Celebration Co-Chairs

James B. Conway
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Lynn Nicholas, FACHE
President and CEO
Massachusetts Hospital Association

Mark E. Reynolds
President Risk Management Foundation
of the Harvard Medical Institutions (CRICO)

Leadership Committee

Carolyn Blanks
Executive Director
Massachusetts Senior Care Foundation

Corinne Broderick, MS
Executive Vice President
Massachusetts Medical Society

Linda Campbell, RN-BC, CPHQ
Vice President, Quality & Patient Safety
Patient Safety Officer
MetroWest Medical Center

Jeanette G. Clough, MS, MHA, RN
President and CEO
Mount Auburn Hospital

Sharon A. Gale, MSN, RN
Chief Executive Officer
Organization of Nurse Leaders, MA-RI

Tejal Gandhi, MD, MPH
Chief Quality and Safety Officer
Partners Healthcare

Connie Crowley-Ganser, MS, RN
President, 2002-2004, MA Coalition
Vice President, Quality & Safety
Lahey Clinic

Ronald Goodspeed, MD, MPH, FACP, FACPE
President, 2006-2010, MA Coalition
Past President, Southcoast Hospitals Group

David Johnson, MA, MS, ABD
Executive Vice President
Massachusetts Pharmacists Association

Linda K. Kenney
Executive Director, Medically Induced
Trauma Support Services (MITSS)

Lucian L. Leape, MD
Chair, Lucian Leape Institute at
the National Patient Safety Foundation

Richard Lopez, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Atrius Health

Nina Rauscher, RN, MS, CPHQ
Executive Director
Program for Patient Safety and Quality
Boston Children’s Hospital

Nancy Ridley, MS
Senior Advisor, MA Coalition
MA Department of Public Health &
Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety (Retired)

Dana Gelb Safran, ScD
Senior Vice President
Performance Measurement & Improvement
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Kenneth E. F. Sands, MD, MPH
Sr. Vice President of Health Care Quality
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Celebration Co-Chair Biographies

James B. Conway
Adjunct Faculty, Harvard School of Public Health
Trustee, Winchester Hospital

Jim Conway is an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and a principal of the Governance and Leadership Group of Pascal Metrics in Washington DC. From 2006-2009 he was Senior Vice President of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and from 2005-2011, Senior Fellow. During 1995-2005, Jim was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. Prior to joining DFCI, he had a 27-year career at Children’s Hospital, Boston in Radiology Administration, Finance, and as Assistant Hospital Director. His areas of expertise and interest include governance and executive leadership, patient safety, change management, crisis management, and patient and family-centered care.

He holds a Master of Science degree from Lesley College, Cambridge, MA. Jim is the winner of numerous awards including the 1999 ACHE Mass. Regents Award, the 2001 first Individual Leadership Award in Patient Safety by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the National Committee for Quality Assurance. In 2008, he received the Picker Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Patient Centered Care, in 2009 the Mary Davis Barber Heart of Hospice Award from the Massachusetts Hospice and Palliative Care Federation, and in 2012 both the Institute for Patient and Family Centered Care Leadership Award and the first Honorary Fellowship of the National Association for Healthcare Quality.

A Lifetime Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, he has served as a Distinguished Advisor to the Lucian Leape Institute for the National Patient Safety Foundation. Institute of Medicine Committees have included Identifying and Preventing Medication Errors and a Learning Healthcare System. Current Board service includes: board member, Winchester Hospital; board member American Cancer Society, National and New England Region; and member, Board of Visitors, University of Massachusetts, Boston. In government service, he served from 2006-2010, as a member of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Quality and Cost Council.

Lynn Nicholas, FACHE
President and CEO
Massachusetts Hospital Association

Lynn NicholasLynn Nicholas, FACHE, joined the Massachusetts Hospital Association as President and CEO in August 2007 bringing more than 35 years of hospital and association experience.

Before her appointment to MHA, Ms. Nicholas led the American Diabetes Association and prior to that, she served as President and CEO of the Louisiana Hospital Association, following her tenure as EVP/COO of the New Jersey Hospital Association. This built on her 20 years working in a New Jersey hospital where she progressed from a Medical Technologist to a Senior Vice President.

Named by Women’s Business Boston as one of the “Five Women to Watch” in 2008, Lynn is active in the Massachusetts Women’s Forum. Lynn has been appointed to several key statewide healthcare advisory groups including the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Task Force on Community Benefits, the Special Commissions on the Healthcare Payment System and Provider Price Reform, and currently serves on the Health Policy Commission Advisory Council. Lynn is active in the American Hospital Association serving on various committees over the years. She is a sought after speaker on matters of health policy and leadership.

Due to Lynn’s steadfast commitment to health and wellness as a leadership priority, in 2011 MHA was awarded the Boston Business Journal’s inaugural Healthiest Employer Award for the small business category and a top 5 finalist in succeeding years. The association also received the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Make Smoking History Award for launching a successful statewide voluntary public health initiative to ban all tobacco products from hospital campuses. She also co-founded the Massachusetts Health Leadership College.

Lynn earned her B.S. in medical technology from Tennessee Wesleyan College and in 2005 received the J. Neal Ensminger Distinguished Alumnus Award from her alma mater. She earned an M.A. in health management from Central Michigan University in 1983. A board-certified Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, she served on their national Board from 2003 to 2006 and has received several ACHE recognitions. She was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters in Health Services from Salem State University.

Mark E. Reynolds
President
Risk Management
Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions (CRICO)

Mark E. Reynolds is President of the Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions (CRICO). CRICO, a recognized leader in evidence-based risk management, is a group of companies owned by and serving the Harvard medical community. For more than 30 years, the CRICO companies have provided industryleading medical professional liability coverage, claims management, and patient safety resources to its members. Proudly serving 22 hospitals, more than 12,000 physicians, and 209 other health care organizations, the CRICO program also insures over 100,000 nurses, physician assistants, and clinical support staff providing services in organizations that are part of the Harvard medical community. Extending CRICO’s patient safety mission through broad dissemination of products and services designed to reduce medical errors and malpractice exposure to academic medical centers and malpractice insurers nationwide, the organization has become an international leader known for cultivating a community of learning, convening safety leaders, and sharing best practices.

Mark has over 20 years of experience in the health care and insurance industries, most recently as CEO of Neighborhood Health Plan of RI (NHPRI), where his outcome-driven approach resulted in the plan consistently being rated among the nation’s top Medicaid health plans in NCQA rankings. Under Mark’s leadership, NHPRI added product lines and membership, expanding revenue by over 250%. NHPRI has also had a lasting impact on improving the quality and value of care delivered to its members, including a sustained 25% reduction in behavioral health hospitalizations. In addition, NHPRI provided significant support for the state’s community health centers, including financing the implementation of Electronic Health Records and Patient Centered Medical Homes in all of RI’s health centers.

Immediately prior to NHPRI, Mark led his own health care and management consulting firm, serving entities such as Partners HealthCare, Value Options, the City of Boston, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, Health Care for All, and Community Catalyst.

Mark also served as the Medicaid director for the states of Tennessee and Massachusetts.

He was educated at Swarthmore and MIT.