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ACHE Chapter Positions

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Officers

Chad Collins

Chad Collins

President

Chad Collins

Chad Collins, MHA, FACHE, CHFP, is a healthcare executive with over 10 years of healthcare experience. He serves as Administrative Director of Operations at the University of South Alabama Health where he oversees the hospital operations for gastroenterology, neurology, emergency medicine, as well as inpatient physical therapy, and laboratory operations. Additionally, he has held leadership roles in for-profit and not-for-profit sectors of healthcare, having stopped at Tenet Health, United Surgical Partners International, and Texas Health Resources along the way. Chad received his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Faulkner University and his MHA from LSU Shreveport. Recently Mr. Collins was featured in the 2022 Becker’s Hospital Review’s 75 Black Healthcare Leaders to Know and 2022 Mobile Bay Magazine 40 Under 40. He was also the 2021 recipient of the ACHE of Alabama State Regent Early Careerist Award.

Mr. Collin’s community activities include NAHSE Birmingham Regional Chapter, ACHE of Alabama, Leadership Mobile, Mobile Chamber of Commerce, VP of the DREAM Foundation, VP of the board Child Day Care Association, Treasurer for Salty Kidz, Treasurer for Whale of Hope, Inc, and Fairhope Youth Sports Programs.

Chad Collins
President

Michael Bartell

Michael Bartell

Vice President/President-Elect

Mike Bartell

Mike Bartell received his undergraduate degree in Health Science at Fresno Pacific before serving four years in the USCG. He attended Loma Linda University for his MPH in Health Administration. His health administration career began in medical practice administration, which opened a door to the acute care setting. He started in the acute care setting as Director of Quality, which evolved into 7 years in business development and service line administration. Mike joined Encompass Health in 2014, which led to CEO positions in freestanding acute inpatient settings in Phoenix City and Birmingham. He currently serves as the CEO of Encompass Health Lakeshore Rehabilitation Hospital in Birmingham.

Michael Bartell
Vice President/
President-Elect

Linda Coogan

Linda Coogan

Treasurer

Linda Coogan

Linda Coogan is a Registered Nurse with over 35 years experience in Healthcare Leadership. She is Certified in Healthcare Quality,an ACHE Fellow, Certified Integrative Nurse Coach, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Maxwell Leadership Certified Coach, Inspirational Speaker, former Baldrige examiner and TJC nurse surveyor. Ms Coogan is co-founder of AlaQuest Collaborative for Education as well as founder and CEO of AlaQuest Center for Performance Excellence. She is focusing her career on meeting the mission of AlaQuest by inspiring Whole Life Wellness through coaching, inspirational writing and speaking.

Linda Coogan
Treasurer

Chad Collins

Caitlyn P. Traffanstedt

Secretary

Caitlyn currently serves as a Supply Chain Business Analyst within Supply Chain Services at East Alabama Health in Opelika, AL. She provides cost analysis for the system including Value Analysis submissions and standardization opportunities. Caitlyn also works to develop analysis strategies and tracking tools for supply chain and organizational KPI’s as well as provides support and analysis for CIN opportunities across the system. Caitlyn is also currently working on her Master of Health Administration (MHA) at Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM) and is planning to graduate Fall 2023. Caitlyn’s previous experience has included project management, recruiting, and property management within and outside of the health care industry. Outside of work, Caitlyn has had the opportunity to conduct research on the Holocaust, specifically the Swedish White Buses Rescue Mission that saved over 15,000 lives through the Swedish Red Cross, including traveling to Sweden to meet an ancestor involved in the Rescue. Caitlyn is passionate about serving others, building relationships and making a difference in someone’s life, whether big or small.

Caitlyn P. Traffanstedt
Secretary

Amir Farooqi

Amir Farooqi

Immediate Past President

Amir Farooqi

Amir Farooqi, FACHE, was appointed Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System (CAVHCS) effective September 27, 2020 having served Veterans since 2002 at medical center, network, and national levels. Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System is a Level 2 Facility with two historic campuses (100 and 83 respectively) in addition to 9 outpatient clinic sites across Central and South Alabama and West Georgia (4 located on military bases) serving a growing population of 53,000 unique Veteran patients with a budget over $576 Million.

Mr. Farooqi received the Secretary’s Hero Award for service during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Mr. Farooqi achieved Fellow status in the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) in 2009, has been a Member of the VA ACHE Regent’s Advisory Council since 2016 (currently Awards and Recognition Chair), and is a Certified Mentor. He was recognized with the VA ACHE Regent’s 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Senior Leader Award as well as the Alabama ACHE Regent’s 2021 Senior Leader Award and the ACHE Distinguished Service Award in 2023. He is a graduate of the Executive Career Field Career Development Program (2008-2009), Leadership VA (2012-2013), and the Excellence in Government Fellow Program (2015-2016). He serves on the VHA GHATP Advisory Board. He is Past President for ACHE of Alabama, national Chair of the ACHE LGBTQ+ Health Leaders Community Committee, Board Member for the American Hospital Association Regional Policy Board, and Board Member on the Alabama Head and Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund Advisory Board. He previously served terms on other boards including the Leadership VA Alumni Association, Pets Are Loving Support (PALS), Mississippi HeARTs Against AIDS, and Unity Mississippi. He has spoken on national and regional webinars and panels related to leading successful change in healthcare organizations as well as diversity and inclusion. He is a Life Member of Mensa. Originally from Texas, where he earned his Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration, he is also a graduate of the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science.

Amir Farooqi
Immediate Past President

Committee Chairs and Directors

James Stout

James Stout

Chapter Committee Chair – Communications

James Stout

James Stout
Chapter Committee Chair
Communications
Lavon Beard

Lavon Beard

Chapter Committee Chair – Programs

Lavon Beard

Lavon Beard has over 16 years of healthcare experience. He is a licensed Physical Therapist who has practiced in several settings throughout his career. He earned a Master of Science in Physical Therapy from the University of South Alabama. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Jackson State University. Throughout his career as a Physical Therapist, he has held several leadership roles. Those roles included Lead Physical Therapist and Manager of Physical Therapy at UAB, an 1,100 bed hospital.

To further his leadership skills, Mr. Beard earned a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Science in Health Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is currently the Director of Patient Experience at Princeton Baptist Medical Center where he is focused on improving Customer Satisfaction and Employee Engagement. Mr. Beard is very excited about serving with ACHE and looking forward to an amazing year.

He and his wife, Latoya, have a son, Loren, and a daughter, Lexie.

Lavon Beard
Chapter Committee Chair
Programs

Michael Bartell

Michael Bartell

Chapter Board Member – Director, Sponsorship

Mike Bartell

Mike Bartell received his undergraduate degree in Health Science at Fresno Pacific before serving four years in the USCG. He attended Loma Linda University for his MPH in Health Administration. His health administration career began in medical practice administration, which opened a door to the acute care setting. He started in the acute care setting as Director of Quality, which evolved into 7 years in business development and service line administration. Mike joined Encompass Health in 2014, which led to CEO positions in freestanding acute inpatient settings in Phoenix City and Birmingham. He currently serves as the CEO of Encompass Health Lakeshore Rehabilitation Hospital in Birmingham.

Michael Bartell
Chapter Board Member
Director, Sponsorship

DeWayne Bailey

DeWayne Bailey

Chapter Board Member – Director of Mentoring and Student Affiliations

DeWayne Bailey

DeWayne Bailey received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Master of Business Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He currently serves as the Manager of the Alabama Rural Health Collaborative at UAB Health System.

Mr. Bailey’s community activities include: Past Vice President of UAB Minority Health and Health Equity Research Center (MHERC) Young Professionals Board; President- Elect of the National Association of Health Services Executives Birmingham Regional Chapter (NAHSE BRC); Benevolent Fund Council Member and the Kidney Advocacy Committee for the National Kidney Foundation.

DeWayne Bailey
Chapter Board Member
Director of Mentoring and Student Affiliations

Ruben Martinez-Raposo, ME, MSHA

Ruben Martinez-Raposo, ME, MSHA

Chapter Committee Chair – Membership Engagement and Advancement

Ruben Martinez Raposo ACHE

Ruben is a Healthcare IT executive with 17 years of experience working in various IT operations, management and leadership roles with Alabama startups companies such as Emageon and Awarix as well as global companies like McKesson, Change Healthcare and Becton & Dickinson. In this current role with Syntelli Solutions as a Healthcare Enterprise Account Executive he engages with Healthcare Executives to identify, evaluate and develop business intelligence, clinical decision support and data analytics solutions that will bring the most value out of their data to match their business strategies and drive optimal outcomes. Prior to his current role, he developed data and analytical platforms and products as a Program Manager for global medical device company Becton & Dickinson and as Senior Product Manager for McKesson and Change Healthcare. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Management Information Systems, completed his Master of Engineering in Information Sciences in 2012 and received his Masters of Science degree in Healthcare administration in 2015 all from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is an active member of HIMSS and ACHE of Alabama.

Ruben Martinez-Raposo
ME, MSHA – Regent
Chapter Committee Chair
Membership Engagement and Advancement

Regional Program Directors and Co-Directors

Chandra Bondugula, MD

Chandra Bondugula, MD

Chapter Board Member – Director, Region 1

Chandra Bondugula, MD, is a healthcare executive with more than 23 years of combined experience in patient care, hospital operations, graduate medication, informatics and healthcare innovation. As a founding Designated Institutional Official (DIO), he is instrumental in developing Graduate Medical Education Program at North Alabama Medical Center, Florence, AL. He served as the director of healthcare operations and managed multiple co-management value-based programs and engaged many physicians and healthcare leaders in improving the outcomes.

He is active in healthcare IT and advanced technologies like analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence.  He has been a strong advocate of price transparency in healthcare. He focuses on value-based healthcare and workforce development in under resourced and rural healthcare communities.

Apart from medical education, he did Master of Health Informatics with healthcare administration focus from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is on the board of Shoals Community Clinic (SCC), a non profit clinic that provides medical and dental to people without health benefits in Shoals Community.

Chandra Bondugula, MD
Chapter Board Member
Director, Region 1

Robert Hensley

Robert Hensley

Chapter Board Member – Co-Director, Region 1

Robert Hensley

Robert is a University of Kentucky Alum holding a master’s degree in healthcare administration and a bachelor’s in business administration. With more than a decade of experience in healthcare, Robert currently serves as the Executive Director of Network Strategy at Viva Health with responsibility for alternative payment arrangements, strategy and health policy. His passion in healthcare is focused in the areas of Population Health, Value-Based Care and Healthcare transformation. He has spent his entire career in this space providing leadership to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), Clinically Integrated Networks (CINs) and Independent Physician Associations (IPAs).

Robert Hensley
Chapter Board Member
Co-Director, Region 1

Lavon Beard

Lavon Beard

Chapter Board Member – Director, Region 2

Lavon Beard

Lavon Beard has over 16 years of healthcare experience. He is a licensed Physical Therapist who has practiced in several settings throughout his career. He earned a Master of Science in Physical Therapy from the University of South Alabama. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Jackson State University. Throughout his career as a Physical Therapist, he has held several leadership roles. Those roles included Lead Physical Therapist and Manager of Physical Therapy at UAB, an 1,100 bed hospital.

To further his leadership skills, Mr. Beard earned a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Science in Health Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is currently the Director of Patient Experience at Princeton Baptist Medical Center where he is focused on improving Customer Satisfaction and Employee Engagement. Mr. Beard is very excited about serving with ACHE and looking forward to an amazing year.

He and his wife, Latoya, have a son, Loren, and a daughter, Lexie.

Lavon Beard
Chapter Board Member
Director, Region 2

Jeremy Herring

Jeremy Herring

Chapter Board Member – Co-Director, Region 2

Jeremy Herring
Chapter Board Member
Co-Director, Region 2

Joe Riley

Joe Riley

Chapter Board Member – Director, Region 3

Joe Riley
Chapter Board Member
Director, Region 3

Cody Traffanstedt

Cody Traffanstedt

Chapter Board Member – Co-Director, Region 3

Cody Traffanstedt
Chapter Board Member
Co-Director, Region 3

Donna Zellers

Donna Zellers

Chapter Board Member – Director, Region 4

Donna Zellers

Donna is a Senior Managing Consultant in BRG’s Healthcare Performance Improvement Portfolio Optimization Practice. Donna has more than 20 years in the hospital and physician clinic setting. Donna’s skill set in the acute & non-acute clinical settings have focused on operations, supply chain management, implementation, strategic planning, new program start-ups, quality, performance improvement, and physician-hospital collaboration/integration.

Donna received her Bachelor of Science (Nursing) from the University of South Alabama.  She is currently completing her Doctorate of Healthcare Administration and projected to be finished December 2020.

Donna Zellers
Chapter Board Member
Director, Region 4

Brittany Brown

Brittany Brown

Chapter Board Member – Co-Director, Region 4

Brittany Brown

A registered nurse by training with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing as well as a Master of Science in Nursing Degree (Nursing Executive Administration) from the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. Nursing clinical background in both adult and pediatric intensive care and adult Sickle Cell Disease management. In addition, advanced training in Sickle Cell Disease counseling and program development of the PACT (Pediatric to Adult Care Transition Program) for adolescents transitioning to adult Sickle Cell Disease care at USA Health.

A class of 2019 40 under 40 recipient for Mobile, Alabama, 2021 Distinguished Young National Level Leader award, the 2023 Mobile Medical Museum leadership award and the international recognition by PerfectServe “2023 Nurses of Note” award.

Priority focus and determination on further development of healthcare access for underserved patient populations and contributing to the development of community partnerships to provide specialty services. In addition, community engagement partnerships with several local high schools to provide mentorship, interview skills and resume development for junior and senior students.

An active member of the following professional organizations: Gulf Coast Organization for Nursing Leadership, Alabama Organization for Nursing Leadership and co-director for the American College of Healthcare Executives, state of Alabama, Region 4. Community organization memberships include Aubreigh’s Army 328 Foundation and Buy a Tree, Change a Life, LLC.

Brittany Brown
Chapter Board Member
Co-Director, Region 4

Members At-Large

Nancy Borkowski, DBA, CPA, FACHE, FHFMA

Nancy Borkowski, DBA, CPA, FACHE, FHFMA

Chapter Board Member – At-Large

Nancy Borkowski, DBA, CPA, FACHE, FHFMA is a professor in the Department of Health Services Administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the UAB Site Co–Director, NSF I/UCRC Center for Health Organization Transformation.

Nancy Borkowski, DBA, CPA, FACHE, FHFMA
Chapter Board Member
At-Large

Michael McEachern

Michael McEachern

Chapter Board Member – At-Large

Michael McEachern
Chapter Board Member
At-Large

Rett Grover

Rett Grover

Chapter Board Member – At-Large

Rett Grover

Rett J. Grover completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Alabama. He later received his Master of Science in Health Administration and Master of Business Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed his Administrative Residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi and assumed the position of Director of Business Operations for the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation in April of 2010. After several years at UMMC, Rett joined the UAB Callahan Eye Hospital and Ophthalmology Services Foundation as the Operations Administrator in 2012. In 2015, Rett became the UAB Callahan Eye Hospital & Clinics Chief Operating Officer and in 2018 he was named Chief Executive Officer. Grover is a member of the Alabama Hospital Association Birmingham Regional Council and the American College of Healthcare Executives. He serves as a board member for the Alabama Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the Ophthalmology Services Foundation and the Eyesight Foundation of Alabama.

Rett Grover
Chapter Board Member
At-Large

Regents and Interns

Robert Leech

Robert Leech

Regent

Robert Leech

Robert Leech is the Alabama Regent for the American College of Healthcare Executives. Robert presently holds the position of Chief Compliance & Privacy Officer for Enhabit Home Health & Hospice. He has a Bachelors Degree from Christian Brothers University, a MPA degree in Health Services Administration from the University of Memphis, is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, and is certified by the Health Care Compliance Association in both healthcare compliance and healthcare privacy. He is a past president of the Tennessee Association for Home Care and a past board member of the National Association for Home Care, representing eight (8) states in the Southeastern US. Prior to joining Enhabit Home Health & Hospice, he was Vice President for Home Health & Compliance for Encompass Health beginning in 2006.

Robert Leech
Regent

Josef Saway

Josef Saway

Student Intern

Josef Saway is from Birmingham, AL. He attended University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) earning his Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and his Master in Business Administration. Currently, Josef is a candidate for UAB Masters of Science in Health Administration (MSHA) and Masters of Science in Health Informatics (MSHI) dual degree program. During his undergraduate, he acted as an ambassador for the university, as well as held the position of President for both the UAB interfraternity-council and UAB Best Buddies club, graduating with High Distinguished Honors and Honors in the School of Health Professions.

Josef Saway
Student Intern