Staff
Steven W. Churchill, MNA
An experienced elected official, CEO, and diplomat, Steve Churchill is a strategic leader with broad experience in the public and private sectors, and the nonprofit arena.
Churchill is the CEO of the Iowa Medical Society (IMS), a statewide professional association for Iowa) physicians. Established in 1850, IMS represents 6,000 Iowa physicians, residents, and medical students. The mission of IMS is to assure the highest quality health care in Iowa through its role as physician and patient advocate.
Prior to joining IMS, Steve served as the Chief of Staff at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. With four Consulates, nearly 50 federal agencies and more than 2,500 employees, Mission China is the busiest and most consequential posting in the world. In this role, Churchill worked side by side with the Ambassador to advance the strategic priorities for the United States Embassy in China..
Churchill has extensive experience in federal, state, and local government. He was elected to the Iowa Statehouse at the age of 29, where he served three terms and chaired the Economic Development Appropriations Committee.
Prior to joining the Department of State as a diplomat, Churchill resided in Washington, DC, where he served as president & chief executive officer of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), an international professional organization dedicated to developing the men and women who encourage charity for nonprofit hospitals and health care organizations. AHP’s 7,500 members represent more than 2,200 health care organizations in North America and abroad.
Churchill has strong expertise in the health care arena. He led the American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation in Chicago as its Executive Director and served as vice president of development and alumni relations at Des Moines University medical school.
Steve is a graduate of Iowa State University and earned his master’s degree in Nonprofit Administration from North Park University’s School of Business and Nonprofit Management in Chicago, where he served on the advisory board.
Lori Byrd, MS
Lori Byrd, MS. brings her expertise in grant administration, program management and healthcare education and research to her role as Manager of Initiatives and Special Projects. In this role, she is responsible for grant acquisition and management, as well as development of physician education offerings. Lori’s role also includes administering the ACCME accreditation for CME providers and serves as the executive director of the Iowa Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Prior to the Iowa Medical Society, Lori worked in the Des Moines University Office of Research assisting faculty and students in development and implementation of research projects, managed the student research program, and provided faculty professional development in the area of research.
Lori is a graduate of Western Illinois University with a Master’s degree in Community Health Education. She uses her experience in research and public health as a volunteer with the American Heart Association as a lay writer of AHA/ACC guidelines for peripheral artery disease and most recently as a reviewer of cardiovascular grants.
Heather L. Lee
With a background in sales, non-profit membership and events, Ms. Lee was uniquely qualified to become Iowa Medical Society’s (IMS) Manager of Membership, Sponsorship and Operations.
Prior to joining IMS, Heather was the Events Manager for a statewide non-profit the Foundation for Children & Families of Iowa (CFI). In this role she planned and organized fundraising events, secured sponsor support of CFI, coordinated volunteer opportunities, and worked with organizations hosting donation drives.
Heather started her career in sales and has over 15 years of experience in various sales positions. After getting involved with several community organizations, graduating from a community leadership class and volunteering on non-profit boards, she found her passion in the association membership realm and took a position at a local chamber of commerce as their Membership Director. She was at this position until moving to Iowa, where she evolved her skills with CFI. Now after two and a half years with IMS she is making positive impacts for the organization by showing growth in the group dues program, proactively recruiting sponsors/affiliates, and accurately maintaining the member database.
Outside of work Heather maintains an active lifestyle including kayaking, hiking, and playing pickleball. She is a top contributor in the Women on Adventures Des Moines group and enjoys traveling with friends and family.
Mary L. Lyon
An experienced event professional, Mary Lyon is a detail-oriented collaborator with expertise in nonprofit and educational settings.
Currently, Mary serves as the Events and Strategic Alliances Manager with the Iowa Medical Society (IMS). In addition to taking the lead on organizing board meetings and events, Mary also serves as the Chapter Executive for three specialty societies. In this role, she works with the boards to develop annual budgets, membership campaigns, and advance priorities of each society.
Prior to joining IMS, Mary worked as an Event Planner with Iowa State University Conference Planning and Management in which she coordinated a variety of events with students, faculty, and outside organizations. Events ranged from small intimate trainings to large outdoor festivals open to the entire student body.
Mary found her passion working for associations and making connections with board members when she worked as the Meeting Planner for Associated Constructions Distributors International. Although she loved traveling throughout the country coordinating meetings, trainings, and trade shows, she is an Iowan at heart and enjoys spending time at home with her husband, Cody, and their dog, Luke.
Mary is a graduate of Iowa State University and earned her bachelor’s degree in Event Management with minors in Hospitality Management and General Business.
Sydney Maras
Sydney Maras is a hard-working and creative communications and design specialist with five years of hands-on experience in the fast-moving and evolving communications space, including crisis communications throughout the duration of the COVID-19 global health pandemic.
Sydney currently serves as Communications Manager for the Iowa Medical Society, where she began as a Design Intern in January 2019. She attended Iowa State University, and received an undergraduate degree in Graphic Design. After graduating Magna Cum Laude in May, 2019, she continued at IMS full-time as Communications Coordinator, before becoming Communications Manager in 2022. Sydney produces IMS’s monthly podcast (“Doc 2 Doc”) and works to design and deliver critical and timely communications in digital and print channels to physicians, residents, and medical students across the state of Iowa.
Before joining IMS, Sydney was a George Washington Carver Intern at the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in Des Moines, where she received the George Washington Carver Intern Award in August of 2018.
While working at IMS, Sydney is pursuing a Masters Degree in Strategic Communications from the University of Iowa and will graduate in May 2024.
Anthony Nguyen
As an experienced finance and accounting professional, Anthony Nguyen has a proven track record of building, rebuilding, managing, and implementing accounting systems in for-profit and nonprofit organizations.
Anthony is Finance Director of the Iowa Medical Society (IMS), a statewide professional association for Iowa physicians. Established in 1850, IMS represents over 6,000 physicians, residents, and medical students. In his role, he has successfully brought over 15 years of rich and varied experience in rebuilding and managing IMS’s finance system, implementing internal controls, leading the annual budget process in collaboration with IMS departments, managing cashflow, payroll and employee benefits, preparing, analyzing, and presenting financial reports to the Board of Directors, and serving as the point of contact to work with CPA firms on IMS’ annual audit and tax returns.
Before joining IMS, Anthony was Finance Manager of Youth Law Center (YLC) and ASK Resource Center (ASK). YLC is a non-profit corporation in the State of Iowa dedicated to protecting abused and neglected children, educating youth, and promoting statewide policies that positively impact children. ASK is a family-focused nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower individuals with disabilities and their family members by providing innovative and collaborative advocacy, training, resources and supports. Nguyen successfully upgraded their finance systems to a higher level by rewriting the standard operations procedures for the finance department, migrating the accounting system to QuickBooks Online, bringing payroll in house, building annual budgets for the organizations and various state and federal programs, setting up and managing billing systems and tracking federal grant financial records, managing revenues and expenses and preparing financial statements.
Anthony earned a Master of Accounting degree at Drake University. He also earned his Bachelor of Administrative Management at the University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and an associate degree in Accounting at Des Moines Area Community College in Des Moines.
Sara L. Opie
Sara Opie excels in crafting strategic communications that engage audiences and drive results. Her background encompasses roles in corporate communications, public relations, and small business ownership, showcasing adaptability and skill in diverse environments.
In her current role as Director of Communications and Marketing at the Iowa Medical Society (IMS), Sara leads the communications team to drive readership, engagement, and participation among 6,000 members of the oldest and largest medical association in Iowa. She oversees creation and development of all communications and marketing efforts for IMS’ events, website, quarterly magazine, digital news, social channels, and executive communications.
Prior to joining IMS, Sara worked in corporate communications at Wells Fargo where she provided executive communications support for the CFO and Treasurer. In her seven years at Wells Fargo, she wrote employee messages, created editorial strategies, and orchestrated all elements of c-suite town halls. She also provided communications support for the national sales manager of Wells Fargo Home Lending.
As a small business owner, Sara led strategic communication efforts for the City of Indianola and local public school districts. Her involvement in five bond referendum campaigns resulted in the successful passage of all five with a majority of stakeholders voting yes.
Perhaps her crowning achievement at a young age was working for two years in the West Wing of the White House as part of the communications team for President George H.W. Bush.
A graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and minor in Political Science, Sara remains involved in her community through volunteerism on political campaigns and with non-profit charity events.
Kady Reese, MPH, CPHQ
Policy and Government Relations Director
(515) 421-4781
kreese@iowamedical.org
Kady Reese, MPH, CPHQ
Kady Reese, MPH, CPHQ, is the Director of Policy and Government Relations with the Iowa Medical Society (IMS). In this role, Kady leads IMS’ advocacy efforts at the state and federal levels with the support of IMS’ policy analyst and contract lobby team. With more than 15 years of experience throughout the healthcare arena, Kady is a champion for policy that goes beyond “pushing paper” and provides tangible mechanisms to improve the way physicians practice and patients experience care.
Before her current role, Kady served as the Director of Education & Engagement at IMS for four years. She designed programming and direct technical assistance to equip physicians and their care teams with evidence-based best practices and developed cross-collaborative initiatives to advance the practice of medicine and patient outcomes. During this time, she increased IMS’ grant-supported portfolio of work by 450%.
Prior to her role with IMS, she was the Director of Human-Centered Design with the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. She has an array of experience across the healthcare continuum, including healthcare administration and quality reporting, primary and urgent care practice, disease management and utilization review, home health, and public and population health.
Kady holds a master’s degree in public health from Benedictine University, as well as graduate certificates in health management and policy and health education and promotion. She served as a national champion for Person and Family Engagement with CMS as part of the Partnership for Patients and the Transforming Clinical Practice Initiatives, earning a prestigious “challenge coin” for her work in creating the first-ever CMS patient and family engagement metrics to align with clinical quality metrics.
Outside of IMS, Kady is also deeply engaged in health advocacy and nonprofit work. She is currently in her second year of service as President of the Iowa Public Health Association and also volunteers with the B.WELL Foundation, a Des Moines-based non-profit that works to develop and expand young minds by building character through mentorship, education, and service.
In her spare time, Kady enjoys traveling and embedding herself in with the locals. Between March and October, you are likely to find her tracking the score of the latest Boston Red Sox game.
Ryan Roberts, MJ
Policy Analyst and Grant Management Assistant
(515) 421-4795
rroberts@iowamedical.org
Ryan Roberts, MJ
Ryan Roberts serves as the Policy Analyst and Grants Management Assistant with the Iowa Medical Society (IMS). Ryan joined IMS in 2023 after earning his Master of Jurisprudence and Bachelor of Health Sciences from Drake University.
Prior to joining IMS, Ryan held roles across the healthcare system, including roles in pharmacy administration, home health services, pandemic response support, and patient navigation and EHR technology support within a large health system. Ryan is motivated by work that makes positive, tangible impacts on people. In addition to his impactful work at IMS, Ryan volunteers with the James Arthur Albert Foundation, an organization that raises money to help build schools and make educational dreams come true for impoverished youth in Belize.
Petra Stout
Petra Stout is the Executive Assistant to the CEO at Iowa Medical Society (IMS). She is a detail-orientated professional who collaborates daily with all members of the IMS team and board of directors. Her organizational skills and ability to adapt to the dynamic nature of a non-profit translates well in her new position.
Prior to joining IMS, Petra was a public educator. She taught for 15 years in the Urbandale School District in Des Moines, starting her career at Olmsted Elementary and ending it at the Urbandale Middle School. She has taught children from kindergarten to sixth grade levels, with her last eight years teaching World Geography to middle schoolers.
During her teaching career, Petra led extracurricular activities striving to connect students with their community on a deeper level. Along with a friend, Petra helped found Girls on the Run at one of the Urbandale elementary schools. She was also one of the leading staff members of Student Senate for the Urbandale Middle School.
Her time teaching taught her to plan well, expect the unexpected, and stay flexible.
Petra is a graduate of the University of Iowa and earned her master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas.