In this episode we talk with Jamie Kowalski. Jamie’s career as a Supply Chain Management executive in community and tertiary hospitals began in 1972.
He began his consulting career in 1980, founding Kowalski-Dickow Associates, Inc. (KDA), a leading hospital supply chain management-consulting firm. He has satisfied over 1700 hospital clients and over 180 IDNs. He has also consulted with dozens of supply chain related service provider companies, including Fortune 15 and Fortune 100 companies.
He later served in senior executive roles with Owens & Minor, Inc., McKesson Provider Technologies and Aramark Supply Chain Management Services.
Jamie is a Co-Founder and the first Board Chairman of The Bellwether League, Inc., the not-for-profit Hall of Fame for the Healthcare Supply Chain leaders.
He was selected for the George R. Gossett Leadership Award by the Association of Healthcare Resource and Materials Management, in 2011.
Jamie authored four and co-authored three more books on healthcare supply chain management, over 80 articles, and has spoken at over 125 national and international conferences on healthcare supply chain management.
Jamie earned BS in Management and MBA degrees from Marquette University.
He earned Fellow status in the American College of Healthcare Executives and the Association for Healthcare Resource and Materials Management.
In this episode we talk to John Strong.
John is a 40 year veteran of the healthcare industry with leadership experience in healthcare providers, suppliers and service providers, and group purchasing organizations. On October 4, 2011 the Bellwether League (Health Care Supply Chain Hall of Fame) inducted John for “his outstanding contributions over the years to healthcare supply chain management, development, innovation and leadership.” He combines talents that include health care administration, entrepreneurship, national accounts contracting, group purchasing, the roles of President, CEO and board member, and healthcare industry consultant. John has developed and implemented programs that have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in value for his employers and clients.
In addition to his consulting practice, John served on the adjunct faculty of the Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business, at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee for three years.
John presently serves as president of Greenhealth Management, a subsidiary of Practice Greenhealth. It operates Greenhealth Exchange, a Delaware public benefit company (“B” Corp). Greenhealth Exchange is focused on developing specifications and aggregating green, sustainable purchasing volume to accelerate the adoption of better and more sustainable products in the health care industry.
John retired from Nexera, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of the Greater New York Hospital Association, where he was Senior Vice President of Management Services. This division provides outsourced services to clients including Supply Chain Procurement, Distribution, Central Processing, Linen, Receiving, Environmental Services, Facility Management, Clinical Engineering and Food Services.
John served as the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of Consorta, a $5 billion dollar group purchasing organization serving more than 350 hospitals for more than ten years.
Prior to Consorta, John served in a number of senior executive positions at Premier, Inc., a leading national healthcare alliance. In his final role as Chief Operating Officer of the group purchasing program he was responsible for medical surgical, operating supply and pharmacy group purchasing and clinical programs, alternate site services and international programs. He was a key architect of Premier’s contracting programs, member service and marketing operations for the group purchasing program, increasing purchasing volume to more than eight fold.
John’s experience also includes consulting as a Senior Vice President with Concepts in Healthcare, Inc., an Ashland, Massachusetts consulting firm.
John received his Master’s Degree in Business Administration with Distinction, with an emphasis on Human Resource Management from DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, with a comprehensive major in Management from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He is married, and has two post-college age children.