By Susan Kaiser, PWH Contributor and Media + Communications Manager, Midmark Corporation
Empowering women to lead and succeed in the healthcare industry, Professional Women in Healthcare® (PWH®) recently held its fifth annual PWH® Leadership Summit in San Antonio, Texas, May 1–3, 2023. The Summit was an invaluable opportunity for industry leaders to gain knowledge and insight into maximizing their career growth and development.
This year’s Summit featured dynamic sessions designed to empower, inspire and propel career development. Over 250 attendees were provided with opportunities to build their personal brand, develop meaningful relationships within the industry and gain critical skills for leading into the future. Attendees enjoyed networking events, mentoring opportunities, and workshop activities and heard from keynote speakers and prominent industry leaders to apply their learnings in their careers and personal life.
Allison Therwhanger, PWH® Chair and Vice President of Corporate Accounts for Innovia Medical, stated, “I continue to be inspired by our members for their commitment to our industry and their empowerment journey. Together, we are fostering an environment that encourages growth and drives a more diverse and inclusive healthcare industry equally led by women.” Allison added, “On behalf of the PWH® Board, I would like to express our gratitude to our attendees, our Summit Sponsors, PWH Corporate Partners, dynamic speakers and dedicated member volunteers for making this year’s event so impactful. I’d especially like to thank the PWH® Summit Committee, led by April Shomper, who also serves as Vizient’s Event Director.”
Awards and events
During the Summit, two prestigious annual awards were presented. The first was the Jana Quinn Inspiration Award, given to Natasha Jackson, Director of Education & Training at Enclara, for leadership and inspiration within her company and the industry. Natasha is a role model to her family and a mentor to many, a true servant leader. The Anne Eiting Klamar Leadership Award of Distinction was presented to Julee Prefer, President of Healthcare Solutions. Julee serves as a mentor to many in the PWH organization. She is one of the original PWH founding members, past chair and led the charge for the first Leadership Summit. She continues to be a leader within the organization as an advisor to the board and through her advisory position to the Leadership Summit committee.
Vizient sponsored the opening keynote speaker, Judi Holler, a podcaster, best-selling author and entrepreneur, who energized the audience with an interactive session, “Think Like a CEO and Take More Confident Action,” featuring improvisation techniques, allowing participants to think on their feet and make confident decisions. Judi taught us to shut down self-doubt, step out of our comfort zones, and acknowledge and celebrate fear by changing the rules to celebrate our courage to live more balanced and successful lives.
The Leadership Insights series continued this year with keynotes from various industry leaders. Sponsored by Midmark, attendees were energized by thought-provoking presentations, gaining valuable leadership and professional development insights. A few takeaways from the session include:
- Sanchia Patrick, Vice President of Strategic Marketing, Henry Schein, The Link Between Personal Brand & Purpose, “The power of brand is connected to purpose. Identify your purpose. Refine it. Draw close to it.”
- Rob Saron, President and Director/SVP Global Distribution, Bovie Medical, Leading Through Change, “Take care of yourself. Focus on what matters. Do, schedule, delegate, eliminate.”
- Laura Reline, Vice President, Supplier Management, NDC, Inc., Powerful Partnerships, “Take time to nurture relationships; make authentic connections.” Also, “If you don’t have passion for what you do, find something new.”
- Stephen Downey, Chief Supply Chain Patient Support Services Officer, Cleveland Clinic, Workplace Joy & Motivation, “You control your conference room table. Control your joy and your strength.”
- Monica Davy, SVP, Chief Culture, Diversity & Impact Officer, Vizient, The Power of Authenticity, “Culture is how you feel on Sunday night going into Monday morning.” During a fun “snowball” activity, attendees identified something they hide at work – lack of confidence, anxiety, challenging relationships and health, to name a few. Attendees learned the power of showing up to work as their authentic selves.
Education
Education is an essential part of learning and development at the Summit. It helps keep knowledge current, ensures that professionals remain competitive in their field and allows for acquiring new skills. Several leadership workshops were held, including one hosted by Joe Machicote, Chief Diversity Officer for Premier, who gave a powerful presentation on creating an environment to sustain Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEI&B), educating the audience on understanding personal bias, leading by example, having respect and trust and influencing others. Sue Hulsmeyer, Vice President of Human Resources and Corporate Communications for Midmark and Natalie Martin, Director Creative Services for NDC, Inc., hosted a workshop on personal brand and professional presence, providing education on self-awareness exercises and defining/refining your personal impact.
Other valuable sessions by industry leaders included profit and loss management, staying connected in a digital world, speed mentoring, conflict management strategies and the value of coaching. These breakouts allowed attendees to engage and interact with facilitators and other attendees to gain knowledge they can implement when they return to work.
Tuesday’s sessions ended with a Fireside Chat, “The Curious Will Climb to the Top,” sponsored by GOJO Industries and moderated by Patty Olsen, Chief People Officer for Vizient. During the conversation, Stephanie Hertzog, CEO North America Energy and Resource for Sodexo, and Billy Abrams, President of Distributed Products for Medline, shared contrasting insights from inside and outside the industry, speaking about embracing what you don’t know and anchoring yourself in flexibility, rather than the status quo. They shared insights on creating career paths, mentors, investing in the workforce and the importance of being a good listener.
Tuesday evening provided attendees an opportunity to enjoy networking under the stars on the Sky Terrace at The St. Anthony Hotel, sponsored by NDC, Inc. The rooftop energy was electric as leaders connected and discussed professional and personal insights they had gained.
On the final day, Scott Adams, Publisher of Repertoire Magazine, moderated a great, interactive discussion sponsored by B. Braun, featuring a healthcare leadership panel to discuss leading through ever-changing times. The panel included Janis Dezso, Vice President, US Non-Acute Sales for Aspen Surgical; Anne Eiting Klamar, M.D., Chair of the Board for Midmark; Joan Eliasek, President, McKesson Canada and Cindy Juhas, Chief Strategy Officer for CME. These industry icons – and recently inducted members of the Medical Distribution Hall of Fame – brought humility, friendship and humor as they discussed bringing their organizations forward and motivating employees despite future uncertainties. The audience appreciated their wisdom, authentic advice, encouragement and sharing of valuable lessons learned.
The Summit concluded with a closing keynote by Sara Canaday, who used a dynamic combination of insights, examples and research based on her book, Leadership Unchained to challenge attendees to look at things differently and stressed the importance of being accountable for your goals.
“We are already looking forward to next year’s Summit to include even more networking, hands-on education and inspiration in Louisville, Kentucky,” said April Shomper, Chair of the PWH® Summit Committee. “We are grateful for the support of the attendees and look forward to hosting another Summit that has proven to be so valuable to the growth of our industry leaders.”
Save the Dates: April 29 – May 1, 2024, Louisville Marriott Downtown. Registration opens this fall.
