Our Strategic Partners

Barb Lorsbach offers unique insights for this engagement based on her background as a former senior vice president of the American Hospital Association. In her role, Barb was responsible for several AHA divisions including constituency sections and member involvement, regional operations, executive and trustee education and member services. Barb has over 25 years of experience working with our nation’s health care systems and hospital leaders. She led the team that developed the AHA’s Center for Health Care Leadership and strategies to ensure member-driven governance and thought leadership. Barb has also held management positions at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation, and other organizations. In addition, Barb has been involved for many years with the Center for Diversity and Health Equity. That combined experience, coupled with her current work as president of Great Hearts Initiatives (GHI) makes her an outstanding resource for this assessment engagement. GHI organization brings together people and organizations that have a shared vision for improving communities. Barbara is a passionate advocate for governance and leadership education, community engagement, and increasing diversity and inclusion in management and governing boards. She is a Fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives and has been a frequent speaker on health care issues and trends.

Todd Linden served as president and CEO of Grinnell Regional Medical Center, Grinnell, Iowa from 1994 through the end of 2017, at which time he was named CEO Emeritus. Today Todd works with governing boards on process improvement, best practice development, governance education, facilitating board workshops and retreats, and building optimal trustee/executive relationships. He also works with healthcare organizations on strategic planning, constructive disruption, and building ingenuity, quality and safety into the organization’s culture. Todd has received significant recognition for his leadership in healthcare, including the Iowa Hospital Association’s “Excellence in Leadership Award;” the American Hospital Association’s “Board of Trustees Award;” and Becker’s Hospital Review’s “50 Rural Hospital CEOs to Know,” among many others. He is a Fellow and member of the faculty of the American College of Healthcare Executives, serves on the board of the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Health Forum, and was a member of the AHA Board of Trustees from 2013 – 2016.

Ann Scott Blouin founded ‘PSQ Advisory’ to deliver strategic guidance to America’s health systems, hospitals and critical access hospitals. Dr. Blouin works with boards, community groups and senior leaders to help organizations achieve success on financial and clinical metrics through an organizational focus on effective governance, improvement science and harm avoidance. Prior to founding PSQ Advisory, Ann was the Executive Vice President of Customer Relations at The Joint Commission, providing guidance in understanding hospitals, health systems and stakeholders across the health care continuum. During her ten years at Joint Commission, Ann collaborated with multiple health systems,  across the country on leadership, patient care and quality/safety issues. With more than 30 years of health care administration, consulting and clinical nursing experience, Ann has held key senior leadership positions at community teaching hospitals, academic medical centers and prominent global consulting firms. Specific areas of expertise include strategic planning in rapidly changing environments, contemporary leadership, organizational design, regulatory compliance, business case development for quality and safety, high reliability, and clinical integration. Ann’s experience as a senior leader in operations and strategy roles brings a unique understanding of today’s challenges in health care. Ann has published and presented extensively on topics focused on health care leadership, patient care quality and safety, as well as nursing, and served as an adjunct faculty member at several Chicago area schools of nursing and medicine. She is a Fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives and is a certified Green Belt in Lean/Six Sigma/Change Management methodologies. Ann currently serves on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Board of Directors, a post-acute care company (Ensign Group) board and chairs the IHI Certification Board. Ann has also joined two healthcare technology start-up boards, Vitalacy and Elemeno Health. Ann has prior governance experience with ambulatory, community and federally qualified health clinic boards.

Pamela R. Knecht, President and CEO of ACCORD LIMITED, has provided consulting services to a wide range of industries and organizations over her 36-year career. Her clients include for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in industries such as health care, financial services, distribution, retail, professional services, manufacturing, associations, social services, arts, and education. She has deep expertise in not-for-profit healthcare and closely-held and family-owned businesses. During the last 25 years, she has focused on assisting owners, boards and CEOs across the country with strategic planning; governance education, assessment, restructuring and development; organizational diagnosis and change management; team effectiveness; and merger / affiliation facilitation. Pam is a frequent speaker and facilitator at hospital and health system board retreats as well as at local, regional, and national health care conferences.  Her presentations to health systems, family business centers, associations, and other organizations address issues related to strategic planning and governance effectiveness. She is a faculty member for The Governance Institute, iProtean, and numerous state hospital associations. She served as a faculty member for the American Hospital Association’s former Center for Healthcare Governance. In 2007, she was selected by The Governance Institute as a Governance Advisor for their hospital and health system members.