Board & Staff

Kerry Hydash is the president and CEO at Family HealthCare Network (FHCN), which operates 41 sites within three counties of California’s Central Valley. FHCN served more than 221,000 patients and provided over one million visits in 2020.

Kerry is a co-founder and member of the Central California Partnership for Health and currently serves on the boards for the California Primary Care Association and the Clinical Mutual Insurance Company.

Prior to working directly in the healthcare field, Kerry worked in public accounting, auditing, and providing financial consulting services to healthcare entities. She holds a senior SHRM certification and has extensive HR experience in the healthcare industry.

Steven has been the president and CEO of Presbyterian Medical Services in Santa Fe, New Mexico, since 2007. He manages and directs operations in rural, frontier, and urban locations that include behavioral health services, native and traditional healing services, children’s services (Headstart and Early Headstart programs), senior services, and a 340B pharmacy program with the goal of improving the health and lives of all people of the Southwest.

Steven is on the board of Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Insights New Mexico, and is the current chair of the New Mexico Primary Care Association. He is also a member of the National FQHC Advisory Group for United Healthcare.

Prior to assuming the role of President, Greg most recently served as EBNHC’s Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Director of Neighborhood PACE. Prior to joining EBNHC, Greg worked in a various roles spanning the health and human services industries. This includes working as a Director at AllWays Health Partners, a member of Partners Healthcare System (now Mass General Brigham), where he was a leader in AllWays’ Medicaid Strategy and Operations, and Marketing areas. Greg worked at Boston Medical Center as Director of Business and Network Development. Greg also served in the Deval Patrick Administration’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS), where he served as Senior Advisor to the EOHHS Secretary and led strategy and business planning and performance management for the secretariat. Greg also worked at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts in various operational and management roles.

Greg serves on various boards and advisory groups including the Board of Directors of Community Care Cooperative (C3) and the Board of Directors of Community Servings. Greg has also served on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts PACE Association as well as the Board of Directors of the Dimock Center. Greg holds a BA in Psychology from Boston College and an MBA from Northeastern University with a specialization in Investments. For his professional and civic achievements, Greg was awarded the Stars’ 40 under 40 award in 2010, YMCA Achievers award in 2016, Boston Business Journal’s 40 under 40 award in 2019.

Before being named CEO in March of 2018, Nieves was Vice President of Operations and was responsible for end-to-end operations, patient experience, and quality assurance. Over the last 12 years in Leadership roles, Nieves has been influential in leading organizational change and innovation in Medical, Dental, Optometry, Behavioral Health, and Technology services. In just a short time as CEO of Columbia Basin Health Association, Nieves has led the organization to national recognition for technology and operational excellence, cooperate quality and compliance, and value based contracting performance. Most recently, Columbia Basin Health has been recognized as Best Places to work in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare for 2021 and 2021, and Employer of the Year and COVID-19 Most Valuable Player by the Stevie Awards. Nieves earned a Master’s in Public Administration and a Masters in Social Work from Eastern Washington University and is a Certified Medical Practice Executive (CMPE).

A fierce advocate for health equity, Amanda is also the executive director of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU). In this role, she leads organization vision and strategy and manages all aspects of the Association, providing overall leadership and management services to the board of directors and membership. Amanda oversees ACH advocacy, communications, membership as well as organization projects and programs. She brings extensive experience to her role, including campaign development, communications strategy development, crisis management, leadership, team development and training, consulting, logistics, and policy/regulatory analysis. Additionally, Amanda has a proven record of dynamic, resourceful, and agile leadership with noted expertise launching grassroots advocacy initiatives and healthcare policy issues to lead advocates and define initiatives that positively impact tens of millions of patients living in underserved communities across the United States.

Amanda maintains deep expertise and established leadership in providing training and technical assistance to health centers and other organizations caring for underserved populations. She has spent much of her career developing multimedia content for diverse audiences with a shared mission of caring for the underserved. In her current role at ACU, she has helped to develop and lead new educational initiatives geared at supporting clinical workforce recruitment and retention. Under her leadership, ACU’s STAR2 Center has produced and widely distributed resources, training, and technical assistance with focus on provider resilience, burnout and wellness. Her depth of knowledge and years of work with underserved communities has enabled Amanda to share recognized best practices and lessons learned relative to healthcare workforce recruitment, retention, pipeline programming and more.

Prior to joining ACH, Amanda held leadership positions working in government affairs, policy, and advocacy as the vice president of grassroots & internal advocacy at the American Diabetes Association, and as the national director of advocacy and civic engagement at the National Association of Community Health Centers. She holds a BA in political science from the University of New Hampshire and is a graduate of the Institute for Nonprofit Management and Leadership at Boston University.

Abby has almost 20 years of experience working in the finance and HR space with non-profit organizations. She has extensive knowledge pertaining to budget preparation, conducting financial analysis, preparing financial reports, managing payroll systems, and maintaining accurate financial records for audit. In addition, Abby manages employee relations by providing training and development opportunities. Through her role, she plays a critical part in helping ACH to enhance its quality programming, build capacity, and carry out its mission.

Abby continues to demonstrate a strong understanding of the unique needs of non-profit organizations, and the requirements of balancing a growing organization while ensuring proper risk management and sustainability measures. She is an expert at juggling multiple demands and priorities with grace and poise, while providing an amazing balance of compassion, empathy, and professionalism in all that she does.

Due to her passion for volunteering, she currently serves as Treasure of the Board of Directors for her local PTA.

Before joining ACH, Stephanie was senior director of federal advocacy at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the non-profit, non-partisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society. In this role, she helped lead the organization’s federal relations team and served as lead lobbyist on issues related to access to quality, affordable care. Prior to this, Stephanie served as assistant director of policy and advocacy at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, where she was the organization’s lead federal lobbyist, and served in legislative roles for Representatives Lane Evans (D-IL), Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ), and Peter Welch (D-VT). Stephanie graduated from New York University with a bachelors in Politics and from John’s Hopkins University with a masters in Government.

Before joining ACH, Liezl was the senior manager for Global Outreach at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, a global scientific and medical professional organization dedicated to clinical laboratory science and its application to healthcare. In that role, she managed a global health project that provides hands-on workshops to laboratory practitioners from underserved areas of the globe to improve healthcare through laboratory medicine.

Liezl has extensive experience managing and developing programs and conducting outreach activities on behalf of nonprofit membership organizations. Prior to joining ACH, she led content and resource development for a nonprofit organization that unites, mobilizes, and supports the engineering and technology volunteer communities; served as the human rights lead for a scientific organization where she monitored and investigated the validity of specific cases of human rights violations of scientists and scholars in the chemical sciences, and organized a quarterly science and human rights webinar series that examined how scientific tools and innovations can be used to promote human rights and address global challenges; and led and coordinated the planning, development, and execution of various international programs during the world’s largest, most influential annual biotechnology meetings that attracts more than 15,000 participants from approximately 60 countries.

Liezl holds master’s degrees in International Affairs and European Minority Rights and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations with a concentration in International Development. Given her passion for international travel and learning about cultures, she likes to travel to far-flung destinations when time allows. She currently resides in Washington, D.C.

Before joining ACH, Sandy was the director of marketing and communications at the American Society of Military Comptrollers, a Department of Defense (DoD)-created membership organization focused on supporting members working to support our Nation’s financial security, while leading transformation in the defense financial management sector. She led a team to establish a marketing communications, marketing, and public relations strategy, including a full rebrand, to empower the organization to execute its mission. Before that, she worked as the associate director of marketing and communications for The Geneva Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is to advance military medicine. In that role, Sandy led a team providing intelligent, innovative, and impactful solutions to multiple federal government clients including the DoD and HHS, in the areas of integrated marketing, communications, and proposal support. On the corporate side, she led the marketing and communications strategy through internal/external communications, branding, content, events, website development, media relations, and outreach.

Sandy is proud to be a veteran of the US Army, serving as a broadcast journalist where she was assigned to a public affairs unit to connect the military community to events at Fort Meade. She worked in local government as a business development analyst for 13 years where she became a noted and trusted speaker on economic development strategies, press releases, social media, and marketing opportunities. She went on to work at RoosterBio as a marketing manager and communications consultant to help position the company as an emerging biotechnology leader in Maryland. Sandy received her bachelor’s degree in mass communications from the University of Maryland. She is a graduate of Leadership Frederick, California Institute of the Arts graphic design program, and alumni of the Department of Defense Information School.

Before joining ACH, Molly was a director of state technical assistance at the American Health Care Association (AHCA), the leading association representing long-term and post-acute care providers. In her role, she developed a deep expertise in Medicaid and Medicare payment models, regulatory policy analysis, and state advocacy strategies. Prior to joining AHCA, Molly worked as the education and health policy manager at the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), developing materials and providing analysis on state licensure requirements, integrated healthcare settings, and reimbursement requirements. She also led ACA’s state and federal grassroots advocacy campaigns and managed the fundraising efforts and compliance reporting for its Political Action Committee.

Molly began her portfolio in health policy as a legislative aide in former Congressman Bruce Braley’s office, serving as a key contact for a wide range of healthcare organizations, providers, and patient advocacy groups. Before moving to Washington, D.C., Molly was a campaign organizer for several election cycles and worked extensively with community leaders and elected officials. She received her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Northern Iowa.

Samantha is thrilled to join the ACH team, combining her decade of experience in nonprofit management and advocacy. Prior to this role, she focused on human rights advocacy – supporting high-impact projects within Latin America and international campaigns before the United Nations – and diplomatic exchange, managing a portfolio of 30+ countries at Georgetown University’s Youth Ambassadors program. As part of the United States Peace Corps, Samantha led business development initiatives for local entrepreneurs and designed gender inclusion programming, while also visiting 28 of Costa Rica’s 30 national parks in her free time.

Samantha is a ‘Double Duke’ graduate of James Madison University, holding a master’s degree in Public Administration and a bachelor’s degree in Social Work. When not wrangling her growing family of rescue animals, Samantha is a passionate artist and loves camping and hiking with her husband.

After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in 2012, Rita went back home to Peru to acquire professional experience in digital communications. She managed some of the country’s biggest consumer brand accounts. While living in Peru, she discovered a passion for social service through volunteer work at TECHO Peru, a youth-led non-profit organization that seeks to overcome poverty in slums through the collaborative work with families. As the organization’s internal communications coordinator, Rita facilitated communication between staff and its 300 volunteers.

Upon returning to the United States in 2016, she worked for WomenHeart, the first and only national patient-centered organization dedicated to serving women with heart disease. Her role included coordinating communication efforts for all major events and distributing communication materials to members. During a crucial time for people with preexisting health conditions, her most memorable moment was advocating for women’s health on Capitol Hill for the very first time.

In 2018, Rita joined East Coast Migrant Head Start Project (ECMHSP), a non-profit organization that provides high-quality early childhood education for nearly 3,000 migrant and seasonal farmworker children in 48 Head Start educational centers. As the organization’s first full time communications professional, she highlighted the migrant and seasonal Head Start program through the use of storytelling on digital platforms. Along with senior management, she had the opportunity to advocate for early childhood education on Capitol Hill. Her major accomplishments include aiding in the creation of a new communications department and co-leading ECMHSP’s rebranding project. In addition, Rita managed a scholarship program for farmworker parents, awarding almost $80,000. During the first year of the pandemic, she saw first-hand the alarming health disparities among the farmworker community, prompting her to seek a new career opportunity.

Rita currently lives in Washington, D.C., where she enjoys supporting her nieces during their volleyball and soccer games. Her hobbies include salsa dancing, karaoke, and playing recreational volleyball.