Missy Garrity, MBA, PMP — Principal, Garrity Consulting — has extensive hands on-experience as a management leader of change, helping nonprofit and healthcare organizations achieve their goals. As a project manager, she has successfully led projects related to the development of new health care quality, utilization and cost reporting systems, the creation of new analytic perspectives, the development and implementation of new provider contracting models, and clinical program implementation.

At a strategic level, Ms Garrity has established a business planning and implementation approach that assures the effective selection and completion of strategic initiatives. Ms Garrity has developed and delivered a curriculum of project management and leadership training and has coached emerging and senior project and program managers to increase their effectiveness.

As an independent consultant, Ms Garrity applies a passion for effective implementation and has developed new tools and processes for business operations and project management.

Martha Shane is the Program Manager for Provider Network Performance at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, managing network-wide programs to maximize physician and hospital quality and efficiency. She is responsible for operations of network medical management programs throughout MA, as well as enterprise-wide management accountabilities for pay for performance contracting, provider recognition programs, and the industry-leading Quality Grants program.

Prior to her current position, Martha was the Regional Clinical Manager for Case Management Programs at Harvard Pilgrim. Earlier in her career, she held clinical RN positions in several leading academic medical centers in New England, specializing in cardiac care. Martha holds a BS from Fordham University, a nursing diploma from Mass General Hospital School of Nursing, and an MBA from Boston University.

Ms. Brenman has close to ten years of experience in the health care industry. She has worked in insurance, private practice as well as in the academic medical center environment. Julie has strong experience in practice operations, project management and in leveraging technology to increase functional effectiveness and efficiency. Before entering the healthcare field, Ms. Brenman worked as a healthcare reporter for several years and as a staff assistant for a congressman. Ms. Brenman received her MBA from Boston University and her BA from Brandeis University.

Jennifer Groves is a Certified Public Accountant and received her MBA at Clark University. She has six years of public accounting experience and six years of healthcare experience. Currently the Director of Budget and Financial Management at UMass Memorial Healthcare, she has progressive experience in finance and operations involving financial modeling, business planning, market and statistical analysis, benchmarking and reporting, and strategic planning. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors at WHCM, she also serves on the Board of Trustees for Lordvale Property Trust and has previously served on other local non-profit social services boards.

Afsana Akhter is the Director of Business Development at Medullan, Inc. — a rapid-growth technology services firm that provides innovative technology solutions to the U.S. Healthcare Industry. Afsana leads Medullan’s efforts in sales and business partnerships.

Prior to Medullan, Afsana was the Director of Sales Engineering at Mazu Networks, where she grew and led a technical sales team as the company achieved its first $10 million in revenue. Previously, Afsana was at Cisco Systems where she worked on first generation VoIP and Data over Cable technologies.

Afsana holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Afsana was named by Mass High Tech as one of 10 outstanding women in technology at its 2008 Women to Watch awards.

Cheryl DiPaolo is the Director of Care Management at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts. As a Registered Nurse, she practiced at the Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center and New England Baptist Hospital. As a Clinical Educator, she developed Middlesex Hospital’s first Executive Management Leadership and Development program for senior administrators. After completion of a Masters in Health Care administration, she became Director of Clinical Services for Caritas Norwood where she implemented disease management protocols in home health care.

While at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, she practiced care management at Emerson Hospital, Lahey Clinic and Brigham and Women’s Hospital before her role as Senior Clinical Consultant where she designed and managed performance improvement strategies for Physician organizations and hospitals . In her current role as Director of Care Management at Emerson Hospital, she manages the care management team and is partnering with the hospital medicine program to develop a more integrated care delivery system.

Ms. Kilroy-Ames is the Manager of the Division of Epidemiology & Data Services at the Cambridge Public Health Department/Cambridge Health Alliance and also manages the Regional Epidemiologic Services Center for a region of 27 communities in Massachusetts. She holds a masters degree in public health with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics. She serves on the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Workgroup. Ms. Kilroy-Ames was formerly the Executive Director of a Boston non-profit specializing in asthma prevention and control. Prior to obtaining her master’s degree she spent a number of years working in basic science research.

Kirsten L. Singleton serves as senior director of the Massachusetts Hospital Association’s Center for Education and Professional Development. She has been with the association since 2006. Prior to that, she served as executive director for the NH Psychological Association from 1994-2005. Throughout her career, Ms Singleton has helped promote best practices for the associations she has worked with. In her roles at both associations, she has developed robust and active education programs designed to teach the most relevant and timely topics needed to maintain professional excellence for professionals, including psychologists, mental health practitioners, and currently, hospital and health care executives.

Ms. Singleton has been active in legislative advocacy for many years, helping to establish a statewide mental health coalition and working to pass the mental health parity law in NH. Ms. Singleton has served in leadership roles in a number of professional societies, including the American Psychological Association, the Coalition of Executives from State/Provincial Psychological Associations, the New England Society of Association Executives, and the New England Society of Health Care Strategists.

She received a presidential citation from the American Psychological Association and has attained the highest level of certification for association management, the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation. She is currently studying for a Masters of Business Administration at Northeastern University.

Ms. Smith serves as an Account Executive at Merck & Co., Inc. In her role, Karen is the point account executive with responsibility for physician organizations within Massachusetts. She works with corporate leaders to identify and collaborate on quality initiatives that will improve health outcomes, patient care and efficiencies. At Merck, Karen’s roles have included Professional Representative, and Hospital Representative. She has worked in the medical area for over 15 years, including 8 years devoted the pharmaceutical industry. Karen has also worked at AstraZeneca.

Previous to working in the pharmaceutical industry, Karen worked at the former CareGroup (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Provider Service Network) as a Community Resource Specialist and as a Project Manager for a disease management program. She received her BA from Scripps College, Claremont, California.

Wendy Weitzner is a Vice President with The Innova Group in Boston. The Innova Group is a healthcare planning consultancy with offices in Tucson, Austin, and Boston.

Wendy has over 23 years experience in healthcare operations and planning, both as an administrator and as a consultant. Her experience both as a client and as a consultant allows her to bring a unique and balanced perspective to strategic and facility planning projects. She is particularly appreciated for her ability to interface among strategic, capital, clinical, and facilities planning — helping clients turn data into decisions in complex projects.

Wendy is widely published and has presented at numerous national and regional conferences. She is a recipient of the American College of Healthcare Executives’ Distinguished Healthcare Executive award. She holds an MBA from Simmons, a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Management from Harvard, a Master’s in Psychology from Harvard, and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Tufts. In addition to WCHM, she is on the Board of the New England Society for Healthcare Strategy and the Boston Architectural College.