Mr. Jeffrey A. Ashkenase joined GNYHA Services in 2004. Mr. Ashkenase leads the Business Solutions Group comprised of Client Service Executives, Contract Analysts, and Clinical Support Resources. Along with overseeing our client service efforts, Mr. Ashkenase ensures the Business Solutions Group provides the information and analytics necessary to support the GNYHA Services regional contracting effort, as well as the information and analytics the field force uses to assist our members to maximize the value of the GNYHA Services Group Purchasing Program. He is also responsible for deploying the GNYHA Services/Premier/GHX contract management technology to the member hospitals.
Mr. Ashkenase has worked in the healthcare industry for more than 10 years in non-profit, managed care, group purchasing, and government settings. Throughout his career, he has been responsible for managing costs, system implementations, optimizing the supply chain, and improving decision support and budgeting process through the use of technology. Prior to joining GNYHA Services, he was an Associate Vice President of Finance at Maimonides Medical Center where his responsibilities included overseeing the budget, decision support department and materials management, and business information systems. Mr. Ashkenase earned his B.A. from SUNY Albany and his Masters from the NYU Wagner School.
Mr. Jay Fligstein joined GNYHA Services in 2005 and now serves as the Vice President of Business Solutions, overseeing the Client Service Division. Throughout the years, Mr. Fligstein has worked with our member hospitals to review our contract portfolio (Regional and Premier Contracts) and outline and develop supply chain projects and savings plans. He has also assisted with projects that join GNYHA Services/Premier technologies with materials management information systems, to bring full automation and integration to the contracting and ordering processes to help our members manage and reduce supply costs. Prior to joining GNYHA Services, Mr. Fligstein worked as a materials executive where he had operations responsibility for Supply Chain management. He led an enterprise-wide MMIS deployment, point-of-use technology implementation, and supply chain automation as well as multi-million dollar cost savings plans. Mr. Fligstein earned his B.S. in Health Care Administration from SUNY at Old Westbury.
Mr. Martin Glick joined GNYHA Services in 2006. Mr. Glick’s areas are responsible for providing the information and analytics necessary to support the GNYHA Services regional contracting effort and the information and analytics the field force uses to assist our members to maximize the value of the GNYHA Services Group Purchasing Program. Mr. Glick previously worked with the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System for more than twelve years in various areas of health care administration, including finance, internal audit, and supply chain. Most recently he served as Assistant Vice President of Procurement Analytics, where he oversaw supply chain business intelligence for the Health System. Mr. Glick earned his B.B.A. in Accounting from Hofstra University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Ms. Lisa Fishelberg has worked at GNYHA Services since 2005. Ms. Fishelberg is primarily responsible for deploying the GNYHA Services/Premier/GHX contract management technology to the member hospitals. She also provides information and analytics necessary to support the GNYHA Services regional contracting and field force efforts to maximize the value of the GNYHA Services Group Purchasing Program. As an experienced healthcare manager, she has been responsible for the operations management, financial growth, strategic planning, and business development of health care organizations. Ms. Fishelberg earned her B.S. in Social Sciences at SUNY Binghamton, NY and her M.H.A. in Healthcare Administration from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC.
Ms. Ann Vayos is the Assistant Vice President for Business Solutions. In her current position, she focuses on identifying savings opportunities available to HHC through GNYHA Services Enhanced Local Agreements and Premier Contracts, while also assisting them in meeting some of their goals, e.g., moving towards a centralized process.
Ms. Vayos has been in the health insurance and pharmaceutical/medical-surgical distribution industries for more than 20 years. Previously, she held the position of Assistant Director of Projects, Purchasing and Supplier Diversity at HIP Health Insurance Plan of New York. At HIP, she implemented several cost savings opportunities, negotiated national contracts resulting in multi-million dollar savings, assisted in standardizing products and contracts across company business units, managed projects which involved leading a team to successfully build and furnish new Medical Center facilities.
Ms. Vayos is a graduate of SUNY Stony Brook University and is a Certified Lean Facilitator. She was able to utilize her Lean skills during her last position, facilitating a cross-functional team to re-evaluate their current business process, eliminating rework, reducing lead time, and ultimately meeting the customer’s timelines and requirements.
Mr. Daniel M. Dunphy has worked with GNYHA Services since 2004. Working with HANYS and upstate regional hospital associations, Mr. Dunphy is responsible for recruiting acute care facilities to the new statewide GNYHA Services/Premier GPO. Prior to joining GNYHA Services, Mr. Dunphy was the Director of Facility Planning and Operations at the Wartburg Adult Care Community in Mt. Vernon, NY. Prior to that, Mr. Dunphy spent 14 years at the Hospital for Special Surgery starting out as its Director of Material Management and advancing to Assistant Vice President for Administration (Facilities). Mr. Dunphy earned his B.A. from Northwestern University and M.P.A. from New York University.
Ms. Amy J. Kaufman has worked with GNYHA Ventures since 1998. Ms. Kaufman is responsible for managing various projects, programs, and business initiatives. Prior to joining GNYHA Ventures, Ms. Kaufman worked at Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers. Ms. Kaufman holds a Masters in Public Administration with a specialization in Health Care Management from New York University.
Mr. Ross D. Roberts joined GNYHA Services in 2006. Mr. Roberts' area provides the information and analytics necessary to support the GNYHA Services regional contracting effort and the Client Service field force who assist our members in maximizing the value of the GNYHA Services Group Purchasing Program. He also contributes to the regional contracting effort at GNYHA Services, with responsibilities related to all dietary contracts. He earned his B.A. from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.
Mr. Edward Zagorsky joined GNYHA Services in 2010 as the Manager of Business Solutions within the Business Solutions Group. In this role, Mr. Zagorsky is responsible for implementing and delivering advanced analytics and business intelligence solutions to the Business Solutions Group's key stakeholders by strategically leveraging program management, business analysis, process reengineering, technology, and best practices.
Prior to GNYHA Services, Mr. Zagorsky held several Sr. Global Business Intelligence and Analytic positions across Fortune 100 Investment Banking and Global Media Companies. In these positions he was responsible for the management, analysis, and implementation of business intelligence and analytic programs domestically and internationally.
Mr. Zagorsky's strengths include creating strategic partnerships by setting clear and transparent expectations (from content to quality) with key resources at various levels of the organization to set analytic objectives and measurement protocol, developing strategic roadmaps and business solutions across multiple complex projects, and integration of desperate data and loosely coupled processes by developing end to end analytical models looking for actionable, value-add opportunities.
Mr. Zagorsky earned his B.S. in Computer Science/Computer Information Systems from the University of Scranton.
Mr. Babu Paturi is a Project Manager in Business Intelligence, where he has empowered GNYHA Services members with market-leading contract management solutions and processes that resulted in measurable supply chain savings. Mr. Paturi has worked for a Big Five Consulting Firm and ORACLE where he implemented supply chain solutions at Fortune 500 clients under aggressive timelines. He has a unique ability to connect with different organizational levels and inspire the human change needed to make technology effective. Mr. Paturi earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kettering University in Michigan.
Mr. Mauro Pennacchia joined GNYHA Services in 2010 as a Project Manager in the Business Solutions Group. In this role, Mr. Pennacchia works with our member hospitals to develop supply chain improvement programs through the use of our contract portfolio, benchmarking and analytics of member spend, and strategizing ways to maximize product standardization, conversion, and new technologies.
Prior to joining GNYHA Services, Mr. Pennacchia worked as a Supply Chain Director with 10+ years of success in improving business operations, efficiency, service, and significantly increasing profitability for world-class healthcare organizations. He is a specialist in transforming raw data into actionable information to be used for business decisions and is an influential communicator with outstanding executive presentation, leadership, relationship-building, and problem-solving skills. Mr. Pennacchia is a Certified Materials Resource Professional (C.M.R.P.) and earned his B.S. in Marketing and M.B.A. in Management and Information Technology from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
In her role as Premier Member Designation Form (PMDF) Coordinator, Ms. Janet Silva-Soto manages the PMDF process for Physician Preference contracts. She works closely with Client Service Executives, Premier vendors, and Premier to ensure account reconciliation and member access to special pricing and rebate programs. In addition to this, she also assists in various value analysis projects, which identify potential savings for the GNYHA Services membership. Prior to joining GNYHA Services, Ms. Silva-Soto worked for Innovatix, LLC where she started out as Senior Account Manager and advanced to Manager, Member Audits where she managed the member audit process and assisted members to maximize savings. Ms. Silva-Soto holds a M.S.A. in Health Services Administration from Central Michigan University and a B.A. in Health Science from Brooklyn College.
Client Service Executives
Mr. Ascare is the Client Service Executive responsible for servicing the Hartford Healthcare Corporation located in central Connecticut. As resident of Connecticut, Mr. Ascare works closely with all members of the HHC Materials Management team to reduce supply chain cost while fully integrating multiple entities into a cohesive unit. Prior to joining the GNYHA team, Mr. Ascare began working in the acute care arena on the information technology side installing and maintaining both clinical and nonclinical systems, including the Lawson ERP system. After leaving the technology side, Mr. Ascare was the Materials Management Specialist at Middlesex Hospital for over six years. Mr. Ascare holds a B.S. in Business Administration for the University of Connecticut and an M.H.A. from Quinnipiac University.
Ms. Cathy Cudmore joined GNYHA Services in 2008. Prior to this position, Ms. Cudmore worked as a supply chain analyst, responsible for the analytics required in assisting member hospitals to identify cost savings, as well as an assistant to the President of GNYHA Ventures, Inc., Lee H. Perlman, from 2008-2009. Ms. Cudmore earned her B.S. from Binghamton University.
As a Client Service Executive, Mr. Meghal Desai supports supply chain improvement activities at member hospitals in the Western New York region by providing advanced analytics, utilizing benchmarking tools, and collaborating with appropriate subject matter experts/clinical educators to help realize product standardization and conversion goals and develop strategies to maximize value-added benefits through use of the GNYHA Services contract portfolio.
Mr. Desai joined GNYHA Services as a Contract and Project Manager in 2008, working with a number of key accounts to identify opportunities, support purchasing process redesign, and track on-going supply cost reduction activities.
Mr. Desai earned a B.S. in Biopsychology from SUNY - Stony Brook and M.B.A. in Organizational Strategy and Health Sciences Management from William E. Simon Graduate School of Business at University of Rochester.
Renata Frystock, Client Service Executive
(646) 483-0942 | frystock@gnyha.org
Ms. Renata Frystock began her career with GNYHA Services in 2004. Ms. Frystock is responsible for servicing GNYHA Services’ member accounts in New Jersey, Staten Island, and Brooklyn. She works collaboratively with materials executives to reduce supply and equipment expenditures, as well as improve supply chain efficiencies. She previously worked for the Joint Purchasing Corporation, as the Director for Regional Healthcare Network Services of Coastal Cooperative, a joint venture with Meridian Health System and Joint Purchasing Corporation and various managerial positions within Materials Management at Meridian Health System. Ms. Frystock earned her B.S. from Montclair State College.
Mr. C.J. LaCosta has been with GNYHA Services since 2005. Mr. LaCosta is responsible for working with member hospital supply chain executives to identify and implement supply chain goals. These collaborative activities are further supported by additional GNYHA Services resources that address -Laboratory, Clinical (Physician Preference), and Med/Surg areas. Mr. LaCosta comes to GNYHA Services after more than six years of consultative sales experience across multiple industries. Mr. LaCosta earned his B.A. from Coastal Carolina University.
Mr. Lawrence Mandel has worked with GNYHA Services since 1997. Mr. Mandel is responsible for servicing GNYHA Services’ member accounts in Long Island, Queens, and Brooklyn, working collaboratively with Materials Executives to reduce supply and equipment expenditures and improve supply chain efficiencies. Prior to joining GNYHA Services, Mr. Mandel worked for Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center as the Senior Buyer for Materials Management. Prior to that, Mr. Mandel worked at Elmhurst Hospital Center as the Assistant Director of Materials Management.
Mr. Petretta joined GNYHA Services in January 2011. He is responsible for servicing Continuum Health Partners by reducing overall supply spend and facilitating supply chain efficiencies. Before joining GNYHA Services, Mr. Petretta was employed for seven years as a client service representative for Medassets. Mr. Petretta earned his B.A. in Economics from Syracuse University and his M.B.A. from Boston College.
Mr. Raul Tosado has worked at GNYHA Services since 2001. Mr. Tosado is responsible for providing Client Services to those GNYHA Services/Premier member hospitals that utilize the GPO portfolio. His primary role is to assist the members to demonstrate value by using contracts that can save the hospitals with their goals to reduce cost in supply chain. Prior to joining GNYHA Services, Mr. Tosado was the Director of Material Manager at Barnert Hospital and was responsible for all the supply chain initiatives. Mr. Tosado has 23 years of experience working at various health care facilities throughout New Jersey. Mr. Tosado has earned his B.S. from Jersey City State College.
Business Analysts
Mr. Justin Bestak began working as a Supply Chain Analyst for GNYHA Services in 2010. Mr. Bestak provides analytical support to member hospitals through multiple vehicles in order to identify accurate cost reduction opportunities. He earned his B.S. in Business and Economics at Lehigh University, with a concentration in Finance.
Ms. Deanna Lowe has been a part of the GNYHA Services team since 2007. Her responsibilities include conducting daily analytics to demonstrate to member hospitals their full potential in savings. Prior to joining GNYHA Services, she was a Supply Chain Analyst at Harley Davidson and Project Manager at Ed Venture Partners. She earned her B.A. with honors in Business Administration, with a concentration in Supply Chain Management, from Clark Atlanta University.
Ms. Danielle Stanzione began working as a Supply Chain Analyst for GNYHA Services in 2009. Ms. Stanzione provides analytical support to member hospitals in order to identify cost savings. She earned her B.A. in economics from Rutgers University.
Mr. Sam Varughese has been working at GNYHA Services since 2000. After starting as a Financial Analyst, he has taken on the role as Field Service Contract Analyst. He supports Client Service Executives in fulfilling GNYHA Services business initiatives. He assists multiple GNYHA Services Member facilities in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, and New Jersey to identify cost reduction opportunities. He aids facilities in doing price activations, answers contract inquiries, and various purchasing related issues. Prior to GNYHA Services, he worked for The New York Metropolitan Opera in managing their membership and prior to that, he was a pharmacy technician for Thriftway Pharmacy.
Clinical Services
As Vice President, Clinical Educational Services for GNYHA Services, Mr. Timothy K. Glennon is responsible for assisting hospital executives and clinical staff obtain optimal value from the clinical preference product contracts in the GNYHA Services/Premier group purchasing portfolio. Mr. Glennon has more than 25 years of progressively responsible health care clinical and executive experience in nursing and hospital administration. He is a seasoned public speaker and educator, providing seminars on health care, leadership, and professional development in the U.S., Europe, and Mexico. Mr. Glennon has published articles on health care leadership topics, and he was the recipient of the Healthcare Purchasing News Materials Management Leadership Award in 1997. Mr. Glennon received his B.S.N. and M.S.N. degrees from Hunter College; he also holds an M.B.A. from Baruch College.
Ms. Sandra Schoby is an experienced health care professional with extensive experience in materials management, surgical services, procurement, supply chain management, project management, consulting, and patient care. Her experience includes a detailed knowledge of hospitals operations at the local, regional, and national level. She has a proven track record of successfully managing multiple functional areas, leading small and large change initiatives, developing strategic plans, managing diverse groups of people and delivery superior customer services. In addition to a B.A. from California State University, Ms. Schoby also holds a J.D. from Pacific Coast School of Law and a L.V.N. from Fullerton Junior College.
Ms. Tina Pike is an experienced executive with over two decades of progressive healthcare and organizational leadership. Her career has encompassed nursing, operations, and healthcare leadership throughout the continuum. Ms. Pike's expertise includes strategic plan development and implementation, value analysis/supply chain optimization, sustained performance improvement, improves patient outcomes, service-line collaboration, operational efficiency, and driving organizational change through transformational leadership. Ms. Pike received her B.S.N. from Niagara University; in addition, she also holds an M.B.A., M.S.N., and H.C.A. from University of Phoenix.
Ms. Judie Heiss joined GNYHA Services in 2010. She serves as the Facilitator and Analyst for GNYHA Services Clinical Services team, responsible for assisting in strategic data-driven decisions by analyzing, tracking, internally managing, and reporting data, as well as developing a variety of clinical resource materials for member hospitals. Prior to joining GNYHA Services, Ms. Heiss worked in the publishing industry for over 10 years as a project manager for the syndicated market research firm TrendWatch Graphic Arts, and later as content manager for the interactive group at Reed Business Information. Ms. Heiss holds a B.A. from Baruch College.