As Vice President of Quality and Risk Management, Deborah oversees the Quality Program and incorporates an Enterprise Risk Management approach to identifying  opportunities through claims management, event analysis,  and risk mitigation.   

Deborah is an experienced leader active in multiple State level Quality and Professional Development committees. Deborah’s enthusiasm for finding opportunities through a comprehensive approach to adverse event analysis helps motivate process improvement and change management.

Deborah began her career at the bedside in critical care and emergency/trauma nursing. She then moved to managing the Risk program, Employee Health, and Workers’ Compensation for a Hospital system that included a full service hospital, Outpatient Clinics, Provider group, Independent, Assisted, Memory Care, and Skilled Nursing facilities.  Moving to Gardant in her leadership role has brought the benefit of thoughtful Enterprise Risk Management as an evolving need for the long-term care industry.

Walking the talk, Deborah lives her passion for professional nursing development, she is a licensed Registered nurse in the state of Illinois, a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) and Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM) as well as a Certified Dementia Practitioner (CDP). She is currently the Past President of the Illinois Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ISHRM), was Illinois Risk Manager of the Year in 2016, and is a longtime member of the American Society of Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM). She also enjoys her membership with the Chicago Healthcare Risk Management Society (CHRMS).