Swedish Health Services Senior Leadership
The day-to-day management of all operations is the responsibility of Swedish's president and chief executive, R. Guy Hudson, MD, MBA, and the chief officers who make up the senior leadership team:
Regional Chief Executive Officer
guyhudsonmd.org
Chief Health Equity Officer
Regional Chief Operating Officer of the Puget Sound Region
Chief Real Estate Officer
Chief Human Resources Officer
Regional Chief Financial Officer
Regional Director, Community Health Investments
Chief Quality Officer of the Puget Sound Region
Chief Executive, Physician Enterprise, Puget Sound and Washington Montana Regions
Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer
Regional Chief Medical Officer for the Puget Sound Region.
Chief Strategy Officer, Swedish Health Services & WA/MT
Chief Executive, First Hill and Cherry Hill
R. Guy Hudson, MD, MBA
Regional Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Guy Hudson is the chief executive officer of Swedish Health Services, where he guides the strategic vision and oversees all operations for the Puget Sound region’s largest nonprofit health care system, which serves more than 2 million patients each year.
In this position, Dr. Hudson ensures that Swedish delivers on its mission of serving the needs of everyone in the community. He works closely with the organization’s leaders and caregivers to provide the highest-quality care to Swedish’s patients and to create a respectful workplace that values the contributions of every employee. Dr. Hudson assumed this role in early 2017.
Under Dr. Hudson’s leadership, Swedish has honed its strategic focus on delivering affordable, patient-centered care, including transitioning from a traditional, hospital-centric model to a system that enables patients to more easily access the care they need when and where they need it. Dr. Hudson has bolstered and diversified the Swedish Board of Trustees to bring new expertise and perspectives to the organization and has overseen improvements in both quality of care and patient safety throughout the organization. During his tenure, Swedish has made explicit commitments to advance racial justice and address inequities in health care, and the organization has built strong community partnerships to increase access for under-resourced populations.
Dr. Hudson has served in various leadership positions across Swedish in his 14 years with the organization. He joined Swedish in 2007 as a pediatric urologic surgeon and quickly began leading outreach and programs that transformed Swedish pediatric services. Dr. Hudson stewarded initiatives that improved caregiver engagement, patient care and operational workflow. Through his dedicated work with the pediatrics practice, Dr. Hudson developed a deep understanding of primary care, the emerging population health movement and the complexities of delivering care equitably and inclusively – learnings that inform his stewardship of the organization into the future.
Previously, Dr. Hudson served as Swedish Medical Group’s chief medical officer before being named chief of physician services for western Washington. In that role, he focused on medical group operations in the areas of provider engagement, patient satisfaction, and financial, operational and quality performance.
Dr. Hudson came to Swedish from an academic practice at Oregon Health & Science University. A graduate of Indiana University School of Medicine, he completed his internship and residency at Oregon Health & Science University, followed by a fellowship in pediatric urologic surgery at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Hudson holds an MBA from the University of Washington Foster School of Business.
Dr. Hudson has been recognized multiple times as one of Seattle’s and Portland’s Top Doctors, and he received the Patients’ Choice Award Compassionate Doctor Recognition each year from 2011 to 2014. He is passionate about delivering care to patients in areas that are medically underserved, including providing surgical care to children in Africa and serving as a Guatemala service representative with Providence Health International. Dr. Hudson serves on the Washington State Hospital Association board and the Greater Seattle Partners Executive Council, and is a member of the Community Development Roundtable of Seattle.
Nwando Anyaoku, MD, MPH, MBA
Chief Health Equity Officer
Nwando Anyaoku, MD, MPH, MBA is Vice President and the inaugural Chief Health Equity Officer for Swedish Health Services. Dr. Anyaoku has been at Swedish since 2016 in leadership over pediatrics and Medicaid strategy, and served as the physician lead for health equity and community partnerships. Prior to arriving at Swedish, Dr. Anyaoku served as the Division Chief of General Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of New Jersey, then as the Medical Director of Pediatrics for CHI Alegent Creighton health system in Omaha, Nebraska. She is a board-certified pediatrician and professor of pediatrics.
Dr. Anyaoku received her medical degree from the University of Nigeria. She had her residency training in pediatrics and served as chief resident at the Children’s Hospital of New Jersey. Dr. Anyaoku holds an MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and an MBA from the University of Washington Foster School of Business.
Kevin Brooks, MHA, FACHE
Regional Chief Operating Officer of the Puget Sound Region
Kevin Brooks, MHA, FACHE, is the regional chief operating officer (COO) of the Puget Sound Region. With his passion for strategic planning and operational improvement, he provides support for all aspects of patient care, overseeing daily business operations and improving operational efficiencies.
Brooks has more than 15 years of diverse health care leadership experience most recently serving as administrator and chief executive officer of Utah Valley Hospital 11(UVH).
He holds a Master of Health Care Administration degree from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management in Minneapolis. He also holds an American College of Healthcare Executives: fellowship credential (FACHE) and was a recipient of the 2016 American College of Healthcare Executives Regents Award.
Mike Denney
Chief Real Estate Officer
Bio coming soon.
Keegan Fisher, MHA
Chief Human Resources Officer
Keegan Fisher (he/him) is the chief human resources officer for Swedish Health Services, the largest not-for-profit health system in the Puget Sound region that has a vision of health for a better world. He joined Swedish in 2019, where he is responsible for Swedish’s people strategy as we strive to be the best place to work and practice. Keegan and his team are focused on the deliverance of industry best practices and to hire and develop talented caregivers to serve our patients, partnering with leaders to improve their effectiveness and ensure each of our nearly 13,000 caregivers has a sense of belonging and purpose.
Prior to joining Swedish, Keegan was the vice president of caregiver benefits & well-being for Providence Health System (Renton, WA), where he oversaw the system’s health, well-being, absence management and occupational health programs for Providence’s 115,000 caregivers for all of their family of organizations, including Swedish.
His past experience includes time with Towers Watson and Deloitte where he consulted on employee benefits and risk advisory services to many large employers. He earned his master’s degree in health administration from the University of Washington and Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Southern California. Originally from Federal Way, he and his wife live in Seattle and have a young daughter who was born at Swedish First Hill.
Mary Beth Formby, MHA
Regional Chief Financial Officer
Mary Beth Formby joined Swedish in August 2020 as the Regional Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and is part of the Swedish executive leadership team under Dr. Guy Hudson as well as the Providence Saint Joseph Hospital system CFO leadership team under Jo Ann Escasa-Haigh.
Mary Beth has spent most of her career in for-profit health systems, including Tenet and Prospect Medical Holdings (Prospect). She recently served in dual roles as the interim corporate chief financial officer (CFO) and National Hospital Segment CFO at Prospect Medical Holdings, a $3.2B system operating in six states with 20 acute care hospitals, 180 outpatient facilities, 750 employed physicians, 23 IPAs, 11,000 affiliated physicians and 500,000 members managed. She joined Prospect in 2018 as the CFO for its West Region.
Prior to Prospect, she served as a finance consultant to the CFO of UC Irvine Medical Center, a $2B academic medical center. Earlier, she was the VP/CFO of CareMeridian, a $100M health care organization with 35 post-acute facilities serving patients with brain injuries across four states. Before this, Mary Beth spent 25 years with $16B Tenet where she served in CFO roles at several of its Southern California hospitals.
She earned her BS in business administration, finance at California State University, Long Beach and her master’s in health administration from University of Southern California.
Mary Beth focuses on excellence, accountability, teamwork and collaboration. Her fun and friendly communication style is a great fit with our Swedish culture.
Mary Beth and her husband have two grown identical twin daughters in college – one pursuing a masters in accounting and the other in nursing school. They also have five dogs in the family household. Mary Beth is a serious pro and college football fan, enjoys outdoor sports and activities, cooking, pickleball and reading.
Kelly Guy
Regional Director, Community Health Investments
Kelly has more than 20 years in community partnership development and has worked in several fields, including child welfare, parks and recreation, education and community health. She completed her Master’s in Public Administration from Seattle University and her undergraduate degree from the University of Washington.
In addition to work, Kelly serves as a board member (City of Kent Human Services Commission), board member (Skyway Solutions Community Board) and was a prior board member of Grow Girl, Inc.
In her spare time, Kelly enjoys travelling to her niece and nephews’ games (soccer and basketball, respectively), going to concerts and reading. She also has a side business making customized art pieces under the name “Mindful Silhouettes.”
Karin Larson-Pollock, MD, MBA, FACHE
Chief Quality Officer of the Puget Sound Region
Karin is passionate about optimizing analytics and process improvement to foster value-driven care across the care continuum. Prior to this role, Karin served almost a decade at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, most recently as the Executive Director, Chief Quality & Analytics Officer. In her role, Karin led value-driven change strategy and architecture - including care process transformation, reporting and benchmarking analytics, quality systems and structures, operational excellence (Lean/Six Sigma) and Care Management/Utilization Management.
Dr. Larson-Pollock graduated from The University of Montana with a degree in Business Administration/Marketing and a minor in German. After serving as a Small Business Advisor with the U.S. Peace Corps in Kenya, she returned to the U.S. for graduate studies, receiving a Doctor of Medicine degree from Northwestern University Medical School, a Masters in Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and more recently a Certificate in Business Analytics from Harvard University’s Business Analytics Program. Prior to her role with Providence, Karin served as Vice President of Operations at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, TX before returning home with her husband and two children to the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
She is an alumnus of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Chief Quality Officer Forum, a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and serves as the elected ACHE District 5 Regent for Washington State.
Michael Marshall, MD
Chief Executive, Physician Enterprise, Puget Sound and Washington Montana Regions
Dr. Marshall has notable experience leading strategic expansion, including helping create the 2nd largest nonprofit health care system in the US. Directed and provided operations and financial management oversight, managing health care systems, service lines, and clinical operations to financial, clinical, quality, and service targets. Transformed medical group, hospitals, clinical service lines, and health care systems to meet changing market demands and service delivery needs locally, regionally, and nationally. Managed internal/external stakeholder relationships, collaborating closely with boards of directors, C-suite leaders, physicians, and staff teams, as well as community partner organizations to effect positive operational, financial, and clinical change and outcomes.
Prior to joining Providence, Dr. Marshall held various positions in Commonspirit Health System as Chief Physician Executive and Chair at CHI National Medical Group Enterprise Leadership Council. Franciscan Medical Group holding position as SVP, Physician Enterprise, and President. Allina Health System, holding positions as President of Allina Health Clinics and Senior Vice President of Allina Health. Aurora Health Car, Vice President, Medical Operations, Arora Medical Group and Aurora Health Care.
Mike holds a Master of Science in Finance from the University of southern New Hampshire, Master of Medical Management from the Carnegie Mellon University, Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, Bachelor of Science, Honors in experimental Physiology, Bachelor of Science, Majors in Physiology and Microbiology from University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Mardia Shands, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer
Mardia is a multi-disciplinary Human Resources leader with extensive experience in social impact, diversity, equity and inclusion, and workforce development across multiple industries including health care, manufacturing, supply chain and IT. Her career has spanned from multi-national global corporations to small not-for-profits across North America and Africa.
She is an Aspen Institute Job Quality Fellow and is also a Venue Magazine 2019 Woman of Influence. She is a sought-after speaker on the topics of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Workforce Development. She is a member of Class 39 of Leadership Cincinnati, has been recognized by the Cincinnati Business Courier as a Forty Under 40 business leader and the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati as a Rising Star. Ms. Shands serves on the Board of Directors for the YWCA. She is the immediate past chair of the Workforce Investment Board for Butler, Warren and Clermont Counties in the Greater Cincinnati region and she is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. where she is an active member of the Cincinnati Alumnae Chapter.
Ms. Shands earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Cincinnati and a master’s degree in Labor and Employment Relations also from the University of Cincinnati. She holds the Senior Professional in Human Resources designation from the Human Resources Certification Institute and the Senior Certified Professional certificate from the Society of Human Resources Management.
Arooj Simmonds, MD
Chief Medical Officer for the Puget Sound Region
Dr. Simmonds is a collaborative physician leader who she has served in a variety of roles at Swedish Medical Center with increasing leadership and responsibility since 2010. Her most recent role was the Executive Medical Director of Surgical Services for Swedish Medical Center, where she was responsible for aligning the Five Swedish Perioperative Surgical Departments. Prior to this she was Medical Director for Swedish’s Preadmission clinics and a staff anesthesiologist.
Dr. Simmonds is a trained anesthesiologist who has treated thousands of patients and provided a wide range of anesthesia services. Before her leadership role at Swedish, she was actively involved in her national anesthesia group serving on the Board of Directors and Clinical Operations Committee. Her most important contribution was leading their national diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Dr. Simmonds is a board-certified anesthesiologist. She completed a cardiothoracic anesthesia fellowship at Duke University and residency in Anesthesia from Virginia Mason Medical Center. She received her undergraduate degree from Tufts University and her medical degree from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.
Andrew B. Taylor, FACHE
Chief Strategy Officer, Swedish Health Services & Providence Washington/Montana
Andrew was appointed chief strategy officer for the Providence Washington/Montana region in February, 2019, expanding his role to include Swedish Health Services in May, 2021. As part of the Swedish and Providence Washington/Montana leadership teams, Andrew oversees all strategic and business development initiatives across a portfolio that exceeds $7 billion in net operating revenue.
With notable experience leading health system strategy and market growth, Andrew most recently served as market vice president, strategy, for the Ascension health system’s Alabama region. Prior to joining Ascension, Andrew held various positions in strategy and business development for Ascension and the U.S. Army Medical Command.
Andrew holds a Master of Health Administration from Ohio University and an undergraduate degree in psychology. He is board certified as a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Elizabeth Wako, MD, MBA
Chief Executive, Central Puget Sound
Prior to being Chief Executive for Central Puget Sound, Dr. Wako served as the Chief Executive for Swedish Seattle, and the Chief Operating Officer of the Swedish First Hill campus. In addition, she was the Chief
Medical Officer (CMO) for five years before her COO role. She oversaw the Swedish Research Enterprise and held the role of Executive Medical Director of Graduate Medical Education. In addition, she carried a
dual role as Medical Director for Swedish’s Preadmission Clinics that serves four campuses, and as a staff anesthesiologist. Prior to joining Swedish, she held leadership roles at Harborview Medical Center, West Seattle Psychiatric Hospital and Community Psychiatric Clinic, all in Seattle.
Dr. Wako is a board-certified anesthesiologist and served as a resident in anesthesia and fellow at the University of Washington. She also received her undergraduate degree from the University of Washington, her medical degree from the University of Utah and her MBA from the University of Washington.