1. Winborne Macphail. Ms. Macphail is the CEO of Birmingham, Ala.-based SCA Health, where she oversees national strategy and operations for a growing network of more than 370 ASCs and specialty practices across 37 states.
She has led sustained year-over-year growth, strengthened operational performance and helped position SCA Health as a national leader in ASC innovation. She is recognized for fostering strong physician and teammate engagement and for advancing efforts around robotics, AI capabilities and the migration of higher-acuity procedures into the ASC setting. Ms. Macphail brings more than 30 years of leadership experience to her role.
2. Adam Spiegel. Mr. Spiegel is the CEO of Irving, Texas-based NorthStar Anesthesia, a major anesthesia partner for ASCs nationwide and has been highlighted for his leadership amid national anesthesia shortages.
He has built trust with ASC partners as NorthStar “rewrote the playbook” to implement new anesthesia models at several centers. His teams stabilized sites amid workforce volatility, right-sized staffing to match surgical volume without compromising patient safety or surgeon satisfaction, reduced reliance on premium labor and delivered meaningful efficiency gains across partner centers.
3. Travis Messina; Mr. Messina is the CEO of Franklin, Tenn.-based Regent Surgical Health, one of the nation’s leading joint-venture ASC operators, with 26 centers across more than 13 states. He previously founded and led Contessa, a pioneer in comprehensive home-based care models, guiding it through its 2021 acquisition by Amedisys and later serving as president of the division. His earlier roles include chief investment officer at Martin Ventures, vice president of development at Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanguard Health Systems and positions in healthcare investment banking and M&A.
Mr. Messina ensures every ASC partnership begins with clear system-level objectives and has driven major investments in EHRs, analytics and data-driven operations. Under his leadership, Regent has achieved 94th-percentile employee and physician partner satisfaction, with physician Net Promoter Scores in the 90th percentile.
4. Mike Boblitz: Mr. Boblitz was appointed CEO of Athens (Ga.) Orthopedic Clinic in February and has more than 20 years of healthcare leadership experience. He previously served as CEO of Tallahassee (Fla.) Orthopedic Clinic, where he oversaw major advancements in orthopedic care delivery, and held strategic roles at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins, helping plan and build a new hospital, and at Lawrenceville, Ga.-based Gwinnett Health System, where he spent seven years improving operational performance.
Mr. Boblitz is focused on delivering patient-centered, affordable and integrated orthopedic care. He champions a seamless care model unified under one roof and one medical record, and leads the clinic’s strategic growth, operations and community outreach.
5. Shakeel Ahmed, MD: Dr. Ahmed is the founder and CEO of St. Louis-based Atlas Surgical Group, which, since 2003, has grown into one of the Midwest’s largest and most influential ASC networks. The organization spans multiple states and includes ASCs, diagnostic centers and specialized surgical facilities. An internationally recognized authority on ambulatory surgery, he has authored nine books, hundreds of peer-reviewed articles and serves as publisher and editor-in-chief of Surgery Business Magazine.
Under Dr. Ahmed’s leadership, Atlas Surgical Group has accelerated the use of robotics, AI and advanced analytics to improve outcomes, efficiency and cost of care. The group performs tens of thousands of procedures each year and generates hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for patients, payers and communities. His model has helped redefine outpatient surgery and set a standard emulated by centers worldwide.
