HANYS’ Healthcare & Policy Speakers

Bea Grause began her tenure as President of the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) on July 1, 2016 after serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems for 14 years. In that position, she successfully led Vermont hospitals through a variety of reform initiatives, including the state’s single-payer debate, continuously and intentionally building the hospitals’ brand as trusted, competent leaders.

Bea recently completed a three-year term (2012 to 2015) as an at-large member of the American Hospital Association (AHA) Board of Trustees, including a 2015 term on the AHA Executive and AHA CEO Search Committees. As part of her AHA Board responsibilities, she also served as chairperson of the AHA Allied Advisory Committee on Medicaid.

Before moving to Vermont, Bea worked for ten years in Washington D.C. in a variety of positions. She began her D.C. tenure as a Legislative Assistant; first in the Office of U.S. Representative Norman Y. Mineta and then for U.S. Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II. After she left Capitol Hill, Bea simultaneously held senior governmental affairs positions with the Tennessee Hospital Association and Massachusetts Hospital Association. She spent the last three years working as counsel with the law firm of Foley Hoag. In this role, she developed tailored legislative and regulatory strategies for many healthcare clients.

Before coming to Washington D.C., Bea spent ten years in California. She worked as a registered nurse, primarily in the emergency room and intensive care areas at Santa Clara Valley of California. During this time, she earned her Juris Doctorate in 1991 from Santa Clara University School of Law.

Bea earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Boston College in 1979 and is currently a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. She is also a 2003 graduate of the Vermont Leadership Institute.

As chief operating and innovation officer, Courtney Burke oversees all of HANYS’ operations and ensures optimal alignment of the Association’s various functions – from healthcare policy and advocacy to quality improvement and data analysis.

Ms. Burke comes to HANYS with an extensive background in healthcare operations and policy, with a career that has included executive positions in government and the healthcare provider sector.

Most recently, Ms. Burke served as senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Albany Medical Center. Before that, she served as New York state’s deputy secretary for health. In that role, Ms. Burke provided oversight for the state’s health and mental hygiene agencies, including the Department of Health, Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, the Office for the Aging, Office of the Medicaid Inspector General, Office of Mental Health, Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, Developmental Disabilities Planning Council and the Justice Center.

Ms. Burke previously served as commissioner of the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, an agency of nearly 20,000 employees. Before that, she served as director of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government’s New York State Health Policy Research Center and as the senior research scientist in the Rockefeller Institute’s Health and Medicaid studies program. Before joining the Institute, Ms. Burke worked at NYSDOH and as the Senior Policy Analyst at the New York State Office of Advocate for Persons with Disabilities.

She has a master’s degree in health policy and management from the School of Public Health, University at Albany, and a bachelor’s degree in political science and journalism from the University of Connecticut.

Jim Clancy joined HANYS in September 2016 after 20-plus years in state government, where he gained experience in local and state government relations, state budget negotiations, stakeholder engagement, policy implementation, and messaging. Mr. Clancy spent seven years in the New York State Department of Health as Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Governmental and External Affairs and Director of the Center for Healthcare Facility Planning, Licensure, and Finance. He built a solid reputation through his relationships with healthcare providers and decision makers. Before joining DOH, he served as Director of Legislative Affairs for Governors Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson, and served on the staffs of New York State Senator Neil Breslin and U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as stints in the New York State Assembly and Senate. His transition out of state government began when he joined the law and lobby firm of Brown & Weinraub as a senior healthcare consultant. Mr. Clancy is a graduate of the State University of New York at Albany.

Jeff Gold works with the payer community, state and federal regulators, and New York State government to address provider issues related to managed care. Mr. Gold has drafted, negotiated, and helped secure major packages of managed care reform legislation that impact external appeals, administrative denials, claims processing, and payer practices. He designed HANYS’ highly regarded Managed Care SWAT Training program and coaches hospitals on claims denial management and contract negotiation. Before joining HANYS in 2000, Mr. Gold was Special Counsel for Health Care to the New York State Attorney General. Mr. Gold served four Attorneys General in New York and was the founding Chief of New York’s Health Care Bureau. Previously, he worked at two private law firms in New York City, with a focus on civil litigation. Mr. Gold has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School.

Sue Ellen Wagner is Executive Director of Healthcare Trustees of New York State (HTNYS), an organization dedicated to strengthening the governance of New York State’s voluntary and municipal healthcare facilities. As Executive Director, Ms. Wagner oversees the organization’s advocacy, communication, and educational programming, while serving as HTNYS’ spokesperson to state and national constituencies. Ms. Wagner also serves as Vice President, Community Health, at the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS). HANYS represents the interests of New York’s nonprofit and public hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies, and other healthcare organizations. Ms. Wagner has been a member of HANYS’ policy staff for more than 20 years, serving in many leadership roles.

Ms. Wagner attended Harvard Business School’s Executive Leadership Program in June 2010. She holds a Master of Science degree in Health Administration from the Sage Colleges and a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Management from the State University of New York Institute of Technology.

Kevin Krawiecki leads HANYS fiscal policy and data informatics division. He has compiled nearly 15 years of Medicare and Medicaid fiscal policy experience during his tenure with HANYS, serving in various capacities including data analyst and data product director for both HANYS and its analytic subsidiary DataGen, and Associate Director of Federal Relations in HANYS Washington, D.C. office during the development and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. In his current capacity, Mr. Krawiecki's focus is on the development of rational fiscal policy at both the state and federal levels. Mr. Krawiecki received his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Oswego.

Loretta Willis is a healthcare quality leader with more than 35 years of experience who provides strategic direction, planning, coordination and oversight for development and execution of HANYS’ quality and patient safety agenda. She is an experienced lead for federal and state grant and contract program oversight and execution. She currently serves as the project lead for HANYS’ contract with the New York State Department of Health’s Advanced Primary Care practice transformation technical assistance program. She also provides oversight of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Hospital Improvement Innovation Network contract and CMS Network of Quality Improvement and Innovation contract. In her eight years at HANYS, Ms. Willis has led several quality improvement initiatives that have resulted in improved, measurable outcomes, including antibiotic stewardship and reduction in early elective deliveries. Before joining HANYS, she held various positions in managed care, including clinical director for case management, utilization management and discharge planning for the Medicare program at WellPoint; clinical director for resource and quality management for the all-payer programs at Kaiser Permanente in New York State; and director of government programs at Capital District Physicians Health Plan. Ms. Willis is a registered nurse.

As vice president of external affairs, Nick Henley is HANYS’ point person for interacting with the senior leadership of hospitals and health systems all across the state. He directs HANYS’ member services, including industry-leading member engagement efforts, analysis of healthcare system and market trends and development of strategic public policy. Mr. Henley also leads HANYS’ political action efforts, serving as Treasurer of HANYS’ influential state and federal political action committees. Mr. Henley took on his current roles in 2015 after working in HANYS’ Governmental Affairs division for ten years, including serving as director of governmental affairs. Before that, he worked at the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy in Albany, and in various capacities at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany. Nick graduated from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, and from the School of Public Health at the State University of New York at Albany with a Master of Public Health degree concentrating in health policy and management.

Amy Nickson provides oversight and implements HANYS’ state governmental affairs and advocacy strategies. Through her career in government and advocacy, she has gained extensive experience in New York State health policy. Before joining HANYS in February 2018, she served as Vice President, Policy and External Affairs, at Community Health Care Association of New York State. Before that, Ms. Nickson spent ten years working for the Department of Health (DOH), culminating in serving as Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Governmental and External Affairs. In that role, she was responsible for advising the Commissioner of Health and senior officials in the Governor’s Office and the Division of the Budget on policy matters. She also served as a key representative in Executive Budget development and annual negotiations with the Legislature. Prior to this, she served as Deputy Director of DOH’s Office of Governmental Affairs. Before joining DOH, she spent a decade in the New York State Assembly, where she served as a legislative analyst working on a variety of human services-related issues. Ms. Nickson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Richmond.

James Kelley directs all strategy, sales, and marketing for HANYS Benefit Services (HBS), a subsidiary of the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS). HBS provides retirement and employee benefit advisory services, including plan design, vendor analysis, investment, fiduciary guidance, and complete education and communication services offered primarily to healthcare providers. Mr. Kelley has more than 20 years experience in the institutional retirement market. He holds his New York State life, accident, and health and variable annuities license, and has his Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Series 6, 63, and 26 licenses. He is an accredited Plan Sponsor Retirement Professional. Before joining HANYS, he served as Vice President, Institutional Relations for The Hartford. He has spent much of his career working with healthcare and other not-for-profit organizations. Mr. Kelley earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business from Gettysburg College.

Nicole Harmon leads HANYS Solutions’ Practice Advancement Strategies. She has tremendous experience in the areas of primary and specialty care practice transformation, cross-functional teams, establishing a culture of change and quality improvement, redesigning workflow and responsibilities and electronic medical record implementation and reporting. In addition, Ms. Harmon works on physician engagement and physician payment reform strategies to round out the overall Practice Advancement Strategies portfolio.

Ms. Harmon is a nationally-recognized speaker on topics such as positioning physicians for success in the transition from fee-for-service to value-based payment models, change management, the role of culture in transformation efforts and practice transformation in both primary and specialty care.

Before joining HANYS Solutions, Ms. Harmon was a practice manager, patient-centered medical home, at The Exigence Group, and served as assistant director for advanced primary and specialty care at Independent Health. Ms. Harmon’s experience also includes the Windsong Radiology Group, where she spent two years as marketing specialist before moving into the organizational development supervisor role.

Ms. Harmon holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration from Canisius College. In November 2014, Ms. Harmon completed the Cornell-HANYS Academy for Healthcare Leadership Advancement. She is PROSCI® certified in change management and by NCQA as a PCMH Certified Content Expert.

Nancy Landor’s work at HANYS spans the areas of policy, regulatory compliance and education. She has led collaborative initiatives including the four-year statewide Institute for Healthcare Improvement Campaign in New York, the 18-month Teamwork: Achieving Critical Care Excellence initiative, a Crew Resource Management educational series and HANYS’ Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Prevention Project. She is currently working on initiatives to improve diabetes and emergency care, and enhance hospital operations. Ms. Landor began her career as a registered nurse working in acute care medicine, emergency services and discharge planning. She was one of the original members of the American Association of Continuing Care and headed the first two New York state symposia. In 1985, she worked as director of healthcare resources management in a tertiary hospital that provides acute, mental health, nursing home and primary care services. Her responsibilities included quality management, utilization review, case management, social work services, infection control and community-based service programs. She also served as director of quality management for the Northeast and Empire service centers of ValueOptions Inc., the second largest mental health vendor in the United States. Ms. Landor has been active in a number of associations at the local, state and national level. She was involved in committee activity and functions ranging from education and speaking programs to project coordination. She received a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Russell Sage College and her master’s degree in business at Union College.

In his current position, Evan Brooksby works on HANYS’ governmental affairs, advocacy, and health policy priorities, particularly those related to the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) program. He also currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors at Hometown Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Schenectady, New York. Before joining HANYS in March 2016, Mr. Brooksby worked on numerous special projects at Albany Medical Center including the faculty practice certification of four sites as National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Patient-Centered Medical Homes, and a practice-wide hypertension initiative that helped improve the control of hypertension among patients from 68% to 90%—well above the national average. He also served as Deputy Director of the Center for Health Systems Transformation—the organization leading the Albany Medical Center DSRIP initiative, which covers Albany, Saratoga, Warren, Columbia and Greene Counties. Mr. Brooksby is a graduate of the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He earned his Master’s in Business Administration in Healthcare Management degree at Union Graduate College.

Sandi Toll is responsible for overseeing all of HANYS’ legal, compliance, and contractual matters, including those of HANYS’ affiliated organizations and for-profit subsidiaries. She joined HANYS as General Counsel in February 2018 after serving as First Assistant Counsel to Governor Andrew Cuomo, a position she attained in July 2015, after serving nearly two years as Assistant Counsel to the Governor, where she advised the Governor and policy staff on legal matters related to a variety of health issues.

Before that, she was a partner at the law firm of Jenner & Block LLP. As a member of the firm’s healthcare litigation and complex commercial litigation practices, she represented clients on healthcare fraud and abuse matters, supervised and conducted internal investigations, and maintained an extensive pro bono practice. While at Jenner & Block, she was named an Illinois Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in healthcare.

Ms. Toll began her career as an elementary school teacher (second grade) in Compton, California, from 1997 to 1999 as part of Teach for America.

Ms. Toll has a J.D. magna cum laude from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and Bachelor of Science degree with Distinction from Cornell University.