Our Team

BrightWorks Advisors and Consultants passionate about serving our clients.

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Ken Hawkins, MS, CPA Managing Partner

Mr. Hawkins is a M&A executive with more than 20 years experience in driving market expansion strategies, closing transactions and reporting, financial analysis and transaction integration.

Prior to establishing KDH Consulting, which includes one of the largest healthcare/hospital companies in the U.S. as a client, he served as Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Development at Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH). In this capacity completed more than 200 hospital, physician and other ancillary services transactions and helped to grow revenues from $700 million to over $19 billion. Also, served as CFO of public healthcare companies and has more than 45 years of healthcare and financial experience.

Mr. Hawkins also served as Partner with Core Clinical LLC and former Partner/Board Chair of HBR Holdings, Inc., Senior Consultant to Point Clear Solutions and Senior Advisor to Farlie Turner Gilbert & Co.

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Howard J. Peterson MHA Managing Partner

Mr. Peterson brings more than 35 years of experience and foresight to each BrightWorks client engagement. He has spent his entire career developing progressive strategic, financial, and operational solutions for a broad range of healthcare and higher education clients. His consulting expertise spans all four of BrightWorks core service lines, including large scale financial improvement projects, organization and leadership optimization, business portfolio and marketing positioning, and partnership and strategic transactions. Within each of these four areas, he has worked extensively with community hospitals, academic medical centers, ambulatory care providers, and physician group practices.

In addition to BrightWorks, Mr. Peterson established and operated TRG Healthcare for 25 years, acquired and operated dBi Laboratories, a clinical lab in Harrisburg, PA, and founded and managed the Strategic Regional Healthcare Organization (SRHO), a national association of more than 400 hospitals in 22 States.

Mr. Peterson also served as President of Founders Healthcare, Inc., a for-profit physician organization affiliated with the Graduate Health System in Pennsylvania. He also served for 15 years as a hospital executive, including seven years at Penn State’s Hershey Medical Center as Chief Executive Officer, and eight years at the University of Michigan Medical Center, where he served in various capacities including Associate Director of Operations. Mr. Peterson’s educational background includes a Masters Degree in Hospital and Healthcare Administration and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business, Public Health and Sociology, both from the University of Minnesota.

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Paula Keller Managing Partner

Paula is a proven innovator and pathfinder in healthcare support services, achieving breakthrough gains in financial and quality outcomes. Paula has proven success guiding support service organizations through financial and operational challenges. 

Ms. Keller, Managing Partner, brings over 25 years of industry experience in support service operations and management to the BrightWorks team. Focusing on improving both financial and operational performance in healthcare, Paula has held a variety of executive  roles  in and responsible for  FNS, EVS, plant operations, engineering, volunteers, guest services, and patient transportation. She has years of proven success leading support service organizations through financial and operational challenges and is skilled in project planning, management, team leading, and facilitation.

Paula uses a fresh approach to systematically deliver an engaged employee approach in order to achieve substantial improvements to employee and patient experiences while ensuring that an organization sustains performance gains. She is best known for her passion for people, the pursuit of excellence, and for inspiring others to exceed their own expectations. Paula has helped many clients achieve breakthrough gains in cost, employee satisfaction, and patient experience.

Paula hails from the University of Illinois, with a Bachelor of Science.

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Don Stookey Managing Partner

Don’s industry experience in healthcare support service leadership and operations provides leading edge insight and innovation into today’s healthcare challenges.  Don’s solution-oriented leadership has led many complex initiatives, driving out cost while improving operational performance.

Mr. Stookey, Managing Partner, joins BrightWorks with over 30 years of industry experience in support service operations and management. Mr. Stookey focuses on improving both financial and operational performance in healthcare. He has spent over 23 years managing large hospital systems in support services operations. Don has also spent eight years  in business development, with extensive experience in RFP development, contract development, and negotiations. Don began his career as a housekeeping manager in Oklahoma City and progressed to leading a large regional territory covering Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. His scope of operational responsibilities included overseeing and leading teams for housekeeping, FNS, plant operations and maintenance, grounds, transportation, laundry and linen services, and distribution. Don’s priority is to create an excellent patient experience and a customer service culture that supports a service excellence mindset. His management skills are exceptional, creating and supporting value imperative strategies throughout the support service departments.

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Gary Goettl RDN, MPH Managing Partner

With over 30 years of support services experience, Gary is an established voice in health care support services. His background in strategic planning, operation analytics and change management compel industry leading outcomes.

Mr. Goettl, Managing Partner, has over 25 years of industry experience in Support Service operations and management.  Mr. Goettl has focused on improving both financial and operational performance in health care.  As a consultant, he has led over 75 support service initiatives to improve the patient experience, coworker engagement, all while lowering costs, improving productivity and quality.  Gary combines his practical experiences with a background in strategic planning, operational analytics, and change management to improve financial performance while producing meaningful and sustainable quality.  A comprehensive portfolio built around Support Service experience, with a focus on the patient dining experience, retail design and brand management, all driving patient and guest satisfaction to best in class, rounds out Gary’s professional accomplishments.

Gary graduated from the University of Wisconsin, with a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics. He then went on to earn his Masters of Public Health, Nutrition & Health Education from Loma Linda University,

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Hal Clark, MBA Senior Partner

Mr. Clark is a seasoned healthcare financial executive with over 30 years of experience in operational performance, reimbursement, policy, strategic transactions in non-profit and for-profit hospitals, physician practices and rehabilitation facilities.

Most recently, Mr. Clark served as the Vice President of Economics and Policy for the Kentucky Hospital Association (KHA). Prior to joining KHA, Mr. Clark served in various roles in healthcare financial operations and third-party reimbursement for hospitals, nursing facilities and physician practices. In addition, Mr. Clark has assisted with transactions on both the Buyer and Seller side of the table totaling over $1B. His work in healthcare has included numerous stints at both for-profit and not-for-profit entities.

Alongside his achievements as a financial executive in healthcare, Mr. Clark founded three Louisville-based companies. These companies assisted hospitals and long-term care providers in the areas of third-party reimbursement, bankruptcy reorganization, bond refinancing, Interim CFO leadership, merger and acquisition support, managed care negotiations as well as revenue cycle and operational management. Mr. Clark's career includes senior financial management positions with Merit Health Systems, Kindred Healthcare, HCA and Humana.

Mr. Clark holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from Jacksonville State University and a Masters of Business Administration from Baker University.

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Stephanie Dorwart, MHA Senior Partner

Ms. Dorwart focuses her consulting practice on workforce optimization, productivity, leadership development and performance improvement. Her transformational approach drives organizations to dramatically elevate their financial, operational and clinical performance outcomes.

Having worked with hospitals ranging in size from 25 to 900 beds, Stephanie has the ability to realize each organization’s unique potential and capitalize on it. Her problem-solving focus helps leaders address the tough problems and arrive at practical solutions within complex organizations. She led a 600 bed hospital system in the Mid-West to a $11M personnel expense reduction without a layoff, and she helped a 500 bed hospital in the Northwest manage their growth by putting in place mechanisms that controlled the addition of new positions.

Most recently, Ms. Dorwart constructed and built content for a Virtual Training Academy designed to train healthcare leaders to become the CEO and CFO of their department and cost center. The VTA currently offers certifications in Performance Improvement, Leadership Development and Resource Optimization with Finance Basics and Strategic Planning planned for 2023.

Ms. Dorwart graduated magna cum laude from Duquesne University with a BS in Mathematics and Education and received her MHA from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health.

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Richard V. Homan, MD, FAAFP, FCPP Senior Partner

Dr. Homan has served as University President, Dean, Academic Physician Leader, and Physician executive. Most recently, he served as President, Provost and Dean of the School of Medicine of the Eastern Virginia University.

While serving as President of the School of Medicine, he developed 18 new graduate programs and 8 GME residency/fellowship programs. He generated $200M to establish three academic and research institutes, achieved two full 8-year LCME accreditations and increased the University cash reserve from $2.7 to over $55M.

Previously, he served as President, Senior Vice President, Annenberg Dean and CEO of Drexel University College of Medicine, Vice President for Clinical Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Texas Tech University Health.

Dr. Homan received his MD degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He served as Chief Resident at the Dept of Family and Community Medicine at the MS Hershey Medical Center. He served as Commander of the US Public Health Service and in the Reserves for 11 years.

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Allen S. Lichter, MD Senior Partner

Dr. Lichter served as Chief Executive Officer of the of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) from 2006-2016. Prior to ASCO He was Dean of University of Michigan and Chair and Professor of Radiation Oncology.

Prior to joining BrightWorks he was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), a medical professional organization representing over 40,000 physicians and health professionals in oncology. He served from 2006-2016.

Dr. Lichter served in two significant leadership roles at the University of Michigan. He served as Chair and Professor of Radiation Oncology from 1984-1996 and as Dean of the Medical School from 1998 – 2006. Previously, Dr. Lichter was the Director of the Radiation Therapy Section of the NCI’s Radiation Oncology Branch.

Dr. Lichter earned a bachelor’s degree (1968) and medical degree (1972) from the University of Michigan. He trained in radiation oncology at University of California, San Francisco, before joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins University, and later the National Cancer Institute.

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Peter Vincer Senior Partner

Peter C. Vincer, Jr. is a troubleshooter, strategist and change “catalyst” that is able to assess an organization’senvironment, processes and culture, and develop strategies and communications necessary for driving accountabilityand financial improvements.

Possessing an entrepreneurial mentality and a distinguished career in the equipment service management industry, Mr. Vincer’s successes are founded on a passion for affecting positive change without unnecessary collateral damage. Blending his technical knowledge, industry relationships, strategic planning, client advocacy, and powerful personality to lead a team or project to achieve specified goals.

Mr. Vincer’s knowledge of the workings within the equipment maintenance industry, and his uncanny ability to establish compromises, allows him to negotiate “win-win” outcomes between suppliers and his clients. Switching from representing various companies and equipment solutions, to representing the clients has been more than gratifying.

As US hospitals struggle to deal with economic uncertainty, Mr. Vincer is poised to position organizations for sustained economic improvement. His talents and expertise will assist organizations in improvingrelationships with suppliers who have had tendencies for inflexibility. His current equipment service consulting model impacts “all” types and brands of equipment.

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Terry Carroll, Ph.D. Partner

Terry brings over 35 years of experience in the evolution and transformation of complex healthcare organizations. He has particular expertise and interest in the use of digital disruption to drive performance. Terry has spent the majority of his career helping complex organizations to develop and leverage information and digital platforms to better serve patients and consumers, as well as to serve healthcare providers in the delivery of health services in a very rapidly evolving and dynamic healthcare marketplace.

Terry’s current focus is on merging the opportunities of digital disruption with organizational design to form socio-technical systems that will drive healthcare performance in the emerging digital era.

Prior to joining BrightWorks, Terry served as the chief innovation officer of Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the senior vice president for transformation and CIO of Fairview Health Services, a principal with Maverick Healthcare Consulting, a principal with the ImPart Group, the COO of Premier Sourcing Partners (a former division of Premier Inc.), CIO of the Detroit Medical Center and the CIO of Baystate Health System. Earlier in his career he served in multiple leadership roles at Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA.

A native of New England, Terry graduated from St Michael’s College in Winooski, VT. with a bachelor’s degree in physics. He then went on to earn his master’s and doctorate degrees in biomedical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. He currently resides with his wife on Cape Cod.

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Joseph M. Huber, CPA Partner

Mr. Huber has more than 35 years of experience in healthcare financial management and accounting. He brings significant technical financial knowledge to his clients in addition to possessing a senior level perspective on financial planning and strategy in healthcare organizations.

Mr. Huber has significant experience with large teaching hospitals and academic medical centers.

Most recently, Mr. Huber served as Chief Financial Officer of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, Mr. Huber served as Chief Financial Officer of the Graduate Health System, Senior Financial Officer for Mediq Consulting, Co-Founder and Principal for Delaney Associates/Huber & Tierney CPAs, and in healthcare consulting department for Ernst & Young.
Mr. Huber is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

His educational background includes a Master of Science degree in taxation from Widener University and a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from LaSalle University.

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Correna Lukas Principal

Correna Lukas is an award-winning sales and business development executive, who has spent her career helping the healthcare and senior living industries achieve greater efficiency optimization and quality within their operational service lines.

Working in different development and retention roles throughout her career with companies like Aramark, Compass Group, and Au Bon Pain, Correna attributes her repeated success to her ability to provide customized solutions and cultivating long-term relationships with those she meets.

Correna is passionate about helping clients solve their challenges while identifying opportunities for improved efficiencies and lower costs. A proud and active member of ACHE for more than ten years, Correna enjoys staying informed about everything relevant within the healthcare industry.

 

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Wayne Mercer, Ph.D. Principal

Dr. Mercer is a board-certified laboratory director with over 35 years of experience in laboratory strategic planning, operational improvement, outreach program development, and management. He has performed a broad range of studies for hospital laboratory clients in the areas of operational review and optimization, space planning and facility design, consolidation, and interim management.

Prior to joining BrightWorks, Dr. Mercer was Senior Consultant with the Chi Solutions Laboratory, President of Medical Laboratory Consultants, Inc., in Alpharetta, Georgia.
He has also acted as project director for the design of over 25 laboratories in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East.

Dr. Mercer received his PhD in Medical Sciences (Pathology) from the University of Florida in Gainesville and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas Health Science Center (Oncology) and the University of Florida (Pathology). He is certified under CLIA ’88 as a Laboratory Director and by the American Board of Bio-analysts as a Bio-analyst Clinical Laboratory Director. Additionally, he is certified in Lean Healthcare applications.

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Paul Musgrave, MBA Principal

Mr. Musgrave has over 30 years of experience in the design, development, and management of hospital, higher education, and manufacturing operations.  His areas of expertise include hospital operations management, strategic planning, strategic sourcing, hospital wide process re-engineering and multi-hospital process integration.

Mr. Musgrave specializes in the rapid analysis of a company’s operations with a focus on the delivery of substantial cost savings through implementing aggressive but realistic performance improvement action plans.  Mr. Musgrave is a Six Sigma Green Belt and has successfully managed multiple performance improvement initiatives using Six Sigma and Lean methodologies.

Previously, Mr. Musgrave served as Chief Operating Officer of Lovelace Women’s Hospital, Performance Improvement Leader for Tenet Healthcare, Vice President for Children’s Medical Center (Dallas). He served in interim roles at Cellnetix Anatomic Laboratories, Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital, Howard University, and Hurley Medical Center. Mr. Musgrave also served as a Senior Consulting at Deloitte Consulting at Voluntary Hospitals of America and Baxter Healthcare. 

He has a Masters and Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Indiana State University.

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