From Queens College to CEO:

A Discussion with Business Leader John Sganga

John Sganga ’83 is the Executive Vice President, GNYHA Ventures, Inc. & President & CEO, Innovatix, LLC, Innovatix Network, LLC, and Essensa.  Mr. Sganga launched Innovatix in 1993 to offer group-purchasing services to alternate site providers. Sganga joined the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), of which Innovatix is a subsidiary, as Vice President of Financial Operations in 1992. Today, Sganga serves as Executive Vice President for GNYHA Ventures, Inc., where he is responsible for the non-acute care business operations of GNYHA Ventures, Inc, serving as President and CEO of Innovatix, LLC and Essensa.

He has close to 30 years of health care experience, 20 of them focused on alternate site purchasing. Before joining the GNYHA staff, Sganga was the Senior Director of Financial Operations at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center for over two years, and prior to that he worked for Ernst and Young's Management Consulting Service for six years.

Mr. Sganga has served on the Executive Board of the Metropolitan Health Administrators' Association (MHAA) since 1992, and was President from 1995 to 1996. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), where he won a Young Healthcare Executives' Regents Award in 1995, and from 1994 to 1995, served on the Board of the New York Association of Ambulatory Care.  Mr. Sganga is also a guest lecturer at Cornell University’s Sloan Program in Health Administration. In January 1999, Sganga was recognized as one of New York's rising stars in Crain's New York Business "40 Under Forty" column, and in April 1999, he was awarded the Alumni Torch Award by New York University for outstanding contribution in the field of public service. In 2004, the Metropolitan Health Administrators' Association (MHAA) bestowed him with the "2004 Award of Distinction" for his commitment to healthcare on a regional and national level. In 2008, Mr. Sganga was selected as a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® Award, New York Metro Area Healthcare Division.  Most recently, Mr. Sganga was appointed to the Queens College, City of New York’s Business Advisory Board.

Mr. Sganga continues to be a strong supporter and advocate of Resources for Children with Special Needs, where he served on the Board of Directors for three years. He also holds a position on the Board of Directors for Shop Well with You, a not-for-profit organization and body-image resource for women surviving cancer, their caregivers and healthcare providers. Mr. Sganga is also the Treasurer of the Edgemont Community Council, where he has served on the Board of Directors for four years.Mr. Sganga holds a bachelor’s degree from Queens College and a master's degree in Public Administration from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, with a concentration in Health Services Management.