Ken Paulus became Allina Hospitals & Clinics' president and chief executive officer (CEO) in 2009. He moved into that leadership position after serving as chief operating officer (COO), responsible for the operations of Allina's 11 hospitals, specialty operations and clinic groups (Allina Medical Clinic, Aspen Medical Group and Quello Clinic). He has led numerous growth initiatives, including a number of joint ventures, partnerships and acquisitions.
Before joining Allina in 2006, Paulus was president and chief executive officer of Massachusetts-based HealthOne Care System, one of the nation's largest physician organizations and a teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Prior to that he was chief operating officer of Boston-based Partners Community HealthCare, Inc., and chief operating officer of Alta Bates Medical Resources in Berkeley, California.
Paulus is a Wisconsin native and University of Minnesota graduate.
Penny Wheeler, MD, chief clinical officer (CCO) of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, leads Allina's clinical quality and improvement agenda by collaborating with medical staffs, the Allina Board of Directors' Physician Governance Council and medical directors. She is responsible for ensuring best-of-practice approaches, ongoing innovation and excellence in care, and supporting the development and retention of effective clinicians.
A board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist, Dr. Wheeler has served patients at Women's Health Consultants in Minneapolis and taught as an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Minnesota. She has served as president of Abbott Northwestern Hospital's medical staff, as chairperson and vice-chairperson of the hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department and on numerous committees.
Her educational background includes an undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Minnesota, and a doctorate of medicine degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Duncan P. Gallagher, chief financial officer (CFO) of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, is responsible for ensuring that Allina resources are deployed properly to enhance the quality, safety and effectiveness of the care Allina provides to patients and communities.
Prior to joining Allina's Executive Leadership Team in August 2009, Gallagher was the executive vice president and chief operating and financial officer of Iowa Health System based in Des Moines, Iowa. Gallagher spent 10 years in that role overseeing all of the finance functions as well as administrative functions including legal services, human resources, information technology, strategy, supply chain management, and payer contracting.
Prior to his time at Iowa Health System, Gallagher was a partner with KPMG Peat Marwick based in Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Dallas. He spent 10 years with KPMG leading client engagements with large hospital systems. Prior to his time with KPMG he was a director of finance at Health East Care System in the late '80s and was a senior auditor with Peat Marwick Mitchell and Company in the early to mid '80s.
Gallagher completed his master's degree in business administration from the University of Minnesota in 1989. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1983 from the University of South Dakota.
Thomas O'Connor
System vice president
President, Mercy Hospital
Tom O'Connor has been president of Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids since March 2007, previously serving as president of St. Francis Regional Medical Center for five years. He began his career with Allina in 1997.
As corporate vice president of operations for Allina in 2002, O'Connor led the administrative redesign and system-wide financial improvement necessitated by Allina's split with Medica Health Plan. He previously managed five owned and eight managed rural hospitals as vice president of operations for Allina Regional Health Services from 1997 to 2001.
Tom began his career in health care management in Georgia and Florida, including serving as chief operating officer of Capital Regional Medical Center in Tallahassee.
A Minnesota native, Tom has master's degrees in health services administration and in business administration from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor's degree in economics/finance from St. Olaf College in Northfield.
Jeffrey D. Peterson
System vice president
President, Abbott Northwestern Hospital
Jeff Peterson has been president of Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Allina's largest hospital, since September 2006.
Peterson came to Abbott Northwestern from St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio, where he served as president, chief executive officer, executive vice president and chief operating officer. Prior to his work at St. Vincent's, he served as metro vice president of Professional Services and Clinical Services at Mercy Health Partners.
He has a master's in hospital and health administration from the University of Iowa and a bachelor's degree in business from Western Michigan University. He grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Peterson is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He also is an active member of Rotary International and the University of Iowa Healthcare Administration Alumni Program.
Rickie Ressler
System vice president
President, Unity Hospital
Rickie Ressler started her career with Allina Hospitals & Clinics in 1969 and has served as president of Unity Hospital since 2006. Prior to this position, she spent six years as executive vice president of Allina's hospitals and specialty operations.
A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Ressler began her career with Hennepin County General Hospital (now Hennepin County Medical Center) as a staff nurse in intensive care. She has served on many community and hospital boards and held leadership positions in many professional organizations.
Tomi Ryba
System vice president
President, United Hospital
Tomi Ryba joined Allina Hospitals & Clinics in 2009 as a system vice president and president of United Hospital in St. Paul.
Ryba came to Allina from University of California – San Francisco Medical Center, where she served as chief operating officer. Prior to her tenure at UCSF, she was president of St. Mary Medical Center, also in San Francisco.
Ryba has a master's in health administration from Chapman University in Orange, Calif., and a bachelor's degree from University of California, Riverside. She is a member of many organizations, including the National Association of Public Hospitals, National Committee on Legislative Initiatives, Federally Qualified Health Center, Managed Care Planning Council, Women in Healthcare Administration and the American College of Healthcare Executives.
The San Francisco Business Times recognized Ryba as one of the Most Influential Women in San Francisco in 2007 and 2008.
Sandy Schmitt
Executive vice president of strategy and organizational performance
Sandy Schmitt is responsible for leading and directing Allina's strategy and business development activities. She also oversees several organizational functions, including marketing and communications, payer contracting, human resources, audit and compliance.
Prior to joining Allina, Schmitt was vice president of strategy for VHA, a health care consulting group, where she was responsible for national strategic planning and research. She also has held strategy leadership positions at Arthur Andersen and KPMG Peat Marwick's National Health Care Strategy Practice. Earlier in her career, Schmitt served as vice president of planning and development at Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa.
Schmitt earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and her master's in health care administration from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Elizabeth Truesdell Smith brings a patient-centered focus to the corporate health law and governance work of the general counsel. Smith came to her current role in 2009 with a long track record of representing Allina Hospitals & Clinics in patient safety, risk management, professional liability litigation and clinical regulatory matters.
She joined the Allina Legal and Risk Management Department in 2000. In 2007, Smith began leading Allina's medical-legal team as its vice president. In this role, she worked with local and corporate leaders in areas of clinical practice and health care quality.
Before coming to Allina, Smith practiced as a trial lawyer for eight years with a focus on hospital and health law, medical professional liability and medical products liability litigation.
Prior to attending the University of Minnesota Law School, Smith earned a master's of public health with a health law and bioethics concentration from Boston University School of Public Health. She has worked in biomedical laboratory research at Harvard Medical School and in biomedical ethics at Boston University and the University of Minnesota.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Wieland was the district medical director for Allina Medical Clinic. He also co-founded the Hospitalist Service at Abbott Northwestern Hospital.
Dr. Wieland earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota, his medical degree at the University of Minnesota Medical School and completed internal medicine training at Abbott Northwestern Hospital.
