Armin Cline

Covidien

Armin has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare product supply industry. He joined Covidien in early 2002 where he is currently President of Health Systems responsible for activity with GPOs, IDNs and distributors.

Prior to Covidien, Armin spent 18 years with American Hospital Supply and Baxter in sales, marketing and national accounts management positions. In addition, he worked with both Bergen Brunswig, where he was Executive Vice President of Corporate Sales, and Neoforma as Vice President Supplier Relations.

Armin graduated with a Bachelors degree from Whitman College and currently lives in the Boston area where Covidien is based.

Charlie Colpo

Owens & Minor

Charlie is Executive Vice President, Administration for Owens & Minor, a Fortune 500 company, the nation’s leading distributor of national name brand medical and surgical supplies, and a healthcare supply chain management company. He has been in this position since 1999, and with the company since 1981. He has oversight of company operations, supplier relations, supply chain management, product development, category management and a Six Sigma effort.

Additionally, Charlie serves his industry and community in volunteer efforts. He is a member of the board of directors of HIDA, Health Industry Distributors Association and SMI, Strategic Marketplace Initiative.

A graduate of VA Tech, Charlie is from Lynchburg, VA and currently lives in Richmond.
 

James Francis, Executive Committee

Mayo Clinic

As Chair of Supply Chain Management for Mayo Clinic, Jim is responsible for enterprise-wide supply chain strategy and operations. In 2009, Mayo expended more than $1.6 billion on supplies, purchased services, and capital medical equipment. Consisting of the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, Mayo provides care through an integrated clinical practice, education and research model. Mayo consists of 24 acute care hospitals and more than 130 practice sites.

Prior to his current position, Jim was vice president material services at BJC Healthcare in St. Louis. In this capacity, he was responsible for the integration and management of all material service functions. While at BJC, he managed a system-wide supply expense of $340 million. Prior to this position, he was vice president of corporate services at Christian Health Services (CHS) in St. Louis. He had been within the CHS system since 1984.

Jim earned his Bachelor of Arts degree and his Master of Science in Community Health from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. He received his Master of Health Administration degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and a member of the Association of Healthcare Resource Materials Management. In 1992 he was a recipient of an "Up and Comer" award from Modern Healthcare. He was also named "Material Manager of the Year" by Healthcare Purchasing News, in 1994. He participates in various other professional and community activities.
 

John Gaida, Chair-Elect

Texas Health Resources

 With over 25 years in supply chain management and healthcare support services, John brings unique leadership and industry experience to his current role as Senior Vice President, supply chain management at Texas Health Resources, a 13 hospital IDN in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. His career includes work with nationally recognized healthcare systems, teaching institutions, all sizes of not-for-profit hospitals, a consulting firm, and the eCommerce world.

Before joining Texas Health Resources, John was vice president for supply chain services at medpool, an eCommerce company. As vice president and practice leader for BD Healthcare Consulting Services (BDHCS), a division of Becton Dickinson and Company, he was responsible for the Supply and Resource Management practice. He has also held several senior level executive positions with Partners HealthCare Systems, Inc., an integrated delivery network in Boston. These positions include senior vice president, support services at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and corporate director of materials management for Partners. John has also worked in materials management for Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley, California, Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and Methodist Medical Center of Illinois.

John’s honors include lifetime fellow recognition by the Association for Healthcare Resource and Materials Management, and the AHA Gosset Award for leadership, dedication, and contributions to the profession. He is past president of AHRMM as well as serving on the board of directors for two separate terms. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the American Association of Healthcare Consultants, and the National Association of Hospital Purchasing Management.  Lastly, he is currently on the Board of Directors of the Strategic Marketplace Initiative (SMI) serving as Chairman-Elect, and serves on the Advisory Council of the Bellwether League.

Stephen Gundersen, Treasurer

Becton, Dickinson & Company

Steve has been employed by Becton, Dickinson and Company for 21 years. During his tenure, he has held various positions in sales, marketing, national accounts and sales management. He has had extensive involvement in corporate strategy development in the areas of Distribution, Integrated Delivery Systems, Alternate Site and Group Purchasing.

Currently Steve is Vice President, Corporate National Accounts. His organization is accountable for negotiating and implementing agreements with GPO’s, large Reference Laboratories and the Federal Government. In addition, Gundersen is a member of the BD U.S. Leadership Team. The Team, comprised of senior business leaders, defines strategic direction, establishes policy, and manages corporate resources.

Bruce Johnson

GHX

Bruce is the President and Chief Executive Officer of GHX.  GHX brings together healthcare providers, manufacturers, distributors, and group purchasing organizations in collaborative and connected community to improve efficiencies, visibility, and accuracy in the healthcare supply chain.  He has been in this position since 2007, and with the company since 2000.

Before joining GHX, Bruce spent 12 years at GE Healthcare in a variety of general management roles in sales and marketing.  Additionally, he serves on the board of Colorado Uplift and Strategic Marketplace Initiative.

Bruce earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and his master’s in business administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Keith Kuchta, Secretary

Kimberly-Clark

Keith is Vice President, Global Accounts and Strategic Partnerships for Kimberly-Clark Health Care. He joined the company in March 1977.

Since joining Professional Health Care as a Sales Representative in Davenport, Iowa, Kuchta has held various positions including Regional Sales Trainer, District Sales Manager, Regional Sales Manager, Associate Marketing Director, Director of Corporate Sales & Marketing, Director of International Business Services, General Manager of the Kimberly-Clark Health Care’s European Business, Executive Director of National Accounts & Distribution, Executive Director of Acute Care Sales, and Vice President of North American Sales.

Nancy LeMaster

BJC HealthCare

As Vice President Supply Chain Operations for BJC HealthCare, Nancy is responsible for creating the strategic vision and the general management of all supply chain management related activities and the system’s Best Practice Exchange teams.  BJC HealthCare is a regional IDN based in St. Louis, MO that is comprised of academic, community and rural hospitals, physician practices, home care, behavioral health and occupational health programs.  The system has an annual supply spend of $740 million and a capital equipment spend of an additional $60 million.

Nancy’s health care career began 24 years ago in the strategic planning department at Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center.  She was responsible for a variety of planning and marketing functions at the former Jewish Hospital in St. Louis prior to the merger that created BJC. At the system’s inception she was asked to create and direct the Best Practice Exchange Teams (formerly known as Performance Improvement Teams).  Nancy holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in business education from the University of Northern Iowa and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Houston.

Carl Manley, Chair

Sentara Healthcare

Carl is Vice President of Materials Management at Sentara Healthcare, an integrated delivery system of hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and managed care insurance markets in Norfolk, Virginia. He coordinates materials management strategies and functions for the healthcare network, including consolidated service center functions, outsourcing initiatives, procedure based pricing, risk sharing strategies, and managed care capitated service relationships.

Carl has 25+ years of materials, inventory, systems integration, project management and solution development experience. He frequently speaks and consults on healthcare issues throughout the United States. He has held similar positions at Memorial Mission Medical Center in Asheville, North Carolina and Muhlenberg/St. Luke’s Hospital Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Sentara, he was Regional Manager for a large for-profit hospital management company.

He is a member of the Network of Networks, a national IDN affinity group and a founding member of the Strategic Marketplace Initiative. Carl is recognized in the industry for his cutting edge concepts and vendor partnership relationships.

Vance Moore

Sisters of Mercy Health System / ROi

Vance is the President of ROi, an operating division of the Sisters of Mercy Health System based in St. Louis, Missouri.  He joined the Sisters of Mercy / ROi in April of 2002 after 17 years in healthcare with Baxter, Allegiance, Cardinal Health and the healthcare division of the UPS Logistics Group.  His career has included operational and sales roles in healthcare manufacturing, distribution, consulting, third party logistics, and provider operations.  At ROi, he is responsible for leading a supply chain management organization that includes group contracting, clinical and operational consulting, pharmaceutical repackaging, custom procedure tray manufacturing, print operations, as well as, distribution and transportation management. 

Vance graduated with a Bachelors degree in Industrial Management from the University of Arkansas and currently lives in the St. Louis area.

Susan Schuette

Hill-Rom Company, Inc.

Susan is Vice President, National Accounts for Hill Rom. In her role, Susan has responsibility for the direction and execution of Hill-Rom’s GPO, Government and IDN strategy across all business units including Peak Need Rental, Therapeutic Surfaces, Beds and Stretchers, HITS (IT Division), Clinical Headwalls, Furniture, Columns and Booms, Patient Lifts, and Airway Clearance.  She provides leadership to a team of National Accounts Executives, Directors of Strategic Accounts and Contract Administrators.

Susan has over 20 years experience in the health care industry. Prior to joining Hill-Rom in 2006 Susan served as Vice President of Business Development and National Accounts at R2 Technology, a medical software company and spent 14 years with ALARIS Medical Systems where she had overall responsibility for ALARIS’s National Accounts organization.

Susan sits on the Federation of American Hospitals Exposition Advisory Committee and served as Vice Chair and Chairman of the Capital Equipment Sub Committee for the 2009 and 2010 Expositions. 

Gary Wagner

The Methodist Hospital System

Gary is currently the Vice President of Supply Chain Management at The Methodist Hospital System in Houston, Texas. He has responsibility for all supply chain activities for this multi-hospital system with over $400,000 million in annual purchases. The Methodist Hospital System has over 1,330 operating beds and 10,000 employees.

Gary has over thirty-five years experience within the Health Care Supply Chain industry; holding corporate executive positions within multi-hospital systems over the last 20 years. Before joining Methodist, Gary was the Assistant Vice President, Materials Management with Inova Health System. At Inova he was directly responsible for developing and implementing an integrated Supply Chain strategy. Prior to being with Inova, he was Assistant Vice President of Materials Management with Bon Secours Health Care System. During his tenure his accomplishments included an OR consolidation and implementing a strategic supply chain management process for the Richmond Division. At Bon Secours he also had responsibility for Support Services.

Gary holds a Bachelor of Science degree from The University of Steubenville, Ohio.