3-3:30pm – Networking and Check-In
3:30-5pm – Panel 1: Providing Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS)
Moderator: Kyle Armstrong, FACHE
President
Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – McKinney
Panelists:
Robin Gordon
Manager, Language Access Services
Texas Health Resources
Ashleigh Kinney
Director of Patient Experience
Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children
Melina Kolbeck
Director Language Access Services
Children’s Health
5-6pm – Networking & Dinner
6-7:30pm – Panel 2: Diversity & Inclusion
Moderator: Victoria Sanders, FACHE
Senior Vice President
USMD Health System – OptumCare
Panelists:
Traci Lawler-Shortt
Client Services Vice President
Clinical Operations Specialist/Lead Nurse Practitioner
SCP Health
Michelle Green-Ford
Chief Diversity Officer
JPS Health Network
Chris Moreland
Chief Diversity Officer
Vizient
Guwan Jones
Chief Diversity Officer
Baylor Scott & White Health
Speaker Bios:
Kyle E. Armstrong, FACHE, became president of Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – McKinney in July 2016. Armstrong joined the McKinney team from Baptist Memorial Health Care in Memphis, one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in the Mid-South. Armstrong is recognized as a results-driven, relationship-oriented leader who has experience and expertise in leading dynamic health care organizations. As president of Baylor Scott & White – McKinney, he is committed to nurturing the hospital’s existing strong foundation and culture, and continuing its growth.
Since joining Baylor Scott & White McKinney, the hospital has earned its first Magnet Designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, become accredited by the Commission on Cancer and been designated as a Level III Trauma Center by the State of Texas.
Armstrong earned master’s degrees in both health administration and business administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He earned his undergraduate degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Armstrong has been a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives since 2014.
Active in the community, Armstrong currently serves on the Board for both the McKinney Chamber of Commerce and the Samaritan Inn and is an Advisory Board Member for CASA of Collin County. Away from work, Armstrong’s favorite thing to do is spend time with his wife, Tabitha, and their three daughters. He also enjoys running, snow skiing and golf.
Robin Gordon holds the position of System Manager Language Access for Texas Health Resources in the Central Staffing and Patient Logistics department. As Manager of Language Access, Robin designs and implements programs related to language access and language education for Texas Health Resources as well as manages the system interpreters and system interpreting needs. Robin graduated with a BA in Foreign Languages – Spanish from UNT in Denton and has a master’s degree in Professional Counseling from Liberty University. She lived in Mexico for five years studying at Tec de Monterrey, working as an ESL teacher, and providing classes and translation services to Mexican businesses. After moving back to Texas, she continued to teach and worked as a Spanish interpreter in a local clinic and has been tested and trained to become a qualified interpreter in a local interpreting program. In her role, she is responsible for the credentialing, deployment and operational processes for the Qualified Bilingual Interpreters and System Interpreters across the enterprise. Currently over 200 different languages are provided through on-site, video or over-the-phone interpreters.
Michelle Green-Ford has vast experience as a diversity and inclusion leader for more than twenty years. Her background includes international work in: Canada, Puerto Rico, England, Dominican Republic and the United States. Previous organizations that have benefited from Michelle’s experience include: IBM, DFW Airport, American Airlines, Sheppard Air Force Base and Texas Health Resources. She received her bachelor of business administration from the University of North Texas and her MBA from Amberton University in Strategic Leadership.
Michelle is the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer leading cultural competency education and vendor business development initiatives. She manages delivery of customized organizational wide programs to promote employee engagement, cultural competency and excellent patient experience. She has been with JPS since 2014 and her continued goal is to assist in facilitating the JPS Mission “Transforming healthcare delivery for the communities we serve” through maximizing cultural competency skills for team members to meet patient and community needs.
Guwan Jones is the Chief Diversity Officer of Baylor Scott & White Health, the largest not-for-profit health system in Texas. The integrated delivery network includes 47,000 employees, 50 hospitals, more than 1,000 access points, Scott & White Health Plan, Baylor Scott & White Research Institute and one of the nation’s largest accountable care organizations, Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance.
Continuing a career dedicated to advocacy for the vulnerable and underserved. Ms. Jones leads efforts to shape the workforce of the future so that it better mirrors communities served. She is an impassioned advocate, addressing racial and ethnic care disparities in health care. Additionally, she serves as one of 30 members in an executive council of the American Leadership Council for Diversity in Healthcare, an executive support team for the American Hospital Association’s Institute for Diversity in Healthcare Management. The executive council’s focus is on guiding efforts to improve representation and care for underserved/underrepresented populations.
During Ms. Jones’ tenure, local and national organizations continue to recognize Baylor Scott & White Health’s commitment to building a more
inclusive environment. Honors include the Great Place to Work® Best Workplaces for Diversity (multi-year), Military Friendly® Employer (multi-year) and the Distinguished Healthcare Diversity Excellence Award (2018).
Prior to her current role, Ms. Jones served as Advocacy Manager at Dallas, Texas-based Children’s Health and held various advocacy roles in North Texas (Tarrant County Health Department and the La Sima Foundation) and Arkansas (Arkansas Minority Health Commission).
Ms. Jones holds a Master of Public Health from the University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX and a Bachelor of Science in Health Science from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, AR. She is the recipient of multiple honors including the Dallas Business Journal’s 2019 Minority Business Leader Awards.
Ashleigh Kinney is the Director of Patient Experience at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. In this role, she oversees the institution’s strategic initiative on Patient Experience, as well as supports the Family Services, Family Resource Center, Medical Library and Child Life teams at the Dallas and Frisco campuses. These teams provide social work services, interpretation and translation, patient education, supportive play and off-site scheduling coordination. With a passion for comprehensive, empathic care of children and families, Ashleigh graduated with her Masters in Social Work from Rutgers University. Ashleigh is also a Certified Patient Experience Professional. In her current work, Ashleigh seeks ways to continuously improve and showcase the patient experience – from the time they make their appointment to the time they transition from care. Together with the team, Ashleigh’s primary focus is connecting support and comfort to those facing medical experiences
Melina Kolbeck, CHI, is the Director of Language Access Services for Children’s Health of Dallas. At Children’s Health, she has helped developed an effective system of on-demand interpreter services for language access for LEP patients and medical providers. Among other projects and innovations, she has also taken part of the development of Children’s values for Diversity, Inclusion and Cultural Competency and serves as Co-Chair of their Health Equity Diversity and Inclusion Commission. She lead Children’s Health Language Access Services when they received the Texas Start Award Organization of the year in 2016, and in 2018, she received the individual Texas Star Award presented by the Texas Association for Healthcare Interpreters and Translators (TAHIT.)
Melina has a Bachelor Degree in Communication Science from ITESM in Monterrey, Mexico. She has 18 years of experience as an interpreter, bilingual consultant, public speaker and has focused her professional career advocating and implementing health care specific language access services to provide support to families with Limited English Proficiency. This includes working in leadership roles for health care systems in central Wisconsin for almost 14 years and more than 4 years at Children’s Health System of Dallas.
CHI=Certified HealthCare Interpreter
Chris Moreland is the Chief Inclusion and Diversity Advocate for Vizient®. In this capacity, he leads inclusion and diversity efforts for Vizient, which includes the company’s diversity networking associations (DNAs). He chairs an executive diversity steering committee as well as a network of health care chief diversity officers. He also speaks on diversity and inclusion-related topics within health care and beyond.
Prior to creating the office of Inclusion and Diversity at Vizient, Moreland was the senior vice president of sales operations at Vizient.
Over his 20+ year career, he has held multiple senior executive roles with companies such as the General Electric Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Pepsi, Mobil, Expedia and Microsoft.
Moreland spends much of his free time volunteering with non-profit organizations such as Integrity Mentors. He also consults with the Dallas-based Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) and is an active board member and co-founder of CourMed Inc.
Moreland has a bachelor of science degree in engineering from the United States Air Force Academy, a master’s in business administration from Central Michigan University, and a Certificate of Inclusion and Diversity from Cornell University.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Moreland lives in Dallas, is a Certified Master Black Belt in quality and enjoys cycling, reading and spending time with his family.
Victoria O. Sanders, FACHE is a faithful leader with a commitment to mission guided work and a reputation for efficiency, building and rewarding effective teams, and achieving exemplary results. She obtained her BS from Emory University in Atlanta, GA then joined Tarheel Nation by completing her MHA at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since that time, she has been privileged to lead a career filled with diverse experiences in academic, for-profit, joint venture, & government healthcare environments with financial, operational, and business development responsibilities. Mrs. Sanders currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Specialty & Ancillary Operations for USMD-Optum with accountability for all specialty ambulatory, imaging, and laboratory strategy across the DFW market. As the benefactor of extraordinary mentorship – Victoria’s greatest professional accomplishments have been each opportunity she has had to provide the same level of unconditional guidance and support that she so greatly benefitted from. As a native Texan, Victoria is grateful to reside in Lewisville, Texas with her husband and 17-month old son.
Traci Shortt, a native of Fort Worth, TX brings 21 years of experience in nursing, advanced practice nursing, project management, contract management, and change facilitation to her role with SCP-Health. In her Client Services Vice President role, Traci facilitates engagement with stakeholders to optimize contracts financially, operationally, and culturally. As a Clinical Operations Specialist and Nurse Practitioner she is responsible for special projects, evaluation of contracts, operational assessment and clinical practice. In this role, she ensures clients receive facility specific analysis of their processes, staffing models, and practice guidelines. She works to ensure efficiency, efficacy, and safety in the delivery of patient care.
She completed a doctoral project on Waveform Capnography Use in Moderate Sedation and IV Analgesia. She has worked with ANCC in developing a national emergency nurse practitioner board certification and is active in nurse practitioner lobbying and legislation. Another area of expertise is the prehospital and transport environments. She has taught classes nationally and internationally on this topic and is working on an infrastructure project currently in Nigeria. Traci was recognized as one of Baylor Health Care Systems top directors for clinical and operational performance. Traci also has worked with the U.S. Army in developing and delivering a critical care field medicine course for their Special Forces medical personnel, which was utilized in Iraq, and Afghanistan resulting in decreased field mortality numbers.
She formerly served as a Director of Emergency and Critical Care Services at Baylor Health System. While there, she was able to develop Left Without Treatment Plans, Door to Provider Time reduction plans, Ventilator Acquired Pneumonia Practice Protocols and Central Line and Sepsis bundles in their clinical transformation, Traci received her Doctorate of Nursing Practice Degree from Chatham University. She also holds a Masters of Business Administration from Brenau University in Gainesville, GA and an undergraduate degree from Texas Tech University. Traci is certified as an Adult and Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner clinically and also as a Six Sigma Blackbelt operationally. Traci is based out of the Houston, TX office.