2019 ACHENTX New Horizons Event

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This is our third annual New Horizons event, a special educational opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students to learn from local Executives. Early careerist and others in transition are also encouraged to attend.

Note: In addition to being able to hear and meet the below presenters, on a first-come/first served basis we will also be offering a limited number of registrants the opportunity to have brief mock interviews and resume reviews with healthcare human resources experts from around the metroplex. This will not be a job fair, but instead a professional development opportunity — enabling you to receive direct feedback from those who are conducting healthcare industry interviews and filtering through resumes on a day-to-day basis. A photographer will also be onsite (more details to follow) for those wanting professional headshots taken as well.

Agenda:

5:30-7pm – Optional Exercises (1st come/1st served) with Local Healthcare Human Resources Representatives

7-8pm – Panel Discussion and Q&A with attendees

8-8:30pm – Networking

Presenters:

John Allen, FACHE
Director, Practice Operations, Neighborhood Clinics
Cook Children’s Medical Center

John spent 22 years in the US Coast Guard (USCG). He spent the early part of his military career working as an EMT and health services technician. As a commissioned officer, he worked as a practice administrator and regional practice director. After he left the USCG, he worked as a program director at UNT Health Science Center for a transitional care program. He now works as a Director of Practice Operations at Cook Children’s Physicians Network. He holds a master’s in health administration from Baylor University and a master’s in public health from the University of West Florida.

Margaret Base
Executive Search Consultant
Witt/Kieffer Healthcare Practice

Margaret is an executive search consultant in Witt/Kieffer’s Healthcare practice. Margaret supports Witt/Kieffer’s national Healthcare team in conducting searches for CEOs, CFOs, CNOs, COOs, and many other executive roles within hospitals, health systems, integrated delivery networks, and other organizations.

Based in Dallas, Margaret has over 20 years of executive search experience that has included tenure with two F500 companies, an early-stage private-equity healthcare services start-up, and boutique executive search firms. Margaret’s most notable experience was her six years with Tenet Healthcare, an investor-owned hospital system with more than 50 facilities in 11 states. As Managing Director of Executive Search, Margaret led an internal team that recruited 75+ executives on an annual basis, focusing on Tenet’s hospital C-suite and corporate leadership, as well as roles within the system’s performance management and innovation team.

Margaret is a hands-on professional who supports client searches at both a tactical and strategic level. Her work is defined by a collaborative spirit, sense of urgency, and quality and thoroughness. Beyond executive search, she also supports clients in their succession planning, talent evaluation, facilitating offer negotiation with candidates, and leader on-boarding. Margaret is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Benjamin Isgur, FACHE
Leader
PwC Health Research Institute

Ben leads PwC’s Health Research Institute. HRI is a dedicated research group that provides new intelligence, perspective, and analysis on major health-related business issues. In this role, he oversees thought leadership and research initiatives for the firm and clients. He also consults with healthcare systems, trade associations, and policy groups on strategic planning, and industry intelligence and trends.

Ben is a published writer and his research is often cited by health leaders across the industry. He has been quoted in media outlets such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Modern Healthcare and has appeared on the CNBC Nightly Business Report. In addition, he frequently speaks on a range of topics, including physician-hospital alignment, government policy, medical cost trends, consumerism, academic medicine and digital health.

Prior to joining PwC he developed health policy as a legislative director in the Texas House of Representatives and as a government relations officer for the City of Austin. Ben received a master’s degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin where he was a US Department of Defense fellow.

Bernie O’Donnell
Lead Consultant & CEO
Performisys LLC

Bernie is Lead Consultant and CEO of Performisys LLC, a Dallas based consultancy focused on building high-caliber company cultures led by high-performance executive teams. His clients span virtually all industries across the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

His unique concepts have been published in the Dallas Business Journal, Leadership Excellence, Sales & Service Excellence, Zig Ziglar Newsletter, and numerous trade journals. He has been a featured lecturer in the University of Texas at Dallas EMBA program.

Bernie’s background includes a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Richmond and twenty years of sales and leadership positions with IBM. He has served on numerous professional and community boards, including chairman of a private school, president of an economic development corporation, and Chairman of Sales and Marketing Executives International. He is currently President of the Alliance for Healthcare Excellence. Bernie holds a 2nd degree blackbelt in Taekwondo. Enjoys travel and good wine. He and his wife, Brenda, have 2 wonderful daughters.

Mike Waters, LFACHE
Retired President & CEO
Hendrick Health System

Mike served the last 28 years of his career at Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene, Texas. Twenty-four as the President and CEO, and the last four years as Senior Consultant. He retired because he was of retirement age, and he wanted to consult, travel, and complete his “Bucket List.”

In college undergraduate school at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, Mike worked in the evenings at the Baptist Hospital. That experience was the motivating factor in his choosing to go to graduate school in hospital administration and pursue hospital administration as a career.

When asked to describe one of the more successful risks he took and why? Mike responded, “When I was 38 years old. The Board of Hendrick Medical Center, a 400 Bed Hospital, selected me to be the CEO of that Institution. I took a risk at that young age to undertake that task. With the help and support of my wife, Kathy, the Boards at Hendrick, and my colleagues at Hendrick, I enjoyed all 24 years as the President and CEO. In retrospect, I realize what a risk it was for me to undertake that position at such a young and inexperienced age.”

When Mike retired, his bucket list included travel and continuing activity in the field. He serves on four boards, serves as a volunteer concierge at Baylor University Medical Center on Gaston Avenue every Thursday morning, is a mentor in the ACHENTX Mentorship Program, and is just about to complete his Bucket List. His Bucket List included the following: Civil War Battlefields (He has visited over 25 battlefields . . . several more than once),The Alaska Highway, Wrigley Field, Machu Picchu, The Panama Canal, Voyageurs National Park, Yosemite, Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands, Arches, and Grand Canyon National Parks, and other places. Still to go on my list are Fenway Park, Key West, The Mormon Tabernacle (even though he is a devout Baptist), and Field of Dreams. Mike notes, “Other places might be added.”

He has been married to a wonderful woman, Kathy, for nearly 42 years. He says, “She is my soul mate, my friend, and my inspiration.” Mike adds, “Retirement has been great because I have my health, financial security, and a great wife to share it with me. My two grown daughters, their husbands, and our four grandchildren enrich my life.”

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