About Us

Leatha Merculieff, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer has more than 20 years of healthcare experience. She began her healthcare career in 2003 as the Public Relations Department Manager for Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) /Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC) where she quickly advanced to become a Hospital Administrative Manager. Leatha has managed public relations and special projects with a strong focus on client priorities and expectations to ensure maximum customer satisfaction. In 2012 she was promoted to ANMC/ANTHC’s Vice President of Customer Experience. She provided leadership direction to multiple departments, developed and implemented strategies that correlated with best practices specific to enhancing the customers’ overall satisfaction. Leatha also was responsible for establishing standards and procedures that complied with regulatory requirements.

In 2015, Leatha became the SEARHC Vice President and Executive Administrator working collaboratively with executive leadership to manage the customer/patient experience.

In 2019, Leatha began serving as Wrangell Medical Center Hospital Administrator in addition to her role as SEARHC Vice President. She worked to lead a seamless transition of hospital services from the City and Borough of Wrangell to SEARHC. She also oversaw the construction of a 45,000-square-foot healthcare campus, which includes Emergency Services, Acute Care, Long-Term Care, Primary Care, and ancillary services.

In 2021, SEARHC once again promoted Leatha to Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer where she became responsible for designing and implementing policies to promote company culture and vision. As the SVP/COO, she relies on her coalition-building skills to create collaborative relationships with staff, community members, staff, tribal organizations, governmental and external health, wellness and prevention organizations to achieve SEARHC’s strategic goals.

Leatha has a Master of Business Administration from the Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Alaska, Anchorage.

Michael Douglas joined SEARHC as the Consortium’s general counsel in November 2012 after serving six months as interim general counsel. He was promoted to Vice President, Chief Legal Officer in January 2015 and became Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer in August 2020.

Prior to his tenure at SEARHC, Michael spent more than five years as an associate attorney with the Indian law firm of Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller & Munson, LLP, in Anchorage. He also clerked for Alaska Superior Court Judge Trevor N. Stephens in Ketchikan. During law school, Michael participated in the University of Washington Law School Tribal Court Criminal Defense Clinic, serving as a public defender on the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Tulalip, Wash.

Michael earned his Juris Doctor (JD) degree from the University of Washington Law School in Seattle, and his Bachelor of Arts degree from Fairhaven College’s Law and Diversity program at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. Michael is admitted to practice in Washington and Alaska, and before the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

With more than 28 years of healthcare experience, Dan Harris has spent 20 years at the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) level working on hospital, system and physician group growth as well as acquisitions. Prior to joining SEARHC, Dan served as CFO and Vice President of Financial Operations for Providence Health & Services in Renton, WA providing support to system services and operations for the system’s 19 hospitals in Alaska, Washington State and Montana.

Dan earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Eastern Washington University and a Master of Business degree from the University of Portland.

Dr. Cate Buley is the Chief Medical Officer at SEARHC. Since Dr. Buley joined SEARHC in 2003, she has delivered compassionate and exceptional care to her patients. She is dedicated to maintaining the patient-provider relationship in an age of technology and bringing quality healthcare to all villages in Southeast Alaska. She is well respected throughout the State of Alaska as a physician leader in the medical community and has the trust and respect of our patients, medical staff and our Board of Directors.

Born and raised in Minnesota, Dr. Buley earned her medical degree at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Her Family Medicine training was completed at the University of Minnesota Duluth Family Medicine Residency Program in Duluth, MN. After spending a year in the Howard Hughes Scholars Research Program at the National Institutes of Health during medical school, she changed course. On the advice of her then boyfriend (a Juneauite she later married) to consider Alaska for education, Dr. Buley undertook a family medicine rotation at Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka. There she found her calling. She established her rural medicine roots by starting her practice in Kotzebue with Maniilaq Association for three years, learning how to practice bush medicine. A transfer to Juneau brought Dr. Buley to Ethel Lund Medical Center where she has established roots and relationships for 20+ years and most recently served as the Medical Director of Primary Care Clinics.

In his role as Senior Vice President, Chief of Behavioral Health, Eric Gettis is responsible for the development, execution and expansion of high-quality Mental Health and Behavioral Health services across Southeast Alaska.  

Mr. Gettis’ career at SEARHC began in 2014 as the Director of Practice Management, where he provided direction and oversight for physicians and clinical teams. He joined SEARHC’s leadership team in 2019 as Vice President of Clinics. Here, he focused on creating positive patient experiences by streamlining processes and improving access to Specialty and Primary Care services. 

Mr. Gettis has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare leadership and management. He has provided oversight for Specialty Care and Primary Care physician practices as well as Behavioral Health services. During his tenure with the Lourdes Health Network in Eastern Washington’s Tri-Cities area, Mr. Gettis earned progressive promotions. He served as the Director of Physician Practices for eight years before coming to SEARHC. 

Mr. Gettis attended Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. He has a Master of Arts in Counseling and Guidance and a Bachelor of Arts in Education.

Martin Benning joined SEARHC in 2021 as Senior Vice President, Chief of Clinic & Hospital Operations. In this leadership role, Mr. Benning provides oversight of ambulatory Primary Care services and all Primary Care functions, including access, Patient Experience, quality, safety and overall performance for the SEARHC care network. 

Mr. Benning brings extensive experience in the management of healthcare and medical group operations. Most recently, he held the position of Vice President, Clinical Operations and Market Integration at Kaiser Permanente in Renton, Washington, between 2018 and 2021. He initially was responsible for this service area’s strategy, leading operations and performance of nine multi-specialty medical centers. After a restructure, he oversaw the operations of all Medical and Surgical specialties, Rehabilitation, Perioperative and Procedural services in Washington. 

Prior to his role at Kaiser Permanente, Mr. Benning served as the Chief Operating Officer for the Physician Services division of Providence St. Joseph Health. Mr. Benning has also held leadership positions at Swedish Health Services, Evergreen Health and Seattle Surgery Center, part of the Proliance Surgeons and HealthSouth networks.

Mr. Benning received his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology as well as his Master of Health Administration at the University of Washington. He is Board-certified in Healthcare Management as a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.