Board of Governors
Sharon L. Hanson
Chair
Sharon Hanson is the Secretary of the Erie County Medical Center Corporation Board of Directors. She has served in a variety of board leadership roles over the past 20 years. Currently, she serves as the chair of the governance committee and is a member of the executive, compensation and investment committees. Her leadership has had a profound impact at the region’s only designated Level 1 Adult Trauma Center. Hanson participated in developing the organization’s strategic plan, which successfully led to more efficient and effective day-to-day operations. She has proudly advocated on behalf of the thousands of caregivers, residents and patients of Western New York’s diverse community.
Hanson is also the president and chief executive officer of a successful healthcare consulting business. She continues to serve the Buffalo not-for-profit community as a member of the United Way, the Women's Group, and as a mentor to new and upcoming entrepreneurs.
Hanson served as chair of the board of trustees at Trocaire College, where she helped establish a partnership between Trocaire and ECMCC to provide an employment path for matriculating nurses. She helped create the Health Sciences Charter School by providing a curriculum for City of Buffalo students to prepare and pursue future careers in healthcare. Hanson also served as a commissioner on the reservation of the Seneca Nation of Indians, where she helped design a program to improve policies and procedures to improve healthcare for individuals suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and drug abuse.
Hanson is a graduate of Canisius College and holds dual Bachelor of Science degrees in English and political science. She joined the HTNYS Board of Governors in 2017.
Muhammed Javed, M.D.
Vice-Chair
Muhammed Javed, M.D., is currently Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Upper Allegheny Health System (UAHS), the parent company of Olean General Hospital in Olean, New York, and Bradford Regional Medical Center, in Bradford Pennsylvania. He has been a board member since the inception of UAHS in 2009. Prior to that he was a member of the Olean General Hospital Board of Directors.
Dr. Javed established a Nephrology Practice in Olean, New York, more than 19 years ago and was instrumental in the establishment of the Marie Lorenz Dialysis Center at Olean General Hospital, where he currently serves as Medical Director. The Dialysis Center provides life-sustaining treatment to patients in the Twin Tiers who are suffering from end-stage renal disease. Dr. Javed is also Medical Director of Divita Bradford Dialysis.
He has held various leadership positions at both Olean General Hospital and Bradford Regional Medical Center. Dr. Javed serves as Assistant Medical Director and Physician Advisor at Olean General Hospital. He has been President of the Olean General Hospital Medical Staff, Chairman of the Department of Medicine, and has served on numerous other hospital committees. To enhance his leadership capabilities, he completed the process for national certification as a certified medical staff leader. He has served as President of McKean County Medical Society. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor at State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo School of Medicine, teaching resident physicians at Olean General Hospital’s family medicine residency program, and is three-time winner of the program’s “best teacher award.”
He is a current member of The Physician Leadership Board of Optimum Physician Alliance, an independent practice association of more than 500 Western New York primary care physicians and specialists and serves as the chair of its quality committee. Dr. Javed has long been active in the local community. He is currently a board member of the Olean/Bradford YMCA.
Dr. Javed completed his residency in internal medicine and his fellowship in nephrology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
Laurence R. Smith
Secretary
Laurence Smith has served on the White Plains Hospital Board of Directors since 2004 on various committees and in several leadership roles, including as chair of the finance and audit committees. He was board chairman from 2015 to 2022, providing leadership during a time of significant growth and transformation into a tertiary hub.
He is also a member of the Montefiore Health System Board of Trustees and serves on its medical committee. He served as chairman of Stellaris Health Network and joined the Healthcare Trustees of New York State Board of Governors in 2018.
Smith previously served as chairman, chief executive officer, chief investment officer and founding partner of Third Wave Global Investors. Before that, he was the global chief investment officer and U.S. CEO of Credit Suisse Asset Management. Earlier in his career, he held a variety of senior positions during his 18 years at JP Morgan Investment Management, including global head of asset allocation and head of US fixed income.
He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and an undergraduate degree in business from the University of Florida. Smith serves on an advisory council for the business school at the University of Florida and is a founding trustee of the Gator Student Investment Fund. He also serves on the boards of Mirae US Mutual Funds, several First Eagle funds, and Amplified Technology Holdings, and on the limited partner advisory committee at Inspiration Ventures.
Victor A. Ayala, Ph.D.
Victor Ayala serves as a trustee of Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center and the Rutland Nursing Home. He chairs the Kingsbrook Board of Directors’ Compensation Committee and Joint Conference Committee on Medical Matters, and is a member of the Governance and Strategic Planning Committee. Dr. Ayala served on the HIV Planning Council of New York City from 2014 to 2017.
Dr. Ayala is a Professor in the Department of Health and Human Services at New York City College of Technology, part of City University of New York. From 2001 to 2007, he served as Dean of the School of Professional Studies of New York City College of Technology.
Dr. Ayala is co-founder and founding Chair of the Board of the Brooklyn AIDS Task Force and is the author of Falling Through the Cracks: AIDS and the Urban Poor. He served as Chair of the Urban Resource Institute from 1999 to 2002 and has served on the board for 15 years.
Dr. Ayala served for ten years as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Comunilife, formally the Health Industries Resources Enterprises, Inc., a community-based organization providing housing and mental health services. In January 2013, Dr. Ayala was appointed to the Suffolk County Hispanic Advisory Board. He is also a Board Member of the NorthEast Brooklyn Housing Development Corp.
Dr. Ayala has received numerous awards for his dedicated service to the New York City College of Technology, Borough of Brooklyn, National Organization for Human Service Education, and Hospital Fund for Greater New York. He received the Lenore McNeer Award in 2005 and was honored by the United Hospital Fund in 2009.
Joseph F. Bruno
Joseph Bruno has been a member of the Maimonides Board of Trustees since 2014 and participates on Maimonides’ Medical Matters and Physical Facilities Committees.
He has a unique background in both emergency management and law and has significant experience running complex government entities focused on emergency management. In his public service role, he served most recently as Commissioner of the New York City Office of Emergency Management and is a former Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department.
Bruno has also served as an elected Judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York assigned to the Criminal Court and as an acting Justice and an elected Justice of the Supreme Court, Kings County, handling trials of both criminal felony matters and civil matters, including tort/negligence, medical malpractice and other issues.
Bruno also served as the CEO of Helen Keller Services, a 126-year-old not-for-profit, which provides direct service to blind, visually impaired consumers in New York City, Nassau and Suffolk Counties and serves the deaf-blind population in the nation through regional offices located around the United States.
Jeannie H. Cross
Jeannie H. Cross is Trustee Emeritus on the Board of Trustees of Adirondack Health and a past chair. She has more than 25 years of experience in healthcare advocacy. She created and headed the state and federal government relations program for Metropolitan Jewish Health System from 2005 until her retirement in 2016. Previously, she served as Vice President of Corporate Communications and Marketing at HANYS, overseeing advocacy communications, member and media relations, and marketing functions. She also worked with the marketing and communications firm Zone 5 as Vice President, Healthcare Communications and Public Affairs.
Before her public affairs work, Ms. Cross was a print and wire service journalist, including heading the United Press International bureau in the New York State Capitol. She also reported on state government in Montana, winning numerous awards for her news coverage.
Ms. Cross has served on a number of voluntary boards, including as a member of the Board of Advisors of George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, where she received her Master of Arts degree in Sino-Soviet-East European Affairs. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bennington College and has served on its Board of Trustees and as President of its Alumni Association.
David E. Godfrey
The Honorable David E. Godfrey is a member of the Catholic Health System Ministry Services Board headquartered in Buffalo, New York. Prior to joining, he was a 24-year member of the executive committee of the board of directors at Eastern Niagara Hospital in Lockport.
A Niagara County Legislator for 13 years, he chairs the administration and finance committee and is vice chair of the community safety and security committee, a member of the county opioid task force, and serves on the community services committee, Niagara military affairs council, Department of Homeland Security advisory board, fire advisory board, Niagara/Erie regional councils and the New York State Association of Counties' public safety committee.
He is co-chair of the Niagara-Orleans Regional Alliance with a core focus on regional solutions to issues of state and federal mandates, emergency services, economic development, and shared services. He helped coordinate projects to upgrade the county-wide emergency 911 communication system and another to provide 100% coverage of high-speed broadband across the two counties.
Godfrey has more than 40 years' experience in business enabling information systems, including IBM mainframes, computer forensics and wireless infrastructures. He worked in Tel Aviv, Israel to develop new biometric user authentication technologies. He has consulted for many of the major corporations and institutions in the U.S. and internationally.
Godfrey is a Vietnam combat veteran (3rd Marine Division, Da Nang).
Timothy C. Harrison
Timothy Harrison was elected to the board of trustees of the Richmond University Medical Center in 2019 and currently serves as chairman of the board.
From 1982 through 1989 (with a pause in 1984 to run a senatorial campaign in Virginia) Harrison was an associate attorney at the Manhattan law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he focused on corporate litigation, mergers and acquisitions. Harrison is a member of the bars of the State of New York, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Since 1990, he has served as managing partner of TCH Realty & Development Co., and its affiliated partnerships. In that capacity, he has developed 32 commercial, industrial, office and residential projects.
Harrison has engaged actively in community service, both locally and nationally. He was elected in 2015 to the Board of Visitors of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College. He has served as chairman of that board since 2017.
During his more than 20 years serving on the board of directors of Project Hospitality, Harrison has contributed actively to the organization’s growth and its mission: the establishment of a broad and sustainable continuum of care for Staten Islanders in need, including the provision of food for the hungry, shelter for the unhoused, safe spaces for the abused, comprehensive treatment for people suffering from addiction, HIV/AIDS or mental illness, and a panoply of other services for the less fortunate.
He was elected to be a director of the Northfield Bank Foundation in 2014; he was named chairman of the Foundation Board in 2019 and has served in that capacity since then. He has served since 2013 as a member of the board of directors of Northfield Bank.
From 2015 through 2022, Harrison served as a trustee of the Staten Island Academy. He was elected vice president of the board in 2017 and president in 2018.
Harrison earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College in 1978, graduating cum laude with highest distinction in government. He earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1981 from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Susan Holliday
Immediate Past Chair
Susan Holliday is a member of the board, and past chair, of the University of Rochester Medical Center. Holliday serves as a Vice Chair of the Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency’s (FLHSA) Regional Consortium on Health Care Work Force. She previously served on FLHSA’s Regional Commission on Community Health Improvement and the 2020 Performance Commission. Holliday also served as a member of the American Hospital Association’s Committee on Governance.
Holliday is the former president and publisher of the Rochester Business Journal, a company that she owned for 28 years.
She is chair of the board of Financial Institutions Inc. and vice chair of the board of Rochester Institute of Technology. She is a member of the board of Complemar Partners Inc. and a board member and past Chair of the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce. She has served on the boards of numerous other community organizations in the greater Rochester region.
Holliday received her Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Lynne M. Johnson
Lynne Johnson, a trustee at Orleans Community Health, is in her 14th year as an Orleans County legislator and is serving her second term as chairman of the Legislature.
As co-chair of the Niagara-Orleans Regional Alliance, Johnson has traveled to Washington and Albany multiple times in her fight to have rural broadband reach every home and business throughout both counties. Her leadership and dedication to NORA is exemplified by her fight against the International Joint Commission’s efforts to change Lake Ontario water levels. NORA has also formed a five-county commission that will oversee a regional dredging plan to ensure that recreational harbors are always “open for business.”
In addition to NORA, Johnson has served on the board of directors of Orleans Community Health for 12 years, serves on the National Association of Counties Public Safety Committee, the New York State Association of Counties Public Safety Committee, as chairman of finance for Genesee-Orleans Community Action, accountant for the Genesee-Orleans Ministry of Concern, member of the Orleans County Fire Advisory Board, and trustee for the Orleans County Community Services Board.
Johnson is majority owner of Millennium Roads LLC, where she is an enrolled agent for the Internal Revenue Service, performing financial accounting and tax services for local municipalities and businesses, nonprofit organizations, and individuals across several states. She has earned her fellowship with the National Association of Tax Professionals.
Steven Kroll
Steven Kroll is a member of the Bassett Healthcare Network Board and serves as Chair of the board of trustees of Cobleskill Regional Hospital in Schoharie County, New York.
Kroll has extensive experience in healthcare policy, advocacy and operations.
His prior roles include serving as the executive director of The Arc New York, the state’s largest developmental disability services organization; vice president of governmental affairs and external relations at the Healthcare Association of New York State; associate director of the American Hospital Association’s Washington office and a health staffer for the U.S. Senate.
Kroll is the executive director and volunteer chief of Delmar-Bethlehem EMS in Albany County and a member and past chair of the New York State Emergency Medical Service Council.
Kroll holds an undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Master of Health Administration degree from Duke University.
Michael J. Pepe
Michael Pepe is chairman of the board of trustees at St. Mary’s Healthcare. He has served on the St. Mary’s board since 2005 and has also held the role of treasurer.
In 1980, he began his 42-year career in banking/finance. He last served as vice president and senior relationship manager at NBT Bank before retiring in 2021. He was responsible for the management, retention and development of a $150 million commercial and industrial/commercial real estate portfolio.
Pepe was elected to three consecutive three-year terms to the Montgomery County Legislature’s 7th Legislative District seat in 2016, 2019 and 2022. He served as chairman of the board of legislators from 2021 to 2022.
His extensive community involvement over 36 years includes serving on the Fulton Montgomery Community College Board of Trustees, Fulton-Montgomery Community College Foundation, Fulton County Economic Development Corp., St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation, Catholic Charities of Montgomery County, Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Montgomery County.
He received the Montgomery County Bar Association’s Liberty Bell Award in 2021, New York Community College Trustees’ Marvin A. Rapp Distinguished College Trustee Award in 2015, and Fulton Montgomery Community College’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007. He coached over 20 local girls youth softball and basketball teams and was the voice of the Amsterdam Rams football on local sports radio for 13 years. Pepe has also served as a lector and Eucharistic Minister at St. Mary’s Church in Amsterdam since age 15.
Pepe is a lifelong resident of Amsterdam, New York. He graduated from Bishop Scully High School, Fulton Montgomery Community College and completed his Bachelor of Science degree at SUNY Plattsburgh, majoring in business management.
Donald G. Quick, Jr.
Donald Quick has a history of more than 35 years of board service in the Elmira area, having first joined the Board of Directors for St. Joseph’s Hospital. He has previously provided board leadership for Arnot Ogden Medical Center and is now Trustee Emeritus of Arnot Health Board of Directors. Quick also provides leadership for the following community boards: Southern Tier Economic Growth, Chemung County Historical Society, Historic Elmira Inc., and Five Rivers Council Boy Scouts of America. He also serves on the Elmira Savings Bank Board of Directors where he is the Chair of the Audit Committee.
As a Certified Public Accountant with more than 40 years in the accounting profession, Quick is a consultant in the Elmira office of Mengel, Metzger, Barr and Co., LLP. He is a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology.
Todd Reinglass
Todd Reinglass has 25 years of experience in healthcare technology, having worked with hospitals and pharmaceutical, medical device and health IT companies. He currently serves as senior vice president, business development, at BioDigital, the leading developer of state-of-the-art, interactive 3D medical visualization technology. Previously, he spent five years building a successful healthcare business for Bloomberg LP.
He serves as a trustee for SBH Health System and is a member of the board of directors of the Mount Sinai Medical Legal Partnership, an organization dedicated to providing free legal services to the most vulnerable patients. He also serves on the board of the Central Park Medical Unit, an all-volunteer ambulance service providing more than $1 million in free care for the citizens of New York City, where he has served in multiple leadership positions as a New York state certified emergency medical technician.
Reinglass received a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan, where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Fellow. He lives in Westchester County with his wife, three children and Labrador retrievers.
Robert A. Spolzino
Robert A. Spolzino is a member of the Board of Advisors of Northwell Health. He previously served on the Northern Westchester Hospital Board in Mount Kisco and served as its chair from 2010 to 2014.
Spolzino is a partner at Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara, Wolf & Carone, LLP. An attorney for 35 years, he served more than eight years as Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, five of those years as a Justice of the Appellate Division, New York’s intermediate appellate court. In 2016, Spolzino was selected by the New York State Commission on Judicial Nomination as one of seven candidates statewide for a seat on New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals. Immediately prior to joining Abrams Fensterman, Spolzino was a founding partner and principal in a prestigious real estate and corporate firm in Westchester.
As a Justice of the Appellate Division, Spolzino decided more than 4,000 appeals and 10,000 appellate motions and wrote major opinions across a broad spectrum of areas. Prior to that, he presided for two and a half years in the Matrimonial Part of the Supreme Court in Westchester County. Since leaving the bench in 2009, Spolzino has argued seven times in the New York Court of Appeals and more than 65 times in the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court. For much of that time, he was a partner at an AmLaw 200 firm, where he chaired the firm’s National Appellate Practice and National Municipal and Public Entity Law Practice.
Spolzino earned his Juris Doctorate from St. John’s University Law School.
William Shum
Born and raised in Hong Kong, William Shum came to America at age 12 in 1969. He had experienced an underprivileged life of poverty, which shaped his belief in lending a voice to those who may not be heard.
Shum has served as a board member at Montefiore Nyack Hospital for 11 years. He is also a bank information technology examiner assigned to large bank supervision with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Department of the Treasury. Previously, he was a capital markets and operational risk bank examiner for 16 years.
As a trustee, Shum has worked to capitalize on as many diverse experiences as possible to gain a well-rounded perspective. He previously worked for the Internal Revenue Service, Morgan Stanley, Deloitte, Bayerische Landesbank, UBS, Associated Press, Valley National Bank, his own accounting firm and as an adjunct professor.
He received his undergraduate degree from Baruch College and a Master of Business Administration degree from Pace University. Shum is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Information System Auditor and a Certified Information Technology Professional. He is also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
Jan Turcotte, MD
Jan Turcotte is a member of the board of trustees of Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown. She has served as chair of the board and on a variety of board committees and is currently chair of the governance committee. Dr. Turcotte practiced general surgery at Samaritan Medical Center for 32 years and served in several leadership roles, including as chair of the department of surgery and as president of the medical staff. She has served on the boards of several community nonprofit organizations.
Dr. Turcotte is a graduate of LeMoyne College and the Medical College of Wisconsin. She was the first female graduate of the General surgery residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin and completed a fellowship in vascular surgery at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics before starting her practice in Watertown, New York.