Who We Are

William J. Freeman, DBA, MBA
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
Institute for Healthcare Excellence

Professor William Freeman, a distinguished national leader in healthcare administration, is the managing director and chief executive officer of the Institute for Healthcare Excellence. The Institute is headquartered in Suburban Washington, DC.

Professor Freeman, a Presidentially-appointed National Examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Assurance Program (created by the United States Congress in 1998 in honor of Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige), has extensive experience and is a prominent, nationally recognized expert in the field of healthcare and healthcare administration. He has previously headed healthcare programs around the United States and advised widely.

These many programs he has headed in recent years include:

• the Office of Development of the Boston University School of Medicine;
• the National AIDS Network;
• MedExpress Mail Order Pharmacy for Low Income Individuals
• the AIDS Assistance Fund;
• the National Association of People with AIDS services and
• the University Pharmacy Health Center.

In addition, as head of the Potomac Associates, he has provided technical assistance to fifty major intermediary organizations and 3,500 faith and community-based entities in order to increase the capacity of these entities to provide wider health care services to minority communities.

Moreover, he has headed a nationwide organization that has provided technical assistance to community-based healthcare administration for more than 2,200 local and state organizations.

Professor Freeman worked with the National Coalition of Healthcare Services Providers. This resulted in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991. As a result of this landmark legislation, rights protection is afforded to those who are afflicted with a wide variety of disabilities arising from mental and physical health impairments.

In addition, Dr. Freeman is a subject matter expert and consultant to the government for healthcare program development, accreditation, and program review. He has served as an expert for:

• United States National Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia
• The United States National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
• Health Resource Services Administration of the United States Department of Health and Human Services
• The United States Food and Drug Administration
• President Clinton’s Presidential Task Force on Healthcare Reform

Dr. Freeman has testified before the United States Congress on access to health care, on healthcare reform, and health care for at risk populations. He is widely published in the field.

He best known recent publications include:

• Cavico, F., Mujtaba, B., and Freeman, W. (2007). Cognitive moral development: Piaget, Kohlberg, and Rest. In Legal Challenges for the Global Manager and Entrepreneur (Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company).
• Freeman, W. (2007). Cognitive Moral Development and Thought Leaders. In Business Ethics: Transcending Requirements Through Moral Leadership (Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company). Note – this is so popular that it has already appeared in two editions.
• Freeman, W. (2007). Case Study: Pharmaceuticals and Drug Reimportation – A Utilitarian Analysis. In Legal Challenges for the Global Manager and Entrepreneur (Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company).

Professor Freeman is currently Adjunct Professor at the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In addition, he is Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Public Administration (Non-profit and Healthcare) at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. He is also Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School of Business, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Previously, he has been Professor of Healthcare and Business Administration at the Graduate School of the University of Northern Virginia.

Dr. Freeman earned his B.A. in Philosophy from St. John Vianney Seminary and College, New York; his M.B.A. (Summa Cum Laude) from Southeastern University, Washington, D.C.; and his D.B.A. in Healthcare Administration from Nova Southeastern University, Florida.

Gary S. Rushin, CPA/CIRA
Director
Institute for Healthcare Excellence

Gary S. Rushin, CPA/CIRA is the principal of Decision Analysus, LLC, a management and financial consultancy firm that provides interim management, corporate turnaround and restructuring services. Mr. Rushin’s experience includes:

1. Financial Advising, encompassing the valuation of businesses and securities for solvency and capital adequacy, employee stock ownership plans, and interim management services;
2. Corporate Financing, providing advisory services in connection with mergers and acquisitions, placement of private equity and debt securities, and due diligence services; and
3. Financial Restructuring, advising creditors and debtor in in-court and out-of-court bankruptcy proceedings, including distressed mergers and acquisitions advisory.

Mr. Rushin has a broad corporate background. His career began on Wall Street as a financial analyst at the Bank of New York/Mellon, later he became an international commercial lender for the Bank of America with area management responsibility for Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Australia, and New Zealand) and with Wachovia Bank as a middle-market lender. Mr. Rushin joined an affiliate of Alex Brown and Sons as Director of Corporate Finance.

Mr. Rushin became a corporate bankruptcy specialist and worked on major Chapter 11 and 7 reorganizations and liquidations while providing sector specialization in industrial materials, information technology companies, financial institutions, and airlines. He chaired the Unsecured Creditors’ Committee for Memorex/Telex Corporation, the Executive Committee of the liquidating Eastern Airlines, and holding ex officio memberships on the Unsecured Creditors’ Committees of Lone Star Industries.

Mr. Rushin was a central bank adviser to the Bank of Ghana, the central bank on banking regulations, under the auspices of the World Bank. He authored the country’s prudential regulations so that they were in adherence with Basle I guidelines for supervising Non-Bank Financial Institutions covering savings banks, credit unions, venture capital funding companies, building societies, mortgage companies, finance companies, leasing companies, foreign exchange bureaus, acceptance and discount houses. Mr. Rushin was instrumental in converting Ghana Co-operative Credit Union Association Ltd. into a Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO).

Mr. Rushin is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Adviser (CIRA). He received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Accounting from Temple University and a Master of Science in Computer Science degree from Southeastern University. He is a PhD candidate in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from Northcentral University.

A former Adjunct Professor of Accounting and Finance in the Washington, D.C. area, Mr. Rushin taught Mergers and Acquisitions to executive level students throughout China for two years on the campuses of the University of Peking, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Tsinghua University. Additionally, he taught Accounting Analysis to MBA students in Hyderabad, India at the Wesley-Post Graduate College, an affiliate of Osmania University.

Ata Doven, Ph.D.
Director
Institute for Healthcare Excellence

Dr. Ata Doven received his Bachelor’s Degree in 1991 and his Master’s Degree in the field of Civil Engineering in 1994 from Middle East Technical University’s Civil Engineering Department in Ankara, Turkey. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy Degree in the field of Civil Engineering in 1999 from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey.

He was named the chief engineer for an international construction company (1994 – 1995), research assistant in Bogazici University’s Civil Engineering Department (1995 – 1997) and the Technical Manager and Vice General Secretary for Quality Assurance System for the Turkish Ready Mix Concrete Association – TRMCA (1997 – 1998), a member of European Ready Mix Concrete Association.

Dr. Doven has an extensive career in higher education both as a faculty and university administrator. In 1999, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the Eastern Mediterranean University. He became Vice Chair (1999 – 2001) and then Vice Dean of the Faculty of Engineering (2001 – 2003). During this time, he presided over various faculty committees and successfully obtained Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accreditation; he led departmental program reviews, human resources development, and departmental budget planning and allocation. He is the co-founder of the university’s Technology Center. During his he was heavily involved in research studies. He participated in three scientific research and development projects, two sponsored by the Research and Scientific Council of Turkey, one by the Technology Center. He supervised three MS theses and two PhD dissertations.

Dr. Doven has a total of 22 academic publications in academic journals cited by SCI, SCI-expanded and in international and national conferences. He is a member of American Society of Civil Engineers – ASCE and GEO-Institute.

He served as Director of Accreditation and Assistant Vice Chancellor for the University of Northern Virginia between 2006 and 2008. He has led the European Council for Business Education – ECBE accreditation, worked closely with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), and aided in all tasks related to the university’s national accreditation.

A professor in Turkey and in the United States, he specializes in quantitative methods for business decision-making and analysis in addition to his specialties as a civil engineer, an academician and a university administrator.

HTIR
Our Partner in Immigration Services and Work-Study Programs

The Institute for Healthcare Excellence has a strategic partnership with HTIR, a global leader in U.S.A. international student recruitment and work-study programs. HTIR's mission is to provide work-study opportunities for international students to enroll in high-quality colleges and universities in the U.S. where students can work in full-time paid, off-campus employment during the entire length of the master program.

As a separate organization from IHE, HTIR manages our entire admission's process - from school admission and immigration issues, to work-study and related on-campus issues.  Examples of services provided by HTIR include: 

• Assistance in selecting the most appropriate U.S. university offering Curricular Practical Training (CPT) for international nurses including help in enrolling in the university's graduate healthcare program.
• Advocacy with the university for immediate issuance of the 1-20 form which is needed to obtain a U.S. F-1 student visa
• Assistance in preparing all applications and other documents necessary to obtain a U.S. Student visa (F-1)
• Visa consultation and preparation, including free tuition to an online visa preparation course
• Assistance with locating appropriate housing upon arrival
• Guarantee of "regular" wages (not reduced "internship" wages)
• Assistance with locating H1-B sponsors, as able, and if requested
• Fast-Track Employment (optional, cost $950). Guarantee employment within 10 days upon arrival. Includes securing a U.S. Social Security Number, work permit and assistance in revising resume
• Workshops or tutoring on employment, communication, or legal matters as required or as needed
• Post-nursing license employment assistance (optional). Professional assistance in securing a great-paying position as a registered nurse in a U.S. health organization.    

HTIR was started in the 1990’s by Fred Brandenfels, an immigration attorney who specializes in assisting students in securing student visas in order to come to the United States to study and work. Over the last 15 years, HTIR has helped over 2,000 students obtain F-1 U.S.A. visas in order to come to the U.S. for their studies.