Jim Easton has been an executive in the UK National Health Service (NHS) for over 20 years. In June 2009, he was appointed as the NHS National Director for Improvement and Efficiency. Working closely with the NHS Chief Executive David Nicholson, Jim is leading the changes needed to the NHS to deliver its quality and efficiency commitments with a greater focus on quality, innovation, productivity and prevention.

Previously, Jim was Chief Executive of South Central Strategic Health Authority, and prior to this he was the Chief Executive of York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a 700-bed acute hospital. Jim has also worked in primary care, mental health, health care commissioning and policy development. 

Liz Crocker is a successful businesswoman, author, teacher, environmentalist, and health care advocate. She consults with hospitals in Canada and the U.S., and serves as a Simulated Patient and Clinical Teaching Associate with the Dalhousie School of Medicine. Liz established the Child Life Program at the IWK Children's Hospital which developed an international reputation of excellence. She is a life-long strong and vocal advocate for children and youth and has served as Chair of the Canadian Institute for Child Health and President of the Association for the Care of Children's Health. Liz has presented on the topic of patient- and family-centered communication at Institute seminars and is featured in the webinar Enhancing Patient- and Family-Centered Communication at the Bedside and Beyond.

Liz is Vice-Chair of the Institute of Patient- and Family-Centered care and, along with Bev Johnson, co-authored Privileged Presence: Personal Stories of Connections in Health Care.

Sarah. H. Patterson is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC), a not for profit comprehensive regional health care system in Washington state.  She has been a member VMMC’s leadership team for more than 27 years and is responsible for all operations of the clinic and hospital along with the Kaizen Promotion Office, Human Resources, Quality and Compliance, Facilities and Pharmaceutical Services and is also responsible for leading the implementation of the Virginia Mason Production System (VMPS), a management method based on manufacturing principles that seeks to continually improve how work is done.   Ms Patterson has extensive training in VMPS as well as certification in Lean methodology.

Patterson received her Master’s in Health Administration (MHA) from the University of Washington. She serves as board chair of the Washington State Hospital Association which represents all Washington hospitals and health-related organizations. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Horizon House Retirement Community. 

Paul F. Levy is the author of the acclaimed blog Not Running a Hospital. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston from January 2002 to January 2011.  BIDMC, one of the US’s preeminent academic health centers, provides state-of-the-art clinical care, research, and is a teaching affiliate with Harvard Medical School.  Before joining BIDMC, Mr. Levy was the Executive Dean for Administration at Harvard Medical School.  He was an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Policy at MIT, where he taught infrastructure planning and development and environmental policy for seven years and provided strategic, negotiation, and regulatory advice to firms in the energy, water, and telecommunications arenas.  During his tenure at BDMIC, Mr. Levy was one of a few hospital CEOs who shared his thoughts about hospitals, medicine, and health care issues in his blog Running a Hospital.