2020 SHSMD Rising Stars Class

T​​​​he SHSMD Rising Star recognition recognizes health care strategy professionals under the age of 40 who have demonstrated outstanding promise in their respective fields. This recognition shines a spotlight on SHSMD members who have made or are on their way to making significant contributions to their profession and the SHSMD membership.

Congratulations to the 2020 Class of Rising Stars! These six individuals are distinguished by being highly successful within their organizations as well as within our industry and they are on a trajectory for future success. They exemplify core values, such as integrity, inspirational behavior, leadership, and demonstrated commitment to advancing the profession through innovative work.

Amy Ashford is the Regional Director of Marketing & Communications for Trinity Health Of New England. In this role, she is responsible for creating a broad strategic management and marketing and communication function for both internal and external stakeholders, as well as implementing innovative initiatives to measurably enhance the health system's value to customers, colleagues, medical staff, partners and others.

Amy has extensive leadership experience in creating and implementing successful marketing & communications plans for health care systems in New England, including Trinity Health Of New England, Baystate Wing Hospital, Eastern Connecticut Health Network in Manchester, CT, and Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, NH.

Amy received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Saint Anselm College and a Master of Science degree in Organizational Leadership from Southern New Hampshire University. She is a Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampden County board member.

Sienna Cashin has more than seven years of experience in healthcare marketing. In her role as account supervisor at Fahlgren Mortine, she collaborates with clients on the strategic development and implementation of numerous brand initiatives, ensuring integration across the entire promotional mix.

Prior to joining Fahlgren Mortine, Sienna worked at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Children’s National Hospital.

Terri Flood joined the Wayne HealthCare team in 2014 and has served as director of marketing and communications and director of business development. She has 15 years of healthcare marketing, public relations and community outreach experience in addition to physician relations and recruitment. Prior to Wayne HealthCare, Terri was employed at Western Kentucky University Health Services, where she developed their brand and managed all marketing and outreach efforts. Terri also served as an adjunct faculty member for the Health Care Administration program at Western Kentucky University.

Terri received both her Master of Health Administration and a Bachelor of Science in family studies from Western Kentucky University. She also has a Leadership Studies certificate.

Terri is chair of the Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development (SHSMD) New Member Engagement Task Force, a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and Ohio Network of Physician Recruiters (ONPR). She is currently board chair of the American Red Cross Miami Valley Ohio Chapter and board chair of the Darke County Visitors Bureau. Terri also serves as secretary for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Shelby and Darke County and an Ambassador for the Darke County Chamber of Commerce. Terri is actively involved in her local community and volunteers with various nonprofit organizations.

Alisha Katz, award-winning public relations practitioner and avid volunteer, serves as a marketing manager over University of Florida Health’s surgical, transplant and congenital heart center programs, in addition to assisting with hospital affiliations. Prior to her promotion, Alisha acted as marketing coordinator for 10+ specialties and served on the media on-call team.

Alisha graduated with honors from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. Upon graduation, Alisha served as the communications & research manager for the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce & the Council for Economic Outreach, and, thereafter, was named the director of cinema & development at the Hippodrome Theatre.

Dedicated to making an impact in her community, Alisha is involved with the Junior League of Gainesville where she has held several leadership positions. She has also served on the Florida Public Relations Association Gainesville Chapter’s board and serves as a member of the Ronald McDonald House’s Red Shoe Society as well as the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development.

She lives in Gainesville, Florida, with her husband, Nadav, daughter, Eleanor, and dog, Luna.

Mitch Shusteris, Senior Marketing Manager at Atlantic Health System based in Morristown, NJ, has been in healthcare marketing for over 9 years. Mitch started with Atlantic Health in 2013 and has since built a team dedicated to the marketing and communications efforts for Atlantic Medical Group, a multispecialty physician group with now more than 1,000 providers across 300 locations in northern and central New Jersey and northeast Pennsylvania.

During his tenure with Atlantic Health, Mitch has branded and grew more than 200 physician practice sites ranging from single physician practices to large multi-specialty health centers, and has built Atlantic Medical Group as a branded, consumer preferred, destination of care.

Mitch received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and his Masters of Business Administration from Silberman College of Business at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Stacey Sunday, APR, is Manager of Communications and Public Affairs at Renown Health, northern Nevada’s largest, locally owned and governed, not-for-profit integrated healthcare network serving Nevada, Lake Tahoe and northeast California. She is responsible for the strategic planning, development and execution of internal and external communications to targeted audiences, while supporting Renown’s purpose and strategic plan.

In her work to promote and protect the organization’s brand and reputation, Stacey actively works to mitigate, prepare, respond, communicate and recover from crises that affect the organization and community to enhance Renown’s capacity to provide access to patients needing care and to minimize the risk of disruption to patient care. Most recently, she served as public information officer for the Hospital Incident Command System team responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.