Kootenai Health Professionals Perrotti, Cushman Earn Top 40 Under 40 Honors

Two Kootenai Health professionals who spend their days reshaping how the Coeur d'Alene health system grows and how its leaders think earned spots on the North Idaho Business Journal's Top 40 Under 40 list for 2026: Anthony Perrotti, who serves as Director of Culture & Learning, and Sarah Cushman, who works in Regional Development & Clinical Outreach.

The North Idaho Business Journal honored both for work spanning culture, learning, clinical outreach and regional development, a set of responsibilities that cuts across the internal and external priorities Kootenai Health has been pressing in recent years.

Perrotti, who holds a master's in education, built the Emergent Leadership System, a tier-based framework designed to empower leaders at every level. His background runs from guiding expeditions at Colorado Outward Bound to training service members in SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) before channeling that experience into culture transformation in high-reliability healthcare.

Cushman, whose work centers on regional development and clinical outreach, is a member of the health system's Strategy team, focused on improving care delivery and organizational viability across Kootenai Health's service area.

The recognition places both professionals in a class of young leaders the Business Journal identifies annually across North Idaho's business and nonprofit community. The 2026 list draws attention to talent developing within the region's largest health system at a moment when Kootenai Health has been active on multiple leadership fronts.

Those moves include the appointment of Ramon J. Guel as Executive Director of Kootenai Care Network. Guel brings more than a decade of health care administration experience and a background as a U.S. Army Medical Service Corps officer, with leadership roles in Combat Support Hospitals. He most recently spent five years leading MultiCare Connected Care's Clinically Integrated Network in Washington state, where he focused on value-based care and provider collaboration before relocating to take on the Coeur d'Alene role. He will lead the network's strategic direction, operational performance and efforts to improve care coordination across the region, and he plans to join the Idaho chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives in 2026.

Todd J. Holling, who had served as interim Chief Information Officer since September 2025, was also formally appointed to the permanent CIO role following what Kootenai Health described as a successful leadership transition. Holling holds degrees in Information Decision Sciences and Information Systems from the University of Illinois and is a certified Project Management Professional and Six Sigma Green Belt. He previously served as an executive officer in the United States Air Force. His career includes leading cloud migrations, Epic electronic medical record optimization, and large-scale infrastructure projects at health systems.

For Perrotti and Cushman, the Top 40 Under 40 honor arrives as Kootenai Health continues to invest in the internal development and regional reach that their roles directly represent.