Supply chain leaders deftly manage the behind-the-scenes work that keeps their health systems functioning smoothly. These leaders leverage years of healthcare supply chain experience to create cost savings, build strategic partnerships and manage inventory.
Many of these leaders navigated their organizations through the supply chain challenges brought on by the pandemic, and have helped position their organizations for future success.
Note: This list is not an endorsement of included leaders, organizations or associated healthcare providers. Leaders cannot pay for inclusion on this list. Leaders are presented in alphabetical order.
Contact Anna Falvey at afalvey@beckershealthcare.com with questions or comments.
Joshua Bakelaar. Vice President of Supply Chain at OU Health (Oklahoma City). Mr. Bakelaar has over 20 years of experience in supply chain leadership, specializing in leadership, team development, integration, process improvement, automation and analytics. He is also experienced in planning and executing strategies to increase stakeholder satisfaction. He restructured and integrated OU's entire supply chain into a system structure, reduced the department turnover rate by 50 percent, implemented a strategic supply plan with 125 process improvements, helped the chain realize $25 million in cost savings and supported the integration of a new EHR system.
Doug Bowen. Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Management at Banner Health (Phoenix). Mr. Bowen serves as senior vice president of supply chain management at Banner Health. He first joined the system in 2002, acting as vice president of supply chain services. Through his work, he aims to use an integrated, vertical supply chain model to increase value for patients, payers, providers and suppliers. During his tenure at Banner Health, he has transformed the supply chain into a centralized corporate supply chain service center benefitting 30 hospitals. Under his leadership, Banner’s supply chain was named the Healthcare Purchasing News "Supply Chain Department of the Year" for 2021.
Evan Casteel. Director of Supply Chain at MultiCare Yakima (Wash.) Memorial Hospital. Mr. Casteel worked with the Yakima hospital throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that the system had what it needed to adequately treat patients. He helped the system maintain a safe level of PPE to protect both the staff and the patients.
Ron Collins. Vice President of Supply Chain Management at The University of Tennessee Medical Center (Knoxville, Tenn.). Mr. Collins, who serves as the vice president of supply chain management at The University of Tennessee Medical Center, is an innovative, forward-thinking supply chain expert. His hard work has resulted in millions of dollars in cost reductions for the medical center, despite the challenges of high inflation. He has also played a key role in the medical center's partnership with DeRoyal, a medical device manufacturer that helped create a solution that manages operating room supplies and minimizes patient risks during surgeries.
Steve Downey. Chief Supply Chain and Patient Support Services Officer at Cleveland Clinic. In 2021, Mr. Downey became Cleveland Clinic's chief supply chain and patient support services officer. His role entails ideating and guiding all strategic and operational aspects of the system's global supply chain and support functions. He brings over 30 years of innovative supply chain experience to his current role, ranging from work in marketing, product management, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and more.
Conrad Emmerich. Senior Vice President of Supply Chain, Lab, Imaging and Chief Product Officer at Advocate Health (Charlotte, N.C.). Mr. Emmerich has streamlined implant procurement, standardized care and improved quality at the Advocate and Atrium Health System, helping to smoothly integrate the two systems together. He has improved communication throughout the system in the wake of the merger, which finalized in December 2022.
Brooke Fan. Vice President of Supply Chain Operations at Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.). Ms. Fan has been implementing a strategic vision for the Kaiser Permanente supply chain and its 2,200 operations employees that she leads and supports daily. She also drives innovation in the purchasing and inventory management space, using her background in retail supply chain to bring advanced analytics to the healthcare supply chain. She has spent 10 years developing a metrics dashboard that reduces variation and drives operational excellence to support an environment of continuous improvement. She has also sponsored a new networking group at Kaiser, "women in supply chain."
James Francis. Division Chair and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.). As division chair and chief supply chain officer at Mayo Clinic, Mr. Francis has been instrumental in advancing the healthcare supply chain for the organization. Committed to peer and partner collaboration, he has formed and helped lead numerous professional organizations in sharing knowledge and growing talent. Mr. Francis's leadership has garnered Mayo Clinic recognition by Gartner as one of the Top 25 Supply Chains in Healthcare. Additionally, he has been recognized for his exceptional leadership in the Bellwether League Foundation's Hall of Fame.
Cindy Gueltzow. Vice President of Supply Chain Services at Baptist Health (Louisville, Ky.). Ms. Gueltzow oversees the supply chain for nine hospitals and over 450 points of care in her role as vice president of supply chain services for Baptist Health. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Gueltzow has made sufficient PPE a priority for a large majority of Baptist Health's nearly 23,000 employees. Her strategies in doing such have included international contracting, developing product origin databases and forecasting analytics, and fostering relationships with customs border officials, the CDC and the FDA. In addition to spearheading PPE and vaccine supply chain efforts during the pandemic, Ms. Gueltzow was also instrumental in supporting communities of Western Kentucky after the violent tornado disaster in December 2021. Among other Baptist Health efforts, she and her staff arranged for an entire warehouse of bottled water and other essential supplies to be sent to the area to support hospitals, staff and community members. Ms. Gueltzow is a recognized leader in healthcare supply chain; in 2020, she was one of eight female supply chain leaders profield by the national Journal of Healthcare Contracting.
Ramy Hanna. CEO of Continental Supply Chain Services at HCA Healthcare (Nashville, Tenn.). Mr. Hanna is a hands-on supply leader at HCA, serving as a mentor to other aspiring supply chain professionals. He has led a reduction of $120 million in operating costs over the last three fiscal years, improving supplies, purchase services, performance management and lease expenses. He also developed and implemented a talent acquisition and retention strategy for the system, resulting in a staff retention rate of 86 percent. He was also the primary leader for HCA's PPE, Rx and lab procurement and operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jorge Hernandez. Vice President of Supply Chain Services and Chief Procurement Officer at Broward Health (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). As vice president of supply chain services and chief procurement officer for Broward Health, Mr. Hernandez has been instrumental in better controlling and reducing supply costs, while improving operating efficiencies for the system. He oversees a budget of $1 billion in annual expenditure. Mr. Hernandez is a staunch supporter of supply chain diversity and allocates more than 60 percent of Broward Health’s procurement budget to minority vendors in South Florida. He also led a supplies utilization transformation to maximize Broward Health Group Purchasing Organization contracts, delivering more than $1 million in savings.
Karen Hildebrand Clark. Director of Supply Chain at Peterson Health (Kerrville, Texas). Since joining Peterson in 2017, Ms. Clark has negotiated $5.1 million in one-time savings and $2.8 million in annualized savings for the health system. She leads the system's value analysis team, enabling supply improvements and optimizing production and standardization. She has created vendor score cards for the system, which evaluate vendor performance on quality, delivery, cost, customer service and innovation. She also reviews and negotiates the majority of contract terms and pricing requirements with vendors. Additionally, she is focused on the lives of her team members both personally and professionally, ensuring they receive fair wages in the marketplace.
Ed Hisscock. Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Management at Trinity Health (Livonia, Mich.). Mr. Hisscock serves as senior vice president of supply chain management at Trinity Health. He brings a diverse educational background in engineering, behavioral science, and supply chain to the role, as well as experience across various health care supply chain modalities. Under his guidance, Trinity Health's supply chain team managed disruptions in global supply chains, implemented strategies for inventory management, and coordinated logistics to support operations and patient care during the pandemic. Mr. Hisscock was recently inducted into the Bellwether League Foundation’s Hall of Fame for Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership.
Daniel Hurry. President and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Advantus Health Partners and Bon Secours Mercy Health (Cincinnati, Ohio). Mr. Hurry is moving the supply chain industry forward, creating awareness, alignment and action within the system. He has led the team in hundreds of millions of dollars in operating cost savings, generating high performance stats compared to industry averages. He was also the driving force behind the creation of Advantus Health Partners, a new supply chain company in healthcare.
Dena Jackson. Vice President of Strategic Sourcing and Service Delivery at Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.). Ms. Jackson has over 25 years of experience in supply chain leadership, always leading with the patient's needs in mind. She led the pandemic command center for Kaiser, which was active for two years and supported the provision of medical supplies for 39 hospitals and hundreds of medical office spaces. She also led the supply chain for mass COVID-19 vaccination across California.
Tonia Kraus. Vice President of Strategic Supplier Engagement at triValence (Minneapolis). Ms. Kraus has over 30 years of experience in supply chain leadership, with over 20 years of experience in group purchasing organizations. She has built two non-acute group purchasing organization programs from the ground up. She has also held supply chain roles at AdvantageTrust, Provista and Radiology Partners.
Andrew Lam. Vice President of Procure to Pay at Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.). Mr. Lam is an adaptable and flexible leader, navigating supply chain disruptions, demand and market fluctuations using both analytical and collaborative skills to identify bottlenecks, mitigate risk and optimize the supply chain process. He is constantly focused on making improvements and embracing new technologies. During the COVID-19 health emergency, Mr. Lam was responsible for building Kaiser's supply chain resiliency and driving automation to promote cost savings.
Nancy Ling. Director of Supply Chain Services at East Alabama Health (Opelika, Ala.). Ms. Ling brings over 25 years of healthcare supply chain and operations experience to her current role as director of supply chain services for East Alabama Health. She takes a profitability-driven approach to supply chain management, which has helped improve inventory management and tracking. She is a member of the Alabama Society for Healthcare Materials Management and the Association for Healthcare Resources and Materials Management.
Candace Long. Supply Chain Management Director of UNC Health Southeastern (Lumberton, N.C.). Ms. Long is the supply chain management director of UNC Health Southeastern. She guided the organization in the implementation of two new supply chain systems during its integration with Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health. She recently helped to identify approximately $1 million in supply savings to be achieved over the next 12 months. Ms. Long was promoted to her current role in May 2022, after previously serving as interim director.
Thomas Lubotsky. Vice President of Supply Chain at Allina Health (Minneapolis). As vice president of supply chain for Allina Health, Mr. Lubotsky directs short-term and long-term supply chain strategies. Under his leadership, the system has implemented an integrated service center to support inventory management and distribution, established a program to increase diversity spending and developed a plan to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. He also redesigned the supply chain department with new leadership hires, alignment of the logistics and transportation teams, and centralization of procurement. In 2022, he also led the system in its renewed partnership with Richmond, Va.-based Owens & Minor, a collaboration to create a unique integrated service model for supply chain resiliency.
Michael Martin. Vice President of Supply Chain Operations at Trinity Health (Livonia, Mich.). Mr. Martin serves as vice president of supply chain operations at Trinity Health. He is a seasoned healthcare supply chain expert, bringing a breadth of experience in acute care distribution. In his current role, he is responsible for distribution strategy, non-acute supply chain management operations, the consumer price index team, and more.
Phyllis McCready. Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer at Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). With over 25 years of management experience under her belt, Ms. McCready serves as vice president and chief procurement officer at Northwell Health. There, she oversees a $2.6 billion annual spend and has worked to diversify and modernize the system's supply chain. She has been crucial to the creation and oversight of the Integrated Distribution Center, which has allowed for simplified product delivery to the system's hospitals. She is also president and CEO of North Shore-LIJ Alliance, the system's group purchasing organization.
Milrose Mercado. Senior Vice President of Supply Chain and Chief Procurement Officer at Hartford (Conn.) Healthcare. Ms. Mercado, senior vice president of supply chain and chief procurement officer at Hartford Healthcare, is an industry thought leader recognized for her expertise in leading large-scale healthcare supply chain transformation efforts. She is charged with achieving financial improvements and increased operational efficiency at Hartford Healthcare. To accomplish this, she handles supply chain, account payable, capital and clinical care redesign at the health system. Under her leadership, the supply chain was able to pivot during the pandemic and build a direct international sourcing model across Asia. She also led the system's supplier diversity efforts, which resulted in over $180 million in diversity spend.
Annette Morgan. Chief Administrative Officer at City of Hope Orange County (Irvine, Calif.). In her role as chief administrative officer, Ms. Morgan navigates business operations and supply chain challenges for City of Hope Orange County. She played a pivotal role in the 2022 opening of City of Hope Orange County Lennar Foundation Cancer Center, ensuring that the 190,000-square-foot center opened on time and within budget despite setbacks caused by the pandemic. A strategic and data-driven leader, Ms. Morgan discovered that 19 percent of all Orange County residents left the area for advanced cancer care. Since then, she has been determined to expand access to equitable care within the community via City of Hope’s more than $1 billion expansion and a groundbreaking contract between City of Hope and CalOptima Health, the region's Medicaid program.
Don Parks. Director of Procurement Strategy and Sourcing at UCLA Health (Los Angeles). Mr. Parks is the director of procurement strategy and sourcing at UCLA Health. His current focus is vendor relations, with the ultimate goal of increasing supply assuredness and decreasing chance of inflation. Under his guidance, the system is using a new distribution center where the team can stock greater inventory of higher priority items. He first joined UCLA Health in 1998 and has worked in roles related to distribution and supply chain ever since.
Jonathan Pumphrey. Vice President of Supply Chain and Chief Supply Chain Officer at WellSpan Health (York, Pa.). Mr. Pumphrey brings 50 years of experience in the healthcare supply chain industry to his current dual roles as vice president of supply chain and chief supply chain officer at WellSpan Health. In 2016, he played an integral part in the development of AllSpire GPO, a group purchasing organization among six health systems that aims to elevate quality, reduce care costs and facilitate a shift to a regional population health focus. He also was key in building a partnership with LogicSource, a retail supply chain service who now manages WellSpan's purchased services expense.
Susanna Rustad. Chief Procurement Officer and Executive Director of Care at Home at UCI Health (Orange, Calif.). Ms. Rustad has been responsible for numerous accomplishments in supply chain and operations for virtual care within UCI Health. Under her leadership, the supply chain was successfully managed through the unpredictable era of the COVID-19 pandemic amid meeting demands for a growing clinical enterprise. Additionally, Ms. Rustad led the development of UCI Health's Care at Home strategy. In 2022, she was recognized by GHX North America as one of the Best 50 Healthcare Providers for Supply Chain Excellence.
Lisa Scannell. Vice President of Supply Chain at Mass General Brigham (Somerville, Mass.). Ms. Scannell is vice president of supply chain management at Mass General Brigham. She first came to the health system over 25 years ago and has taken on roles with increasing responsibility. She is responsible for supporting Mass General Brigham's strategic initiatives while addressing the need for supply chain resiliency.
Susan Schrupp. Senior Vice President and Chief Purchasing Officer for Community Health Systems (Franklin, Tenn.). Ms. Schrupp joined Community Health Systems in 2018, bringing over 20 years of experience in healthcare supply chain and healthcare group purchasing organizations. As senior vice president and chief purchasing officer, she oversees contract administration, travel, clinical equipment and biomedical function, and the laboratory and imaging service lines. She also represents the system on the equity board of HealthTrust Purchasing Group. Together with the system's chief medical officer, Ms. Schrupp amassed a network of physician leaders to evaluate and influence key purchasing decisions. In total, she has introduced over 100 supply chain initiatives that have resulted in savings in 2022.
Eddie Sharp. System Vice President of Supply Chain at PeaceHealth (Vancouver, Wash.). Mr. Sharp has reduced the overall supply expenses for PeaceHealth by millions of dollars during his time with the system. He has also helped the system get extensions on supply expiration dates, preventing the need to discard millions of dollars worth of supplies. Heestablished partnerships outside of his direct department, seeking advice in his quest for efficiency and cost savings.
Jeremy E. Strong. Vice President of Supply Chain at Rush University System of Health (Chicago). Mr. Strong is the vice president of supply chain for Rush, where his main focus is eradicating any barriers between medical supplies and caregivers. In order to make the system more efficient, he has helped reduce inventory backlog and has prompted the system to reevaluate the relationship between product price and product care. He is also passionate about empowering the future generation of supply chain leaders. Mr. Strong first joined Rush in 2001.
Suzzanne Thomson Quintero. Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Orlando Health. Ms. Quintero is responsible for all supply chain functions for the 3,888-bed Orlando Health, including sourcing and contracting, value analysis, demand planning, risk mitigation, procurement, compliance and more. She has created a flexible and versatile 10-year supply chain strategy that will help the system double in size by 2030. Her approach has led to multimillion-dollar cost savings for the system. She has created and defined new metrics, processes, defined responsibilities and added nontraditional KPIs to the system to drive continuous improvement. She oversees the management of a 250,000-square-foot warehouse and logistics space that fulfills rates for products consumed at Orlando Health.
Eric Tritch. Vice President of Supply Chain and Support Services at UChicago Medicine. Mr. Tritch, vice president of supply chain and support services at UChicago Medicine, is a highly regarded supply chain leader who has been recognized for his innovative sourcing strategies and ability to reduce unnecessary burn rates of personal protective equipment and supplies during the pandemic. He oversees all supply chain operations, contracting, value analysis, and supplier management activity for the health system, along with responsibility for environmental services and patient transportation operations. As the UChicago Medicine health system grows, Mr. Tritch is helping to automate supply chain processes to reduce mental burden and help caregivers focus on care.
Mark Welch. Senior Vice President of Supply Chain at Novant Health (Winston-Salem, N.C.). Mr. Welch is the senior vice president of supply chain at Novant Health, where he is responsible for managing enterprisewide non-labor spend, supply chain logistics, operations, procurement, sourcing, and clinical supply chain engagement. He has encouraged supplier diversity amongst his division, which contributed to Novant Health's $160 million increase in spend with minority and women-owned suppliers from 2005 to 2022. His leadership led to the system's reduction of contracted supply chain general ledger expense by 15 percent annually.
Ben Wingfield. Director of Supply Chain Operations at Arkansas Children's Hospital (Little Rock). Mr. Wingfield manages inventory and contracts for the children's hospital, focusing on increasing equity and diversity with suppliers. He is also focused on improving communication and access between the supply chain and clinical departments, bringing the supply chain conversation to the table when it comes to discussing organizational challenges.