Congratulations to our Leadership Excellence Achievement Distinction awardees for demonstrating exemplary leadership skills in their medical center or regional office!
Sheri Bathurst
Manager, Community Benefit
Downey Medical Center
Sheri Bathurst has always had a soft spot in her heart for Bellflower. It’s where she was born and raised and where now, as manager of Community Benefit, she leads the way in creating a healthier place for everyone to live, work and thrive.
Sheri uses her deep knowledge of her service area to identify where and how Kaiser Permanente funding can have the most profound and lasting impact. She has forged relationships with key community partners to create coalitions that address food security and homelessness, two major factors in a community’s overall health. She also consults with other departments to guide Downey Medical Center in assisting homeless patients.
Sheri’s motto is “Let’s Go Deep,” meaning that she goes far beyond just funding our community partners. For her, it’s equally important to help our partners become self-sufficient after grant funding ends.
In 2015, Sheri championed the Gateway to Growth program to teach nonprofit executives how to manage and grow their organizations. This was the first program of its kind in the Southeast Los Angeles County area.
Sheri is a true advocate for the communities we serve.
Vivien Choi
Director, Food and Nutrition Services
Fontana Medical Center
Vivien Choi, director of Food and Nutrition Services, is a leader who always puts patients first. She’s inspired her team to do exactly the same.
For Vivien, a big part of patient satisfaction is a happy team. She works continuously with her leadership team to create a nurturing work environment. A warm, compassionate leader, she constantly reminds her staff of the vital role they play in the patient care experience and how much she appreciates them. Her efforts were reflected in the 2018 People Pulse results which showed improvement in all indices from the prior year. As usual, she credited all the success to her team.
As great with numbers as she is with people, Vivien is a master at keeping budgets on track, even with the significantly higher demand for patient meals. Her department’s efficiency has become a model for others around the region.
In addition to her exceptional leadership in the Fontana Medical Center, Vivien is a key leader for the Regional Support Services One KP Care Experience Committee, yet another example of her passion for improving service for our patients and their families.
Joseph Cushnyr
Service Area Manager, Information Technology
Kern County Service Area
Monumental. That’s how many people would describe the IT challenges facing Kern County. Joseph Cushnyr’s response? We can solve this.
As service area manager for Information Technology, Joe’s challenge stemmed from the fact that Kern County does not have a Kaiser Permanente-owned hospital. Instead, members receive care at our affiliated hospital, Adventist Health Bakersfield (AHB).
The challenge confronting Joe was that the electronic health record (EHR) systems at Kaiser Permanente and AHB were not directly compatible. So, when clinical documentation was entered for a patient at Adventist Health it was not readily available to that patient’s care team at Kaiser Permanente.
Joe took the lead in helping to develop a system that could exchange clinical information between Kaiser Permanente and Adventist Health. His innovative work in clinical data exchange has become a model nationwide for all service areas without a Kaiser Foundation Hospital.
It’s a testament to Joe’s people skills, substantial technical expertise, and customer focus that everyone relaxes when he’s involved. His passion for service ensures that the information clinicians need to care for members is always just a click away.
Randy Easterling
Director, Security Services
Irvine Medical Center
Randy Easterling, director, Security Services, knows the world of security inside and out. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Randy had an outstanding career with the FBI. He brings a wealth of experience to Kaiser Permanente where he is widely recognized for his operational and service leadership expertise.
Working at a level above and beyond what is expected of managers, Randy has volunteered to participate in many different committees and initiatives including the Prevention of Workplace Violence Committee, Threat Management Committee, and KP Secure Project. He took the lead in developing a new portal for threat reporting that has been adopted across the Southern California region.
His hard work and innovative ideas have made him a respected leader in the region’s security directors’ peer group where he has forged strong partnerships to implement prevention, early warning, and threat management programs.
Randy consistently leads and develops his Irvine Medical Center security team and mentors them for future success. Under his leadership, his team is routinely recognized for outstanding performance in safeguarding the people and places of Kaiser Permanente.
Jennifer Eusoof, RN
Department Manager, Medical Surgical 4 West
Ontario Medical Center
Behind every high-performing department, you’ll find a high-performing leader. On Med/Surg 4 West at the Ontario Medical Center, that leader is Jennifer Eusoof, RN.
Every patient on 4 West benefits from Jennifer’s leadership skills. She’s led her staff to outstanding performance, especially in total joint and bariatric surgery programs. She makes her team feel appreciated and that they are valued partners in the care experience.
The numbers speak to her success. One hundred percent of her staff completed the 2018 People Pulse Survey within the survey’s first seven days. Her leadership in workplace safety resulted in 500+ days without a workplace injury.
Her department’s Unit Based Team achieved the highest score on a 2019 H-CAHPS patient satisfaction survey for Nurse Communication: Explaining Things Understandably. She led her department to a 5-star award for excellence in communicating the medication bundle protocol. Her team was recognized for preventing Hospital Acquired Pressure Injuries — not a single incident in over a year.
Jennifer’s can-do attitude, passion for perfection, and engaging personality are the hallmarks of a strong leader.
Nolveris Frometa
Director, Facilities Services
West Los Angeles Medical Center
Nolveris Frometa, director, Facilities Services, is a familiar face around the West Los Angeles Medical Center. If he seems to be everywhere at once, that's because he is.
While his job is all about overseeing the many complex systems that keep the medical center up and running, Nolveris views his real job as ensuring everyone’s safety.
He begins his day by doing a health check on all critical building systems and if he finds any system ill or ailing, he’ll jump on it immediately. During a period of intense construction activity when campus operations were often disrupted, he always showed up first to solve the problem, determined not to let any glitch affect the delivery of optimal patient care.
He’s expanded his skillset by becoming credentialed in medical equipment which enables him to install and support medical devices and integrate them into building systems.
His insistence on operational excellence is contagious and has spread throughout his engineering team. His team is known for being calm, cool and exceptionally capable like their leader.
Nolveris’ outstanding leadership makes him an indispensable member of the West Los Angeles Medical Center care team.
Nicol Gerstein
Assistant Director, Public Affairs and Brand Communications
Antelope Valley Service Area
When Nicol Gerstein joined Kaiser Permanente in 2018, the Antelope Valley Service Area faced significant community health disparities. Our contract hospital had received some negative press. As Antelope Valley’s new assistant director of Public Affairs, Nicol jumped right in to help Kaiser Permanente polish its image and strengthen its ties within the community.
Nicol had a secret weapon to accomplish her goal — herself. She became a role model for community involvement. She served on the board of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and volunteered countless hours with the American Red Cross and the Children’s Center of the Antelope Valley and she mentored local Girl Scouts.
Her community leadership has given her a deep and unique understanding of the Antelope Valley Service Area’s health care needs. She’s built bridges between community leaders and Kaiser Permanente to support and drive our strategic growth imperatives. She advises the organization about opportunities for improving the Antelope Valley care experience. One idea about improving disaster preparedness measures was a proposal made shortly before two earthquakes rocked the area. Perfect timing!
Kaiser Permanente is fortunate to have Nicol on board deepening our bonds with our communities and members.
Patricia Gray, PharmD
Clinical Operations Manager, Pharmacy Administration
Riverside Medical Center/Moreno Valley
Patricia Gray, PharmD, started her long career at Kaiser Permanente working as a hospital pharmacy intern at the Fontana Medical Center. Her journey from intern to clinical operations manager, Pharmacy Administration, is a tribute to her leadership skills and dedication to improved patient care outcomes.
Patricia has provided countless educational programs within Kaiser Permanente and throughout the community, conducted evidence-based research, and authored articles. She’s very active in many professional organizations that help set policies and practices for pharmacies nationwide.
Patricia developed a strong pharmacy residency program for Riverside Medical Center where she’s an outstanding mentor and role model. She devised a recruiting strategy to ensure that they attract the best and brightest pharmacists in the state.
She’s been an unwavering champion for opioid safety for over a decade and has worked closely with physician leaders to develop guidelines to combat opioid misuse and abuse. Her pioneering work with the Drug Take Back Day program has helped prevent many adverse events for our members and the communities we serve.
Many of our initiatives to promote the safe and appropriate use of medications can be traced directly to Patricia’s leadership.
Emmanuelle Julien-Granatur, RN
Director, Nursing
South Bay Medical Center
Emmanuelle Julien-Granatur, RN, director, Nursing, has been a force in helping to lead South Bay Medical Center through an impressive transformation — from one of the region’s worst-performing medical centers to one of the best in less than three years.
She has done it by implementing protocols which significantly improved patient care and outcomes. Her efforts include initiatives which have decreased hospital acquired pressure injuries as well as catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates.
She launched the Connection Bundle and Role Play Café to train every South Bay Medical Center nurse how to make an emotional connection with our patients. As a sure sign that her efforts have been successful, South Bay Medical Center recently achieved some of the highest patient satisfaction scores in the region, including a sustained 5-star rating on the hospital’s Med-Surg/Orthopedics unit.
She has put considerable energy behind developing new leaders and has mentored all of her Unit Based Teams to a level 5 — as good as it gets. Emmanuelle deserves high praise for her contributions to Kaiser Permanente, one patient at a time.
Ray Osborne
Director, Security Services
Zion Medical Center
Ray Osborne faced a tremendous challenge when he came to Zion Medical Center in 2015 to take on the job of director, Security Services. The threat environment was escalating and constantly changing. But Ray was ready. As a former military police officer, he had a wealth of knowledge and expertise that would serve him and the organization very well.
He quickly pulled together key players throughout the San Diego Service Area to identify our vulnerabilities and strengthen our defenses. Leaders and peers alike sought him out for his expert opinion. His friendly, engaging leadership style made members and staff comfortable to come to him with their security problems, concerns, and ideas. He listens. He offers solutions.
Ray has earned universal respect for being able to walk into any situation, evaluate any threats and address them immediately. He dedicates many hours teaching others to do the same.
Ray takes great pride in serving the local community where he’s helped many young people beat the odds and thrive.
The San Diego Service Area is a safer place with Ray out in front.
Toral Patel
Manager, Accreditation, Licensure & Regulation
Anaheim Medical Center
Within two years of being promoted to manager, Accreditation, Licensure & Regulation, Toral Patel was asked to co-chair her regional peer group. Her peers, like everyone else, quickly recognized and respected her leadership skills. “Others look to Toral’s leadership during times of high stress and are comforted that she will not stop until the work is done,” said a colleague. “She pulls us all together to ensure the desired results.”
Toral led an Orange County task force pilot for two policy systems which were selected for implementation across the Kaiser Permanente program. She devised internal databases for all Orange County Service Area regulatory findings plus a system to sustain ongoing regulatory compliance that has been adopted by her peer group. She’s earned high praise from a Joint Commission (TJC) survey team leader for, in his words, “providing the most organized survey I’ve ever seen.”
Toral is frequently sought for her counsel and wisdom on a multitude of topics and can always be counted on to clearly explain regulatory issues to her fellow team members. She encourages and helps her staff climb the leadership ladder as she has, through hard work, collaboration and a passion for excellence.
Rhonda Polchak, PharmD
Senior Director, Regional Outpatient Pharmacy and Centralized Services
Region, Independence Park
Rhonda Polchak, PharmD, senior director, Regional Outpatient Pharmacy and Centralized Services, is the inspirational leader behind the region’s outstanding performance in outpatient pharmacy quality, service and affordability.
Rhonda was recruited to Kaiser Permanente from the CVS Health/Target Corporation where her pharmacies were some of the best performers in the company. Her exceptional record has continued at Kaiser Permanente.
She has used her extensive people skills and developmental strengths to create strategic partnerships, teams, and leaders and focus their combined energies on driving membership growth, expanding the business and exceeding member expectations.
Rhonda is currently widening her scope of responsibility beyond the Southern California region to help us deliver on the National Pharmacy Strategy. As part of this effort, she’s already assisted the Hawaii and Colorado regions by providing the strategic direction for their mail-order pharmacy businesses.
She’s helping Kaiser Permanente think outside the box to meet the changing landscape of health care where mergers and partnerships are the rule, not the exception. Her leadership has been crucial in positioning us to optimize pharmacy care services for the future.
Corene Reyes, RN
Director, Risk Management and Patient Safety
Zion Medical Center
For Corene Reyes, RN, it’s all about patient safety. As Director of Risk Management and Patient Safety since 2016, Corene has led the way in providing the education, inspiration, and motivation to make patient safety job one in the San Diego Service Area.
Corene has been instrumental in rolling out both TeamSTEPPS and Oracle, two innovative programs that help teams increase collaboration and communication in order to provide the highest quality, safest patient care.
She seizes every opportunity to work with teams to help them zero in on system issues that have the potential to cause patient harm, then guides teams in mitigating those issues. Always first up to praise others for a job well done, she developed the Great Catch Recognition Program to single out employees and providers who have averted patient safety incidents.
Corene’s team is universal in praising her for “always providing us with the opportunities to grow in our roles.” Widely acknowledged as a content expert and outstanding teacher, Corene generously shares her knowledge and skills during San Diego Service Area’s annual leadership development program dedicated to her passion — patient safety.
Rita Speck
Senior Director, Regional Government and Community Relations
Region, Walnut Center
You’ll rarely find Rita Speck sitting at her desk. She’s much more likely to be out and about speaking to legislators in Sacramento, filling swag bags for a community health event, or at home late at night writing a policy brief on health care reform.
As senior director, Regional Government and Community Relations, Rita does whatever it takes to support Kaiser Permanente and to help her colleagues succeed.
She is tireless in building relationships between our organization and government and community agencies. Her work has established Kaiser Permanente as a trusted partner and a positive voice in policy and community conversations.
Executive Leadership relies on her to prepare them for meetings with elected officials and major business leaders. Medical Center Public Affairs staff count on her for guidance in communicating Kaiser Permanente’s position on everything from ballot measures to labor relations.
For three decades, Rita has fiercely defended Kaiser Permanente’s interests, represented us with grace and helped others shine. She could easily have seized the spotlight for herself but has steadfastly refused to take credit. Now it’s her time to shine — she’s earned it.
Linh Thai
Finance Director, Hospital Administration
Baldwin Park Medical Center
Linh Thai, finance director, Hospital Administration, is highly regarded as a prime mover behind Baldwin Park Medical Center’s successful financial performance. Managers praise her knowledge, availability and tireless support. “I don’t know what I would do without her,” is a common refrain.
For the past few years, Linh has led her facility through the challenging transition to new financial systems and data sources. To ease the transition, she took the lead in setting up a local SharePoint site and working with her team to constantly add and update resources for managers and leaders.
She is dedicated to helping departments achieve their affordability goals, regularly reaching out to those who could use a boost in elevating their performance. She makes it a point to learn about the unique operations of every department so Finance can offer specialty-tailored insight and advice.
Linh is a role model when it comes to achieving a successful work/life balance. In her life away from work, she’s a STEM facilitator and volunteers on behalf of Heal the Bay, Habitat for Humanity and various programs to feed the hungry.
Congratulations Linh for your leadership in driving current performance and setting the stage for long-term success.
Maria Torres
Director of Operations, Member Services
Panorama City Medical Center
Maria Torres joined KP just a year ago and jumped in with both feet in her new position as Director of Member Services for the Antelope Valley Service Area. During her short period time, she was also appointed as Interim Director of Member Services for the Panorama City Service Area and has been committed to supporting both areas with diverse patient needs, cultures and stakeholders --- in addition to being geographically distanced over 60 miles apart.
Her willingness to dive right in and rise to the occasion during a time of need has been unparalleled with her positive attitude and bright spirit. In her short tenure covering both areas, she was able to successfully increase staff morale, provide leadership and vision to position to the Panorama City Member Services team as strategic consultants and a credible resource to the leadership team.
Maria is highly regarded by her peers, business partners, teams and others as a super positive and patient centric person who strives to do the right thing to ensure patient care and experience is provided at every touch point. A highlight unique to Maria is that she takes the extra effort to get out from behind the desk and round with the case managers at our contract facility, Antelope Valley Hospital. That is special.
Michael Tutko
Director, Security and Emergency Management
Woodland Hills Medical Center
Michael Tutko, director, Security and Emergency Management at Woodland Hills Medical Center, goes far beyond the call of duty to keep us safe.
Mike has worked tirelessly to bring new security and emergency management technology, training, tools and resources to the Woodland Hills service area. He has strengthened his team by encouraging them to become AVADE Certified Workplace Violence Instructors and participate in FBI Advanced Situational Awareness Training.
But Mike goes above and beyond preparing his own team to handle potentially dangerous situations, he also focuses on prepping everyone. To that end, he has been instrumental in launching training programs to teach employees how to protect themselves and others. He has provided the staff at his outlying medical offices with threat management and active shooter training.
He has aligned the Woodland Hills service area with numerous agencies to enhance our response to events such as the Woolsey Fire and the Borderline Bar and Grill mass shooting tragedy which occurred near the Thousand Oaks Medical Offices.
Mike’s leadership has greatly enhanced KP’s ability to react swiftly and aggressively to anything that threatens our safety and security.
Alexandra Wiggins, DNP, RN
Director, Nursing
Los Angeles Medical Center
Alexandra Wiggins, DNP, RN, director, Nursing, at Los Angeles Medical Center has made a definite difference in the patient care experience in what seems like record time.
Within a year of joining Kaiser Permanente, she led her six areas of responsibility to new heights of performance, both in staff engagement and patient care outcomes. Her strong nursing background and focus on mentorship fueled the development of six new outstanding nursing department administrators.
Even under the pressure of her new position, Alexandra designed a nurse manager leadership program for the Los Angeles Medical Center that was so successful it’s being offered to all Kaiser Permanente nursing leaders in California.
She has taken on additional leadership responsibilities as co-lead of the Readmission Reduction Steering Committee and Director of Care Experience where she helped develop the “Kindness Is Contagious” campaign. In that role, she developed the lecture content and six simulation exercises, all designed to improve patient satisfaction. More than 1400 clinicians have now participated in the program.
Outside of work, Alexandra volunteers to help at-risk youth develop leadership skills and stay in school. On the job and in the community, she is the epitome of a skilled, dedicated nurse leader.
