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6 innovators, leaders, visionaries to be inducted this fall to the Hall of Fame for Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership

SCHAUMBURG, IL (July 28, 2023) — Bellwether League Foundation's Hall of Fame for Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership selected six professionals, hailed as innovators, leaders, trailblazers and visionaries for their industry contributions and performance, as honorees of the Bellwether Class of 2023. They join 137 earlier honorees inducted since inception of the organization.

Bellwether League Foundation selected the following professionals for the 16th Bellwether Class: Todd G. Abraham, Karen Conway, CMRP, CLSSGB, Michael D. Gray, Mary Beth Lang, Sc.D., Charlie Miceli, C.P.M., and Deborah A. Petretich Templeton.

Bellwether Class of 2023 honorees will be inducted at the 16th Annual Bellwether League Foundation Induction & Recognition Event (BLFIRE), scheduled for Monday, October 2, at Marquette University, Milwaukee.

Bellwether League Foundation selected these professionals for their achievements and contributions in the delivery of quality care through efficient and innovative supply chain operations. They represent creative thinkers who take the initiative, expand the boundaries of what's possible, and perform in a way that improves and promotes the profession of supply chain management among hospitals, group purchasing organizations (GPOs), manufacturers and distributors, consulting firms, educational institutions and media properties.

Barbara Strain, Chairman, Bellwether League Foundation's Board of Directors, encourages everyone to salute the new class for its impact on the industry and profession during some challenging years.

"This year marks the 16th annual Bellwether League awards, and the nomination pool continues to grow with healthcare supply chain leaders who have made their mark of excellence in a variety of roles and practice settings," Strain said. "The 2023 Bellwether Class has experienced monumental shifts in the delivery and execution of patient care and reimbursement. They have come face to face with novel diseases and advancement in life-altering procedures, devices and pharmaceuticals while influencing how care is practiced today from where their journeys have taken them. Congratulate the 2023 Bellwether honorees. Take some time to get to know them, read their amazing bios and join us in celebrating their careers at the live, in-person event this fall."

Bellwether Class of 2023

Todd G. Abraham tips the scales as a savvy inventor and re-inventor of sorts — not just of businesses and companies that serve those who serve patients, but also of products and technologies used for patient care. He possesses an uncanny knack for attracting, recognizing and cultivating talent, recruiting skilled professionals to participate in a comprehensive program that develops and trains future industry leaders that already are solving some of today's market challenges.

Karen Conway, CMRP, CLSSGB, epitomizes the supply chain data standards evangelist as but one component of an overarching aim toward healthcare achieving optimal value within its own clinical, financial and operational realms that logically and legitimately can — and should — be transferred to all patients regardless of race, gender, faith, economic status and creed. She consistently focuses her mind, energy and efforts on the pulse of healthcare delivery, realistically and strategically stretching the box that can restrain development and growth.

Michael D. Gray developed and grew his multifaceted supply chain career organically and strategically from the trenches of warehouse management at a distributor through to several national group purchasing organizations (GPOs) to a regional shared services organization and then an integrated delivery network fortified by a consolidated service center. He engineered a bell curve of operational and performance improvement experience and expertise spanning provider and supplier realms to help improve patient care delivery and customer service.

Mary Beth Lang, Sc.D., knows how to work with aggregate and specific data and to analyze and interpret those numbers so they work for organizational progress as well as for the clinical, financial and operational professionals who provide patient care. She melds her pharmacy, supply chain, group purchasing and information technology expertise into cohesive and competent blueprints for successful procurement models designed to improve the health of patients and the organizations that serve them.

Charlie Miceli, C.P.M., represents one of healthcare supply chain's iconic first movers in creative thinking and action by way of conceiving and trying new concepts and processes as an unofficial beta tester before they are rolled out to industry. From early versions of logistically designed information technology and advanced distribution methods to pandemic preparation and executive mentoring, Miceli's adventurous career has stretched from the frontline trenches to the C-suite, leaving ribbons of success in his wake.

Deborah A. Petretich Templeton fused pharmacy expertise and project management engineering ingenuity in ways that bolstered and reinforced her organization's award-winning supply chain operation that reorganized amid navigation through a series of mergers and acquisitions to form an early integrated delivery network (IDN) model at the height of healthcare reform in the late 20th century. Deftly maneuvering through centralization and growth, she helped lead an expansion into non-traditional service lines and revenue-generating endeavors designed to promote community-based patient care.

About Bellwether League Foundation

Bellwether League Foundation (BLF) comprises two operating divisions that educate, endow and evaluate professionals in healthcare supply chain performance excellence: The Hall of Fame for Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership and Bellwether Philanthropy.

The Hall of Fame for Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership evaluates and validates professionals submitted for consideration in its three award programs: Bellwether Honorees, Future Famers and Ammer Honorees. The Hall of Fame also offers educational and professional development content via the Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Forum and its "Leaders & Luminaries" multimedia of online and printed content.

BLF selects deceased, retired and currently active professionals with a minimum of 25 years of exemplary service and leadership performance in supply chain operations that meet its criteria to be recognized publicly as Bellwether Class Honorees.

Future Famers represent supply chain professionals early in their healthcare careers who do not yet qualify for Bellwether consideration but have contributed meaningfully to the profession and industry.

Honorees who receive the "Dean S. Ammer Award for Healthcare Supply Chain Performance Excellence" represent noteworthy executives and professionals in the middle of their careers who, through their innovative leadership and influential project management experience, best exemplify the practice and spirit of healthcare supply chain performance excellence.

To date, The Hall of Fame for Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership has honored 143 innovators, leaders and pioneers in healthcare supply chain management in five distinct categories: Education & Media, Supply Chain Management (Provider), Group Purchasing, Supplier and Consulting Services. Bellwether League Foundation also has recognized 39 Future Famers, and four Ammer Honorees.

Bellwether Philanthropy offers capstone educational and developmental projects to college-bound high school students who plan to study supply chain curricula, current collegiate students who major in supply chain-related careers and professionals who pursue continuing education through associations and universities. The division also is planning to offer grants and scholarships in the future.

Launched in late July 2007 by a group of influential veterans in the healthcare supply chain industry, Bellwether League Foundation began as a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit corporation that upgraded to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in January 2021.

Bellwether League Foundation currently is funded by six Founding and Platinum Sustaining Sponsors — GHX, HealthTrust, Owens & Minor, Premier, Vizient and Wingfoot Media — and a host of additional sustaining sponsors at multiple levels. For more information, visit Bellwether League Foundation's website at www.bellwetherleague.org.