San Diego Imperial Leadership

Kellie Hooper is a seasoned, passionate, strategic leader with a love for HFMA. Kellie has been involved with HFMA since 2012 and happily served in many roles across Region 10 and 11. Currently Kellie serves at the President for the San Diego Imperial Chapter and as the co-chair for the largest volunteer conference in the country, Western Symposium. HFMA has brought a tremendous amount of value both personally and professionally. Kellie has gained a endearing family of professionals that offer growth and life long friendships. Much gratitude  for the opportunity to serve HFMA while sharing the value with the future generation as Hooper has brought her daughter to participate in HFMA events such as the Women’s Events and the Family hosted group events. Thank you, HFMA.

Fahd Benjalil currently serves as the Chief Financial and Operating Officer (CFO/COO) for SHARP Coronado Hospital. After a decade in the Corporate Finance industry, Fahd joined the SHARP Grossmont Finance team in 2011. His efforts there and reputation for integrity led to his current position as SHARP Coronado Hospital CFO/COO. In addition to his finance and operations experience, Fahd holds a Six Sigma certification and is trained on the principles of a High Reliability Organization (HRO).

Fahd believes that hard work, strong relationships, and the willingness to give back to the community are the necessary pillars for a strong foundation to a successful career. Fahd has been involved with HFMA for over 10 years and has held various roles within the chapter culminating with chapter president for 2018-2019. Fahd currently serves on the HFMA National Advisory Committee.

Fahd holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance from National University in San Diego, CA. He is proud of his recent U.S. naturalization from his home country of Morocco, and also a proud resident of San Diego’s East County where he lives with his wife, Diedre, their three children, a dogs and a cat.

Violet Aguirre serves as a Revenue Cycle Manager at Scripps Health, where she oversees the Public Resource Specialists Department and the Scripps Mercy Chula Vista Access team. With over 16 years of healthcare experience, her primary focus has been on assisting unfunded and underfunded patients. Now leading two teams, she is dedicated to streamlining patient interactions, emphasizing quality outcomes, and enhancing the patient experience.

Before joining Scripps, she worked as an Eligibility Worker at the County Health and Human Services Agency, gaining valuable program knowledge. She actively participates in the HOPE Program Liaison workgroup and has held various leadership positions within the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), including Director of Education, Vice President, and President Elect. Currently, she serves as the President of the HFMA San Diego-Imperial Chapter.

A San Diego native, she resides in the city with her husband and daughter. She enjoys the outdoors, is a Jeep girl, loves to binge watch shows but prioritizes spending quality time with her family.

Perla Pace, manages access services and financial counseling for Sharp HealthCare in San Diego County. Sharp HealthCare is a large not-for-profit integrated health care system serving 3.2 million residents annually. Perla is responsible for ensuring uninsured and underinsured patients are connected to health care resources at four acute care hospitals and two specialty hospitals.

Pace has served as programs chair 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. She has participated in special event planning including the 50th anniversary celebration and 5th Annual Women’s event.

She earned a Bachelors’ degree from the University of Phoenix where her area of study focused on healthcare administration and leadership. Perla Pace is an expert in organization change and is certified as a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.

Cindy Pizarro is currently the Revenue Cycle Customer Service Coordinator at UC San Diego Health. She oversees the SBO Customer Service call center by analyzing and monitoring agent call statistics and the operational needs of the call center. She is a graduate from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and is a Certified Revenue Cycle Representative (CRCR) from the Health Care Financial Management Association (HFMA). Prior to UC San Diego Health she worked in the dental field for 9 years.

Cindy started with the SBO Department as a Customer Service Professional for 2 years. During that period, she was a mentor to her peers and worked closely with leadership on the implementation of SBO’s process improvements. One of her goals was to continue to expand her knowledge in the healthcare billing industry, guiding her to her current role as a SBO Coordinator.

Lizzete Tupas is a seasoned professional with a career spanning 25 years in healthcare. Her journey in the industry began in the field of Health Information Management and has evolved into her current role as a Revenue Integrity Professional for Sharp Healthcare in San Diego. With a passion for education, technology, and performance improvement, Lizzete has made significant contributions to process standardization and development of programs that support clinical workflows and revenue enhancing opportunities.  

Lizzete’s work has garnered several awards including an Individual People CORE Award at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, Staff of the Year at Sharp Metro Medical Campus, and two Department Finance CORE awards with Sharp System Revenue Integrity.  

Lizzete recently graduated from Western Governors University, where she attained a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Healthcare Management. She is a Registered Health Information Administrator and holds several certifications including Certified Coding Specialist (AHIMA), Radiation Oncology Certified Coder (AMAC), and Certified Revenue Cycle Representative (HFMA). She is an active member of several associations including SDHIA, NAHRI, and HFMA San Diego-Imperial.  

In her current role as Assistant Director Rev Cycle at UCSD, Sylvia has the opportunity to leverage over 30 years of experience in Healthcare to enhance existing processes, develop system optimizations and, most importantly, to mentor staff. 

Sylvia oversees the billing functions of professional services rendered at UCSD as well as the functions performed by the Underpayment, Cash and Credit Recovery, Claims and Provider Enrollment teams.  Sylvia also has the opportunity to collaborate with the Coding, Revenue Integrity, HB, Contracting and SBO departments in her role.  It is an exciting and challenging position and one she is proud to hold.

Sylvia is passionate about mentoring staff and getting everyone to meet their full potential.  She believes that an organization’s biggest asset is the relationship fostered amongst its colleagues.  Through eliminating obstacles and gaining insight into what motivates people to do their best, Sylvia consistently strives to promote a sense of collaborative accomplishment where a win is a win for all.

Sylvia maintains multiple coding certifications through the AAPC; CPC, CPB, CPPM and maintains yearly CEU to stay abreast of all changes in payor policies, regulations and coding mandates.  Sylvia holds a LSSGB, as well as Epic certifications in Billing Charge Capture and Billing Insurance Follow-Up.

This is Sylvia’s second year volunteering for the San Diego-Imperial chapter.  Sylvia served as the Co-Chair for Social Media and the Chair for the annual Women’s Event in 2024. 

Keri Whitehead is the System Director of Patient Financial Services for UC San Diego Health.  She has an extensive background in hospital revenue cycle leadership, including receiving the Leader of Excellence award during her tenure as Director of Patient Access for Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. 

Keri’s experience includes multi-dimensional leadership roles in hospital revenue cycle, to include Patient Access, Patient Financial Services, Denials Management, Charge Capture/Revenue Integrity, Case Management and Contracting.  She has a track record of phenomenal results related to process optimization, financial management, personnel management, staff mentoring and restructuring. She brings deep expertise in some of the leading healthcare information systems, including Epic.

Keri is passionate about optimizing the Patient Experience by achieving greater efficiency in care delivery and operations through visionary strategies and proven change methodologies. She is the Director of Membership for the HFMA San Diego Imperial Chapter.  Keri is a native of California, and she attended San Diego State University.

Alece Hon currently is the Director of Clinical Finance, in the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, at UC San Diego Health, providing leadership, day to day oversite, while meeting the needs of the physicians, professional billing group and health system. Alece has a diverse background since she supported her husband military career but has been in healthcare for the past 25 years. She is also a member of the Past President Alumni, of the San Diego Imperial County HFMA chapter.

Prior to UC San Diego Health, Alece worked for Scripps Health for over 11 year as a Sr. Clinical Analyst. While at Scripps Health, she supported Hospital Finance, Home Health and Hospice divisions.

Alece holds a Master of Business Administration (Healthcare Concentration), from Point Loma Nazarene. She also has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (emphases in Accounting) and is CHFP from the Health Care Management Association (HFMA).