Kimberly Hobson, MBA
President and Chief Executive Officer
Kimberly Hobson was named President and CEO of JourneyCare in September 2019. Previously, she had been the Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining the organization, Kimberly served as vice-chair of JourneyCare’s Board of Directors.
Read more
As President and CEO of JourneyCare, Kimberly leads the transformation of the largest adult and pediatric hospice and palliative care delivery system in Illinois. She provides visionary insights to ensure that the organization achieves excellence and efficiency while ultimately, sustaining its mission and providing best-in-class care for patients, families, and the communities JourneyCare is privileged to serve.
With an extensive healthcare background of over 20 years, Kimberly has held several leadership roles within University of Chicago, Advocate Health Care, Mercy Hospital and Humana Health Plan. She has a proven record in successfully developing strategic affiliations, leading clinical expansions, building regional health consortiums, program development, operations, managed care contract negotiations and achieving financial growth and performance.
Kimberly earned her Master of Business Administration from Purdue University and is also a graduate of the Chicago Management Institute at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Lisa M. Cox
Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer
Prior to becoming Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, Lisa Cox joined JourneyCare in October 2017 as Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Communications, where she was responsible for leading and building brand awareness, managing reputation, and developing innovative marketing and digital strategies to drive growth, making JourneyCare a household brand name.
Read more
Lisa’s career extends nearly 20 years in the Chicago region’s healthcare and hospital systems, respectively serving as Executive Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications with Northwest Community Healthcare; Vice President of Public Affairs and Marketing, Advocate Health Care; and Manager of Marketing, Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
During her tenure, she was recognized and promoted progressively, varying in each organization, where she launched and maintained brand awareness, developed multi-million dollar clinical centers of excellence advertising campaigns, driving consumer and physician referrals, managing community relations, analyzing business development growth strategy and crisis communication for multi-campus enterprises.
Lisa is the recipient of many advertising and marketing communications awards, including the Pinnacle. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
Joseph Matty
President, JourneyCare Foundation
Director, State & Federal Relations
Joseph P. Matty joined JourneyCare in May 2016 as President of the JourneyCare Foundation, where he provides strategic oversight of fundraising activities and programs, such as campaigns,planned and memorial giving, major donors, grants and engagement opportunities.
Read more
Joseph came to JourneyCare after 15 years with Northern Illinois University (NIU), most recently as both Chief Executive Officer of the NIU Alumni Association and Chief Operating Officer of the University’s Foundation. He held various fundraising positions while at NIU, including Assistant Vice President of University Advancement and Executive Director of Alumni Relations.
A staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force for six years, Joseph also worked at Central DuPage Hospital, focusing on enhancing efficiencies in various areas of the health system.
Joseph earned a master’s degree in education and university administration from NIU, along with a bachelor’s degree in health administration. He is a member of the Association Forum of Chicago and the American College of Health Care Executives.

Candyce Mayer
Chief Financial Officer
As Chief Financial Officer, Candyce is responsible for all financial management aspects of operations, as well as contracting, purchasing, information technology, and facility support services. She joined JourneyCare in October 2018 as Vice President of Finance.
Read more
Candyce brings more than 25 years of accounting and financial management experience. Prior to joining JourneyCare, she served various financial leadership roles in acute hospital and hospital system settings, respectively serving as the Chief Financial Officer of Community First Medical Center; System Controller for the Sinai Health System; Controller for St. Anthony Hospital; and Controller for the then Vanguard System, covering West Suburban and Westlake hospitals.
Candyce’s experience includes strategic planning around cost containment, growth, and development, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, implementation of strong internal controls and financial policies and procedures, process improvements, as well as culture and change management.
Candyce is a certified public accountant and spent more than 15 years serving clients in various industries with her audit, accounting, tax and consulting expertise while with Miller, Cooper & Co., Ltd. She graduated with honors from the University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s degree in accountancy.

Amy Starkel
Chief Operating Officer
Amy Starkel is a registered nurse and senior level hospice executive with over 20 years of experience conceptualizing operational initiatives to optimize organizational goals. Her expertise spans the full range of operational and strategic planning– looking at each process, identifying gaps/issues, putting new processes in place, and executing plans while monitoring progress along the way. As JourneyCare’s Chief Operating Officer, Amy is responsible for efforts such as these while providing the vision and leadership to support optimal business efficiency, functionality and corporate growth. Read more
Previously, Amy served as Senior Vice President for Grace and Comfort Hospice, a division of US Medical Management, overseeing 25 sites across eight states.
Amy is a Certified Hospice and Palliative Care Administrator and her passion is to ensure compassionate end-of-life care through the hospice benefit. Amy’s focus is to ensure that, no matter what, delivering a standard of high-quality care remains at the center of what we do.