EMHA Leadership Bootcamp

Dr. Denise Gravatt, DBA MA 

Marketing and Content Developer & Instructor
Florida Atlantic University, College of Business, Executive Programs

Dr. Denise Gravatt is a multi-faceted communications specialist working across several FAU College of Business departments including Executive Education and the College Communications Team since 2007. As an instructor, Denise teaches Communications Strategies for both MBA and Master of Accounting students (with customized communication courses for forensic accounting, digital accounting forensics and data analytics, and business valuation concentrations). She earned her Doctorate in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing from the University of South Florida. Her research investigates digital marketing impact on the market outcomes in residential real estate. In her communications/marketing roles, she interviews our students, alumni, and business community partners, writes their engaging stories, and also provides strategic vision and editorial expertise across digital and print assets. In addition to her fulfilling work teaching and developing content, Denise is also passionate about networking and creating opportunities for students, alumni, staff, faculty and FAU business partners to make meaningful connections. Currently, she oversees the college’s networking platform – FAU Business Network!

Natoia Adella McGarrell, MBA

Strategic Account Manager
Natera, Inc.

Natoia is a seasoned sales executive with over 13 years Territory Management and Sales experience in the pharmaceutical and other healthcare industries. 

Natoia currently serves as a Strategic Account Manager at Natera, Inc..

Natera is a global leader in providing DNA testing across multiple clinical areas including women's health, organ health, and oncology. Where some set out to build a test, they set out to achieve a mission: change the management of disease worldwide by using DNA testing to proactively inform treatment. 

She currently serves as the President of the local chapter of the National Association of Health Service Executives, a nationally recognized professional organization for healthcare leaders who come from and or work in communities of color. They are a diverse organization who are leaders in upholding high ethical standards in our profession. 

On her LinkedIn page, Natoia shares her personal mantra:

"I pride myself on providing innovative solutions to achieve business objectives. My depth of product knowledge, skills, leadership, and organizational commitment are demonstrated through my accomplishments and willingness to go the extra mile to assess the customer's needs and position appropriate solutions. I am a driven, hard working, motivated professional, with the desire to make a difference in the organization that I am a member of, viewed as a team player, and provide my family with foundation and necessity to have a wonderful life!"

Frank Rainer, JD, MBA, MLLM

Senior Vice President & Chief Legal Officer
Memorial Healthcare System

Mr. Frank Rainer is the Senior Vice President for Legal Services at Memorial Healthcare System and has over 35 years experience in healthcare and real estate law . He holds a Juris Doctor degree from Florida State University, and three Master's Degrees- an MBA in Management, a Masters Degree LLM Taxation and a Masters Degree in Risk Management Insurance. As general counsel and C-level executive at Memorial, he is given the tools and opportunities to daily engage in exciting health care and business legal matters. Having over 35 years of extensive and intensive healthcare legal experience, he is at a place where those skills can be brought to bear and further honed. This is done in a sophisticated health system that is cutting edge and innovative. 

The range of legal issues presented run the gamut from A (aviation – air ambulances) to Z (zoning). In between, all forms of traditional contractual, employment, business entity, M&A, construction, real estate and litigation issues are presented regularly. There are routine and cutting edge health care legal subjects, such as physician relations, medical staff matters, managed care, compliance, pharmacy, facilities, regulatory, licensing, medical malpractice, among others. As a non-profit, there are all the legal issues presented by that business model. The governmental aspect of Memorial, requires specialized knowledge as to governance, code of ethics, bond issuance, Florida’s Open Meetings and Public Records laws, and procurement requirements.

Memorial provides a high quality and comprehensive set of business, financial and technical capabilities to accomplish the mission of the legal department: “To serve, advance and protect the legal interests of Memorial and to provide first rate, prompt and cost effective legal services to its board, executives, medical professionals, employees and all staff.” I am entrusted with 35 FTEs and a multimillion dollar budget. The departments of Risk Management, Privacy and Insurance are under my leadership, in addition to a wonderful professional staff of 7 attorneys and 4 contract specialists. The department has access to and we regularly avail ourselves to the resources and talent of highly skilled and capable compliance, HR, Procurement, IT, clinical, GME, and finance departments and professionals, to name just a few.

Dian Backoff

Executive Director
Catholic Hospice

Dian is an accomplished executive with an in-depth background in providing strategic direction and oversight to the healthcare industry with a strong focus on improving bottom line growth for new and existing hospices. Her leadership skills have taken her as far as directing a team to grow a small hospice operation into the nation’s leading hospice provider.  She is adept at working in both startup and corporate environments and possesses experience leading projects for a variety of functions including opening hospice and palliative care units, new program development, day-to-day management of large teams, call center operations, as well as patient care. 

She began her career as an intake admissions expert and has worked at the bedside as an LPN. Throughout the years, she gained the experience which allowed her to increase her role and responsibility through a wide range of management positions, such as; Director of Admissions, General Manager and Vice President of Operations.  As the Vice President of Operations for The Caring Foundation, she was accountable for leading all business development activities including creating and offering a shared services program to US-based hospices.  From 2015-2018, she was a Hospice Consultant for ValueCare at Home Registry and Visiting Nurse Service of New York.

In March of 2018, Dian joined Catholic Hospice, as part of Catholic Health Services and The Archdiocese of Miami as the Executive Director.  Through her leadership, she has led the change management program in the past three years. 

Dian is an Alumni of the South Florida Hospital Association and served as a Board Member for the Community Health Accreditation Partner (CHAP).  Her education includes studies in Health Services Administration at Barry University, and participates as a community panel member in the FAU Masters Healthcare Administration executive program

Kenneth Wong, MBA, FACHE

Chapter President
ACHE of South Florida

For nearly two decades, Kenneth C. Wong, FACHE, has enjoyed working with patients, physicians, hospitals and the community to improve healthcare access and outcomes.

Within healthcare management, Kenneth has held roles leading strategic planning, business development, marketing, physician and community relations. In the private sector, Kenneth has worked for several Fortune 500 companies within the pharmaceutical and medical device industry and received numerous awards for his efforts related to new product launches and market development initiatives.

Kenneth has been involved with the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and ACHE of South Florida, formerly known as the South Florida Healthcare Executive Forum (SFHEF), since 2013. For the past several years, Kenneth has served in various positions on the Board of Directors, including Educational Programming Chair, President-Elect and currently Chapter President.

In 2018, Kenneth received the Regent Award, the chapter’s highest honor, for his dedication to planning and executing educational programs. He was also recognized by the American College of Healthcare Executives as an “ACHE Top Achiever” in 2019.

Kenneth received his undergraduate degree in international business, a graduate degree in international business administration and is a fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE).

Mae Basiratmand, BSN, MS, RN

Marketing Manager and Adjunct Faculty
Florida Atlantic University, College of Business and Executive Education 

Mae stems from a dynamic background, as she is a registered nurse with a passion for good storytelling. Currently, she is a marketing strategist at Florida Atlantic University within the Executive Education department. In this role, she spearheads cross-channel strategies ranging from website optimization, print, paid media, corporate communication, video content, events, to billboards. In addition, she is an adjunct professor who teaches Digital Marketing to undergraduates, immersing them in real-world scenarios and arming them with practical skills. As well, she has been a frequent guest for multiple lectures on various topics ranging from social media management to professional development to Executive Master of Health Administration students. Mae is also on the Adjunct Faculty in Marketing for the College of Business. 

With clinical expertise in mental health, she has harnessed her understanding of science to bring a clinical perspective to formulating insights for marketing campaigns. Previously, she has worked with pharmaceutical clients such as AstraZeneca, Actavis, Forest Laboratories, and Pfizer, at DigitasLBi and Galderma at FCB Health New York. She was a key player on an award-winning unbranded campaign for disease-state awareness for AstraZeneca, part of a groundbreaking social media campaign which ultimately brought home the Cannes Lions Pharma Grand Prix award for “Integrated Digital Campaign” as well as a Silver Lion for “Direct and Promo Activation.” She has worked in integrated marketing for various millennial-targeted campaigns, where she participated in fueling ideas for immersive events including partnership programs for the annual MTV Movie Awards. Prior, she assisted the public relations team at Hearst Magazines, participating in events and managing media for multiple publications, including Cosmopolitan, O the Oprah Magazine, Esquire, and Seventeen.

Mae is currently working on her first fiction novel and building a digital marketing case study to use for future undergraduate cohorts. She is a registered nurse in New York, Florida, and California. She received her Bachelor's in Nursing from the University of Florida and her Masters in Strategic Communication from Columbia University.

Dan Cornely, MAE

Graduate Business Career Specialist, Internships & Professional Development
FAU College of Business, Executive Education 

Dan currently works in the College of Business as a Graduate Business Career Specialist. Prior to FAU, he worked in the private sector as a Director of Partnerships and a Recruiting Specialist at Next College Student Athlete (NCSA). He also has over 5 years of higher education experience as a Recruiting Coordinator and Coach for Defiance College. Dan is passionate about guiding FAU business students as they prepare to launch into their dream careers. Dan holds a Master of Arts in Education from Defiance College and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Business Scholars Program) from Hanover College.

Jessica Lerner, MHA

President and Chief Executive Officer
Community Care Plan

Jessica Lerner is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Community Care Plan (CCP), the Health Plan with a Heart, and is responsible for providing strategic leadership for the company by working with the Board of Directors and management team to establish long-range goals, strategies, plans, and policies. Jessica also maintains strong cooperative relationships with regulatory agencies, as well as develops and achieves membership growth, retention, quality, and financial targets. She is actively involved in local trade and professional associations, as well as assisting with directing the activities and involvement of CCP’s lobbyist and legal counsel.

Prior to joining CCP, Jessica served as Executive Director for Memorial Healthcare System where she spearheaded various initiatives for more than 19 years. She directed all health plan operations, inclusive of member benefits, provider network development, claims payment operations and system configuration, as well communications distribution and medical and pharmacy management.

Jessica attended Florida International University where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from the University’s College of Business.  Jessica also attended Florida Atlantic University where she earned a Masters in Health Administration through the Executive MHA program. 

Dr. Joe Kimura, MD, MPH

Chief Medical Officer
Atrius Health, Boston, MA

Joe Kimura, MD MPH has served as Chief Medical Officer of Atrius Health since January 2016.   Atrius Health is a 750 physician independent multispecialty practice based in Boston and a market leader in value based care and population health management.  Over the past two decades, Dr. Kimura has helped lead efforts in quality and safety improvement, population health management, clinical informatics and data analytics, and medical education at Atrius Health and Southern California Permanente Medical Group.
 
Dr. Kimura is board certified in Internal Medicine and Clinical Informatics and an avid national advocate for the practical applications of clinical informatics and healthcare analytics to improve healthcare delivery – especially in the value based ambulatory setting.  From 2012-16, he served on several Office of the National Coordinator Workgroups and Committees and was Co-Chair of the Workgroup on Advanced Health Models and Meaningful Use.
 
Locally, Dr. Kimura is actively involved in the healthcare technology start up community and serves as an executive board member for the Yale University Center for Biomedical Innovation and Technology.  In 2012, he was recognized as Top 25 Clinical Informaticists by Modern Healthcare and as a leading CMIO experts by Health Data Management in 2016.
Dr. Kimura serves on the national boards of the Clinical Health Network for Transformation (national network of Planned Parenthood affiliates) and the Council for Accountable Care Practices – an affiliate of the American Medical Group Association foundation.    
 
Dr. Kimura is a graduate of Stanford University, Washington University School of Medicine, and Harvard School of Public Health.  After a primary care internal medicine residency at the UCSF, he completed a health services research fellowship in the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at Harvard Medical School.   In 2015, he completed the Advanced Management Program at MIT Sloan School of Management with a certificate in Management, Innovation, and Technology.   His clinical practice remains at HVMA Kenmore and he is a faculty member in the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School.For nearly two decades, Kenneth C. Wong, FACHE, has enjoyed working with patients, physicians, hospitals and the community to improve healthcare access and outcomes.

Dr. Richard S. Gendler, JD, LLM, JSD

Business Law Coordinator & Instructor, Florida Atlantic University, College of Business
Peace Justice and Human Rights Affiliate Faculty

Dr. Richard Gendler is a full-time professor of law and ethics at FAU’s College of Business, where he also serves at the College’s Business Law and Ethics Coordinator. Dr. Gendler has published several scholarly articles, and taught several continuing legal education courses, related to topical consumer bankruptcy and accounting issues.  He is a special magistrate for Palm Beach County and was recently appointed as an arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).  In the furtherance of public service to the profession, Dr. Gendler serves, or has served, on the Florida Bar Student Education and Admissions to the Bar Committee, the Law Education Committee, Federal Rules Practice Committee , as Vice Chair of the Florida Bar’s Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Grievance Committee, as well as the Bankruptcy Mortgage Mediation Committee for the Southern District of Florida.   

In his professional career as an accomplished attorney, Dr. Gendler has practiced in the areas of bankruptcy, real estate, tax, estate planning, and probate matters. He is a member of the Florida Bar, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Tax Court  

Dr. Gendler received a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from the University of Hartford, a Doctorate in Jurisprudence (J.D.) from the University of Miami, and both a Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Doctor of Science in Law (J.S.D.) form the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. 

Mindy Graves

Assistant Vice President
Construction & Real Estate 

Mindy joined Broward Health in December 2018 as Director of Design and Construction. In this role, she oversees all design and construction projects across Broward Health’s 4 hospital campuses and various outpatient and corporate facilities. In addition, she was an integral part of developing Broward Health’s Strategic Master Plan for the next 10 years.

Mindy has over 25 years of experience as a proven leader in the design and construction of healthcare facilities. Her experience encompasses architecture and design for healthcare, higher education and corporate facilities. During her professional career, Graves has led many diverse projects for leading healthcare systems in South Florida, including Memorial Health System, Jackson Health System, University of Miami Hospital and Broward Health.

Graves holds a master’s degree in Interior Design from the University of Wisconsin- Madison and a Bachelor’s degree in interior design from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She also holds a certificate in Gerontology from the University of Wisconsin. She has been involved with many community organizations including Leadership Broward, Women Leading Broward, Leukemia Lymphoma Society, United Way of Broward County and American Diabetes Association.

David J. Clark 

Senior Vice President, Operations
Broward Health

David J. Clark is a key member of the executive team and District Board reporting structure across the Broward Health System Hospital District.  He effectively and efficiently leads the day-to-day delivery of safe and high quality patient services across both clinical and non-clinical divisions of the hospital support services that achieve all performance standards. His team experience improves clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction while reducing budget costs.

Mr. Clark, managing to system level key performance indicators (KPI’s), has achieve multi-site operations growth and compliance. Experienced in transformational management and cultural shifts in operations, has influence key hospital district’s decisions pertaining to strategic initiatives, operating model, and operational execution. His implementation of new improved systems, built to further change management strategies, has resolve long-term issues.

He oversees personnel activities for the Operations organization that include hiring, training and evaluating employees related with corporate operations support services departments that include but not limited to:

• Corporate Contracts, Enterprise Risk Management and Policies
• System Process Improvement and Standardization
• Enterprise Risk Management
• Corporate Pharmacy
• Corporate Design and Construction
• Corporate Facilities Engineering
• Environmental Services
• Nutritional Services
• Corporate Public Security, Emergency Management, and Corporate Safety
• Corporate Real Estate (property management)
• Fleet Management
• Broward Health Grants and Broward Health Foundation

Prior to Broward Health, Mr. Clark was the Associate Vice President, of Jackson Health System’s Department of Facilities Construction and Design (FC&D). In this role, he oversaw all project initiatives throughout the system, as well as directed all design and construction of new constructions, all construction expansions, interior and exterior renovations and infrastructure expansion and replacement projects in excess of $3B dollars.

He spearheaded the daily operations of multiple design and construction projects and system-wide initiates with capital budgets from various public funding sources. He also prepared the health system’s capital budget and the budget for FC&D department.  

Sybil Alfred

Director
FAU Executive Education

Sybil Alfred brings an intuitive transformational leadership to her role as Director of Executive Education. Her unique perspective and comprehensive knowledge of every facet of our programs is built on her experience of serving at almost every level in FAU’s College of Business— from filing paperwork as an undergraduate assistant to working with graduate students as a program coordinator, then assistant director to her current position. She is also an FAU Double-owl, earning her Bachelor’s in Business Administration in 2003 and her MBA in 2014.

Today, Sybil oversees and manages the operations of Executive Education, the fastest growing unit of the University that has grown from five staff members in 2007 to over 50 staff members with over 100 faculty serving over 2000 working professional students enrolled in programs across multiple colleges. Even as the programs continue to grow, Sybil maintains close communication with her teams, sharing both her vision and the strategies needed to bring it to fruition with every staff member across every level to let each know the valuable role they play in the success.

She is also known for her ability to “make magic happen!” When intricate problems arise requiring resolutions and sometimes, complex negotiating, Sybil is often sought out for her insight. Sybil’s presence at the table elicits genuine respect and inspires collaboration. With out-of-the box suggestions and strategies, she is able to make possible what at first glance had seemed impossible.

Sybil credits her tenacity, work ethic and kindness to traits learned from her mother growing up in Haiti. Her insight and ability to lead and inspire is widely recognized as integral to the close-knit Executive Education family and the well-known “secret” to our success.

Jonathan Beskin

Founder & CEO
Singles Swag

Jonathan Beskin is a serial entrepreneur, digital adverstising expert and investor. Beskin and his businesses have been featured in Fast Company, Inc., Business Insider, the TODAY show, Cosmopolitan, Mashable, InStyle, Marie Claire and more. Beskin shares his entrepreneurial journey on TikTok, where he currently has over 40k followers. Beskin holds a BS in Finance from Florida State University and an MBA from Florida Atlantic University.

Beskin founded SinglesSwag, a monthly subscription box for single women in May 2016 with less than 50 subscribers in the US and has grown the company to more than 280,000 subscribers (currently ships 40,000 boxes a month to more than 30 countries), over 1.3 million verified Instagram and Facebook followers and $50 million+ in revenue in five years. SinglesSwag was been included twice on the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in America including in the top 200 (#181) in 2020 and (#1829) in 2021. SinglesSwag has also been ranked in the Top 10 (#9) by Inc. Magazine of the fastest growing companies in Florida.  Beskin acquired subscription service Paradise Delivered in 2020 and has scaled the business from 20 monthly subscribers to currently over 10,000 monthly shipments and over $2 million in annual revenue. Beskin also founded Mollie Jacob, an all-natural cosmetics brand with national distribution and the jewelry brand, Violet Harper.

Linda Moregenstern

Vice President, Brand Management
Beanstalk

Linda Morgenstern is an incurable matchmaker. She even introduced her step-son to his wife.  As Vice President, Brand Management at the Beanstalk agency for 11 years, she continues to guide Fortune 500 companies to find ideal partners to extend their well-known brands into new products.  Her recent clients have been Energizer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, TGIFridays and Shell.  Prior to Beanstalk, Linda was EVP at Nancy Bailey & Associates, a boutique brand licensing agency where she managed such clients as USA TODAY, Coppertone and Travelocity.  In 1997 she started the brand licensing division of Jarden, extending its Sunbeam, Coleman and First Alert brands into dozens of strategic categories.  Earlier in her career she was an audio and video producer who started the Sony Wonder label featuring Sesame Street and Nickelodeon videos, as well as innovating children’s music with the platinum-selling Chipmunks in Low Places album featuring duets with Billy Ray Cyrus.  She has produced over 100 audiobooks at Random House and Harper Audio, narrated by celebrities including Dustin Hoffman and Glenn Close.  Her “The Words of Gandhi” audiobook, narrated by Ben Kingsley, earned her a Grammy Award as producer.

She received her BA in English from Brooklyn College, her home town, and her MBA from Florida Atlantic University in 2001.  She enjoys yoga, bicycling and Pilates, is an avid reader and theater/movie-goer, with the Living Room Theater being her favorite. She is married to her inventor husband Bob Robbins and lives in Boca Raton, her new home town.

Matt Pawlowski

Executive Director, Business Management and Regulatory Affairs
NextEra Energy Resources, LLC

Matt is the Executive Director of Business Management and Regulatory Affairs at NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, a NextEra Energy company. As part of that role, Matt is responsible for the interconnection of renewable generating assets throughout the United States and Canada including the Midwest ISO and Southwest Power Pool (SPP) areas where he is in charge of managing the NextEra Energy Resources regulatory relationship. This includes working with local electric utilities, Independent System Operators and Regional Transmission Organization on the evaluation of system impacts related to the interconnection of new generation, negotiation of impact costs, policy changes and resolution of other related issues.

In previous roles at NextEra Energy, Matt was responsible for developing strategic opportunities at Florida Power and Light Company (FPL) to increase the company’s wholesale and retail businesses. Among other projects, in 2018 Matt led the acquisition team to purchase the City of Vero Beach electric customer accounts and facilities for approximately $185MM and integrate them into FPL’s systems, the first demunicipalization in the United States since the early 1990s. 

Prior to that, Matt was responsible for various finance, business management and asset optimization, development and regulatory affairs initiatives at both FPL and NextEra Energy Resources. He also led the wholesale transmission group where he was responsible for the administration of FPL’s Open Access Transmission Tariff and Quality/Six Sigma initiatives within the FPL Transmission and Substation area.

Matt holds a B.S. degree in public accounting, minor in legal and ethical studies and an interdisciplinary specialization in international business from Fordham University in Bronx, NY. He also holds an Executive MBA in finance from Florida Atlantic University in December 2017. Matt is also a certified Six Sigma Black Belt. 

Matt serves on the SPP Finance Committee as well as the SPP Electric Storage Resource Steering Committee. Matt also serves on the Board of Directors for Florence Fuller Child Development Centers as the Vice President of Strategic Planning. He is an Emerging Leader on the Palm Beach County Economic Development Council and is an Executive Officer of the Palm Beach County Criminal Justice Commission serving as the Treasurer.

Prior to joining the NextEra Energy, Matt worked in various finance and enterprise risk management roles at Motorola, Lennar and AOL Time Warner.