Master of Health Administration Advisory Board

Sandra Collins, PhD

Program Director and Professor
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
618-453-8802
skcollin@siu.edu

Dr. Sandra Collins is a Professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC).  She currently serves as the Program Director for the Bachelors of Health Care Management, the Masters of Health Administration, and the Masters of Health Informatics.  Dr. Collins teaches in both the undergraduate and graduate level programs in areas predominately related to ethics, human resources, coding/compliance, and organizational behavior.  Prior to entering the field of academia, Dr. Collins served in varying administrative roles within the healthcare administration field.  She holds a bachelor's degree in workforce education and development, a master's degree in business with a specialization in management of information systems, and a doctoral degree in workforce education and development.  She has served as a program reviewer for the Association of University Programs in Health Administration and is the recipient of the prestigious E.J. and Mary C. Simon Distinguished Faculty Award, authoring approximately 90 peer-reviewed publications and/or professional presentations.  Program development and online education are among her most prevailing areas of interest which can be demonstrated through her involvement in the development and instruction of varying courses in the online Master's degree in Medical Dosimetry.  Furthermore, she developed and implemented the online bachelor's degree in healthcare management which offers students two minor degree options (long-term care administration and health information/informatics management) which are also offered in the online format.  These accomplishments, along with her creation, implementation, and oversight of the online Master of Health Informatics and the Master of Health Administration (which is one of the SIUC's leading graduate programs) places Dr. Collins among the top revenue generating faculty members at SIUC. 

Cheryl Gonzalez, MSA

Associate Director, Online Student Services, Innovation & Online
Central Michigan University
989-774-2077
smith6cr@cmich.edu

Cheryl joined CMU’s Native American Programs (NAP) office in 2014. In addition to working with NAP, she worked with LGBTQ Services and Gender Equity Programs, Diversity Education, and the Student Transition Enrichment Program. She moved to the Innovation & Online division in November 2018 as the Global Campus Coordinator working closely with the off-site locations and CMU Online. In 2021, she began working directly with online students as the Assistant Director of Enrollment for Online Cohorts and is currently the Associate Director of Online Student Services for the College of Health Professions and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. 

During Cheryl's free time, she has volunteered in many capacities at both city and county levels and for the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. Cheryl's more recent opportunities include volunteering as the Vice-Chair with the Isabella County Human Rights Committee, as an Election Inspector Chairperson for the City of Mount Pleasant, and as the Treasurer for Isabella County Families Against Narcotics. 

Prior to working at CMU, Cheryl held leadership roles as a district manager, area manager and training director, and her experiences have contributed to being well-versed in operations, planning and development, and relationship management. She is a proud alumna, earning both her bachelor's and master's degrees online from CMU, and she started her doctoral journey with CMU in the fall of 2022.

Kimberley Gribben, MBA

MSA Assistant Program Director
Central Michigan University
989-774-2367
gribb1kd@cmich.edu

Kim is the Assistant Director of the Master of Science in Administration (MSA) program at Central Michigan University and has been with the program for over 20 years. Kim provides student support in the areas of graduate transfer credit approvals, research approvals, and program plan approvals. Kim has conducted numerous curriculum evaluations of military educational programs from institutions such as the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Army Management Staff College, Defense Acquisitions University, and Marine Corps Command and Staff College. Kim works closely with the MSA director and faculty on curriculum development.  Kim has twice been selected as a recipient of CMU's Staff Excellence Award. The Staff Excellence Award Program recognizes and rewards dedicated staff who routinely and regularly demonstrate in an outstanding way their commitment to and support of the University's Service Excellence Values: Care, Knowledge, Availability, and Follow Through.  Kim received her MBA from Central Michigan University as well as an undergraduate degree in Psychology.

Robert Kovacs

Administrator
Hunterdon Care Center - Flemington, NJ
908-788-5274
admin@hunterdoncarecenter.com

Robert “Bob” Kovacs is Administrator of the Hunterdon Care Center in Flemington New Jersey, a 185-bed skilled nursing and rehabilitation center operated by Ocean Health Care.  Hunterdon Care Center was awarded the National Silver Quality Award from the American Health Care Association for achievement in quality. He is the recipient of the Eli Pick Facility Leadership Award from the American College of Health Care Administrators. He was honored as the Care One Administrator of the Year in 2007.  Bob has over 25 years of leadership and management experience in the long-term care industry and has served as a United States Navy Corpsman, a Certified Nursing Assistant and a Pharmacy Technician.  During his career in long-term care, he has overseen a luxury continuing retirement community, replaced an antiquated building with a new state-of-the art facility, handled budgeting for Medicare, Medicaid, and managed care contracts and private insurance.  He has significant experience with union issues as well as state and federal guidelines and regulations.  Bob has a Bachelors in Public Health Administration from Rutgers University and is a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator.

James Krolik, PhD, SCP, SPHR

Management Department Lecturer
Eastern Michigan University
313-581-4400
kroli1jj@cmich.edu

Dr. James J. Krolik is an adjunct instructor at Central Michigan University and has taught human resource management classes since 1988. Since 2001, his current full-time position is a Lecturer in the Management Department in the College of Business at Eastern Michigan University (EMU). At EMU, Dr. Krolik teaches undergraduate and graduate level classes in union relations, compensation, staffing, and current issues in human resource management. Dr. Krolik has been Director of Career Planning and Placement at Virginia Commonwealth University, Director of Non-Academic Career Planning for Graduate Students at the University of Michigan and Director of Graduate Studies at Detroit College of Business. Dr. Krolik has developed graduate human resource management classes for several national higher education institutions. Dr. Krolik has been recognized at several institutions as an outstanding instructor. Dr. Krolik has served as a dissertation mentor for doctoral dissertations at Capella University and has mentored the graduate human resource management capstone class at Thomas Edison State University.

Dr. Krolik's human resource management experience includes 12 years at a middle management position at two national based health care institutions. As Director of Employee Relations, he supervised the human resource functions including employment training, union relations, and employee relations. He also served as a Board Member for Spaulding for Children, chairing the personnel and program committee. Dr. Krolik has the Society of Human Resource Management senior level certification and senior level certification in human resource management from the Human Resource Certification Institute. Dr. Krolik earned his doctoral degree from the University of Michigan's Rackham Graduate School.

Dian Maheux, MBA, FACHE, FHFMA

Director of Finance
Heywood Healthcare - Gardner, MA
603-455-7506
diane.maheux@calaishospital.org or 
Dmaheux@roadrunner.com

Diane has over 25 years of healthcare finance experience.  She has a strong background in revenue and reimbursement and has worked more than 20 years for hospitals.  She has been a finance consultant and has been a CFO for two critical access hospitals.  Diane is currently the Director of Finance for Heywood Healthcare located in Gardner, Massachusetts.

Ashley Maier Oldham

Project Manager
Health Plan Alliance - Greater Detroit Area

Ashley Oldham is an MHA alumna at Central Michigan University and earned her undergraduate degree at Michigan State University. As part of the Advisory Board, she hopes to enhance and expand the graduate student experience at CMU by facilitating communication between graduate students, faculty, and administrators in the field. Additionally, she hopes to act as a resource for both incoming and current students in the program. Ashley is a member of both the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and the Healthcare Finance Management Association (HFMA). 

Stonish Pierce, FACHE

President/Chief Executive Officer
Trinity Health Georgia

Stonish Pierce, FACHE is a board-certified healthcare executive with diverse clinical and leadership experiences in acute and ambulatory operations spanning not-for-profit, public, private, government, academic/teaching and faith-based hospitals, integrated delivery systems and for-profit physical therapy sectors.

Marnie Roestel

Associate Director Learning Systems Support
Central Michigan University
989-774-7914
roest1m@cmich.edu

Since 2009, Marnie has overseen the delivery of CMU’s online courses and programs.  She created the Online Learning Resource Center for students new to online learning to understand the skills needed to be successful eLearners.  She co-developed the Designing eLearning Workshop aimed at helping faculty new to the course development process understand effective online course design. And, to ensure already-created online courses remain current and relevant, she developed the course update model in place at CMU.  Marnie has presented on online course development and delivery to CMU’s Board of Trustees and Academic Senate, MiBug (Michigan Blackboard User Group), as well as at regional, national and international conferences. 

Herb Smaltz, PhD, FHIMSS, FACHE

Founder, President and CEO
CIO Consult, LLC - The Villages, FL
614-309-3278
herb.smaltz@cioconsult.com

Herb Smaltz is the Founder, President & CEO of CIO Consult, LLC. He works with healthcare provider and vendor organizations to provide CIO-level professional services to include IT strategic planning, IT governance, IT product market placement advice, RFI/RFP planning and oversight, IT executive & staff coaching and mentoring, IT departmental assessments, IT project portfolio management office planning and evaluation, and a number of other services designed to maximize IT organizational performance.

Prior to founding CIO Consult, Herb founded Health Care DataWorks, a healthcare business intelligence software company which earned the distinction of a Gartner “Cool Vendor” prior to being acquired in 2015. Prior to his consulting and entrepreneurial career, Herb served as the CIO of the Ohio State University Medical Center (OSUMC), a $1.7 billion, 6 hospital academic medical center comprising more than 1100 beds and over 13,000 FTEs. In his role as CIO of OSUMC, he led an IT organization of 255 individuals with an annual operating budget of $42 million. In addition, he served as an Associate Vice-President for Health Sciences leading collaborative initiatives between the three mission areas of the medical center: research, academics and patient care.

Herb has over 25 years of experience in healthcare management with all but four of those years as CIO/CKO at various sized organizations including a 20-bed community hospital, a 300-bed tertiary referral medical center, an 1100-bed tertiary referral medical center, a 5-state region, a 7-country international region, and at the corporate headquarters of a $6.2 billion globally distributed integrated delivery system. He is a Fellow of the Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society (FHIMSS) and has served on the HIMSS Board of Directors (BOD) from 2002-2005. In addition, he is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE) and a two-time CIO-100 award recipient.

Herb also holds certifications in Knowledge Management from the Knowledge Management Certification Board (KMCB). In addition, he has served as an associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and as a research professor at the Ohio State University. Herb earned a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from the University of Tampa in 1985, an Master of Business Administration from Ohio State University in 1992, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration - Information & Management Science from Florida State University in 1999.

Rachel Stawecki

MHA Graduate Student
Central Michigan University
stawe1rn@cmich.edu

Rachel graduated from Central Michigan University in May, 2020 with a Bachelor of Science where she majored in Exercise Science Kinesiology, and double minored in Psychology and Substance Use Disorders. She is a student in the MHA program.

Carla Stebbins, PhD

Program Director
Rochester Institute of Technology - New York
585-475-4761
casihst@rit.edu

Dr. Stebbins is a senior lecturer within the Master of Science in Health Systems Administration Program and currently serves as the program director.  She teaches in the area of marketing and management and currently oversees the programs capstone experience.  In addition, Dr. Stebbins supports content on a variety of leadership topics to members of the university and college community; specifically, in the areas of interpersonal communication and relationship building, change management, and team building. 

Before joining RIT in 2016, Dr. Stebbins worked in various staff, faculty and administrative roles for over 20 years at a university located in the Midwest. Most recently, Carla served as the program director of the schools Master of Health Care Administration (MHA) program.  She led the program to achieve specialized accreditation with the Commission on Accreditation Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) in 2015.  Later that year, Dr. Stebbins was named a CAHME Fellow. 

Dr. Stebbins is a qualified administrator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and an experienced facilitator of FlexCare. She facilitates training to both clinical and non-clinical students and serves as a faculty for the Iowa Chronic Care Consortium's Clinical Health Coach program providing FlexCare and leadership training to practicing health care professionals around the country. Carla earned the Master Practitioner credential through the Association of Psychological Type-International (APTi) along with Ethical Standards for the Practical Use of Type certification in 2016. 

Dr. Stebbins serves on several committees for national associations serving healthcare administration education.  In addition, she has actively served on a number college and university committees regarding accreditation; learning and outcomes assessment; and, program development.  Her research interests surround empathy and the physician—patient relationship, student engagement/satisfaction, program evaluation and learning assessment.  

Education:

• BA, Business/Marketing, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa
• MS, Health Care Administration, Des Moines University, Des Moines, Iowa
• PhD, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

Beth Taylor, DHA, RN, NEA-BC

Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Patient Care Services/CNO
Department of Veterans Affairs
202-461-7250
Beth.Taylor@va.gov

Dr. Beth Taylor joined the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in 1996 as an Associate Director for Patient Care Services/Nurse Executive in Saginaw, Michigan, and continued to serve in this executive role in VA facilities in Detroit, Milwaukee, and Tucson. In addition, she held the position of Director, Workforce, and Leadership for the VA Office of Nursing Services in Washington D.C. and served as Acting Deputy Chief Nursing Officer during her tenure in this office. In 2014, she received the Paralyzed Veterans of America Advocacy-Clinical Excellence Award. Dr. Taylor assumed the role of Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer in March 2020. In this role, she serves as principal executive for oversight of the following national program offices: Nursing, Social Work, Pharmacy, Sterile Processing, Geriatrics, and Extended Care, Population Health, Whole Health, Rural Health, Connected Care, Physicians Assistants, and Rehabilitation and Prosthetics.

Dr. Taylor received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Indiana University, a Master in Business Administration from Saginaw Valley State University, and a Doctor of Health Administration from Central Michigan University. She holds a graduate certificate in International Health from Central Michigan University as a board-certified Nurse Executive Advanced. She is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Leaders and Sigma Theta Tau International. She has served as adjunct faculty for CMU's Doctor of Health Administration program and she holds an honorary faculty appointment in the Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing at Uniformed Services University.

Mark Taylor, DHA

Consulting Executive
Taylor and Associates, LLC
414-343-9989
marktaylor321@hotmail.com

Dr. Mark Taylor earned his Doctor of Health Administration from Central Michigan University. His dissertation was entitled, "Measuring Catholic Identity in Health Care Organizations: An Analysis of Organizational Practices and the Catholic Identity Matrix." Dr. Taylor also holds a Master of Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Business Administration from Hillsdale College. Prior to completing his DHA, he served as CEO of several health systems where he gained more than 35 years' experience leading Catholic and other faith-based organizations. In his work, he focused on strategically repositioning organizations, implementing systematic performance improvement, and integrating values systems across large, complex organizations.

Stephanie Vazquez, MHA

Practice Optimization
Navvis Healthcare - St. Louis, MO

Stephanie D. Vazquez is a practice manager with Mercy Clinic, in Saint Louis, Missouri. She has more than 22 years of experience in healthcare, 20 of those years in medical office management for multiple pediatric subspecialty clinics.  Stephanie has her Bachelor of Science in Business- Healthcare Management and is actively pursuing an MHA degree from Western Governors University.  Stephanie has worked with teams dedicated to improving patient access, medical office procedure standardization, and service excellence to name a few.  Stephanie has interests in finding ways to improve patient care and simplifying the billing/coding process for the patients we serve.  

Stephen Waldhoff, DHA

Emeritus Mayo Clinic Administrator
waldhoff.stephen@gmail.com

Dr. Stephen Waldhoff joined the Mayo Clinic in 1984 as a hospital and clinic administrator. During his 34 years of service, he served in numerous senior leadership positions, providing support and direction throughout the organization. 
He retired in April 2018.  Waldhoff earned a doctoral degree from Central Michigan University, along with master's and bachelor's degrees from the University of Minnesota.  He is also a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives where he served in a variety of leadership capacities, including terms on the Board of Governors, Council of Regents, and ACHE-MN Chapter President. Dr. Waldhoff also served on a variety of community and state non-profit boards of directors, acting as an officer and receiving leadership awards. Dr. Waldhoff and his wife Christi make their home in Scottsdale, Arizona where they enjoy golfing, sailing, and equestrian sports. They have two adult children, Amanda and Hillaree.

William Wuenstel, DHA

Off-Campus Adjunct Faculty
Central Michigan University
352-816-7553
wuens1wg@cmich.edu

Dr. William G. Wuenstel is a medical social scientist and adjunct professor of health administration and clinical research for The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions at Central Michigan University. He was previously clinical director and administrator of three service lines at a multi-center tertiary hospital system.  Dr. Wuenstel teaches courses in health service organizations and systems, health planning, quality improvements in health services, healthcare administration, healthcare finance, ethical compliance, and clinical research. His publications include journal articles on end-of-life issues, type 2 diabetes and applying principles of behavioral science in the treatment of diabetes. He continues performing clinical work at the Veteran Administration Hospital division of Endocrinology.  In addition, he served as a director for the NGO Heart to Heart and worked with ProWorld Service Corps and Heart to Heart in Belize on service learning projects for students. He completed his master's degree in business in health care at Webster University and his Doctor of Health Administration and a post-doctoral certificate in International Health at Central Michigan University.   His current focus is on the application of behavioral principles and social science interventions that can assist practitioners in treating patients and family members with chronic diseases in various health care organizations. Dr. Wuenstel has been a guest lecturer at Indiana University and Central Michigan University on various topics that address the benefits of utilizing behavioral principles and social science as a method of influencing life-style changes.