Respected Western New York health system leader selected to head statewide healthcare association

The Healthcare Association of New York State’s board of trustees today announced Thomas J. Quatroche Jr., PhD, will serve as the association’s next president and chief executive officer. Quatroche currently serves as CEO of the Erie County Medical Center Corporation, where he has held executive-level positions since 2004. He will join HANYS in mid-June.

“Tom has long been recognized as a compassionate, committed and highly-effective healthcare leader and champion at the local, state and federal levels,” said Patrick O’Shaughnessy, DO, MBA, MS-POPH, FACEP, president and CEO, Catholic Health (Long Island), and chair, HANYS’ board of trustees. “He knows firsthand the needs of our patients, healthcare workers and provider organizations and the challenges they face, and he’s proven himself time and again to be an effective advocate and spokesperson. Tom has our board of trustees’ utmost confidence and support”.

Quatroche’s appointment comes as New York’s hospitals and health systems face the immediate and looming impacts of H.R. 1’s federal funding cuts and coverage impacts, amid chronic fiscal and workforce challenges.

“HANYS is a wonderful organization that I’ve had the good fortune to be engaged with and supported by for more than a decade. I am grateful for the opportunity to step into this role, and to do so at such a pivotal time for all of HANYS’ members and the communities they serve,” said Quatroche. “As president and CEO, I will be committed to maintaining HANYS’ reputation as a strong advocate for our member healthcare providers and the millions of patients they serve every day”.

Quatroche was appointed president of ECMC in 2015, followed by CEO and president in 2016. In these capacities, Quatroche has provided leadership for over 3,800 staff members at ECMC, Terrace View Long Term Care facility and additional outpatient locations. His responsibilities included all strategic initiatives of the corporation, including affiliations with Great Lakes Health of Western New York, Kaleida Health, University at Buffalo and many other community organizations important to the corporation’s strategic direction. He previously served as ECMC’s senior vice president of marketing, planning and business development from 2004 to 2015.

Quatroche has served on HANYS’ board of trustees since 2016 and was its chair in 2020 ; that year, he also served as a member of the New York Medicaid Redesign Team II and was co-lead of the Western New York Vaccine Hub established to drive regional COVID-19 vaccine distribution and uptake. Last June, in partnership with HANYS, the American Hospital Association presented him with the 2025 New York State Grassroots Champion Award and he was named to City & State New York’s 2025 Trailblazers in Health Care list. He currently is the chair of America’s Essential Hospitals’ board of directors.

Quatroche received his bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from the State University of New York at Fredonia, a master’s degree in student personnel administration from Buffalo State University and his doctorate in higher education educational leadership and policy from University at Buffalo.

Quatroche will succeed Bea Grause, RN, JD, who has led HANYS since 2016. Grause announced her plans to retire in the summer of 2026 last September. Today’s announcement follows a nationwide search for the century-old trade association’s next leader, who will also oversee HANYS’ nationally engaged for-profit business services.

“HANYS has a track record of bringing expertise and credibility to complicated healthcare policy discussions, and our search focused on identifying someone who would build on Bea’s tremendous decade of leadership and the association’s longer legacy,” said Kenneth Gibbs, CEO, Maimonides Health, immediate past chair, HANYS board of trustees, and head of the executive search committee. “Tom has been a model hospital leader and a tireless healthcare advocate. I am certain New Yorkers and the providers who care for them every day will benefit greatly from his passion, vision and expertise”.