Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - Governing in an Era of Uncertainty

Steven J. Summer, President and CEO, Colorado Hospital Association, Greenwood Village, CO

Steven J. Summer Steven J. Summer was appointed President and CEO of the Colorado Hospital Association in 2006. At CHA, he works to represent the unified voice of Colorado's 85 hospitals and 7 health systems, addressing issues such as healthcare reform, access and coverage for all Coloradans, fair and equitable payment, and making hospitals as safe as possible for the patients they serve.

Thursday, June 10, 2010 - Why Hospitals Should Fly: The Ultimate Flight Plan to Patient Safety

John J. Nance, JD, John Nance Productions/Author, Seattle, WA

John Nance is a native Texan who grew up in Dallas. He holds a bachelor's degree from SMU and a Juris Doctorate from SMU School of Law, and is a licensed attorney. Named Distinguished Alumni of SMU in 2002, he is also a decorated United States Air Force pilot veteran of Vietnam Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield and a Lt. Colonel in the USAF Reserve. He is an internationally recognized air safety analyst and advocate, best known to North American television audiences as aviation analyst for ABC World News and aviation editor for Good Morning America. He is also the nationally-known author of 19 major books, 5 non-fiction plus 13 fiction best sellers. He is a pioneering and well-known advocate of using the lessons from the recent revolution in aviation safety to equally revolutionize the patient safety performance of hospitals, doctors, nurses and all of health care. Mr. Nance is a founding board member and is on the Executive Committee of the National Patient Safety Foundation.

Thursday, June 10, 2010 - Preparing for the Worst, Leading With the Best: The Board's Role in Disaster Readiness

Larry Walker, President, The Walker Company Healthcare Consulting, LLC, Lake Oswego, OR

The Walker Company specializes in governance development, leadership retreats and organizational research for hospitals and health systems. Mr. Walker has been a long-time governance leader, both as a consultant and a trustee. He is also a special consultant to the AHA. He served for six years as chairman of the board of trustees of Gresham, Oregon's Mount Hood Medical Center. He has presented governance education to thousands of trustees nationwide.

Friday, June 11, 2010 - Getting Outside of the Box: Unconventional Thinking for Board Members

William J. Ward, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD

William J. Ward is the director of the Master of Health Administration Program at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and faculty director of the Sommer Scholars Leadership Program. He is a former senior health care executive with more than 20 years of experience in health care finance and operations. Mr. Ward is the author of two textbooks and numerous articles, and has lectured widely on a variety of health care financial and operational subjects.

Friday, June 11, 2010 - AHA Federal Update

Rick Pollack, Executive Vice President, American Hospital Association, Washington, D.C.

Rick Pollack's professional career began in Washington, D.C. in 1976 when he served as a legislative assistant to Congressman David Obey of Wisconsin. He left Capitol Hill to become a lobbyist and enter the health care field when he signed on with the American Nurses Association to become their legislative representative in the early 1980s. He went on to join the AHA's Washington office, where he has been a member of the AHA's advocacy team for the past 28 years. Since 1991, Mr. Pollack has served as executive vice president. In this capacity, he is responsible for the development, implementation and management of the AHA's advocacy representation and public affairs activities, which were recently cited by Fortune magazine as one of the top 25 most influential and effective lobbying organizations in Washington.