PANELISTS

Irene Faranda ('04, MS '08)
Associate Executive Director, Human Resources
Northwell Health

Irene Faranda is a human resources leader with over 15 years experience.  She currently holds the title Associate Executive Director of Human Resources at Southside Hospital part of Northwell Health.  Her current role is to act as a trusted advisor to senior leadership and lead all human resource functions at the facility including leadership development, employee engagement and strategic planning.  Prior to Northwell Health, she held leadership roles at JetBlue Airways in the areas of talent management and employee 
                                       engagement. 
Irene obtained a graduate degree in human resources from Baruch College. She is also certified in Emotional Intelligence, Hogan Assessments and is currently enrolled in the iCoach program at Baruch College for Executive Coaching.   

Michael Kern (MS '11)
Director of Human Resources
Long Island Jewish Medical Center (LIJMC)

As the Director of HR at Long Island Jewish Medical Center (LIJMC), Michael helps shape the strategic direction of HR for the 5,000 employees while continuing to work to strategically support the operations of the hospital and ensure that the entire team is contributing to delivering world class care to our patients.

Prior to his work at LIJMC, Michael was the Senior Director, Employee Experience at Northwell Health where he lead the launch of the organization’s employee value proposition known as the Employee Promise as well as led the design and administration of the engagement survey for the 71,000 employee organization.

Prior to joining Northwell, Mike has developed, delivered and evaluated training programs, designed and validated various selection tests, and helped to develop and implement practical, business driven solutions for succession, leadership development, high potential identification and development and staff development challenges.

Mike was an Adjunct Professor at Baruch College, City University of New York, where he taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in Psychology, he has authored articles in professional journals on Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and has been a presenter at national and regional psychology conferences. 

Michael Kern holds an M.A. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from New York University and will be receiving in his doctorate in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from City University of New York Graduate Center/Baruch College this year.

Kevin McGeachy (MBA '94)
Senior Vice President, Administration
Mather Hospital 

Kevin McGeachy has assumed progressively responsible roles since joining Northwell Health in 1998. Currently the senior vice president of administration at Mather Hospital, Mr. McGeachy works closely with the CEO on day-to-day operations and is also responsible for implementing the hospital’s master campus plan.

Prior to joining Mather Hospital, Mr. McGeachy served as the senior vice president of strategic alliances for Northwell Health, where he helped explore new strategic alliances, affiliations and partnerships with other local and national health care providers. Mr. McGeachy and his team led the development of a clinical affiliation agreement with Nuvance Health based out of Danbury, CT.

Previously, Mr. McGeachy established Cohen Children’s Medical Center as the premier children’s hospital in the New York metro area. As deputy executive director then executive director of Cohen and its satellite facilities, he managed the development of a $140 million expansion project that included a dedicated pediatric emergency room, pediatric perioperative suite, 25-bed intensive care unit and 25-bed medical/surgical unit. Additionally, he was instrumental in leading the development of key programs at Cohen Children's including pediatric kidney transplant and pediatric trauma.

Mr. McGeachy joined Northwell as part of an internal consulting group charged with examining integration opportunities among Northwell’s various entities. He served as associate executive director at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills, LIJ Medical Center and North Shore University Hospital, the latter of which he was responsible for a variety of clinical and ancillary support departments, as well as major facility construction projects.  

Mr. McGeachy is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He received an MBA from Baruch College/Mount Sinai School of Medicine and a bachelor’s from the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University program in health administration

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Anisha Rathod (MPA '16)
Respiratory Care Supervisor
New York-Presbyterian Hospital

Anisha is a Respiratory Care Supervisor at New York Presbyterian hospital in Queens, NY. In the Pandemic of COVID-19 Respiratory Therapists are the health care heroes who get closest and most exposed to COVID patients. Her focus has been on how she protects and supports her team to provide optimum patient care, along with staying positive and strong in the uncertainty and to infuse the confidence in people around her. Passionate about making a difference in the community and making the world a better place to live.

MODERATOR

Diane M. Gibson, Ph.D.
Marxe Professor, Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs,
Executive Director of the New York Federal Statistical Research Data Center
Baruch College, CUNY 

Diane Gibson is a Professor at the Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs and Executive Director of the New York Federal Statistical Research Data Center at Baruch College. Her research focuses on the relationship between means-tested social program participation and nutrition and health outcomes, the links between the neighborhood food environment and food purchase decisions, predictors of and policies to enhance adherence to diabetes preventive care recommendations, and the availability of and access to vision-related health care. Her research has been published in journals such as the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, JAMA Ophthalmology, Journal of Nutrition, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of Urban Economics, and Preventive Medicine.

Professor Gibson mainly teaches courses in microeconomics and public finance. She was awarded the Baruch College Presidential Excellence Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2004 and she received a Baruch College Alumni Association Faculty Service Award in 2014.

Professor Gibson earned a B.S. in Economics and International Relations from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a M.A. and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.

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