Management Team Bios

Dr. Carladenise Armbrister Edwards is the Chief of Staff at the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH). Dr. Edwards acts as the principal advisor to the Commissioner on all major policy and management issues and initiatives.

Prior to her position with DCH, Dr. Edwards was the executive director of the South Florida Health Information Initiative, a regional health information organization aimed at improving health care quality, access, and efficiency through technology. Previously, she served as the vice president of Williams, Stern, and Associates, a firm that specializes in health and human services research and evaluation. Also, she was a member of the leadership team in the Disabled and Elderly Health Programs Group of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Edwards holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and Masters of Science degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She also has a doctorate in medical sociology from the University of Florida.

Doug Colburn serves as the director of Healthcare Facility Regulation.

With the transition of the Office of Regulatory Services (ORS) from the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR) into the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH), Doug Colburn became the first Chief for the Healthcare Regulation Division on July 1, 2009. He worked with DCH as the Director of Transition since October of last year. Mr. Colburn concentrated his efforts in moving both ORS and Public Health from DHR to DCH.

Previously, he was with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Medicaid Integrity Group, and before that, with DCH as the Director of Program Integrity and its first Inspector General. Mr. Colburn has also held positions with the Cobb County Juvenile Court and the City of Smyrna Police Department.

Mr. Colburn received his Master of Science in Conflict Management and his Bachelor of Science Degree in Public and Social Services from Kennesaw State University. He is also a Peace Officer Standards and Training certified officer and instructor. Mr. Colburn has been an instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and is a faculty member with the Medicaid Integrity Institute for the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina.

Russell Crutchfield serves as the Georgia Department of Community Health’s (DCH) Director of Legislative and External Affairs. As Director, he is responsible for the development and direction of the Department’s legislative goals and agenda. He develops and implements legislative strategies for Medicaid, PeachCare for KidsTM, the State Health Benefit Plan and Public Health and strengthens relationships with key policymakers.

In addition, he provides oversight in the resolution of legislative constituent issues and concerns. Mr. Crutchfield was previously the department’s Legislative Liaison before becoming its Director of Legislative and External Affairs. Prior to his position with DCH, Mr. Crutchfield served as an assistant to Senator Don Thomas, Chairman of the Georgia Senate Health and Human Services Committee. During previous legislative sessions, he served as an Aide to several members of the Georgia House of Representatives.

Mr. Crutchfield holds a Bachelor’s degree in political science and a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of West Georgia.

Dr. Jerry Dubberly is the Chief of the Medicaid Division within the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH). As chief, Dr. Dubberly provides leadership for the Georgia Medicaid Program and ensures compliance with state and federal laws, rules and regulations.

Consistent with the DCH mission, he and his team seek to provide access to quality health care, responsible utilization of health care resources, and promote positive health behaviors and health outcomes through the Medicaid and PeachCare for KidsTM programs, which have a combined state and federal budget of $ 7.8 billion and serve 1.5 million Georgians.

Previously, Dr. Dubberly served as the Deputy Director with the Division of Medical Assistance after serving as Director of Pharmacy Services with the Department for over four years. His previous experience includes eight years in the Medicaid pharmacy benefits management arena where he was involved in 24 Medicaid/government sponsored pharmacy programs throughout the country, as well as a number of commercial managed care plans. He has also practiced pharmacy in the hospital, home health and retail pharmacy settings.

Dr. Dubberly is a graduate of the University of Georgia’s College of Pharmacy. He received his Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) with a concentration in Health Services Management from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Robert Finlayson serves as the Georgia Department of Community Health’s (DCH) Inspector General. Mr. Finlayson is the Division Chief over the Program Integrity Unit, Internal Affairs and the Audit Unit.

Prior to this position, he served within the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR). Mr. Finlayson joined DHR in 1999 as a senior investigator in the Office of Investigative Services (formerly Office of Fraud and Abuse). He served as investigator in charge of the Special Projects Unit, where he developed and implemented the Food Stamp Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) investigations program. He was promoted to chief investigator over Internal Investigations and Program Fraud, and most recently, the deputy director over the Program Integrity Division, which investigates fraud in Food Stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Childcare.

Mr. Finlayson held the position as an investigator for the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, and served as a police officer and field training officer for the Cobb County Police Department from 1990 to December 1998.

He serves as a member of the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact Council and is a member of the Kennesaw State University Criminal Justice Advisory Board. He received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Shorter College.

Nancy Goldstein serves as the director of the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP). As director of SHBP, Ms. Goldstein is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of SHBP, which provides health insurance coverage to state employees, school system employees, retirees and their dependents.

Prior to joining DCH, Ms. Goldstein was a director of national accounts for Great-West HealthCare in Denver, Colorado. From 1998 through 2002, Ms. Goldstein served as AT&T Broadband’s director of health and welfare benefits covering over 40,000 employees nationwide. She has also worked as a Health and Welfare Consultant at Mercer Human Resources Consulting and has more than 10 years of experience with (former) Prudential Healthcare in Atlanta.

Ms. Goldstein holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration/finance from the University of Florida.

Debbie Hall is currently the Chief Operating Officer for the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH). DCH is responsible for ensuring the availability of health care for more than two million people and administers the Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids™ programs, and State Health Benefit Plan. Issues related to agency operations, health care procurement and grants, grantee/vendor monitoring, statewide health care initiatives, interactions with providers, human resources and process improvement initiatives claim substantial portions of her workday. Ms. Hall’s responsibilities include Human Resources, Office of Health Improvement Programs, Procurement and Grants, Georgia Volunteers in Health Care Program, State Office of Rural Health, Non-Emergency Transportation, Grantee and Vendor Management and Support Services.

Previously, Ms. Hall was the Regional Director for Southern Home Care Services, a division of Rescare, Inc., an in-home services organization for people with disabilities and the elderly. In her role as Regional Director, she held responsibility for all business functions (budgeting, recruitment, operations, community outreach, provider relations) for markets in Atlanta and Athens, Georgia.

Prior to that, Ms. Hall was the Director of Operations for Visiting Nurse Health System, Inc., (VNHS) a diverse provider of post-acute services, including homecare, hospice, infusion therapy, respiratory therapy, medical equipment and supplies. At VNHS, which had over 1,000 employees and $70 million dollars in revenues, Ms. Hall was responsible for purchasing, contracts, inventory control, telecommunications, project management, materials management, support services and special projects.

She is a member of Leadership Dekalb, a non-profit community based training ground for future leaders in the public sector.

Sonny Munter is the Chief Information Officer at the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH). In this capacity, Mr. Munter oversees the Medicaid fiscal agent and the pharmacy benefit managers for both Medicaid the State Health Benefit Plan.

Mr. Munter has lead all aspects of Information Technology including: Applications Development, Business Continuity and Recovery, IT Infrastructure, Voice and Data Telecommunications, IT Security and Help Desk activities throughout his 30-year career.

Mr. Munter has additional health care IT experience serving as the Vice President of IT for a $2 Billion Medicaid Health Management Organization, (HMO) CIO for a Medicaid eligibility company, and Vice President of IT for a health care analytical services company that developed claim editing and physician profiling software for Managed Care Organizations and HMOs.

J. Patrick O’Neal, M.D. is Chief of Emergency Preparedness & Response Division of the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH). Dr. O’Neal is a native of Rome, Georgia. He completed an undergraduate degree in pre-med at Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina. Dr. O’Neal received his medical education at the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana. Following medical school, he completed a rotating internship at Providence Hospital, Portland, Oregon, prior to entering the United States Air Force for training in flight medicine. Dr. O’Neal served as a flight surgeon in Viet Nam in 1970 through 1971.

Upon his return to civilian life, Dr. O’Neal served in Macon, Georgia, as the Director of the Outpatient Clinic at the Medical Center of Central Georgia for two years prior to entering the practice of emergency medicine at Dekalb Medical Center in Decatur, Georgia, in l973. Dr. O’Neal practiced emergency medicine at that facility for twenty-nine years. During his time at Dekalb Medical Center he served as Medical Director for Dekalb EMS. For his final seven years at Dekalb Medical Center he served as the Regional Medical Director for Emergency Medical Systems (EMS) throughout the Greater Atlanta area.

Throughout his career in emergency medicine Dr. O’Neal has been an advocate for trauma system development in Georgia. Upon retiring as the Medical Director of the Emergency Department at Dekalb Medical Center in 2002, he became the Medical Director for the Office of EMS/Trauma in the Georgia Division of Public Health. Currently functioning as the Director of the Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response in DCH, he has oversight responsibility for Emergency Medical Service, Trauma, Emergency Preparedness, Injury Prevention and Emergency Preparedness Training.

Clyde L. Reese, III, Esq. is General Counsel of the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH). With an undergraduate degree in World History from Georgia State University and a Juris Doctor degree from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, Mr. Reese is a healthcare regulatory and administrative law specialist.

Mr. Reese has previous experience as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Georgia, General Counsel for the State Health Planning Agency, and Deputy General Counsel and General Counsel of DCH. Mr. Reese practiced health care regulatory law in the private sector from 2003 through 2007.

He returned to state government and to DCH in late September of 2007 as the Executive Director of the Division of Health Planning. In this role, Mr. Reese was in charge of the administration of the Georgia Certificate of Need (CON) program. Mr. Reese began his second tenure as General Counsel of the Department in March of 2008. As a part of his duties as General Counsel, Mr. Reese has overall policy oversight of the Georgia CON program as well as supervise all legal services throughout the Department.

Lisa Marie Shekell is the Director of Communications for the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) and leads the department’s internal and external communications strategies, as well as brand development through public relations and communications materials.

Prior to joining DCH, Ms. Shekell was the Senior Director of Marketing for Premiere Global Services, a global outsource provider of business process solutions. She managed the Communications Department and public relations agency on all client, marketing and media deliverables. She was also the Manager of Communications for Accucast, Inc. and an Account Executive for Text 100.

Ms. Shekell received her Bachelor of Arts in History and Communications/Journalism from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y.

Carie Summers is the Chief Financial Officer at the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH). Ms. Summers is responsible for directing financial strategy, planning and forecasts for DCH.

Prior to her position with DCH, Ms. Summers was the Policy Coordinator for the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget and was responsible for making policy and fiscal recommendations to the Governor regarding DCH, Department of Human Resources Division of Public Health and the Georgia Cancer Coalition. Ms. Summers has also served as the Budget Director for the Georgia Department of Medical Assistance and as a Management Analyst in the Georgia Department of Audits.

Ms. Summers has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Management from the University of Florida.