KATHLEEN O’CONNOR is President & Founder of Achieve Accreditation. She is very proud to be celebrating her thirty-two year career anniversary in Joint Commission Accreditation. She worked nearly a decade at The Joint Commission and has spent the last three decades helping skilled nursing and assisted living providers across the nation obtain and maintain their accreditation.
Kathleen’s previous career at The Joint Commission included: participating in the development of the standards and the survey process, participating in the training of Joint Commission surveyors, and lecturing nationally on accreditation as a representative of The Joint Commission. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Health Care Management and a master’s degree in Gerontology.
STEVEN C. GREENWALD is a graduate of the University of Illinois School of Social Work (Urbana-Champaign). He holds both a Masters and Bachelors degree in, Social Work. Mr. Greenwald’s experience includes extensive work with geriatric, psychiatric and medically impaired populations in residential, in-patient and out-patient settings. He presently consults to many long-term care facilities in several states. Mr. Greenwald is a popular instructor at seminars and workshops addressing the delivery of professional social work and behavioral health care services in assisted living, special dementia care environments, nursing home and hospital settings.
His expertise includes: Educating staff on best practices to comply with the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid (CMS) standards, JCAHO accreditation, care plan development, staff development/management/evaluation, quality improvement/performance improvement, deficiency refutations and plans of correction. Mr. Greenwald is a nationally known author and the editor of the SocialWork Consultation Group Letter, a quarterly newsletter distributed to nursing facilities in the United States and Canada. He has developed over 100 PowerPoints designed to facilitate education of long-term care staff.
He has received professional acclaim and recognition for his long-term care resource books. Mr. Greenwald received certification from the Academy of Certified Social Workers (ACSW) early in his career and he is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). He is an advisory board member to the Activity Therapists Association of Illinois.
JAMI NISWONGER is a Brand Strategist and Online Business Specialist with 12 years’ experience specializing in web & graphic design, automated campaign optimization and web accessibility compliance, producing marketing and advertising for your brands and businesses while helping leaders showcase their talents in the world.
She’s produced custom campaigns and has directed personal brand strategies for corporate executives, creative entrepreneurs, small businesses, and start-ups all over North America. She is an independent businesswoman with a solid reputation as a visionary problem-solver and creative tactician in the fields of brand advertising, website & media production, marketing and visual business development.
Jami is based on the West Coast, San Diego, CA and works with businesses and individual clients worldwide.