Mike Sheppard, CPA, CAE

Chief Executive Officer

Mike Sheppard is a business professional with over 30 years of corporate leadership experience. As the Chief Executive Officer of the AUA, he is responsible for AUA's four corporate entities, including the Urology Care Foundation, AUA’s official foundation for urologic patient education and research. In over 25 years with the AUA, Mr. Sheppard has held several executive-level positions and has served as AUA's CEO since 2005.

Prior to joining the AUA, Mr. Sheppard served in senior-level business positions at USF&G Realty Advisors, Inc., as a real estate portfolio controller, and C.W. Amos and Company, LLC as a senior independent public auditor. In addition, he is a retiree of the U.S. Naval Reserves Service. He has numerous professional affiliations, including memberships with the American Society of Association Executives, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Greater Washington Society of Association Executives and Institute of Management Accountants Association. Mr. Sheppard received his MBA from Loyola College's Sellinger School. He is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Association Executive. Mr. Sheppard is the recipient of several awards, including many military honors. He has written a number of published articles and participates on several committees for medical-related organizations, including Immediate Past President of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies and Board member of Verana Health.

Patricia Banks

Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing and Development Officer

Patricia Banks serves as Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing and Development Officer for the AUA and the Urology Care Foundation (UCF). In her role, Patricia provides direction on the organization's operations, mission and financial goals with specific oversight of marketing, communications, business development/sales, member engagement, publications and the Urology Care Foundation.

As CMDO, Patricia designs and executes marketing, media relations, and corporate communication efforts for the organizations' strategic initiatives. In her oversight of AUA's Member Engagement Department, she partners with the AUA's Section Secretaries Membership Council and its related committees to grow and support AUA's 26,000+ members worldwide.

Patricia leads AUA's Publications Team, overseeing the peer-reviewed journals. In addition, she oversees AUA and UCF's sales, industry relations and development efforts, forging innovative partnerships and securing funding that finances the growth and development of the AUA and UCF mission-based programs. Ms. Banks also partners with the Deputy Director and the Board of the Urology Care Foundation to set the strategic direction and operational priorities of the Foundation.

Patricia brings more than two decades of experience in the C suite to the AUA and UCF. Prior to joining the AUA, she held senior leadership roles at the Miami Herald and Factor Health.

She holds a Master's degree in Economics from the London School of Economics & Political Science. She is a Certified Professional Coach from iPEC (Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching) and holds a certificate in Leadership Coaching for Organizational Performance from George Mason University.

Maureen Cones, Esq.

Executive Vice President, Chief Legal & Policy Officer General Counsel

Maureen Cones serves as EVP, Chief Legal and Policy Officer and General Counsel of AUA. As Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, Ms. Cones is responsible for all legal affairs of the AUA and its related entities. She also heads the organization's Committee & Society Affairs department, supports the Board of Directors, Bylaws Committee, and Judicial & Ethics Committee, and works closely with the AUA Quality (AQUA) Registry to help ensure the Registry's legal compliance. In her role as Chief Policy Officer, Ms. Cones works closely in partnership with the Chair of the Public Policy Council and its committees, providing strategic direction and overseeing the Public Policy and Advocacy and Physician Payment and Reimbursement departments and initiatives to advance the AUA's federal and state legislative priorities. She also provides leadership and oversight of the AUAPAC with a focus on strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, health policy, and advocacy for AUA, its members, urologists, and patients.

Before joining AUA in July 2022, Ms. Cones worked as Interim General Counsel for Walden University, where she was responsible for all university legal affairs, federal and state regulatory compliance, government relations, and provided legal and compliance support for all the university's accredited healthcare colleges and degree programs. Prior to that, Ms. Cones spent over a decade at the American Nurses Association, where she served as Chief Legal and Compliance Officer with a focus on risk management, strategic planning, scope of practice, licensure, certification, accreditation, education, standard setting/guidelines, healthcare policy, and regulatory and organizational ethics and compliance.

Ms. Cones has been engaged in legal issues pertaining to telehealth and patient access to quality care for more than a decade.

Ms. Cones is a devoted wife, proud mother, avid reader, and loyal supporter of the Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Browns, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Marybeth Farquhar, PhD, MSN, RN

Chief Scientific Officer Executive Vice President of Research, Quality, and Scientific Affairs

As Executive Vice President of Research, Quality, and Scientific Affairs, Dr. Farquhar is responsible for working with staff and physician leaders to further advance the strategic direction and growth of the AUA's data, patient safety, practice guideline, quality improvement and research programs. Additionally, she represents the AUA to government, medical and other related organizations on matters of urologic science, quality and research.

Dr. Farquhar brings to her position more than 30 years of experience in nursing and healthcare administration, quality measurement, process improvement and research. Prior to the AUA, she spent eight years with the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC), where she served as Vice President of Quality, Research and Measurement. Prior to her tenure at URAC, she was Vice President of Performance Measurement at the National Quality Forum and was responsible for strategic oversight of the consensus development process. She received her PhD in Public Administration, Public Policy and Public Affairs from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and holds a Master of Science in Nursing from George Mason University. Additionally, she is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, an Advanced Project Management Professional and holds a certificate in Population Health.

Barbara Hartford

Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Since May 2018, Ms. Hartford has served as AUA’s Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer. She oversees the organization’s financial operations, including financial planning and analysis, internal controls and reporting, managing insurance policies, overseeing regulatory issues and directing the management of investments and operating cash. She is the primary liaison with the AUA Treasurer and the Finance Committee (which includes the Compensation and Audit Subcommittees). Prior to this, Ms. Hartford served as the Director of Finance where she oversaw the financial reporting, tax and audit functions.

Ms. Hartford began her career in public accounting with KPMG and held other finance and consulting positions in the healthcare field throughout her 34 years of experience. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Accounting from the University of Baltimore and a Master of Science degree in Accounting Forensic Studies from Stevenson University. She has professional memberships with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the AICPA NFP Section and the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants.

Raj Manocha

Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer

Raj Manocha serves as the Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the AUA. Mr. Manocha is responsible for innovating, implementing & maintaining the AUA’s global technology roadmap and cloud strategy by incorporating the modernization of legacy systems, introduction and optimization of the new technical programs, products and services relating to infrastructure and security, IT applications and operations, online and digital strategy, end user computing, business analysis and project management.

Mr. Manocha, has more than 20 years of expertise in IT modernization, migration, digitization, delivery and management of technical portfolio and services consisting of applications and products in diverse traditional and cloud architectures. Most recently he served as the Director of Applications for the Maryland Department of Human Services where he led the modernization, development, deployment and implementation of the largest open source cloud hosted public facing Integrated Eligibility System platform as part of the Maryland Total Human-services Integrated Network (MD THINK) program. MDTHINK is a first-in-the-nation cloud-based platform that enables multiple state agencies to deliver integrated health and human services programs to the state’s most vulnerable residents by disseminating multi-billion dollars in state and federal benefits to the eligible Maryland citizens. Prior to working for the State of Maryland, Mr. Manocha served in multiple senior level technology roles at General Electric Healthcare (GEHC), American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) & Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Mr. Manocha holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Master’s degree in Computer Science. 

Janet Skorepa

CHIEF EDUCATION OFFICER EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT—EDUCATION, MEETINGS & MEMBER SERVICES

Janet Skorepa joined the AUA in 2003 and currently serves as Executive Vice President of Education & Meetings. Ms. Skorepa oversees the strategic direction of the AUA’s Office of Education, Conventions & Meetings and International Programs departments. She provides strategic and operational oversight for the AUA’s Annual Meeting, which attracts more than 16,000 attendees. She is responsible for site selection, hotel and convention center negotiations, contractual arrangements with suppliers and overall implementation of all annual meeting activities including registration, logistics, social and scientific programs. Ms. Skorepa also oversees AUA’s Office of Education and International Programs’ initiatives, including but not limited to CME live programs, eLearning and enduring materials. She oversees the administrative management services for Urology Management Services (UMS)’ client, the Endourological Society and executes its annual international congress.

Prior to joining the AUA, Ms. Skorepa worked for GES Exposition Services for 13 years as Director of Sales of the San Francisco Bay Area’s $52M operation, Senior Sales Manager and Account Manager in the Washington, DC area. She has an extensive background in event management, planning and operations, account management and sales. Ms. Skorepa received her Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University. She is currently an active member of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), the Medical Meeting Directors Roundtable (MMDR), the Chicago Customer Advisory Board and the New Orleans Customer Advisory Council.

Sharon Stover, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer

Sharon Stover is the Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for the AUA. In this role, she is a member of the Executive Team responsible for executing the strategic objectives of the organization. She leads a team of Human Resources professionals whose goal is to create a positive employee experience to increase employee engagement by partnering with leadership to foster a strong company culture driven by AUA’s Guiding Principles and creating and leading workforce management strategies to support the organization’s strategic goals and objectives.

Before joining the AUA in 2018, Ms. Stover spent eleven years as the President and CEO of LifeLogics, Inc., a nonprofit software development company that provides solutions to the organ and tissue recovery community. Prior to LifeLogics, she was the Director of Human Resources for The Living Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit Organ Procurement Organization. Ms. Stover holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Maryland University College. She holds a SHRM-Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) certification in Human Resources from the Society for Human Resource Management and a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification from the HR Certification Institute. She is a member of the Chesapeake Human Resources Association and the Society for Human Resource Management. She serves as a volunteer mentor for Everwise and LinkedIn, and as a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for Harford County, Maryland.