Conference Agenda

Over the last 30 years, he has professionally continued to develop in the Tourism Industry; including Hotels, Restaurants, Destination Management Company.

He has developed knowledge and expertise on the design of strategies to be implemented in the organization, logistics, marketing, advertising, promotion and development of tourist products.

His portfolio of clients is integrated by domestic and foreign trademarks; such as: Pfizer Laboratories, 3M Mexico, Mercedes Benz Mexico, Novartis Mexico, Sandoz Mexico, Sara Lee Mexico, Playtex Apparel Mexico, Sun Microsystem Mexico.

Tom is the founder and president of Cypress Benefit Administrators, a Third Party Administrator and a member of the Lucent Health family of companies; CEO of Argus Claim Review, a claim auditing and negotiation organization; and Principal of Armada Business Services, a TPA consulting and Business Process Outsourcing service company. He has as his responsibilities overall direction of business development, sales, marketing, strategic planning, stop-loss market development and managed care relationships at each company.

Tom brings over 30 years of management experience in Third Party Administration, health insurance, consulting and managed care to Cypress. He has been at the senior level of several health care businesses, including TPA, HMO, PPO and insurance entities as CEO, Vice President and Director. Prior to founding Cypress in 2000, Tom spent several years as Director of Marketing and Provider Relations for one of the largest TPAs in the country and has successfully developed managed care networks throughout the nation.

Tom has served as the Chairman of the Board of the Society of Professional Benefit Administrators based in Washington, DC and is a member of the Health Care Administrators Association, Self Insurance Administrators Association and the National Association of Health Underwriters. His undergraduate degree is from the State University of New York College of Arts and Sciences at Geneseo, NY and his post-graduate work was done at Gannon College in Erie, Pennsylvania.

As Director of Operations, Tom is responsible for expanding the SkyMedicus network of healthcare providers and facilities internationally, as well as developing a domestic network. Additionally he is working with healthcare brokers, third party administrators, major corporations and employer coalitions to enable their clients to take advantage of the high quality, cost efficient healthcare services on a global scale.

His career began, at Grady Memorial Hospital, a 1,000 bed tertiary teaching hospital affiliated with Emory University School of Medicine, where he served 14 years as its Associate Executive Director. Following Grady, he was Executive Director at R.T. Jones Medical Center in Canton, GA, a rural hospital that was struggling financially. He successfully moved the hospital to a sound financial footing, completed an eight million dollar renovation/expansion of the facility, and recruited needed physicians to the community; he left the facility well funded and respected in the community.

He was recruited by Blue Cross Blue Shield Georgia to develop HMO Georgia, a for profit, managed care subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield Georgia, serving as its Chief Operating Officer, he secured the Certificate of Authority, developed the provider network throughout Georgia and established the marketing/sales plan. HMO Georgia ramped up rapidly and moved to a profitable status over a short number of years. He went on after this to develop and operate other managed care organizations in Georgia.

He was also a Partner and CEO of Prime Living, Inc., a real estate development company, developing and managing assisted living communities in Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee.

Tom holds a degree in Business Administration from Georgia Southern College and a Masters in Health Administration from Georgia State University. Tom served his administrative residency at Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center, in Chicago, Illinois.

Mike joined ECU in April, 2008 as the Vice President of Sales. Prior to ECU, Mike was a member of the Senior Management Team with one of the largest Third Party Administrators (TPA) in the country. Working in the industry since 1997, Mike held various positions, including Director of Stop Loss for both Claims and Underwriting. He also spent time in Sales and Product Development.

Mike attended Canisius College and is a native of Buffalo, NY.

Amy Holcomb has a multi-faceted, entrepreneurial track record in the public and private sectors. She is a high energy, fiscally conscious and goal driven healthcare technology executive that approaches each new business challenge with her intrinsic flair for innovation, creative problem solving and measured risk taking to drive consistent bottom line improvements and shareholder returns.

Amy began her career working for the US Government while obtaining masters degrees in Strategic International Management and Healthcare Administration. Her passion was to compliment her natural tech savvy background with a strong foundation in healthcare and international business. During her 7 year tenure with the Department of Treasury, she worked on the team that created the first e-file & tax CRM systems, managed multi-state training initiatives, and approved clearances for tax software developers yearly including Intuit and H&R Block. Amy was primarily responsible for managing and implementing all new technological advancements to rapidly grow the Department of Treasury’s product offerings. Through this work environment, she realized the importance of a proprietary CRM platform for both the private and public business sector success in the healthcare technology arena.

Recognized as a high potential executive by the US Government in 2004, Amy’s career took a leap out of the public sector in 2005 and into the private sector to focusing her skill on developing international health care initiatives through the medical tourism industry. Her broad depth of knowledge quickly led her to be known as the international expert in this field. Her ability to develop on a business to business level, as well as a customer to business model has landed her multiple awards and international recognition.

Her expertise has been instrumental in strategic planning and implementation of operations for many large medical organizations and international hospital chains over the last decade. She has consulted with world powers such as China and 60 other countries to implement medical tourism initiatives. She currently serves as an advisor to the Chinese, Indian and El Salvadorean governments to build a framework for government revenue through medical tourism.

There is a relatively small segment of leaders in the business world who are able to build relationships, trust and rapport with almost anyone and are able to broker the relationships and make connections between people to create partnerships, alliances and motivation for forward momentum. Amy consistently proves her ability to lead through diverse and challenging situations and has a track record of accomplishments that include turning around chaotic and struggling operations, launching startups, managing new healthcare facilities, creating and launching new and improved educational, clinical and operational programs, as well as supporting continued organization growth and expansion of mature, established operations.

As a media expert appearing on all major news networks across the country, as well as internationally, her expertise is in demand to educate on the cost saving solutions, benefits and expansion options of medical tourism. She brings a broad scope of experience in health care, internet commerce, and inter-cultural development to her business breadth. She was recognized as a top female Entrepreneur in several states by several organizations for her work since 2008.

Amy Holcomb's is the founder and CEO of SkyMedicus Inc., the world’s leading provider of Medical Tourism resources and information, having helped more than 50,000 clients to save money and access medical treatments not available in their local area. SkyMedicus encourages Domestic and International Medical Tourism. Her vision is to impact the healthcare industry, by providing healthcare information, alternatives and cost savings to make quality healthcare affordable to all, via an accessible platform.

Dr. Lorenzana has been in practice since 1974. Until 1979, his dental office was dedicated to general practice with a special focus in Oral Surgery and Prosthodontics.

At the beginning of 1979, he went to the United States to pursue his training in Prosthodontics at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and later at The Medical University of South Carolina.

In 1982, Dr. Lorenzana was appointed as Assistant Professor at the Baylor College of Dentistry, a position he held for six years. He achieved a second dental degree as a Doctor in Dental Surgery at Baylor and opened a private practice of Prosthodontics for seven years in the Highland Park - Dallas area.

In the late 80’s, he obtained the prestigious certification from The American Board of Prosthodontics.

Dr. Lorenzana’s research has been published in worldwide-recognized journals, and he has also participated as a speaker in various medical tourism conferences around the world.

In 1992, he decided to return to El Salvador and open his own dental facility, forming the now known Lorenzana & Dental Associates.

Political scientist, with a specialization in International Relations and Diplomacy. Born and raised in Italy, he resides in Costa Rica since 2004.

He has worked in the Organizing Committee for the Summit of Heads of State and Government of 2004, was Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica from 2005 to 2006, Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry 2006 to 2007 and Chief of Staff of the Minister of Competitiveness from 2007 to 2010.

Since 2006 he has participated in the structuring of the Medical Tourism Cluster and the Retirement Living Cluster in Costa Rica. Since 2010 serves as Executive Director of both PROMED (the Costa Rican Healthcare Chamber, previously Council for International Promotion of Costa Rica Medicine) and PRORETIRE (the Council for the Retirement Living Industry)

He is an international consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank IDB and has developed projects in countries like Belize.

Specialist in public-private partnership, cluster structuring, governmental relations.

Marc Wilson is the Managing Partner of the Wesmarc Group (WMG), an Employee Benefits and Human Capital Management consulting firm. Marc has worked in the financial & insurance services industry for 15 years and is also a Certified Health Care Reform Specialist. He graduated, magna cum laude, from Arizona State University and is he also an Eagle Scout. When he is not working, he enjoys watching ASU Football and spending time with his wife Annalis, and their dogs, Kobe, Indy, and Lucky.

Areas of Expertise/Roles and Responsibilities>Marc oversees the design, development, implementation, and communication, of employee benefit plans, cost containment strategies, and workforce management solutions for WMG’s clients. He works closely with sales and operations to achieve the firm’s purpose of helping business Owner’s manage the long-term “health”, well-being, productivity, and profitability (“wealth”) of their companies and their employees by focusing on the entire employee lifecycle and helping them manage the two biggest expenses on their P&L, labor costs and healthcare spend.

Over the last 30 years, he has professionally continued to develop in the Tourism Industry; including Hotels, Restaurants, Destination Management Company.

He has developed knowledge and expertise on the design of strategies to be implemented in the organization, logistics, marketing, advertising, promotion and development of tourist products.

His portfolio of clients is integrated by domestic and foreign trademarks; such as: Pfizer Laboratories, 3M Mexico, Mercedes Benz Mexico, Novartis Mexico, Sandoz Mexico, Sara Lee Mexico, Playtex Apparel Mexico, Sun Microsystem Mexico.

Tom is the founder and president of Cypress Benefit Administrators, a Third Party Administrator and a member of the Lucent Health family of companies; CEO of Argus Claim Review, a claim auditing and negotiation organization; and Principal of Armada Business Services, a TPA consulting and Business Process Outsourcing service company. He has as his responsibilities overall direction of business development, sales, marketing, strategic planning, stop-loss market development and managed care relationships at each company.

Tom brings over 30 years of management experience in Third Party Administration, health insurance, consulting and managed care to Cypress. He has been at the senior level of several health care businesses, including TPA, HMO, PPO and insurance entities as CEO, Vice President and Director. Prior to founding Cypress in 2000, Tom spent several years as Director of Marketing and Provider Relations for one of the largest TPAs in the country and has successfully developed managed care networks throughout the nation.

Tom has served as the Chairman of the Board of the Society of Professional Benefit Administrators based in Washington, DC and is a member of the Health Care Administrators Association, Self Insurance Administrators Association and the National Association of Health Underwriters. His undergraduate degree is from the State University of New York College of Arts and Sciences at Geneseo, NY and his post-graduate work was done at Gannon College in Erie, Pennsylvania.

As Director of Operations, Tom is responsible for expanding the SkyMedicus network of healthcare providers and facilities internationally, as well as developing a domestic network. Additionally he is working with healthcare brokers, third party administrators, major corporations and employer coalitions to enable their clients to take advantage of the high quality, cost efficient healthcare services on a global scale.

His career began, at Grady Memorial Hospital, a 1,000 bed tertiary teaching hospital affiliated with Emory University School of Medicine, where he served 14 years as its Associate Executive Director. Following Grady, he was Executive Director at R.T. Jones Medical Center in Canton, GA, a rural hospital that was struggling financially. He successfully moved the hospital to a sound financial footing, completed an eight million dollar renovation/expansion of the facility, and recruited needed physicians to the community; he left the facility well funded and respected in the community.

He was recruited by Blue Cross Blue Shield Georgia to develop HMO Georgia, a for profit, managed care subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield Georgia, serving as its Chief Operating Officer, he secured the Certificate of Authority, developed the provider network throughout Georgia and established the marketing/sales plan. HMO Georgia ramped up rapidly and moved to a profitable status over a short number of years. He went on after this to develop and operate other managed care organizations in Georgia.

He was also a Partner and CEO of Prime Living, Inc., a real estate development company, developing and managing assisted living communities in Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee.

Tom holds a degree in Business Administration from Georgia Southern College and a Masters in Health Administration from Georgia State University. Tom served his administrative residency at Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center, in Chicago, Illinois.

Mike joined ECU in April, 2008 as the Vice President of Sales. Prior to ECU, Mike was a member of the Senior Management Team with one of the largest Third Party Administrators (TPA) in the country. Working in the industry since 1997, Mike held various positions, including Director of Stop Loss for both Claims and Underwriting. He also spent time in Sales and Product Development.

Mike attended Canisius College and is a native of Buffalo, NY.

Amy Holcomb has a multi-faceted, entrepreneurial track record in the public and private sectors. She is a high energy, fiscally conscious and goal driven healthcare technology executive that approaches each new business challenge with her intrinsic flair for innovation, creative problem solving and measured risk taking to drive consistent bottom line improvements and shareholder returns.

Amy began her career working for the US Government while obtaining masters degrees in Strategic International Management and Healthcare Administration. Her passion was to compliment her natural tech savvy background with a strong foundation in healthcare and international business. During her 7 year tenure with the Department of Treasury, she worked on the team that created the first e-file & tax CRM systems, managed multi-state training initiatives, and approved clearances for tax software developers yearly including Intuit and H&R Block. Amy was primarily responsible for managing and implementing all new technological advancements to rapidly grow the Department of Treasury’s product offerings. Through this work environment, she realized the importance of a proprietary CRM platform for both the private and public business sector success in the healthcare technology arena.

Recognized as a high potential executive by the US Government in 2004, Amy’s career took a leap out of the public sector in 2005 and into the private sector to focusing her skill on developing international health care initiatives through the medical tourism industry. Her broad depth of knowledge quickly led her to be known as the international expert in this field. Her ability to develop on a business to business level, as well as a customer to business model has landed her multiple awards and international recognition.

Her expertise has been instrumental in strategic planning and implementation of operations for many large medical organizations and international hospital chains over the last decade. She has consulted with world powers such as China and 60 other countries to implement medical tourism initiatives. She currently serves as an advisor to the Chinese, Indian and El Salvadorean governments to build a framework for government revenue through medical tourism.

There is a relatively small segment of leaders in the business world who are able to build relationships, trust and rapport with almost anyone and are able to broker the relationships and make connections between people to create partnerships, alliances and motivation for forward momentum. Amy consistently proves her ability to lead through diverse and challenging situations and has a track record of accomplishments that include turning around chaotic and struggling operations, launching startups, managing new healthcare facilities, creating and launching new and improved educational, clinical and operational programs, as well as supporting continued organization growth and expansion of mature, established operations.

As a media expert appearing on all major news networks across the country, as well as internationally, her expertise is in demand to educate on the cost saving solutions, benefits and expansion options of medical tourism. She brings a broad scope of experience in health care, internet commerce, and inter-cultural development to her business breadth. She was recognized as a top female Entrepreneur in several states by several organizations for her work since 2008.

Amy Holcomb's is the founder and CEO of SkyMedicus Inc., the world’s leading provider of Medical Tourism resources and information, having helped more than 50,000 clients to save money and access medical treatments not available in their local area. SkyMedicus encourages Domestic and International Medical Tourism. Her vision is to impact the healthcare industry, by providing healthcare information, alternatives and cost savings to make quality healthcare affordable to all, via an accessible platform.

Dr. Lorenzana has been in practice since 1974. Until 1979, his dental office was dedicated to general practice with a special focus in Oral Surgery and Prosthodontics.

At the beginning of 1979, he went to the United States to pursue his training in Prosthodontics at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and later at The Medical University of South Carolina.

In 1982, Dr. Lorenzana was appointed as Assistant Professor at the Baylor College of Dentistry, a position he held for six years. He achieved a second dental degree as a Doctor in Dental Surgery at Baylor and opened a private practice of Prosthodontics for seven years in the Highland Park - Dallas area.

In the late 80’s, he obtained the prestigious certification from The American Board of Prosthodontics.

Dr. Lorenzana’s research has been published in worldwide-recognized journals, and he has also participated as a speaker in various medical tourism conferences around the world.

In 1992, he decided to return to El Salvador and open his own dental facility, forming the now known Lorenzana & Dental Associates.

Political scientist, with a specialization in International Relations and Diplomacy. Born and raised in Italy, he resides in Costa Rica since 2004.

He has worked in the Organizing Committee for the Summit of Heads of State and Government of 2004, was Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica from 2005 to 2006, Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry 2006 to 2007 and Chief of Staff of the Minister of Competitiveness from 2007 to 2010.

Since 2006 he has participated in the structuring of the Medical Tourism Cluster and the Retirement Living Cluster in Costa Rica. Since 2010 serves as Executive Director of both PROMED (the Costa Rican Healthcare Chamber, previously Council for International Promotion of Costa Rica Medicine) and PRORETIRE (the Council for the Retirement Living Industry)

He is an international consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank IDB and has developed projects in countries like Belize.

Specialist in public-private partnership, cluster structuring, governmental relations.

Marc Wilson is the Managing Partner of the Wesmarc Group (WMG), an Employee Benefits and Human Capital Management consulting firm. Marc has worked in the financial & insurance services industry for 15 years and is also a Certified Health Care Reform Specialist. He graduated, magna cum laude, from Arizona State University and is he also an Eagle Scout. When he is not working, he enjoys watching ASU Football and spending time with his wife Annalis, and their dogs, Kobe, Indy, and Lucky.

Areas of Expertise/Roles and Responsibilities>Marc oversees the design, development, implementation, and communication, of employee benefit plans, cost containment strategies, and workforce management solutions for WMG’s clients. He works closely with sales and operations to achieve the firm’s purpose of helping business Owner’s manage the long-term “health”, well-being, productivity, and profitability (“wealth”) of their companies and their employees by focusing on the entire employee lifecycle and helping them manage the two biggest expenses on their P&L, labor costs and healthcare spend.

For nearly two decades as a practicing physician, public health leader and health care executive, Dr. Amar Desai has worked at the intersection of direct patient care and health care systems to help patients lead healthier, more fulfilled lives.

At the heart of his work, Dr. Desai develops innovative and scalable delivery models that improve clinical outcomes, increase affordability, and transform the experience of being a health care consumer. By translating clinical excellence into economic value, these models enable more consistent patient engagement and compassionate care. Dr. Desai has thus improved care delivery in a range of settings, including early stage start-ups, organizational turnaround, Fortune 250 companies, and academic health systems.

Currently, Dr. Desai serves as President of HealthCare Partners, a leading medical group and integrated delivery network that delivers population-based health care to 700,000 patients across Medicaid, Medicare and commercial segments in Southern California. Nationally recognized a leader in the health reform movement from volume to value, HealthCare Partners continues to distinguish itself as a caregiving organization first, with steadfast commitment to its guiding principle of coordinated care.

Prior to his current role, Dr. Desai served as CEO of USC Care where he led transformative growth and helped position Keck Medicine of USC as a regional destination of choice for complex tertiary and quaternary care. From 2010 to 2014, Dr. Desai was as a senior executive at DaVita, a global leader in dialysis care, where he advanced integrated kidney care models and led corporate strategy and new business development efforts for the enterprise. Early in his career, Dr. Desai served as an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company, where he advised integrated health systems, hospitals, medical technology companies and governments in enhancing clinical, operational and financial performance and bringing new innovations to market.

Dr. Desai received his Bachelor’s and Medical Degrees from Brown University, and his Masters in Public Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He completed internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Desai remains active clinically as a practicing nephrologist. He is currently an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Keck School of Medicine at USC and has previously held faculty appointments at Stanford School of Medicine and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Charles W. Sorenson, MD, FACS, is President and CEO Emeritus of Intermountain Healthcare and the Founding Director of the Intermountain Healthcare Leadership Institute, a position he assumed in late 2016. Opening in October 2018, the Institute will offer a variety of leadership development courses, including a program designed for selected high potential health system leaders from the US and abroad. Staffed by a faculty of content experts from Intermountain and other distinguished health systems and academic institutions, this program will focus on principle-based decision making and leading at the critical juncture of clinical and administrative expertise.

Dr. Sorenson served as President and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare from January 2009 until his retirement from this position in October 2016. Prior to that, he served for eleven years as Intermountain’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Dr. Sorenson, a graduate of the University of Utah (BA Biology) and Weill Cornell Medical College at Cornell University (MD), is a board-certified Urologic Surgeon and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He served as Chair of the Committee on Young Surgeons for the American College of Surgeons, as President of the Utah Urologic Society and as Speaker of the House of Delegates of the Utah Medical Association. He is an Adjunct Professor of Surgery at the University of Utah.

Dr. Sorenson has a long-standing interest in clinical process improvement and in the development of Intermountain’s integrated delivery system. He was the Founding Board Chair of the Intermountain Medical Group, an integrated practice now comprised of approximately 1,600 physicians and advanced practice clinicians employed by Intermountain.

Under Dr. Sorenson’s leadership as Chief Operating Officer and as Chief Executive Officer, Intermountain Healthcare implemented a disciplined and system-wide focus on best clinical and operational practices aimed at producing measurably better outcomes for patients at costs that are sustainable to the communities Intermountain serves.

In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Dr. Sorenson has continued to be involved in the practice of urologic surgery at the Intermountain Medical Center, with a primary focus on urologic oncology. Dr. Sorenson and his wife, Sharee, are the parents of four adult children.

Despite today’s more regulated and enlightened business environment, we continue to witness “Enron-esque” failures of corporate governance and compliance. Enron’s former CFO will make observations about how the ambiguity and complexity of laws and regulations breeds opportunity for problematic decisions and will discuss what questions corporate directors, management, attorneys, fraud examiners and auditors should ask, in order to ensure that their companies not only follow the rules, but uphold the principles behind them. Finally, he will discuss ways in which technology can be deployed to illuminate such problematic situations.

Mr. Fastow was the Chief Financial Officer of Enron Corp. from 1998 – 2001. In 2004, he pled guilty to two counts of securities fraud, and was sentenced to six years in federal prison. He completed his sentence in 2011, and now lives with his family in Houston, Texas. Mr. Fastow currently consults with Directors, attorneys, and hedge funds on how best to identify potentially critical finance, accounting, compensation, and cultural issues. He is also a Principal of KeenCorp, an artificial intelligence software company.

Mr. Fastow received a BA in Economics and Chinese from Tufts University and an MBA in Finance from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Prior to joining Enron, he was a Senior Director in the Asset Securitization Group at Continental Bank N.A.

Since his release from prison, Mr. Fastow has been a guest lecturer at universities and corporations, and at conferences for management, corporate directors, attorneys, accountants, and certified fraud examiners. Mr. Fastow was recently keynote speaker at the United Nations’ Principles of Responsible Management Conference, the FBI’s Advanced Financial Crimes Seminar, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Annual Conference, the American Accounting Association Annual Conference, and the Financial Times’ Outstanding Directors Conference.