Board of Managers
Kimberly MacPherson
Chair, Board of Managers
Kimberly MacPherson is the Executive Director of Health Management and Distinguished Teaching Fellow at the Haas School of Business. She is also the Faculty Program Director for Health Policy & Management at the U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health and the Co-Director for the Berkeley Center for Health Technology. BCHT is a research and education center that works on topics around balancing affordability, equity and innovation. Kim focuses on health system strategy, healthcare workforce, health tech and coverage and adoption around biotech and medical devices.
At UC Berkeley, where she joined the faculty in 2006, Ms. MacPherson teaches a variety of graduate level courses at both Haas and SPH including Health Care Finance, Health Care Strategy, Healthcare in the 21st Century, Trends in Biotech/Pharma, Commercializing Biotech, and Unlocking Digital Health Innovation. In May 2020 she was honored with the Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching. Ms. MacPherson brings over 30 years of health industry experience spanning leadership roles in operations, management consulting and strategic/business planning and product development.
She is a frequent speaker and moderator at conferences and organization-sponsored meetings/events. She is the Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Trustees for Saint Francis Memorial Hospital (part of Dignity Health/CommonSpirit) in San Francisco where she served for 12 years until the recent acquisition by UCSF. She holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley and an MPH from the School of Public Health at U.C. Berkeley.
Michael Dakduk
Board of Managers
Michael is the former executive vice president and director of government relations for Career Education Colleges and Universities (CECU). In this role, he represented over 600 postsecondary institutions before Congress and government stakeholders. Previously, he served as the head of a national nonprofit supporting military veterans and advocated for improvements to military-related education benefits.
Michael completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and his graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Mary-Anne Ponti, RN, MSN, DBA, FACHE
Board of Managers
Mary-Anne is a registered nurse with more than forty years of experience in healthcare. Mary-Anne held several leadership positions including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Nurse Executive, and System Chief Nursing Officer. She served as a consultant providing healthcare leadership and management expertise, leadership development, succession planning and business development. Mary-Anne’s accomplishments include several successful turnarounds, the integration of a regional community hospital into a large healthcare system and the achievement of the American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet recognition - following a four-year nurses strike.
Mary-Anne earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing, Master of Science in Nursing, Master of Business Administration, and a Doctor of Business Administration. Mary-Anne has served on several boards, committees, task forces at a state and national level, and served as a Malcom Baldrige Quality Award Examiner.
Mikhail Shneyder, DNEd(hc), MBA, RN
Board of Managers
Mikhail Shneyder is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nightingale Education Group, a mission-driven organization focused on innovative nursing workforce development across its entire professional continuum, from prelicensure academic programs to graduate studies to reskilling and upskilling through continuing education.
Shneyder served as the first President of Nightingale College, a higher learning institution dedicated to closing education equity gaps and creating geographic, socioeconomic, and demographic access to the nursing profession throughout the United States. A registered nurse for more than 25 years, Shneyder has a wealth of management experience in post-secondary education for health professions and health care delivery services. He is a published academic author, conference speaker, and guest lecturer, specializing in strategic planning, organization development, forecasting, and management.
Shneyder holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
Gideon Esuzor, MBA, MSN
Board of Managers
LCDR Gideon N. Esuzor is the Mental Health Memorandum of Agreement Program Manager for the Commissioned Corps Program Office, Human Capital Division, Defense Health Headquarters, Falls Church, Virginia.
LCDR Esuzor supports the DHA’s mission of providing medical care for the DoD’s 9.4 million eligible beneficiaries through the $33.46 billion defense health program by overseeing strategic efforts and mission priority placement of public health officer with expertise within the Department of Defense in accordance and alignment with the Assistant Secretary of Health and Commissioned Corps Headquarters priority focus areas. In doing so, LCDR Esuzor leads implementation efforts for the placement of Commissioned Corps mental health and traumatic brain injury healthcare officers across the Military Health System in accordance with Congressionally directed transition plan requirements. These mental health clinicians include, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners, Social Workers, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, and Speech/Language Pathologists.
Prior to joining the Defense Health Agency, LCDR Esuzor served as a drug investigator in the Food and Drug Administration for approximately four years, conducting inspections and investigations of drug producing firms in the South Eastern region of the United States. LCDR Esuzor served six years in the United States Air Force Reserve as an aeromedical evacuation flight nurse and aeromedical staging clinical nurse. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2014 and flew 24 combat missions, providing timely transport and clinical care to more than 135 members of the U.S. and coalition forces. In 2017, he led a 17-member team comprising of nurses and medical technicians to support 134 medical evacuation missions, providing care for 971 patients during a six-month deployment to Qatar.
Dr. Christina Dempsey, DNP, MBA, RN
Board of Managers
Dr. Christina (Christy) Dempsey is the CEO of Christina Dempsey Enterprises, LLC and the former Chief Nursing Officer for Press Ganey Associates.
Dempsey is a registered nurse with over three decades of healthcare experience regularly speaking and publishing nationally and internationally on nursing, perioperative and emergency services, patient flow, medical practice operations, supply chain and physician/hospital collaboration. Dempsey has served as adjunct faculty for the Missouri State University School of Nursing and holds a doctoral degree in nursing practice from Quinnipiac University, master’s degrees in business and nursing from Missouri State University, and certifications in perioperative nursing and executive nursing practice.
She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and serves as President of the Missouri Organization of Nurse leaders, the Nightingale College Board of Managers, the board of Magnit, LLC (a global workforce management company) and previously on the Boards of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) and AONL Foundation Board. In addition, she serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Nursing Administration and Journal of Patient Experience.
In 2018 and again in 2020, Dempsey was named one of the top 50 Safety Experts in the US by Becker’s Hospital Review. She currently co-chairs the ANA Nursing Administration Scope and Standards revision workgroup redefining nursing leadership. Her book, The Antidote to Suffering: How Compassionate Connected Care Can Improve Safety, Quality, and Experience, was released in 2017 and continues to be a resource for clinician practice, patient experience, and caregiver education.
Jason Woody
Board of Managers
Monica Rivera, MD, MPH
Board of Managers
Monica started her career developing Telehealth programs in rural Mexico. Later in her career, she led Clinical Services and Urgent Care at Mass General Brigham.
Monica has worked in a variety of Growth and Operations leadership roles, including start-ups and benefit management companies. Most recently, Monica was the Head of Solutioning and RFP Writing for UnitedHealthcare’s Medicaid vertical, where she was responsible for the organization’s Solutions strategy.
Her main interests and work including alternate-sites of care, workforce development and behavioral health. She currently does work in enhancing access to care, public health education and behavioral health engagement.
Monica holds a Medical Degree from Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico, her native country. She also earned a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health, where she teaches and is part of the faculty.
Ed Ashley
Board of Managers
Ed Ashley has over 30 years of experience in business, technology, and academia. He has led several technology organizations on a global scale, from startups to Fortune 100. He has worked as a Management Consultant for Fortune 100 companies engaged in mergers & acquisitions, outsourcing, and restructuring. In academia, he has been CFO of two universities, and has led both an academic program and a campus. Additionally, he has taught college on an adjunct basis for over 25 years, including Strategic Management and Analytics at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Ed holds an MBA from Cal State and has completed the Executive Program at Stanford. He has published several books, numerous articles, and has spoken at several conferences. Ed has also sat on for-profit and non-profit boards.