As chief operating officer at Advocate Community Providers, the largest Performing Provider System within the New York State Delivery System Reform Incentive Program, Mary Ellen Connington is responsible for, among many things, strategic visioning for quality, value-based healthcare payment. Prior to ACP, she served as senior vice president for quality and medical management at Oscar Insurance Company.

Mary Ellen earned her Bachelor of Science in nursing at the College of Mount Saint Vincent on Hudson and an M.A. in nursing administration at the Teacher’s College at Columbia University, though her most profound learning experience was as an accordion player in a wedding band with her brother and classmates. “I learned the art of taking the temperature in the room and learning how to react,” she says. “Don’t play a polka when they want to waltz!”

A second-generation Irish American, Mary Ellen has maternal roots Ballyguiltenane, County Limerick, and Knockanure, County Waterford, while her father’s family comes from Cork. She upholds the traditions of her heritage with her husband, Kevin William, who is himself a member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, and children, Dr. Kevin William, Jr., Tara, and Sean Michael.