2012 EXECUTIVE PROFILES
David L. Bernd, CEO
David L. Bernd is chief executive officer of Sentara Healthcare, a $5 billion integrated health System headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia. Sentara, a leading not-for-profit health care provider in Virginia and North Carolina, is comprised of 10 acute care hospitals, health plans with 440,000 covered lives, 618 provider medical group, and a medical staff of 3,680 physicians. Sentara was ranked the number one integrated health care network in the United States consecutively in 2010 and 2011 by Modern Healthcare magazine and is the only health care system in the nation to be named in the top 10 for 15 years.
Sentara is listed in the U.S. News and World Report annual guide to “America’s Best Hospitals.” In 2012, urology services and heart and heart surgery services at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital ranked in the Top 50 Hospitals. This marks the 13th year Sentara cardiac services ranked on the Top 50 list. Listed 47th in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2011-12 Best Hospitals, it was the only hospital in Virginia to be ranked among the top 50. In 2009, Sentara Norfolk General Hospital ranked in the Top 50 Hospitals for cardiology and heart surgery, kidney diseases, diabetes and endocrine disorders and geriatric care. Sentara Leigh Hospital ranked in the Top 50 Hospitals in orthopedics. In 2010, Sentara CarePlex Hospital, Sentara Leigh Hospital, Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, and Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center earned top performance in the Leapfrog Hospital Recognition Program ™. In 2003 Solucient honored the cardiac program at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital as one of the Top 100 programs in the nation. In 2009 Optima Health Plan, Sentara Health Plan and Optima Health Plan's HMO Medicaid product were all awarded the highest accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Optima Health Plan, was named number 50 in U.S. News And World Report’s “America’s Best Health Plans” for 2006. In 2006 Sentara was named to Leapfrog’s Top Hospitals. In October 1998, Sentara was honored with the C. Everett Koop National Health Award for Sentara’s Healthy Edge employee wellness program. In 1997, Sentara’s Clinical Care Improvement Using Artificial Intelligence Assisted Disease Analysis—Med AI—was approved for inclusion in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. In 1994, Sentara was recognized by The National Committee for Quality Health Care as one of the top 10 health systems in the U.S. In 2011, Sentara was also named the 5th largest-medical home in the country, by Modern Healthcare, and 11 Sentara Medical Group practices have been awarded the highest-level of recognition by the National Committee for Quality Assurance Physician Practice Connections Program® - Patient Centered Medical Home.
Mr. Bernd received his Master of Hospital and Health Administration from the Medical College of Virginia in 1973. He served his residency at Medical Center Hospitals 1972-73. Mr. Bernd served as assistant administrator at Sentara Norfolk General from 1973 until 1979 when he was named administrator. In 1985 Mr. Bernd was named executive vice-president/chief operating officer of Sentara Health System and president, Sentara Hospitals-Norfolk. In December 1994, he was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Sentara Health System (now Sentara Healthcare).
Howard P. Kern, President & Chief Operating Officer
Howard Kern is President and Chief Operating Officer of Sentara Healthcare. In this capacity, he serves as Chief Executive for Sentara’s hospital division and health plan, and Chairman of the Board of its Bay Primex insurance division. He has been employed by Sentara since 1980. Mr. Kern received his Master of Health Administration degree from the Medical College of Virginia in 1981, after receiving his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York in 1978.
Mr. Kern is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is a member of numerous professional and community organizations. He is currently serving as chairman of the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of Future of Hampton Roads, Health Performance Improvement (HPI), Optima/Sentara Health Plans, VHA Central Atlantic, Virginia Shared Hospital Services Corporation, and Virginia Health Network. He has previously served on regional boards for the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and Junior Achievement, as well as the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, and Westminster Canterbury of Chesapeake Bay.
He was appointed to the Norfolk State University Board of Visitors in 2003 by Governor Mark Warner, and served as chairman of that institution’s Finance, Audit, and Nominating Committees, co-chair of the Search Committee, and a member of the Research & Technology Committee through November, 2011. He also serves as an Affiliate Professor of the Medical College of Virginia, Department of Health Administration.
He served as a member of Governor Bob McDonnell’s Health & Human Resources Transition Team and the Governor’s Task Force on Health Reform.
Douglas M. Thompson, Vice President – Decision Support / Informatics
Mr. Thompson is a Corporate Vice President with Sentara HealthCare. He is responsible for Informatics, Benchmarking, productivity reporting, process improvement efforts, and supply chain management at Sentara. Reengineering efforts from Mr. Thompson’s team has led a margin improvement initiative at Sentara which has resulted in over $75 M in improvements. The teams are now turning efforts to process redesign to support the installation of a company wide electronic health record. Mr. Thompson has over 12 years experience working with physician and quality data. The Informatics effort is moving to develop expanded clinical reporting and predictive modeling from the installation of the Electronic Medical Record. With the installation of an electronic medical record, Mr. Thompson is leading the efforts to create an Enterprise Wide Data Warehouse. Formerly he was a Vice President with Tidewater Health Care responsible for the development and implementation of Tidewater Health Care’s managed care strategy and the planning and financial analysis functions. He has expertise in reengineering, mergers and acquisitions, and physician profiling. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a B.S. in Accounting, is a Certified Management Accountant, a graduate of General Electric’s Financial Management Program and a Six Sigma Green Belt. Previously Mr. Thompson was employed by General Electric as the manager of manufacturing cost analysis and by Volvo Penta as division manager of budgets and Analysis. He began his career with Virginia Chemicals and a cost accountant / financial analyst.
Michael M. Dudley, Senior Vice President & President of Sentara Health Plans
Michael M. Dudley is a Senior Vice President of Sentara Healthcare and President of Sentara Health Plans, a subsidiary of Sentara Healthcare, serving 450,000 members in Virginia and North Carolina. Sentara Health Plans, doing business as Optima Health, offers HMO, POS, PPO, HSA, HRA, and Behavioral Health products to commercial and Medicaid members.
Prior to joining Sentara in 1996, Mr. Dudley served for three years as President of Kaiser Permanente Insurance Company leading a team charged with starting up a new Kaiser division and offering new products nationwide. He served as President and Regional Manager of Kaiser Permanente's Northeast Region for 7 years and as Medical Center Administrator in Northern California for 8 years.
He received a Bachelor of Arts in English at Brigham Young University and a Master of Science in Health Administration at the University of Colorado where he was the recipient of the Foster G. McGaw Scholarship and Class Valedictorian. He also completed the Executive Management Program at Stanford University.
Mr. Dudley currently serves as a Director on the Boards of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the Virginia Association of Health Plans, the Health Plan Alliance, the Medical Society of Virginia Foundation, and the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce. He was appointed by Governor Tim Kaine to the Virginia Health Reform Commission and he has previously served on the Boards of Cariten Health Plans, Virginia Council for Healthy Communities and the Connecticut HMO Association. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Mary L. Blunt, Corporate Vice President, Sentara Healthcare
Mary Blunt, P.T., MHA, FACHE is a Corporate Vice President for Sentara Healthcare. She is responsible for Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, a 525-bed tertiary care hospital and level I trauma center, Sentara Careplex Hospital, and Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center. She has held several positions including Vice President of Operations at various Sentara Hospitals and President of Sentara Life Care (long term care division).
Ms. Blunt earned her Masters of Health Administration from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She earned her B.S. in Physical Therapy from the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago. Ms. Blunt is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and served three years on the American Hospital Association board of directors. Currently serves on the HRET Board of the American Hospital Association, the board of trustees for The Williams School.
Kenneth M. Krakaur, Senior Vice President
Mr. Krakaur joined Sentara in 1998 through the merger with Tidewater Health Care, Inc., where he served as Senior Vice President and CFO. He assumed leadership of Sentara CarePlex Hospital and Sentara Williamsburg Community Hospital in 1999. He was responsible for the construction of the CarePlex Hospital and was Sentara’s leader in negotiating and executing the merger with The Williamsburg Community Hospital, Incorporated. Mr. Krakaur plays an active role in the growth strategy in the Northern Virginia market and the integration initiative of the Blue Ridge Region. Mr. Krakaur is responsible for merger and acquisitions and risk finance. He most recently led the merger activity for Potomac, Martha Jefferson and Rockingham Memorial Hospitals. Mr. Krakaur earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Quinnipiac University in 1975 and held a CPA license.
Ken serves on the Board of Directors of Patient First Corporation, Bay Primex Insurance Company LTD, Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, FoodBank of the Virginia Peninsula, Great Peninsula NOW, Inc., and Hampton Arts Foundation.
Robert L. Graves, President, Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center
Bob Graves earned his Masters in Hospital Administration from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. He worked as an assistant director of the Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, LA for two years before taking a position at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, FL where he served as the Chief Operating Officer of this 750-bed hospital. In 1989, Bob accepted the administrator position at Virginia Beach General Hospital, a subsidiary of Tidewater Health Care, which merged with Sentara in 1998. Today, Bob serves as Corporate Vice President of Sentara Healthcare and President of Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center.
Bob is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and has served as a Regent for Virginia. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Thomas Nelson Community College Foundation.
Bertram S. Reese, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer
Bert Reese is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Sentara Healthcare, an integrated health system with net revenues of $3.9 billion. Sentara, a not-for-profit health care provider in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, is comprised of 10 acute care hospitals, a health plan with 432,600 covered lives, 7 nursing centers, 3 assisted living centers, and 600 member physician medical groups. Sentara has continually ranked as one of the most integrated health care network in the United States by Modern Healthcare magazine and is the only health care system in the nation to be named in the top 10 for seven consecutive years.
Mr. Reese is responsible for the Information Technology, Process Improvement, Information and Supply Chain Management for the health system. Most recently this group has implemented the Electronic Health Record across the enterprise, resulting in significant financial savings and improved clinical outcomes.
The group has received many national awards to include Most Wired, Top 100 Innovations, Best Employer in Information Technology, HIMSS Analytics Stage 7, and Davies Award to name a few.
Robert A. Broermann, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Broermann currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Sentara Healthcare, one of the nation’s top integrated health care organizations and Virginia’s largest health care system. He was appointed to this position in 2001 and is responsible for all aspects of the organization’s financial management. His staff includes the financial personnel of all 11 Sentara operating divisions. In addition, all centralized finance employees including the Revenue Cycle and Treasury functions fall under Mr. Broermann’s purview. He joined Sentara in 1998 through the merger with Tidewater Health Care, where he served as CFO since 1993. Prior to joining Tidewater Health Care, he was a Senior Audit Manager with Coopers & Lybrand. He earned his Bachelor of Science in accounting and his MBA from Old Dominion University. He is a CPA and a Fellow in the Healthcare Financial Management Association. Mr. Broermann was the 2006 Chairman of the Board of Directors of the United Way of South Hampton Roads and is a past Chair of the United Way Regional Campaign Committee. In 2006, Virginia Business awarded Mr. Broermann “CFO of the Year” in the large private company category.
Michael V. Taylor, Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Mike Taylor received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Wingate University in North Carolina in 1984. He completed his Master of Science in Business Education with a concentration in Human Resources and Education in 1993 from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, NC.
Mr. Taylor is a native of Charlotte, NC, and has more than 25 years of experience in the health care industry. Before joining Sentara Healthcare in January 2003, he served as Vice President of Human Resources with Moses Cone Health System in Greensboro, NC, a position he held for almost six years. In this role, he was responsible for comprehensive HR functions serving this health system including its five hospitals, three nursing homes, two multi-county physician practices, and 16 other subsidiary corporations. Prior to this, he was Director of Human Resources at Wesley Long Community Hospital for 11 years in Greensboro, NC, where he helped that organization become known as the Employer of Choice in a competitive market.
In 2007, and again in 2010, Sentara Healthcare received The Jackson Group Laureate Workplace Excellence Award presented to healthcare organizations who have demonstrated excellence in the Work Climate Survey results. Over the last six years, Sentara has continued to improve in work climate, which is evidenced by a steady increase in Work Environment Index scores each year.
In 2008, Sentara Healthcare was awarded the Employer of Choice Award, which recognizes companies that exhibit exceptional leadership, best practices, quality employee care and growth opportunities. This award is held by less than 30 employers nationwide and Sentara is the only healthcare system in the region to receive this national honor. Sentara received the 3rd highest score in the history of the award program, earning the entire Sentara system a 2-year designation. This designation places Sentara in the top 10% of healthcare systems in the nation.
Mr. Taylor is the past President of the North Carolina Healthcare Human Resources Association. He served on the Board of Hampton Roads Workforce Development, the Boards of YMCA, Kids Voting, Summit Credit Union, and Task Force on Workforce Preparedness, Guilford County Schools.
Vicky G. Gray, Senior Vice President, System Development
Vicky G. Gray is a Senior Corporate Vice President of System Development for Sentara Healthcare. She is responsible for brand management, strategic planning, marketing and sales, market assessment, corporate communications and the Sentara Health Foundation. Ms. Gray served as Interim Administrator of Sentara Leigh Hospital, a 250-bed facility, in 2001, during which time the Radiology and Surgery programs were accelerated through capital investment and product redesign. In 2004 she held dual role as Interim Vice President for Sales at Optima Health Plans. Prior to joining Sentara in 1998, she was a strategist for an integrated health system in Virginia Beach, VA directing the systems’ planning and marketing initiatives. This position was enriched by concurrent operations experience, including hospital administration, home health care, ambulatory services and developing and managing a primary care physician group.
Ms. Gray is a fellow in the American College of Health Care Executives. She is a member of Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development, Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, the Healthcare Strategy Institute, and a member of Hampton Roads Partnership’s Healthcare subcommittee. Ms. Gray is a former Chair of the Board of Directors for the United Way of South Hampton Roads.
Michael V. Gentry, Corporate Vice President, Southside
Mr. Gentry joined Sentara Healthcare in June 2008, assuming responsibilities for three hospitals: Sentara Bayside Hospital, Sentara Leigh Hospital, and Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital. Beginning in 2010, Mr. Gentry oversaw the construction of Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, which opened in August 2011. Currently Mr. Gentry is also responsible for Sentara Obici Hospital, Sentara Life Care Corporation, which includes seven nursing centers, three assisted living facilities and PACE (Program for All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly), and Sentara Enterprises, which includes the areas of Home Health, Hospice Care, Medical Transport, Advanced Imaging, and Ambulatory Centers.
Before joining Sentara, Mike served for eight years as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Florida Hospital (FH) Memorial System. He earned his MBA from La Sierra University in Riverside, California. Mike is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and a member of the American Hospital Association. In addition, Mike serves on the Board of Directors for the Central Business District Association (CBDA) and the Bay Youth Orchestra of Virginia.
David R. Maizel, MD
Corporate Vice-President, Sentara Healthcare; President, Sentara Medical Group
David R. Maizel, MD serves as the senior physician executive responsible for the overall operational performance of the Sentara Medical Group (SMG). SMG is the wholly-owned subsidiary 501(c)(3) corporation of Sentara Healthcare that houses the employed multi-specialty group practice. Established January 1, 1995, SMG is composed of over 400 physicians representing 32 different specialties as well as nearly 150 advanced practice clinicians. SMG employs over 2000 medical, clinical and support staff and manages 121 practice sites.
Dr. Maizel received his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from Rutgers University and completed his medical education at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He was board certified in Family Medicine in 1978 and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Practice. He is a lifetime member of the American College of Physician Executives.
In addition to his role for SMG, he is a member of the corporate senior executive team that establishes and drives the strategic imperatives of the organization, in order to optimize the financial performance of the operating divisions and to prioritize capital investments. He provided leadership in the development of the strategic and tactical planning for and successful implementation of an electronic health record in our physician office practices and our acute care facilities. Dr. Maizel also provides executive sponsorship for several of the transformation of care strategic initiatives for the health care system. He facilitated the structural reorganization of the SMG executive leadership team and the SMG Board of Directors.
Sentara.com