Carson Valley Health Leadership

Jeff Prater, MHA, FACHE

Chief Executive Officer
Jeff joined Carson Valley Health in June of 2018. He got his start in healthcare serving as a Hospital Corpsman in the U.S. Navy from 1993 to 2000 and was a recipient of the Sailor of the Year award during that time. Since then, he has worked in a variety of healthcare administrative roles ranging from director of outpatient services, director of radiology, hospital administrator and Chief Executive Officer.

He received his Bachelor's of Health Sciences degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in 2001 and his Master's of Health Administration from Montana State University in 2006. He is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and fellow of Medical Group Management Association.

Jeff is committed to serving the community and is an active board member of the Business Council of Douglas County, and has also served as board member on local Chamber of Commerce organizations, state healthcare executive networks, and was a Governor’s appointee of the Alaska State Trauma Review Committee.

Dedicated to the advancement of rural healthcare and healthcare improvement, Jeff is a certified instructor in Toyota Production Systems for Healthcare and is involved in workforce development and leadership development programs.

Colleen Reid, CPA

Chief Financial Officer
Colleen arrived at Carson Valley Health in November of 2018. Most recently, she was the controller at the University of California Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland for 11 years. Previously, she was the director of finance/controller with Barton Health from 2001-2007. Prior to that, she was in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex with several different organizations between 1996 and 2001. She earned her degree from the University of California, Berkeley and is a certified public accountant within the state of California.

Colleen Kriss, DO

Chief of Staff
Colleen Kriss, D.O. was born and raised in Carson City, NV and joined Carson Valley Health in 2008 after completing her residency. Dr. Kriss earned her B.S. in Nutritional Sciences from UNR, completed medical school at the Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine, and completed her family medicine residency at University of Nevada School of Medicine. She is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine.

Evan Easley, MD

Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Evan Easley practices at CVH Senior Care. He is certified through the American Board of Internal Medicine. He attended medical school at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, Calif., and served his residency at Kettering Medical Center in Kettering, Ohio.

Shannon Albert

Chief Operating Officer
Shannon Albert arrived at Carson Valley Health in 2004 having worked previously in communications at AIG VALIC in Sacramento, Calif. She earned her bachelor's degree in communications and public relations from Sacramento State University in 2004 and her Master's of Business Administration from Western Governors University in 2021. She is a member of the Society for Healthcare Market Planning and Development and Association of Healthcare Philanthropy. An active member of the community, Shannon is an executive board member of the Business Council of Douglas County, a member of Minden Rotary and is a past president of both the Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce and Soroptimist International of Carson Valley.

Andrea Highfill, DNP

Chief Nursing Officer
Andrea joined CVH in 2009 as a Registered Nurse on the Med-Surg floor and later was hired as Nurse Educator for the organization. She then went on to oversee Vitality for Life, which she had been nurse manager over since 2014 before fulfilling the role of Senior Manager of Ancillary Services with Rehabilitation Services, Medical Imaging, Clinical Laboratory and Pharmacy reporting to her. She earned her Masters in Nursing with an emphasis in leadership and went on to her doctorate in Nursing Practice which focuses on implementing evidence-based practice initiatives in the clinical setting.

Gina Zink

Director of Clinics
Gina Zink hails from New Zealand and traveled internationally throughout Europe and the Middle East following school before landing in Australia where she met her husband. In 1997, she and her husband moved to America and Gina joined the Barton team in 2001 as the referral coordinator in their Community Clinic. She moved to CVH in 2004 as the Special Projects Coordinator, producing schedules, reports and financials for the clinics. She later served as the supervisor of Job's Peak Primary Care and the Topaz Ranch Medical Clinic. She was later promoted to the manager and then director of those clinics and further expanded the clinic operations to eight clinics in six locations, including the CVH Urgent Care and two rural health clinics which allowed the organization to serve the uninsured and under-insured population of Douglas County. Gina serves on the board of the Family Support Council of Douglas County, whose mission is to provide education, prevention and intervention services to support growth and development of healthy families. She and her husband also own and operate two automotive businesses - one in Lake Tahoe and one in Gardnerville.