Power Players in Health Care

As executive vice president and CFO of CVS Health, Shawn Guertin guides the company’s financial strategy and oversees everything from budgeting and risk management to mergers and acquisitions. In his previous role as executive vice president, CFO, and chief enterprise risk officer at Aetna, Mr. Guertin was able to successfully lead the company through a period of rapid development, and he was instrumental in orchestrating the merger with CVS Health in 2018.

Prior to being appointed president of the New York State Nurses Association in July 2021, Nancy Hagans served as treasurer and member of the union’s Board of Directors. A native of Haiti, Ms. Hagans worked as a surgical intensive care nurse at Maimonides Medical Center before ascending the ranks of union leadership. Ms. Hagans remains active in the union’s Social Justice Committee, and has lauded the safe staffing law that passed in 2021 as a major victory for union members and health care workers. 

Thomas Halloran has served as chief financial officer of Fidelis Care since 2007, assuming the additional responsibilities of executive vice president in 2017. In this role, Mr. Halloran oversees strategic, operational, and financial goals in order to ensure quality health insurance coverage for over 2.3 million New Yorkers. Fidelis Care is committed to grassroots community outreach and utilizes local schools, churches, and food pantries to reach underserved residents.

Prior to his appointment as president and CEO of the NYSHFA and the NYSCAL in 2017, Stephen Hanse, Esq., served as the association’s vice president and counsel. Mr. Hanse has legal experience representing health care companies and organizations, and he has also worked on policy in the New York State Senate and Assembly. Mr. Hanse remains active in the New York State Bar Association as well as the American Health Care Association.

Georgana Hanson serves as the interim president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts, where she was formerly the vice president of public policy and regulatory affairs. PPESA is the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that represents the 5 Planned Parenthood affiliates in New York. In her role, Georgana leads the organization’s legislative efforts to protect and advance the reproductive and sexual health and rights of all New Yorkers. Georgana loves to spend time outdoors camping and hiking and finds immense joy in raising two little budding activists.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?
It’s been an honor and privilege to work in the movement towards advancing reproductive health, rights, and justice throughout my career. It’s special to me that I get to wake up every day and work with amazing people on an important mission.

What is your favorite form of exercise?
I love to go on hikes in beautiful Upstate New York with my family and dog.

Do you have a favorite healthy meal?
Overnight steel-cut oats with raspberries and maple syrup.

After her appointment in 2020, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Melanie Hartzog began the difficult work of ensuring that social services remained accessible to New York’s most vulnerable communities despite the ongoing pandemic. Her previous experiences in the nonprofit sector and in the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget prepared her well for the unprecedented challenges facing New Yorkers. Ms. Hartzog has recently been named the next president and CEO of The New York Foundling, an organization dedicated to child welfare, juvenile and criminal justice, and education.

Renee Hastick-Motes is the vice president of external affairs at Episcopal Health Services/St. John’s Episcopal Hospital. As a member of the executive team, Ms. Hastick-Motes is responsible for developing and implementing the hospital’s government and external relations strategy, oversees marketing/communications, public affairs, philanthropic, grant acquisition efforts and Pastoral Care. Ms. Hastick-Motes has also recently assumed the role of President of the newly created Hospital Foundation called the “ICARE Foundation.”

What is your favorite form of exercise? 
My favorite form of exercise is CrossFit. Being able to get a full body workout has been so rewarding and refreshing mentally.

As dean of NYU’s School of Global Public Health, Dr. Cheryl Healton is constantly improving and expanding the various programs that she oversees, academic as well as research-oriented. Prior to assuming her current position, Dr. Healton served as president and chief executive officer of Legacy, one of the leading organizations for tobacco use prevention. During this time, she led a highly effective national campaign to decrease tobacco use among the nation’s youth. Dr. Healton has published dozens of peer-reviewed papers on a variety of public health topics, and frequently makes media appearances to discuss tobacco control.

In her role as director of the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health, Ms. Herman works alongside 13 city agencies and 200 nonprofits to put equity and inclusion at the forefront of developing and implementing mental health programs for those who need them most. Ms. Herman previously served as the deputy commissioner for collaborative policing in the New York City Police Department, where she was responsible for promoting public safety and developing alternative enforcement options for police officers.

In addition to serving as president and chief executive officer of the New York Blood Center, Dr. Christopher Hillyer is also a professor in the department of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. He worked previously at Emory University School of Medicine and served as director of the Emory Center for Transfusion and Cellular Therapies. Dr. Hillyer is a renowned expert in hematology, blood transfusion, and cellular therapies, and is a past president of the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies.