Advisory Board

The Genesis Advisory Board assists with steering the direction of Genesis Orthopedics & Sports Medicine. The Advisory Board is composed of individuals with diverse experiences, unified by the common mission of Genesis.

James D. Witt

Jim Witt spent a forty-year career in healthcare as a clinician, consultant and executive leader. His career began as a surgical technician and subsequently a registered nurse in the operating room. He graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Ferris State University in Michigan and subsequently earned a Master of Business Administration with dual major in Marketing and Finance from Western Michigan University, where he is a fourth-generation graduate. He held certification as a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives for more than twenty years. He has written and lectured on healthcare ethics, care management and clinical informatics. In addition to multiple clinical leadership positions, Jim worked for nine years as a full-time consultant to hospitals, health systems and specialty medical practices, initially with William Mercer and Company and later with the Chicago office of Ernest and Young, where he served as Senior Manager in the US healthcare consulting practice. Executive leadership positions included CEO of Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, Illinois, and Chief Operating Officer of Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center in Houston. He has served in interim CEO positions for a specialty surgical hospital and a 40-provider anesthesia practice. Jim has been married to his wife Diane for thirty-six years and they live in the Houston area. He has traveled in Europe and the Middle East and has a special interest in interfaith dialogue among Christians, Muslims and Jews. He currently serves Citadel Global Ventures as mentor to young entrepreneurs in Latin America and Africa.

Andrew DeCort

Andrew DeCort is the founding director of the Institute for Faith and Flourishing and the co-founder of the Neighbor-Love Movement. He holds a PhD in Ethics from the University of Chicago and has lectured in ethics, theology, and Ethiopian studies at Wheaton College, the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, and the University of Bonn. Andrew’s passion is seeing the precious value of each person, encouraging love, and challenging cultural patterns that devalue others. He is the author of Bonhoeffer’s New Beginning: Ethics after Devastation (Fortress Academic, 2018) and writes a weekly newsletter called Stop & Think. Andrew and his wife Lily live and work between Addis Ababa and Chicago.

Alan Channing

Alan H. Channing, MS, FACHE, retired as president and CEO of Sinai Health System after ten years in 2014. He served as CEO of a two-hospital system in Cleveland, OH and several CEO positions including Bellevue Medical Center, New York, NY. Channing holds a BS in Industrial Management from the University of Cincinnati and an MS in Healthcare Management from The Ohio State University where he remains an Assistant Professor. Mr. Channing is past chairman of the Illinois Hospital Association. Mr. Channing was repeatedly named "Hospital and Health System Leader to Know" by Becker's Hospital Review and was the inaugural recipient of “Becker's Healthcare Lifetime Achievement Award.” He is the co-author of two texts on hospital management published by the American College of Healthcare Executives. He is a frequent presenter on urban health issues, organizational development, and healthcare delivery systems. Mr. Channing serves on the board of directors of several healthcare related organizations. He and his wife live in New York City.

Lindsey Artola

Lindsey Artola is President of Sage Health Strategy. Lindsey directs the firm’s work with community-based health care organizations and human services agencies. She is an experienced health policy and government relations professional with 20 years in a variety of leadership roles with payors, providers and associations. Prior to joining Sage, she was Vice President of External Affairs at IlliniCare Health, one of Illinois’ leading Medicaid managed care plans. IlliniCare is owned by Centene Corporation. In this role she had leadership responsibility for all policy and government relations activities, community relations and communications.

Prior to Illinicare Health, Lindsey served as Chief External Affairs Officer for Presence Health, one of Illinois’ largest health systems. In this role, she led successful efforts to secure federal approval for a bundled payment demonstration and a Medicare Shared Savings (ACO) pilot, and was the senior executive responsible for leading an internal multi-disciplinary Medicaid Steering Committee to develop a system-wide strategy to respond to Illinois’ transition to Medicaid managed care.

Lindsey holds a Master in Health Administration from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor in Political Science from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. She serves on the Board of Mercy Housing Lakefront and the Kennedy Forum of Illinois.

Dr. Steven Wenner

Dr Wenner is an orthopedic surgeon who practiced with a subspecialty concentration in hand surgery in Springfield MA for forty years. He joined three other surgeons in 1980 and at the time of his retirement the group, New England Orthopedic Surgeons, had grown to eighteen surgeons and 20-25 mid-level practitioners. He served as the physician executive, managing partner, and member of the Executive Committee at NEOS for twenty years. He previously served on the boards of Baystate Health, the multi-hospital health system in western Massachusetts, Health New England, and an offshore insurance company.

Dr. Ulysses Burley

Dr. Ulysses W. Burley III is the founder of UBtheCURE, LLC - a consulting company on the intersection of Faith, Health, and Human Rights with expertise in HIV/AIDS. Although his primary training is in medicine and public health, Ulysses is dedicated to a vocation of social justice advocacy through faith and community-based initiatives. His primary work has been around HIV and AIDS awareness, advocacy, and capacity building, but also includes LGBTQIA+, gender and racial justice, food security, and peace in the Middle East. Ulysses has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches as well as the United States Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) under the Obama Administration. He has been recognized by the National Minority Quality Forum as a top 40 under 40 Minority Health Leader for his work in faith and HIV in communities of color, and is a founding member of the U.S. HIV/AIDS Faith Coalition and National Faith HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Currently, Ulysses is the Project Director for the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) Faith Initiative to connect with diverse faith communities to share evidence-based information regarding HIV and vaccines and antibodies being developed for its prevention. He is an internationally recognized speaker and award-winning writer on topics including faith, HIV/AIDS policy, COVID-19, LGBTQIA, gender and racial justice, food security, and peace in Palestine and Israel. His professional mantra is to “treat people and not just disease.”

Dr. Barrett Hatches

Dr. Barrett Hatches is an accomplished senior executive with over 35 years of experience in executive management, including extensive work in the energy and healthcare sectors. Dr. Hatches served as President and Chief Executive Officer for Chicago Family Health Center, a non-profit federally qualified health center that provides care annually to over 30,000 uninsured and underinsured patients across the South Side of Chicago. He also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Swope Health Services in Kansas City, MO. Dr. Hatches received his Ph.D. in Urban Leadership and Higher Education from Jackson State University, an M.A. in Business from Webster University, and his B.S. in Political Science also from Jackson State University.