People & Places

O&P LEADERSHIP AOPA Leaders Embrace New Roles for 2023

AOPA leadership is preparing for a dynamic 2023, with many opportunities for advocacy, education, and research to support the O&P profession. The 2023 AOPA Board of Directors is excited to launch new programs and projects while continuing to focus on previously developed initiatives.

Teri Kuffel, JD, begins her term as AOPA president December 1 after being elected during the AOPA National Assembly in September. Kuffel will be supported by Mitchell Dobson, CPO, FAAOP, president-elect; Jeffrey M. Brandt, CPO, vice president; Rick Riley, treasurer; Eve Lee, MBA, CAE, secretary; and several additional board members. Dave McGill, who served as president for the 2021-2022 term, will continue serving the association as immediate past president.

Arlene Gillis, MEd, CP, LPO, and Lesleigh Sisson, CFo, CFm, are the newest members of the profession to join the AOPA board. Gillis, who is an O&P clinician and educator, is founder of the International Institute of Orthotics & Prosthetics. Sisson is president of Prosthetic Center of Excellence in Las Vegas and founding partner of consulting firm O&P Insight.

Traci Dralle, CFm, who served as immediate past president last year, and James Young Jr., CP, LP, FAAOP, conclude their board service at this time.

The board will carry out the functions of the AOPA mission statement, with goals of fostering relationships with decision makers to ensure equitable access; providing education that promotes professional excellence; supporting research that informs innovative care; and advancing equality to strengthen the O&P profession and improve the lives of patients. They are looking forward to meeting and discussing important O&P topics during the 2023 AOPA O&P Leadership Conference in January.

To the right is the full list of 20222023 AOPA Board of Directors members, who take office Dec. 1, 2022, and will serve through Nov. 30, 2023.

Teri Kuffel, JD President

2023 AOPA Officers

Mitchell Dobson, CPO, FAAOP President-Elect Jeffrey M. Brandt, CPO Vice President

Dave McGill Immediate Past President Rick Riley Treasurer Eve Lee, MBA, CAE Secretary (Nonvoting)

2023 AOPA Board Members

Elizabeth Ginzel, MHA, CPO

Linda Wise Kimberly Hanson, CPRH

Shane Wurdeman, PhD, CP, FAAOP(D) Research Chair John “Mo” Kenney, CPO, FAAOP James Kingsley

Arlene Gillis, MEd, CP, LPO Lesleigh Sisson, CFo, CFm

New Board Members

Special Thanks, Retiring

Traci Dralle, CFm James Young Jr., CP, LP, FAAOP

PROFESSIONALS

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND TRANSITIONS

Henry Christner joined UNYQ as vice president of global sales and marketing. Christner spent the last several years with ResMed focusing on strategy in its sleep, respiratory care, and digital business units. Henry Christner At UNYQ, Christner will lead the global sales, marketing, and customer experience teams. He will focus on executing the organization’s business strategy, accelerating growth, and spreading the company’s vision to improve the lives of prosthetic patients and serving the prosthetics community.

The Board of Certification/Accreditation (BOC) Board of Directors has announced its 2023 Executive Committee: Wayne R. Rosen, BOCP, BOCO, LPO, CDME, FAAOP, chair of the committee; Cameron Stewart, BOCO, BOCP, vice chair; Abel Guevara III, DHA(c), MHIM, RHIA, CPHT, CDME, secretary; Daniel Griffis III, PharmD, treasurer; Rick Todd, COF, member at large; and Bradley “Brad” Watson, BOCO, BOCP, LPO, immediate past chair.

“BOC is grateful for the passionate, dedicated professionals serving on our Board of Directors,” said Rosen. “Their decades of experience and sound leadership support BOC’s continued growth and ensure our credential-holders are backed by professionals who are truly committed to their success.”

Dixon LeGrande has been promoted to the role of president of Hanger Inc.’s products and services business segment. Coleson Chase has been promoted to vice president and general manager of SPS. In this expanded role, he will oversee the SPS business while reporting to LeGrande. These changes will take effect January 7. “I’m thrilled to fill these key roles with experienced Hanger leaders,” said Hanger Chief Operating Officer Pete Stoy. “I am confident these appointments will further solidify our products and services leadership structure, and prepare the team for long-term growth.”

LeGrande joined Hanger in 2010, holding leadership positions in sales and marketing for subsidiaries in both the products and services and patient-care business segments, including SPS and Hanger Clinic. Currently, he is the president of Accelerated Care Plus (ACP), Hanger’s therapeutic solutions subsidiary. LeGrande will maintain his duties as ACP president while also supporting Chase as he leads SPS.

In Chase’s expanded role, he will oversee the SPS business, along with SureFit, including the customer service teams for both organizations. Chase joined SPS five years ago as the director of marketing, and most recently served as vice president of operations.

Dixon LeGrande Coleson Chase

FOR ALL YOUR LOWER EXTREMITY POST-OP AND PREPARATORY CARE

Trans-Tibial

SOFTIE™

T Trans-Tibial FLO-TECH-TOR™ UFOS™ & VCSPS™ T Trans-Femoral

FLO-TECH®

Trans-Femoral FLO-TECH-TOR™ & UFOS™

BUSINESSES

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND TRANSITIONS

Allard USA has opened a new office in McKinney, Texas, to better serve customers and the people who benefit from the company’s products, according to CEO Dennis Williams. The McKinney Office staff at Allard USA’s office is staffed by Joey McKinney, Texas, location Saenz and Nicole Piazza, who will be managing inside sales. Saenz has more than 18 years of healthcare selling experience and a combined 30 years of business-to-business and direct-to-consumer/ patient sales. Piazza has eight years of client relationship management and customer service experience. Amparo Prosthetics has announced a partnership with Empire Medical, a centralized purchasing department for the independent U.S. O&P market. The new relationship will allow the member practices of the Empire Medical network to access the Amparo Confidence Socket products via unique Empire online purchasing tools. “Finding ways to support the independent U.S. O&P practices is a key part of our efforts with the move of our corporate offices to Salt Lake City after our start in Germany,” said Wesley Teerlink, CEO of Amparo Prosthetics. The Board of Certification/ Accreditation (BOC) has been awarded the Gold w3 Award for its recent web redesign and improvements for customer navigation. The w3 Awards are sanctioned and judged by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts. BOC’s newly redesigned website was honored for its user experience enhancements, including mobile-first design, user-friendly navigation, thoughtful menu categorization, and colorful, neatly displayed design elements. Hanger Inc. has announced the completion of its transaction to acquire Surestep. The collaboration will provide Surestep with access to resources and is a continuation of Hanger’s investment in its recently launched pediatric specialty. The transaction also includes Surestep’s sister company, Transcend O&P, which includes 13 patient-care clinic locations in six states.

“We have long been admirers of the work of Surestep and Transcend, and we share their commitment to delivering high-quality clinical care, products, and services,” said Pete Stoy, Hanger chief operating officer. “There are a lot of similarities in the cultures of our businesses and what drives us.” Surestep will be managed independent of Hanger Clinic, and the business will maintain its brand, leadership, and team, led by Surestep CEO Bernie Veldman. “Our priority is fabricating quality products that provide life-changing outcomes, and this partnership will enable us to leverage the strengths of a national company to ultimately serve an even greater population of children in need,” said Veldman. Transcend O&P and its employees will integrate into the Hanger Clinic business. More than 150 participants traveled to Orlando to take part in Orthomerica’s 19th Annual STAR Summit in October. The STAR Summit brings together cranial clinicians who use Orthomerica’s cranial products and data acquisition technologies. Attendees participated in three days of multidisciplinary cranial lectures and workshops and heard from pediatric physicians and allied healthcare professionals. The event facilitates collaboration among cranial clinicians from across the world on a variety of topics, including deformational head shapes, craniosynostosis, new clinical studies, outcomes reporting, and best practices, according to Deanna Fish, CPO, clinical outreach manager for Orthomerica. The University of Utah’s Bionic Engineering Lab, which developed the Utah Bionic Leg, has forged a partnership with Ottobock to license the technology behind the Utah Bionic Leg to bring the technology to individuals with lower-limb amputations. Ottobock “has committed to use the highest level of technologies available in robotics and artificial intelligence to bring this prosthetic leg to those who need it as soon as possible,” said Tommaso Lenzi, University of Utah mechanical engineering professor and lead researcher on the Utah Bionic Leg project.

The two organizations announced their partnership during a ceremony and press conference October 5. Attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony were Professor Hans Georg Näder, owner and chairman of the Board of Directors of Ottobock; Georgia Näder, Ottobock supervisory board member; Richard B. Brown, dean of the College of Engineering; and Lenzi. VGM & Associates has released “VGM Playbook: Business Planning and Leadership,” which provides insight on how DMEPOS providers can enrich their business planning and leadership opportunities within their companies.

Board of Certification/Accreditation

Orthomerica’s 19th Annual STAR Summit