Women Healthcare
Executives Of Georgia
Board Members
Auxiliary Board & Co-Chairs Administration
WHE
Executive Board
Immediate Past President/ Development Services Chair- Dale
Palmer
Dale Palmer is the Region Account
Manager for Georgia and Alabama for Apria Healthcare. She joined the staff at Apria in 2003. Prior to her current position, she was the
Director of Managed Care for Visiting Nurse Health System (VNHS). Her
accomplishments have included new business development with managed care
clients, contract negotiations, creation and implementation of disease
management programs, program service integration with managed care clients,
spearheading a program with Atlanta’s Fulton County school system, consulting
on redesign initiatives within VNHS, strategic planning and management of the
managed care sales team and a
former member of the VNAA New business development committee.
Before venturing into her healthcare sales and marketing career, she served in
the US Navy as a LCDR and held a variety of clinical positions specializing in
critical care and emergency medicine inclusive of setting up a Neonatal
intensive care unit and acting as a critical care instructor. She graduated
from St. Joseph’s School
of Nursing and received her Emergency
Primary Care Nurse Practitioner certification from the University of Alabama.
Committed to professional development, she has served as a board member of Odyssey Family Counseling
Center; she also served
as chair of the Annual Giving Campaign and participated on the host committee
for Special Events. She is an Ambassador member of WHE and member of American College of Healthcare Executives and Georgia Association of
Healthcare Executives. Currently
she is a parent liaison with A5 Volleyball. She is past chairman at St. Andrews
Episcopal Church for both the Newcomers and Memorial Ministries and served as
usher, greeter and participated on the annual Art Auction Committee. Her
volunteer work at Woodward
Academy includes working
on the Annual Giving Campaign, Centennial Celebration and Annual Ball. Other
civic duties include volunteering for Habitat for Humanity and Operation
Christmas Shoebox. She is married with 2 daughters, Melissa, and Sarah. In Dale’s spare time she is planning her
daughter’s wedding, plays ALTA and USTA tennis, golf, snow skies, gardens, and
enjoys travel.
President–
Hilary Unell
hilary.unell@capgemini.com
404-806-5223
Hilary Unell is a senior
consultant with Capgemini’s healthcare consulting
practice. Since joining Capgemini in July 1999, Hilary has worked with a variety of
clients on several types of initiatives including those focused on technology, process redesign, change
management, quality improvement, public health terrorism preparedness and
response, and revenue cycle enhancements.
Prior to obtaining her consulting position, Hilary received her Master
of Business Administration and her Master of Health Administration degrees from
the University of
Florida. Hilary is a Diplomate
in the American College of Healthcare Executives and is
Board Certified in Healthcare Management.
Additionally, she is a member of the Healthcare Financial Management
Association, Georgia Association of Healthcare Executives, Phi Kappa Phi Honor
Society, and she serves on the board of the Women Healthcare Executives of
Georgia. In 2003, she received the Young
Careerist of the Year Award from Women Healthcare Executives. Hilary is a lifetime member of her
undergraduate and graduate university alumni associations, Florida Atlantic
University and the University of Florida,
respectively. She currently serves on the board of the University of Florida’s
Health Administration Alumni Association.
Outside of work and the above-mentioned affiliations, Hilary enjoys
reading, practicing yoga, spending time with family and friends, and serving as
a Junior Achievement volunteer. She
resides in Atlanta
with her husband, Brian.
Vice President/
Programming Chair- Lisa Hrabe
lhrabe@himagination.com
404-915-1660
Ms. Hrabe is President of
an IT healthcare consulting group, HIMagination, Inc.
She consults, develops leads, deliverables, tools, and qualify opportunities. Engagements include IT and HIM strategy
development, interim management, process improvement, management consulting.
Ms. Hrabe has a BA in Biomedical Ethics from Davidson College,
a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology
and a BS in Health Information Management from the Medical College of Georgia.
She is the Route Manager for the Atlanta
2-day Walk for Breast Cancer, President of the Riverside Homeowner’s
Association and Programming Co-Chair for WHE 2003-2004. IN her spare time Ms.
Hrabe enjoys reading, walking, beach vacations, watching sports of all kinds
but especially hockey and baseball.
Secretary/Membership Chair- Heather Yori
hlyori@yahoo.com
404-226-3057
Heather Yori
was born in Baltimore, MD
and grew up in Clearwater FL. She holds a Bachelor of Science
degree in Health Service Administration
from Auburn University
and a Master of Public Health, Health Policy and Management from Emory University,
Rollins School of Public Health. Ms. Yori’s past working experiences include, working as a
Research Assistant at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, NCHSTP Branch where she reviewed and analyzed qualitative data and
performed statistical analysis to formulate possible unidentified risk factors
for HIV positive blood donors, employed epidemiological methods for data
abstraction and summarization of HIV positive blood donors without a reported
risk for transmission and developed and maintained research database for
HIV/AIDS cost-effectiveness study. Ms
Yori worked as a Lead Consultant at Connecture
for 4.5 years and has recently taken a position at ThoughtWorks,
a healthcare technology consulting and development firm. Heather is active with several
professional organizations including, the American College of Healthcare
Executives, Affiliate; Georgia Association of Healthcare Executives, Member;
and Women Healthcare Executives, Membership Committee Co-Chair for 2
consecutive years (2002-2003 and 2003-2004). Heather is planning a wedding for
next year. In her spare time she loves
to cook, travel and spend time with friends and family.
Treasurer- Sally Austin
Sally.Austin@choa.org
404-785-7521
Sally Austin serves as
Associate General Counsel for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Her major
focus is on regulatory and operational legal issues. Ms. Austin has also
served as in-house counsel for Charter, Housecall and
TheraTx. She has authored a curriculum for
legal nurse consultants and previously served as faculty at the National Center
of Paralegal Training. Ms. Austin serves as President of The Georgia
Chapter of The American Association of Nurse Attorneys and is a past president
of The American Association of Nurse Attorneys.
Ms. Austin holds an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), a Bachelor of
General Studies (BGS) and a Juris Doctorate (JD)
degree. In her spare time she enjoys tennis and traveling.
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Co-Chairs
& Auxiliary Board Members
Membership Co-Chair-
Sydney Smith-Rikard
ssmith-rikard@thestrategyhouse.net
770-394-8465 x21
Sydney Smith-Rikard currently is
Vice President for The Strategy House, Inc., a healthcare strategy and business
development firm, and maintains an independent marketing consulting practice.
A graduate
of Princeton University with University Scholar
designation, Ms. Smith-Rikard has more than 16 years of healthcare experience,
having served as the director of marketing and public relations for two HCA
acute care hospitals and a specialty surgical hospital. Additionally, she has worked with health systems,
focusing on non-hospital points of care as the director of marketing for Emory
Healthcare’s primary care services that also included women’s health at the two
hospitals, and she was marketing manager for the Georgia Division of
Columbia/HCA Healthcare with responsibility for physician practices, physician
recruitment, ambulatory surgery centers and home health. Prior to establishing a career in
healthcare, she held sales positions with Liberty Mutual Insurance Company in
its Business Sales Department and The Gillette Company in its Personal Sales
Division.
Ms.
Smith-Rikard is the recipient of numerous awards from such organizations as Healthcare Marketing Report, the
Carolinas Society for Health Care Marketing and Public Relations, and the
Georgia Society for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations. Additionally, she was named “Woman of
Distinction” by the Girl Scouts of America, Pee Dee Region. Throughout her
career she has been actively involved in the community as a public speaker,
volunteer, and as a board member of the local chapters of the American Cancer
Society, the American Lung Association, the Optimist Club, and many more.
Certified
in healthcare marketing and public relations by the Society for Healthcare
Strategy and Market Development of the American Hospital Association, Ms.
Smith-Rikard maintains membership in the American College of Healthcare
Executives, the Georgia Association of Healthcare Executives (currently serving
as chair of the Communications Committee), Women Healthcare Executives
(currently serving as co-chairman of the WHE Development Services committee)
and the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development as her firm’s
corporate representative. She sings with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus
and resides with her husband, dogs and cats, in Tucker.
Programming Co-Chair- Kim
Gay
kimgayaps@aol.com
770-248-9855
Kim Gay is Founder/President/CEO
of Associated Provider Services of GA (APS) She is a
team member of the Georgia Medicaid Task Force on Wound Care. She is also a
member, Board of Trustees for Medallion Health Management and Medeasy, Inc. and Team leader for the American Cancer
Society’s Relay for Life for 2002 & 2003. Kim is an ACHE member and GAHE
member
Development Services
Co-Chair- OPEN
Student Board
Representatives
Katie Mathis
v
Georgia State University, Master
of Health Administration, expected date of graduation, August 2005
v
Georgia State University, Master
of Business Administration, December 2004
v
University of Georgia, Bachelor of Business
Administration, Marketing, Graduated with Highest Honors and Summa Cum Laude,
May 2003
v
Grady Health System, Graduate Research Assistant,
June 2003-Present
v
Sandra Freyhofer, MD,
Executive Assistant in doctor’s office, June 2003-Present
v
Athens Regional Medical
Center,
Marketing Internship for Corporate Communication, January-May 2003
Children’s
Healthcare of Atlanta, marketing Internship with the Clinical Outreach Team, Summer 2002
Ashley Heath
v Rollins School of Public
Health, Emory University, expected date of graduation,
May 2005.
v
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
BA Spanish & Psychology, May 2002
v
Graduate Research Assistant, Georgia Folic Acid
Campaign, Women’s & Children’s Department, September 2003-Present
v
Office Manager and Hispanic Outreach Coordinator,
Orange County Rape Crisis Center, Chapel Hill, NC, July2002-July 2003
v
Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Banquet
Coordinator, Martin Luther King Jr. University/Community Planning Corporation Chapel Hill, NC
August 2000-May 2002
v
Pharmaceutical Sales Representative, GlaxoSmithKline,
Summer Sales Intern, Research Triangle
Park, NC Summer 2001
Administration
Administrative
Manager- Lisa K. Smith
wheofga@bellsouth.net 770-562-8556
Lisa Smith is a rare Georgia native.
She holds a BA in Psychology with a minor in Philosophy and is currently a
graduate student working toward an MA in Psychology from the State University
of West GA.
Her background includes work as a
support teacher for emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children at Burwell School
in Carrollton, GA,
working as a 24-hour crisis counselor for the Fayette County Council on
Domestic Violence for 4 years and as a mentor in the Fayette County
public school system in the FRIENDS program for 3 consecutive school years.
In addition to her 4½ years with
WHE, Ms. Smith works as a freelance Virtual Assistant
for a variety of clients including, a small national financial planners membership study group, a food broker, an
independent financial planner and a healthcare-consulting firm. From late
2003-early 2004 Lisa spearheaded and coordinated a 2-day 1,200-attendee
fundraiser event for a local leukemia patient and her family where she also
acted as one of 2 Event Coordinators, Treasurer, Web Designer and general
contact person. Through these efforts she and her team of volunteers raised
over $30,000 for the family. In June 2004, Lisa worked as Facilitator/Event
Management Support for the Home Depot Store Leadership Forum held in Atlanta.
She is currently the Chair of the
Public Relations Committee for the Southeastern Virtual Assistants Group, Web
Page Editor for the Associations section of Work-the-Web and is on the Media
Committee for the Alliance
for Virtual Business.
Lisa is a member of Circle of
Friends Home Education Support Group, is a Girl Scout troop volunteer and
enjoys being a full time homeschool teacher. She lives in Carroll County
with her husband of 13 years and 3 daughters.
In her scarce spare time she
enjoys gardening, herb gardening, vegetarian & gourmet cooking, walking,
rollerblading, reading, computers, home decorating & renovation, watching
independent films, spending time with friends and family and watching her
husband sing and play guitar in various bands around Atlanta.
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Women Healthcare Executives
PO Box 5225
Douglasville, GA 30154
Phone: 770-562-8556
FAX: 770-562-8801
E-mail: wheofga@bellsouth.net
Web site
created and maintained by Lisa K. Smith