BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Sheryl Cherico
Chairman
Sheryl Cherico
Chairman
Sheryl started Tier3MD with Steve Platnick in October 2005. Since then they have grown the company both in Georgia and around the country. Today, they have offices in Raleigh, NC, Chattanooga, TN, Oklahoma City, OK, Dallas Texas and Savannah, Georgia. In August 2014, we completed our national expansion plans and our goal is to open 60 more offices by 2016.
Sheryl’s career began in 1979 and is considered one of the top healthcare IT consultants in the country. In college, she started out in medical billing, AR collections, and practice workflow for a Thoracic surgery group, and moved into software support for Medical Manager. From there she was involved in the Y2K upgrades throughout the state of Georgia and was a recipient of the President’s Award at BCBS of GA.
In 2000 Sheryl traveled the country installing digital cardiac cath lab systems, at places like DePaul in St. Louis, Baylor University in Texas, as well as hospitals in Chicago, Nebraska, New York, Texas, and Georgia.
In 2001 she became the IT Director for the Atlanta Cardiology Group, one of the largest cardiology groups in the Southeast. In 2005, Sheryl and Steve decided to form their own IT company and began with Atlanta Cardiology as their cornerstone client.
Today, Tier3MD is one of the nations leading HIPAA compliant IT support groups for medical practices. We offer remote managed services, including 24×7 monitoring, onsite technical support, live helpdesk, total cloud services, equipment leasing and HIPAA security assessment. Our comprehensive Security Risk Assessments are helping practices all over the country obtain the security requirements to meet “meaningful use”. We are MEDICAL only and have extensive experience in Cardiology, Peds, OB-GYN, Radiation Oncology, Family Practice, Neurology, Urology, Psychiatric and more.
Rebecca Walden
Vice President
Rebecca Walden
Vice President
Declared Atlanta’s “Wigspert” by her appreciative clients,” Rebecca Walden is the owner and wig stylist for The Wigspert of Atlanta and Wig Gallery in Buckhead. She has trained with Aveda, Redken, Goldwell, Nioxin, Nexxus and Mirabella make-up. Formerly partnered with Bernadette’s, Rebecca has more than 17 years of experience in hair and wig styling, makeup, management and consulting. She has a passion and a flair for working with women, especially her clients with hair loss from alopecia areata and chemotherapy who just want to look like themselves again.
Rather than being noticeable, her talent is invisible as she creates the most natural, undetectable looks to make women feel comfortable and confident facing the world. Rebecca’s uncommon understanding and sparkling personality are part of her secret to success with women who experience the devastation of hair loss. Her clients, many of whom become longtime friends, have nothing but praise for her spirit and skills.
Patti Dickey
Secretary
Patti Dickey
Secretary
Attorney and author, Dickey is very involved in the Atlanta Community. She is currently serving on the Piedmont Healthcare Foundation Board, Georgia’s Own Credit Union Foundation Board and the Georgia Breast Cancer Coalition Fund Board. She formerly served on the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Foundation Board, and Zoo Atlanta Foundation Board and the Boards of Make A Wish Georgia and the Odem School of Ecology, LifeLine Animal Project Board and Alliance Theater Advisory Board.
Additionally, she is actively involved as a member of the Atlanta Corps de Ballet, the Atlanta History Center Members Guild, and with the Junior League of Atlanta’s League Sustaining Transfer Group (LST). She also enjoyed a turn on Emory University’s Board of Visitors.
Dickey practiced Family Law in Cincinnati, Ohio for close to eighteen years with Weber, Dickey & Bellman, prior to moving to Atlanta. She was active in the Cincinnati Bar Association and a founding member of the Cincinnati Academy of Collaborative Professionals. She is a member in good standing in the Ohio, Florida and Georgia State Bar Associations.
She graduated from Denison University with a BA in English and earned her JD from the University of Toledo, College of Law.
Jennie Palmer
Executive Director
Jennie Palmer
Executive Director
Jennie has lived in Atlanta for 20 years. She has over 15 years of experience managing business operations and human resources. Since 2005 she has had her own consulting business. She has been on the board of directors for various non-profit organizations. She has been an active member of her community and volunteers her time regularly. She joined GABCC as the executive director in June of 2017 and brings experience in fundraising and patient advocacy.
Kathy Cullen
Board Member
Kathy Cullen
Board Member
Kathy Cullen is an RN with an M.S. in Health Care Policy and Administration, and a career spanning 40+ years in various fields of nursing. Her specialty was nurse recruitment and retention. After being a hospital-based Nurse Recruiter for part of her career, Kathy started her own consulting business and traveled throughout the country as part of a team to open new or reorganize existing hospitals with the focus on hiring staff. As an independent consultant, she developed and taught all-day seminars on the topic of Nurse Recruitment & Retention and presented in 36 states. In Atlanta, she was part of the team opening Emory Johns Creek Hospital. She recruited and hired 50+ excellent RNs in the 4 months prior to the hospital opening.
Her most recent interim recruitment position was at DeKalb Medical where she was employed to hire Nurse Executive Directors & Managers. She was a frequent speaker for the state Quality Improvement Organizations (QIO) for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s (CMS) Nursing Home Quality Initiative. Throughout her career, she focused on education, believing in lifelong learning and lifelong teaching of others. She served as adjunct faculty at Georgia Perimeter College and as the Employment Manager at Shepherd Center. Her interest in Breast Cancer started as a bedside nurse and continues today as a Board Member of GABCC..
Gulshan Harjee
Board Member
Gulshan Harjee
Board Member
Gulshan Harjee is an experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital & healthcare industry. She is skilled in Healthcare Consulting, Disease Management, Physician Relations, U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and Healthcare Information Technology (HIT). She is a graduate of The Emory School of Medicine.
Sara Hanna
Board Member
Sara Hanna
Board Member
Sara Hanna is an Atlanta-based commercial and editorial photographer with a talent for bringing portraits, products (especially food) and interiors to life. Hanna’s knack for learning what makes people tick in conjunction with her extensive marketing background means she is the ideal pair of eyes behind the lens, making locals (such as renowned Chef’s Hugh Acheson and Kevin Rathbun) and celebrities (Ludacris, Zendaya, and designer Zac Posen) alike shine in photos.
She loves working closely with clients to understand the emotions the photos need to evoke and she feels proud to count the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group, The Food Network, and the InterContinental Hotel among her clients. Her images have appeared in People, O, The Oprah Magazine, The LA Times, The New York Post, Food & Wine, The Local Palate, The Atlantan, Jezebel Magazine, Simply Buckhead…the list goes on!
Tracy Starr
Board Member
Tracy Starr
Board Member
Tracy Starr is a senior attorney with UPS Capital Corporation (“UPS Capital”), a United Parcel Service, Inc. affiliate, which offers insurance and financial services. Tracy is responsible for corporate legal issues in the Americas and Asia. Before joining UPS Capital, she litigated on behalf of national banking associations in cases pertaining to the banks’ lending products and services. Prior to law school at Georgia State University of Law, Tracy worked on U.S. Agency for International Development sponsored water and sanitation projects in southeast Asia, Brazil and Mexico. She also obtained a master’s in International Development from The American University in Washington, DC.
With no family history nor risk factors, Tracy was diagnosed with breast cancer in late 2015 and spent all of 2016 undergoing treatment with Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University. The diagnosis was a complete shock for Tracy. Not knowing anything about her type of cancer, she reached out to the cancer community for more information and support where she found many resources and caring people who shared good information. Following her experience with breast cancer, Tracy wanted to give back to the community that gave so much to her during her time of need. Thus, she joined the GABCC in 2017. She enjoys the camaraderie with fellow breast cancer survivors and knowing that the funds she and others raise are dedicated to Atlanta area programs that support breast cancer patients and survivors.
Nancy Whaley
Board Member
Nancy Whaley
Board Member
NANCY J. WHALEY is an attorney at law serving as a Chapter 13 Trustee for the Northern District of Georgia where she employs 39 employees and operates a trust of over $75 million dollars. She is the Chapter 12 Trustee for the Northern District of Georgia. Whaley is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. She is the Past-Chair for the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Southeast Conference. Whaley is a member of the Northern District of Georgia Bankruptcy Court’s Bench and Bar Committee. Whaley served on the Executive Committee and Co-Chaired the Community Service Committee for the W. Homer Drake, Jr. Georgia Bankruptcy American Inn of Court. She is a Past Chair of the Atlanta Bar Association Bankruptcy Section and a Past Chair of the Bankruptcy Section of the State Bar of Georgia. Whaley served as President of the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers and of the GAWL Foundation. From 2005 to 2011, she served on the Executive Committee for the State Bar of Georgia and since 2000 she has been a member of the Board of Governors. She is the current Chair of State Bar Finance Committee. Whaley is an active member of the Association of Chapter 12 Trustees and the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees and is their representative to the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules. She serves on the NACTT Foundation Board.
Whaley taught as an adjunct professor of bankruptcy at John Marshall Law School in Atlanta from 2002 to 2014. She retired from the Air Force Reserve in 2009 as a Lieutenant Colonel. Whaley serves on the Board of Directors for Georgia Breast Cancer Coalition Fund and is a past board member for the Young Survival Coalition, Atlanta Chapter. She is an Atlanta Junior League Sustainer and member of Buckhead Church serving as a Leader for Leader Development Groups and is a Community Group Leader. Whaley is a Ronald Reagan Scholar from Eureka College and she earned her Doctor of Law from Emory Law School.
Angelica Ford
Board Member
Angelica Ford
Board Member
Angelica “Angie” Ford was born and raised in Panama City, Panama in 1966. She moved to the United States to go to college in 1985 on a basketball scholarship. She obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans in December, 1988. She then went on to get her Master’s degree in Computer Science at Howard University in Washington, DC in 1990. In 1996, she was nominated for the “Black Engineer of the Year Award” sponsored by Council of Engineering Deans of HBCU, Mobil Corporation and U.S. Black Engineer Magazine. That same year she was featured in the Black Collegian Magazine, as an outstanding engineer in the field of telecommunications. Angie is also a member of Zeta Phi Rho chapter Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Society from Xavier University.
Angie is currently the Director of PMO/Operations for Latin America at iconectiv. She has been working in software development for the telecommunications industry since she left college in 1988. She has worked and lived abroad in Argentina, Chile, India, Mexico, Peru and Thailand. She is a member of the prestigious Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the founder of DOWAP (Dining Out With A Purpose). She has dedicated her personal life to giving back to her community and helping others. Angie enjoys traveling and seeing the world. Among other of her hobbies is cycling, hiking, photography and writing. She took up writing a few years ago after taking several life changing trips and work assignments abroad as an expat. In order to describe her photographs, she decided to tell short stories about her travel experiences. This evolved into a love for expressing herself through words and was the seed for writing this book about her beautiful Mami. Angie hopes that by sharing her experience of her relationship with Mami she will help anyone to forge strong bonds not only with their Mother, but with anyone they have an opportunity to spend significant time with.
Heidi Logan Oquendo
Board Member
Heidi Logan Oquendo
Board Member
Heidi Logan Oquendo is a nationally recognized educator of visually impaired and multiply handicapped children. She received her undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education and her Masters degree in Education for the Visually Impaired, both from Florida State University.
Heidi began her career teaching at First District Regional Education Agency in Statesboro, Georgia. She and her family moved to Atlanta in 1999 when she began working at The Center for the Visually Impaired specializing in teaching visually impaired infants to two-year-olds. She taught them basic life skills and was responsible for introducing The Little Room, an innovative device developed in Denmark by Dr. Lilli Nielsen to the institution. She served as coordinator and adjunct professor at Georgia State University for a satellite program from Florida State University Department of Education designing and implementing a program to train Georgia educators how to teach their visually impaired students.
As an itinerant teacher for the past 12 years, Heidi trains visually and multiply impaired students in Henry County public schools in the Atlanta area integrating them into regular classrooms. Using braille and modern technologies, she ensures they have the tools and knowledge they need to navigate the public school system. She has been recognized by a number of special education organizations as an outstanding lecturer and instructor and has published several articles in professional journals.
Volunteer work includes Juvenille Diabetes Research Foundation, Vice Chair of the Clay Elementary School PTA, and volunteers for many local charities.Heidi also owns and operates Westside Connection as a Realtor affiliated with Keller Williams Buckhead.
