Maureen M. Lawrence — Chair
Maureen M. Lawrence joined CentraState’s Board of Trustees in 2017. Her extensive career in higher education leadership includes her current role as the assistant vice president of finance at Pratt Institute and past roles as the chief financial officer at St. Francis College and vice president of finance and administration at both Middlesex College and Brookdale Community College. She received an accounting degree at Monmouth University and a master’s in public administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Barbara J. McMorrow — Vice Chair
Barbara J. McMorrow joined CentraState’s Board of Trustees in 2020. As a lifelong educator and public servant, she was a teacher in Freehold Borough High School before retiring as the principal of Howell High School and has served as the director of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders (now County Commissioners), the mayor of Freehold Township and the council president of Freehold Borough. She has the distinction of being the only person to serve on the governing bodies of both of these municipalities. She is currently the vice chairperson of the Monmouth County Board of Library Commissioners and a member of the Legal Aid Society of Monmouth County of which she is a past president.
Joseph Iantosca
Joseph R. Iantosca re-joined CentraState’s board of trustees in 2024, having previously served from 2006 through 2017, including as board chair from 2014-2015. He currently serves on the Governance, Finance and Audit and Compliance committees and is immediate past chair of the CentraState Healthcare Foundation board of trustees.
Iantosca owns and operates Tosca Associates, Inc., a consulting firm focused on community banks and technology companies. He is a member of the advisory boards of TetherView, Vikar Technologies and EazyML. Prior to forming Tosca Associates, Iantosca held management roles in banks and technology companies, including 15 years with OceanFirst Bank, where he was executive vice president/chief administrative officer and chief information officer. Iantosca is a commissioner of the Monmouth County Improvement Authority. He also serves on the board of trustees of VNA Health Group.
Nadia K. Batchelor — Immediate Past Chair
Nadia K. Batchelor joined CentraState’s Board of Trustees in 2018 and served as secretary/treasurer in 2022-2023. Batchelor currently serves as managing director and chief operating officer at Jefferies Wealth Management in New York City. Previously, she held leadership roles at Morgan Stanley, American Express and J.P. Morgan. She earned a bachelor of science in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.
Ashish Awasthi, MD, FACC
Ashish Awasthi, MD, FACC, joined CentraState’s board of trustees in 2019 and is the immediate past chief of staff at CentraState Medical Center. He is a cardiologist with Heart Specialists of Central Jersey and specializes in coronary and peripheral interventions, with particular interest in critical limb ischemia. He is board-certified in internal medicine from the American Board of Internal Medicine. He brings added qualifications in cardiovascular disease, interventional cardiology and nuclear cardiology, and is board certified in vascular medicine and endovascular interventions. Dr. Awasthi completed his medical residency and cardiology fellowship at the SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY.
Atul Bhasin, MD
Atul Bhasin, MD joined the CentraState Healthcare System board of trustees in 2025 and serves as secretary/treasurer of the Medical Staff Executive Committee at CentraState Medical Center. He joined the Department of Internal Medicine at CentraState Medical Center in 2008. He served as the Department of Medicine’s vice chair from 2021 to 2022 and chair from 2023 to 2024. Dr. Bhasin provides care for patients at CentraState Medical Center and in community settings throughout Monmouth County, as well as CentraState’s senior living facilities. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at St. Luke's Roosevelt Medical Center in New York City in 2002. Dr. Bhasin is board certified in Internal Medicine and Hospice/Palliative Care.
Daniel Jackson
Daniel A. Jackson joined the board of CentraState Healthcare System in 2024. He also serves on the CentraState Healthcare Foundation’s board of trustees as vice chair and on the Foundation’s Cancer Campaign Committee and Emerging Leaders Council Committee, in addition to previous roles as secretary and in the Foundation’s mentorship program.
Jackson is vice president in Commercial Lending at First Commerce Bank, headquartered in Lakewood, NJ. He has provided over $400 million in financing services and investments to customers primarily in the Ocean, Monmouth, Mercer, and Burlington Counties and throughout New Jersey with over 20 years of experience in the banking industry.
Additionally, Jackson is involved in local government board, serving on Robbinsville Township Zoning Board of Adjustments, acting chairman until 2022 and currently vice chairman on Robbinsville Land Use Board. He is a trustee board member for The New Jersey DECA Foundation Inc. a 501(c)(3) non-profit that supports a state education program preparing the emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management throughout New Jersey having over 11,000 student members in in over 100 high schools.
Robert Kash
Amit S. Kharod, MD
Amit S. Kharod, MD FACS is a board-certified general surgeon. His practice at the Surgical Associates of CentraState focuses on laparoscopic and robotic surgical approaches to gallbladder, hernia, intestinal and colon surgery. He specializes in hernia and complex hernia repairs, including abdominal wall reconstructions.
Dr. Kharod serves as chief of staff on CentraState's Medical Executive Committee. He previously served as immediate assistant chief of staff and as chair of the Department of Surgery.
Ramanasri Kudipudi, MD
Ramanasri Kudipudi, MD, joined the CentraState board of trustees in 2023. Dr. Kudipudi is an infectious disease specialist. She serves as assistant chief of staff on CentraState Medical Center’s Medical Staff Executive Committee, for which she also served as the immediate past secretary/treasurer She graduated from Rangaraya Medical College, University of Health and Sciences, completed her residency at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, and a fellowship at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) at Newark.
Maureen A. Schneider, PhD, MBA, RN
Maureen A. Schneider, PhD, MBA, RN
has held several executive leadership positions at academic, community and ambulatory organizations including chief operating officer and chief nurse executive in New York and New Jersey. Presently, she is the President at Chilton Medical Center, and Senior Vice President of the Atlantic Health System.
She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from Hunter College-Bellevue School of Nursing, an MBA from Monmouth University, and a doctorate from Seton Hall University. She is certified in Advanced Nursing Administration, Quality Healthcare. In addition, she is a fellow in the College of Healthcare Executives; a Johnson and Johnson Executive Wharton Fellow; a Master Team Stepps safety leader; and earned a Black Belt/Lean/Six Sigma certificate from Villanova University.
The recipient of numerous honors, Schneider has served and held leadership roles on boards and has achieved Magnet Accreditation Recognition for Nursing Excellence at three health care organizations. She is adjunct faculty at Seton Hall University teaching nursing doctoral, graduate leadership/management students and is an accomplished author, coach, presenter, and executive/ leadership mentor.
Under her leadership, Chilton Medical Center received Magnet with Distinction, the Emergency Department Lantern Award, and the Leapfrog Award for top 250 hospitals in the nation.
Julian Leone
Julian Leone, JD, MBA, joined CentraState’s board of trustees in 2025 and is member at large on the executive board of CentraState Healthcare Foundation. He has served as a trustee for the foundation since 2019.  He is a vice president in the Asset and Wealth Management Division at Goldman Sachs. Julian holds an MBA from New York University, a JD from Seton Hall University School of Law and a BS in Accounting from The College of New Jersey. A U.S. Army veteran and a former captain in the Army National Guard, he served in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Scott Leighty
Scott Leighty, executive vice president and chief health system officer for Atlantic Health System, is responsible for the operations of the system’s hospitals, various system support services, and post-acute operations. He has dedicated his career in health care to orchestrating visionary and transformational change in nationally recognized health systems on behalf of patients and their families. A believer in the power of a well-functioning team, Leighty has a passion for identifying and developing leadership talent across the care continuum. His organizations have consistently been recognized as top performers in the health care industry. He previously served as senior vice president, regional hospitals and clinical services for Allina Health in Minneapolis, MN, and senior vice president, corporate operations for Atrium Health in Charlotte, NC, and as a local board member for American Red Cross Blood Services, Habitat for Humanity, Community Blood Center of the Carolinas, and as a volunteer with Special Olympics. He serves on the board of St. Elizabeth’s University and is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Maureen A. Schneider, PhD, MBA, RN
Maureen A. Schneider, PhD, MBA, RN
has held several executive leadership positions at academic, community and ambulatory organizations including chief operating officer and chief nurse executive in New York and New Jersey. Presently, she is the President at Chilton Medical Center, and Senior Vice President of the Atlantic Health System.
She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from Hunter College-Bellevue School of Nursing, an MBA from Monmouth University, and a doctorate from Seton Hall University. She is certified in Advanced Nursing Administration, Quality Healthcare. In addition, she is a fellow in the College of Healthcare Executives; a Johnson and Johnson Executive Wharton Fellow; a Master Team Stepps safety leader; and earned a Black Belt/Lean/Six Sigma certificate from Villanova University.
The recipient of numerous honors, Schneider has served and held leadership roles on boards and has achieved Magnet Accreditation Recognition for Nursing Excellence at three health care organizations. She is adjunct faculty at Seton Hall University teaching nursing doctoral, graduate leadership/management students and is an accomplished author, coach, presenter, and executive/ leadership mentor.
Under her leadership, Chilton Medical Center received Magnet with Distinction, the Emergency Department Lantern Award, and the Leapfrog Award for top 250 hospitals in the nation.
Thomas W. Scott, FACHE, FABC
Tom Scott is a seasoned healthcare executive whose career spans more than 20 years. He presently serves as president and CEO of CentraState Healthcare System, having initially joined in 2015 as chief operating officer. Scott previously served for seven years as chief operating officer at Chilton Medical Center, an Atlantic Health System hospital. He has deep experience in healthcare management with prior positions at Stamford Hospital, and St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, among others.
At CentraState, Scott oversees a 284-bed acute care hospital, two senior living communities, an ambulatory campus, seven satellite health pavilions and access points, a charitable foundation and more than 2,500 employees.
He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, a Fellow of The Advisory Board, and he serves on the board of trustees of the VNA Health Group and the board of directors of NJHA Business Solutions. He is also an at-large delegate to the American Hospital Association’s Regional Policy Review Board 2 (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania), and a board member for the New Jersey Hospital Association, New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and Applewood Village. He is also president and chair of Scouting America, Monmouth Council.
He received a bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University and a master’s degree in health administration from Cornell University.
Steven Sheris, MD, FACC, FACP
Steven Sheris, MD, FACC, FACP is executive vice president, chief physician executive for Atlantic Health System and president, Atlantic Medical Group. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Sheris was the lead cardiologist at Associates in Cardiovascular Disease (an Atlantic Medical Group practice) commencing in 2001.
Before working in private practice, Dr. Sheris served as a physician in the United States Navy for 13 years, holding multiple leadership positions and ultimately attaining the rank of Commander. Dr. Sheris serves on the staff of Overlook Medical Center and Morristown Medical Center and was chief of cardiology at Overlook from 2008 to 2014. From 2014 to 2015, Dr. Sheris served as the co-chair of Atlantic Medical Group and participated in system initiatives focusing on patient-centered care and clinical integration as a member of Atlantic Health System’s senior management team.
Brett Taft
Brett Taft joined CentraState’s board of trustees in 2020. A dedicated supporter of CentraState and the surrounding community, Taft first became involved with the CentraState Healthcare Foundation board of trustees as a board member in 2018, and currently serves as its chair.  He is the co-founder and president of Open Space Pace, a local nonprofit organization that presents a yearly event at Freehold Raceway for entertainment and charity.
Taft is vice president and chief operating officer at UMH Properties, Inc., a property management and real estate investment company. A graduate of Monmouth University.