Leadership

Loren F. Chandler is chief operating and finance officer of the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA). He joined CHA in the newly created position in February 2020 and is responsible for the financial and operational vision, and alignment of the operations to advance the strategic priorities and ensure that the financial, technology, operations and business intelligence functions remain efficient, effective and service oriented. Mr. Chandler also serves as corporate treasurer of the association and serves as the primary liaison with the Finance Committee of CHA’s Board of Trustees.Mr. Chandler joined CHA with more than 25 years of senior leadership experience in health care. Prior to joining CHA, Mr. Chandler held several positions at Chicago-based Sinai Health System. He most recently served as senior executive vice president, chief operating and financial officer and prior to this role his responsibilities included president of the system’s flagship Mount Sinai Hospital. Prior to its acquisition by Sinai Health, he served as chief financial and operations officer of Holy Cross Hospital. In addition, he has served on several state hospital association committees representing safety-net providers and working with others on resolving issues facing these hospitals.Mr. Chandler earned an undergraduate degree in accounting and finance from the College of Idaho and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas Permian Basin. He is a certified public accountant and a fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives.Contact

Amy Ballance serves as Vice President and Chief of Staff of the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA). She oversees a variety of strategic and programmatic responsibilities, including strategic planning and member engagement. She also works closely with leadership to coordinate, align, and build cohesion and advance the organization’s priorities.She joined CHA in 2022 as Senior Director, Member Engagement. In this role, Amy served as the primary liaison with our members to promote the value of CHA, solicit feedback from our members and initiate programs based on the member and staff input. She continues to oversee this important work in her Vice President role.Before CHA, Amy gained nearly three decades of experience in healthcare ranging from operations, business development, and strategic planning. Amy has extensive experience leading large teams to accomplish common goals and, most recently, was a strategic planning leadership team member within a Midwest health system. Transparency, trust, and empowerment are a core part of her leadership style, which suits her well to engage with a broad array of team members. Lastly, Amy has seamlessly stepped into several interim leadership roles to fill executive vacancies in operations and administration.Amy earned her Master of Health Administration from Saint Louis University School of Public Health and her Bachelor of Science in Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Amy’s interests outside of work include keeping her husband and four girls happy and healthy, cooking, reading, and finding a beach as often as possible.Contact

Katie Hurley joined the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) in August 2018 as vice president, general counsel. In this role, she manages all of CHA's day-to-day legal work, including oversight of CHA's board and governance practices. She also supports select CHA advocacy priorities as amicus curiae in pending litigation.Katie regularly collaborates with the general counsel and the compliance officers of CHA's member health systems on various issues impacting their work within the ministry. In addition, she serves as CHA's compliance officer, directs CHA's compliance program, and supervises the human resources department.Prior to joining CHA, Katie practiced health care law for 12 years in Washington, D.C. as a member of Reed Smith LLP's life sciences/health industry practice group, developing extensive experience in a wide variety of legal and regulatory issues affecting providers of health care services.Katie earned her bachelor of arts degree from Boston College in 1999, and her juris doctor degree from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in 2006. She is admitted to practice in Maryland and the District of Columbia, and is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association.Contact

Brian Reardon is vice president, communications and marketing, for the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA). He directs communications programming to further CHA's strategic priorities and build awareness of the ministry's positive impact on communities nationwide. He leads CHA's Communications and Marketing department which is responsible for CHA publications, digital media and the annual Assembly. Reardon previously served for 14 years in various communications and advocacy roles with Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters Health System. Prior to his time with HSHS, he served in public relations roles with the state of Illinois and for Illinois political candidates. He began his career as a radio reporter in Chicago, IL. Reardon has a master's degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois Springfield and a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.Contact

Diarmuid Rooney, M.S.Psych., M.T.S., D.Soc.Admin. currently serves as the VP, Sponsorship and Mission Services at the Catholic Health Association of the United States. In service to our members, Diarmuid provides leadership and oversight to the Mission Services department through coordination of Mission Integration, Leadership Formation, Theology and Ethics, Ministry Formation and Sponsorship, to promote a vision and understanding of Catholic health ministry as an essential ministry of the Catholic Church. Diarmuid serves as a spokesperson for CHA on Sponsorship and Mission issues, in conjunction with President/Chief Executive Officer, and maintaining effective relationships with other national organizations and CHA members. In addition, he serves as a member of the association’s core leadership group and senior management.Prior to joining CHA in 2018, Diarmuid served for eight years as vice president, formation and communication technology, at the Ministry Leadership Center in Sacramento, Calif. The Ministry Leadership Center was established in 2004 to expand and enrich executive health care leaders’ commitment to the Catholic tradition’s mission, vision and values. His key focus was co-designing and facilitating innovative leadership formation programs that transformed leaders personally and professionally, enabling them to deliver cultural transformation for their organizations. Previously, Diarmuid was regional director of mission formation for Providence St. Joseph Health & Services in Oregon (16,000 associates), where he provided organizational leadership for cultural transformation to sustain the work of the founders and ensure the presence of core values in all aspects of today’s ministry.During his active role in ministry since 1991, he worked with the Christian Brothers and was a Benedictine monk in Ireland. He trained as a clinical psychotherapist at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin. He co-founded and directed a community-based counseling and psychotherapy center, where he provided individual and group therapy, facilitation and organizational consultancy. He subsequently served as director for the Mercy Conference and Retreat Center in Burlingame, Calif., sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy.His professional experience includes cultural analysis, organizational development, clinical psychotherapy, retreat direction, pastoral counseling and program development specific to adult education. He holds master’s degrees in both theology, from the Jesuit School of Theology, Santa Clara University, and clinical psychotherapy, University College Dublin, School of Medicine. Diarmuid is particularly interested in how these disciplines impact the culture of spirituality in the workplace. He also holds degrees in business and social administration (University College Dublin); philosophy and politics (University College Dublin) and is a member of the Alpha Sigma Nu, The Honor Society of Jesuit Institutions of Higher Education.Contact

Lisa A. Smith is vice president, advocacy and public policy for the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), the national leadership organization of the Catholic health ministry representing the largest not-for-profit provider of health care services in the nation. She oversees CHA's advocacy agenda and public policy initiatives; directs membership advocacy activities; and leads the organization's legislative efforts with Congress, the White House and administrative agencies. She also serves as CHA's spokesperson for legislative, regulatory and public policy issues.Previously, Ms. Smith served as senior director of government relations for CHA from 2005-2018. She worked to secure votes for successful passage of the historic Affordable Care Act (ACA), led CHA's efforts to prevent Congress from repealing the ACA and restructuring Medicaid as a block grant program, and spearheaded the ministry's engagement in the long-awaited 10-year reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program.Prior to joining CHA, Ms. Smith served at Catholic Charities USA, the nation's largest social service provider network, as the organization's primary legislative advocate and policy analyst on health care, Medicaid, immigration and child welfare issues. She shaped and advanced through Congress the enactment of the state Children's Health Insurance Program and worked for protections of legal immigrants' access to safety net programs. She also founded the Children's Health Matters program, a collaboration of Catholic health systems and Catholic Charities agencies, which enrolled over a half-million pregnant women and children into state Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs and advocated for streamlined application and enrollment processes.While pursuing graduate studies at The George Washington University, Ms. Smith was a research associate with the university's Intergovernmental Health Policy Project, now part of the National Conference of State Legislatures, where she tracked and analyzed trends in state health policy. She began her health policy career on the health and welfare staff of the United States Senate Finance Committee under Senator Lloyd Bentsen where she served as a research associate supporting the committee's Medicare and Medicaid legislative priorities.Ms. Smith earned a bachelor of science degree in economics from the University of Maryland and a master of public administration degree from The George Washington University in Washington D.C.Contact