Our leadership team is a who’s who of healthcare finance professionals representing a variety of focus areas.
Michael R. Draa has been our Chief Executive Officer since January 1, 2012 when he formed Warbird Consulting Partners by leading a management buyout of the Accounting Advisory Practice from Huron Consulting Group. While at Huron, Michael served as the Practice Lead for the Accounting Advisory Practice. Prior to joining Huron, he was a partner at Callaway Partners, overseeing National Service Delivery on all projects. Mike also currently serves as the acting EVP of Warbird’s U.S. Healthcare Practice.
Mr. Draa has more than 30 years of accounting and consulting experience during which he has held several executive and senior management roles including accounting, sales and marketing and operations. During that time he has successfully led both strategic and tactical projects and teams. Mike’s deep industry experience includes Healthcare, Technology, Manufacturing, Automotive, and Media and he has vast expertise in many functional areas including: management of restatements, turnarounds, bankruptcy reorganization and liquidation, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, system conversions (ERP), shared service implementation, start-ups, compliance, process re-engineering and technology ventures.
Mr. Draa sits on the Board of Directors of non-profit organizations and holds a degree in accounting and business management from Cedarville University.
Email: mdraa@warbirdcp.com
Rob Kirsch has spent nearly two decades working directly with boards, senior leadership and diverse groups of stakeholders in the areas of finance, operations and affiliation advisory. He is an accomplished leader in navigating clients through complex and challenging issues experienced through periods of change or distress.
Having advised on over 50 hospital transactions nationally, Rob is recognized as an industry leader in both the structuring and fairness of partnerships and affiliations throughout the country. He has provided testimony on process, valuation and fairness in dozens of transactions before regulatory bodies or states’ attorney general.
Prior to joining Warbird, Rob helped establish and introduce services and capabilities in the Mergers, Affiliations, and Partnerships practice, Performance Improvement practice and Valuation practice at Stroudwater Associates. He served in leadership roles in those practices from their founding. Rob also lead his prior firm through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) conversion while serving as its Chief Executive Officer and board member for the last several years.
Email: rkirsch@warbirdcp.com
John has over 25 years of experience in healthcare financial management, hospital operations, physician practice administration, and revenue cycle management. He is an accomplished revenue cycle practitioner, focused on all aspects of revenue cycle operations, performance improvement, training, and education.
He has worked with hundreds of hospitals and physician practices to improve financial outcomes, compliance, and customer service. His clients include critical access hospitals, community hospitals, academic medical centers, large multi-specialty physician groups, rural health clinics, and sole physician practices.
Prior to joining Warbird, John helped create, introduce, and establish comprehensive revenue cycle services at Stroudwater Revenue Cycle Solutions while serving as its President. John has also served as Revenue Cycle Director and Financial Controller at two Academic Medical Centers as well as Physician Practice Administrator
for a large multi-specialty practice.
John specializes in: Revenue Cycle Assessments, Hospital Turnaround Efforts, Physician Practice Management, Compliance Mitigation, Business Office Development, Revenue Cycle Education (through webinars and onsite seminars), Rural Health Clinic Operations, Revenue Cycle Foundational elements (chargemaster, pricing, and revenue capture), Hospital and Physician Practice Performance Improvement, Hospital New Business Development and Commercial Contract Review and Negotiation.
Email: jbehn@warbirdcp.com
B.A. in Political Science and Business Administration – Boston University
M.P.A. Healthcare – Suffolk University
Deborah is a nationally recognized healthcare advisor with more than 20 years of experience with Warbird Healthcare Advisors. As the firm’s seniormost leader in CFO Strategic Services, she has been instrumental in driving Warbird’s reputation for excellence in interim leadership, complex financial engagements and enterprise-wide transformations.
Deborah has cemented trusting relationships with CEOs, CFOs, boards of directors and private equity sponsors across the country through her hands-on leadership and ability to deliver results in high-stakes environments.
While she leads the growth and strategic direction of Warbird’s CFO Strategic Services practice, Deborah also oversees and guides key client engagements across the firm’s service lines, including revenue cycle, operational turnarounds and payer strategy.
Professional Experience
Beyond her work with Warbird, Deborah’s leadership spans client advisory, project oversight and business development across diverse healthcare settings, from rural hospitals to major academic medical centers. Deborah has held executive roles in accounting, operations and talent management, supported by a Big 4 audit foundation and international experience in the United Kingdom.
Skills and Focus Areas
Strategic Relationship Management
Building and sustaining long-term partnerships with health systems, physician practices and private equity-backed platforms
CFO-Level Advisory & Interim Leadership
Leading high-impact financial transformation, interim CFO engagements and board-level consulting
Operational & Financial Optimization
Aligning financial strategy with operational performance to drive revenue growth, cost containment and enterprise value
Healthcare System Navigation
Advising executive leadership through periods of financial stress, regulatory complexity payer shifts and transaction planning
Professional Achievements
Strategic CFO Oversight Through Merger Collapse
Oversaw the placement and success of a transitional CFO during a merger termination between a non-profit health system and academic medical center. Reoriented the organization to operational discipline, managed covenant compliance, improved margins and stabilized external financial credibility.
Payer Exit Strategy
Provided oversight and expertise in helping one of the first major systems to exit Medicare Advantage. Negotiated new commercial contracts yielding more than $100 million in improved operating performance.
Physician Compensation Strategy
Led the design and implementation of a comprehensive compensation model, including break-even analytics and structure development for pediatric and hospital-based providers.
CFO Consulting Network Expansion
Architect of Warbird’s CFO Consulting Network, growing its bench of senior financial executives and expanding interim leadership solutions.
Rural Hospital Turnaround
Directed a comprehensive financial and operational turnaround, enabling a struggling rural community hospital to stabilize and grow.
Epic Re-installation & Revenue Cycle Optimization
Led performance improvement across revenue cycle operations during a major Epic EHR re-implementation at a large academic medical center.
Email: derickson@warbirdcp.com
Bachelor of Science, Business Administration
University of Massachusetts
Doug is an accomplished healthcare professional with over 25 years of transaction advisory, business development and financial accounting experience. He is an experienced strategic advisor with demonstrated ability to direct non-routine, sensitive and complex transactions.
Doug’s focus is the design of optimal transaction structures that align with client developed strategic objectives and organizational goals. His work has primarily been in the general acute care hospital, post-acute care (rehabilitation hospitals and nursing homes) and ambulatory surgery center space.
In the role of Acquisitions & Development, for Capella Healthcare, Doug was responsible for all activities pertaining to the development, structure and completion of general acute care hospital transactions (acquisitions and dispositions of acute care assets) including strategic market identification, proposal, presentation and negotiation of terms and conditions.
He has also held executive positions at Quorum Health Resources, Centerre Healthcare, Community Health Systems and Partners Healthcare. Doug spent the first 12 years of his professional career in the Audit, Assurance and Transaction Advisory Service at Arthur Andersen (Boston) and EY (Atlanta).
Email: djohnson@warbirdcp.com
Jordan has 26 years of experience in healthcare finance in a variety of positions, including a healthcare commercial lender, a rating agency analyst and manager, a senior financial executive at a large healthcare provider, a healthcare investment banker and a healthcare financial consultant. His clients have included hospitals and health systems, senior living facilities, physician practices and other healthcare-related entities. His career has focused on all areas of healthcare finance, including capital budgeting and business plans, budgeting and financial projections, supply chain, treasury (including assets, debt and capital markets), revenue cycle, information technology, credit analysis, mergers and acquisitions and other healthcare activities.
Prior to Warbird, Jordan worked for Cain Brothers, where, as managing director, he worked on a variety of healthcare investment banking projects, including bond issues, direct bank placements, mergers and acquisitions, real estate development and asset management. Previously, he was a healthcare investment banker with Raymond James & Associates, Morgan Keegan & Co. and Piper Jaffray & Co.; Director, Finance with UPMC Health System, the manager of the healthcare ratings group at Fitch and a healthcare commercial lender with Comerica.
Jordan earned his BA at the University of Michigan and his MBA at the University of Notre Dame.
Email: jmelick@warbirdcp.com
Ryan Sprinkle is a seasoned advisor and accomplished practitioner in Warbird’s Partnership, Merger and Acquisitions practice. He has navigated hospital and health system clients in multiple states through asset divestitures, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic planning initiatives. Additionally, Ryan regularly works with healthcare organizations, alongside legal counsel, creditor bodies, and hospital leadership teams to develop and implement turnaround plans. Prior to joining Warbird, Ryan co-led the Performance Improvement practice group and served as senior member of the mergers and acquisitions practice group for a boutique healthcare consulting firm. Areas of Expertise: Affiliation Advisory, Performance Improvement / Turnaround Services, Distressed Hospitals, and Strategic Planning.
As a professional, Ryan is expert at assisting clients in identifying strategic options and executing plans that deliver long-term financial stability. A frequent writer and speaker on topics of healthcare policy and operations, Ryan has a passion for working with other healthcare leaders to apply customized solutions that are informed by prior clients’ experiences.
Email: crsprinkle@warbirdcp.com
Kari is an accomplished and visionary healthcare executive with a proven track record of delivering strong financial results, growing market share and driving operational efficiencies across diverse healthcare delivery systems. Kari is nationally renowned for her strategic leadership in developing financial and patient care models that enhance clinical outcomes and economic efficiency, and she is an active voice in the industry who frequently speaks on key healthcare finance topics. A genuine and authentic leader, she excels in forging strong relationships, shaping effective strategies and nurturing the next generation of leadership.
Professional Experience
Kari brings more than 25 years of senior healthcare finance leadership, including more than three years as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of one of the nation’s largest freestanding academic children’s hospitals. She also served for 22 years as Chief Financial Officer in an integrated regional delivery system offering a full continuum of care, including acute and tertiary services; Level II trauma care; kidney, pancreas and heart transplant programs; behavioral health; a freestanding women’s and newborn hospital with Level III neonatal intensive care; ambulatory surgery centers; outpatient imaging; and comprehensive home care services.
Skills and Focus Areas
Performance improvement
Health system turnaround
Revenue cycle optimization
Continuous improvement & operational excellence
Finance team assessment & development
Service line financial and operational assessment
Strategic financial planning
Professional Achievements
Transformed Phoenix Children’s Hospital from a standalone hospital to a comprehensive health system, increasing annual revenues to $1.3 billion
Led an effort to secure $290 million in new money bond financing and managed subsequent refinancings, achieving net present value savings exceeding $78 million
Developed strategic, operational and financial sustainability plans for facilities in breach of bond covenants, aligning turnaround efforts with regulatory and creditor expectations
Created a financial reopening plan for a closed, bankrupt hospital, securing state funding to support the relaunch of hospital and clinic operations
Directed multiple systemwide denial management projects, including a multi-hospital initiative addressing more than $240 million in claim denials. Efforts included root cause and financial analysis, transparent data sharing, leadership education and breakdown of silos between clinical and revenue cycle teams to improve workflows.
Bachelor of Science, Accounting – Weber State University, Ogden, UT
Certified Public Accountant, State of Georgia
Fellow, Healthcare Financial Management Association (FHFMA)
Past National Chair, Healthcare Financial Management Association (HMFA)
Kevin W. Donovan is an experienced healthcare leader with more than 30 years of medical group, hospital and academic health system experience.
His client partners include hospital-affiliated and employed medical groups, academic practices and clinics, clinically integrated networks, integrated delivery systems, federally qualified health centers and large, multi-specialty practices. Kevin works with organizations to develop customized strategies that optimize the clinician workforce, enhance patient access, improve financial outcomes and foster stronger physician alignment.
Professional Experience
Kevin’s experience spans leadership, executive and operations roles, with private practices, hospitals and teaching hospitals. Kevin began his career as a practice manager, taking on roles of increasing responsibility before becoming the Chief Executive Officer of a community health system. Kevin most recently served as the Chief Transformation Officer for a 1,000-member medical group, where he reduced operating losses by 28% on a per-physician basis, improved retention and recruitment and rebuilt the organization’s delivery network.
Skills and Focus Areas
Physician enterprise operations
Assessing and improving all aspects of the physician and provider enterprise, identifying solutions that enhance operational and financial performance, better align clinician compensation and improve patient access
Strategic planning
Analyzing opportunities for optimal service line, practice and system development, with significant focus on growth, practice integration, mergers and acquisitions, but also divestiture and resizing when necessary
Organizational structure and alignment
Aligning and analyzing provider needs to build strong governance, management and structure to further develop networks of care and maximize system cohesion
Professional Achievements
Master of Health Care Delivery Science
Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business, Geisel School of Medicine
Master of Health Services Administration
George Washington University
Bachelor of Science, Information Studies
Syracuse University
Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE)
Fellow, American College of Medical Practice Executives (FACMPE)
Certification, American College of Medical Practice Executive (ACMPE)
Member, American Association of Provider Compensation Professionals (AAPCP)
Richard has spent the past 30 years of his career serving as a Human Resources, Talent Acquisition and Operations management leader. Now serving as the Executive Vice President of Warbird’s Transitional Leadership Solutions, Richard advises Healthcare clients on their C-level transitional leadership needs.
• Prior to joining Warbird, Richard served as an HR Director for the Huron Consulting Group and supported the Accounting Advisory practice, which is now Warbird Consulting Partners. Prior to that, he spent five years as a Consultant with a Human Resources professional services firm called Flex HR. In this role, Richard assisted numerous industry-diverse clients with a broad range of HR, talent and leadership needs. As an advisor to Executive Management, Richard guided his clients to recognize the value and realize the tangible benefits of building a strategic HR function and implementing HR best practices across a full spectrum of HR matters
• Prior to his career as an HR Consultant, Richard served as the HR Director for several start-ups and fast paced, rapidly evolving multi-location organizations within the telecommunications, professional services, and manufacturing sectors. In each of these positions he was part of the senior management team, reported to the CEO and implemented innovative ideas and solutions designed to enhance organizational effectiveness.
• Throughout his career, Richard has focused on leadership development as the critical path to organizational effectiveness. He first began teaching leadership courses in 1982 while serving as an instructor at the Fort Knox.
• Since then, Richard has provided leadership development training and consulting in every organization where he has been employed or engaged. Believing there is an imperative need for authentic leadership, in addition to serving as Warbird’s CAO and EVP of its Transitional Leadership Solutions, he conducts leadership development training through keynote speeches, workshops and individual leadership development consulting services to Warbird Healthcare Advisors clients.
Email: rwoods@warbirdcp.com
Bachelor Degree, Psychology – University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Certified Instructor, Behavioral Interviewing
Certified Instructor, Crucial Conversations
Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM)
Serves on the Advisory Board of SafeHouse Outreach, Inc.
For over 20 years, Sharon has been a demonstrated leader in various aspects of talent acquisition, client relationship management, and team leadership. She is a nimble and tenacious problem solver, able to successfully juggle multiple priorities and projects simultaneously with outstanding execution. Now serving as Client Partnership Director for Warbird Healthcare, Sharon, with the support of Warbird’s team of healthcare practitioners, works to provide solutions to common challenges within a health system environment, including Transitional Leadership Solutions, Performance Improvement, and Revenue Cycle Optimization.
• Lead national search engagements for healthcare systems, including CEO, CFO, COO, SVP, VP, and Director-level positions across multiple disciplines: Clinical Administration, Human Resources, Accounting, Finance, Supply Chain, Managed Care, Revenue Cycle, and Health Information Management.
• Develop and nurture relationships with new and existing clients, ensuring strong execution to achieve stated goals.
• Conduct extensive research to determine passive and active talent in the industry with relevant experience for senior-level opportunities.
• Onboard Transitional Executive Leaders ensuring these newly hired advisors meet Warbird’s rigorous standards, including background checks, drug tests, and references.
• Ensure HR best practices through implementing process improvements and the ongoing development of staff.
• Ensure corporate EEOC compliance, completing mandatory annual reporting.
• Led the successful system migration from iCIMS to Crelate, creating better efficiencies in talent acquisition, onboarding, and relationship management. Ongoing management of the system for data integrity.
Email: sgiles@warbirdcp.com
Master of Healthcare Administration – Louisiana State University – 2026
Bachelor Degree, Managerial Science – Georgia State University
Certification, SHRM-CP (Society for Human Resource Management
Certification, General & Civil Mediation – The University of Georgia
Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM)
Member, American College of Healthcare Executives
Agnes is a resourceful and efficient recruiter with more than 15 years of combined experience in healthcare and pharmaceutical talent acquisition.
As Client Partnership Director of Warbird Healthcare Advisors’ interim healthcare advisory practice, Agnes facilitates placements of top-notch advisors with healthcare organizations across the United States. She’s passionate about evaluating and aligning leaders’ diverse expertise to best fit the complex revenue cycle management and financial challenges facing our client partners.
Skills and Focus Areas
Talent management and acquisition
Adeptly identifying the right resources to bridge employers’ talent gaps
Candidate pipeline development
Creating recruitment marketing initiatives, including social media promotions, to foster candidate options
Relationship management
Cultivating existing clients and furthering business development to augment industry contacts and successes
Professional Achievements
Email: ABarnor@warbirdcp.com
Bachelor of Arts (BA), Social Sciences – Kwame Nkrumah’ University of Science and Technoloy
Certificate, Strategic HR Leadership – Cornell University
PHR Certification – Kennesaw State University
Certification in Human Resource Management – Kennesaw State University