Board of Directors

Dave is Chairman of the Board for Florence Health. He is also a serial entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, and global keynote speaker. Dave is the co-founder and co-CEO of Apprentice, a platform that connects entrepreneurs with the brightest college students to solve their biggest business challenges. He is the co-founder and CEO of Remembering Live, a virtual memorial service company, and the Executive Chairman of The Nursing Beat, a healthcare media company for nurses. Previously in his career, Dave was the Founder and Chairman of Likeable Local, a social media software company serving thousands of small businesses, as well as the chairman and cofounder of Likeable Media, an award-winning social media and word-of-mouth marketing agency for big brands. He and his wife Carrie sold Likeable Media to 10Pearls in April 2021. His newest book, The Art of People: 11 Simple People Skills That Will Get You Everything You Want is out now.

A corporate director, private investor and former Canadian diplomat, Howard Balloch is a member of Cherrystone Angel Group and a partner of Hong Kong-based PacBridge Partners, an investment group that specializes in providing early-stage capital to companies using disruptive technologies. In his diplomatic life he served as Ambassador to China and some other countries and, in different roles, in Prague during the Cold War and in Indonesia. After retiring from public service, Howard founded a firm that supported companies in natural resources, healthcare, education and alternative energy. He also served on several public sector and other boards. Beyond supporting The Nursing Beat (as a cancer survivor), his favorite pastime is spending time with his wife of 42 years, their children and grandchildren.

Michael is a consultant and investor with over 30 years of experience primarily focused on the life sciences and healthcare industries, including medical technology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and healthcare services. Michael spent fourteen years as an analyst and health care investor, both long and short, at Jennison Associates, one of the worlds largest investment managers. Prior to joining Jennison, Michael was a consultant for over 15 years, including 7 years at the Boston Consulting Group, to senior managements primarily in the healthcare field focusing on pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Mr. Bator holds a BA from Princeton University in Psychology, with a concentration in Neurophysiology, and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Laura is an advanced practitioner, specializing in oncology. Her 40 year career has taken her from the bedside, then after 20 years, to the briefcase. The later part of Laura’s career has been in the pharma/device space where she held various executive positions including most recently Senior Vice President, Global Medical Affairs at Novocure. Currently semi-retired, Laura is adjunct faculty in S.U.N.Y system. Additionally Laura is President-elect of the Oncology Nursing Foundation, and serves as Treasurer of the Nurses On Boards Coalition. Most recently she has joined the Board of Directors for The Nursing Beat (a.k.a. Florence Health) as we continue in our journey of supporting all nurses through an online community.

Ms. Schoenfeld is a business strategist. She is also an angel investor and serves on the boards of Florence Health (health media company producing The Nursing Beat), Rellevate (financial technology company), the Naval War College Foundation, The Public’s Radio, and is Chair of the Board of the Newport Art Museum. Her experience includes the realms of corporate law, asset management, government and social services.