our company LEADING THE NURSE STAFFING INDUSTRY

LEADERSHIP TEAM

Ron Marston - Chief Executive Officer
Ron joined the company at its inception in 1973. As one of the first executives of the company, his 30+ years of experience in international health care management, operations, and staffing has provided HCCA International with the guidance and direction required to become a leader in the international health care industry.
During this time the company has, in addition to managing and operating hospitals and health care facilities, recruited and placed over 30,000 nurses and other healthcare professionals throughout the world.
Ron’s history of living and working in multicultural environments, his ability to develop long term relationships and his multicultural sensitivity provide a leadership that exemplifies integrity, flexibility, tolerance and, above all, quality of service.
"HCCA International’s Mission is centered on quality and integrity. Our Vision is to provide exemplary service to our nurses, clients and partners. Our Values keep us focused on being accountable, compassionate, competent and responsive.
We seek nurses who have a dream, nurses who are willing to work hard and will persevere to achieve this dream. We ensure that our nurses are competent, have high integrity, are professional with a caring attitude and have compassion for others.
We strive, ALWAYS, to be the best and to exceed expectations."

Wanona “Winnie” Fritz - Chief Nursing Officer; Director, International Operations
Winnie joined the company with more than 33 years of health care experience in both U.S. and international environments. She has served 15 years as Chief Clinical Officer in U.S. hospitals and, as an Assistant Professor, she taught in graduate programs in four U.S. universities. Winnie worked in Jordan for nearly 17 years employed by His Majesty, King Hussein, first as Dean of a School of Nursing, then as a Health Systems Planner. While serving in the US Army, Winnie served in nursing and management roles in the U.S., Thailand, Germany, Russia and Vietnam. This experience, both domestic and international, provides Winnie with the clinical and cultural expertise needed to ensure that HCCA’s nurses’ clinical skills and knowledge of the U.S. health care system meet our client’s expectations.
“Throughout my years as a Chief Nurse, I have become convinced that the RN, in the current U.S. hospital setting is, indeed, the Coordinator of Care. Because of this vital role, we must assure that we have recruited RNs who have “what it takes”  to be “stars,” and that we have assessed and developed the Core Competencies for each nurse to excel. At HCCA, our competency-based education focuses on four types of competencies: Technical, Interpersonal, Critical-Thinking and Professional RN. We must be able to present each nurse to a client hospital assuring he/she can provide safe care. With this assurance, we will have met, if not exceeded, the expectations of our client hospitals.
And for our HCCA nurse staff members, the leadership team will continue to implement practices so each nurse feels Competent, Compensated and Cared For. Having a satisfied staff will mean improved retention and ultimately improved quality of care in U.S. hospitals.
Integrating international nurses into the U.S. hospital team is one critical aspect to addressing long-term staffing concerns…of working together to provide safe, efficient, cost-effective patient care.”

Ted L. Merhoff - Vice President, Development
Ted joined HCCA in 1999 with over ten years of experience in acute care hospital operations. He has a strong interest in international business and an innovative approach to nurse recruitment. Ted is responsible for company-wide development and marketing of business activities ranging from recruitment to consulting in the United States, Canada, Philippines, Middle East and other selected markets. Ted’s MHA and hospital operations experience provide him the ability to understand critical issues in the day-to-day operation of a health care facility; to analyze health care markets; and to develop a solution for each client hospital’s nurse recruitment challenge.
“HCCA’s contribution toward a permanent solution to the U.S. nursing shortage is to achieve the "One Hospital" goal within HCCA's motto,
"One Nurse · One Hospital · One Time." SM
Our objective is to match our nurses and hospitals in a way that encourages the nurse to stay with that hospital as a full time employee once the nurse’s employment obligation with HCCA is completed.”

Debbie Knapheide - Associate Chief Nursing Officer
Debbie joins HCCA bringing more than 25 years of acute health care clinical and leadership experience. She has served in middle and upper management positions in hospitals in the Midwest and Southwest areas. Debbie has gained a reputation for her turn-around operations on medical-surgical, psychiatric and pediatric units. She is known for her collaborative style; for eliminating staffing vacancies by means of her effective recruitment and retention initiatives; and for dramatically improving satisfaction scores and clinical quality indicators on her units. Debbie has, for years, been a role model for receiving and integrating internationally-experienced nurses into permanent positions on her nursing teams.
“Our goal is to provide competent and compassionate nurses who will significantly contribute to the provision of quality care in all our client hospitals. HCCA can be an important aspect of any hospital’s recruitment plan. Through our educational programs and Client Services support, I believe we offer services which make us unique among all other international options. My goal is that our team always exceeds expectations.”

Karen M. Fleming - Vice President, Immigration and Processing
Karen joined HCA International in 1983 with recruitment and candidate orientation responsibilities. Her years as an expatriate working with multinationals for a health care company in Saudi Arabia provide her with cultural sensitivity as well as a flexible and innovative approach to business. Using her ability to simplify processes, to recognize the crucial issues and identify alternatives for resolving challenges, Karen has developed one of the most effective and efficient in-house immigration and processing operations in the industry.
“Realizing the personal dream of living and working in the United States takes perseverance and dedication. For an individual to pursue this objective on his or her own is a daunting and expensive task. The requirements dictated by the individual State Boards of Nursing and the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service are numerous and sometimes confusing. As a new member of the HCCA International family, with the wonderful U.S. opportunity in front of you, we will escort you through this immigration maze.”

Joe Galbato - Vice President, Finance & Operations
Joe joined the company in 2003 and is involved in the analysis of all facets of HCCA‘s operations as well as Finance. Prior to his role with HCCA, he held numerous financial management positions with credit card processors including Manager of Finance at NaBANCO, Vice President of Finance at NBC Merchant Services and Vice President of Finance at National Processing Company. In addition, Joe served as the Senior Vice President of Finance for Envoy/WebMD with responsibility for the financial operation of a $350 million division.
Joe’s background in finance, analysis and improvement of operations serves the company and its nurses well. HCCA’s processes are under constant review and the changes made to these processes allow the company to be more efficient.
“Every company strives to be efficient, both operationally and financially. However, HCCA takes this goal very seriously because our efficiency will translate into nurses traveling sooner. And with the nurse traveling sooner, our clients can quickly execute their long term staffing strategies utilizing HCCA nurses.”

Joe Gilinsky - Vice President and Managing Director, Asia Pacific and Middle East Operations
Joe originally joined HCCA in 1975 holding various international recruitment positions including Director of International Human Resources, Director of Middle East International Human Resources and Director, Far East International Human Resources until 1987. He opened our original offices in Lebanon, Egypt and the Philippines. He has been involved with international health care recruitment for 16 years, sourcing and deploying nurses from such diverse countries as Korea, Thailand, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, UAE, China, India, Singapore, Canada, UK and the Philippines.
Joe returned to HCCA in 2002 to become Vice President and Managing Director of the Asia-Pacific and Middle East Regions. He also oversees HCCA’s operations in the Philippines, Singapore and the UAE, where we source, not only excellent Filipino nurses but Singaporean, Indian, Chinese and Malay nurses from highly sophisticated and modern tertiary medical facilities.
“Of course it is a pleasure to be a premier employer of highly skilled and well trained nurses in the two Regions, but it is even more gratifying to see their interest and appreciation for all of the additional programs and seminars we provide for them to be sure they are successful early in our client facilities. This investment of time and money, which is seldom undertaken by other groups, benefits not only our nurses and clients but usually benefits the home country that has the experience of the nurse who is waiting to be processed for immigration.
I am also pleased that as a company, we intentionally develop strategies for giving back to the local markets through educational speakers, leadership seminars, nursing school fellowships, school curriculum development and skills fair training events for senior nursing students. It’s a way of being involved and a part of communities, which we consider home.”

Joy Roark - Director, Recruitment
Joy joined HCCA with over 20 years of experience in health care recruitment and human resource management, both at the local hospital and corporate level. Her international experience includes selecting, training and coaching employees for projects in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East. She is known for her ability to establish credibility and build partnerships in overseas markets.
“Our goal is to partner with our U.S. client hospitals to provide long-term, quality solutions to their staffing needs. To meet this objective HCCA International sources, selects, and acculturates professional and clinically experienced nurses who can function competently in the U.S. hospital environment. Through our own international offices and those of our Strategic Alliance Partners, we seek and hire nurses who become members of the HCCA International family; who model our commitment to quality.”