2004 - 2005 HFMA Officer and Board Member Biographies

  Terri Tillery - President

Terri is Director of Business Development, New Service Lines for Chamberlin Edmonds. Terri joined HFMA in 1987 and served as a member on numerous committees, advancing as Chairperson on several of them, ultimately culminating in her election as a Board Member over the Communications Council in 2000-2001. Since that time, she has served as the 2001-2002 Secretary, the 2002-2003 Program Chairperson and President-Elect for 2003-2004. Terri is an Advanced member of Georgia HFMA, having also received the Follmer Bronze, Reeves Silver and Muncie Gold Founders Awards. In addition, Terri has been awarded the Ann P. Longshore Distinguished Service Award, as well as the Charles H. Anderson President’s Award for her hard work and dedication to the Chapter.

  Cathy H. Dougherty, FHFMA - President-Elect

Cathy is the Service Line Director of Revenue Management at Gwinnett Hospital System where she has been employed since 1990. She is a Certified Healthcare Professional (CHFP) and a Fellow in HFMA. Cathy has been a member of HFMA since 1985 when she joined the South Carolina Chapter and served on various committees in this Chapter. Cathy transferred to the Georgia Chapter in 1990 and has played an active leadership role with various committees and councils, including chairperson of the CPAR Committee for two years, Education & Logistics Chair, and Board Member. Cathy has also served in the Officer role as the Treasurer, Secretary and Program Chairperson. She has received the Follmer Bronze Award, the Reeves Silver Award, and the Muncie Gold Award, the Charles H. Anderson Award and is also a recipient of the Ann P. Longshore Distinguished Service Award.

Richard L. Childs, FHFMA - Program Chairperson

Rick currently is the Director - Patient Financial Services for Piedmont Medical Center in Atlanta Georgia. He received a Bachelors degree in Finance from Auburn University. Rick has been in Healthcare Finance since 1986. Rick received his CMPA (now CHFP) in 1983 and FHFMA in 1999. He has received the Follmer Bronze, Reeves Silver and Muncie Gold Merit Awards from HFMA. He has served as TEAMS Chair for the Database TEAM and been a member of several other committees and served as the Secretary of the Georgia Chapter of HFMA and as the Chairperson of the National PFS Advisory Council and a member of the NAC (National Advisory Council).

  Teresa Singley - Secretary

Teresa has been in patient accounting for the past 22 years. For the past three and one half years she has been employed at Newnan Hospital as the Business Office Director. Prior to current position, she was at Crawford Long Hospital for four years. Teresa has been very active with HFMA, serving on numerous teams and chairing several committees. She served on the Georgia HFMA board for 2001-2002 and she has served as the Chapter's Treasurer. Teresa also serves on Medicare's focus group for the state of Georgia and has served in this capacity for four years.

Susan Clark - Treasurer

Susan has been a member of HFMA since 1994. In July 2002, she received her certification as a Fellow in HFMA. Susan has served the Georgia Chapter as a Board Member, Chairperson of the Education Content and Education Logistics Committees, DCMS Secretary, and member of the Education and ProAction committees. Susan has 13 years experience in tax accounting and reporting. Susan is a Tax Manager with the accounting firm of Babish, Neiman, Kornman, and Johnson, LLP in Atlanta. She received her BBA in Accounting (1989) and MAcc in Taxation (1990) both from the University of Georgia. Susan is a Certified Public Accountant, member of the AICPA, and the Georgia Society of CPAs.

Becky Black (Rebecca T. Black) - Immediate Past President

Becky entered the field of healthcare finance more than 20 years ago and has been a member of HFMA since 1982. She has a B.S. in Accounting from Florida State University and a Masters of Public Administration in Health Services Management from Golden Gate University. She is also a licensed Certified Public Accountant. Becky is currently the Director of Financial Services at St. Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta.

Becky received her Fellow through HFMA in April 1993 by attaining certification in the area of healthcare finance. She additionally holds certifications in Patient Accounting and Managed Care. She has been active in the Georgia Chapter of HFMA since 1992 and has held numerous committee chair, Board and Officer positions. Becky just completed her term as President of the Georgia Chapter for the 2003-2004 year. She also has served many years on the Editorial Review Board for Healthcare Financial Management, the national HFMA publication.

She is a Follmer Bronze, Reeves Silver and Muncie Gold Award recipient from National HFMA and actively promotes chapter involvement and professional development through certification.

Sam Thrower - Board Member 2003-2005 - Comm. Council

Sam Thrower, FACHE is employed by WellStar Health System, as the Executive Director of Patient Financial Services. Prior to joining WellStar in 2001, Sam's 20 years of progressive healthcare management and consulting experience involved 135 hospitals and included:

• Owner and administrator of a healthcare management consulting firm for 7 years;
• Multi-hospital system management experience at local and national levels; and
• Senior Consultant and Manager in Ernst & Young's Healthcare Operations Consulting Practice.

Sam is currently a board member, responsible for the Communication Council, and has been an active member of HFMA (NC, TN, FL, prior to GA) since 1988. He presently serves on the Alumni Board for the Institute of Health Administration at Georgia State University, where he received both his MHA and MBA degrees. Sam is also board certified in healthcare management (CHE) and a Fellow (FACHE) in the American College of Healthcare Executives. Sam received his BSPH degree in Health Administration from the University of North Carolina, and has published numerous healthcare journal articles.

Karen Newton - Board Member 2003-2005 - Forums Council

Karen Newton serves as Director of Third Party Reimbursement for Clinton A. Harkins, PC. Karen began her healthcare career at Candler Hospital in Savannah, Ga. She has held the position of Admission Supervisor at Northside Hospital, Manager of Patient Accounts at Crawford Long Hospital and Director of Transitional Hospital Corporation Centralized Business Office responsible for nine (9) Long Term Acute Care Facilities located in the Eastern half of the United States. Karen has been active with Georgia HFMA for 12 years serving on the Managed Care committee and chairing the PFS and Physician Practice Management Forum and the CPAR committee.

Pat Tewalt - Board Member 2003-2005 - Membership Council

Pat Tewalt, has been the Business Development Manager with Lillian Kloock and Associates, LLC for six years. Prior to that, she was a Consultant acting as interim PFS Director, Billing Manager, Trainer, and Registration Manager in several hospitals around the country. Pat started her healthcare financial career in 1979 and was a Director of PFS for several years. She joined the Georgia Chapter of HFMA in 1982 and has served on many committees, chairing many of them. She is currently serving on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Chapter. Pat and her husband Jack have 4 children and 5 grandchildren.

Pete Hogan - Board Member - Quality Council

Pete joined the Georgia HFMA Chapter in 2000. Prior to his appointment to the Board, Pete has served as DCMS Secretary, Chairperson to the Database Committee, Co-Chairperson to the Website Committee, and Member to the CPAR Committee. After his first year, Pete received the Most Valuable New Member Award and has since been the recipient to two Helen M. Yerger Special Recognition Awards for Innovation.

For the past 10 years, Pete has been employed by Integra Solutions which is a revenue cycle consulting firm specializing in A/R outsourcing management and charge capture auditing services to hospitals. During this tenure, he has delivered upon operational, implementation, and business development responsibilities. Pete holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration degree with a major in Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin.

Family life is a priority to Pete. He resides in Kennesaw, Georgia with his wife, Lisa, and three children, Hugh (5), Callyn (2), Asher (newborn) plus their cat, Butterbean. Pete enjoys the competition of all sports, especially baseball and football, and is always up for a round of golf.

Ray Dziesinski, FHFMA - Board Member - ProAction Council

Ray joined Southern Regional Medical Center as Chief Financial Officer in 1999 and has been named Senior Vice President, Fiscal Services. He supports both the Financial Operations, Revenue Management, and Information Systems of the hospital. Prior to joining SRMC, Ray has served in various financial leadership roles for over 20 years, including CFO, Bay Medical Center, Panama City, Florida and Senior Vice President, Administrative and Corporate Services, St. John's Regional Medical Center, Joplin, Missouri.

Ray is active within several professional associations and has served as President of the North Central Michigan HFMA Chapter (1988-1999), Board Member in the Florida Chapter (2002-03), Speaker at National's CFO Conference (2002), Chairperson CFO Forums in the Georgia Chapter (2001-02), and participation with several project teams and task forces. Ray became a fellow in 1995 and was a recipient of the Muncie Gold Award in 2002.

He earned a BS in Business Administration, Magna Cum Laude, and an MBA in Finance with Honors from Central Michigan University. He has been on the manuscript review panel for Healthcare Financial Management magazine for ten years and is an adjunct faculty at Emory University, Woodruff Graduate Program for Healthcare Administration, Atlanta, Georgia.

Bill Eikost - Board Member - Outreach Control

Bill Eikost has been an active member of the Georgia chapter of HFMA since 1989. During that time he has served on and Chaired several committees, including Membership Recruitment and Retention, Education and Logistics, Diversification and Collaboration, and Public Relations. Bill was the Co-winner of the Ann P. Longshore Distinguished Service Award in 1998 and has won two Yerger Awards for outstanding performance in Education and Collaboration. Bill previously served on the Georgia Chapter Board from 2000 through 2001 and looks forward to his continued service to the Georgia chapter. He will work with the Outreach Committee this year to encourage student involvement in HFMA.

For the past 15 years, Bill has worked for various outsourcing and collection vendors in Georgia, providing accounts receivable solutions to customers throughout the Southeast. Most recently, Bill has been working as the Director of A/R Management Sales for ExpressBill, a statement print and mail vendor based in Bill's hometown of Toledo, Ohio.

In his spare time, Bill enjoys traveling, golf, coaching little league baseball, and spending time with his family. He and his wife Jan have been married for 15 years and live in Powder Springs, Georgia with their two boys, Zachary(8) and Avery(5) and their dog Zoe.

Robert Bolden - Director of Fiscal Services

Robert is the Director of Fiscal Services for the Georgia Hospital Association, where he has been employed since 1992. He is a Certified Healthcare Financial Professional (CHFP) and a Fellow in HFMA. Robert has served on the Georgia Chapter of HFMA's Data and Quality Committee, and as chairman of the Managed Care Education Committee. He is currently serving as co-chair of the Founders Points Committee. He has received the Follmer Bronze Award and the Reeves Silver Award. He has a B.S. Degree from the University of Georgia, and an MBA and a Masters of Health Science in Health and Hospital Administration degree from the University of Florida.