Executive Leadership

Board of Directors

Executive Leadership

Loy Howard
President and CEO, Tanner Health System

Loy Howard is only the fifth administrator/CEO in Tanner’s 50-year history. Howard came to Tanner as president and CEO in 1994 from the Union Hospital District in Union, SC, where he had served as CEO and CFO.

Howard is a certified public accountant. He earned his master’s degree in business administration from the University of South Carolina and his bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of West Florida. He is also a graduate of Leadership South Carolina.

Since coming to Tanner, Howard has served as chairman of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, been a member of Atlanta Business Chronicle's "Who's Who in Atlanta" 2006-2010, and earned the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of the Year award in 2008, the Chamber's Horizon Award in 2002 and the Visionary Award from the Follow Me Foundation in 2000.

Dale Dreiling, MD, CPE, MMM, FACPE, FAAFP
Senior Vice President, Tanner Medical Group

Dale Dreiling, MD, CPE, MMM, FACPE, FAAFP, joined Tanner in 2009 as senior vice president for Tanner Medical Group, part of Tanner Health System. Dr. Dreiling is responsible for managing one of metro Atlanta’s largest multi-specialty medical groups, with 58 physicians representing 25 medical practices with 35 locations in Carroll, Douglas, Haralson, Heard and Paulding counties in Georgia and Cleburne County in Alabama. Tanner Medical Group was rated one of Atlanta’s top 25 physician group practices in the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 2010 Book of Lists.

Before joining Tanner, Dr. Dreiling served as CEO of Staten Island Medical Group, the largest multi-specialty medical group on Staten Island, NY. He has also served as chief medical officer of PivotHealth, a practice management firm; Community Practice Service Line chairman of Geisinger Health System, serving 41 counties in north-central and northeastern Pennsylvania, and president of Eagle Physicians and Associates in Greensboro, NC.

Dr. Dreiling received his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia, where he also completed his internship and residency at Blackstone Family Practice in Blackstone, Va. He earned a Master’s in Medical Management from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, Pa. He is a fellow in the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE), a designation awarded to physician executives who have reached a superior level of excellence in medical management and have demonstrated the expertise and skills to effectively lead healthcare organizations in today's challenging markets. Dr. Dreiling is also a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Lee Sherseth
Chief Financial Officer, Tanner Health System

Lee Sherseth has served as chief financial officer of Tanner Health System since joining the organization in 1984. As CFO of Tanner, Sherseth oversees all business-related activity for the system, including accounting, health information management, transcription and coding, patient financial services, materials management and more. He is also responsible for Tanner Medical Group, consisting of more than 20 primary care and specialty practices operated by Tanner Health System.

Sherseth has previously served as chief financial officer at Wayne Memorial Hospital in Jesup, GA, Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan, AL and Berea Hospital in Berea, KY. He has also served as an accountant at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, KY.

Sherseth is a certified public accountant (CPA), a member of the Georgia Hospital Financial Management Association and the West Georgia Chapter of the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants. He is also past president of the West Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants. Sherseth earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Eastern Kentucky University.

Larry Steed
Chief Operating Officer, Tanner Health System

Larry N. Steed is a lifelong resident of Carroll County, having grown up and attended public school in Bowdon. He attended West Georgia College – now the University of West Georgia – and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration.

Steed has been employed with Tanner Medical Center, Inc. since 1981. He began his work in the healthcare industry as human resource director in the Carrollton facility and moved into a senior management position in 1983 with responsibilities including both support services and clinical services over the next 12 years.

In 1995, he accepted the position of administrator for Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica and remained in that position until September 2007 when he was promoted to senior vice president with responsibility for Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica, Willowbrooke at Tanner and Higgins General Hospital in Bremen.

In 2011, Steed was promoted to chief operating officer for Tanner Health System. He assumed responsibility of all operations of Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton, Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica, Higgins General Hospital and Willowbrooke at Tanner. He also will continue to be responsible for support services, including food and nutritional services, engineering, environmental services, security and emergency management.

Steed is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, a member of the American Hospital Association and the Georgia Hospital Association.

He is a member of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, where he previously served as a member of the board of directors. He is also a founding member of the Villa Rica Sertoma Club, and has served as president and chairman of the board for the organization.

Denise L. Taylor
Chief Development Officer, Tanner Health System
President and CEO, Tanner Medical Foundation

Denise Taylor joined Tanner in 1989, establishing Tanner Medical Foundation and serving as the foundation’s president and CEO. Taylor also serves as chief development officer of Tanner Health System, where she is responsible for marketing and public relations, programs for business and industry including occupational health and immediate care services, employee and community wellness initiatives and volunteer services.

She has previously served as the director of financial development for the YWCA of Greater Atlanta. Taylor has also worked as the director of development and was responsible for marketing and community development for West Penn Hospital, where she founded the hospital’s foundation in Pittsburg, PA, and the director of annual giving at the St. John Medical Center Foundation in Tulsa, OK.

Taylor earned certifications in planned gifts, capital campaigns and major gifts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from the University of West Georgia. She is a member of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development and a founding board member of the Community Children’s Home.

William C. “Bill” Waters IV, MD
Chief Medical Officer, Tanner Health System

William C. “Bill” Waters, MD, joined Tanner in 2003 as an intensivist and medical director of the 12-bed ICU at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton, where he succeeded in setting a new standard for patient outcomes and providing an unparalleled level of patient care.

Dr. Waters was appointed to the senior leadership role of chief medical officer in 2007, where is he now responsible for a wide range of quality and process improvement initiatives, working to recruit and retain medical staff, overseeing infection control policies and procedures and more.

He has also been instrumental in developing and recruiting physicians to join Tanner Intensive Medical Services, delivering hospitalist services at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton and Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica and nocturnist services at Higgins General Hospital in Bremen.

Dr. Waters is board-certified in internal medicine and nephrology. He earned his medical doctorate from the Emory University School of Medicine and completed his specialty training in nephrology at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. He completed his residency at the Emory University School of Medicine and the University of Alabama Medical Center. He was named a Hospital Hero by the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) in 2006.