Our Story

As a business founded and led by physicians and the largest full-service skin care provider in the Southeast, we bring more than 25 years of experience to serving patients and supporting and optimizing dermatology practices.

The unique breadth of our services allows us to treat more patients and meet more patient needs with the highest quality of care.

Meet the AQUA Leadership Team

The AQUA leadership team is committed to ensuring that every patient experience is exceptional at every level. With decades of experience in executive healthcare roles, we are focused on supporting our highly talented dermatologists and other skin and vein care professionals so they can provide each patient with the best care anywhere.

Ted Schiff, MD

Founder, Chief Medical Officer

Ted Schiff, MD

Founder, Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Ted Schiff is the founder and Chief Medical Officer of Water’s Edge Dermatology. He is triple board-certified in dermatology, Mohs, and dermatopathology and specializes in the treatment of skin cancer.

He founded Water’s Edge Dermatology in 1998 and maintains a full clinical schedule every week, while also providing leadership at the executive level to the growing practice.

ANDREW JAFFE, MD

Founder, Chief Medical Officer

ANDREW JAFFE, MD

Founder, Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Andrew Jaffe is the founder and CMO of Riverchase Dermatology. Originally from New Jersey, Dr. Jaffe moved to Southwest Florida after culmination of medical school and his rigorous Mohs fellowship training. Shortly after, he founded Riverchase Dermatology in 2000.

LARRY KRASKA

Chief Executive Officer

LARRY KRASKA

Chief Executive Officer

Larry Kraska is a proven senior healthcare leader with over three decades of executive healthcare experience focusing on long-term strategic planning, accelerating company growth, mergers and acquisitions, expanding talent recruitment and providing an exceptional patient experience. Prior to joining Water’s Edge Dermatology, Larry served as CEO of several leading healthcare companies, including Caring Brands International / Interim Healthcare, MESA Medical Group, and Club Staffing. Larry’s leadership approach is based on delivering the highest quality patient care and an exceptional patient experience.

KIRK SAYLER

Chief Financial Officer

KIRK SAYLER

Chief Financial Officer

With more than two decades of progressive experience in the healthcare arena, Kirk Sayler is a proven expert in organizational strategy, financial analysis, reporting and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Water’s Edge Dermatology, Kirk served as Senior Vice President of Finance, Accounting and Revenue Cycle Management for Sage Dental. He has also held senior finance roles at Altegra, Cigna, Citrix and Univita Health.

MARK SECHRIST, MHA

Chief Operating Officer

MARK SECHRIST, MHA

Chief Operating Officer

Mark has more than three decades of senior healthcare operations experience. Prior to joining Water’s Edge Dermatology, Mark oversaw the operations of anesthesia practices in 17 states for Envision Physician Services. Before entering the anesthesia market, Mark gained nine years of experience in hospital ambulatory operations and 20 years of responsibility for the operations and strategy development for multiple state ambulatory programs including dialysis and physician practices. He also spent 10 years in the ambulatory surgery center/surgical hospital segment.

ANDY MITZEN

Chief Development Officer

ANDY MITZEN

Chief Development Officer

Andy Mitzen is an experienced healthcare leader with three decades of successful in-depth healthcare experience focused on physician practice management, joint venture partnerships and M & A. Andy’s scope of leadership experience ranges from large Fortune 100 global healthcare companies to private equity backed startups. Prior to joining Aqua Dermatology, Andy served in multiple senior leadership roles in business development at Liberty Dialysis, US Renal and as Chief Development Officer for QualDerm Partners. Andy’s passion is to work with physicians to develop strategies that allow them to focus on the practice of medicine and provide excellent patient care.

SONYA HINDS

Chief People Officer

SONYA HINDS

Chief People Officer

Sonya Hinds brings over two decades of Human Resources and Staffing Operations expertise to her role as Chief People Officer. Throughout her career Sonya has been charged with developing and leading all aspects of Human Resources, Talent Acquisition and Training/Development departments and programs both domestically and internationally. Sonya has held senior leadership and executive positions in healthcare staffing organizations including Olsten Health Care, Randstad, Interim Healthcare and most recently Hayes Locums.

She possesses a keen understanding of the U.S. workforce as it relates to talent attraction, best in class onboarding, and proven retention strategies. Sonya is passionate about building and maintaining inclusive, high-performance, recognition rich cultures with high levels of employee engagement. She is a proud U.S. Army Veteran of the Gulf War, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

MARK BUSH

Chief Information Officer

MARK BUSH

Chief Information Officer

Mark Bush has served in several diverse healthcare executive positions over his 30+ year career in both technical and operational roles. Prior to joining Water’s Edge Dermatology, Mark led a 300+ person technical team supporting a $5 billion-dollar regional health system with over 250 locations and 32,000 employees. His previous experience also included serving as the CIO for managed services organization providing comprehensive administrative, technical, and billing services to 300 Ob/Gyns in the northeastern U.S. Mark also served as the CIO of a Software as a Service, nationwide pharmacy services company that included the oversight of a 96 million patient database. He also served on the executive team of an international non-profit hospital company that managed facilities in 20 different countries in Asia, Central America, and Africa.

JESSICA PENDOLA

Chief Compliance Officer

JESSICA PENDOLA

Chief Compliance Officer

Jessica has nearly 20 years of experience in healthcare, focused on healthcare compliance. Prior to joining Aqua Dermatology, she served as Chief Compliance Officer for FastMed Urgent Care. While at FastMed, she established their first Compliance Program and lead the efforts for FastMed to become the first non-hospital-based urgent care group to attain Joint Commission Ambulatory Care System Accreditation with over 100 centers in North Carolina, Arizona, and Texas. As a result of FastMed’s successful accreditation experiences, Jessica was honored with a seat on the Joint Commission Ambulatory Care Advisory Board.

Jessica has also served as Associate Compliance Officer for Duke University Health System in Durham, NC and as the Compliance Educator at OhioHealth in Columbus, OH. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an MBA from Mount Vernon Nazarene University and is certified in healthcare compliance through HCCA.

MAUREEN WILLIAMS

Vice President of Marketing

MAUREEN WILLIAMS

Vice President of Marketing

Maureen is a strategic healthcare executive with over 15 years marketing and development experience overseeing all marketing strategy and strategic growth execution, working exclusively within Dermatology for the past 8 years. As Vice President of Marketing, Maureen is responsible to cultivation of strategic growth initiatives to drive volume, maximize ROI, maintain brand identity and integrity, maintain stellar online reputation and implement all marketing strategic growth initiatives across the organization. She leads the efforts of the marketing and referral development team to cultivate new patient acquisition through targeted efforts to support strategic growth initiatives.

CINDY CARDASCIA

Vice President of Recruiting

CINDY CARDASCIA

Vice President of Recruiting

Cindy Cardascia joined Water’s Edge Dermatology in July 2020 and is the Vice President of Recruiting. In her role, she is responsible for leading Provider Recruitment and Staffing for the entire organization. Cindy came to Water’s Edge Dermatology with over twenty-two years in physician recruitment. Her career has spanned across all specialties, nationwide in locum tenens, permanent placement, and Emergency Medicine Management. With 15 years of Leadership experience, she has directed and implemented both in-house and remote recruitment teams. Cindy will take Water’s Edge Dermatology’s recruitment to the next level, implementing a concierge style approach and focusing on residency relations.

Cindy earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Florida.

PAUL STAIANO

Vice President Continuous Improvement

PAUL STAIANO

Vice President Continuous Improvement

Paul joined Water’s Edge Dermatology, as a consultant to assist with Lean implementation, working closely with a Master Black Belt and the Senior Leadership Team to increase efficiencies and enhance margins. In June of 2019, Paul was asked to join the Water’s Edge family. His official start date was July 1, 2019.

Paul has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma. He is also certified in Production and Inventory Operations Management (CPIM).

Paul has worked in a variety of industries, which have included start-ups and turnarounds. Paul has experience with heavy industrial gas generators, turbines, and commercial jet engines (assembly and overhaul), new home construction, property management (including Fannie Mae programs), credit collections, medical revenue cycle management and now in Dermatology.

Paul has applied Lean and Six Sigma tools and philosophy wherever he has worked. This has included the development of metrics, goals, “Lean Boards,” and accountability through the establishment of Lean Management Systems. Working closely with his teams, he has achieved multi-million-dollar revenue enhancements and significant cost reductions.

With a unique blend of expertise in business operations, accounting, and process improvement. Paul is well-versed in the design and development of Lean operations and nurturing high-performance teams that have resulted in increased yields, reduced costs and generated sustainable revenue & EBITDA gains. Paul has strong project management skills and a passion to drive change while maintaining effective business partnerships (internal & external).

Paul and his teams have met and mostly exceeded all of his performance goals. At Hospital Physician Partners, Paul was given two awards from the Patient Services Team – “Mutually Invested in Each Other’s Success” plaque and a “Record Breaking Year – Lean Works” trophy.

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