Carrie Owen Plietz ('97)

Raising patient satisfaction is just one of many goals for Carrie Owen Plietz. As chief operating officer for Mills-Peninsula Health Services in Burlingame, Calif., Plietz serves as one of the driving forces behind major health care initiatives. In just two years, she helped implement Sutter Health's first acute care electronic health record system, developed an on-campus stand-alone skilled nursing facility, and reached the highest employee satisfaction results in five years. Her work to satisfy the needs of those around her was highly recognized when she took home the ACHE 2010 Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award for Young Healthcare Executive of the Year, the award presented to an exceptional health care executive under 40. Plietz's accomplishments would not have been possible without the assistance of JMU's Department of Health Sciences. "JMU was where I first learned about and joined ACHE," she says. "The professors spoke and taught real life scenarios, which is extremely important in health care due to its rapid change."

"Our profession is blessed with many talented individuals who I look up to and to be acknowledged in such a way by my national organization, one I respect tremendously, is just thrilling."