OR Manager award finalists exemplify perioperative leadership

Editor's Note

Finalists have been announced for the OR Manager awards, an annual program that shines a well-deserved spotlight on the visionary nurse leaders tasked with optimizing workflows, building cohesive teams, and relentlessly advocating for the safety of surgical patients in fast-paced perioperative environments.  

The three awards—OR Manager of the Year, PACU Leader of the Year, and ASC Nurse Leader of the Year—honor licensed nurse leaders of the surgical departments, post-anesthesia care units (PACUs), and free-standing ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), respectively (physicians and charge nurses are not eligible). Winners will be announced at this years’ OR Manager Conference during a ceremony on Wednesday, October 30 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Let’s meet this year’s finalists:

OR Manager of the Year:

• Deborah Ebert, associate vice president perioperative services, Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center
• Edna Gilliam, assistant vice president of perioperative services, Nemours Children’s Hospital
• Lindsay Meade, perioperative services director, Texas Children’s Hospital

Ambulatory Nurse Leader of the Year:

• Tiffanie Leppo, director, SurgiCenter
• Rebecca Rayburn, perianesthesia nurse manager, Sawgrass Surgical Center
• Michelle Sykes, OR nurse manager-outpatient surgery, Dartmouth Health Outpatient Surgery Center

PACU Leader of the Year:

• Jeanne Arthur, nursing director PACU, pre-op, day surgery, surgery liaison, pre-admission testing, MGB Newton Wellesley Hospital
• Heather Hebberecht, nurse manager – PACU, University of Rochester Medical Center
• Amanda Mitchell, PACU manager, Deerpath Ambulatory Surgical Center