Peggy Stemmler, Director
Peggy Stemmler, Director of Best Care for Kids and The FrameShift Group, coaching and consulting in health systems change. She works with a range of clients, including primary care practices, public health organizations, professional organizations and payers, serving as an improvement/change management professional and an expert in strategic change in health systems. She has spent the majority of her career working in health policy and quality improvement practice, both as a consultant and with professional associations. Most recently, she served as the Health Services Director for the Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, leading the Chapter’s quality improvement programs working with primary care practices treating children, and addressing health care systems issues. Peggy serves on the Leadership Team for the National Improvement Partnership Network and the Arizona State Medicaid Advisory Committee, among others. Her past work as a pediatrician in primary care practice and in public health has brought insight and real-life experience informing the work on systems change. Peggy completed her medical training at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the Arizona State University.
Rebecca Nevedale, Manager Health Systems Strategy
Rebecca Nevedale is a dynamic professional skilled in facilitating partnerships to identify, understand and explain complex problems and execute strategies to overcome them. Ms. Nevedale began her career in system-change at the Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AzAAP) where she successfully implemented advocacy projects focusing on child health. She helped spearhead a statewide clinician education and obesity prevention initiative, 5210 AZ Way To Go! and has been a critical influencer in re-designing the vaccine financing and delivery system – an ongoing project which has resulted in several legislative interventions. Ms. Nevedale has cultivated effective relationships with healthcare professionals, policy-makers, community leaders and state agency representatives. She was a member of the National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health inaugural class, a competitive program initiated by the Public Health Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is a graduate of the American Express Leadership Academy at the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation. Ms. Nevedale is an elected member of the Board of Directors for the Arizona Public Health Association and serves on several task forces including the Arizona Health Improvement Plan steering committee overseeing the state’s public health accreditation process. Originally from the Philadelphia area, Rebecca is proud to call central Phoenix’s historic Willo district her home. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, cooking and relishing downtown living from her bicycle with her husband, Paul, and their rescued pit bull, Gypsy.
Laura Strickland, Manager Business Strategy
Laura Strickland is an expert business strategist who thrives on finding solutions to solve tough challenges. With experience in a range of industries including health care, software, real estate and logistics, Ms. Strickland has applied her analytic and innovative skills to create numerous marketing, business and strategic plans that have guided and inspired clients to reach their goals. Ms. Strickland has an MBA from Arizona State University and has spent more than 15 years developing bold, business-savvy ideas to enhance organizations’ operational and strategic activities.
Diane Bryan, RN, BSN, PNP (Retired)
Diane Bryan has worked in many practice settings from small group rural practices to a large metropolitan HMO. Through the Best Care for Kids program with AzAAP, she worked with over 60 practices to survey their parents on retention of Bright Futures priorities during and after a Well Child Check. She also implemented six learning collaboratives, integrating Medical Home and Bright Futures into the clinical setting.
Nicholine Gilliland, Senior Analyst Special Projects
Nicholine Gilliland recently served as the Business Manager for the AzAAP. While there, she was responsible for managing the quality improvement operations at the practice level and provided support to the program leadership. Through the Best Care for Kids program, she assisted in facilitating group learning collaboratives to ensure they delivered the highest quality care.