Our Committees
We’ve established seven working committees (and a Steering Committee) to represent the various stakeholders in and around nursing home life.
We’re also building a network of passionate advocates, subject matter experts, residents, and family members. We’re working to build a community that can collaborate to develop, test and promote solutions along with our core committees.
Committee Work: A Four-Phased Approach

Committee work spans four phases – from identifying priority initiatives to testing action plans in partnership with Nursing Home providers and/or policymakers over the next two years.
Co-Chairs & Members
Our committees represent diverse stakeholders in nursing home life, work, and policy. In fact, each committee includes nursing home residents and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), operators, administrators, policymakers, advocates, researchers and other subject matter experts. We spoke with over 250 individuals from more than 50 organizations nationwide to build a Coalition of a variety of perspectives, backgrounds, and areas of expertise.
Each committee is led by co-chairs, selected with input from national leaders in aging. Expand the committee tabs below to learn more.
Our Steering Committee – which includes many of the experts, practitioners and advocates who helped write the NASEM report – will bring context, continuity, and leadership to the Coalition’s work. The Steering Committee will help guide the direction of the Coalition, consult with its members on challenges and best practices, and assist in the promotion of its vision and action plans.
Most important, the Steering Committee will develop a sense of shared purpose across the Coalition and ensure that the work of the seven committees is unified and mutually reinforcing. Along with one co-chair from each committee, the steering committee will also include nine members-at large:

Barbara Bowers
Chair, Advancing Excellence in Long Term Care Collaborative

Holly Harmon
Sr. Vice President, Quality, Regulatory & Clinical Services, American Health Care Association

Christopher Laxton
Independent Consultant, Aging Services

Anne Montgomery
Principal, AHM Enterprises

Tina Sandri
CEO, Forest Hills of DC

Deke Cateau
CEO, A.G. Rhodes

Ruth Katz
Senior Vice President of Public Policy/Advocacy, LeadingAge

Lori Porter
Cofounder & CEO, NAHCACNA

Lori Smetanka
Executive Director, National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care

Jeanette Sullivan-Martinez
President Emeritus, Connecticut Coalition of Resident Council Presidents

Milta Oyola Little
AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine

Margaret Barajas
Pennsylvania Ombudsman for Long-Term Care

Committee Co-Chairs

Susan Ryan
Senior Director, The Green House Project

Penny Cook
Former President & CEO, The Pioneer Network

Tetyana Shippee
Associate Professor, University of Minnesota School of Public Health
Committee Members
Christina Ramsey
Gerontological Nurse Practitioner, GAPNA
Owner/Operator, CE Ramsey Resources, LLC
Laci J. Cornelison
PEAK 2.0 Coordinator, Kansas State University Center on Aging
Tonya Roberts
Associate Professor and Karen Frick Pridham Professor in Family-Centered Care, University of Wisconsin – Madison, School of Nursing
Peter J. Illig
CEO, National Certification Council for Activity Professionals
Barry Barkan
Co-Founder, Live Oak Project
Charelle Barber
Human Resources Executive Assistant, AG Rhodes
Anna Fisher
Director-Education & Quality, Hillcrest Health Services
Julie Britton
Senior Clinical Officer, Genesis HealthCare
Charles P. Sabatino
Aging and Law Consultant
Jennie Chin Hansen
Independent Consultant, former CEO, American Geriatrics Society
Megan Hakanson
Student, University of Minnesota
Sacasha Brown
Senior Director of Health Services, East Ridge Retirement Village Inc
Mary Lou Ciolfi
Senior Program Manager, University of Maine Center on Aging
Nancy Kusmaul
Associate Professor, University of Maryland Baltimore County School of Social Work
Liza Behrens
Assistant Professor, Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing, Penn State University
Rachel Broudy
Lead Faculty Eldercare, Ariadne Labs
Jamie Sanford
Administrator, Aldersbridge Communities
Kealohaku’ualohaku’upoki’i “Poki’i” Balaz
Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services Health Center, DNP Geriatric and Memory Clinic; Board Member, Alzheimer’s Association
Caroline Madrigal
Nurse Scientist, VA Boston Healthcare System Geriatrics & Extended Care
Addie M. Abushousheh
Organizational & Environmental Gerontologist, Research Associate, The Center for Health Design
Paige Yontz
State Advocacy Manager, AARP Iowa
Acacia Herndon
Nurse, Medstar Southern Maryland Hospital
Michael K. Lin
Senior Scientist, Telligen
Alisa Tagg
Association Director, The National Association for Activity Professionals (NAAP)

Committee Co-Chairs

Jasmine Travers
Assistant Professor, New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing

Kezia Scales
Senior Director of Policy Research, PHI
Committee Members
Marissa Bergh
Graduate Student, NYU Meyers College of Nursing
Joan Weiss
Deputy Director, Division of Medicine and Dentistry, Health Resources and Services Administration
Nicole Howell
Health and Aging Policy Fellows
Dennis Short
Senior Policy Analyst, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
Sam Brooks
Director, Public Policy, The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care
Corinne Eldridge
President & CEO, Center for Caregiver Advancement
Elizabeth White
Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy, and Practice, Brown University School of Public Health
Susan Mullaney
Vice President, Center for Clinician Advancement, United Health Group
Margarite Grootjes
Nursing Home Resident, Ohio
Faith Wiggins
Director – Long Term Care, Community Based Organizations and Pharmacy Sectors, 1199SEIU Training and Employment Funds
Jennifer L. Smeltzer
Nursing Home Administrator, Marquis Mill Park
Hannah Maxey
Associate Professor and Director, Indiana University Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy
Deanna Duffey
Director of Nursing Assistants, Redstone Highlands
Michelle Dionne-Vahalik
Associate Commissioner for Long Term Care Regulation, Texas Health and Human Services
Dana Ritchie
Associate Vice President of Constituency Services & Workforce, American Health Care Association

Committee Co-Chairs

Joe Angelelli
Senior Advisor, UPMC Center for Social Impact, UPMC Health Plan

Nicholas Castle
Professor, West Virginia University
Committee Members
Lizett Leandro
Director of Clinical Services & Quality, Episcopal Communities and Services Member, National Association of Hispanic Nurses
Claudia Balog
Lead Researcher, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Maryland/DC
Michael Wasserman
Chair, Public Policy Committee,
California Association of Long Term Care Medicine
James McGregor
Director of Research, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
Martin D. Allen
Vice President, Reimbursement,
ProMedica Senior Care
Eric Carlson
Director, Long-Term Services and Supports Advocacy, Justice in Aging
Jeff Jerebker
Co-Founder, Live Oak Project
BOD Member, Kallimos Communities
BOD Member, Hover Senior Living (CCRC)
Mary Kaschak
CEO, Long-Term Quality Alliance & National MLTSS Health Plan Association
Cheryl Phillips
Senior Program Consultant, The John A. Hartford Foundation
Stephen J. Shields
CEO, Action Pact Holdings
David G. Wolf
Professor & Program Coordinator, Healthcare Management, Lynn
University – College of Business & Management
Nancy D. Zionts
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Program Officer, Jewish Healthcare Foundation
Mark Aaron Unruh
Associate Professor, Division of Health Policy and Economics, Weill Cornell Medical College
Betsy Rust
EVR Advisory; Retired Partner, Plante Moran, PLLC
Charlie Galligan
Private Investigator & Caregiver, Essential Caregiver Movement

Committee Co-Chairs

David Grabowski
Professor of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School

Marc Cohen
Co-Director, LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston Research Director,
Community Catalyst
Committee Members
R. Tamara Konetzka
Louis Block Professor, The University of Chicago, Department of Public Health Sciences | Department of Medicine
Suzanne E. Messenger
WV State Long-term Care Ombudsman, NASOP
Diane Carter
Founder and Previous CEO, American Association of Post-Acute Care Nursing
Joanne Lynn
Health and Aging Policy Fellow Clinical Professor of Geriatrics and Palliative Care, The George Washington University
Nora Super
CEO, NS Ideas, LLC
Paul Saucier
Director, Office of Aging and Disability Services, Maine DHHS
Ramona Souza
Resident, Linn Health & Rehabilitation
Mary K. Ousley
Chief Strategy Officer, PruittHealth
Richard Gamache
CEO, Aldersbridge Communities
Rachel M. Werner
Professor of Medicine and Executive Director, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania
Sheena Bumpas
CNA, Vice-Chair, NAHCA Board of Directors
Dave Sneddon
Licensed Nursing Home Administrator

Committee Co-Chairs

David Stevenson
Professor, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Douglas Pace
Senior Director, Long-Term & Community-Based Care, Alzheimer’s Association
Committee Members
Edward Mortimore
Consultant, formerly with CMS
Joanne Rader
Co-founder, Pioneer Network Member, Live Oak Project
Marilyn Rantz
Curators’ Professor Emerita, MU Sinclair School of Nursing
April Diaz
Vice President, Clinical Services, Marquis Companies
Rowena Sheppard
CNA, Member, NAHCA
Kathy Bradley
Founder and CEO, Our Mother’s Voice
Beverley Laubert
National Ombudsman Program Coordinator, Administration for Community Living (ACL)
Jane C. Pederson
Chief Medical Quality Officer, Stratis Health
Sharon Wilson
Chief Clinical and Compliance Officer, Cassia
Merle Houston
Nursing Home Resident, A.G. Rhodes Cobb
Heidi W. Steinecker
Global Healthcare Epidemiology DrPH Candidate, Medical College of Wisconsin & Associate Director of Public Health Government Consulting, EY
Alex Federman
Professor of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
C. Lynn Ruppersberger-Swisher
Senior Health Care Consultant, Saxton & Stump
Shannon Gadd
Senior Director, Collaborative Safety, LLC
Hawley Hunt, MBA, MHA
LNHA Director, Regulatory and Quality Services, American Health Care Association

Committee Co-Chairs

Tara McMullen
Adjunct Faculty, Georgetown University Master’s of Aging and Science Program

Anna Fisher
Doctorate in Health Administration,
Certified Dementia Care Practitioner,
QAPI Certified Professional
Committee Members
Ione Ashworth
Resident, Cedarburg Health Services
Joseph E. Gaugler
Robert L. Kane Endowed Chair in Long-Term Care & Aging, Professor, University of Minnesota, School of Public Health
Ann M. Kolanowski
Professor Emerita, Penn State, Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing
Kim Bergen-Jackson
Administrator, Oaknoll Retirement Residence; Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Iowa, College of Nursing and School of Social Work
Mairead Painter
Connecticut State Long-Term Care Ombudsman First Vice President, NASOP
Adrianna Nava
President, National Association of Hispanic Nurses
Jordi Luke (they & he)
CEO, Haus of Transcendent
Greg Arling
Professor, Purdue University, School of Nursing
Amelia Smith
Graduate, Masters in Aging and Health, Georgetown University
Christine Mueller (she/her)
Professor, University of Minnesota, School of Nursing
Kate McEvoy
Executive Director, National Association of Medicaid Directors
Peter Yearwood
Reality Poets Manager & Co-Producer of Fire Through Dry Grass, OPEN DOORS
Karren Ganschinietz
CNA, NAHCA Board of Directors
Mamata Yanamadala
Assistant Professor, Duke University School of Medicine
Cecilia Y. Cai
Medical Director, FutureCare Health and Adjunct Faculty, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Christine E. Bishop
Atran Foundation Professor of Economics, Brandeis University Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Crystal Bowens
Vice President, Regulatory & Clinical Services, American Health Care Association

Committee Co-Chairs

Terrence O’Malley
Corresponding Faculty, Harvard Medical School

Gregory Alexander
Helen Young Alumni Professor, Columbia University
Committee Members
Cynthia Morton
Executive Vice President, National Association for the Support of Long-Term Care (NASL)
Maria D. Moen
Senior Vice President, Innovation & External Affairs, ADVault, Inc.
Peter B. Schuna
CEO, Pathway Health
Genice Hornberger
Director, Regulatory Affairs – Skilled Nursing, PointClickCare
Christina Caraballo
Vice President, Informatics, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
Robert “Bob” Latz
CIO, Trinity Rehab Services
Michelle Dougherty
Senior Manager, Health Information Technology Policy, Center for Health Informatics, RTI International;
Convener, LTPAC Health IT Collaborative
Aysha Kuhlor
Chief Clinical Advisor, Institute of Post-Acute Care
Lisa Morris
Executive Director of Clinical Services, Consana
Se Hee Min
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Columbia University School of Nursing
Gesila Loquellano Koven
Director of Clinical Reimbursement, A.G. Rhodes
Emily Nelson
Vice President, Healthcare Transformation, MetaStar

We’ve encountered more enthusiasm and willingness to get involved – from residents to staff to policymakers – than we could have ever imagined. It’s been amazing! Over the next two years we will be promoting different ways to join, collaborate with, and support the Coalition.