Our leadership team is a who’s who of healthcare finance professionals representing a variety of focus areas.

MICHAEL DRAA

Chief Executive Officer and EVP Healthcare

Michael R. Draa has been our Chief Executive Officer since January 1, 2012 when he formed Warbird Consulting Partners by leading a management buyout of the Accounting Advisory Practice from Huron Consulting Group. While at Huron, Michael served as the Practice Lead for the Accounting Advisory Practice. Prior to joining Huron, he was a partner at Callaway Partners, overseeing National Service Delivery on all projects. Mike also currently serves as the acting EVP of Warbird’s U.S. Healthcare Practice.

Mr. Draa has more than 30 years of accounting and consulting experience during which he has held several executive and senior management roles including accounting, sales and marketing and operations. During that time he has successfully led both strategic and tactical projects and teams. Mike’s deep industry experience includes Healthcare, Technology, Manufacturing, Automotive, and Media and he has vast expertise in many functional areas including: management of restatements, turnarounds, bankruptcy reorganization and liquidation, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, system conversions (ERP), shared service implementation, start-ups, compliance, process re-engineering and technology ventures.

Mr. Draa sits on the Board of Directors of non-profit organizations and holds a degree in accounting and business management from Cedarville University.

CONTACT

Email: mdraa@warbirdcp.com

MICHAEL DRAA
Chief Executive Officer and EVP Healthcare

ROB KIRSCH

Managing Partner, Healthcare

Rob Kirsch has spent nearly two decades working directly with boards, senior leadership and diverse groups of stakeholders in the areas of finance, operations and affiliation advisory. He is an accomplished leader in navigating clients through complex and challenging issues experienced through periods of change or distress.

Having advised on over 50 hospital transactions nationally, Rob is recognized as an industry leader in both the structuring and fairness of partnerships and affiliations throughout the country. He has provided testimony on process, valuation and fairness in dozens of transactions before regulatory bodies or states’ attorney general.

Prior to joining Warbird, Rob helped establish and introduce services and capabilities in the Mergers, Affiliations, and Partnerships practice, Performance Improvement practice and Valuation practice at Stroudwater Associates. He served in leadership roles in those practices from their founding. Rob also lead his prior firm through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) conversion while serving as its Chief Executive Officer and board member for the last several years.

CONTACT

Email: rkirsch@warbirdcp.com

ROB KIRSCH
Managing Partner, Healthcare

John Behn

Managing Director, Healthcare

John has over 25 years of experience in healthcare financial management, hospital operations, physician practice administration, and revenue cycle management. He is an accomplished revenue cycle practitioner, focused on all aspects of revenue cycle operations, performance improvement, training, and education.

He has worked with hundreds of hospitals and physician practices to improve financial outcomes, compliance, and customer service. His clients include critical access hospitals, community hospitals, academic medical centers, large multi-specialty physician groups, rural health clinics, and sole physician practices.

Prior to joining Warbird, John helped create, introduce, and establish comprehensive revenue cycle services at Stroudwater Revenue Cycle Solutions while serving as its President. John has also served as Revenue Cycle Director and Financial Controller at two Academic Medical Centers as well as Physician Practice Administrator
for a large multi-specialty practice.

John specializes in: Revenue Cycle Assessments, Hospital Turnaround Efforts, Physician Practice Management, Compliance Mitigation, Business Office Development, Revenue Cycle Education (through webinars and onsite seminars), Rural Health Clinic Operations, Revenue Cycle Foundational elements (chargemaster, pricing, and revenue capture), Hospital and Physician Practice Performance Improvement, Hospital New Business Development and Commercial Contract Review and Negotiation.

CONTACT

Email: jbehn@warbirdcp.com

EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATIONS

B.A. in Political Science and Business Administration – Boston University

M.P.A. Healthcare – Suffolk University

John Behn
Managing Director, Healthcare

DEBORAH ERICKSON

Managing Director, Healthcare

Deborah Erickson has been a Managing Director within Warbird Healthcare’s revenue cycle solutions since 2014. Her duties include client relationships, delivery and development of new services for our clients. While at Warbird, she has delivered financial and operational improvements within the areas of Revenue Cycle, IT and Finance. Prior to Warbird, Deborah was the Healthcare Operations Director for Huron Consulting and also had experience as the Leader of the Talent Management Team.

Deborah has over 20 years of experience in finance, accounting, operations, business development and recruiting including a Big 4 audit background. Her deep industry experience includes the financial services, hospitality, healthcare, manufacturing, non-profit and service industries. Positions held include Vice President of Finance and Administration, Director of Talent Management, Controller and Finance Manager of Planning & Analysis, among others. She was also selected to do an expatriate assignment in the United Kingdom to transition the financial reporting department to a new corporate location.

Deborah earned her BBA at the University of Massachusetts and is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Georgia.

CONTACT

Email: derickson@warbirdcp.com

DEBORAH ERICKSON
Managing Director, Healthcare

DOUG JOHNSON

Managing Director, Healthcare

Doug is an accomplished healthcare professional with over 25 years of transaction advisory, business development and financial accounting experience. He is an experienced strategic advisor with demonstrated ability to direct non-routine, sensitive and complex transactions.

Doug’s focus is the design of optimal transaction structures that align with client developed strategic objectives and organizational goals. His work has primarily been in the general acute care hospital, post-acute care (rehabilitation hospitals and nursing homes) and ambulatory surgery center space.

In the role of Acquisitions & Development, for Capella Healthcare, Doug was responsible for all activities pertaining to the development, structure and completion of general acute care hospital transactions (acquisitions and dispositions of acute care assets) including strategic market identification, proposal, presentation and negotiation of terms and conditions.

He has also held executive positions at Quorum Health Resources, Centerre Healthcare, Community Health Systems and Partners Healthcare. Doug spent the first 12 years of his professional career in the Audit, Assurance and Transaction Advisory Service at Arthur Andersen (Boston) and EY (Atlanta).

CONTACT

Email: djohnson@warbirdcp.com

DOUG JOHNSON
Managing Director, Healthcare

JORDAN MELICK

Managing Director, Healthcare

Jordan has 26 years of experience in healthcare finance in a variety of positions, including a healthcare commercial lender, a rating agency analyst and manager, a senior financial executive at a large healthcare provider, a healthcare investment banker and a healthcare financial consultant. His clients have included hospitals and health systems, senior living facilities, physician practices and other healthcare-related entities. His career has focused on all areas of healthcare finance, including capital budgeting and business plans, budgeting and financial projections, supply chain, treasury (including assets, debt and capital markets), revenue cycle, information technology, credit analysis, mergers and acquisitions and other healthcare activities.

Prior to Warbird, Jordan worked for Cain Brothers, where, as managing director, he worked on a variety of healthcare investment banking projects, including bond issues, direct bank placements, mergers and acquisitions, real estate development and asset management. Previously, he was a healthcare investment banker with Raymond James & Associates, Morgan Keegan & Co. and Piper Jaffray & Co.; Director, Finance with UPMC Health System, the manager of the healthcare ratings group at Fitch and a healthcare commercial lender with Comerica.

Jordan earned his BA at the University of Michigan and his MBA at the University of Notre Dame.

CONTACT

Email: jmelick@warbirdcp.com

JORDAN MELICK
Managing Director, Healthcare

Laurie Holton

Director, Healthcare

Laurie is a client focused, results oriented sales professional, with significant experience driving strategy across all industries. She has a diverse and successful corporate background of experience in global sales, Tier 1account management, facilitating contracts, and leading business transformation.

Laurie’s strengths include: excellent account leadership, driving ROI, interpersonal and problem-solving skills, and a proven ability to quickly grasp client needs and implement successful targeted plans involving people, process and technology.

CONTACT

Email: lholton@warbirdcp.com

Laurie Holton
Director, Healthcare

C. RYAN SPRINKLE

Managing Director, Healthcare

Ryan Sprinkle is a seasoned advisor and accomplished practitioner in Warbird’s Partnership, Merger and Acquisitions practice. He has navigated hospital and health system clients in multiple states through asset divestitures, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic planning initiatives. Additionally, Ryan regularly works with healthcare organizations, alongside legal counsel, creditor bodies, and hospital leadership teams to develop and implement turnaround plans. Prior to joining Warbird, Ryan co-led the Performance Improvement practice group and served as senior member of the mergers and acquisitions practice group for a boutique healthcare consulting firm. Areas of Expertise: Affiliation Advisory, Performance Improvement / Turnaround Services, Distressed Hospitals, and Strategic Planning.

As a professional, Ryan is expert at assisting clients in identifying strategic options and executing plans that deliver long-term financial stability. A frequent writer and speaker on topics of healthcare policy and operations, Ryan has a passion for working with other healthcare leaders to apply customized solutions that are informed by prior clients’ experiences.

CONTACT

Email: crsprinkle@warbirdcp.com

C. RYAN SPRINKLE
Managing Director, Healthcare

RICHARD WOODS

EVP, Talent Acquisition Solutions

Richard has spent the past 30 years of his career serving as a Human Resources, Talent Acquisition and Operations management leader. In this capacity, he has always endeavored to leverage these functions as a strategic partner with a mandate to enhance organizational effectiveness and drive business success.

Now serving as the EVP of Warbird’s Talent Acquisition Solution offerings, as a practitioner consultant, Richard advises Warbird’s Healthcare clients on their TA needs. Then together with the TA team, custom tailors scalable solutions are implemented to help clients acquire the needed resources in a cost effective and timely manner.

Prior to joining Warbird, Richard served as an HR Director for the Huron Consulting Group and supported the Accounting Advisory practice, which is now Warbird Consulting Partners. Prior to that, he spent five years as a Consultant with a Human Resources professional services firm called Flex HR. In this role, Richard assisted numerous industry-diverse clients with a broad range of HR needs. As an advisor to Executive Management, Richard guided his clients to recognize the value and realize the tangible benefits of building a strategic HR function and implementing HR best practices across a full spectrum of HR matters.

Prior to his career as an HR Consultant, Richard served as the HR Director for several start-ups and fast-paced, rapidly evolving multi-location organizations within the telecommunications, professional services and manufacturing sectors. In each of these positions he was part of the senior management team, reported to the CEO and implemented innovative ideas and solutions designed to enhance organizational effectiveness.

Throughout his career, Richard has focused on leadership development as the critical path to organizational effectiveness. He first began teaching leadership courses in 1982 while serving as an instructor at the Fort Knox Military Leadership Academy.

Since then, Richard has provided leadership development training and consulting in every organization where he has been employed. Believing there is an imperative need for authentic leadership, in addition serving as Warbird’s CAO and EVP of HR, he has launched the Imperative Leadership development program which is offered to Warbird’s clients as a value added service.

In this capacity Richard provides keynote speeches, workshops and individual leadership development consulting services to corporate clients.

CONTACT

Email: rwoods@warbirdcp.com

EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATIONS

Bachelor Degree, Psychology – University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

Certified Instructor, Behavioral Interviewing

Certified Instructor, Crucial Conversations

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM)

Serves on the Advisory Board of SafeHouse Outreach, Inc. a social services not for profit

RICHARD WOODS
EVP, Talent Acquisition Solutions

SHARON GILES

Client Partnership Director

For the past 20 years, Sharon has been a demonstrated leader in various aspects of recruiting, business development, and team leadership. She is a nimble and tenacious problem solver, able to successfully juggle multiple priorities/projects, simultaneously with outstanding execution. Now leading Warbird’s TA Business Development and serving as Client Partnership Director, Sharon partners with Warbird’s Healthcare clients to develop and execute strategies to successfully identify and recruit key mid- and senior-level resources, even for hard-to-fill priorities.

CONTACT

Email: sgiles@warbirdcp.com

EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATIONS

Bachelor Degree, Managerial Science – Georgia State University

Certification, SHRM-CP (Society for Human Resource Management

Certification, General & Civil Mediation – The University of Georgia

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM)

SHARON GILES
Client Partnership Director

AGNES BARNOR

Client Partnership Director

Agnes is a resourceful and efficient recruiter with over 15 years combined experience in Healthcare and Big Pharma Talent Acquisition. She’s adept at identifying the right resources to bridge the talent gap for employers. As Client Partnership Director of Warbird’s interim healthcare advisory practice, Agnes is passionate about placing and managing top-notch advisors to leverage their diverse expertise in solving complex Revenue Cycle Management and Finance problems for hospitals and physician practices across the US.

CONTACT

Email: ABarnor@warbirdcp.com

EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATIONS

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Social Sciences – Kwame Nkrumah’ University of Science and Technoloy

Certificate, Strategic HR Leadership – Cornell University

PHR Certification – Kennesaw State University

Certification in Human Resource Management – Kennesaw State University

AGNES BARNOR
Client Partnership Director