Anthony Rizzo
World Series Champion and Three-Time MLB All-Star
Speakers
200+ Speakers — The Leaders Running ASCs Today
The lineup at Becker’s 32nd Annual: The Business and Operations of ASCs reflects the people making decisions inside leading ASCs right now. It includes CEOs, administrators, COOs, and physician leaders responsible for growth, operations, and financial performance. This is one of the few events where more ASC executives are in the room than at any other conference. The same leaders you benchmark against are the ones on stage.
About the Conference
Speakers come to be part of the conversations you need to be in
The roster is built around one question: who does this audience need in the conversation? Speakers are selected based on the decisions they own, the systems they run, and the peers they work alongside.
Featured Speakers
William Prentice
Chief Executive Officer, Ambulatory Surgery Center Association
Jeffrey Flynn, CASC
President, New York State Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers; Administrator and Chief Operating Officer, Gramercy Surgery Center
Andrew Lovewell, MHA, MSHI, FACHE, FACHDM
Chief Executive Officer, Columbia Orthopaedic Group
Nate Kalkwarf, MBA
Executive Director, Iowa City Ambulatory Surgical Center
Celebrity Keynotes
Leadership looks the same at the top
Select sessions bring in leaders from outside healthcare who have performed at the highest level under pressure. Their perspective sits alongside a program built around hospital and health system executives.
Kevin O'Leary
Star of ABC’s 'Shark Tank', Top Business Speaker, Serial Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist and Investor Featured in Harvard Business Review Case Study in 2023
Speaker Lineup
Explore the full 2026 speaker lineup
Browse and explore all 200+ confirmed speakers across the program.
| Full Name | Job Title | Company |
|---|---|---|
| Abdul Aadam | Director, Interventional Endoscopy and Medical Director, Global Services | Northwestern Medicine |
| Alaa Abd-Elsayed | Medical Director | UW Pain Clinic |
| Ramy Abou Ghayda | Associate Professor, Urology, Associate Residency Program Director and Chief, Transformation and Quality, Urology Institute | University Hospitals |
| Jason Acevedo | President | Elm Place Ambulatory Surgery Center |
| Stacy Acketz | Chief Executive Officer | Allina Health Minneapolis Heart Institute Surgery Center |
| Gaurav Aggarwala | Chief Executive Officer | Pulse Healthcare System |
| Naomi Allen | Market Chief Executive Officer | Thomas Johnson Surgery Center |
| JC Alvarez | Medical Director | Bone and joint Surgical suites |
| Mitesh Amin | President | Southpark Heart & Rhythm Center |
| Mitch Anderson | Area Vice President | Assort Health |
| Leon Anijar | Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer | Flagler Health |
| Magdalena Anitescu | President-elect, North American Neuromodulation Society; Pain Management Division Chief and Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Professor | University of Chicago Medicine |
| Marco Araujo | Executive Director | Elite Hormones & The A Clinics |
| Solomon Aronson | Associate Chief Medical Officer | Somnia Anesthesia |
| Elisa Auguste | Administrator | Precision Care Surgery Center |
| Ruben J. Azocar | Professor and the Merryl and Sam Israel Chair, Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine | Tulane University School of Medicine |
| Kirsten Barrios | Practice Director | Midwest Digestive Health and Nutrition |
| Ravi K. Bashyal | Vice-Chairman, Patient and Provider Experience; Director, Outpatient Hip and Knee Replacement Surgery, Endeavor Health; Clinical Assistant Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery | Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago |
| Linda Bedwell | Director | Powder River Surgery Center |
| Scott Bennett | Chief Executive Officer | US Digestive Health |
| Curtis Bernstein | Partner | Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting |
| Adam Berry | Chief Executive Officer | Summit Orthopedics |
| Basil R. Besh | Founder | Farwell Surgical Partners |
| Terry Bohlke | Chief Executive Officer | Keystone Surgical Partners |
| Peter Bravos | Division Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Sutter Health Surgery Center Division; Chief Medical Officer | Sutter North Medical Group |
| Sarah Bremer | Finance Director | Helena SurgiCenter |
| Ray Brown | Chief Executive Officer and Director, Business Development | Lake Lucien Surgery Center |
| Beverly Bryant | Administrator | Bluffton-Okatie Surgery Center |
| Umar Burney | Chief Medical Officer | Unity Surgical Center |
| Gordon B. Wesley | Chief Strategy and Clinical Integration Officer | UChicago Medicine AdventHealth |
| Tom Calabro | Senior Director, Surgery and Musculoskeletal Service Lines | CaroMont Health |
| Lori Callahan | Director, ASC Regional | OrthoIllinois |
| Kenneth Candido | Professor, Clinical Surgery and Anesthesia, University of Illinois College of Medicine; President, Chicago Anesthesia Associates; President | Chicago Anesthesia Pain Specialists |
| Janet Carlson | Chief Executive Officer and Founder | Vertex Surgical Solutions |
| Jaclyn Carney | Senior Vice President, Health System Partnerships and and De Novos | Surgery Partners, Inc |
| Clinton Cerreta | Clinical Nurse Manager | Surgery Center at TGH Brandon Healthplex |
| Bipan Chand | Chair, Department of Surgery, St. Joseph Medical Center; Professor, Surgery | University of Illinois, Chicago |
| Nina Chaya | Board Member | Sharp Tri-City Medical Center |
| Charlene Cioe | Chief Nursing Officer | Summit Center for Surgery |
| Michelle Coalson | Manager, ASC Program | DNV |
| Andrew Colbert | Senior Managing Director | Ziegler |
| Trina Cole | Administrator | St Luke's Surgicenter - Lee's Summit |
| Amy Coletti | Principal | ECG Management Consultants |
| Elizabeth Coombes | Regional Administrator, Edmonds, Fremont, and Kirkland | Gastro Health Endoscopy |
| Lisa Cooper | Chief Executive Officer | Santa Cruz Surgery Center |
| Jacob Corbell | Chief Executive Officer | Midwest Cardiovascular Institute |
| Dan Cosentino | Senior Manager | ECG Management Consultants |
| Brenna Couch | Purchasing and Operations Manager | Surgery Center of Athens |
| Rena Courtay | Vice President | Trinity Health |
| Brian Cunningham | Vice Chair and Director, Inpatient Orthopaedics, Methodist Hospital; Director, Ambulatory Surgery | TRIA Orthopedic Center |
October 29–31, 2026 · Swissotel Chicago
See the Speakers Live And Continue the Conversation After
Every session is open to every attendee. After the session, speakers are in the hallway, at receptions, and at roundtables. That's where the real conversations happen.