May 15, 2025    U.S. HealthTek

There is no doubt about it: The 30th gathering of the Executive War College was an enlightening, fruitful – and even a little emotional as we recognized and celebrated Robert Michel and the impact he and his team has made in the industry. Record numbers, including both new and old faces, gathered in New Orleans on Monday, April 28, at the lab industry’s meeting-of-the-minds to learn from each other, share ideas, and express opinions of our life’s work during these equal parts exciting and volatile times.

Speaking of fresh faces, the U.S. HealthTek team descended on the most important conference of our industry with a team that included a few ourselves. Our VP of Marketing, Jamie Papp, is far from new to the industry, but he joined our team in November. Our VP of Technical Operations, Nick Stainback, also has nearly two decades in the business, but has been with us just under a year. Also joining Bryan Firestone and myself were our good friends Karen Saldaña (COO), Vicki DiFrancesco (Advisory Board Member), Lauren Sutton (Consultant), and Laurie Huard (Consultant). Also along was for the good times was our administrative assistant Sam Bender and marketing director Kevin Mitchell. We came ready, willing, and more than able, and I am proud and pleased to say our organization certainly took our own big slice of success from the conference.