Janelle Browne
Vice President, Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer
UT Southwestern Medical Center

Josh Floren, FACHE
President
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano

Pete Havel
Author
The Arsonist in the Office: Fireproofing Your Life Against Toxic Coworkers, Bosses, Employees and Cultures

Stephanie Speights, PhD
Senior Vice President of Talent Management Development & Chief Learning Officer
Parkland Hospital and Health System

Laura Tortorella
Executive Vice President, Operations
Steward Health Care System

A special thanks to Haworth for hosting this event!

Speakers Bios:

Janelle Browne is the Vice President, Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer, joining UT Southwestern Medical Center in March 2019. Previously, she was Vice President for Human Resources at Texas Health Resources, where she had oversight of the nonprofit health system’s 13 wholly owned hospitals, more than 250 specialty and primary care clinics, and the Texas Health Physicians Group.

Before joining Texas Health in 2008, Ms. Browne gained extensive experience in academia with executive leadership roles at University of Washington Health Sciences Center and University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. She additionally served as an examiner for the New Mexico Performance Excellence Awards, which is based on the Malcolm Baldrige Framework for Performance Excellence.

Ms. Browne holds a bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University and a Master of Business Administration from University of Phoenix.

Josh Floren, FACHE, is the president of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano.

Josh joined Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano in 2013. Prior to joining the hospital, he worked as the executive vice president of operations at Parkland Hospital. Josh has an extensive background in business development, physician relations, financial management, strategic planning, hospital operations, performance and quality improvement.

Josh earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical science from Texas A&M University and a master’s in health administration from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He completed a fellowship at Charleston Area Medical Center in Charleston, WV and while there became a certified Six Sigma Blackbelt by GE.

Josh currently serves on multiple community boards including the Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center and is a past president of the North Texas Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He currently participates on the Texas Hospital Association’s Policy Council and is on Texas A&M University’s Biomedical Science Advisory Board.

Josh received the American College of Healthcare Executive Reagent’s Award in 2016 and was awarded Texas A&M University’s Outstanding Alumnus Award in 2017

Josh has been married for 15 years to his wife Valerie. They have 3 children, Jackson (12), Brooks (9) and Charlotte (6). He is active in his church and spends much of his time coaching the kid’s baseball and soccer teams.

Pete Havel, author of The Arsonist in the Office: Fireproofing Your Life Against Toxic Coworkers, Bosses, Employees and Cultures, is a former lobbyist, political consultant and crisis communications professional who now serves as a corporate Hazmat team.

After a professional experience placed him inside ‘the world’s most toxic workplace’ and hired to work with the untouchable employee his management called ‘The Arsonist’, Pete spoke up to his leadership about disturbing behavior that could have led to scandal, lost careers, and company embarrassment. When he did, his career path was changed forever. He got burned by the Arsonist—the classic employee that burns down careers, companies, and cultures in their path. In the book, he shares the tools and techniques that everyone—from entry level to C-Suite—need to understand about office politics, challenging cultures, difficult people, and dealing with hard issues that can make or break organizations.

He’s a speaker, author, trainer and consultant on workplace culture, leadership, and politics. His company, The Cloture Group, helps organizations—from coast to coast—build and fix their cultures to ‘fireproof’ them against bad behavior and in favor of strong ethics, high productivity, and effective leadership.

In his spare time, he enjoys rooting for his beloved Boston Red Sox, Baylor Bears and also searching for his next stop in his search for great BBQ and working on 3 new books.

He lives in Dallas with his wife Janie and daughter Reagan (16).

Stephanie Speights, PhD, is Senior Vice President of Talent Management Development & Chief Learning Officer at Parkland Hospital and Health System. An experienced health care executive, Stephanie is tasked with aligning talent development programs, employee engagement, and workforce management consulting to grow a highly skilled and competitive workforce. Prior to joining Parkland in July 2019, Stephanie spent 10 years at Children’s Health, most recently as the Vice President of Talent Management & Chief Learning Officer.

At Children’s Stephanie led talent acquisition, learning and leadership development, diversity and inclusion, and workforce development integration.

Recent Presentations & Recognition

• Texas Hospital Association (THA) Leadership Fellow, class of 2018
• Conference Speaker, ASHHRA 2018 Annual Conference and Exposition: Going Beyond the Usual Suspects: Unleash the Power of Quiet Leadership, September 2018
• National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL) 2018 BOLD Award Recipient: Best Organizations for Leadership Development
• AXIS Awards, including 2018 Best in Show, Dallas Association for Talent Development (ATD)

Laura Tortorella is the Executive Vice President of Operations of Steward Health Care System. In this role, she oversees labor management, supply chain, and hospital operational initiatives as well as the system’s predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, and operational platforms. Ms. Tortorella has over 14 years in health care business management. Before joining Steward, she held management positions overseeing the respiratory disease division at Children’s Hospital, Boston. Ms. Tortorella earned a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Harvard College and MBA from Babson College’s F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business.