A new Vice-President and four directors have been named to the American College of Apothecaries (ACA) Board of Directors. The ACA Board of Directors is made up of ACA Fellows representing 8 geographical regions of the United States and Canada and Executive Officers.
Elections for board Vice-President and Regional Directors for regions 2, 3, 4, and 8 were conducted in November among the Fellows and Pharmacist Members. Regional Directors will serve three-year terms commencing in 2021. Board officers will be installed at the ACA | ACVP | PPHI Virtual Annual Conference and Expo, February 25-27, 2021
“During these challenging times, we are honored and grateful for the willingness of our newly elected and re-elected board members to serve the College,” said ACA CEO | Executive Vice-President Susan Bartlemay. “Their commitment to independent pharmacy and dedication to our organization is crucial to the success of ACA.”
Suzanne Keyes, PharmD, FACA, IFMCP – Vice President
Suzanne graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State University College of Pharmacy in 1996 and returned to academia in 1999 enrolling in the non-traditional Doctor of Pharmacy pathway offered through the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy. In 2004, she graduated with her Doctor of Pharmacy, the highest degree offered to pharmacists.
Suzanne has had 20 years’ experience in varied pharmacy settings; retail management for a chain drugstore, nursing home consultant, hospital pharmacist and her current position as the lead functional medicine pharmacist in her compounding pharmacy in Western Oklahoma. Suzanne’s passion to get to the underlying cause of disease is what drove her to pursue advanced education and become the seventh pharmacist in the world to become a certified practitioner through the Institute for Functional Medicine. Suzanne is a Fellow of the American College of Apothecaries and she has been an ACA Regional Director since 2017.
Suzanne has been honored with invitations to speak about functional medicine at the former International Association of Compounding Pharmacists (now Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding) and the National Association of Community Pharmacists (NCPA). In the last few years, Dr. Keyes’ has been interviewed and her practice highlighted online by both Dr. Blair Thielemier (Pharmapreneur Academy; Elevate Pharmacy Summit) and Dr. Alex Barker (The Happy PharmD). In 2016, Dr. Keyes was selected by Ortho Molecular Products as the 2016 “Spotlight Pharmacist of the Year”.
Kimberly Ferguson, RPh, FACA – Region 2 (District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia)
Kim Ferguson is the owner of Kim’s Pharmacy in Waynesville, NC and Metcalf Compounding Pharmacy in Brevard, NC. Kim graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a BS in pharmacy in 1990 and worked at various settings across Western North Carolina before founding Kim’s Pharmacy in 2008 and purchasing Metcalf Compounding Pharmacy in 2017. In addition to her duties at both pharmacies, Kim is also a preceptor for UNC and the pharmacist member of Haywood County Health and Human Services where she serves as Vice Chairperson.
In addition to membership in the Independent Pharmacy Network of North Carolina Association Of Pharmacists and National Community Pharmacy Association (NCPA), she has served as Region 2 Director of American College of Apothecaries. Kim has been a Fellow of ACA since 2017.
Robert Harshbarger, III, PharmD, FACA – Region 3 (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin)
Robert completed his undergraduate studies at East Tennessee State University where he graduated with degrees in both Biology and Chemistry. He then attended Mercer University College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences in 2011 and graduated with his Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Robert started his career as a staff pharmacist for Custom Compounding Centers of America (CCCA). He currently serves as CEO and lead formulating chemist of Premier Pharmacy Inc in Kingsport, Tennessee. He has successfully assisted both CCCA and Premier Pharmacy in becoming PCAB accredited as well as assisting both pharmacies through the NABP VPP process. As a member of his local chamber of commerce’s government relations committee, he serves as a liaison between the local pharmacy community and Tennessee elected officials on the local, state and federal level.
As a second generation pharmacist, Robert has seen the profession of pharmacy change immensely over time, especially within the last 5 years. He has been fortunate enough to practice in a compounding only and hybrid pharmacy setting as well as cash only and insurance based business models. Robert relies on his discernment and personal experiences as well as the experiences of others to ensure he defends his pharmacy clinically and ethically. Over the past 10 years, he has worked diligently towards ensuring that the art and science of compounding is defended in the same manner. This is Robert’s first term on the ACA Board of Directors.
Nicholas R. Smock, PharmD, MBA, FACA – Region 4 (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota)
Nick Smock received his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the University of Missouri in 1983, his Masters of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1990, and his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2002. He serves as the President and CEO of the Pharmacy Buying Association (PBA), a pharmacy member co-op, since 1998 and previously served as Vice President, COO, CFO and Director of Contracts. Nick spent several years as a practicing pharmacist prior to joining PBA/TrueCare. Nick has served as an ACA Regional Director since 2017.
Ben Smith, RPh, FACA – Region 8 (Canada)
Ben Smith is the owner of a dozen pharmacies scattered throughout small towns in central Ontario. He graduated from pharmacy school at the University of Toronto in 1966 and purchased his first pharmacy in 1979 in a small community in Ontario. He attributes his achievements to an old-fashioned recipe of hard work, long hours, ongoing continuing education, generously giving back to the communities his pharmacies serve, being as accessible as possible to patients, and cultivating strong personal relationships with local physicians. Ben served the ACA as President in 2013 and Chairman in 2014. He has served on the ACA Admission Committee for many years and on numerous ACA committees. He is also a member of the Ontario Pharmacists Association and the Canadian Pharmaceutical Association. Ben has served several terms on the ACA Board, most recently since 2017.
