Denver Cluster 2026 Faculty

Karma H. Bass, FACHE

Speaker

For more than 20 years, Karma Bass has been a sought-after speaker, facilitator and consultant with deep knowledge and experience in governance, strategic planning, philanthropy, healthcare policy and board effectiveness. Her experience gives her a unique and valuable perspective as a consultant to hospital and health systems boards. Before co-founding Via Healthcare Consulting, Karma worked as vice president for Accord Limited, a Chicago-based consulting firm. She served two years as president/CEO of Alliance Healthcare Foundation in San Diego, where she reported to an independent, 11-person not-for-profit board. Notably, Karma spent 10 years at The Governance Institute, holding various positions including vice president of membership services and director of research and publications. She also oversaw the prestigious biennial hospital governance practices survey tracking trends in nearly 5,000 U.S. hospitals and health systems. During three years at the Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties, Karma facilitated the first-ever collaborative community health needs assessment for San Diego’s 32 hospitals. Karma has a master’s degree in public health with a focus in health services administration from San Diego State University. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, San Diego.

Michael Gitman, MD

Speaker

Michael Gitman, MD serves as the president of North Shore University Hospital and deputy market president for Northwell Health’s Central Market. As president, Dr. Gitman leads the executive management of the 806-bed quaternary care hospital. He is responsible for its overall strategy, financial stewardship and leadership, overseeing a facility that is a cornerstone of Northwell Health and is an academic campus for the Zucker Hofstra/Northwell School of Medicine. In his role as deputy market president, he supports efforts to advance and evolve the market’s strategy.Previously, Dr. Gitman served as president of Long Island Jewish Medical Center, a 580-bed tertiary hospital and academic campus of the medical school. Before that, Dr. Gitman served as chief medical officer of North Shore University Hospital where he oversaw the hospital’s medical affairs, quality management and patient safety efforts.Dr. Gitman is an associate professor of medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Over the past two decades, Dr. Gitman has been extensively involved in physician education, received multiple teaching awards and published manuscripts furthering the knowledge of clinical nephrology.Dr. Gitman received a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a medical degree from SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse where he was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He completed an internal medicine residency, as well as fellowship in nephrology at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

John M. Harris

Author

John Harris is a managing director with VMG Health, a leading healthcare consulting firm for business performance. His work focuses on strategy, physician engagement, value-based care, governance as well as partnerships, mergers and acquisitions. He advises health systems and hospitals, physician groups, clinically integrated networks, accountable care organizations, health plans and others. Harris serves as faculty for ACHE seminars including Physician Strategy for Hospitals: How to Align Independents, Fix Employment, Beat Disruptors, Succeed in Value, Ensure Access and Grow; Hospitals and Health Systems of the Future: Transforming to Thrive; and Strategic Planning: From Formulation to Action. Mr. Harris has also co-authored <a href="https://www.ache.org/learning-center/publications/books/2337I" target="_blank">Healthcare Strategic Planning, Fifth Edition</a>, a Health Administration Press publication.

Attila J. Hertelendy, PhD

Speaker

Attila Hertelendy, PhD, has over 28 years of leadership experience as a hospital administrator and executive in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Canada and the United States. He has an extensive background in emergency and disaster management and digital health. He is a frequent international keynote speaker on crisis leadership, disaster and emergency management, global health security, climate change, disaster informatics and digital health.Dr. Hertelendy is an assistant in the College of Business and has a secondary appointment at the Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University in Miami. Dr. Hertelendy teaches leadership, organizational behavior, and management of healthcare. Dr. Hertelendy is the research director for the Disaster Medicine Fellowship and faculty at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital.Dr. Hertelendy's research interests explore healthcare resiliency and the intersection between climate change, health, and disaster medicine. He studies the health implications of climate change and how technology can be used to improve both the delivery and sustainability of healthcare during disasters.Dr. Hertelendy is the author of over 140 published articles and numerous book chapters. He also is the deputy editor for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, deputy editor for the Journal of Emergency Management, and on the editorial board for the Journal of Climate Change and Health.

Contact Info: Attila J. Hertelendy, PhD
Assistant Professor
Florida International University

Rudd Kierstead

Speaker

Rudd Kierstead brings 25 years of experience in a range of provider settings to his work on physician initiatives. He has focused on enterprise performance improvement, medical staff planning, financial analysis, physician alignment, compensation planning, acquisition and employment analysis and FMV projects. Kierstead has worked in academic medical centers and done extensive consulting with health system and community hospital clients. Kierstead’s experience includes compensation evaluation and design; valuation of entities and services; specification and valuation of unique arrangements with physicians; physician enterprise formation and evaluation; design and management of partnering ventures and balancing academic missions and cross-subsidy opportunities. He has worked extensively with physician leadership in medical centers, managing physician networks, practices and departments in several academic medical centers and in different specialties. Before joining Veralon, Kierstead was a director in the Weill Cornell Physician Network where he recruited and onboarded physicians, negotiated compensation and transition arrangements with prospective physicians and coordinated business planning, space arrangements and credentialing. Prior to working at Weill Cornell, Kierstead was a consultant in one of Veralon’s predecessor firms. Previously, he was vice chair for administration in the Department of Psychiatry with Weill Cornell Medical College, a department with 180 paid faculty, where his responsibilities included compliance, staffing, practice, research and teaching concerns. Beforehand, while at Continuum Health Partners Health System, Kierstead managed the centralized business planning and compensation evaluation functions in the Finance Department. Previously, at Mount Sinai Medical Center, Kierstead was the administrator at an off-site dialysis center, staffed the medical board on ambulatory care issues and served as special assistant to the senior vice president for clinical operations. He holds an MBA from the University of Michigan, an MPP from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and a BA from Wesleyan University.

Kevin Manemann

Speaker

Kevin Manemann oversees Sutter Health’s clinical and non-clinical operations, driving systemwide and integration to deliver high-quality, compassionate care across Northern California and the Central Coast.Working in dyad partnership with Chief Physician Executive Dr. Todd Smith, he directs the organization’s division operating structure, system service lines, ambulatory surgery centers, nursing and Sutter Care at Home to enhance operational discipline, expand access and unify care experiences across the system.Prior to joining Sutter, Manemann served as executive vice president and integration officer at City of Hope, where he led integration and operations for a $6 billion multistate, comprehensive cancer system. His leadership resulted in improvements in quality, patient experience and financial performance.Earlier in his career, Manemann spent 20 years in progressive leadership positions with Providence St. Joseph Health in Renton, Washington. He served as the chief executive of the health system’s South Division, overseeing 17 hospitals, a physician organization, surgery centers, immediate care centers, community care agencies and a health plan with 700,000 lives covered, with combined revenues in excess of $12 billion. Under his leadership, the division achieved national honors for overall quality care, as well as for individual key specialties including cancer, cardiovascular, orthopedics, women’s services and neurosciences.He holds a master’s degree in organizational leadership with an emphasis in servant leadership from Gonzaga University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business.

Aaron Miri, DHA

Speaker

Aaron Miri is responsible for developing the strategic technology vision of Baptist Health and leading the team charged with the implementation and effective adoption of technology solutions. The technology department strives to humanize technology, driving integration and optimization that enables patient-focused care delivery.Dr. Miri has more than 25 years of health care and technology experience and serves as a thought leader on digital strategy both internally at Baptist Health and externally with the larger healthcare community. As an active and distinguished member of several health IT organizations, Dr. Miri continues to promote initiatives to improve interoperability, efficiency, and IT innovation to support improved care delivery models.Since joining Baptist in 2021, Dr. Miri has been responsible for improving the ability to provide patient-centered care. He is passionate about driving a learning health system and utilizing advanced analytics to improve both future care and population health.Prior to joining Baptist Health, Dr. Miri served as the chief information officer for The University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School and UT Health Austin, chief information officer for Imprivata, chief information officer for Walnut Hill Medical Center in Dallas and chief technology officer for Children’s Health System of Texas.Dr. Miri is a nationally recognized 2024 “CIOs to Know” by Becker’s Hospital Review, 2024 Florida CIO ORBIE award winner, 2020 Healthcare Hero’s Awardee from The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and has received numerous other industry awards recognizing him as a leader and changemaker. In January 2022, he joined the CHIME Board of Trustees.Dr. Miri received his Doctor of Health Administration from the Medical University of South Carolina, his Master of Business Administration with distinction from the University of Dallas and his Bachelor of Science in management information systems from the University of Texas at Arlington. He is a Certified Healthcare Chief Information Officer (CHCIO), a distinguished Fellow with the Health Information Management Systems Society (FHIMSS), the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (FCHIME) and he is a Project Management Professional (PMP).

Neel H. Pathak, DSc, FACHE

Speaker

Dr. Pathak is an assistant professor of practice and director of the Executive Healthcare MBA Program at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business. Pathak has 14 years of progressive management experience in diverse settings including major health systems, healthcare associations, accrediting organizations and academic institutions. He is a skilled clinician, an experienced administrator and a passionate educator. Pathak recently earned his doctoral degree in executive healthcare leadership from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). His research interests are in the areas of price transparency, patient experience and implementation of delivery system innovations. Pathak was most recently involved in administration of quality and performance improvement initiatives, operational efficiency initiatives and patient experience initiatives for the Department of Ambulatory Services at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Understanding the value in staying current with the administrative practices and trends, Pathak continues to serve as a part-time project administrator for key strategic initiatives of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He served as the director of operations and business development for the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) where he focused on initiatives within the healthcare employer and academic communities. Prior to joining CAHME, Pathak was involved in the national quality improvement initiatives with the American Hospital Association (AHA) to reduce hospital-acquired infections. He completed an administrative fellowship at OhioHealth through Aramark Healthcare. Pathak is a strong advocate of performance excellence initiatives and has served as a Baldrige Examiner on state and national levels. Pathak earned the distinction of board certification in healthcare management by earning the Fellow credential with the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). He served on the Asian Healthcare Leaders Forum, a national committee of the ACHE Board to leverage the Asian-American representation in healthcare executive management policy and leadership. Pathak received a master’s degree in health administration from the University of Scranton and a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from Manipal University, India.

Contact Info: Neel H. Pathak, DSc, FACHE
Program Director, Executive MBA In Healthcare Management
Creighton University

Jonathan A. Sendach, FACHE

Speaker

Jon Sendach, FACHE, is the president of the Central Market for Northwell Health, where he is responsible for the executive management of six hospitals and over 250 ambulatory care locations between Nassau and Queens counties. Comprised of academic, pediatric, community, tertiary and quaternary acute care hospitals as well as a behavioral health hospital, the Central Market provides the full range of services to over 2.8M patients in one of the most diverse communities in the country. In his role, Sendach is responsible for driving the strategy, financial performance and operational excellence of each site in the market.Before becoming North Shore University Hospital’s top executive in January 2020, Sendach served as deputy hospital president, managing non-clinical operations, facilities and ancillary services, as well as the hospital’s trauma, emergency and heart hospital programs. He previously was associate executive director for finance at Glen Cove Hospital, where he was responsible for financial management, patient financial services and health information management. There, he oversaw Glen Cove’s faculty practice.Board certified in health care management, Sendach is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and holds an ACHE faculty appointment, where he helps lead the highly acclaimed COO Bootcamp program for emerging and current healthcare chief operating officers from around the nation. As part of this appointment, he teaches for the organization several times a year at ACHE national meetings.Sendach was named one of Long Island Business News’ 40 Under 40. He holds a bachelor of arts from Colgate University and a master of public administration from the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, where he is appointed as adjunct associate professor of health policy and management. Sendach also completed a residency in health care administration at Northwell.

Contact Info: Jonathan A. Sendach, FACHE
Executive Vice President | President, Central Market
Northwell Health

Leslie Wainwright, PhD

Speaker

Dr. Leslie Wainwright is a nationally recognized strategist, educator and innovation leader who brings over two decades of experience applying design thinking to complex challenges in healthcare and beyond. As a frequent speaker and faculty member with the American College of Healthcare Executives, she has educated thousands of executives on how human-centered innovation tools can drive meaningful, measurable change; her work has guided leadership teams spanning from major health systems to local start-ups. Dr. Wainwright currently serves as faculty for the ACHE seminar “Applying Thinking to Healthcare’s Most Pressing Challenges.” Her expertise includes healthcare delivery, biotechnology, advanced analytics and entrepreneurship.Dr. Wainwright was a founding executive of several pioneering organizations, including Sg2 and AVIA and Do Tank, where she currently serves as partner and senior strategist. Her approach blends deep scientific training with practical strategy expertise.As an accomplished educator, Dr. Wainwright has designed award-winning executive education programs, including the Rush University Leadership Academy in collaboration with the Illinois Hospital Association. She has shared her expertise through keynote roles at the Hospital Association of Southern California, the ACHE Chapter Leaders Conference and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Healthcare Transformation Delegation. Internationally, she led design thinking-based innovation training through the U.S.-Pakistan Science & Technology Startup and Ideation Program as part of the GIST initiative. Dr. Wainwright holds a PhD from Northwestern University and completed a fellowship at the University of Maryland Medical School.

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2026 Denver Cluster