fran on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Sarah Oremland. She is an executive coach and leadership development consultant but considers herself a Business Psychologist. Sarah discusses what today’s high-performance teams need to engage and retain the workforce of today. Sarah has a quintessentially unique mix: the hunger and motivation of a former salesperson, the ability to actively listen as a trained social worker, the results-focus of a former sales manager, and the concurrent creativity and analytical talents of a consultant. With over 14 years of clinical social work, consulting, and executive coaching experience, she recognizes that getting the right mix of strategy, people, skills, tools and measurement is a significant challenge to driving revenue growth. As a skilled executive coach and assessor experienced in the commercial and strategic realities of organizational leadership, Sarah partners closely with individuals and their organization to ensure measurable growth with a sustainable impact that is embedded within the workplace. Outside of work, Sarah enjoys virtually anything having to do with the outdoors- hiking, biking, skiing, and traveling to see the beauty of this world. Recently made the move from Chicago to Colorado with her family to take advantage of the outdoor lifestyle and be closer to nature. B.S. Sociology and Fine Arts (Bates College), Masters of Social Work (University of Chicago – School of Social Service Administration), Hogan Certified You can find Sarah on LinkedIn Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Natasha Sheybani, a scientist focused on eradicating cancer. Natasha Sheybani, PhD, serves as Senior Scientist at the Focused Ultrasound Foundation, where her role involves supporting research programs in glioblastoma, gene therapy and cancer immunotherapy. She is also a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stanford University, where her appointment is shared among the Departments of Oncology, Radiology, and Biomedical Data Science. Her research focuses on applications of liquid biopsy and radiomics/radiogenomics for advancing precision immuno-oncology. Dr. Sheybani received her BS (2015) and PhD (2020) in Biomedical Engineering from Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Virginia (UVA), respectively. Her graduate research at UVA centered on leveraging image-guided focused ultrasound to potentiate immunotherapy for solid tumors including glioblastoma and metastatic breast cancer. During her training, Dr. Sheybani was supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and Robert R. Wagner Fellowship, and she currently holds the prestigious NCI F99/K00 Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Fellow Transition Award. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Chrissy Farr, a San Francisco-based health-tech investor with a background in journalism. Chrissy is a Principal at OMERS Ventures having joined in 2020 and is focused on healthtech, with special expertise in behavioral health, telemedicine, electronic medical records, and women’s health. Previously, she was a writer and frequent on-air contributor for CNBC, Fast Company and Reuters News, among other publications. She was raised in London, UK, and received graduate degrees from University College London and Stanford University. To follow Chrissy’s writing, check out Second Opinion here. Also follow Chrissy on Twitter or LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Insha Haque, a family medicine doctor in New Hampshire who has led a life of service in addition to serving her patients today. Dr. Insha Haque’s focuses include Quality Improvement, Clinical Innovation, Population Health and Leadership via a Systems Change Philosophy. My clinical work is centered primarily in outpatient Primary Care Medicine. Family and Preventive Medicine + Population Health are my passions in healthcare. Dr. Haque is a graduate of Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine, she received a B.A. in Spanish from the University of Louisville in 2011. She has a vivid interest in language which she uses to connect to an international patient population. She has served five years as a medical student and translator for Children’s Aid Mission International. Dual residency program in Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Marie E. Lamont, President and Chief Operating Officer of Inteliquet, a clinical trials technology company. Marie E. Lamont is responsible for the overall vision and operations of Inteliquet. With the goal of providing patients and physicians access to the latest and best treatment options and care available, she helps commercialize Inteliquet’s offerings of intelligent technology, insights, and services to improve the clinical trial process, research, and translational medicine. With more than 25 years as a global biotech leader, Marie has significant commercial and operational expertise. She has held senior leadership positions in many areas focusing on corporate strategic planning and analytics, commercial operations, finance and accounting, patient services, and payer contracting and reimbursement. Prior to Inteliquet, Marie headed up an executive consulting and advisory firm for the life science and technology industries that advised companies on commercialization and integration planning, M&A support, and global market expansion. Before her consultancy, Marie was President of the Patient Services Business at Dohmen Life Science Services (DLSS), which was subsequently sold and is now part of EVERSANA (a provider of global services to the life science industry). She directed all aspects of the unit and was responsible for improving the client and patient focus by shoring up the underlying infrastructure, as well as improving patient support and employee engagement. She also was heavily involved in the success of DLSS’s brand positioning, strategic road mapping, sales business development, and patient journey adoption, along with targeting analytics for key initiatives. Prior to DLSS, Marie was Global Head of Business Strategy and Commercial Operations for Rare Disease at Sanofi Genzyme. She had stewardship for the $2.9B business where annual operating profit improved at a rate greater than revenue. As a member of the senior leadership team, she was tasked with decision analytics and support as well as bringing together disparate groups and functions into a cohesive, comprehensive global unit. While reestablishing a Rare Disease global strategy, she worked to align efforts with a range of functions, including R&D, Biologics Manufacturing, and Medical/Regulatory Affairs. She also helped to lead humanitarian programs that provided free therapy for more than 1,100 patients suffering from rare diseases in emerging markets. Prior to this position, she held several senior operational and finance roles. She took on the assignment of Vice President of Integration for Finance and Accounting following the Sanofi acquisition. Before this assignment, she was Vice President of Operations & Finance for the International Group where the business grew from $100M in 2002 to $2B at time of the Sanofi acquisition. She guided the operational strategy for the international infrastructure on a regional and country basis for the Oncology, Transplant, Renal, Biosurgery, and Rare Disease Business Units. Before this role, she directed Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis and Strategic Planning. Marie holds a bachelor’s degree in Business from Saint Michael’s College, and attended Harvard Business School and Kellogg Executive Education programs. She lives in the St. Louis area. “Early on, I was fortunate to work for a CEO who believed that when you treat patients and employees right, business success follows — and you can change the world. I believe this applies to every employee in any role whether patient facing or not. “My grandfather passed due to lung cancer, so I saw how the cycle of disease progression and therapy can be a horrid emotional journey for everyone involved. When considering a new role, I evaluate whether I can make a difference to patients now or in the future. Since Inteliquet can harness the best data to rapidly identify and qualify patients for trials, we have a significant opportunity to benefit patients, improve health outcomes, and advance the standard of care in oncology and beyond.” You can follow Marie on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Alexis DiGasso, a psychologist/postdoctoral fellow practicing in Rhode Island. Dr. Alexis DiGasso is a Postdoctoral Fellow in clinical psychology at Providence Behavioral Health Associates. Dr. DiGasso earned her bachelor’s Degree from Boston College, and her master’s and doctorate degrees from William James College in Newton, MA with specializations in Children and Families and Global Mental Health. She has worked in a range of clinical settings and has expertise in diagnosing and treating children, adolescents, young adults, and families experiencing a broad range of presenting behavioral concerns. Dr. DiGasso has training in crisis de-escalation, family therapy, play therapy, and cognitive behavior therapy. Dr. DiGasso has worked both internationally and within the United States to deliver research-based, culturally sensitive interventions. If you are feeling suicidal, thinking about hurting yourself, or are concerned that someone you know may be in danger of hurting themself, help is available at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/help-yourself/youth/ or https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help-now/ Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Monica Bolbjerg, Chairman, CEO and Founder of Qure4u. Dr. Bolbjerg is a doctor, an entrepreneur, and a digital health pioneer. As a young physician, Dr. Bolbjerg noticed the lack of tools available to engage with and help patients beyond episodic, in-person encounters. That experience ignited her passion to create patient engagement and virtual care solutions that improve patient outcomes and experience while also helping providers drive efficiency. Dr. Bolbjerg launched one of the world’s first patient portals in 2001 in Denmark. Focused on building ever-better tools to enhance the doctor-patient relationship, she developed the Qure4u platform and has since traveled the world advocating new innovations aimed at benefiting both the practice of medicine and the patient journey with tools that, to date, have been used internationally by more than 15 million patients. As the Co-Founder and CEO of Qure4u, Dr. Bolbjerg is committed to continuing to revolutionize the delivery of patient-centric care. Qure4u’s MyCarePlan is a holistic patient journey and virtual care platform that arms patients with a Digital Health Key designed to give them simple and convenient access to care, from patient self-scheduling to remote patient monitoring and everything in between. The platform is trusted by providers and loved by patients. One of the few female physician tech founders, Dr. Bolbjerg has won multiple innovation prizes and been featured as a speaker at the Health Innovation Think Tank and other leading health innovation forums. Qure4u was recently recognized as a Strong Performer in “The Forrester Wave: Virtual Care Platforms For Digital Health, Q1 2021” report by Forrester Research. The company was also recognized as one of the MedikaLife Top 50 Most Impactful Tech Innovators for Digital Healthcare in 2021 and won the 2020 athenahealth Client Feedback Award. You can follow Dr. Bolbjerg on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Alerie Stiles, a Vice President at TSI Healthcare. Alerie self describes as being ON A MISSION TO IMPROVE HEALTHCARE FOR PHYSICIANS AND PATIENTS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY Driven by value and outcomes Physician designed workflows (from personally shadowing over 1,000 physicians) Clinical product strategy & analytics Always striving to reduce physician burnout WORKING EVERYDAY TO: IMPROVE THE VALUE OF CARE GIVEN IN THE NATION IMPROVE THE LIVES OF INDEPENDENT/COMMUNITY SPECIALTY PROVIDERS IMPROVE THE LIVES OF THEIR PATIENTS ACROSS THE NATION. Helping providers: Get back valuable face time with patients Make their data work for them to manage and predict patient OUTCOMES With an advocate for their individual practice, and entire specialty (Rheumatology, Pulmonology, Neurology, Cardiology, ENT, etc) You can follow Alerie on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Hena Waseem, a Resident Physician and Neurologist who recently completed her Masters of Public Health from Dartmouth. Dr. Waseem currently in the Leadership and Preventive Medicine Residency at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. There she has had several unique training opportunities due to the COVID19 pandemic including being Co-author of New Hampshire Crisis Standards of Care Plan; a Collaborator with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services on the statewide vaccine clinic rollout initiative; and a Project team member for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Population Health Collaborative: Nutrition in the Upper Valley. Dr. Waseem completed her undergraduate work at the University of Florida and went to medical school at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine. Prior to her schooling in the United States, Dr. Waseem lived and grew up in Pakistan. Among her many volunteer activities, at Dartmouth, she founded and leads the Women and Negotiation group, focused on discussing and developing skillsets for women in leadership and negotiation roles. She is also a Group member of Dartmouth Hitchcock’s Women in Leadership program, which utilizes a 10-month curriculum focused on skills pertinent for women in the healthcare environment derived from Yale New Haven Hospital Health System Institute of Excellence Lean In Circles Course. Dr. Waseem’s research interests include: Neurocritical care patient outcomes and quality improvement, shared decision making in critical care settings, adapting innovative neurocritical care models for middle- and low-income countries, public health outcomes in the critically ill, medical education and humanities, healthcare burnout and its relation to healthcare systems. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Renee Bovelle, an ophthalmologist, business owner, educator, cyber security expert, organized medicine leader, and more. How does she do it all? She finds time for the things that excite her and gains her energy from giving back and continuing to learn. Renee Bovelle, MD is owner and Medical Director of Advanced Eyecare Medical Center “dba” Envision Eye and Laser. She is a board-certified ophthalmologist who graduated from Wellesley College and UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Bovelle completed an ophthalmic residency at Yale University and a Cornea / Refractive Fellowship at LSU Eye Center. Additionally, she earned a Master’s in Cybersecurity Strategy and Information Management from GWU and focused on policies and practices that protect critical information with particular attention to the healthcare field. Furthermore, Dr. Bovelle holds academic appointments at Howard University Hospital, Ross University School of Medicine, and the University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center. She educates medical students, residents, and physicians locally and during national conferences on ophthalmic issues. Dr. Bovelle authored the first MedChi approved continuing medical education course on Cybersecurity for Physicians. She is continuing this work with both national and regional medical organizations. Dr. Bovelle and has authored papers on healthcare and cyber-security issues, including Blockchain, Supply Chain Risk, and the Medical Internet of Things. Dr. Bovelle lectures on various cybersecurity and HIPAA topics at both local and national medical and cybersecurity conferences. Topics include Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Ransomware, HIPAA Policy and Strategy, and Healthcare Cybersecurity Issues. She holds leadership positions both locally and nationally in ophthalmic and other medical associations. Currently, she represents the Maryland Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons (MSEPS) as a councilor to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Besides serving on the MedChi legislative council, Dr. Bovelle serves as president of MSEPS effective January 2020. You can follow Dr. Renee Bovelle on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Sheila Talton. Corporate executive Sheila G. Talton was born on October 12, 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio. As a teenager, she became involved in the civil rights movement in Rockford, Illinois. Talton went on to graduate from Northern Illinois University with her B.S. degree in business administration and speech communications in 1980. Upon graduation, Talton was hired as a sales trainee at NCR Corporation. She became head of Midwest sales for Data Group Systems in Chicago in 1982, moving on to a position as team leader in the sales department of Applied Data Research (ADR) in 1984. Taking advantage of a void left by the breakup of AT&T, Talton founded Unisource Network Services, a provider of voice, data and video networking consultation and support services, in 1987. In 1996, while still leading Unisource, she helped establish the Information Technology Senior Management Forum, a mentoring group that cultivates executive talent among African American IT professionals. Talton sold her stake in Unisource in 2000, and was hired as the vice president of Cap Gemini, Ernst & Young’s Midwest technology consulting practice. In 2002, she was named president of global business innovation services for Electronic Data Systems (EDS). Talton was hired by the computer networking company Cisco Systems Inc. in 2004 where she became vice president of advisory services in the Customer Advocacy Group. She was promoted to a role as vice president of Cisco’s Office of Globalization in 2008 and helped the company identify growth opportunities in emerging markets around the world. She left Cisco in 2012 to found the consulting firm SGT, Ltd. In 2013, Talton established Gray Matter Analytics, Inc., a business providing consulting services and cloud hosting service for analytics. Talton has served as a member of the board of directors of the ACCO Brands Corporation, the Wintrust Financial Corporation, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the Northwestern Memorial Hospital Foundation, the Lighthouse for the Blind, and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her honors include selection as a Congressional appointee on the US White House Women’s Business Council, as one of the “Top 10 Women in Technology” by Enterprising Women, and as “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the National Federation of Black Women Business Owners. She is also a recipient of the “Entrepreneurial Excellence Award” from Working Woman magazine and a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Award. She was named a 2007 “Woman Worth Watching” by Profiles in Diversity Journal, received a 2008 Egretha Award from the African American Women’s Business and Career Conference, and was named a 2009 Business Leader of Color by Chicago United. In 2010 she was honored as a Woman of Achievement by the Anti-Defamation League, and as the Outstanding College Alumni of the Year by the Business School of Northern Illinois University. In 2011 she was named one of “25 Influential Black Women in Business” by The Network Journal and received the “Diamond Leadership Award” from the Information Technology Senior Management Forum. You can follow Sheila on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Denise Brosseau. Denise understands what it takes to be a thought leader, an influencer and how to build your career through experience and expertise. Denise has spent her career as an entrepreneur and thought leader herself and she has been adamant and active in supporting women advance their own careers. Denise shares her experience, advice including views on how to best use social media to help other women in their career journeys. As the CEO of Thought Leadership Lab, I work with leaders and their teams to accelerate their journey from leader to thought leader. I believe that thought leadership is not marketing nor sales but instead is building a following for your ideas, thus building trust and credibility, amplifying influence and catalyzing strategic connections that lead to a seat at the table for the conversations that matter. I love to work with social entrepreneurs, start-up CEOs, heads of foundations and executives at Fortune 1000 companies. What they have in common is that they are all change agents in their field and are interested in building a platform so they can affect social, industry, community or organizational change. In 2014, I wrote Ready to Be a Thought Leader?, (Wiley) to begin to share my ideas about why thought leadership matters and what it really takes to be a thought leader. I also lecture at Stanford Business School on topics of credibility, influence and thought leadership. I am a frequent guest author for Salesforce.com, Inc.com and the UK Daily Telegraph Business Reporter and my ideas have also appeared in Fast Company, Entrepreneur and Forbes. Over the last twenty years, I have had the privilege of speaking before tens of thousands of people worldwide, at companies like Roche, Microsoft and Google; leadership conferences, including the California, Indiana and Arizona Governor’s Conferences and the Grace Hopper Conference for Women in Computing; and organizations like Coro and the Association of California Nurse Leaders. I have also guest lectured at Wellesley, Berkeley, Princeton, University of Winchester and MIT. I have a commitment to developing women leaders and I have created and led women’s leadership programs for Liberty Global, Nimble Storage, Gracenote and KPMG. As part of my work, I also enjoy facilitating strategy sessions, retreats, and thought leadership development sessions. My recent clients include the Packard Foundation, Vermillion, AICCU, the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, Barstow College, Planned Parenthood, PG&E and the Women’s Startup Lab. Over the last few years, my work has been recognized in a variety of forums. The Silicon Valley Business Journal honored me among their Top 100 Women of Influence and I was recognized as a Champion of Change by the White House and I received a Forever Green Award by the Girl Scouts. I was also recognized as one of six Women Who Have Made Their Mark by Watermark. In 2013, I received the Stanford STARS Award for my volunteer work encouraging entrepreneurship among women students at Stanford Business School. A Wellesley graduate with a Stanford MBA, I began my career in the technology industry at companies like Motorola and Broderbund Software. In 1993, I co-founded and was CEO of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE). I grew FWE (now Watermark) into the country’s leading organization for women-led start-ups. In 1999, I co-founded Springboard, the prestigious women’s startup launchpad that has led to over $7 billion in funding for women entrepreneurs. I also co-founded and served as President of Invent Your Future Enterprises and co-created the Invent Your Future Conference that is now in its 9th year. community and board service I am a member and past board member of the Northern California Chapter of the International Women’s Forum and member and past Chair of the Wellesley Business Leadership Council. I am a long-time advocate for choice. I serve as Chair of the Leadership Council of NARAL Pro-Choice America and previously served as Chair of the Advocates Board of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte and as a Board Member of 416 Holdings, a for profit company formed to increase the financial self-sufficiency of Planned Parenthood affiliates. I also serve on the advisory board of several start-ups including Kokko, Inc., The GUILD and Aspira Women’s Health and as an advisor to Watermark, Invent Your Future Enterprises and Springboard. You can follow Denise on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Bridget Duffy. Bridget Duffy, M.D.,is the Chief Medical Officer for Vocera. As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Duffy plays a key role in new product innovations, acquisitions, and accelerating adoption of technology that protects and connects frontline workers. Prior to her appointment at Vocera, Dr. Duffy co-founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of ExperiaHealth, a company that assisted healthcare leaders in accelerating improvement in the patient, family and staff experience through solutions that improve communication and restore human connections. ExperiaHealth was acquired by Vocera in 2010. Dr. Duffy was an early pioneer in the creation of hospitalist medicine and launched programs to accelerate clinical discovery in the field of Integrative and Heart-Brain medicine, helping establish the Earl and Doris Bakken Heart Brain Institute. She was also the country’s first chief experience officer (CXO) in healthcare, establishing that role at the Cleveland Clinic in 2006 and making experience improvement a top strategic priority there and across the nation. Dr. Duffy is considered the founder of the experience improvement movement and is a frequent speaker on redefining safety to include protecting the physical and emotional well-being of frontline healthcare workers. She has received many accolades for her work, and each year she is named to several prominent industry lists featuring women in healthcare and technology. In 2015, she was named “Woman of the Year” by Women Health Care Executives and selected as one of the “Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business” by San Francisco Business Times. In 2014, Dr. Duffy was recognized as a “Health IT Change Agent” by Health IT Outcomes and named among the “Top 50 in Digital Healthcare” by Rock Health. She also earned the Quantum Leap Award for taking the risk to spur internal change in the field of medicine, and was featured in HealthLeaders magazine as one of “20 People Who Make Healthcare Better.” Dr. Duffy attended medical school at the University of Minnesota, and completed her residency in internal medicine at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a co-founder of the National Taskforce for Humanity in Healthcare and serves on the board of directors for Evolent Health, Inc., Kids Care Dental & Orthodontics, and on the advisory boards of Velano Vascular and Maven Clinic. Dr. Duffy can be followed on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Bettina Hein. Bettina Hein is a serial software entrepreneur that has built technology companies in both Europe and the United States. She is most recently the founder of digital health startup juli, her third software company. She is also the founder of Pixability, a video advertising company in Boston. Prior to Pixability, Bettina co-founded SVOX, the Swiss-based speech technology company which was acquired by Nuance Communications (NUAN) for $125 million. Bettina has received numerous awards and recognitions such as the 2018 Immigrant Entrepreneur of the Year Award, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, L’Oreal NEXT Generation Award, and The Boston Business Journal’s “40 Under 40 Award.” Bettina holds an MS degree from MIT, a law degree from the University of Constance, and a business degree from the University of St. Gallen. Bettina holds two software patents and is the co-author of Video Marketing for Dummies. She is also a “shark” on the Swiss version of Shark Tank called “Höhle der Löwen Schweiz.” Learn more about juli Learn more about Pixability Follow Bettina on Twitter Connect with Bettina on LinkedIn Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Meghan Krueger. Meghan Krueger, RN. Registered Nurse at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program You can follow Meghan on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Brook West. Brook West, Chief Commercial Officer LinkedIn As a successful P&L leader, Brook leads the enterprise sales function for Carrum Health. She has a proven track record of scaling sales multiple times in the digital health space. In her most recent role, Brook was responsible for building the go to market commercial plan at 98point6 resulting in the acquisition of over 3M members in just over two years. With her natural sales and leadership talent, and passion for building high-performance teams, Brook has consistently exceeded goals while commercializing healthtech and SaaS products at 98point6, Valant, Fuze, Microsoft, and others for the past 20 years. Brook holds a bachelor’s degree in linguistics and russian from the University of Pittsburgh. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Sabina Shaikh. Dr. Sabina Shaikh is the Director of the Program on Global Environment and an Associate Senior Instructional Professor in Environmental and Urban Studies at the University of Chicago. She holds a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California at Davis and a BA in Economics from the University of Wisconsin. Sabina’s courses at the University of Chicago include Urban Design with Nature; Water: Economics, Policy and Society; Environmental Economics: and Unnatural Disasters: Human-Nature Connections in Cities. Her collaborative research on environment and migration in Cambodia has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Center for International Social Science Research, Social Science Research Center and the Neubauer Collegium at the University of Chicago. She has published articles in the Journal of Diabetes Investigation, Ambio: A Journal of Human Environment, Handbook of Metropolitan Sustainability, Applied Geography, Agricultural and Resource Economics, Economic Inquiry, Ecological Economics, Land Economics and the Review of Economics and Statistics. Sabina serves as the faculty director of the Chicago Studies program, faculty co-lead of the Environmental Frontiers Initiative at the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation at the University of Chicago, and as an advisor on urban sustainability issues for numerous non-governmental organizations. You can follow Dr. Sabina Shaikh on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dorri McWhorter. Dorri is in a race with Elon Musk, whether he knows it or not. There is a 30-year plan to get to Mars –the time to get to gender parity is currently estimated to be 200 years. 200 years? Dorri is having nothing to do with that – it is not that complicated. Dorri McWhorter became the CEO of the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago in March 2013. She has embarked upon a journey to transform the 140 year old social service agency to a 21st century social enterprise. Dorri is moving the agency into the digital age and has led the YWCA’s expansion of digital services with the launch of YShop.org (e-commerce platform), womenshealthexchange.org (health insurance and information) and the MPWR, pronounced “empower”, mobile app (community engagement). Dorri leverages her large-scale change experience from working over 20 years in management consulting to the work that the YWCA does to create social change. Dorri led the process for the YWCA to develop an exchange traded fund (ETF) for women’s empowerment (NYSE: WOMN) in partnership with Impact Shares, which is the first non-profit investment advisor to develop an ETF product. Dorri was included in the inaugural list of “The Blue Network”, comprised of the top 100 innovators in Chicago, by Chicago Tribune’s Blue Sky Innovation and recognized by Good City Chicago receiving its Innovative Leader Award. Dorri is a 2019 Inductee in the Chicago Innovation Hall of Fame. Dorri prides herself on being a socially-conscious business leader and is committed to creating an inclusive marketplace by leveraging a multi-sector approach across business, civic and community organizations. Most recently, she was a partner at Crowe Horwath LLP, one of the largest accounting firms in the U.S. She has also held senior positions with Snap-on Incorporated and Booz Allen Hamilton. Dorri serves on the Board of Directors for Lifeway Foods, William Blair Funds and Skyway Concession Company (Chicago Skyway). Dorri is also active in the accounting profession having served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the current Chairperson of the Board of Directors for the Illinois CPA Society. Dorri is dedicated to empowering women as a member of the Women in Entrepreneurship Institute at DePaul University and Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University. Dorri’s civic and philanthropic leadership includes the board of directors for the Chicago Center for Arts and Technology, 1871 (Technology Business Accelerator), Civic Consulting Alliance, and the Civic Federation. She is also a member of the Illinois Charitable Trust Board. Dorri received a bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a master of business administration degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Lake Forest College You can follow Dorri McWhorter on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Maya Inozemtseva, a physical therapist and home health therapist. Maya found her calling with physical therapy from an early age and pursued the needed coursework and training in Boston. She was thrilled to be practicing what she loved and then the pandemic simply shut everything down. She never lost her passion for physical therapy, but she did rediscover her passion for travel. Now she does both. Maya Inozemtseva, DPT, ATC is a travel Physical Therapist with a passion for exploring and new experiences. She has special interests in performance sports and post-surgical rehabilitation. Also, a Licensed Athletic Trainer in the state of Massachusetts has worked with a variety of sports and age ranges. You can follow Maya on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Lara Dodo. Working across different fields and industries has meant a lot of learning for Lara. One of the most important learnings has been how she has become very comfortable asking the right questions until she gets answers that make sense to her. Lara Dodo, Chief Growth and Operating Officer for Newtopia Lara Dodo is a dynamic leader who believes in the strength of the team, the power of authentic communication and the impact of positive energy on innovation. As chief growth and operating officer at Newtopia, she leads the company’s talented teams in creating products, services and experiences that delight clients and drive results. Dodo, who joined Newtopia in 2017, has a strong track record of delivering exceptional results across multiple functions, including operations, product development, and sales and marketing. Her background includes roles as co-founder of Bedrock Affect, a Toronto-based branding and marketing firm; an independent operational and commercial consultant; CEO and strategic adviser to software entertainment company TimePlay; and chief operating officer and vice president of sales and operations at Cougar Software Inc. She also spent nearly 15 years in various roles, concluding as regional vice president, at international recruiting and placement firm Robert Half. Dodo is actively involved in community and professional organizations. She serves as a mentor and adviser to the 613 Lab business accelerator and as a guest speaker and mentor for Aish International university programs and students. She has also been a member of the board of the Canadian chapter of the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners, chair of the board of directors of Women in Technology, a volunteer judge for Enactus Canada, and an inspirational speaker and volunteer for Chabad. She received a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of South Africa. You can follow Lara on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Van Ton-Quinlivan. Years of experience across public, private and non-profit sectors did not prepare her for how to handle launching her business just before the pandemic brought the country to its knees. But her longtime business approach and mindset, moving at the speed of need, certainly did. Van Ton-Quinlivan is a nationally recognized thought leader in workforce development. She has a proven record for guiding and implementing large system change while fostering a culture of experimentation, innovation and collaboration. Her distinguished career spans the public, private, and non-profit sectors. She is CEO of Futuro Health, whose mission is to improve the health and wealth of communities by growing the largest network of credentialed allied healthcare workers in the nation. Futuro Health was established through a $130 million commitment by Kaiser Permanente and SEIU-United Healthcare Workers to address the shortage of healthcare workers in the nation starting with California. Ton-Quinlivan previously served as executive vice chancellor for the California Community Colleges, the nation’s largest system of higher education, and grew public investment in workforce programs from $100 million to over $1 billion during her tenure. In 2013, Ton-Quinlivan was named a White House Champion of Change under the Obama Administration in recognition of her notable career in industry, education and service as a community leader. She received the California Steward Leader Award in 2017 for her dedication to collaboration and work to align public, private, and civic sector leaders in support of economic and social mobility for state residents. In 2019, Ton-Quinlivan was named a mediaX distinguished visiting scholar by Stanford University. You can follow Van on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Joané Booth, who is passionate about engaging with communities of color in her work at the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. She entered the government arena not knowing a lot about government. Quickly she understood the impact of policy and she caught the bug. Having now worked at both state and federal levels and on political campaigns, Joané is passionate and driven to make a difference. As a Partnerships Manager, Joané assists with building strong authentic and intentional relationships with diverse communities and businesses across the state. Prior to joining the Michigan LCV team, Joané lived in Minnesota and worked as a Diversity and Inclusion Outreach Director for U.S. Senator Tina Smith. Prior to that, she worked as a Senior Policy Advisor to former Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, she was a legislative assistant to Minnesota State Senator Bobby Joe Champion and worked on Presidential and local Minnesota campaigns as a Political Director. Joané graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2012 with a bachelors in public relations. Joané is also an alumni of the 2016-2017 Humphrey Policy Fellowship at the University of Minnesota and a recipient of the 2018 40 under 40 award from The Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal. She currently lives in Canton with her husband. Favorite Place in Michigan: Eau Claire where her dad was raised and she spent many summers with family! You can follow Joané on LinkedIn and Twitter: @joanepmcafee Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Kristen Valdes who shares lessons she has learned in building her company b.well Connected Health. Kristen Valdes, the founder and CEO of b.well Connected Health (www.icanbwell.com), has dedicated her career to empowering consumers with the data and tools to take control of their health care journey. An award-winning leader and acknowledged visionary, Valdes has pioneered inventive solutions that are pushing the industry forward into the consumer-directed future of digital health. She is driven in that quest by her experience as the mother of a child with an autoimmune disorder who nearly died due to a lack of health data interoperability. (You can read about her virtual HIMSS20 presentation on that topic here: https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/interoperability-can-save-lives-says-bwell-connected-health-ceo) Kristen’s story is a podcast (or made-for-Netflix movie) in its own right: her daughter, Bailey, was born with a significant autoimmune disorder that multiple physicians failed to recognize or diagnose. Seven years into the quest for a diagnosis, Bailey was prescribed a medication that is contraindicated for her condition and ended up nearly dying (in part because one physician’s EMR couldn’t talk to the other’s). Finally, Kristen herself assembled all of Bailey’s records from 17 different clinicians, paid 5 experts to review them, and arrived at the right diagnosis. She founded b.well (named for Bailey or “B”) in 2016 so that no one would ever have to go through that nightmare again. The b.well Connected Health platform provides a long-overdue digital technology for health information interoperability and aggregation. By leveraging modern interoperability protocols such as FHIR-based APIs, the platform consolidates a 360-degree view of real-time data from insurer, provider and employer systems and integrates the rapidly-growing point solutions in these organizations. As a result, b.well transforms the way consumers interact with the health care industry, empowering them with a digital experience to manage all of their healthcare in one location that is persistent, portable, and personalized, driving meaningful interactions. We call it the “new front end” for healthcare. b.well landed a $16 million Series A last March led by Walgreens Boots Alliance, UnityPoint Health and ThedaCare Health. The company’s client base includes those three organizations plus several large self-insured employers and MedStar Health in Washington, DC. Partners include the likes of Mastercard, which just announced b.well as its first partner in healthcare to deliver mobile digital ID. Prior to founding b.well , Kristen was an executive at UnitedHealthcare running Medicare Advantage plans across 12 states. She started her healthcare career working with CMS on the first national payment integrity programs for Medicare and Medicaid. She then helped to build XLHealth, one of the pioneering Medicare Advantage plans for the chronically ill. Kristen was responsible for maintaining and growing the profitability of the plan and was instrumental in its acquisition by UnitedHealthcare in late 2012 for $2.4 billion. Kristen has won numerous awards for her leadership. Named one of “Maryland’s Most Admired CEOs,” she was recognized in 2020 as one of four “Women Transforming Industries” by Accenture and Springboard Enterprises for re-imagining how we can more efficiently and wisely leverage technology to access healthcare. Under her leadership, b.well has been recognized by Business Insider as “one of 35 healthcare startups VCs say will take off in 2021”; by BuiltIn Austin as a 2020 Best Place to Work; by the Digital Health Awards as the 2020 winner of the “consumer directed digital health” category; and as a “Top Innovator” at the 2019 Accenture HealthTech Innovation Challenge. Kristen is a board member of the CARIN Alliance, a non-partisan multi-stakeholder collaborative that aims to enable consumers to access their health information with less friction. She is actively involved in her community; serves on various boards as an Advisor; mentors women entrepreneurs on her own and through organizations like Springboard Enterprises and the GuideWell Innovation Center; and has been a featured speaker at numerous healthcare industry conferences including HIMSS20 and CES21. You can follow Kristen on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Ying Sun. Dr. Sun is a first-gen, Asian American postdoctoral scholar. She believes people need to see the whole individual to be a good ally. First gens that come from low-income families – they are stressed out about finances; they are intimately tied to their families and communities. Understanding the individual is just as important as putting the systems in place to support each other. Passionate about leadership, fundraising, communication, project management, and team building. With 11+ years of experience in biological research. Ying is a first-generation college student, and now postdoc, who immigrated to the US from rural China when she was young. She grew up in Las Vegas, NV where her parents worked as casino dealers. After high school, she attended UC San Diego to obtain a BS in Biochemistry, Cell Biology. While at UCSD, Ying was a part of the McNair Scholars program which supports students interested in obtaining a PhD. She worked on circadian rhythm in plants in the lab of Steve Kay and became interested in transcription and gene regulation. Previously, she was a graduate student in the lab of José Dinneny at Stanford University. Her project aimed to understand how some plants are more stress-tolerant than others. In her research, she analyzes the genomes of plants that live in extreme environments and utilizes bioinformatics tools to connect genotype to phenotype. Currently, Dr. Ying Sun is a postdoctoral scholar at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Her career goal is to be a faculty member and to work at the intersection between molecular biology, functional genomics, and evolutionary genomics. In her spare time, Ying enjoys volunteering, baking, playing with animals, dancing, any outdoor activity, ice skating, and watching TV! She believes in mentorship and advocates for inclusion, equity, diversifying academia and solidarity. She hopes to promote the mindset of having gratitude, respect, and love toward one another in academia. Dr. Sun can be found on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Carrie Valiant. Carrie has always been focused on outside interests during her long tenure practicing law. She thinks the best career advice is to stay true to yourself and follow your own star. But she also asks us all to do what we can to promote others, other women, other people of color. We can all make a difference. CARRIE VALIANT is a Member of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice in the Washington, DC office and co-chairs the firm’s health care fraud group. She is also Chair of the firm’s Diversity and Professional Development Committee. Ms. Valiant has more than thirty years of experience concentrating in health care fraud and abuse and government health care program payment matters, including: Defending clients undergoing civil and criminal investigation for health care fraud by the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, and other state and federal governmental authorities, including the negotiation of corporate integrity agreements. Representing all segments of the health care industry, including hospitals and academic medical centers, clinical laboratories, managed care organizations, home health care companies, physician group practices, and pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors with respect to managing government health care program compliance risks, including the design and implementation of corporate compliance programs for health care organizations, preparation of OIG advisory opinion requests, and conducting internal investigations and voluntary self-disclosures. Advising clients with respect to compliance with the Stark Law and other regulatory initiatives in the fraud and abuse area, including restructuring physician-owned health care entities. Handling a variety of Medicare/Medicaid and other government health care program payment and certification matters, including substantial overpayment assessments, EMTALA complaints, and privacy and security breaches, including the preparation and negotiation of Corrective Action Plans. Ms. Valiant’s accomplishments include: Obtaining Justice Department declinations to intervene in False Claims Act qui tam cases and subsequent dismissal/summary judgment of qui tam relator cases Negotiating and settling various OIG voluntary disclosures without imposition of a corporate integrity agreement Currently active in the defense of various criminal and civil health care fraud investigations Ms. Valiant writes and lectures extensively on health law fraud topics and is a coauthor of Legal Issues in Health Care Fraud and Abuse: Navigating the Uncertainties, 4th ed., published by the American Health Lawyers Association in June 2012. She has been included on Nightingale’s Healthcare News’ 2004 and 2009 lists of Outstanding Healthcare Fraud and Compliance Lawyers, selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© (2006 to 2021) in the field of Health Care Law, named to the Washington DC Super Lawyers list (2007 to 2011, 2013 to 2020) in the area of Health Care, ranked by Chambers USA as one of America’s leading Healthcare lawyers (2007 to 2020), and recommended by The Legal 500 United States (2016) in the Health Insurers and Healthcare: Service Providers categories. In 1997, the National Law Journal selected Ms. Valiant as one of “40 Health Care Lawyers Who Have Made Their Mark” in the area of white collar crime. Ms. Valiant founded and is President of the Health Care Industry Access Initiative, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to promoting collaborative action across the health care industry to improve access to health care coverage and services in the United States. You can follow Carrie on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Valerie Sullivan who is a big believer in practice, practice, practice. She also believes you have more power than you think and tells us to not give it away! Valerie Sullivan, PRESIDENT AND CEO Valerie Sullivan brings significant experience in the pharma, digital health and pharma services industries to her role as President and CEO of etectRx. Innovative and forward thinking, Ms. Sullivan is passionate about creating meaningful, cost-effective solutions across the healthcare ecosystem by leveraging patient engagement and digital technology to support greater outcomes, more therapeutic impact and the potential to serve an unmet need. Prior to joining etectRx, she served as President of InVentiv Patient Access Solutions (sold to Xerox in 2015), a tech-enabled patient support services company. In addition, she served as Vice President and General Manager of the Patient Service Center at Pear Therapeutics, a program that she envisioned and built from the ground up. She began her career in healthcare working at Pfizer for over 15 years. Ms. Sullivan has previously served as an independent member on the board of directors at CareMetx and Two Labs Pharma Services. She is also Chairman at the Group Insurance Commission, a quasi-state agency in the Commonwealth of MA. She is on faculty at Bentley University as adjunct professor in the Management Department. Ms. Sullivan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and Economics from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from Northeastern University. You can follow Valerie Sullivan on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Nancy Ham who has been leading and growing companies for years. If you are hesitating in your career, Nancy has some advice for you – Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get in the game! Nancy Ham is the CEO of WebPT, the country’s leading rehab therapy software platform for enhancing patient care and fueling business growth. Nancy joined WebPT in 2016, bringing with her a wealth of experience in successfully establishing, developing, growing, and operating private and public healthcare information technology companies. As CEO, she focuses on developing innovative strategies to help guide the company through its next phase of growth. In less than two year’s time, she has led WebPT through major achievements including reaching more than 10,000 clinics, several product innovation rollouts and two significant acquisitions resulting in the addition of two new product lines and the expansion of the WebPT team into new geographical locations. Prior to joining WebPT, Nancy served as CEO of Healthagen Population Health Solutions, an Aetna company. There, she oversaw several tech businesses, including Medicity, the market leader in clinical data exchange and interoperability. Prior to that, Nancy was president, CEO, and a director of MedVentive (later acquired by McKesson), a provider of performance analytics that enabled ACOs and payers to manage cost, efficiency, and quality. Her experience also includes executive roles at Sentillion, ProxyMed, Healtheon/WebMD, and ActaMed Corporation as well as five years in leveraged finance at GE Capital. Nancy has twice been named one of the Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT by Health Data Management, as well as Woman of the Year by the American Business Awards. Companies led by her have been consistently recognized for excellence from groups such as Gartner (Cool Company, Magic Quadrant), Microsoft (HUG Award Winner) and KLAS (Most Improved Vendor). Nancy is deeply engaged in promoting innovation in healthcare through her active membership in YPO Healthcare, through serving on the advisory boards of two venture capital firms (HLM Venture Partners and LRVHealth) and through her own direct investing. She also actively mentors rising talent, especially women focused on a career in healthcare IT. Nancy holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Duke University and a master’s degree in international business studies (MIBS) from the University of South Carolina. In her free time, she enjoys traveling the world, mountain biking, and being outdoors—no matter the season. Nancy can be found on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Diane Adams. Diane’s life work has been focused on culture. And by embracing the hard, she also believes you can make the world better for everyone. Culture and talent expert Diane K. Adams has devoted her career to building and studying the role of culture in a company’s success. Whether she’s at the helm of a Fortune 500 Human Resource organization or independently coaching and consulting chief executives of smaller organizations, and nonprofits, Diane is a leader in helping companies recognize what’s required to energize their people and to achieve long-term success at the bottom line. Currently serving as Chief Culture and Talent Officer for Sprinklr, the most complete social media and management system for the enterprise. Her team’s focus is on accelerating the growth of a high-performance and inclusive culture. Major responsibilities include building a great workforce culture and accelerating company performance, as well as human resources responsibilities for talent development and succession planning, talent acquisition, organization development, change management, total rewards, and data analytics. Prior to that, she had a similar position at McGraw-Hill Education. Prior to McGraw-Hill Education, she led the global human resources organization of Qlik, one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the world with more than 2,300 people around the globe. Focused on building the Qlik culture –a values-based, high-performance culture that promotes innovation, learning and “making a difference”. Before Qlik, Diane and her teams helped shape enduring values-based, high-performance cultures at companies including Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) and Allscripts Healthcare Systems (Nasdaq: MDRX). At Cisco, for example, she joined the company when it had just 4,500 employees. Her roles—including Vice President Human Resources/International, and Vice President Human Resources/Worldwide Sales—revolved around helping ensure that the company could scale successfully. By the time she left 14 years later, Cisco had successfully grown to 70,000 employees in 152 countries. At Allscripts as Executive Vice President of Culture and Talent, Diane and her team were instrumental in enabling that company to scale its operations from $500 million to $1.44 billion. Diane also has helmed a successful consultancy focused on organizational and leadership development and excellence. Passionate about developing leaders, she’s also an annual co-host of the North Carolina CEO Forum. Diane does her best to live her values in her personal life, too. Reflecting her belief in social responsibility, she’s a chancellor of the International Board of Directors for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. She’s also a member of other boards including the Make-a-Wish Foundation, Center for Entrepreneurial Development, Communities in Schools of North Carolina, and previously served on the University of North Carolina (UNC) Board of Visitors. Diane is a graduate in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can follow Diane Adams on LinkedIn or her website. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Nicole Neal, who pursued additional degrees while still focusing on her career, community and family. She also aims to help other women with her new non-profit H.E.R. – Heal, Empower, Reclaim. Nicole F. Neal, PhD, MA Nicole is the director of data management & operations at the American Medical Association (AMA). She leads the team responsible for procuring, adding value to, and ensuring the accuracy of the professional credentialing data for the more than 1.6M allopathic, osteopathic, and International physicians who practice medicine in the US. No small feat, Nicole has committed much of her 33 years with the AMA to this work. In 2016, Nicole was one of three recipients of the AMA Health Solutions “Peak” award which is given by the group’s senior leadership in recognition of outstanding performance. In addition to her more than 3 decades at the AMA, Nicole has a long list of educational accolades. She earned a PhD in psychology from Capella University. She has a master’s degree in organizational development, a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership, graduate certificates in training & development, instructional design, and human performance improvement from Roosevelt University. And, if that were not enough, Nicole continues to seek opportunities to develop in her role at the AMA and well as in other endeavors. Outside of the AMA and her family life, Nicole looks for ways to contribute to and improve her community. She was an active board member of the South Suburban Family Shelter (SSFS) which is a regional domestic violence organization. While there, she participated in and contributed to many events including the Adopt-a-Family (AAF) program which helped families displaced by domestic violence and experiencing hardship during the holiday season. She continues to support this cause as an advisory board member. Nicole has had memberships and/or affiliations with the American Association of Medical Society Executives (AAMSE), the American Association of Professional Women (AAPW), and the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi). Nicole recently founded Heal, Empower, Reclaim Inc., a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to, through a theory-based approach to leadership development, supporting the positive psychosocial development of minority, and underrepresented women as they mature into prolific ladies, leaders, and legacies. The overarching goal of HER, Inc., is to help minority women to identify, prepare for and achieve their leadership purpose. You can follow Dr. Nicole Neal on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Rebecca Marks, a Senior Finance Manager at Grainger headquartered in Chicago. Becca has been at Grainger for nearly ten years in a variety of positions in Finance, currently, as a Senior Finance Manager supporting Sales Operations. Her team’s responsibilities are to provide strategic financial decision support, insights, and key deliverables relating to pricing strategy, sales coverage, sales compensation, seller effectiveness, sourcing, and contract realization. In her tenure at Grainger, she has consistently found ways to increase her responsibility and support impactful projects that drive positive business results. She has had the opportunity to work on several large-scale initiatives including reevaluating Grainger’s pricing strategy to increase relevancy in the market and rightsizing the brick and mortar segment of the business to align to changing customer demands. She is actively involved in recruiting and development. Becca leads the Finance campus recruiting efforts at Indiana University and recently worked with Finance leadership to develop bench planning processes and finding ways to improve development conversations with team members. She has a BS in Finance, Accounting, and International Business and a minor in French from the Indiana University, Kelley School of Business. You can follow Becca Marks on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Do not be distracted. Maritza Diaz wants her kids to be proud of Mommy. She is busy creating jobs and doesn’t have time for doubters. Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Maritza Diaz. Maritza Diaz, Chief Executive Officer of ITJuana Maritza Diaz is a talented and seasoned technology executive with over 25 years of experience in IT and Software Engineering. She brings a wealth of expertise with particular strengths in areas such as engineering excellence, digital transformation, agile/scrum adoption, software engineering best practices, and building high-performing teams. With an abundance of international experience through her Big 4 exposure, Maritza has a strong understanding of various markets throughout North America, India, China and Latin America, including Mexico. Currently, Maritza operates a private firm, ITJuana, where she serves as the Chief Executive Officer. She has worked with multiple companies in California of different sizes and industries, offering consultancy and management services to create software centers of excellence in Tijuana Mexico. Maritza possesses the working experience and know-how and leverages the amazing talent available in Tijuana to serve and fulfill the digital talent needs of companies in California. Prior to becoming the Chief Executive Officer of ITJuana, Maritza served as Sr. Director at Thermo Fisher Scientific where she was responsible for growing the company’s digital capabilities in North America, India, and Mexico. In this role, she successfully managed the digital and agile transformation of an organization composed of 800 software professionals; today this organization is considered one of the finest software organizations in the industry. Over the past seven years, Maritza has established herself as a thought leader in the field of cross-border collaboration in the software industry between San Diego and Baja California. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco where she represents San Diego—a recent member of the Forbes Technology Council—and a thought leader in the field of cross-border collaboration in the software industry between San Diego and Baja California. She is an advocate of leveraging the strength of this region to build a thriving innovation economy that leads the digital transformation for companies in California. You can follow Maritza Diaz on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Suzet McKinney, who shares her best advice for how to handle and break through roadblocks. Dr. Suzet McKinney, a nationally recognized public health expert, serves as Principal and Director of Life Sciences. In her role, Dr. McKinney leads the strategy to expand Sterling Bay’s footprint in life sciences nationwide, pursue grant programs for laboratory incubation and graduation space and advance the work of various Sterling Bay life sciences initiatives including Prysm Institute. Prior to joining Sterling Bay, Dr. McKinney was CEO and Executive Director of the Illinois Medical District (IMD) where she managed medical research facilities, labs, a biotech business incubator, universities, four hospitals, and more than 40 healthcare-related facilities. Before IMD, Dr. McKinney served as Deputy Commissioner for the Bureau of Public Health Preparedness and Emergency Response at the Chicago Department of Health. You can follow Dr. Suzet McKinney on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Susan Gross Sholinsky, an expert on those workforce issues that still exist and really matter. Susan Gross Sholinsky gives employers the tools they need to make smart decisions about their workforce challenges. She is a sharp, versatile partner to executives, human resources, and in-house legal teams who seek her out for her straight-forward advice and access to boots-on-the-ground resources, regardless of location. Susan also helps employers ensure compliance with the latest local, state, and federal laws, from sexual harassment, to discrimination, restrictive covenants, paid family leave, and accommodations. When a company makes an acquisition, she literally writes the legal and compliance script for ensuring a smooth transition and integrating employees into the new organization. Her succinct talking points help deliver key updates and tough decisions to affected team members. Whether she’s conducting training on anti-harassment (similar to Epstein Becker Green’s “Halting Harassment” online training tool) or leading training on diversity, internal investigations, or performance documentation best practices, Susan’s effective training style helps managers spot problems early and boost productivity through safe, compliant practices. Susan helps employers respond rapidly to social issues, like the #MeToo or racial justice movements. She spearheaded the firm’s COVID-19 taskforce that provides employers with practical advice supported by training programs compliant in all 50 states, and dozens of pandemic-related policies and forms, as well as client advisories, blog posts, and articles. Susan holds several leadership positions within the firm, including as Vice Chair of both the Employment Labor & Workforce Management Steering Committee and the Diversity and Professional Development Committee and as a member of the Finance Committee and the Executive Committee of the Women’s Initiative. Among her many professional and community volunteer initiatives, she has served multiple years as New York Co-Chair of 2020 Women on Boards: Global Conversation on Board Diversity. She was also recognized as one of 2020’s Responsible 100 by City & State New York, an award bestowed upon private-sector leaders whose work makes life better in communities in New York City and across the state. Experience Managed a software company’s absorption of two companies. Susan reviewed existing employment agreements and offer letters to make sure the company understood its obligations, and drafted scripts to communicate with employees. She facilitated the auditing of 401(k), pension, severance, and stock benefits, and helped ensure a seamless transition of benefits by merging company handbook and other policies of the various entities involved. Susan also reviewed the wage and hour exemption status of incoming employees to confirm compliance with federal and local laws. Created a global sexual harassment policy for a major international private equity firm. This substantial undertaking required Susan to coordinate with local counsel in multiple countries to make sure the company’s uniform policy could be enacted to the extent practicable in all locations. Conducted sexual harassment and manager training for a major hospital’s administrators, supervisors, and chiefs. Susan trained thousands of employees in several locations. Designed and led a four-day intensive internal investigation training program for the U.S. HR, Compliance, and in-house legal teams of one of Japan’s largest banks, which gave the company a cost-effective means to conduct their own investigations. Counseled numerous clients on updating their paid time off (PTO) policies to incorporate nationwide sick time requirements and, where desired, provide unlimited PTO. Susan frequently advises clients in creating a “leave suite” to avoid overlapping policies for Family and Medical Leave Act, paid family leave, short-term disability, workers’ compensation, and salary continuation. Advised clients on all aspects of COVID-19 workforce management. Susan helped clients assess their workforce needs and prepare for layoffs and furloughs. She provided due diligence of their selection process, and drafted furlough notices, employee FAQs, and separation agreements. She prepares leave of absence and remote work policies for during- and post-COVID-19 workforces and continues to provide return-to-work safety training and facilitates the creation and enforcement of protocols to address actual and suspected positive COVID-19 cases in the workplace. Trained numerous HR and legal teams for compliance in response to the #MeToo movement. Through a series of in-person and virtual programs, includingHalting Harassment, Susan gave clients a roadmap for dealing with harassment claims with the right procedures. She also helps ensure that systems are in place to avoid future allegations. Spearheaded initiatives for major global financial services co

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Nancy Gunzenhauser Popper, attorney and new mother who talks about the importance of her network and a supportive work environment. NANCY GUNZENHAUSER POPPER is a Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the New York office of Epstein Becker Green. Ms. Popper: Counsels clients on compliance with EEO laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, worker classification issues, and other federal, state, and local statutes governing the workplace Advises employers in all facets of the employment relationship, from pre-employment considerations and hiring to terminations and post-employment restrictions Prepares employment, consulting, and separation agreements Audits employers’ employment policies, procedures, and handbooks to ensure compliance with applicable laws and best practices Conducts workplace training seminars for employees, managers, and human resources personnel Assists in defending clients in labor and employment-related litigation in a broad array of matters, such as discrimination, harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, and wage and hour disputes Ms. Popper has been chosen by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America©: “Ones to Watch” (2021) in the field of Litigation – Labor and Employment. Prior to joining Epstein Becker Green, Ms. Popper worked as an intern in the Law Department of the Kings County Supreme Court; the Employment Law Department of one the world’s largest professional services, risk management, and insurance brokerage firms; and the Social Security Administration, among other positions. While at law school, Ms. Popper received the CALI “Excellence for the Future Award” in Privacy in the Workplace. You can follow Nancy on LinkedIn.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Gavriella Schuster, a veteran executive with ideas and a plan to solve gender equity. Gavriella describes her BeCOME framework and urges all of us to take action now. Gavriella Schuster, Corporate Vice President, One Commercial Partner As a C-level Microsoft executive and thought leader, Gavriella leads a global portfolio of channel partners that has influenced over $1 trillion in ecosystem revenues. She brings over 20 years of leadership in digital and cloud transformation roles, driving strategy and execution spanning all aspects of business model and product development, launch, marketing, sales and partner development. Gavriella currently leads global recruitment, enablement and engagement of Microsoft’s fast-growing partner ecosystem. As a builder and change agent, she has built and turned around businesses by inspiring a vision for future customer relevance and engaging teams in developing the roadmap. You can follow Gavriella on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Amy Christensen, one of private equity’s Most Influential Women of Today and Tomorrow. Amy Christensen is a Partner and founding member of The Vistria Group, a Chicago-based, middle-market private equity firm that invests in healthcare, education, and financial services companies. She is responsible for the sourcing, due diligence, execution and portfolio management of Vistria’s healthcare investments. Ms. Christensen is also a board member of Behavioral Health Group, Supplemental Health Care, and Chiro One Wellness Centers. Ms. Christensen previously served on the boards of Angel MedFlight, St. Croix Hospice, and Alacura. She has executed numerous private equity transactions across a variety of industries including healthcare, business services, financial services, and technology. Prior to joining Vistria, she was an investor with NewSpring Capital, The Gores Group, and CCP Private Equity Partners. Ms. Christensen has also spent time advising health systems as a healthcare consultant with The Huron Consulting Group. She received her MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and her B.S. from Northwestern University. You can follow Amy on LinkedIn. Read the transcript here.

Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Katie Melbourne, systems engineer and astrophysicist, ultra-marathoner, and PhD to be. Katie Melbourne is a Systems Engineer at Ball Aerospace working on the James Webb Space Telescope commissioning team. Developing an interest in science and space at a young age, Katie graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Science in Astrophysics in 2019. Her undergraduate thesis and main astronomy research focus was on M dwarf stars – small, dim stars making up about 75% of all the stars surrounding Earth – and the planets that orbit them. After internships at NASA Headquarters and Ball Aerospace’s Strategic Operations Office in DC, Katie became committed to pursuing a career that would help advance the future of space exploration through diplomacy and the development of space sustainability norms. This summer, she will be starting a part-time Ph.D. studying Space Domain Awareness through the University of Colorado Boulder Aerospace Engineering Sciences department. Outside of STEM, Katie served as president of her sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma in undergrad, and now enjoys training for ultra-marathons and summit hikes, rock climbing, and learning guitar. You can follow Katie on Twitter @katiemel25 or Website: katiemelbourne.me. Read the transcript here.