BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Ed Pershing, CPA – Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Pershing has served as non-executive Chairman of our Board since 2018. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Pershing Yoakley & Associates (PYA), until November 2019 when he retired. PYA is a top 20 healthcare consulting and top 100 accounting firm in the U.S. PYA, which he co-founded more than 30 years ago, expanded from a three-employee office to more than 270 employees and five affiliate companies serving more than 3,500 clients in 50 states. Mr. Pershing’s healthcare experience and expertise include turnaround/performance improvement initiatives, long-range planning studies, development of numerous hospital and medical office projects, restructuring of healthcare organizations, liaison between boards of directors and management teams to craft corporate visions and strategies, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and leasing arrangements. He has served as an expert witness on healthcare industry matters and in several Certificate of Need appeals. Mr. Pershing also has represented healthcare organizations before regulatory agencies such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Internal Revenue Service, and Departments of Mental Health, Insurance, and Medicaid. He graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and was one of eighteen professionals from the U.S. and Great Britain to participate in the first Ernst & Ernst Accelerated Healthcare Program, a one-year full-time education and work-study program in healthcare industry matters. Mr. Pershing is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Dominic Rodrigues – Vice Chairman of the Board and President

Mr. Rodrigues has served as a member of our Board since 2017 and its non-executive Vice Chairman since 2018, previously serving as non-executive Chairman of our Board from 2017 to 2018. Mr. Rodrigues previously served as President of Rhisk Capital, where he did management consulting, corporate development, and portfolio management. Project industries and technologies included aerospace & defense (a technology-focused, private equity-styled, capital investment pool; corporate development and operational roles at a related data communications company), financial services (a capital markets-focused, financial technology start-up company; a start-up private wealth office), healthcare, life sciences, and nanotechnology (a venture capital-styled investment). Mr. Rodrigues also previously served as an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the Lee Business School of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His business development, corporate development, finance, operations, and leadership experiences at various companies include working as a corporate venture capitalist at SAIC Venture Capital Corporation (SAIC VCC), the multi-billion-dollar subsidiary of research and engineering company SAIC, where he was an observer or member of the board of directors of a number of SAIC VCC portfolio companies; a proprietary currency derivatives trader at Bank of Montreal, a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company; and a project manager and engineer at Jacques Whitford, a Canadian multinational environmental consulting company. He holds business, economics, and engineering degrees from The Wharton School, the London School of Economics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Toronto.

John Lacey, III, M.D. – Board Member

Dr. Lacey has served as a member of our Board since 2018. Dr. Lacey is the former Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of University Health System d/b/a University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC), a 600+ bed academic medical center based in Knoxville since 1999. Dr. Lacey served continuously in this capacity from 1999 until retirement from UTMC in 2016. He also operated an internal medicine practice for 39 years. Dr. Lacey graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering and the University of Tennessee Medical School (Memphis) with a Doctor of Medicine degree. Dr. Lacey helped create Knoxville Area Project Access, a partnership with the Knoxville Academy of Medicine and providers to give primary and specialty health services to the uninsured and medically underserved and was the inaugural chairman of the Governor’s Health and Wellness Task Force, which focused on improving Tennessee’s national health ranking. Dr. Lacey has been recognized by several entities for contributions to population health.

Webster Bailey – Board Member

Mr. Bailey owns and operates a substance abuse counseling and consulting agency, as well as a lifestyle apparel company. From 2007 to 2022, Mr. Bailey served in a variety of executive leadership roles at Cornerstone of Recovery, a substance abuse rehabilitation center in East Tennessee. For most of his career there, he served as Director of Marketing and Business Development, overseeing all of the company’s revenue generation efforts. He finished his career at Cornerstone in the role of Executive Director where he managed and directed the entire operation – the largest residential treatment center in Tennessee. Mr. Bailey is involved in several East Tennessee substance abuse prevention and recovery-related initiatives, including having served multiple terms as President of the boards of directors of the Metro Drug Coalition and the Blount County Recovery Court Foundation. For these and other community leadership efforts, Mr. Bailey received the Community Service Award from the Tennessee Licensed Professional Counselors Association (2013), the Recovery Services Award from the Metropolitan Drug Commission (2014), and the Prevention Champion Award from the Blount County Community Health Initiative (2015) and was named Professional of the Year by the East Tennessee Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (2016). He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and Public Relations from the University of Tennessee. Mr. Bailey also serves on the board of directors for Clover Fork Coal Company.