Care Synergy is a network of not for profit community-based hospice, home health, and palliative care organizations serving Colorado’s Front Range.

Tim Bowen brings nearly 30 years of hospice experience to his position as President and CEO of Care Synergy, an organization formed in 2014 by three premiere Front Range not-for-profit hospice providers to create a care delivery model that is better and more efficient than any single provider could build. Under Tim’s leadership, the Care Synergy operating model will enable its members—Pathways Hospice in Fort Collins, The Denver Hospice, and Halcyon Hospice and Palliative Care in Mead—to grow to meet the communities needs for quality, compassionate end-of-life care.

Tim is responsible for ensuring that Care Synergy fulfills its mission to provide care, comfort and compassion to the individuals, families and communities the member organizations are honored and privileged to serve, achieving that goal by living 6 Core Values: Innovation, Positivity, Excellence, Collaboration, Openness and Growth.

Tim came to Care Synergy in February 2015 after 15 years as President of Haven Hospice, a large community-based hospice and palliative care provider serving 18 urban and rural counties across much of North Florida. Haven Hospice expanded significantly during Tim’s tenure, broadening its clinical services to include five freestanding hospice care centers, a palliative care service and in-house home medical equipment business while growing to care for more than 750 hospice patients and families each day. Haven Hospice won the prestigious Circle of Life Award presented annually by the American Hospital Association and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) to healthcare providers that demonstrate excellence and innovation in end-of-life and palliative care.

Tim began his career as a medical social worker and progressed in management and leadership positions with both not-for-profit and for-profit hospice providers at the local, regional and national level. He was Director of Patient Care for Hope Hospice in Fort Myers, Florida; National Director of Hospice Development for Olsten Kimberly Quality Care; National Hospice Director for Staff Builders Healthcare Services; and Hospice Director for Mid-Peninsula/Pathways Hospice in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Tim has been an active leader and advocate for hospice throughout his career. He co-founded the National Hospice Executive Roundtable, a group of chief executives of leading not-for-profit hospices from around the country who share best practices and benchmarking data with the goal of improving patient care while positioning members to provide referral sources and payors with differentiating qualitative and quantitative measures. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the NHPCO’s Hospice Action Network and he has served on a number of other NHPCO groups, including the Council of States, Standards and Accreditation Committee and Managed Care Advisory Committee. While at Haven Hospice, Tim served two terms as President of the Florida Hospice and Palliative Care Association and chaired a number of committees over the years.

Tim earned a Master’s degree in Social Welfare from the University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of San Diego.

O’Brien joins Care Synergy with more than 15 years of progressively senior roles in human resources, most recently as the vice president of human resources for InnovAge of Denver.

She holds a B.S. in human resources management from Colorado State University and is a certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR). Before leading human resources for InnovAge of Denver, she was vice president of human resources for SitusAMC and MountainView Financial Solutions.

Tim Bowen, CEO and president of Care Synergy, said O’Brien “brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in building, managing, engaging, empowering and coaching employees and teams to achieve high levels of performance.”

Care Synergy is a nonprofit organization supporting affiliated home health, palliative and hospice care providers including The Denver Hospice, the Colorado Visiting Nurse Association, Pathways in northern Colorado, and Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care.

The organization provides services along the Front Range of Colorado from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins. Every day, Care Synergy affiliates serve more than 1,200 hospice patients and more than 1,000 home health and palliative care clients.

In the role of vice president of human resources, O’Brien will collaborate with the affiliates to develop and implement effective, innovative strategies to meet the business needs of the organizations and grow the impact of their services.

With nearly 20 years of extensive experience in information systems management, process improvement, customer service, managed care organizations and provider markets, John M. Blaschke joined Care Synergy in October 2015 as the organization’s first Chief Information Officer.

With hands-on experience with both hardware and software, an intimate knowledge of the managed care sector and a strong customer satisfaction orientation, John is charged with creating a world class IT platform to support Care Synergy’s growing family of community-based hospice providers as they continue to grow and transform to meet their not-for-profit missions in an increasingly competitive and integrated healthcare marketplace.

Prior to coming to Care Synergy, John spent more than 13 years at the TriZetto Corporation, a leading national healthcare IT solutions firm based in Denver that provides regional and national managed care organizations with core administrative IT services ranging from claims processing and eligibility to care management, utilization management and disease management. At TriZetto, John most recently served as Associate Vice President and General Manager, in which he was responsible for all aspects of product and service support for a large regional health system located in Texas. During his tenure at TriZetto, John was responsible at various times for hardware and software support, application management services, account management, sales management, consulting services and customer service.

John’s background also includes substantial experience in IT consulting, including more than a half-dozen years with Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting). His consulting clients numbered both local and national health insurers; his responsibilities included site system integration, consumer-facing web portals and benefits support. John also led new technology deployment, process improvement and system innovations for his clients.

Earlier in his career, John guided a process re-engineering initiative for a national emergency physicians management group that included deployment of new systems to support better work flow efficiencies leading to increased customer satisfaction. He also worked for Colorado’s Medicaid program on an initiative that examined opportunities to improve efficiencies and obtain better rates through an open competitive bidding process.

John received his Bachelor’s in Economics from The Colorado College in Colorado Springs and a Master’s in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles, with an emphasis in Health Policy & Management.

John, his wife, and children reside in Littleton, Colorado.

Nate Lamkin, an experienced hospice administrator with expertise in grief and bereavement, will lead Pathways as its President.

Nate joins Pathways in Northern Colorado from Care Dimensions in Boston, the largest not-for-profit hospice and palliative care provider in Massachusetts. As Senior Director of Patient and Family Support Services and a member of the Care Dimensions senior leadership team, Nate was responsible for the planning, development, implementation and evaluation of Care Dimensions’ extensive array of support programs and services, including the highly regarded Bertolon Center for Grief & Healing and the departments of social work, chaplaincy, volunteer and complementary therapies. Nate also provided programmatic oversight of several specialty programs, including Care Dimensions’ Pediatric Hospice program, and served as chairperson of the Ethics Committee and the Committee for Diversity & Inclusion. Nate joined Care Dimensions in 2010 as a social worker and later was promoted to Director of Bereavement Services & Program Development. Even as a member of Care Dimensions’ senior management team, Nate continued his grief and bereavement work, leading support groups and serving as a community resource on grief and healing.

Prior to joining Care Dimensions, Nate managed the Social Work Department of the nationally recognized Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He began his work at Dana-Farber as a clinical social worker providing support to patients and families served by the Neuro Oncology and Gastrointestinal Oncology departments.

Nate started his hospice career in 2000 as a social worker with Beacon Hospice, a regional provider serving much of New England. After a brief stint as a nursing home administrator, he returned to hospice to serve as executive director of two start-up hospices, which he led through initial licensure and certification to rapid growth and expansion.

While looking forward to immersing himself in the Northern Colorado community, Nate was deeply involved in the Greater Boston community. He served on the Advisory Board for the Massachusetts Center for Unexpected Infant and Child Death, which serves families that have experienced the unexpected death of an infant or child under the age of three. Nate also chaired the Advisory Board of Camp Kesem-MIT, the local chapter of a nationwide organization that supports children through and beyond their parent’s cancer. Nate was selected in 2016 as one of the one hundred by Mass General Cancer Center. The one hundred each year honors 100 Everyday Amazing individuals and groups who are taking action in the fight against cancer in inspiring and often revolutionary ways.

Nate graduated from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with a Bachelor of Arts in Community Health and earned his Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University, New York. Nate is licensed by the State of Colorado as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and has attained certification from the National Association of Social Workers as an Advanced Certified Hospice & Palliative Social Worker.

Nate’s wife Leah is a licensed architect and they have two school-age daughters.

Dawn Darvalics is a healthcare executive with over 18 years of experience in hospice and palliative care. Dawn’s career includes working for national hospice and palliative care providers, non-profit community-based hospices, and international consulting firms including KPMG and Arthur Anderson.

In the role of President at Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care, Dawn is responsible for advancing the organization’s mission to care for all in need of expert hospice and palliative care services in the Colorado Springs area. Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care is an affiliate member of Care Synergy’s network of non-profit home health, palliative care, and hospice organizations across Colorado’s Front Range. Prior to being named President of Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care, Dawn worked at Care Synergy and The Denver Hospice, leading quality, compliance, and education initiatives.

Dawn began her career in end-of-life care at VITAS Healthcare where she served for 10 years. At Vitas, Dawn was the national general manager of VITAS Palliative Care Solutions. In this role, Dawn launched the palliative medicine division. She was responsible for standing up palliative medicine practices across the company and overseeing operations including centralized practice support. Prior to that Dawn served as Interim General Manager of VITAS’ Chicago Central Program, led the implementation of VITAS’ electronic medical record system across the company, and was Associate General Manager of the South Florida region.

Prior to joining VITAS, Dawn worked for Arthur Andersen and KPMG Business Consulting’s change management and performance improvement divisions. She focused on large-scale change management initiatives, such as enterprise resource planning software and shared services center implementations.

Prior to arriving in Colorado, Dawn worked at Aspire Health based in Nashville as Senior Vice President and Executive Director of the Aspire Institute, the company’s internal learning and development department. She focused on aligning learning and development with organizational objectives. Dawn also served as an executive management consultant for Ohio’s Hospice Incorporated, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, and Caring Foundations where she focused on improving the quality of care through operational optimization.

Dawn holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with a minor in Business Administration and a Master of Science degree in Instructional Systems from Florida State University. She is a Certified Project Management Professional and PROSCI Change Practitioner.

Julie Nunley is an experienced health care leader who was most recently a Vice President and the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) at UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital. She began her career, as a nurse, in 1984 and has been serving in leadership roles for more than 20 years, including as a Chief Nursing Officer for 13 years and a CEO for five years in both not-for-profit and for-profit health care organizations.

Ms. Nunley is also active in her community and profession by serving on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Organization of Nurse Leaders as the Director of the Northeast District and as a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and the American Association of Nurse Executives.

Tricia Ford, an accomplished healthcare leader with more than 25 years of hospice experience covering operations, sales, business development and management, is Care Synergy’s first Vice President of Operations. In support of Care Synergy’s shared services model supporting member not-for-profit hospices, Tricia is responsible for strategic planning, direction and management of patient care-related shared services, group purchasing and group contracting, as well as other initiatives that benefit Affiliate members.

Prior to joining Care Synergy, Tricia worked with a variety of hospice, home health and post-acute providers as a consultant and independent contractor, specializing in supporting aging in place and preventing hospital readmissions.

Tricia previously worked as a Vice President for the fast-growing New Century Hospice, for which she was responsible for hospice operations at six New Century locations in Colorado, Texas and Louisiana. She also helped lead and manage the transition when the company was acquired by another provider. She joined the growing New Century from UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Hospice and Palliative Care, where she served as Chief Operating Officer for eight years. With responsibility for strategic planning and creating an infrastructure to build a national hospice and palliative care organization through acquisition and de novo initiatives, Tricia had responsibility for an 800-employee workforce and revenue and profitability across the division. She also managed Optum’s relationships with two not-for-profits, The Dream Foundation and the National Hospice Foundation, with which Optum worked and to which Optum directed memorial contributions made in the name of its hospice patients.

Earlier in her career, Tricia was Executive Vice President of GeriNet, a leading healthcare organization that specializes in providing post-acute care for frail and vulnerable patients in skilled nursing facilities and home environments, and its Hospice Touch subsidiary. One of the largest hospice providers in Orange County, California, Hospice Touch was one of the first hospice programs in the nation to integrate with managed care organizations and physician medical groups. Tricia assumed her first operational role as Western Regional Vice President for Odyssey Health Care, in which she was responsible for a six-state region with revenues of $57 million and nearly 600 employees.

Tricia began her hospice career as a Hospice Sales Representative for Vitas Healthcare in Dallas, Texas, and subsequently was promoted to Director of Admissions & Sales for start-up programs and then was named Director of Admissions & Sales for Vitas’ long-established anchor program in Dallas.

Throughout her career, Tricia has been actively involved in not-for-profit organizations serving the communities in which she lived and worked. She currently serves on the Executive Leadership Council of Colorado State University, her alma mater. In previous professional postings Tricia represented her employer on the Hospice Advisory Board of the Dream Foundation and the Board of Trustees of the National Hospice Foundation of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

A graduate of Colorado State University, Tricia earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development and Family Studies–Geriatrics from the college of Health and Human Sciences.

Paul Tosetti joined Care Synergy as the Chief Financial Officer in 2020 when the Colorado Visiting Nurse Association where he had served as Chief Financial Officer since 2016 became affiliated with Care Synergy. In this role, he oversees the Finance function for several affiliated companies in the Hospice and Home Health industry.

Mr. Tosetti has more than 35 years of experience in financial management in environments in both the public and private sectors including non-profits and is an active CPA and CIA. He has experience working with many different types of functions within an organization including accounting, finance, treasury, internal audit, risk management, insurance, taxes, fund development, human resources, payroll, information systems, purchasing, and legal. He has extensive experience with grant accounting, various government subsidy programs, and non-profit and governmental auditing requirements. He brings a strong customer centric approach to all processes.

Prior to joining the Colorado Visiting Nurse Association, Mr. Tosetti served as the Chief Financial Officer for Nurse-Family Partnership for eight years, the Chief Financial Officer for Belron US, and then in various management positions with well-known Colorado companies, including Kroger (King Soopers), and Aramark Educational Resources (Children’s World). He has public accounting experience with KPMG.

He is a member of the Colorado Society of Public Accountants, the Institute of Internal Auditors, and Financial Executives International. Mr. Tosetti earned a business degree from the University of Colorado.

Paul and his wife reside in Colorado and have three adult children.

With nearly 20 years of extensive experience in healthcare marketing, development communications, administration and operations Evan Hyatt is joining Care Synergy, as of October 2019, in the role of Director of Marketing and Communications.

Prior to joining Care Synergy, Evan led Pathways, a not-for-profit community based hospice and palliative care organization developing into one of the most highly regarded hospices of its size throughout the Rockies and the nation. Based in Fort Collins and serving Larimer and Weld counties, including the towns of Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, and surrounding communities, Pathways is recognized for its comprehensive range of grief counseling and support services for both children and adults, its active corps of volunteers and its person-centered dementia care program.

Under Evan’s leadership and guidance, Pathways launched a Palliative Care consultative service, expanded clinical programs for children with life-limiting illness, was named a preferred provider by one of the region’s largest payors, was designated a Leader in Dementia Care by the Alzheimer’s Association and opened a Veterans Garden at its Fort Collins campus for solace, reflection, meditation and honoring veterans from each branch of military service. In 2015 Pathways Hospice attained Level IV status—the highest designation—in the We Honor Veterans program of the Veterans Administration and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO).

Before leading Pathways as CE0/President, Evan served as Marketing and Development Director for the Pathways organization. During this time he led a successful capital campaign that raised nearly $3 million to support the Pathways for Grief and Loss program and facility and retired all existing debt.

In addition to his work with Pathways, Evan has twice worked for the City of Fort Collins, first as Building Supervisor for the Lincoln Center, a regional performing and visual arts center, then as Public Relations Coordinator and subsequently as Associate Director of Cultural Services. He also served as Executive Director of Operations for Northern and Mountain Colorado communities for Kaiser Permanente where he directed the day-to-day operations of six primary care medical office buildings and helped to grow membership in Kaiser Permanente health plans

Evan has served on the Board of Directors of the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of the Rockies including the Association’s Public Policy Committee. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the United Way of Weld County, the NCMC Foundation, the Better Business Bureau for northern Colorado and Wyoming and the Loveland Business Partnership and is a member of the Northern Colorado Healthcare Sector Partnership.

Evan graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science. He also obtained a Teaching Certificate in Secondary Education from Colorado State University. He holds certificates from the NHPCO’s Hospice Administrator program, the Disney Institute’s Approach to Quality Service program and the Center for the Advance of Palliative Care, among others.

Pat Mehnert has a master’s degree in nursing and nearly 25 years of experience in hospice and palliative care. She has held various quality, compliance, and clinical leadership roles in addition to clinical nursing experience at the bedside for many years.

Pat has been director of Corporate Compliance and Risk Management for Care Synergy for a little more than two years. As Vice President of Quality, Compliance, and Education, Pat will be combining the oversight of Quality, Compliance, and Education in order to work collaboratively with all affiliates to identify and implement best practices and continually improve in these areas. Pat also will be providing in-depth statistical analysis of the metrics and results of the publicly reported scores, complaints, and patient/family satisfaction surveys; be accountable for the oversight of and improvement in all publicly reported quality and outcomes initiatives in hospice and palliative care; and make recommendations for updating policies and procedures.

Darci joins Care Synergy with more than 15 years of hospice experience as a sales executive, clinical director and RN case manager. Darci is experienced in all facets of hospice care with an emphasis on developing strong culture, clinical operations, colleague development, succession planning, process, and efficiencies. She is a strong relationship builder with an accomplished history of developing high quality leadership teams while supporting clinical operations.

As the Vice President of Business Development for Care Synergy, Darci will develop, direct and manage the overall sales structure, sales process and sales training for Care Synergy and it’s Affiliates in support of their goals. Her role is responsible for aligning strategic plans of Care Synergy and its Affiliates to assure positive impact and improved market share, consensus and access to care and brand awareness.

A graduate of the University of Colorado, Darci holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing.

David M. Giordano is the Vice President of Development for The Denver Hospice. In this role, David is responsible for the organization’s donor relationships, fundraising and planned giving programs.

David comes to The Denver Hospice from National Jewish Health, where he served as Director of Development – Major Gifts. During his 9 year tenure, he led a team of major and planned gift fundraisers, developed strategies for the discovery, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of major and planned give prospects and donors in an 11-state region.

David’s previous experience includes positions with Gebhardt Automotive and the University of Colorado Foundation. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and math from Claremont McKenna College and his MBA from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

“The Denver Hospice’s is one of our community’s greatest treasures,” says David Giordano. “I am looking forward to raising funds that will help sustain the 40-year legacy and support the very important work of caring for those with a life-limiting illness or terminal diagnosis.”