PayStream Advisors: FACULTY

Meet the Faculty of PayStream Summit

Cindy Tobias, Manager of Accounts Payable, Baylor Health Care System

Cindy is a Certified Accounts Payable Professional in Dallas, TX with 15 years of experience managing AP Departments. She has supported Lawson products for 13 years since joining the Baylor Finance Division and was instrumental in the planning and implementation of ImageNow for the AP department. She’s an active member of Lawson and Perceptive Software User Groups.

Chip Patrick, Senior Director, IT Sourcing-Ally Financial, Inc.

Chip has over thirteen years of Supply Chain Management experience, including materials and services contract negotiation, costing and payment models and sourcing strategy development.

As a Senior Director, IT Sourcing with Ally Financial, he is accountable for sourcing in support of the International Operations, Telecom and Networking strategies. Chip previously led a team of Supply Chain professionals providing sourcing services for Enterprise Outsourcing and Professional Services at Bank of America.

Chip began his career as a Navy Supply Corps Officer, serving six years in overseas and US locations, including as Contract Management Team Lead for the International Space Station, as liaison between the NASA customer and Boeing to solve complex engineering & business challenges. He holds a BS in General Engineering from the US Naval Academy and a MBA in Supply Chain Management from California State University-Hayward.

Cristin Monaco Shields, Senior Project Manager, Department of Finance, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

Cristin Monaco Shields specializes in process improvement/redesign and business planning in her role as Senior Project Manager at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. There she led the transition from paper-based to automated invoicing and approval for the accounts payable department. She is an active member of the University of New Hampshire Health Management and Policy Alumni Association, through which she frequently participates in career panels, resume workshops, and mock interview sessions to mentor current students at UNH. Cristin has guest lectured two “Intro to Hospitals” classes in the undergraduate program at UNH, and is a current fellow in the 2013 cohort of the University of Massachusetts Boston Emerging Leaders Program. She is a devoted Boston Bruins fan and also enjoys photography, cooking, running, and golfing.

With over 10 years of professional healthcare experience, Cristin has worked in the finance and operations arenas within many of the major Boston teaching hospitals including Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Boston, and Boston Medical Center.

Debbie Rich-Walker, Senior Manager, Financial Operations, The Home Depot

In her current role, Deborah currently oversees The Home Depot’s Accounts Payable function representing nearly $50B in payables disbursements and approximately 35 million in annual invoices. Deborah has been in this role for the past 5 years and has successful lead the AP Outsourcing effort at THD, which is considered to be one of the largest undertakings in the industry.

Prior to joining THD she held various Accounting leadership positions with Cox Communications.

Deborah is a Certified AP Professional (CAPP) and recently served as the elected President for the GA Chapter of the Financial Operations Institute for 4 consecutive years.

Deborah holds a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from Hofstra University in Long Island NY and has recently earned an MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta Georgia.

Donald Sands, Director Systems Accounts Payable, Memorial Hermann

Donald G. Sands, Jr. has over 25 years of financial management experience. His professional qualifications include a BBA in Accounting, an MBA in Finance and FHFMA, CPA and CMA certifications. He has worked in the oil, engineering and healthcare industries. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston – Clear Lake. He is currently serving as Director Systems Accounts Payable for the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System. During his tenure, Memorial Hermann has become a leader in the area of electronic processing for all phases of the procure to pay process.

Elizabeth Palian, 49er Mart System Administrator, UNC Charlotte

Elizabeth is the SciQuest Application Administrator at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Elizabeth has been with the University for 2 years. She has 20+ years of experience in computer application development, implementation, training, trouble-shooting and support in business, education and healthcare. She also has extensive experience in the fields of banking accounts payable, and fund and trust accounting.

Eric Jones, Director of Corporate Payables, Lowe’s

Eric Jones is an Accounting Director for Lowe’s Companies, Inc, a Fortune® 50 company. He is a CPA in the State of North Carolina with a background in public accounting, internal audit, and accounting management. He is a former Chairman for The Institute of Financial Operations, a non-profit financial operations organization dedicated to advancement of the accounts payable, accounts receivable, purchasing, and automation professions. Eric has been with Lowe’s for over 17 years in various accounting and finance positions and has been involved in numerous system implementation, process improvement, supply chain and efficiency projects at Lowe’s. He has authored a handbook titled Travel and Entertainment: A Map to Compliance and has given numerous presentations on financial operations and financial process topics as well as being actively involved in efficiency efforts throughout his career.

Ian Da Costa, Accounts Payable Manager, UCLA

As the Accounts Payable Manager, Ian oversees the operations for UCLA, UC Merced and the University of California, Office of the President. Ian joined the department in 2000 and has led the department’s efforts to streamline operations and increase efficiencies through automation as well as increase revenue opportunities for the University through early pay discounts and payment card incentives. During his tenure, he introduced a vendor self-service website as well as a vendor invoice portal, that allows companies to upload their invoices via a variety of file formats; implemented a number of system-to-system interfaces to reduce manual data-entry; and implemented a payment card program to generate revenue opportunities to help fund operations.

Jeff Halper, Director of Procurement, Maxim Healthcare Services

Jeff is responsible for sourcing and procurement as well as the overall Ariba P2P process and relationship at Maxim Healthcare. Jeff has served in procurement and supply chain roles with organizations such as HMSHost and Johnson & Johnson, building experience in forecasting, distribution, planning, and vendor management. Jeff has a bachelor’s degree in Operations Research and Logistics from the University of Maryland, and in his spare time tries to stay in shape by competing in triathlons and chasing after his 3 daughters.

Jeff Fiorini, Program Manager for P2P Roadmap, Hewlett-Packard

Jeff Fiorini has been with EDS/HP for 17 years, the last 9 of which he has supported the P2P process. He has vast international experience and spent 5 years in Korea supporting a joint venture with LG. While with EDS he was the P2P global process owner and was responsible for implementing a supplier self-service portal, an integrated end-to-end solution for handling contract labor, and led a cross-functional team to improve DPO. Once EDS was acquired by HP in 2008, Jeff was the America’s Program Manager for integrating EDS and HP Accounts Payable Systems. This included the migration of over 20K suppliers and 50K open items. In his current role, he is responsible for the P2P 3-year Roadmap to move HP to best practice.

Jennifer Matey, Operations Manager - Procure to Pay, Mayo Clinic

Since joining Mayo Clinic in 2005, Jennifer has been a key contributor and leader for a broad range of process improvement and automation projects within Supply Chain Management. In her current role as an Operations Manager for Procure to Pay, Jennifer’s passion for customer service, process efficiency and control is demonstrated through her leadership of the Supply Chain Customer Support Center, the Mayo Credit Card programs, including E-Payables as well as administering and managing Mayo’s Travel Services.

In her previous role as an Operations Supervisor, Jennifer led the project to integrate a Mayo Clinic Health System site into the ERP system and implement a shared services integration while simultaneously co- managing the Optical Character Recognition implementation project. Her knowledge and expertise in operations within the ‘Procure to Pay’ business area, makes her one of the focal points within her organization.

Jennifer holds a BSc in Finance from University of Maryland and an MBA (Finance Specialization) from Capella University.

Jerri Painter, Accounts Payable Invoice Processing Supervisor, UNC Charlotte

Jerri is the Supervisor for the Invoice Processing Team of Accounts Payable at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She has been with the University for more than nine years and has over eighteen years of Accounts Payable experience. She is a certified Accounts Payable Manager and a member of IOFA (Institute of Finance & Management). Jerri was a member of the core implementation team at UNC Charlotte when the SciQuest platform was brought to the campus.

Jon Casher, President, Casher Associates, Inc.

Jon has worked with hundreds of organizations in the public and private sectors providing guidance and assistance on a broad range of financial operations, accounts payable and procure-to-pay topics. He has presented at hundreds of conferences, webinars and audio conferences and conducted workshops on a wide range of financial operations and procure-to-pay topics. Jon has led over thirty Accounts Payable and Procure-to-Pay process reviews in companies ranging in size from $5 million in annual sales to Fortune 10 companies since 2007. In that time frame, he has also led or participated in over twenty other consulting engagements focused on regulatory compliance and automation of financial operations.

Kay Hysell, Operations Manager - Procure to Pay, Mayo Clinic

Kay is an Operations Manager in Procure to Pay at Mayo Clinic. Kay has 25 years of Supply Chain experience at Mayo Clinic and currently is manager of the Business Solutions team that has responsibility for supporting project management, and the technologies that are used in Procure to Pay, such as the ERP system, OCR scanning technology for invoice matching and the travel management system. Kay has an MBA with a specialization in project management from Capella University, and a CPM (Certified Purchasing Manager) certification.

Kelly Coxon, Director Procure to Pay, UPMC

Kelly is the Director, Procure to Pay for UPMC, one of the largest and most diverse health care delivery systems in the nation. Her responsibilities include oversight of UPMC’s Procurement Operations and Accounts Payable Division which manages all of the centralized activities for 20 hospitals and 400+ physician divisions. In this role, Kelly has guided the operational teams to automated/electronic processes, increased efficiency, and transformation to a paperless environment.

Kim Rankel, Director Purchase to Pay North American Shared Service Center, Eli Lilly

Since starting in 1999, Kim Rankel has held positions within Eli Lilly's financial team for manufacturing, R&D and Corporate Strategy. In 2008, Kim was promoted to U.S. Purchase-to-Pay Director where she drove process improvement initiatives by implementing new tools like Rapid Pay and eBuy. In addition, she led the charge to enhance resource efficiency by further leveraging Eli Lilly's web invoicing, P-card, and electronic payment programs. In 2009, Lilly made the strategic decision to move to the Shared Service Business Model and implement SAP globally. Kim was asked to lead Lilly's P2P Global Design Team and implement new IT solutions to further enhance productivity.

Marcia Golden, Accounts Payable Director, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated

Marcia Golden, Accounts Payable Director, joined the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated team in October 1985. The Company had just acquired another bottler and doubled in size overnight. They have since grown to become the largest independent Coca-Cola bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola products in the United States. Marcia considers herself very fortunate to have been given the opportunities to oversee numerous processes, systems and activities outside of the Accounts Payable area and, most important, to build strong strategic relationships with her partners. Along with the accurate and timely processing and payment of invoices, she has oversight of the Taulia Invoicement Suite, the commercial corporate and purchasing card programs, company travel, the electronic travel and entertainment reporting system, the on-line travel planning system, document imaging for A/P and other functional areas and the document storage and retention policies and procedures. Through these systems and electronic processes the Company has gained tremendous efficiencies resulting in transactional cost reductions, the elimination of paper and storage costs, and reduced resource requirements.

Matthew Mentel, Executive Director, Technology & Business Solutions

As the Executive Director of Technology and Business Solutions for ROi, Matt Mentel is responsible for providing approaches to optimize ROi's supply chain functions by utilizing technology and process improvements. In his role, Matt oversees all of ROi's technical functions, Content Services and Customer Business Solutions, which involves working with ROi’s strategic business units to identify, develop, and implement new and future tools to support the ongoing growth of ROi.

Matt has more than 20 years of experience in health care, including 12 years in supply chain and information technology. Prior to joining ROi, he held various positions with Mercy, the 8th largest Catholic health care system in the United States. Matt’s career includes service to a variety of other health care providers, including SSM Healthcare System and St. Louis University Hospital, and a health care consulting/accounting firm.

Matt is a member of the Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM) and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). Matt received a bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems with a Certificate of Focus in Health Information Management, a Master of Health Administration and a Master of Business Administration from St. Louis University.

Michael Harris, Senior Director Finance Business Support, American Red Cross

Michael is very proud to be working for the world's leading brand provider in humanitarian services. The American Red Cross is best known for their response to national disasters, but in addition they also respond to over 70,000 nationwide local disasters annually. The American Red Cross also collects, manufactures and supplies nearly half of the nation's blood supply and provides health & safety training (e.g. first aid) to millions of Americans, provides services support the Armed Forces as well as International disaster relief.

Michael has over 25 years procure-to-pay (P2P) experience with notable achievements in accounts payable, sourcing, contracting, procurement, inventory management, warehousing & distribution, real estate management, finance, manufacturing, sales & marketing, R&D, ERP production and IT systems support. With this combination of experience, Michael has a unique business perspective which has produced a wealth of innovative end-to-end business solutions resulting in increased productivity, efficiency and quality whilst reducing cost and increasing revenue.

Prior to his 9 years service with the American Red Cross, Michael worked with The Atlas Copco Group in numerous positions throughout the world including U.K., Germany, India & South Africa prior to the US.

Sandy L’Herault, Director of Purchasing & Accounts Payable, Fairview Health Services

Sandy L’Herault is the Director of Purchasing and Accounts Payable at Fairview Health Services in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has responsibility for leading the Procure-to-Pay processes for the entire care system, which consists of 7 hospitals, including the University of Minnesota Medical Center, over 40 clinics, retail pharmacies, long-term care centers etc. Sandy has over 31+ years of Healthcare Purchasing and Accounts Payable experience. Fairview Supply Chain has been recognized nationally, by many organizations, for its leading edge processes & best practices, Employee Engagement and cost savings achievements.

Scott Brechtel, Senior Purchasing Agent, UNC Charlotte

Scott is a senior buyer at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and also works for the UNC-General Administration helping to develop the UNC-GA Consortium SciQuest portal. He has been with the University for over six years and worked in Purchasing in the private sector before moving into the higher education environment. Scott holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Canisius College in Buffalo, NY as well as an MBA from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Scott was a member of the core implementation team at UNC Charlotte when the SciQuest platform was brought to the campus.

Tim Hicks, Operations Manager - Procure to Pay, Mayo Clinic

Tim is an Operations Manager in Procure to Pay at Mayo Clinic with responsibility over both Procurement and AP Transactions. He has been at Mayo Clinic for four years, starting as a Buyer before being promoted to supervisory positions. Prior to joining Mayo Clinic Tim worked in Supply Chain roles for companies in both the manufacturing and tourism industries. Tim has a Master’s Degree with a specialization in Human Resource Development from The University of Minnesota, and holds Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM) and Accounts Payable Manager (APM) certifications.