Speaking Faculty

Mike Adams has been with Dean Foods Company since May 2013 and serves as the Vice President, Benefits & HR Systems. Dean Foods is a Fortune 250 company with 16,000 employees in 43 states and the largest processor and direct-to-store distributor of milk in the United States. He is responsible for Corporate Benefits (health & welfare, qualified & non-qualified retirement), Leave Administration and HR Information Systems.

Adams is a recognized industry expert and disruptor in the area of employer-sponsored healthcare. He leads employers’ efforts as they transform healthcare to be evidence-based, high quality, efficient, transparent and sustainable while delivering significant value and better outcomes to the most diverse employee populations.

Prior to Dean Foods, Adams was Director of the Global Human Resource Solutions Practice at PwC in the Texas market. He advised clients in the areas of human capital strategy, human resource programs design & delivery, vendor selection/ implementation/governance/management, benefit plan strategy/design/delivery, and controlling healthcare costs through lifestyle, condition & disease management programs.

Prior to PwC, he served in the HR field over 30 years and held a number of HR Leadership positions across various industries and business cycles, including Technology, Healthcare, Oil Field Services, Banking and Business Services.

He holds a Bachelors of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Texas at Arlington. He serves on the board of directors for the Dallas/Fort With Business Group on Health and is a trustee for a large multi-employer health & welfare and pension fund. He is also a member of Southwest Benefits Association where he served on the board of directors in years past.

David Adamson is a board-certified fertility specialist with clinical professorships at Stanford and UCSF. He is Past President of numerous professional organizations and advisor to multiple fertility sector stakeholders. He has over 300 peer-reviewed publications, lectured extensively nationally and internationally, led development of several healthcare digital tools and received many awards. He is Founder and CEO of ARC Fertility, the largest US fertility network company that nationally increases access to cost-effective, quality fertility care.

Kelly Aiken is vice president at the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, based in Washington, DC. Working in collaboration with its network of 32 urban and rural communities, she oversees a portfolio of strategic initiatives focused on achieving inclusive community prosperity by activating employers to invest in their workers, preparing a competitive workforce, making jobs better and changing systems to be more equitable. She also leads the National Fund’s healthcare initiative, CareerSTAT, a network of healthcare leaders investing in the skills and careers of frontline workers.

With over a decade of experience in healthcare, Ms. Aiken has built and sustained collaborative partnerships to ensure workers have access to career pathways and the support services they need to fill critical vacancies and succeed in today’s rapidly changing workplace. Prior to joining the National Fund, Kelly served as the director of labor and workforce development for the Massachusetts Senior Care Association and director of healthcare initiatives at the Workforce Investment Board of Springfield, Massachusetts. Kelly holds a master's degree in education and community development from the University of California at Davis and a bachelor’s degree in environmental design from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Medicine Technology from Rhode Island Hospital, and a graduate degree in Health Care Management from Cambridge College.

Rob Andrews currently serves as the CEO of the Health Transformation Alliance (HTA).

As CEO of the HTA, Andrews oversees the strategic direction of 50 major corporations who have come together in an alliance to do one thing: fix our broken healthcare system. Formed by 4 founding members in September 2015, the HTA has grown to include 50 of our nation’s leading employers, who collectively are responsible for more than 7 million employees, dependents and retirees and an annual health care spend of $26 billion. Through Andrews’ leadership, the HTA has launched value-driven solutions specifically designed to improve patient care and economic value through world class data & analytics, pathbreaking pharmaceutical solutions, high quality medical networks and robust consumer engagement initiatives.

Andrews previously led the Government Affairs practice at Dilworth Paxson law firm for two years before joining the HTA.

Prior to private practice, Andrews served as a Member of the United States House of Representatives for nearly 24 years. Upon his departure from the Congress, President Barack Obama praised Andrews’ service as “an original author of the Affordable Care Act...and a vital partner in its passage and implementation,” and cited his “tenacity and skill” in representing the people of New Jersey.

Andrews is married to Camille Spinello Andrews, an Associate Dean at Rutgers Law School and former Dilworth partner, and they have two daughters, Jacquelyn and Josie.

During his time in the U.S. House, Andrews was a Member of the House of Democratic Leadership as Co-Chairman of the Steering Policy Committee; Senior Democratic Member and former Chairman of the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce; Senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, with responsibility for all national defense matters; Senior Democratic member and the former Chairman of the Defense Committee Panel on Defense Procurement Reform; Senior Democratic member and former Chairman of the Defense Committee Panel on Audit of the Pentagon; Participant, White House Summit on Health Care Reforms (2009 and 2010); One of the Original Authors of the Affordable Care Act; One of the original authors of the Defense Procurement Reform Law (2009); and he holds the record for the highest number of votes ever received by a U.S. House candidate in the history of the state of New Jersey.

Andrews’ professional and community activities include his time as former Director of Camden County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

Andrews has been a keynote speaker at charitable, educational and governmental events for 30 years, including: Bucknell University commencement; Rutgers Law School commencement; and Rutgers Camden commencement. He is a frequent guest on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and CNBC.

Lauren Ankeles joined Virtudent to drive change in oral healthcare and make a tangible impact on the quality of people's lives. As a Vice President and General Manager, Lauren is responsible for the continued growth of Virtudent’s New York regional market, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

Prior to Virtudent, Lauren had a broad, diversified healthcare career, most recently as the director of strategy and operations for Syneos Health's Communications business. Previously, she worked with The Chartis Group advising hospitals and healthcare systems on strategy, as well as with New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Boston Scientific's Cardiac Rhythm Management group, and as a consultant with Monitor Group (now part of Deloitte).

Dr. Antoniou is the Medical Director of Healthworx, the corporate venture and corporate development arm of CareFirst BCBS. Prior to joining Healthworx, Dr. Antoniou was the Chief Medical Officer and Director of Strategy at BlockMedx, a blockchain and analytics startup, and a healthcare analytics Management Consultant at McKinsey & Company. Dr. Antoniou is a board-certified physician with clinical training in Nuclear Medicine and Clinical Informatics from Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Rani Aravamudhan joined HDMS as a Senior Clinical Consultant. She is a physician (specialty- General Medicine) with extensive experience in the EMR/EHR and population health industries with a focus on clinical transformation, workflow design and development, value-based care, risk management and clinical quality and performance reporting. Her strong background in clinical medicine and experience in the HIT industry make her successful in navigating payer, provider and technology vendor landscapes.

Prior to joining HDMS, Rani worked for Philips Wellcentive as a Services Leader, where she led teams of program managers, clinical specialists and training staff along with heading their Data Governance committee. Before that, Rani was leading EMR/EHR implementations, workflow and process optimization consulting at McKesson Corporation and was their resident subject matter expert for all CMS quality reporting programs.

Rani earned her medical degree at Grant Medical College in Mumbai University, India.

Jennifer Atkins is vice president, network solutions for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), a national federation of 36 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) companies. The BCBS System is the nation’s largest health insurer, covering one-in-three of all Americans.

Atkins is responsible for all of BCBSA’s national network solutions, including the Blue Distinction portfolio of high-performance networks.

Most recently Atkins was regional vice president of provider solutions at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin, with accountability for statewide provider contracting, network development and strategy. Prior to that she spent 10 years at Mercy Health, a Catholic healthcare ministry serving Ohio and Kentucky.

Atkins is also committed to working with various charitable organizations; she currently serves on the board as vice president of Hope House, a nonprofit shelter and community center located on the near south side of Milwaukee. Previously, she was on the board of FOCUS / Beach House, a Toledo, Ohio organization dedicated to resolving the root causes of homelessness and on the board of the YWCA of Toledo. She has also been active in the Boy Scouts of America and the National Forensics League.

Atkins earned an M.B.A. with an emphasis in finance from the University of Toledo and a bachelor’s degree in history and English from Bowling Green State University.

Shannon Attanasio is Vice President of Government Relations and Advocacy at the Medicaid Health Plans of America (MHPA), the leading association representing Medicaid managed care organizations. In this role, Shannon is responsible for developing, implementing and executing MHPA’s federal legislative and Administrative strategy. Shannon engages with federal policymakers, national provider and beneficiary organizations, and state-level groups to promote the Medicaid managed care industry’s priorities.

Shannon comes to MHPA from Families USA, the consumer health care advocacy group, where she oversaw the organization’s legislative strategy as Senior Director of Government Affairs. Notable accomplishments include her execution of strategies that prevented cuts to the Medicaid program, and her work with their 400+ member Medicaid Coalition where she recruited stakeholders and expanded membership, resulting in more provider and industry representation. Prior to Families USA, Shannon worked for Matz, Blancato & Associates, where she advocated on behalf of seniors and people with disabilities on issues related to long-term care, Medicare, Medicaid, preventing elder abuse, and the Older Americans Act. She has also worked for several political campaigns, including President Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Shannon earned an M.A. in government from Johns Hopkins and a B.A. in political science from Roger Williams University.

Manik Bhat is the CEO of Healthify, a New York-based startup that provides leading solutions to address the social determinants of health at scale. Manik co-founded Healthify in 2013 while working as a community health worker in East Baltimore clinics. He saw how social needs - like access to food and housing - dramatically impacted health outcomes in the community and was moved to create Healthify. Since Healthify’s founding, Manik has become an avid speaker and advocate for addressing the social determinants of health through equitable and collaborative partnerships between healthcare and social service organizations.

Since 2008, Leah Binder has served as President & CEO of The Leapfrog Group, an award-winning national nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., representing employers and other purchasers of health care calling for improved safety and quality in hospitals. She is a regular contributor to Forbes.com and other publications, and consistently cited among the most influential people and top women in healthcare and patient safety.

Under her leadership, The Leapfrog Group launched the Hospital Safety Grade, which assigns letter grades on the safety of general hospitals across the country. She fostered groundbreaking innovation in transparency and payment policy through the annual Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which sets high standards for hospital quality and publicly reports information available from no other source. In 2020 Leapfrog will begin rating outpatient surgery and Ambulatory Surgery Centers as well. Leapfrog’s leadership is widely credited as key to significant advances in health care delivery and health value. Analysts find that at least 40,000 lives have been saved in each of the past two years from the galvanizing focus on safety brought by the Hospital Safety Grade. Other movements sparked and spurred by Leapfrog under Leah’s leadereship include reductions in early elective deliveries and other maternity improvements, improvements in medication safety, reductions in infections, and the acceleration of health care transparency.

Leah is a frequent speaker at events across the country. She serves on numerous national boards and advisory committees such as the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchasing Coalitions, AARP’s Champions for Nursing, the National Board of Medical Examiners, the NQF MAP Coordinating Council, and Knowledge To Practice.

Before joining Leapfrog, Leah was vice president for the nationally noted Franklin Community Health Network in Farmington, Maine; and prior to that served as senior policy advisor in the Office of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in New York City. An initiative she assisted with in New York allowed small businesses to offer more health plan choice to their employees, and that is still in successful operation today at the Northeast Business Group on Health.

She started her career doing public policy and communications for the National League for Nursing. She has a bachelor’s in Politics from Brandeis and two master’s degrees from University of Pennsylvania, one from the Annenberg School for Communications and the other from the Fels Institute of Government. She lives near Washington, DC, with her husband, Sam, and two children, Henry, 21, and K.C., 12.

William R. Boyles is a professional journalist specializing in health care finance news and analysis. For 35 years he has covered both Capitol Hill and the private markets, and is the Editor & Publisher of HealthPlanMarkets, an award-winning independent newsletter financed by subscriptions. The audience of hundreds of health experts includes health plan industry leaders, financial analysts, marketing divisions, actuaries and governments.

Mr. Boyles started working in health care in 1971 as a medical claims review analyst for Blue Shield of Michigan, and later worked in the national offices of Blue Shield Association (Chicago). He earned an M.A. in Journalism/Communications from the University of Michigan (1973) with a specialty in health policy, then began covering the U.S. Congress (1976) for a leading newsletter chain owned by professional journalists.

In 1984 he founded HealthPlanMarkets, the first national newsletter on the HMO product, followed in 1989 by the first newsletter on PPOs, and in 2002 the first newsletter on consumer-driven health care (HSAs). In 2005 he started to travel and spoke at health policy conferences in multiple venues in Europe and China and produced newsletters on global health systems and a periodical called Digital Health Journal focused on international HIT policy. All three publications are still in print.

Lauren Brueggen is a Principal at the Heritage Group, a healthcare-focused private equity fund backed by strategic investors including healthcare systems, payers and other healthcare service providers. Prior to joining Heritage Group, Lauren was a Principal for the growth equity fund of Spring Mountain Capital, a New York-based alternative asset management firm with $1 billion of assets under management. Lauren spent seven years at Spring Mountain Capital focused on making growth equity investments in healthcare and technology businesses. From 2007 – 2011, she was an Associate at The Wicks Group, a private equity firm with over $1 billion under management. Prior to Wicks, she was in the Restructuring and Mergers & Acquisitions Group of Jefferies & Company, a middle market-focused investment bank. In 2017, she was named to GrowthCap’s Top 40 Under 40 list of growth equity investors.

Lauren graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Economics and currently serves on the regional Board of the Northwestern University Leadership Circle. She resides in Nashville with her husband and three sons.

Bartley Bryt, MD, MPH directs the clinical vision of Brighton Health Plan Solutions (BHPS) and its two proprietary provider provider networks, MagnaCare and Create health plans. He routinely provides medical and clinical expertise to Labor, Commercial, and Public Sector clients, guiding their members to the most appropriate and highest quality care while identifying ways to lower costs. He leads BHPS’s URAC accredited medical management programs, including utilization management, nurse case management, and population health.

Bartley is an advocate of integrated care delivery and has been vital in the development of Create, BHPS’s new network built around integrated delivery systems. He regularly contributes to discourse on a variety of health care topics, including gene therapy, the opioid crisis and pain management, maternal health, provider payment models, value-based care, direct to provider contracting, and price transparency. Bartley’s perspectives have been sought after by Healthcare IT News, Crain’s, SHRM, NJBIZ, and Health Data Management to name a few. His bylines have been recently published in Fierce Healthcare, Managed Healthcare Executive, Labor Press, and Kevin MD.

Prior to BHPS, he served as Chief Clinical Officer of Brighton Health Group and as Executive Vice President, Chief Operating and Clinical Officer of three divisions at CareCore National, LLC from 2009 to 2014. From 1997 to 2009, Bartley served in numerous leadership positions at UnitedHealthcare/Oxford Health Plans; his responsibilities included physician performance profiling, medical and population management.

Bartley began his career as a practicing Pediatrician and Physician Director at Kaiser Permanente after earning a Master's in Public Health from the Columbia School of Public Health and completing a fellowship in Preventive Medicine at Cornell. He completed a Pediatrics residency and Chief Residency at NYU, obtained his Doctor of Medicine from State University of New York (Cum Laude, Alpha Omega Alpha), and he received a BA in Philosophy from the University of Vermont (Phi Beta Kappa). He remains a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics most recently re-certifying in 2012.

Steve Burrows is a comedic storyteller.

This award-winning writer/director/performer has been reinventing stereotypes and challenging expectations in film, television, commercials and theatre for over two decades. His original voice - coupled with his edgy, character-driven humor - has made his work a favorite around the world, where his range in comedy is as diverse as the locations of his shoots - London, Rome, Tokyo, Bangkok, South Africa and Milwaukee, Wisconsin to name a few.

After graduating from The University of Wisconsin, Burrows began his career in Chicago joining Second City Director Del Close as a member of the critically acclaimed, groundbreaking improvisational comedy group, Baron's Barracudas.

He then moved behind the camera, relocating to Los Angeles and making his first film, The Soldier of Fortune - a short about his actual appearance and subsequent humiliation on The Wheel of Fortune game show. The film went on to win a slew of festival awards. From there, Burrows became a writer and performer for the famed comedy troupe, The Groundlings, leading to stints on everything from Seinfeld to America's Funniest Home Videos to over 200 TV spots - including a litany of appearances on the Super Bowl.

After writing an original screenplay for 20th Century Fox, Burrows made his directorial feature film debut with Chump Change, bowing at the prestigious AFI Film Festival to rave reviews. It then played to sellout crowds at the HBO Comedy Fest in Aspen, winning the Audience Award / Best Feature. It is there Miramax Films acquired Chump Change for distribution.

Burrows then went on to win over 75 awards for writing/directing television commercials on five continents - including the Cannes Lion, a plethora of Addy and Telly awards - not to mention the New York Festivals Grand Gold for the iconic Accuserv "Paper Tray" - a spot which now resides in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

In a complete career 180°, Burrows dropped out of Show Business to take care of his mother, who had gone in for a routine partial hip replacement and came out in a coma with permanent brain damage. For real. The insane years that followed - fighting for his Mom's life and for medical and legal justice - became Burrows latest feature, the award-winning, critically acclaimed HBO documentary film, Bleed Out.

Bleed Out is Burrows first feature documentary.

Melisa Byrd is the Senior Deputy Director / Medicaid Director of the Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF). In this role, Ms. Byrd serves as the principal manager for the District’s Medicaid, CHIP, Alliance and Immigrant Children’s programs. Melisa directs the day-to-day organization, planning, implementation, and evaluation of the programs to ensure compliance with federal and District laws. Melisa advises the DHCF Director on all major policy and budget issues related to DHCF’s health care programs. Previously, Ms. Byrd served as the agency’s Chief of Staff and as the Associate Director of the Office of the Public Provider Liaison.

Throughout Melisa’s nearly twenty years in health policy and Medicaid, she has focused on state level programs and efforts to expand coverage and reform healthcare systems. She has worked on local, state, and national levels and in both public and private sectors, including Health Management Associates (HMA), the Louisiana Department of Health, and the National Governors Association.

Mary K. Caffrey is the Associate Editorial Director for AJMC® and related brands with MJH Life Sciences. She provides editorial direction for all print and online publishing for peer-reviewed The American Journal of Managed Care®, now celebrating its 25th year, as well as the Center for Biosimilars and Managed Healthcare Executive®.

Tom is the Director of the Health Care MBA program and a professor of health economics for Baldwin Wallace University in Cleveland, Ohio. He teaches and speaks on health policy and finance issues at the regional and national level. Tom writes a healthcare blog on LinkedIn which is also e-mailed to readers on a monthly basis.

He is of-counsel for the law firm of Baker Hostetler, LLP, specializing in healthcare law.

Previously, he served as the Associate Dean of Ohio University Osteopathic Medical School and Chief Operating Officer of their five clinical sites in Southeast, Ohio.

Tom was also the Vice-President of Health Care Finance and Care Management for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Ohio/Medical Mutual from 1985 to 1997.

Tom has his BA/MA in Economics from Ohio University and his law degree from Cleveland State University. He is also a CPA (inactive) and is licensed by the State of Ohio as an Agent to engage in the business of Health and Life Insurance (inactive).

Dr. Cantor is a geriatrician and attorney who has extensive experience in designing and implementing quality improvement and care management programs for healthcare providers and health plans. He current serves as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for Bright Health Plan, an innovative health insurer that collaborates closely with health care systems to provide high value care for patients. He previously served as CMO for CareCentrix, a leading outsourced home health and post-acute care benefits manager, and before that was CMO for the New England Quality Care Alliance (NEQCA), the physician network affiliated with Tufts Medical Center, where he implemented network-wide quality improvement and care management programs for almost 1,800 physicians, many in small or solo practices. He trained in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston,and did his geriatrics fellowship at Harvard Medical School. He has degrees in law and medicine from the University of Illinois.

Marni Jameson Carey is the executive director of the Association of Independent Doctors, a national non-profit designed to support America’s independent doctors, stop the trend of health-care consolidation and, thus, reduce health-care costs and improve access and quality. An award-winning journalist, Ms. Jameson was formerly a senior health reporter for Tribune Media, writing for the Los Angeles Times and the Orlando Sentinel. She is past president and founder of a medical marketing firm, author of four books, a nationally syndicated columnist, and frequent TV guest and speaker. Since joining AID in 2014, Ms. Jameson has been featured in over 50 media outlets including NBC, FOX, Bloomberg, Becker’s, Modern Healthcare and Medical Economics.

Mark Caron is the Chief Executive Officer of Geneia and Executive Vice-President of Business Platforms and Systems at Capital BlueCross. He has more than 30 years of business and technology expertise with more than 25 years in health care traversing both health care delivery systems and health insurers.

His experience also includes senior leadership roles as the CIO of the Collaborative Care division of OptumHealth, Senior Vice President & CIO at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin, Senior Vice President & CIO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Chief Technology Officer at Catholic Health Initiatives (a 78 hospital system), and Vice President of Information Systems at Healthsource.

He earned a bachelor‘s degree in Computer Science from Franklin Pierce College and has a MBA and a master’s degree in Computer Information Systems from Southern New Hampshire University. He is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), certified as a Healthcare Chief Information Officer through the College of Healthcare Information Executives, and is a member of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and of the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS).

Janice Clusserath serves as McKinstry’s Vice President of Human Resources. Since arriving at McKinstry in 2017—bringing with her more than 25 years of HR experience—Janice has been instrumental in optimizing the company’s total rewards programs, recruiting efforts, learning/development programs, and performance management and HR systems. In this role, Janice oversees all aspects of human resources and directs the entire employee experience and lifecycle. She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Gonzaga University. She serves as Vice President for McKinstry Co., LLC and is based in their Seattle office.

Dr. James Colbert is Senior Medical Director for Delivery System Innovation and Analytics at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA). He is the clinical leader for provider analytics and provider performance support within BCBSMA. He is responsible for engaging with at-risk provider organizations to enable them to achieve success within their value-based contracts through managing TME and improving quality. He represents BCBSMA on the Board of Directors of the Healthcare Transformation Taskforce.

Prior to joining BCBSMA, he served as the VP of Population Health for Benevera Health, a joint venture between Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and four health delivery systems in New Hampshire. Other experiences include serving as Senior Medical Director for Population Health at Verisk Health and serving as a core faculty member of the Brookings Institution ACO Learning Network. He was the lead author of a 2014 Brookings Institution report entitled Adopting Accountable Care: An Implementation Guide for Physician Practices.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and medical degree from Stanford University. He completed a primary care internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital as well as a fellowship in medical research and health policy at the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Colbert maintains an active clinical practice, and he holds faculty appointments at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Ariadne Labs, and Harvard Medical School. In 2015 he was selected by MedTech Boston as one of 40 healthcare innovators under age 40. He lives in Jamaica Plain, MA with his wife and daughter.

Barbara Collura serves as the President/CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. Barbara is a nationally recognized expert on infertility and the family building journey, with a special emphasis on the personal experience of those struggling to build their family. Barbara has worked with the World Health Organization on infertility definitions and clinical guidelines, worked with ACOG on their clinical definitions for infertility, and served a four-year term on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at NIH. A frequent guest speaker at medical conferences, Barbara is an expert on public policy issues facing the infertility community that impact both patient access and clinical care. Barbara has been a guest on the TODAY Show, MSNBC, Fox & Friends, and Nightline. She is routinely quoted in major media outlets on a variety of topics related to infertility. In 2014, Barbara received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Barbara is passionate about RESOLVE's mission as the organization was a source of support and information during her own battle with infertility. She can be reached directly at bcollura@resolve.org.

Dr. Conard is a practicing family physician passionate about transforming healthcare to provide more convenience, increase access, significantly improve quality, and lower cost. He believes that challenges can be best met with innovation, technology, and accountability, and that "greater convenience, increased access, higher quality, and lower costs" are not mutually exclusive. In fact, the surest path to reduced costs lies in a better model of care that embraces preventative care, early detection, excellence in management of known conditions, and improved behaviors.

As a Medical Director for corporations and benefit coalitions, his experience in medicine, corporate leadership, and healthcare allows him to create the strategic plan and serve as the accountability "agent", leveraging this deep understanding as an integrator of effective interventions. His work in patient engagement has led to the development of a new model for chronic care management, building knowledge and skills, resulting in better health outcomes.

Dr. Conard believes that every company has a unique culture and needs that create opportunities to achieve significant improvement in health and lower costs.

Ceci Connolly is president and CEO of the Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP), the trade association for high-quality, nonprofit, community health plans. Connolly is a passionate advocate for a community-based approach to health care and a strong proponent of payer-provider collaboration. Formerly a national correspondent for The Washington Post and a leader at international consulting firm PwC, Connolly provides a comprehensive perspective on the American health care system from the everyday struggles of physicians and patients to the intricacies of health care politics. Coauthor of LANDMARK: The Inside Story of America’s Health Law and What it Means for Us All, Connolly has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, The Hill and Morning Consult, among others, and is a contributor on NPR, PBS and Fox. She is a founding member of Women of Impact for Healthcare, and a graduate of Boston College.

Michael J. Consuelos, MD MBA FAAP, is the Chief Medical Officer for Andculture, a design thinking company launching a suite of solutions serving rural health providers.

Dr. Consuelos most recently served as the senior vice president for clinical integration at the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP). He provided clinical leadership to HAP’s legislative and regulatory advocacy. Dr. Consuelos engaged physician leaders, supported hospital and health system leadership in developing new payment models, worked to improve the quality of clinical care, encouraged integration of care across the continuum, and provided thought leadership for hospital emergency preparedness.

Dr. Consuelos has held multiple physician leadership positions since 1997. He has extensive experience leading health system capital planning, strategic business ventures, physician compensation plans, and community pandemic response. He has also coached physician leaders and lectured on a variety of leadership competencies.

Dr. Consuelos received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his pediatric training at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He received his Executive MBA from the Pennsylvania State University Smeal College of Business and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

David Contorno is Founder of E Powered Benefits. As a native of New York, David began his career in the insurance industry at the age of 14, and has since become a leading expert in the realm of employee benefits over the last 21 years. The Hilb Group continues to grow organically by ensuring all management is handled locally, providing top notch solutions and supports, and through strategic acquisitions.

Among his many accolades, David received a Broker Spotlight in 2004 and was recognized as an outstanding Broker of Service in 2005 through 2014 by Blue Cross Blue Shield. He has continually received the Echelon Award by United Healthcare since 2003, reserved for the top 1% of agents nationally, and was a 2015 "40 Under 40" Award Winner presented by Charlotte Business Journal. Most recently, David was Benefits Selling Magazine's 2015 Broker of the Year and, in March 2016, Forbes deemed him "One of America's Most Innovative Benefits Leaders."

David is a member of the Board of Directors for both the Charlotte Association of Health Underwriters and Healthreach Community Clinic. He served on the NC Insurance Commissioners Life and Health Agent Advisory Committee, as well as participated in the Technical Advisory Group that helped with the Market Reforms required under the Affordable Care Act in North Carolina. He is a long-time member of the Lake Norman and South Iredell Chambers of Commerce as well as the National, North Carolina, New York and Long Island Associations of Health Underwriters. David contributes to numerous publications, including Forbes, Benefits Selling Magazine, Business Leader Magazine and Insurance Thought Leadership.

David is committed to giving back to his community and actively participates in the membership drive for the United Way, assisting the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, and supporting The Dove House Child Advocacy Center. When he is not working, he enjoys boating, traveling, and being with his wife, Heather, and their two children, Hannah and Ethan.

Megan Cook is the founder and CEO of Adept Benefits, a boutique employee benefits consultancy located in Bellevue, Washington. After a decade in the industry, Megan grew disenchanted with the status quo - a dysfunctional American healthcare system with out-of-control costs. She founded Adept Benefits to break the cycle of annual cost increases and make sure employers get the value they pay for.

Megan is an experienced, well-respected strategist whose biggest strengths are her drive and compassion for taking care of people. She was among the charter class of 30 advisors to be certified by the Health Rosetta, a nonprofit that accelerates adoption of simple, practical, non-partisan fixes to our healthcare system. With a commitment to service, she provides fully customized benefit solutions for her clients—including direct primary care, reference-based pricing, and 100% transparent vendor arrangements - that can reduce spending by more than 30% in the first year.

Laurie Cooke is the president and CEO of the HBA. Laurie is a dedicated advocate for gender parity, speaker, thought leader, PharmaVOICE 100 most inspiring people in life sciences and ASAE Mentor of the Year. Laurie served on PMI’s executive management team; and prior to nonprofit management work, she served in increasing senior roles ex-US with Hoechst, Hoechst Roussel, Hoechst Marion Roussel, and Aventis working across all pre-clinical to post approval areas including phase I biometrics, project management, process improvement, and late stage team effectiveness. Laurie began her career as a head hospital pharmacist in Washington State. Laurie graduated with a degree in microbiology from University of Maryland, advanced scientific degree in pharmacy from University of Washington, masters in Software Engineering Management from University of Luton, England. She is a licensed pharmacist and certified association executive. Laurie has lived and worked in Europe, New Zealand and both U.S., coasts and currently lives in the Philadelphia main line with her husband and four active pets.

Marion is currently the Senior Medical Advisor in the Office of the Administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Washington, DC. In this cross-cutting role within the agency, she works on policy creation, quality, and promoting transformation with value based care. Marion also is involved in developing value-based payment models in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center, with special emphasis on longitudinal care for chronic conditions that often are treated with surgery.

Prior to joining CMS, she held senior leadership roles at several large medical centers. Marion has previously served as the Chair of the Indiana University Health Physician Board and was on the medical group’s Quality Committee. She has been a physician executive (Physician Executive of Surgical Services and Vice President of Finance) in two large medical groups. She has also been the Chair of two surgical departments and was Surgeon-in-Chief at a medical center. And she has worked across a large system to increase staff engagement.

Marion is a head and neck surgeon with microvascular training. Marion has served as President of two professional medical societies. She received her medical degree from Rush Medical College. Her residency training was at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Her MBA is from the Duke University Fuqua Business School with a Concentration in Healthcare Management.

Heather Cox is the Chief Digital Health and Analytics Officer for Humana. In this role, Heather is accountable for building Humana’s digital care delivery operations and leading enterprise analytics. Integrating these critical capabilities across the organization will further accelerate Humana’s move toward differentiated experiences for its health plan members at the intersection of healthcare and lifestyle, tailored especially to the needs of seniors.

Prior to joining Humana, Heather served as Chief Technology and Digital Officer at USAA, where she led the teams responsible for designing and building personalized and digitally enabled end-to-end experiences for USAA members. Heather has also served as CEO of Citi FinTech at Citigroup, helping the company adapt to a future dominated by mobile technology. Before that she headed Card Operations for Capital One, reshaping customer and digital experience for Capital One cardholders.

Heather was named by American Banker magazine as the #3 Woman to Watch nationally in banking in October 2017. She was also named to American Banker’s Women to Watch list in 2011, 2013 and 2016. In 2015, she was named one of the 10 Most Innovative CEOs in Banking by Bank Innovation, as well as Digital Banker of the Year by American Banker.

In March 2018, Heather was appointed to the NRG Energy Board of Directors. She serves on the Nominating and Governance and the Compensation committees. In addition, Heather serves on the national board of directors for LIFT, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to permanently lift people out of poverty.

Heather graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. She and her husband Chris are the parents of two daughters, Lea and Victoria. Heather and Chris share a passion for boating and are avid Washington Nationals fans.

Andrea Coyle has more than 25 years of professional experience in leadership roles. As the Professional Excellence and Magnet® Program Director, Andrea successfully led Medical University of South Carolina Health’s initial Magnet® designation in 2015. In addition, MUSC Health just received a site visit from the ANCC for Magnet re-designation. At MUSC Health, Andrea is responsible for leading a driving strategy of the nursing strategic plan, facilitating shared governance, advancing clinical inquiry, and restructuring the nurse clinical ladder. Most recently Andrea is leading MUSC Health on the American Nurses Association Healthy Nurse Healthy Nation Grand Challenge. Under Andrea’s leadership, MUSC Health successfully completed a nutrition pilot that increased nurse consumption of fruits and vegetables. In addition, MUSC Health secured a $10k grant to advance health initiatives. She is an active member of multiple professional nursing organizations, is an ANA Assembly Representative for South Carolina and has presented at national and international conferences. Andrea also serves as adjunct faculty at MUSC College of Nursing and is currently a DNP Nurse Executive and Innovation candidate. Andrea’s nursing career is dedicated to developing and empowering the next generation of nurses to lead today and into the future.

Curtis Cunningham is the Assistant Administrator of Long Term Care Benefits and Programs in the Division of Medicaid Services where he is responsible for the provision of long-term supports and services for the elderly and people with disabilities. Curtis administers and oversees the Family Care managed care program, IRIS self-directed long-term care program, several community-based Medicaid waiver programs, and support services for children with disabilities.

Curtis has worked in Medicaid policy, finance, and eligibility for more than 15 years. He is designated as the Wisconsin Disability Director; he serves as the President of ADvancing States, and sits on numerous national workgroups.

Curtis attended Aarhus University in Denmark and Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. He holds a B.S. in Biology and Environmental Policy. He currently resides in Monona, Wisconsin, with his wife, Theresa, and their three children.

As President and Chief Executive Officer of Northwest Permanente, P.C. Imelda Dacones, MD, leads more than 1,700 physicians, clinicians and administrators at the largest independent, physician-led, multi-specialty professional corporation in Oregon and southwest Washington. Together, these physicians deliver Permanente Medicine— evidence- and value-based health care with humanity— to more than 600,000 Kaiser Permanente members. Dr. Dacones is a passionate advocate for addressing the social and environmental determinants of health, and is working to transform the culture, practice, and business of medicine. Under her leadership, Northwest Permanente became the world’s first physician group certified as a B Corp – a status that underscores a strong corporate commitment to use business as a force for good.

Recently-elected as chair of The Permanente Federation's National Permanente Executive Committee, Dr. Dacones has responsibility for the people of The Permanente Federation. As a member of the Board of Directors of the new Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, she looks to influence the medical education of future generations of physicians in this country, inspiring them to spread the mission of providing high-quality, affordable health care and improving the health of people and our communities.

Smita Das, MD, PhD, MPH, is the Director of Psychiatry at Lyra Health. Dr. Das studied Chemistry and Statistics at Stanford University, completed her Masters in Public Health at Dartmouth College, and her MD/PhD in Community Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign with a focus on behavioral change in healthcare systems. She has 20 years of experience in healthcare quality and addiction research.

Dr. Das has received several prestigious fellowships and awards including the ASAM Young Investigator Award, SAMHSA/APA Substance Abuse Fellowship, George Ginsberg MD Fellowship, Association of Women Psychiatrists Leadership Fellowship, and the APA Resident Recognition Award. She has been a leader in the Northern California Psychiatric Society since 2012 and is now President. Prior to Lyra, Dr. Das was Director of Addiction Treatment Services at the Palo Alto VA. In addition to her work at Lyra, Dr. Das practices at Stanford School of Medicine where she is a Clinical Assistant Professor.

Dr. Gaurov Dayal is ChenMed President, New Markets and Chief Growth Officer. Responsible for ChenMed’s national expansion, Gaurov oversees new market operations, and has wide-ranging experience in population health, physician group, health plan and hospital operations.

Prior to joining ChenMed, Gaurov was a Senior Vice President at Lumeris, where he created and implementedoperational solutions for large health care systems and provider groups transitioning to value-based care delivery.

Earlier, at SSM Health Care, a large multi-state Integrated Delivery system, Gaurov served as Chief Medical Officer, Interim CEO for SSM Wisconsin Hospitals and President of Health Care Delivery, Finance and Integration. At SSM, he led the transformation from traditional volume-based provider to value-based system, includingsuccessful acquisition and integration of Dean Clinic and Dean Health plan- the largest HMO in Southern Wisconsin.

Prior to SSM, Gaurov served as the first Chief Medical Officer for Adventist Health Care and President of the Adventist Medical Group; was founder of a hospitalist group and a strategy consultant for McKinsey and Co.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University; earned doctor of medicine degree from Northwestern University; and did residency training in pediatrics at Washington University in St. Louis.

Renee is serving as the Vice President of Quality and Safety for The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH), Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS) and the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality (AI). In these roles, she works with leadership on developing the strategic direction for quality and safety, maximizing organizational improvement, efficiencies and the equity and value of health care delivery. She has been instrumental with the development of an operating management system for quality and safety based on high reliability principles. Her focus has been on clinical quality improvement, using innovation, data analytics with predictive algorithms and advancing performance using a variety of tools and techniques. Specifically, amongst other projects, she leads the strategic design and implementation of Johns Hopkins Medicine’s National Leader Strategy, a campaign to achieve national leader performance on publicly reported measures of patient safety and quality. Using Lean Sigma and other performance improvement tools, this effort led Johns Hopkins Health System affiliated hospitals to win multiple recognitions, including the Joint Commission Top Performer and Delmarva Excellence Awards.

In addition, she evaluates quality measurement methodology to ensure that methodology design for public reporting and pay for performance is evidence-based and aligns with scientific principles. She also co-leads value of care through standardized work to reduce unnecessary variation in care through clinical pathways across JHHS.

Renee led the Revenue Recovery initiative that was successful in driving outcomes with over $100 million return over a 10-year period. She has been a Johns Hopkins employee for 31 years. She has an MSW from the University of Maryland School of Social Work and an MBA from the Johns Hopkins University Business of Medicine Program.

Susan Dentzer is one of the nation's most respected health and health policy thought leaders and a frequent speaker and commentator on television and radio, including PBS and NPR, and an author of commentaries in Modern Healthcare, the New England Journal of Medicine and other prominent publications. She is a Senior Policy Fellow at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, the Washington, DC-based arm of Duke, where she focuses on health system transformation, biopharmaceutical policy, and other key health policy issues. She is also the editor and lead author of the book Health Care Without Walls: A Roadmap for Reinventing U.S. Health Care.

Dentzer previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of NEHI, the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation; was senior policy adviser to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; editor-in-chief of the journal Health Affairs; and on-air Health Correspondent for the PBS NewsHour. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the Council on Foreign Relations and is a fellow of the National Academy of Social Insurance and the Hastings Center. She is a member of the Boards of Directors of the International Rescue Committee; Research!America; and the Public Health Institute. She also serves on the RAND Health Board of Advisors and the global public policy advisory committee for Roche.

Dentzer graduated from Dartmouth, is a trustee emerita of the college, and chaired the Dartmouth Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2004. Dentzer holds an honorary master’s degree from Dartmouth and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Muskingum University. She and her husband, Charles Alston, have three adult children.

John Dickey is Sound Physician’s Chief Medical Officer, Population Health. Sound Physicians is one of the largest physician led companies in the United States and the largest physician participant in the BPCI program with Medicare. He joined Sound in 2014 as a Hospitalist and quickly became involved in Sound’s Population Health efforts. Sound Physicians has lead the way with improving quality and reducing costs in the 90 day episode of care. His innovative care models and management processes have contributed to Sound-leading improvements in the use of post-acute care and in patient outcomes. Through his leadership, his team has successfully expanded their effective clinical model to an ever broadening patient populations through Medicare Advantage, ACOs, and other private payers.

John is passionate about working together as a team to accomplish the goals in Population Health for the betterment of our patients. John sees the journey of medical care redesign as an enormous opportunity to bring quality improvements for our patients.

John is married and a father of 4, who enjoys hiking and being in the outdoors. His love for educating led him to once be a junior high science and math teacher. And his claim to fame was briefly starring in a Super Bowl commercial.

After nearly 12 years of service as president of the Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) and vice chancellor for health affairs for The Texas A&M University System (January 2002 through October 2012), Dr. Nancy W. Dickey returned to the College of Medicine where she serves a number of roles both academic and administrative. During her tenure, the health science center grew the number of programs and number of graduates, expanded its research programs, and extended its service to the citizens of Texas.

Currently, she serves as executive director of the Rural and Community Health Institute working with physicians and hospitals across the state of Texas and the nation to facilitate best practices in patient safety, enhanced quality of care, and physician excellence and demonstrating the importance of translation of sound policy and evidence based medicine across the spectrum of practice sites and care delivery.

Other roles at A&M include service as interim dean of the TAMHSC-College of Medicine (June 2000 until Dec. 31, 2001) and founding director of the TAMU Family Medicine Residency. Dr. Dickey was the first woman elected president of the American Medical Association. She is the recipient of numerous awards: American Academy of Family Medicine John G. Walsh Award for Lifetime Contributions to Family Medicine (2019), Institute of Medicine (2007), Texas’s Women’s Hall of Fame (2010), and six honorary doctorate degrees.

Camille Infussi Dobson is the Deputy Executive Director at ADvancing States (formerly NASUAD). In that role, she provides executive leadership and policy guidance to state aging and disabilities agencies, focused on managed long-term services and supports and quality measurement. She provides intensive technical assistance to states seeking to implement or improve their MLTSS programs on topics as diverse as stakeholder engagement, care management, MCO oversight mechanisms and quality measurement. She has served as an advisor to NCQA regarding LTSS accreditation standards as well as person-driven outcomes. She also represented the states on two different NQF committees working on HCBS quality measurement.

Prior to joining NASUAD, she worked for ten years at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, focusing on Medicaid policy and operations. In her last role, she served as the agency’s policy expert on Medicaid managed care delivery system issues and managed the agency’s regulatory and technical assistance efforts regarding managed care. She was the primary author of CMS’ 2013 guidance to States laying out key elements for MLTSS programs, which has since been translated into Federal regulatory requirements.

Before joining CMS in 2005, she spent twelve years working in Medicaid operations, policy and compliance with two Maryland-based Medicaid MCOs. She received her bachelor’s degree in International Affairs and master’s degree in Public Administration, both from George Washington University.

Dr. Daniel Durand is the Chief Innovation Officer (CINO) for LifeBridge Health (LBH) in Baltimore, Maryland, a $2.5B health system serving over one million patients. Dr. Durand is accountable for overseeing all LBH work related to biomedical research, digital health, and value-based contracting. He also continues to practice medicine as the Chairman of Radiology across LBH.

From 2016 to 2018, Dr. Durand served as the Medical and Operational Director of the LifeBridge Health Accountable Care Organization (ACO) LLC, which achieved shared savings in all three years of its first contract with Medicare, making it one of the most financially successful health system led ACOs in the history of the Medicare ACO program. The LBH ACO, LLC also demonstrated excellent quality performance, with scores averaging over 90% over the same time period. In addition, Dr. Durand served as the first Executive Director of the LifeBridge Health Clinically Integrated Network (CIN). Under his leadership, the LifeBridge Health CIN grew to over 500 providers and cared for over 100,000 patients in value-based contracts, which has resulted in over $100 million in savings to date.

Prior to joining LifeBridge, Dr. Durand served as the first Director of Accountable Care for Johns Hopkins Medicine and oversaw operations for the Johns Hopkins Medicine Alliance for Patients, one of the nation’s largest ACOs. Prior to this role, he was part of the executive leadership team at Evolent Health where he helped grow annual revenues from $8 million to $118 million en route to a successful IPO. Prior to Evolent, Dr. Durand worked for McKinsey as an associate working out of the Firm’s Washington, DC office.

His writing has appeared in top journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). He also sits on various professional and policy committees at the state and national level and is a frequent speaker at conferences and other events on the topic of healthcare innovation.

Nancy is Vice President, Health Care Thought Leadership where she is responsible for helping to shape and define Fidelity’s point of view on health care and benefit trends. Nancy started with Fidelity in 2011 as a part of Fidelity’s Workplace Customer Experience team, helping the organization better understand and perfect customers’ experiences across a variety of products and services. Since that time, Nancy has held various roles where she has been responsible for designing and delivering employee experiences, making complex topics easier to engage with and understand, and helping Fidelity expand its health care knowledge and products.

Before joining Fidelity, Nancy worked as an HR strategy and change management consultant at Buck Consultants, where she focused on helping clients optimize and maximize their HR functions. Nancy also held various roles at Mellon Financial, in their total benefits outsourcing business and within the Dreyfus group.

Nancy has a B.S. in Management from Boston University and a M.A. in Education from Columbia University.

Dr. Matthew Ewend is the Chief Clinical Officer of UNC Health Care & President of UNC Physicians. In this role, he has responsibility for the overall physician enterprise of the UNC Health Care System, a statewide network of 13 hospitals and more than 3,200 employed physicians across 700 affiliated practices. In addition, he oversees the quality program, the value program, and the partnership of UNC Physicians with our hospitals.

In addition, Dr. Ewend is a practicing Neurosurgeon at the UNC School of Medicine, specializing in neuro-oncology. He served as Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery from 2010 until 2019, stepping down to assume the CCO role of UNC Health. He joined the faculty in 1997 after completing medical school, neurosurgery residency, and a brain tumor fellowship at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Ewend’s clinical interests center on endoscopic and minimally invasive treatment of brain tumors, especially pituitary tumors, skull base tumors, and metastases. His research interest centers on developing genetically-modified, cell-based therapies for treatment of brain tumors.

As the Director of Provider Wellbeing for Christiana Care Health System in Newark, DE, Dr Farley’s focus is on optimizing the experience of providing care for clinicians. She oversees internal initiatives designed to address institutional and individual sources of provider stress and burnout, while fostering overall provider wellbeing, joy, and meaning in work.

Dr Farley completed residency training in emergency medicine in 2005 and fellowship training in administration in 2006. She has previously served as the Assistant Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and was instrumental in establishing the institution’s first freestanding emergency department in 2013, subsequently serving as the medical director for 3 years. In 2014, she developed “Care for the Caregiver” --one of the nation’s earliest and largest peer support programs for health care providers.

Dr Farley is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. She has held several leadership positions within the American College of Emergency Physicians on the state and national level. She has co-authored multiple peer-reviewed journal articles and has been the principal or co-investigator in 10 grant-funded studies. Dr Farley continues to practice and teach emergency medicine in one of the busiest emergency departments in the country, and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in health care delivery science at Dartmouth College.

Brent T. Feorene is chief operating officer for Canton & Company, a healthcare growth and innovation advisory firm, where he helps organizations transform their businesses through strategy, change management, and performance optimization. He serves as the executive director for AAHCM after being a member of the AAHCM Board of Directors for 10 years and treasurer for 5.

A seasoned healthcare executive with over 25 years of experience, Feorene is nationally recognized as an expert in strategic and management issues across a variety of healthcare settings. He is a passionate advocate for community-based care and widely regarded as a thought leader, sought-after speaker, and publisher on issues affecting the community-based care continuum.

Feorene is vice chair for the Assisted Living/Non-Institutional Subcommittee of the Board of the American Medical Directors Association/Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine and is a preferred consultant for the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging.

Prior to Canton & Company, Feorene was founder and president of Colonnade Healthcare Solutions. He received his master’s in business administration with highest honors from The Weatherhead School of Management of Case Western Reserve University.

Chris has dedicated her career to building a healthier future for our people, planet, and communities—making her a natural fit to join the Ocean Spray cooperative. “It is such a meaningful opportunity to work for a farmer-owned cooperative that is harnessing the intrinsic power of the cranberry in its products, while at the same time caring for and improving our environment.” As Ocean Spray’s Head of Global Corporate Affairs and Communications, Chris leads Ocean Spray’s Health and Wellness, Public Relations, Partnerships, Sustainability, Government Affairs, Corporate Social Responsibility, Consumer Engagement, and Executive Communications teams. In this role, her primary goal is to ensure we connect our farms to families worldwide, improving the access, affordability, and quality of nutritious food to all communities.

She holds a BA in Political Science, Sociology, and English from Georgetown University and earned her JD from Georgetown University Law Center. Chris began her career at Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher LLP, one of the nation’s largest law firms leading the industry in litigation year over year.

Chris joins Ocean Spray from the Milken Institute’s Center for Public Health where she fostered strategic partnerships and led programming to elevate sustainable solutions to the health crises around the globe. Prior to Milken, Chris served as Strategy Director and Legal Counsel for Michelle Obama’s Partnership for a Healthier America, where she worked with corporate leaders, health experts, government officials, and celebrities to improve health and wellness in all communities.

For the past 12 years, Chris has garnered more than 200 corporate partnerships, led dozens of marketing initiatives, engaged more than 100 celebrities, and directed legal and compliance strategies—all with the health and well-being of kids, families and communities at the core of her work.

Cynthia A. Fisher is a life sciences entrepreneur, independent investor, and corporate board director. Cynthia is Founder and Chairman of PatientRightsAdvocate.org, a nonprofit organization championing patient data access and price transparency in health care. She also serves on the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee as the former Speaker of the House’s appointee. Cynthia is a public company Director of The Boston Beer Company (SAM), and Easterly Government Properties, Inc. (DEA).

Cynthia founded the pioneering cord blood stem cell banking company, ViaCord, Inc., in 1993 and served as CEO. In 2000, Cynthia co-founded the cellular medicines company, ViaCell, Inc, of which ViaCord became a division. She served as President and on the Board of Directors. ViaCell went public, was acquired by PerkinElmer, and exists today under the ViaCord brand.

Cynthia also co-founded and is Chairman of FitMoney.org, providing schools and teachers curriculum for K-12 financial literacy. She is a Director of the National Park Foundation, Board Advisor to Boston Children Hospital’s Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention, and formerly served on the Board of Water.org.

Cynthia holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, as well as an Honorary Doctorate of Science and BS in Biophysics from Ursinus College.

Chris Franciskovich is currently the Director of the Advanced Analytics Team at OSF HealthCare, where he and his team use machine learning, statistical, natural language processing, and data mining methods to construct and deploy industry leading predictive models in a variety of strategic areas. He has more than 10 years of experience working in healthcare and holds a MS in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University, where he focused on advanced modeling techniques and predictive text mining.

Merrill Friedman leads the Disability Policy Engagement team and advocacy strategy for Anthem, a leading health benefits company serving nearly 74 million people nationwide through its affiliates. She works collaboratively with consumers, advocates and stakeholders to ensure the diverse interests and preferences of older adults, individuals with disabilities, and children involved in child welfare programs inform Anthem’s health benefits approaches and related initiatives. Ms. Friedman also leads the National Advisory Board (NAB) on Improving Health Care Services for Older Adults and People with Disabilities and advances the integration of the NAB's six foundational principles, the independent living philosophy, and principles of self-determination throughout these programs, as well as Anthem’s member interactions and business practices. In addition, she leads strategic partnerships with national and local organizations to advance the development of inclusive public policy.

Previously, Ms. Friedman was interim director at a nonprofit foster care agency serving children and adolescents who experienced severe neglect and physical abuse. She also served as president and chief executive officer of a private organization that owned and operated residential treatment facilities, group homes and home and community based services in several states for adolescents with mental health conditions, substance use disorders, and intellectual disabilities.

Ms. Friedman is a nationally recognized leader in Medicaid, LTSS and health services that reflect the needs and interests of older adults, people with disabilities and children and adolescents. Health program expertise includes disability, aging, drivers of health (SDoH), foster care, mental health and substance use, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and justice involvement. Her extensive experience in program development, strategy, new business growth and operations management informs the innovation and development of home and community-based services and capacity building.

Ms. Friedman has served on numerous national boards and commissions. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities and by Governor Jennifer Granholm to the MI Statewide Independent Living Council where she also served as Board Chair. Currently, Ms. Friedman serves on the board of directors for Family Voices, Rebuilding Together, and is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) and the NASUAD MLTSS Institute Advisory Board.

Jennifer Funaro a social and health strategist with over 18 years of healthcare innovation and product design. As an experienced product innovator, she has designed healthcare solutions that deliver real results, improve patient lives and lower healthcare costs with extensive knowledge in multiple markets including commercial, Medicaid, Medicare and the Health Insurance Marketplace.

In her current role, Jennifer leverages her marketing and product design background to work collaboratively with Centene Corporation and its Health plan subsidiaries from across the country to ideate, design and implement evidence-based, high priority social determinants of health (SDoH) innovations with of goal of rolling out demonstrated SDoH best practices to scale. Her SDOH focus areas include community-based technology platform design, housing and food security initiatives and screening and assessment intervention-based programming.

Jennifer has been with Centene Corporation and/or subsidiary company since December of 2011.

Vivek Garg, MD, MBA, is Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of CareMore & Aspire Health, innovative integrated health care delivery organizations with $1.6B+ revenue & over 180,000 patients in 32 states.

As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Garg leads clinical strategy and model development, clinical excellence & performance, and our clinical teams nationally. He previously led CareMore's growth & product functions & expansion into Medicaid care delivery and home-based primary care.

Prior to CareMore, Dr. Garg joined Oscar Health during its first year of operations as Medical Director, designing and implementing technology-enabled clinical services for patients and network doctors in care management & engagement, utilization management, and quality, leading to Oscar's initial NCQA accreditation. He also served as Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. From 2012-2014, Dr. Garg was the first national Medical Director at One Medical Group focused on clinical programs, where he led initiatives in clinical protocol development, population health, and virtual care. He previously worked at McKinsey & Company and the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a Congressional advisory body on payment innovation in Medicare. Dr. Garg graduated summa cum laude from Yale University with a BS in Biology and earned his MD from Harvard Medical School and MBA from Harvard Business School. He trained in medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital, received board certification, and continues to practice at CareMore. Dr. Garg is dedicated to humanizing healthcare and achieving the triple aim, through patient-centered care delivery redesign. He resides in New Jersey with his wife, son, and daughter.

Alyia Gaskins is the Assistant Director of Networks and Programs/Health at the Center for Community Investment. In this role, she helps communities mobilize land and investment capital to expand access to healthy food, affordable housing, and transit.

Prior to joining CCI, she was a Senior Associate at the National League of Cities, where she helped hundreds of municipalities pass policies to help children grow up healthier and thrive through former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Cities, Towns, and Counties initiative.

A public health strategist and urban planner, Alyia Gaskins is committed to helping communities create places that promote the physical, social, and economic health of people. Recognized for her creativity and leadership, Alyia was honored as a Next City Vanguard and as one of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce’s 40 Under 40 honorees. Alyia graduated from Vanderbilt University with a bachelor's degree in medicine, health, and society and earned master’s degrees in public health and urban planning from the University of Pittsburgh and Georgetown University, respectively.

Dan is a Partner at Flare Capital Partners, where he sits on the Board of Somatus, a Flare Capital portfolio company. Prior to joining Flare Capital, Dan served as a Medical Director at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan, leading Population Health Analytics, Value Based Purchasing, and General Strategy. Dan is a practicing Internal Medicine Physician on the Faculty of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and has an appointment as an Instructor at Harvard Medical School. Dan currently serves on Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s Board of Nursing Home Administrators.

Previously, Dan spent time as an entrepreneur and operator in the Health IT Industry, cofounding and managing two separate businesses in the Electronic Health Records and Online Medical Education industries.

Dan’s other interests include Healthcare Policy and Global Health. He has served as a Senior Health Policy Advisor for the Campaigns of Governor Charlie Baker and Congressman Joseph Kennedy III. He has worked to expand healthcare infrastructure in the developing world, serving as a consultant for the Clinton Foundation Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in Ethiopia.

Dan earned a B.S. with honors from the University of California, San Diego, an M.D. Summa Cum Laude from the Morehouse School of Medicine, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. Dan completed his Internal Medicine Residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Doug Geinzer is a skilled and successful entrepreneur who was built and sold several businesses throughout his career. Most of his success has been found in the healthcare, technology and employment industries. Today, Doug considers himself more of a social entrepreneur spending a significant amount of his time improving Southern Nevada’s healthcare infrastructure and positioning Las Vegas to become the most globally recognized health and wellness destination.

As CEO of the Las Vegas HEALS (Healthcare | Education | Advocacy | Leadership | for Southern Nevada), Doug delivers on their mission: “To foster strategic alliances in the healthcare community, collaborating on workforce issues and being a proactive force for legislative initiatives to improve access and the delivery of quality healthcare in Southern Nevada.”

Doug has assembled a network of high performing healthcare providers who deliver high quality and proven outcomes at a lower contracted (and bundled) rate. The majority of these providers deliver care in Las Vegas, one of the most accessible destinations from any city, while providing the highest level of hospitality only found in the World’s most recognized city.

Doug has bee the recipient of many awards including Entrepreneur of the Year, Healthcare Hero, Innovative Business Leader, Top 40 under 40, “most influential” in employment and a ‘who’s who’ in healthcare. He is a past president of the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Business Council and sits on the boards of numerous organizations.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, Doug relocated to Las Vegas in 1993 to build a media company he later sold to Cox and Landmark Communications. Recruiting Nevada, another media company Doug developed was sold to the Greenspun Media Company in 2008, allowing Doug to focus on Las Vegas HEALS. Doug is a single father raising a multi-lingual young daughter. As an avid water sports fanatic, you will often find Doug stand-up paddling or boating on Lake Sahara.

Alonso’s 6 years of experience in patient care at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra is linked with developing agreements with Medical facilitators and Institutions both public and private where medical procedures are provided at closed and competitive prices.

His previous 28 year experience in Consumer Goods (P&G, Colgate Palmolive, SC Johnson’s Wax) has enabled him to understand the differences between targeting “consumers” and attracting “patients”. He is focused on developing the North and Latin American regions as sources of growth contributing to the increasing number of patients travelling to Pamplona and Madrid in Spain to be taken care of at CUN.

Mary Grealy is president of the Healthcare Leadership Council, a coalition of chief executives of the nation’s leading health care companies and organizations.  The HLC advocates consumer-centered health care reform, emphasizing the value of private sector innovation.  It is the only health policy advocacy group that represents all sectors of the health care industry.  She was appointed to the position in August 1999.

Ms. Grealy has an extensive background in health care policy.  She has led important initiatives on the uninsured, Medicare reform, improving patient safety and quality, protecting the privacy of patient medical information and reforming the medical liability laws.  She testifies frequently before Congress and federal regulatory agencies.

From 1995 until she began her tenure at HLC, she served as Chief Washington Counsel for the American Hospital Association, a national organization representing all types of hospitals, health systems and health care networks.  In her position, she was responsible for the organization’s legal advocacy before Congress, as well as executive and judicial branches of government.

From 1979 to 1995, Ms. Grealy was Chief Operating Officer and Executive Counsel for the Federation of American Hospitals, a trade association representing 1,700 investor-owned and managed hospitals and health systems.  She coordinated legislative and regulatory policies as well as lobbying activities for the Federation.

Ms. Grealy has a bachelor degree from Michigan State University and a law degree from Duquesne University.  She served on the Board of Directors of TEAMHealth, one of the largest providers of outsourced physician staffing solutions for hospitals in the United States, and the Board of Directors of Duquesne University.  She is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association.  She also serves on the advisory boards of the David A. Winston Health Policy Fellowship, Women Business Leaders in Health and the March of Dimes Public Policy Council.  She is a frequent public speaker on health issues and has been ranked many times by Modern Healthcare as one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare and has been named to Modern Healthcare’s list of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare.

Pamela Greenberg is President and CEO of the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness (ABHW). She joined the association in 1998 and since that time has become a nationally recognized leader on managed behavioral health care policy issues. In her role, she works on a variety of policy issues that are important to health plans and will increase quality and access to behavioral health care. One of Pamela’s greatest accomplishments is the leadership role she played in developing, advocating for, and getting the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 signed into law.

ABHW is the leading association working to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and advance federal policy to improve mental health and addiction care. ABHW represents major national and regional health plans who care for more than 200 million people.

Pamela has worked on both behavioral health and managed care issues for almost three decades. She began by lobbying for both a large managed care company and substance use disorder treatment providers when she worked at a small boutique health care consulting firm in Washington, DC. That led to a position in America’s Health Insurance Plans’ (AHIP) Federal Affairs Department lobbying on issues such as health reform, Patients’ Bill of Rights, and Medicare reform. Pamela left AHIP to run the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness.

Pamela currently serves on InnovaTel Telepsychiatry’s Strategic Advisory Board and has spent many years on the boards of both the national and local chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America.

Ms. Greenberg has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College and a Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University.

A top industry thought leader, bestselling author, and in-demand keynote speaker, Nelson Griswold is known as the Chief Evangelist of the Benefits Revolution, the grassroots movement in employee benefits that is improving benefits and health care for employees while dramatically reducing companies’ healthcare costs by changing the way employers buy and manage health care.

The author of DO OR DIE, a trade best-selling handbook for leaders of employee benefits firms, he is co-author of two Amazon #1 bestsellers, BREAKING THROUGH THE STATUS QUO – How Innovative Companies Are Changing the Benefits Game to Help Their Employees and Boost Their Bottom Line and NEXTGENERATION HEALTHCARE – Proven Secrets of Managing the Healthcare Value Chain to Improve Outcomes and Reduce Costs.

Nelson serves as Director of the NextGen Benefits Network, a national alliance of independent benefits advisory and consulting firms that are revolutionizing employee benefits and healthcare delivery. Network members have received the industry’s top honors and recognition; are featured regularly in industry publications; and are invited to speak at leading benefits and healthcare conferences.

A popular monthly columnist for Employee Benefit Adviser magazine, Nelson also writes for other leading industry publications. He is founder and Conference Chair of ASCEND – The Agency Growth & Leadership Summit and chairs the Benefits Adviser Leadership Track for the World Health Care Congress in Washington, D.C. He is immediate Past President of the Workplace Benefits Association, serves on the executive board of the Voluntary Benefits Association, and is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Validation Institute and Ameriflex.

Prior to founding Bottom Line Solutions, Nelson was a senior executive and top producer with a national benefits communication and enrollment firm. Before entering the benefits industry, he had a distinguished career in politics and public policy. After working as a political consultant, he became a nationally recognized public policy expert. He served as president of two public policy think tanks that promoted a free-market and limited-government agenda, testified before legislative committees, was appointed by the governor to two state boards, and appeared on numerous national network news programs. Nelson also has worked in radio, as host of both a morning drive talk show and a popular jazz music program. He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Nashville and have two grown children.

Fred Guttenberg’s professional life includes over a decade of experience in sales and management with Johnson and Johnson, followed by almost 15 years as an entrepreneur, having built a business that consisted of 19 Dunkin Donuts, which he sold in November 2016. Fred was hoping to take some time to relax before figuring out his next endeavor. Then tragedy struck.

Fred’s brother Michael, one of the original first responders during 9/11 at the WTC with a team of doctors got trapped in the WTC as it collapsed. Amazingly, the room that they hid out in did not collapse and Michael and his team of physicians spent 16 days at ground zero taking care of others. As a result of the ground zero exposure, Michael was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which he battled, along with Fred’s help and support until October 2017, when he passed away.

Following Michael’s funeral, Fred understandably still trying to recover from the passing of his brother also recognized he needed something else to do. In February of 2018 he was actively looking for a new purpose when Fred and his family were again struck by another National American tragedy; only this one was far worse. His 14-year-old daughter Jaime, a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was one of 17 victims brutally murdered in the Parkland Florida school shooting.

From that day forward, Fred’s life would be forever changed. While grieving, Fred found himself unable to stand still. The day after the murder, he attended a vigil and while there was asked to speak. That was the start of a new public life for Fred. He was angry and quickly realized his new purpose as an American advocate in the fight for public safety.

Fred now spends time challenging our elected officials to do more and he is aggressively pursuing strategies to enhance public safety, enact common sense gun safety and turn out the vote through his non- profit organization dedicated to Jaime’s life called “Orange Ribbons for Jaime”. He has been a regular on TV news programs and myriad of online and print media. Through the formation of the non-profit, this is now his full time mission. Fred’s leadership and perseverance in spite of these dual tragedies is and his ability to turn the worst possible grief into action and to attain ongoing results is now nationally known.

Fred Guttenberg moved to Florida from Long Island in 1989 shortly after graduating from Skidmore College in New York in 1988. Fred, his wife Jennifer, and their son Jesse currently reside in Parkland, Fl.

Robin Hacke is Executive Director of the Center for Community Investment (CCI), which is dedicated to overcoming disinvestment and improving opportunity so that everyone has a fair chance to lead a healthy and productive life. Working with cross-sector partnerships, innovative health institutions and local leaders, CCI helps communities unlock the capital they need to become more cohesive, resilient and environmentally sustainable.

CCI, housed at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, was incubated during Ms. Hacke’s tenure as a Senior Fellow at The Kresge Foundation. Previously, she served for seven years as Director of Capital Innovation at Living Cities, where she managed capital deployment for the $80 million Integration Initiative and spearheaded creation of the Catalyst Fund. She has served as a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, a consultant to major foundations and a member of the Steering Committee for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Working Cities Challenge.

A former venture capitalist and investment banker with more than a decade of community investment experience, Ms. Hacke holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Harvard-Radcliffe College. Learn more at www.centerforcommunityinvestment.org.

Randy is President of PSG Washington, an employee benefits consulting firm located in Everett, Washington. Established by Mr. Hansen in 1981, PSG has been a Northwest leader in employee benefit design & consulting. He now works with his oldest son Nick, with what has become a winning partnership. PSG was the recipient of the 2017 Fast Ascent Award by the Association for Insurance Leadership.

Randy’s primary focus is self-funded plans, introducing the C-Suite to management options designed to reduce costs and improve benefits. In his 39 years of employee benefits, Randy has helped many employers change how they view and purchase their health care plans, while emphasizing quality care for employees. He is also co-author of the Amazon #1 Bestseller, Breaking Through the Status Quo.

As a frequent guest speaker, Randy enjoys sharing both the victories and losses from his 39 year career.

A dedicated family man, he has been married to Janice for 40 years, has two married sons, four grandsons and one granddaughter. Away from work, you are likely to catch him with his family spending time boating in the San Juan Islands or spending fall Saturdays at Husky Stadium watching their favorite college football team.

Jeffrey Hausfeld, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.S., has served on the national board and committees of specialty medical societies since beginning his practice in Otolaryngology/Facial Plastic Surgery. He is an Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery at George Washington University School of Health Sciences and an alumnus of the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Hausfeld is widely published in the medical literature, is the pioneer of innovative laser surgery techniques, is the author of a lay oriented medical book, and has appeared on numerous local and national television and radio shows as a medical expert. He has also served as a health care consultant, spokesperson, and executive coach for multi-national pharmaceutical companies, health care firms, as well as the U.S. military. Dr. Hausfeld stepped down from his clinical duties after receiving a Masters in Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University. He continued to refine his communication and team building talents by completing a graduate certificate program in Leadership Coaching and Organizational Development at George Washington University.

Dr. Hausfeld led the field in otolaryngology/facial plastic surgery for many years and is now a business operator and entrepreneur. He invests, manages and consults to a variety of healthcare businesses, including assisted living facilities for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, medical device companies, healthcare information technology and biotech firms, debt collection services for physicians, as well as syndicating and raising capital for health care related real estate ventures, including other life science entrepreneurial enterprises, both regionally and nationally. Dr. Hausfeld is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Medical Officer of BioFactura, a Biotech firm specializing in the production Biosimilars as well as novel biologic drugs. He serves as President of Memory Care Communities LLC, a portfolio of Assisted Living facilities in the Midwest dedicated to the care of Alzheimer’s and dementia care patents. He is the Chairman and Founder of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (www.sopenet.org ), a global network focused on educating healthcare and life science professionals in Bioentrepreneurship and Innovation.

Dr Hausfeld invites healthcare professionals to use financial information and the “science of business” as valuable tools to nurture medical innovation at their institutions and private practice, as well as to enhance the ability to promote quality patient care and improve decision-making. Dr. Hausfeld will demonstrate that power, pleasure and improved performance can result from the ability to mesh the cultures of medicine and business in a comprehensive and strategic manner. “The exciting thing about life after the practice of medicine is that now I am able to draw upon the diversified fields of medicine, business, and organizational psychology, and implement novel solutions that have an immediate impact on patients, providers, and on the client’s bottom line”.

Peter Hayes is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Healthcare Purchaser Alliance of Maine and formerly a principal of Healthcare Solutions and Director of Associate Health and Wellness at Hannaford Supermarkets. He has been recognized as a thought leader in innovative, strategic benefit design for the past 25+ years. He has received numerous national awards in recognition of his commitment to working collaboratively with healthcare providers and vendors in delivering health benefits that are focused on value (high quality efficient care). He has been successful in this arena by focusing on innovative solutions for patient advocacy, chronic disease management, and health promotion programs.

Peter has also been involved in health care reform leadership roles on both the national and regional levels with organizations like Center for Health Innovation, Care Focused Purchasing, Leapfrog, co-founder of the Maine Health Management Coalition, and been appointed by two different Maine Governors to serve on Health Care Reform Commissions to recommend public policies to improve the access and affordability of health care for Maine citizens.

Marcy S. Heath is the Founder and CEO of InoVentive Benefits Consulting. She has over 23 years’ experience advising employers with innovative benefit strategies. Marcy is proactive in the pursuit to change how employers manage their healthcare supply chain while improving employee benefits and increasing bottom line profits for employers.

With a consultative approach and implementing innovated solutions, Marcy is successful with assisting employers in slashing their medical spend. A recent success, an employer saved $600,000 annually with the implementation of cost containment strategies provided by InoVentive Benefits Consulting.

An established industry thought leader and certified healthcare reform specialist, Marcy has been a featured speaker on several platforms, providing valuable insight into ACA law, rules, guidelines and compliance with the law.

Marcy is honored to be recognized by NAHU’s Leading Producers Round Table, named by EBA as one of the 2018 Top Women in Benefit Advising and was awarded the Fast Ascent Award by the Association Insurance Leadership. Marcy is a member of the NextGeneration Benefits Mastermind Partnership – an elite national network of strategic, forward thinking business consultants and advisors.

John Heenan is the President of the Delaware Valley Health Care Coalition (DVHCC). The DVHCC currently has 235 member funds; representing over 3 million lives. DVHCC is the largest coalition in the United States representing Taft-Hartley Funds. Some of the products offered are Prescription Drug (Express Scripts & Benecard), Vision (National Vision Administrators) , Dental (Delta), Medicare Plan (KTP Advisors) and Tele-Medicine (Call-A-Doctor Plus).

John is also the Fund Administrator for the International Union of Operating Engineers of Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware. He’s been in that role since 2005. Prior to becoming the Administrator, John held various jobs within the Benefit Funds office.

John graduated with a BS in Marketing from LaSalle University as well as an MBA in Healthcare and Finance. John hasn't strayed too far from his roots; he was born and raised in the Philadelphia suburbs and he currently lives in Warrington, PA with his wife and 2 high school children who are driving him crazy.

Kathleen Herath oversees Nationwide’s Wellbeing and Safety activities for its 30,000 associates across the country. In this role, she is responsible for developing the company’s Integrated Health and Productivity strategy, Occupational Health Services and on-site clinics, Substance Free Workplace, and Associate Safety.

She has 35 years of professional experience in the health care industry. The My Health program at Nationwide has been awarded numerous honors including the IBI Health Innovation Award, the American Heart Association’s Platinum Fit Friendly Employer Award and the prestigious C. Everett Koop National Health Award. In 2014, Nationwide was the first company in the country to receive the US Healthiest Health Lead Gold Medal for improving health outcomes. In 2018, the program won both Top Training Magazine’s Best Practice Award and Optum Health’s Spirit of Innovation Award.

Kathleen has become a frequently requested speaker within the health and productivity industry and has spoken at numerous conferences and seminars on various industry-related topics. She is active in community and national non-profit organizations including Ronald McDonald House Board of Directors and the Great Rivers Strategy Committee for the America Heart Association. She is a past Board Member and President for Equitas Health.

Mike Hill, with Coldbrook Insurance Group, has been advising employers on health care cost reduction strategies for nearly two decades. An expert in self-funded medical plans, Mike has helped employers implement varied solutions focused on reducing the cost of health care, such as direct contracting, direct primary care, and others, as a means to return the crown jewel of employee benefit packages to its place of prominence rather than the liability that it has become. Understanding that pre-packaged fully insured medical plans eliminates all employer control over their health care supply chain, Mike wrote “Not Rocket Surgery, An Employers Guide to Controlling the Health Care Supply Chain” which introduced the concept of the Total Control Health Plan. Mike is passionate about putting employers in a position to use the same techniques they use to manage all other aspects of their business on their health plans. By doing so, employers have not only experienced dramatic cost reductions and flat annual increases, but they have done so while providing better plans to their employees. Mike is a member of the Next Gen Benefits Mastermind Partnership, and serves and has served his community as a Board member of multiple non-profit organizations.

David’s career started at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee in claim’s management. He went on to serve as the Director of Operations for the State of Tennessee Employee Health Plans; Benefit Manager for Nissan Motor Manufacturing; benefits consultant; Insurance Director for Rutherford County, TN and now as Director of Benefits for Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS).

While at MNPS he established a network of primary care clinics to serve their employees, retirees and their dependents. These clinics, staffed by Family Nurse Practitioners are Medical Homes and serve as the main conduit for medical interventions with our covered population. In 2017, he opened MNPS’ first integrated health and wellness facility, combining primary care, behavioral health, health coaching, fitness, physical therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture and pharmacy. This facility also includes a café and conference area and is designed to be a community center for educators, assisting them to develop professionally and personally. In addition, to help drive individual and group health improvements, he implemented a data warehouse that combines medical, pharmacy, dental and vision claims, medical records, payroll, health risk assessments and evaluation data.

He serves on the board of the State and Local Government Benefit Association and of the National Association of Worksite Health Centers.

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.

Julia Hu is an American entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Lark. Founded on the personal experience of having grown up with an undiagnosed chronic condition, Julia is passionate about bringing compassionate care to those struggling with or at risk of chronic disease. Hu was named one of the “Top 10 Women in Tech” by Forbes and was a winner of Inc. Magazine’s “30 under 30”. Prior to founding Lark in 2011, Julia ran global startup incubator, the Clean Tech Open, built a sustainable construction startup, and was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Stanford’s StartX incubator. She is on the board of the Council for Diabetes Prevention and a Singularity University faculty member. Hu received her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees at Stanford University and half of an MBA from MIT Sloan before founding Lark. Julia loves to stay fit with hip hop.

A graduate of Baylor University Hankamer School of Business and an innovative benefits consultant, Bill Hughes has been proactive in reengineering the purchase of healthcare. To that end, he is a published author of multiple books on the topic of Employer Healthcare Management. Bill is passionate about transparency and the reform of healthcare on the national landscape as well as helping employers manage and navigate new ways to purchase healthcare.

Bill is a Charter Member of the NextGen Benefits Mastermind Partnership – an elite national network of strategic, forward-thinking business consultants and benefits advisors.

Dr. Hurford is the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Community Care Behavioral Health Organization, the nation’s largest not-for-profit behavioral health managed care organization. As part of the UPMC Insurance Services Division, Community Care provides behavioral health coverage for one million Medicaid beneficiaries in 41 Pennsylvania counties. Dr. Hurford has worked in public-sector psychiatry for nearly 20 years holding various leadership positions in academic, government and managed care systems including, most recently, serving as Community Care’s Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs.

Prior to joining Community Care, Dr. Hurford served as the Chief Medical Officer of the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services (DBHIDS) and Community Behavioral Health (CBH), a not-for-profit behavioral health managed care organization that managed approximately $850 million in Medicaid funding. He is a board-certified psychiatrist who has provided care to people with serious mental illness and substance-use disorder in diverse settings including the Indian Health Service on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Arizona and urban community mental health centers in Philadelphia.

Education/Training:

• Bachelor’s degree in political science from Swarthmore College
• Medical degree from the Temple University School of Medicine
• Completed his residency and chief residency in psychiatry at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Richard S. Isaacs, MD, FACS, is CEO and executive director of The Permanente Medical Group and president and CEO of the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group, two of the largest and most distinguished medical groups in the nation. Together, TPMG and MAPMG have more than 10,000 physicians and over 40,000 nurses and staff delivering high-quality health care to more than 5 million Kaiser Permanente members in Northern California, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Dr. Isaacs, who was named to Modern Healthcare’s list of the 50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders in 2018, also serves as co-CEO of The Permanente Federation, a consortium of all the Permanente Medical Groups that supports the work of more than 22,000 Permanente physicians and 80,000 employees. In this role, Dr. Isaacs provides strategic leadership and direction to all the Permanente Medical Groups, and to the national Kaiser Permanente Program.

Previously, Dr. Isaacs served as physician-in-chief for the Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center, where he was responsible for all clinical operations. While physician-in-chief, Dr. Isaacs played a critical leadership role in helping his medical staff pioneer several initiatives that were adopted by Kaiser Permanente nationwide.

Dr. Isaacs serves on the board of directors for the Alliance of Community Health Plans and for the American Medical Group Association. He is also actively involved in medical education and has served as a clinical professor of Otolaryngology at University California, Davis School of Medicine; Drexel University School of Medicine; and California Northstate University School of Medicine.

Amy has been a registered nurse for 30 years and received her BSN from Christopher Newport University and MSN at Walden University. Her nursing career has touched many areas of healthcare including critical care, organ and tissue procurement, nursing education and leadership. Amy is the Corporate Manager for Health and Wellness Strategy for Huntington Ingalls Industries where she is responsible for two onsite family healthcare centers and wellness programming. Amy also serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Worksite Health Centers.

Elected in 2016, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal is now serving her second term in Congress representing Washington’s 7th District, which encompasses most of Seattle and its surrounding areas. She is the first South Asian American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and one of only 14 naturalized citizens currently serving in the United States Congress.

Congresswoman Jayapal is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, where she serves as Vice Chair of the Immigration Subcommittee, and on the House Education & Labor and Budget Committees. She is also the elected Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which represents approximately 40% of the entire Democratic caucus; the Immigration Subcommittee Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific Asian Caucus; and a Vice Chair of the Congressional LGBTQ Equality Caucus.

In Congress, Representative Jayapal has been a leader on immigration, including fighting the Trump Administration’s inhumane policies of separating children from their parents and crafting legislation to help expand legal immigration to America. She has also championed legislation to address income inequality, such as the $15 minimum wage and expanded collective bargaining rights for workers. She has worked extensively on healthcare issues as the lead sponsor of the Medicare for All bill in the House, and she is the author of the College for All Act, which would ensure every American has access to higher education. She has authored other landmark pieces of progressive legislation including the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act and the National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. She has also prioritized legislation to transition our economy to 100% clean energy and address the crisis of climate justice.

Prior to serving in elected office, Congresswoman Jayapal spent twenty years working internationally and domestically in global public health and development and as an award-winning national advocate for women’s, immigrant, civil, and human rights. She spent almost a decade working on global health and development for the international nonprofit organization, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), and spent 12 years as the founder and Executive Director of OneAmerica, the largest immigration advocacy organization in Washington State and one of the largest in the country.

Representative Jayapal was born in India, grew up in India, Indonesia and Singapore, and came to the United States by herself at the age of 16 to attend college at Georgetown University. She later received her MBA from Northwestern University, worked in a number of industries in both the public and private sector, and published her first book in 2000, Pilgrimage to India: A Woman Revisits Her Homeland.

She is married to Steve Williamson, a long-time labor leader and strategist, and is the proud mother of a gender non-conforming child Janak, step-son Michael, and 65-pound labradoodle, Otis.

Ricardo Johnson currently leads the Healthworx organization at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. He joined CareFirst in 2011. Among other responsibilities, he leads CareFirst’s strategic ventures and corporate development efforts - partnering with companies that bring new technologies and scientific developments to CareFirst members that have the potential to improve health, quality of care, and cost-efficiency.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Johnson was Special Assistant to the CEO of CareFirst and practiced health law.

Allen J. Karp is the Executive Vice President of Healthcare Management and Transformation at Horizon BCBSNJ. Mr. Karp has responsibility for Horizon BCBSNJ’s health care value strategy and clinical and network operations. He also leads the pharmacy, behavioral health and health care analytics organizations.

Mr. Karp has over 30 years of health care experience in leading health care delivery and service organizations. His innovative approach to health care delivery models provides experienced leadership as Horizon BCBSNJ leads a transformation away from fee-for-service to a value-based model that rewards doctors and hospitals for quality, cost-effective care and enhanced member experience.

Prior to joining Horizon BCBSNJ, Mr. Karp held senior leadership positions with Coventry Healthcare, Aetna and MedPartners Inc. He served as Senior Vice President at Coventry Healthcare where he led its national network and the development of the company’s Accountable Care Organization (ACO) and high-performance network strategy. He has implemented numerous innovative value-based models with hospitals and physicians in several states. He was also responsible for First Health, a Coventry Healthcare Company providing a national, integrated PPO network.

At Aetna, Mr. Karp held the position of Vice President of Healthcare Delivery, where he developed regional and national network strategy and managed provider contracting, clinical operations and medical economics. Mr. Karp also held the position of President of the Eastern Division for MedPartners where he had responsibility for multiple physician groups and independent practice associations (IPAs) with revenue in excess of $1 billion.

Mr. Karp currently serves on the board of directors for Cota, which builds solutions for health care to analyze, visualize, report and manage real-world evidence and deliver precision medicine. He also serves on Cota’s finance and compensation committees. He is also on the boards of the American Heart Association and the Newark Museum.

In 2018, Mr. Karp was named as a Leader in Health Care in the NJBIZ Vanguard Series for his work in pioneering the implementation of value-based health care in New Jersey.

Mr. Karp earned a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Rider University and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Wilmington College.

Dave Kerrigan is the Founder and Managing Director at Sante Nasc, LLC, a healthcare and benefits advisory and consulting firm working primarily with benefit consultants to “source innovation” – connecting benefit professionals to the latest innovations being offered in the space as well as helping firms automate aspects of their business and create better processes to reduce inefficiencies. He also works with healthcare startups and new entrants to the benefits space, providing go-to-market strategy and growth services.

Dave has a strong background in health care and benefits, having worked at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Willis Towers Watson, Conduent (formerly Buck Consultants), Optum and the Massachusetts Health Connector (public exchange under the ACA). He volunteers time with TiE Boston’s ScaleUp program (a startup accelerator program in the Boston area), and is a mentor and judge for MassChallenge Health Tech (a digital health incubator) in Boston. Dave is also an advisor for HealthXL, a mentor for Northeastern University’s Health Science Entrepreneur program, a remote mentor for Plug and Play Tech Center, and is on the health and wellness advisory council at Social Enterprise Greenhouse in Providence, Rhode Island. He serves on the Board of a not-for-profit organization called Social Capital Inc. as well which focuses on strengthening community bonds.

Dave is the creator of BenefitPitch™ from Sante Nasc, LLC – a searchable database tool that allows benefit professionals to have access to key information on innovative companies offering services to self-funded employers. He also worked with NFP as the lead consultant and business architect on the establishment of the NFP Innovation Lab – a process to centralize the intake and standardize the evaluation of early and mid-stage companies offering services in the benefits space.

Brian Klepper, PhD is Principal of Worksite Health Advisors and a nationally prominent health care analyst and commentator. He writes and speaks extensively about the structural dynamics of the US health care cost crisis, primary care clinics, high performance health care and the management of full continuum clinical and financial risk.

Sarah Krevans is President and CEO of Sutter Health, a Northern California based not-for-profit health system that cares for 3 million patients—or 1 in every 100 Americans, in one of the most diverse and innovative regions in the nation. Sarah oversees Sutter’s integrated network of 14,000 clinicians, 24 hospitals, outpatient services, research facilities, and home health and hospice care.

Sarah has dedicated her healthcare career to finding ways to make healthcare more safe, personal, affordable and accessible. In the beginning of her career, Sarah was a caregiver for the elderly and people with severe mental illness, where she saw firsthand the impact of our broken system on patients.

Sarah was named Sutter Health’s President and CEO in January 2016. Prior to this role, she served as Sutter’s chief operating officer, regional executive officer and president of the Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region, and senior vice president of managed care. Previously, Sarah held executive roles at Kaiser Permanente and served as deputy director of Maine’s Bureau of Medical Services and acting director of Medicaid health planning and licensure programs.

Sutter Health has been recognized by independent organizations as a national leader in healthcare quality and advancing health equity. True to its not-for-profit mission, Sutter also provides compassionate care for more low income Medi-Cal patients in than any other health system in its Northern California footprint.

Sarah serves on the Bay Area Council Executive Committee, American Hospital Association Health Care Systems Council, California Hospital Association Board of Directors, United States of Care Founders Council, and Sutter Health Board of Directors.

She has been named as one of the “Top 25 Women Leaders” by Modern Healthcare, included on Modern Healthcare’s list of the “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare,” nominated as a “Visionary of the Year” by the San Francisco Chronicle, and named one of the “Most Influential Women in Business” by the San Francisco Business Times.

Sarah earned master’s degrees in business administration and in public health from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree from Boston University.

John Krolicki has been with the UPMC for 11 years. He is currently the Vice President of Facilities and Support Services for UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He leads system-wide initiatives and oversees the UPMC Facilities and Engineering Council (Maintenance and Engineering), manages the construction program for UPMC Presbyterian, Shadyside and Children’s Hospitals, and oversees Environmental Services (Housekeeping), and Food and Nutrition Services, which includes 32 hospitals. He also oversees the areas of Environmental Health & Safety (11 hospitals), Energy & Environmental Engineering, and Greening Initiatives. John serves as a Board Member for Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania, Wood Street Commons-Pittsburgh, and the Oakland Business Improvement District. He also serves on the UPMC Committee for the Accelerating Investments for Healthy Communities (AIHC) group, a national initiative of the Center for Community Investment.

He has over 30 years of experience and comes to UPMC from the Beaumont Health System in Michigan. John holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Eastern Michigan University and a Master of Science in Healthcare Administration from Central Michigan University.

Dr. Labat earned her master’s degree from Pennsylvania State University and her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Her training includes a postdoctoral fellowship in Pediatric Psychology, which led to her position as Lead Psychologist at Children’s Medical Center Dallas’ Inpatient Psychiatric Unit and its Center for Pediatric Eating Disorders. Dr. Labat also received training in Perinatal Mental Health from Postpartum Support International.

Prior to joining Pelts, Kirkhart, and Associates, Dr. Labat worked with multidisciplinary teams in hospital settings and had a private psychotherapy practice in Dallas, TX. She continues to be licensed to practice psychology in both Louisiana and Texas. Dr. Labat partners with women and their families to prepare and cope through the transition into parenthood, whether it is a new experience or a repeated one. She also works with women and families who are in the process of trying to conceive through natural and medically-supported interventions. Experiencing a singular pregnancy loss or multiple losses can lead to many feelings, as can experiencing difficulties with conceiving a child. Dr. Labat works with women and their partners who experience this type of loss in an empathic, confidential, and therapeutic space.

Families experiencing acute or ongoing conflict can create stressful environments for all family members including the parent(s) and adolescent. Providing support and positive communication serves to decrease tension and foster growth and understanding among family members.

Dr. Labat conducts Psychoeducational assessments for ADHD, specific learning differences and diagnostic clarification.

David LaMarche joined Eastside Health Network (EHN) in May 2017. David is an experienced health care professional, with over 22 years of experience in managed care contracting, business development, finance and clinical operations. He is responsible for leadership aspects of EHN, including strategy, contacting, network development, quality and oversight of operations. EHN has approximately 1,450 network providers that provide care for over 53,000 covered lives across value-based contacts with Medicare Advantage and commercial payors as well as through direct-to-employer contacts.

In 2018, EHN, in partnership with Gallagher and Premera launched the Eastside Health Network Health Trust, offering medical benefits to the independent providers within the network. In 2019, EHN is facilitating a Medical Malpractice initiative which recognizes the benefits of its clinically integrated network which will materially reduce premium costs for network providers.

Prior to his time at EHN, David spend nearly 20 years at Virginia Mason where he developed and expanded at-risk and population-based payment models with performance measures linked to risk-adjusted total cost of care and quality metrics. He also led strategic planning related to health care reform, reimbursement trends and new business opportunities.

Other positions held during his time at Virginia Mason include Director of the Heart Institute, where he provided leadership and oversight of daily clinical operations and financial performance for all departments of the Heart Institute and integration with six satellite clinics and rural outreach programs.

Dr. Landers is the President and CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association Health Group, Inc., the nation’s second largest not-for- profit home health care organization servicing New Jersey and Ohio. As a certified family doctor and geriatrician, Dr. Landers places a strong emphasis on house calls to the vulnerable elderly and has a specialized interest in geriatric medicine, home health, hospice and palliative care.

Dr. Landers is a graduate of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. Dr. Landers has authored several articles on the role of home care in national publications, including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medicine. Dr. Landers most recently joined the Huffington Post as a regular blogger focusing on health policy, family caregivers, and nurses and finding ways to improve quality and value in American health care.

Before joining VNA Health Group, Dr. Landers served as the Director of the Center for Home Care and Community Rehabilitation and Director of Post-Acute Operations for the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic. In 2014, Dr. Landers received the NJBiz 40 Under 40 Award, a recognition of New Jersey’s most accomplished young businessmen and women.

Deke Lape is an employee benefits consultant with Mitchell Insurance, Inc. and the rebranded benefit division, D2E Health Plans. Deke has 22 years of experience in the employee benefits insurance and consulting field. He has worked with employers of many industries, including manufacturing, not-for-profits, municipalities, education, and health care. He has extensive experience in both fully-insured and self-funded medical plan arrangements, consumer-driven plans, and worksite and ancillary benefits.

Deke is a 1997 graduate of the University of Missouri–Columbia. Since then, he has been active in his community as a member of St. Francis Xavier Church and serving on the board of directors of Missouri Delta Medical Center, YMCA of Southeast Missouri board of directors (past chairman), Sikeston Public Schools board of education (past president), and Sikeston Jaycees (past president). Deke and his wife, Jill, reside in Sikeston with their children Jay and Will.

As AmeriHealth Caritas Delaware’s Market President, Emmilyn Lawson is responsible for the Medicaid health plan’s strategic direction, growth, and leadership. She oversees AmeriHealth Caritas Delaware’s operations and is its primary point of contact with the state of Delaware.

Lawson is a longtime health care executive with more than 20 years of experience in Medicaid managed care in Delaware and Pennsylvania. She most recently served as vice president of Delaware Medicaid markets and chief operations officer for Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware Health Options Inc. At Highmark, Lawson led all core operations for the insurer’s Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and long-term services and supports (LTSS) products.

Lawson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from the University of Delaware and a Master of Business Administration in finance from Goldey-Beacom College. She participated in the AHIP Foundation’s Minority Management Development Program, now part of AHIP’s Executive Leadership Program.

Andrew is the CEO of Buoy Health, an AI-powered digital health company that aims to be your all-in-one platform for health. Andrew founded Buoy in 2014 with a team of doctors and data scientists at the Harvard Innovation Labs. It was their goal to remove the fear and confusion we often encounter when “googling” our health symptoms by providing a safe, accurate tool to help people self-diagnose. Over the last six years, Andrew has led the company through two successful funding rounds, raising over $30 million, with prominent healthcare investors including Optum, Cigna, Humana, Bill Hambrecht, and F-Prime. He obtained his MD from Harvard Medical School and his BA from Harvard College.

Michelle Lim, SPHR serves as the Human Resources Manager for Planisware USA, a global provider of Project Portfolio Management software. With over 10 years in the Human Resources field, she brings expertise in recruitment, benefits and compensation, employee relations, compliance and immigration. Throughout her career in Human Resources on various levels, she has advocated for employees' career growth and well-being, while fostering a healthy company culture toward company's visions and goals.

Jack G. London, D.D. is the President/CEO and founder of London Medical Management, Inc., and PatientPAL.org. Since 1995 Patient PAL has become one of the nation’s leading patient advocacy services helping over 3,000,000 members across the country. London Medical Management, Inc. specialized in Large Claim Negotiations, Wellness Plan Development and Coaching, provider network analysis and building and managing proprietary networks.

Jack is frequently asked to be a featured speaker at Healthcare Industry Seminars and has authored many articles on medical management, Wellness initiatives and Patient Advocacy. In addition to his healthcare career, Jack is a former Television and Radio Talk Show Host and published Author of “21 Keys to Your Success”.

Jack is a founding member of the first College of Pharmacy in Las Vegas and a member of the American Cancer society and former publicity board chairman for Habitat for Humanity.

London Medical Management, Inc. has two office locations. Their corporate office is in Las Vegas and their 24 hour/7 day per week call center is located in Branson, Missouri.

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.

With deep roots in managing Safety programs, Dan Ludwig, Director of Benefits & Safety, brings over 20 years of experience in loss reduction. Under Dan’s watch, Brakebush Brothers, Inc. has seen a 75% decrease in occupational incident rates. Dan’s interest in connecting occupational and non-occupational losses evolved as he took on Benefits and the Wellness program in 2014 and shifted his focus to reducing health insurance losses. Brakebush has since opened an onsite clinic offering primary and acute care as well as a robust musculoskeletal injury prevention program, a centers of excellence program, and strategies to reduce prescription costs. Brakebush member premiums have not increased for four of the last five years and per member costs were lower in 2018 than in 2014.

As a result of Dan’s direction, Brakebush was awarded The Alliance (Wisconsin) Healthcare Transformation Award in 2018, and the 2019 Employer/Purchaser Excellence Award by the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions.

David is a senior vice president and leads the Data Forensics & Intelligence national team for Aon’s Innovation practice. David is a recognized thought leader in creating and implementing both standard and custom data and measurement solutions that assure a high value and return on investment. Dave brings 18+ years of demonstrated accomplishment within the integrated health analytics and measurement arena.

Prior to joining Aon, David was at Ingenix for 13 years. His most recent assignment was the leader of the Custom Solutions team within the Employer Advisory Solutions practice. He managed an elite team of business analysts, project managers, and data programming experts who excelled at assessing customer needs corresponding to non-standard engagements, and assuring customers received a high value return. David also held other positions while at Ingenix including the Managing Consultant for the East Solution Group and Product Manager for the Ingenix Employer Solution’s Total Health & Productivity Management (THPM) product family.

Prior to Ingenix, David worked for Aetna US Healthcare as a Financial Underwriter and a Financial Accounting Analyst. He was responsible for the financial management and integrity of insured, at-risk accounts on the prospectively rated book of business.

Sigi Marmorstein is a hardworking Nurse leader, educator and innovator. She is also a Telehealth Consultant with over 65+ Successful Telehealth Implementation projects. Her role as a Telehealth Consultant is the culmination of a 20-year career in health care spanning employers such as Davita, Kaiser Permanente, USC, Adventist Health and West Coast University. Sigi has years of experience in the health care industry as an emergency room provider, operations manager, project management, business owner as well as academia. Consistently throughout her diverse career she remained devoted to finding solutions to improve patient access to care using health technologies and have won several awards for such programs. Her latest venture and her third startup, BabyLiveAdvice is a social enterprise that was meant to empower mothers and parents in hope to reduce maternal-child morbidity and mortality through education and support. Sigi is recognized in several publications and a recurring, invited speaker in key conferences. She established multiple telehealth programs internationally. Her contributions to the international communities she serves was recently recognized by UNICEF in Geneva. In November Sigi was an Invited participant in Exponential Medicine Conference, as a fellow of Blue Cross. BabyLiveAdvice, her company, was features in the innovation lab, at that same conference. Sigi contribution to nursing academia, expansion and development of the nursing profession earned her much recognition and awards. She is an invited guest scholar to many health sciences programs and schools. She established the Master of Science in nursing and the family nurse practitioner tracks at West Coat University and was able to receive full accreditation for both programs. As a founder of a residency program for family nurse practitioners in Emergency Medicine she earned the role of Chief ER nurse practitioner at Verdugo Hills Hospital. Today there are over 500 family nurse practitioners working in emergency departments across California based on the care model established by Mrs. Marmorstein. Presently, Sigi is involved in Telehealth curriculum development at Western University of Health sciences, where she established first of its kind Telehealth simulation laboratory. Sigi is a member of the ANA, AANP, CANP, ACNL, HRSA, ATA and HIMMS. She serves as legislative Chair for the California Association of Nurse practitioner and been involved in advocacy work in California Senate. She is a member of the Nursing Leadership Council Advisory Committee at the Hospital Association of Southern California. She is the past vice president of West Coast University, Honor society of Nursing, Chi beta chapter of STTI. And a past active member of the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care through the California Action Coalition

Dr. Roger Marshall, Congressman for Kansas' Big 1st District, is a physician, devoted father and husband. He and his wife, Laina, have been married for 36 years and are the parents of four children, and have two grandchildren. As a physician, Dr. Marshall has delivered more than 5000 babies, giving him a deep appreciation for the sanctity of life, and an intimate understanding of the healthcare system.

Marshall graduated from Kansas State University with an undergraduate degree in biochemistry before attending the University of Kansas Medical School. He received his Medical Doctorate in 1987 and moved on to his residency in St. Petersburg, Florida. In his final year of residency, he was not only named Teacher of the Year by all other residents and faculty, but also received the Resident Research Award. Following his residency, he returned to Kansas where he began his practice in Great Bend.

Since coming to Congress to represent Kansas' 1st District, Dr. Marshall has utilized his depth of medical and family experience, and much more. He brings seven years of Army Reserve experience, where he helped train a mobile hospital support unit and rose to the rank of Captain. His life began on a Kansas farm, and he preserves his deep agricultural appreciation and understanding through participating in a cattle feeding operation.

Community has been a pillar of Marshall's life, and is a focus to this day. He is a board member of Farmer's Bank and Trust, the community bank that has served central Kansas for 100 years. He has been an Elder, Deacon, and twice board chair of his church. He has also coached in his community youth sports programs, and spends as much time as possible at Quivera National Wildlife Refuge and Cheyenne Bottoms.

In Congress, Dr. Marshall serves on the House Ag Committee and the Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Catherine McCarron is the vice president of clinical programs for Health Partners Plans (HPP), a not-for-profit health plan serving more than 259,000 Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP members. In this role, Ms. McCarron oversees the clinical operations and care coordination services for the Medicaid and CHIP lines of business. She is charged with enhancing the organization’s clinical care management programs, which are administered by community-based, telephonic and field-based staff. HPP clinical programs are designed to meet members’ social, medical and behavioral health needs. Programs include Healthy Kids (for members under age 21), Baby Partners (maternity program), Special Needs and Care Coordination for complex adults and children. Ms. McCarron also analyzes health plan data and trends and creates interventions to help improve health outcomes for HPP members.

Ms. McCarron is a veteran in the health care industry with more than 15 years in quality management at HPP and other Pennsylvania Medicaid Managed Care Organizations. She has extensive knowledge of plan accreditation, quality management operations, HEDIS improvement and compliance and provider credentialing. She has recognized expertise in developing incentive programs to promote better health among low-income populations.

Before joining HPP, Ms. McCarron worked for UnitedHealth Group as the director of quality management and credentialing.

Ms. McCarron earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Holy Family University and is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality. She has also completed Duke’s Integrative Health Coach Professional Training Program.

Christopher McFadden joined the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) as a Managing Director in 2018. Tasked with building the firm’s healthcare private credit practice, he has applied his industry expertise to invest over $1.2B in the healthcare sector to date.

Mr. McFadden’s previous career includes senior roles at Athyrium Capital Management and Health Evolution Partners, as well as serving as the General Partner of Canyon Healthcare Partners, a healthcare-focused private equity firm he founded in 2014.

His interest in healthcare investing began with a recognition of the power of economics, financial markets and public policy to shape the $3 trillion U.S. healthcare economy. Examining the interplay of these three elements propelled his early career, leading him to serve as a Managing Director with Goldman Sachs, where he became an award-wining equity research analyst.

Mr. McFadden has held a number of governance roles, including Trustee for Montefiore Medical Center and serving on the Board of Directors at Mauna Kea Technologies, InnovaTel Telepsychiatry, Healthcare Staffing Services/Fastaff, Athenahealth, and Reliant Rehabilitation.

Mr. McFadden holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He lives in Northern California with his wife and three children.

Jo Ellen is the National Housing+Health Growth Lead for the UHC Housing+Health programs of United Healthcare. Led by Dr. Jeffery Brenner, former CEO of the Camden Coalition in Camden, New Jersey, Jo Ellen is part of a national specialty work group within United Healthcare focusing on identify housing opportunities for members who are homeless, medically vulnerable, and disconnected from community and family resources.. This investment is aimed at successfully reducing healthcare spend and improving healthcare outcomes. Jo Ellen joined United Healthcare in 2016 and provides expertise around Non-Profit Management and Non-Profit Housing partnerships (financing, operations, and leadership structure), HUD financing and initiatives, Fair Housing, and Business Analytics.

Prior to her work with United Healthcare, Jo Ellen spent more than 20 years in community development and affordable housing work. Her work has included the running Community Development Corporations aligned with community hospitals focused on housing counseling and housing rehab, a transitional housing and drop in center for homeless young adults, and providing large agency leadership for building community relationships, project support, and financing opportunities for affordable housing development and operations.

Jo Ellen’s early work in community development included serving as an grantor and oversight manager of HUD and local initiative funds and supporting initiatives in affordable housing, community economic development, small business support, community safety, and community outreach.

Neil Meltzer is president and CEO of LifeBridge Health, a position he has held since 2013. Mr. Meltzer joined Sinai Hospital of Baltimore as vice president of operations in 1988, and a decade later became Sinai’s president and chief operating officer.

As CEO of LifeBridge Health, Mr. Meltzer has led the system through a period of strategic growth with a mission to transform the organization into an integrated health care delivery system, offering a full spectrum of care. Along with the acquisition of Carroll Hospital in 2015, Mr. Meltzer has expanded the system through key partnerships, including alliances with organizations that provide medical transportation, retail pharmacy, urgent care, health insurance, assisted living and more.

Mr. Meltzer has a background in public health and brings a community-focused approach to every health care decision. He serves on the boards of the Greater Baltimore Committee, Notre Dame of Maryland University, the Maryland Hospital Association, the Hippodrome Foundation and Everyman Theatre. Additionally, Mr. Meltzer serves on the advisory board of the University of Maryland School of Public Health. On the national level, he continues to work with the American Heart Association after serving as national chairman. He was also one of 15 national workforce health care champions appointed by former president, Barack Obama.

Mr. Meltzer earned his Master of Public Health and Health Administration from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in Louisiana, and his undergraduate degree in public health from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Among many honors, the Maryland Daily Record has recognized Mr. Meltzer as an Influential Marylander and a Most Admired CEO and has awarded him its ICON Honor. The Baltimore Business Journal has named Mr. Meltzer as one of its Power 10 CEOs, and, in 2019, the Baltimore Museum of Industry named him “Industrialist of the Year.”

Jonathan Merson, MD, is the founding medical director of the Northwell Health Emergency Telepsychiatry Service and the associate vice president for clinical operations for the health system’s Behavioral Health Services. He is also an assistant professor of psychiatry and emergency medicine at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.

Prior to joining Northwell, Dr. Merson served as a faculty emergency psychiatrist at Columbia University Medical Center and as a mental health officer of the United Nations Medical Services Division. He is currently a member of the NYC Mayor’s Crisis Prevention and Response Task Force and the National Coalition on Psychiatric Emergencies.

Dr. Merson, a Geneva, Switzerland native who provides care in multiple languages including French and Spanish, is a graduate of Yale University, Harvard Medical School and the NYU-Bellevue Psychiatry Residency.

Byron Mickle oversees and provides executive leadership to the Sales and Marketing departments at Navitus Health Solutions, a full pass-through pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) and industry alternative to traditional models. As such, Navitus is committed to taking the unnecessary costs out of pharmacy benefits to make prescriptions more affordable for plan sponsors and their members. Since Byron joined Navitus in 2007, his leadership has helped catapult the organization’s managed members from half a million to over six million.

During Byron’s tenure at Navitus, he championed the development of Navi-Gate® 3D, an industry-leading data analytics and reporting tool that offers unprecedented customization and analytical power to clients in an easy-to-use graphical depiction. He also drove the development of ClearView Rx, an industry-first tool that illuminates PBM comparisons for plan sponsors and consultants by enabling accurate financial evaluation between different models.

Byron draws on almost 35 years of health care experience, including 30 years in the PBM industry and 15+ years in executive roles. Prior to joining Navitus, he held senior sales leadership positions at industry giants Express Scripts and Medco Health. With an intimate understanding of the different PBM models and broad industry experience, Byron provides unique insight on the PBM landscape.

Byron holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Phoenix.

Mike leads the onsite Health Clinic Practice at Aon and is located in Chicago, IL. He has 19 years of experience in population health management and brings practical skills in the areas of employer sponsored on-site/near site health clinics, on-site fitness centers, wellbeing strategies, targeted population health interventions and program evaluation.

Prior to Aon, Mike was the Senior Vice President of Operations at United Wellness Group, where he leveraged his years in population health management consulting, operations and leadership to help the company grow its business throughout the country. Prior to this role, Mike was a Regional Health and Productivity Consultant with USI Insurance Services, where he advised clients on wellbeing, on-site clinics and on-site fitness center strategies, as well as specializing in vendor selection and vendor management. Previously he held the National Director of Wellness role at Plus One Health Management, where he served on the Senior Management Team and was responsible for product development and account management services.

Nick Minale is the Data Officer and Senior Director of IT Enterprise Data Management for Johns Hopkins HealthCare LLC. In this role, Nick is responsible for providing enterprise level vision and strategy for all data management activities as well as defining and implementing a Data Governance strategy.

Nick has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry with institutions including Anthem BCBS and SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Nick has extensive prior experience in both application development and Data Management with roles such as Director of Application Development, Director of Data Analysis and Manager of Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence.

Nick has a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from Syracuse University.

Paige Minemyer is a senior editor at FierceHealthcare, overseeing the team’s coverage of payer trends and news from across the country. Since joining the Fierce team, she’s covered the spectrum of the healthcare industry, including providers, technology and policy, and prior to moving to the District, she earned multiple awards as a local newspaper reporter.

Her recent work has involved deep dives into the pharmacy benefit management industry and tracking the evolving conversation around the Affordable Care Act. She can frequently be found trailing federal health officials.

She’s an alumnus of the Pennsylvania State University, and thus a diehard Nittany Lion sports fan. When she's not diving into a new payment rule, you can expect to catch her relaxing with her cat, Jon Snow.

Angela Mingo serves as the Director of Community Relations for Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She is responsible for developing and managing strategic partnerships with external organizations. Angela directs the community engagement efforts of the hospital and works closely with neighborhood and civic organizations. She has been instrumental in the implementation of the Healthy Neighborhoods, Healthy Families initiative, a five-prong approach to neighborhood revitalization efforts on the city’s Southside, led by Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Angela served as the Community Affairs Director with Columbus City Council from 2000-2007. There, she worked with community leaders and local elected officials to support the clean indoor air ordinance and citywide affordable housing initiatives.

Angela currently serves on the United Way of Central Ohio Home Impact Council. She is a former mayoral appointed commissioner with the City of Columbus Community Relations Commission and served on the commission’s executive board.

Angela serves as a gubernatorial appointment to the Ohio Lottery Commission. She serves on the boards of the Greater Ohio Policy Center, Parsons Avenue Redevelopment Corporation, NeXT Basketball Foundation, Leadership Columbus, Stowe Mission of Central Ohio, and Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing. She is a member of the Fifth Third Community Advisory Forum and the Columbus Office of Minority Health Advisory Committee. Angela is a graduate of the Leadership Columbus 2012 Class and participant in the Big Brother, Big Sisters mentoring program. Angela earned bachelor’s degrees in Portuguese and international relations as well as her master’s of city and regional planning degree from The Ohio State University. Angela’s honors include Columbus Business First Health Care Heroes Award, Greater Columbus Community Helping Hands Community Relations Ambassador Award, and recognition in Who’s Who in Black Columbus.

Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan is President and CEO for the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement and Catalyst Institute. In this role, she oversees the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement and Impact Group, leading research and grantmaking activities focused on improving oral health, integrating oral health and overall health through medical/dental collaborations, moving toward a value-based payment model, and guiding a growing research and data portfolio.

Myechia joined DentaQuest in 2019 after twelve years at the Roxbury, Mass.-based Dimock Center. Considered a national model for comprehensive health and human services, Dimock focuses on the integration of clinical and behavioral health and is the second largest health center in the Boston area. As CEO, Myechia formed partnerships with world-class institutions, including Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Partners HealthCare to advance person-centered care. Before that, Myechia served as Chief Medical Officer and successfully led transformative efforts including the switch to an electronic medical record system, establishing an Institutional Review Board, and earning a $4.9 million federal grant to become a designated primary medical home.

Prior to Dimock, Myechia worked for Johns Hopkins Medicine as an attending physician and instructor of medicine. She graduated from Brown University School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University Carey School of Business and received honorary doctorates from Northeastern University and Newbury College.

Myechia serves on several boards and committees that include the Yawkey Foundation, The Boston Foundation, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. In the past, she has served on several boards and committees that include appointed positions within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the City of Boston including MA Health Planning Council Advisory Committee, the Boston Public Health Commission, and RIZE Massachusetts where she focused on combating the opioid epidemic.

Chris Molaro is the CEO and co-founder of NeuroFlow, a digital health technology and analytics company promoting behavioral health access and engagement in all care settings. Chris is a former U.S. Army Captain from the US Military Academy at West Point and earned his MBA at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where he also spent time as digital health consultant at McKinsey. Chris was also the founder of the literacy non-profit Things We Read.

Seth Moulton was first called to service when he joined the Marines in 2001, days after graduating from college and months before the attacks on 9/11. As the leader of an infantry platoon, he was among the first Americans to reach Baghdad in 2003. He served four tours in a war that he didn’t agree with – but he was proud to go, so no one had to go in his place.

After returning home from Iraq, Seth earned joint degrees in Business and Public Policy at graduate school, and then worked in the private sector in Texas to build the country’s first high speed rail line. But it wasn’t long before he was called to serve once again – this time in his home district in Massachusetts.

Seth ran – and won – on a platform of bringing a new generation of leadership to Washington, becoming the only Democrat to unseat an incumbent in a primary in 2014.

In the two terms since he was first sworn in, Seth has worked tirelessly to uphold his commitment to bipartisanship. He has passed several bipartisan bills, including the Faster Care for Veterans Act and the Modernizing Government Travel Act, and was named the most effective freshman Democrat by the Center for Effective Lawmaking. He has also concentrated on spurring economic development in Massachusetts, creating the first intergovernmental task force focused on growing the economy of Lynn, the biggest city in his district.

Today, as a member of the Budget Committee, Seth is focused on creating a new economic agenda that will make a difference for American families. He also sits on the House Armed Services Committee and is the top Democrat on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

Seth lives in Salem, Massachusetts with his wife, Elizabeth, and their daughter, Emmy.

Shannon Muchmore is the editor of Healthcare Dive, an online publication for industry executives. She joined Healthcare Dive in January 2017 after covering policy and politics for Modern Healthcare. She has been a journalist for more than a decade, with a focus on healthcare for several years, and has a bachelor's degree from Oklahoma State University.

Kevin Murphy, Executive Vice President, Complex Care, Clover Health. For the past three years Mr. Murphy has led Clover’s efforts to improve the lives and clinical outcomes of their highest risk members originally through Principium Health, which he co-founded and served as CEO and now from within Clover. Mr. Murphy joined Clover in September 2018 due to their dedication and passion in serving their most vulnerable members. Prior to founding Principium, Mr. Murphy served as COO of U.S. Medical Management and Visiting Physicians Association from 2011 to 2015. As COO of USMM he transformed the nation’s largest house call practice (U.S. Medical Management/VPA) from a 17-year-old Fee-For-Service house call practice into one of the most successful value-based medical practices to date. Mr. Murphy has dedicated the last nine years of his career to serving vulnerable Medicare patients in the home setting and has become a thought leader in Complex Care.

Anahita Nakhjiri is an Associate on the Investment team at Echo Health Ventures based in the Seattle office. She is responsible for transaction execution and portfolio management.

Prior to joining Echo Health Ventures in 2019, Anahita served as a Senior Associate at McKesson Ventures in San Francisco. She co-led the team's portfolio development efforts and assisted in sourcing and performing due diligence on new digital health investment opportunities. Previously, Anahita was a consultant with The Advisory Board Company, advising health system executives on clinical workflow improvement and implementation of performance technologies.

Anahita graduated from The George Washington University with a bachelor's degree in Business and a concentration in Economics & Public Policy.

Steven Nelson leads the Contigo Health team as President and was one of the leaders who initiated the strategy behind Contigo Health within Premier. Before joining Premier, Nelson was a leader at Anthem Inc. where he served as Vice President of Strategy and Planning and COO of Anthem’s diversified business group. Prior to joining Anthem, Nelson led strategy, product and marketing at Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and helped to build Allegheny Health Network, a provider entity consisting of seven hospitals, 2,000 doctors and various other facilities. Nelson has a deep and personal commitment to giving back to his local community as well as the global community, including leading charity work in Haiti. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree from Ohio University. He and his family reside outside of Pittsburgh, in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Oravetz joined Ochsner 8 years ago with over 20 years of innovative healthcare leadership experience in both administration and medicine. As Chief Population Health Officer at Ochsner Health System in New Orleans, Louisiana, Dr. Oravetz provides physician leadership to the system’s Accountable Care Network, which is the largest integrated delivery system in southeast Louisiana. As an experienced medical professional in integrated delivery, Dr. Oravetz serves as lead in development of Ochsner’s Population Risk Management Model and the Pursuit of Value initiative. He has been published in many prominent industry trade publications including, Strategic Health Care Marketing Magazine and FAM Med. Dr. Oravetz is a highly respected and distinguished speaker at industry conferences and medical management educational events.

Over the course of his medical career, Dr. Oravetz has practiced in health care settings throughout the United States, including Rhode Island, South Carolina, Massachusetts and California. In addition to his experience as a practitioner, Dr. Oravetz has served as Preceptor and both, Associate and Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the California College of Medicine, University of California-Irvine. Dr. Oravetz earned his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Yale University, medical degree from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, residency at Brown University, Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology from the University of California- Los Angeles, School of Public Health and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California- Irvine, Graduate School of Management.

Matt leads HealthSparq’s efforts to develop and continually improve industry-leading transparency and guidance solutions that meet the needs of health plans, while also helping their members take more control of their health care. He has more than 15 years of experience in the health care technology product industry. Prior to HealthSparq, he was the VP of Products at Connecture, where he led product management of its SaaS products, including Medicare, individual and family and group shopping, and enrollment products. Before joining Connecture, he was the VP of Clinical Products at DestinationRX. Among his professional passions are streamlining implementations so that customers are up and running with new products quickly, and pushing for easier and more effective data sharing though transparency and interoperability.

Dr. Kavita Patel is currently the Vice President of Payer and Provider Integration at the Johns Hopkins Health System where she is also a practicing primary care physician. She is also a Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Dr. Patel was previously a Director of Policy for The White House under President Obama and a senior advisor to the late Senator Edward Kennedy. Her prior research in healthcare quality and community approaches to mental illness have earned national recognition and she has published numerous papers and book chapters on healthcare reform and health policy. She has testified before Congress several times and she is a frequent guest expert on NPR, CBS, NBC and MSNBC as well as serving on the editorial board of the journal Health Affairs.

Dr. Robert Pearl is the former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group (1999-2017), the nation’s largest medical group, and former president of The Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group (2009-2017). In these roles he led 10,000 physicians, 38,000 staff and was responsible for the nationally recognized medical care of 5 million Kaiser Permanente members on the west and east coasts. Recently named one of Modern Healthcare’s 50 most influential physician leaders, Pearl is an advocate for the power of integrated, prepaid, technologically advanced and physician-led healthcare delivery.

He serves as a clinical professor of plastic surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine and is on the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he teaches courses on strategy and leadership, and lectures on information technology and health care policy.

In 2017 he authored “Mistreated: Why We think We’re Getting Good Healthcare—And Why We’re Usually Wrong” a Washington Post bestseller that offers a roadmap for transforming American healthcare. All proceeds from the book go to Doctors Without Borders.

As a regular contributor to Forbes, Pearl covers the business of healthcare and the culture of medicine. He’s the host of a new podcast called “Fixing Healthcare,” which debuted in the iTunes top 100 list of science and medicine programs. He has been featured on CBS This Morning, CNBC, NPR, and in TIME, USA Today and Bloomberg News. He has published more than 100 articles in various medical journals and contributed to numerous books. He is a frequent keynote speaker at healthcare and medical technology conferences. Pearl has addressed the Commonwealth Club, the World Healthcare Congress, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s National Quality Forum.

Board certified in plastic and reconstructive surgery, Pearl received his medical degree from the Yale University School of Medicine, followed by a residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Stanford University. From 2012 to 2017, Pearl served as chairman of the Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP), which includes the nation’s largest and best multispecialty medical groups, and participated in the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Delivery System Reform and Health IT in Washington, D.C.

Connect with Dr. Robert Pearl on Twitter >@RobertPearlMD, LinkedIn and at his website robertpearlmd.com.

Brian D. Pieninck is President and Chief Executive Officer of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, a leading multiline not-for-profit insurer.

Brian joined CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in April 2015 as Executive Vice President of the Large Group Strategic Business Unit (SBU). He assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer in May 2017 with responsibility for the organization’s four Strategic Business Units as well as Technology & Operational Support Services.

In May of 2018, Brian was unanimously selected by the CareFirst Boards to become the President and CEO, beginning his leadership of the company on July 1, 2018.

Prior to joining CareFirst, Brian was a member of Aetna Inc.’s executive team where he held key leadership positions during a 19-year tenure, including Director of Professional Employer Organizations, President of Southeast National Accounts, and President of the Americas for Aetna International.

Brian serves on the Boards of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Blue Health Intelligence, Federal Employee Program Board of Managers (FEP BOM), Sharecare, Inc., the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore (EAGB) and Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC). Additionally, Brian serves on the Board of the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH) and the Maryland Special Olympics.

Brian holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Studies Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University and is a graduate of Leadership Maryland’s Class of 2016. A native of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Brian and his family currently reside in Baltimore County, Maryland.

Rebecca Pifer has been an associate editor with Healthcare Dive since 2018. She writes on a broad range of industry topics, but most enjoys reporting on health policy and the intersection of healthcare and technology. A DMV native, Rebecca has degrees in English and Psychology from the University of Virginia.

Ms. Popwell serves as the Chief Strategy Officer for Ascension Michigan where she is responsible for the strategic direction and alignment of the Ministry Market. Ascension is a faith-based healthcare organization dedicated to transformation through innovation across the continuum of care. As one of the leading non-profit and Catholic health systems in the U.S., Ascension is committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable. In FY2018, Ascension provided nearly $2 billion in care of persons living in poverty and other community benefit programs. Ascension includes approximately 156,000 associates and 34,000 aligned providers. The national health system operates more than 2,600 sites of care – including 151 hospitals and more than 50 senior living facilities – in 21 states and the District of Columbia, while providing a variety of services including physician practice management, venture capital investing, investment management, biomedical engineering, facilities management, clinical care management, information services, risk management, and contracting through Ascension’s own group purchasing organization.

Prior to her role with Ascension, Ms. Popwell served as Vice President, Strategy Executive for the Strategic Service Group of Atrium Health. She led the organization wide strategy management process and advised System level executives in her areas of expertise which include: strategic planning, strategy execution, strategic growth, service line planning, portfolio/ project management, and cost management.

Prior to this position, Ms. Popwell was the Chief Ancillary Executive at Carolinas HealthCare System-Cleveland including two hospitals, one nursing home and a long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) in Cleveland County. Ms. Popwell was responsible for all Ancillary and Support Services for CCHS, and she was with the organization for a little over 12 years. During that time, she led the team to award winning quality outcomes, award winning patient satisfaction results, top tier employee engagement results, and successful growth strategies in a turbulent healthcare climate and challenging per capita income community.

Ms. Popwell has been a healthcare professional for over 25 years. Over the course of her career, Ms. Popwell has served as a quality and accreditation senior leader as well as a healthcare consultant specializing in the use of benchmarking and labor productivity data. She is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Association as well as a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum (ALF). She is also certified as a Project Management Professional and was honored in 2015 with the Charlotte region’s Top 50 Most Influential Women Award.

Matthew Rae is the Associate Director for the Program on the Health Care Marketplace at the Kaiser Family Foundation. The program researches and analyzes the private insurance market and policy proposals to reform it. In this capacity, Matthew has managed the Employer Health Benefit Survey since 2011. He has a special interest in analytic methods, data analysis, including gleaning lessons from survey and claims data.

Matthew is currently a PhD Student at the George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. He earned a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and a Graduate Certificate in Survey Design and Data Analysis from the George Washington University. Prior to joining the Foundation, Matthew worked at the Government Accountability Office, Small Business Services for the City of New York, the Service Employees International Union and the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals.

Kevin Reid serves as Director of Risk Management at Security Industry Specialists, Inc. Starting in 2014, Kevin was brought in to navigate the newly Self-Funded benefits plan and has since expanded his role to include all business commercial insurance and leave of absence programs. SIS, with Kevin's guidance, has developed a proprietary Benefits Enrollment portal for all SIS employees to expedite Open Enrollment and Life Event changes made throughout the year.

Prior to Security Industry Specialists, Kevin was a licensed Life & Health and Property & Casualty broker for 14 years. He attended Eastern Washington University in Cheney, WA and was a place kicker on the Eagles football team. Kevin is based out the SIS headquarters office in Culver City, CA.

George Ribaroff, MD is on the investment team at Meridian Street Capital, a venture fund that focuses on investments into early stage healthcare IT, tech and service companies. Prior to joining Meridian Street Capital, George practiced internal and emergency medicine at a number of NHS teaching hospitals in central London. Alongside his clinical work, he led a team delivering new education and mentorship programs to Imperial College School of Medicine students. He has published in areas spanning Reproductive Science and Endocrinology.

Previously, George spent time as an operator in a tech-enabled healthcare service business in London, focusing on remote patient monitoring. He helped to build out a new digital health focused fund, partnering with the DigitalHealth.London Accelerator program. Other interests include Global and Mental Health, having worked on improving liaison psychiatry care and delivering HIV care in rural communities in Kenya.

George earned a B.Sc in Reproductive Biology with honors and an M.D. from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. George completed his medical foundation training at St Mary’s Paddington and Ealing Hospital.

Dave Richard is the Deputy Secretary, NC Medicaid, where he leads North Carolina’s $14 billion Medicaid and NC Health Choice programs for the state’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Richard’s vision for Medicaid is to ensure a sustainable, personcentered and innovative Medicaid program for more than two million North Carolinians who use Medicaid. As the programs undergo transformation to even better fit the needs of state and its residents, he is committed to the fundamental goal of improving the health and well-being of all residents. Richard believes the right way to achieve success is to work closely with stakeholders in all aspects of Medicaid.

Prior to leading Medicaid, Richard was the Deputy Secretary for DHHS Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Services and the State Operated Healthcare Facilities divisions. He joined DHHS in May 2013 as the Director of the Division of Mental Health, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services. Richard joined DHHS after leading The Arc of North Carolina, an advocacy and service organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as its Executive Director for 24 years.

Richard has a bachelor’s degree in education from Louisiana State University.

When not hosting the award-winning Relentless Health Value Podcast, Stacey is co-president of Aventria Health Group, a consultancy and marketing agency. Aventria specializes in helping pharmacy, pharma, health system and professional organization clients improve patient outcomes by creating and leveraging collaborations with other health care organizations.

In 2018, Stacey co-founded QC-Health, a cause-driven benefit corporation seeking to leverage the experience and wherewithal of its founders in pursuit of healthcare’s quadruple aim. Currently, QC-Health offers three programs: Outcome Guided Engagements for provider organizations, QC-MyMeds for Employers, and Virtual Tumor Boards for insurance carriers and pharmaceutical companies.

Stacey studied economics at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Stockholm. For more than 20 years, Stacey has innovated better-coordinated health solutions benefiting all stakeholders, and, most of all, the patient.

Gabe Roberts is the former Tennessee Medicaid (“TennCare”) and CHIP Director. Under his leadership, TennCare, among other things, experienced annual medical trends that were roughly half the national Medicaid average while enjoying member satisfaction ratings in the mid-90th percentile. He was responsible for guiding the development of and securing the funding for recent policies to extend post-partum coverage for women on Medicaid in Tennessee from 60 days to one year and halving the IDD waiting list in Tennessee. He was also responsible for designing and implementing a first-of-its-kind Katie Beckett program that would cover not only the traditional Katie Beckett child population but also a more non-traditional Katie Beckett child and family population through a Medicaid diversion program. And he designed the first-of-its-kind modified Block Grant funding model that, among other things, would allow Tennessee to invest significant new dollars into its Medicaid population on an annual basis, which means Tennessee would cover additional populations and would enhance benefits for current members. This modified Block Grant proposal would ensure longstanding coverage of these populations and benefits by bringing about additional fiscal sustainability to the program without increasing the state tax burden to Tennesseans.

While serving as the TennCare Director, Gabe served as a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Medicaid Directors and was named a Fellow with the Medicaid Leadership Institute. TennCare was recognized with multiple national awards during his tenure as Director, including recognition for its nation-leading, value-based payment and delivery system transformation efforts. Prior to serving as the TennCare Director, Gabe served as the TennCare Deputy Director/Chief Operating Officer and the TennCare General Counsel.

Before joining TennCare, Gabe practiced corporate law at the Nashville law firm Sherrard, Roe, Voigt & Harbison where his focus was private equity investment transactions. Prior to law school, Gabe was a CPA with the international accounting firm Ernst & Young.

Gabe is a graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School where he was a member of The Vanderbilt Law Review. He also holds an Accountancy Degree and an Economics Degree from the University of Mississippi. Gabe is active in the Nashville community having served on the Board of Directors for a number of not-for-profits, having represented Nashville at Harvard Business School, and having been named as one of Nashville’s Top 40 Under 40. Gabe and his wife have five children and are active members of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville.

Sandy has more than 15 years of experience in product marketing and distribution roles across the broker, insurance and health industries. As a champion for improving the lives of members and patients through leading-edge technology and communications, she has led product development and strategic initiatives throughout her career. She is passionate about influencing better decision-making to improve health and business outcomes.

Karen Romans is a licensed clinical social worker and serves as Fitbit Health Solutions’ Director of Clinical Operations and Customer Success. She obtained her Masters in Clinical Social Work from New York University. In addition to practicing psychotherapy, much of Karen’s career has been spent in behavioral health and chronic disease care management partnering with health systems, private payers and Medicaid. Prior to joining Fitbit, Karen was Head of Customer Success at Twine Health.

Valinda Rutledge is currently the Vice President, Public Payor Health Strategy in the Care Coordination Institute at Greenville Health System, SC. She is responsible for identifying, analyzing, and supporting the implementation of opportunities related to government initiatives such as Bundled payments, Medicare advantage, Medicaid pilots, Dual Eligible, PCMH, and ACOs.

She previously worked as a founding member of the leadership team (Senior Advisor and Group Director) at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation (CMMI) where she helped build the Innovation Center from its startup phase and managed the design and launch of several of the Center's models. In particular, she led the development and rollout of the Bundled Payment for Care Improvement Initiative, Strong Start and other national programs related to care transformation.

Before joining CMS, Ms. Rutledge served as the Chief Executive Officer of several systems including Bon Secours, SSM Health, and CaroMont Health in Gastonia, North Carolina where she led the development of a 210-day bundled knee payment arrangement between CaroMont Health and North Carolina's largest health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.

Ms. Rutledge received the 2013 Becker’s Healthcare Leadership Award, which is given to the top 30 individuals in the nation who demonstrate leadership and impact to the industry on a national level. She currently serves on several National Scientific Advisory Boards including Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) and as a Subject Matter Expert for SG2 (part of Vizient) where she is responsible for assisting in the development of Sg2’s national thought leadership regarding payment transformation.

Ms. Rutledge holds two advanced degrees: a Master of Business Administration degree from Butler University in Indianapolis and a Master of Science degree in nursing from Wayne State University in Detroit. She is frequently sought as a national speaker in the area of payment, clinical innovation, and population health.

MJ Ryan is the senior director for workforce development and economic opportunity for Partners HealthCare, where she has held various clinical, teaching and management positions. MJ currently leads a small team that complements hospital-based workforce initiatives and fosters system-wide collaborations with key partners and stakeholders involved in skill development and job readiness training for community residents, (youth and adult), and career advancement opportunities for Partners’ incumbent workforce. Over the past decade, Partners incumbent worker initiatives have focused on innovative strategies to increase access to higher education and career advancement through digital learning, coaching and flexible options for working adults.

MJ is an active participant in multiple local, state, and national workforce convenings, and leads several healthcare workforce initiatives. She is the current chair of the Boston Health Care Careers Consortium and member of the MassHires Workforce Investment Board Council and the JVS Boston Advisory Council. Additionally, MJ helped to launch and continues to provide technical assistance for The CareerSTAT Health Care Workforce Academy, an initiative of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions. MJ also co-chairs the Direct Care Workforce sub-committee of to the Massachusetts Health Care Collaborative, a newly established statewide initiative to increase access to health care roles leading to family sustaining income for Massachusetts residents. MJ holds a BS degree in Education from University of Maine at Orono, a certificate in Nuclear Medicine Technology from Rhode Island Hospital, and a graduate degree in Health Care Management from Cambridge College.

Executive innovation leader and investment advisor on strategy, startup, inclusion and partnerships that grow new capabilities, develop new business opportunities, and position companies at the forefront. Developer of innovation strategic partnerships, innovation centers, innovation funds and ecosystems that drive transformation initiatives in healthcare, technology, and financial services,. Goal-driven collaborator and advisor with success leading strategy, investments and innovation for large, global corporations, building from her experience at Kaiser Permanente, Blue Shield, AIG, Charles Schwab, and Deloitte Consulting.

Faye is currently Managing Director at Vinaj, investing in digital health startups with Telosity.co Fund and consulting in innovation and venture investments with corporations. She currently serves on the Board of Director: Ayogo Health, Ascend Leadership, Berger Research, Claremont McKenna Alumni and Advisor to: UCSF Catalyst, Samsung Emerging Tech, Somnology MD, Food System 6, Exponential Talent, Asian Foundation Lotus Circle, AI and Healthcare Publication, and Innovation Executive Forum.

Faye has been recognized by Insurance Business Hot 100 and Elite Women in Insurance Business America, Ascend Leadership Award, Computer World’s Top Premier IT Leaders, Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Kaiser Permanente Asian Community and Innovation Enterprise Best Ideation Award.

A sought-after speaker, Faye has presented at Consumer Electronic Show CES, ABIM, Chief Innovation Officer Summit, Venture Beat, Apps World, Watermark, Smart City, UCLA, Monte Jade Science and Technology, Blue Print, ACG Silicon Valley, UIX Global, Women in Tech, Institute for Health Technology Transformation, C200, Alchemist Accelerator, Plug & Play, EY Disruptive Innovation, Worth Conference, Insure Disrupt, CDX and others.

In his role as president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and its parent company Stella, Dr. Craig E. Samitt is responsible for overseeing the strategy and operations of the state’s first and largest health plan.

Dr. Samitt came to Blue Cross in July 2018 from Anthem, Inc., where he served as executive vice president and president of their Diversified Business Group. He built partnerships within and outside of Anthem to provide new sources of growth for the enterprise and deepened Anthem’s relationships and impact across the healthcare ecosystem. Concurrently, he led and executed a nationwide clinical vision and strategy as Anthem’s chief clinical officer. Dr. Samitt’s numerous accomplishments at Anthem include advancing the company’s portfolio of provider partnerships and payment innovation models, leading quality improvements in patient outcomes and increasing the delivery of value-based care.

An internal medicine physician by training, Dr. Samitt has worked across multiple sectors within the health care industry. His career includes a number of senior executive positions, including partner and global provider practice leader at Oliver Wyman; president and CEO of HealthCare Partners, a subsidiary of DaVita HealthCare; and president and CEO of Dean Health System Inc., one of the largest integrated health systems in the Midwest.

For nearly 25 years, Dr. Samitt has been a nationally recognized expert and thought leader on health care delivery and policy. His record of collaborating across the health care system to deliver higher quality care at a lower cost led to him being named as one of the “50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders” by Modern Healthcare in 2018.

Dr. Samitt currently serves on multiple boards, including the National Committee for Quality Assurance; the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association; the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation; Prime Therapeutics; Minnesota Business Partnership; the Minnesota Council of Health Plans; and the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. Additionally, he is a former commissioner of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), an independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment policy.

Dr. Samitt holds an undergraduate degree from Tufts University, a medical degree from Columbia University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. He completed a medical residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.

As President of QuadMed, Jeanne guides our overall business to provide innovative, high-value health care solutions to companies, improving the health and well-being of the people we serve. Jeanne brings over 25 years of operations and health care experience to QuadMed. Previously, she served as Northeast/Midwest Regional President of IntegraMed, Inc., a company specializing in fertility services, where she directed all financial and operational aspects of this multisite medical practice, including leader development and strategy implementation. Prior to this position, Jeanne held executive-level positions for Concentra Managed Care, an occupational health company; NovaMed, an ambulatory surgery company; and National Surgical Hospitals, Inc., a company that partnered with physicians to build freestanding specialty hospitals.

Susan E. Sheridan, MIM, MBA, DHL, currently serves as the Director of Patient Engagement at the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM). Prior to her joining SIDM she served as the Patient and Family Engagement Adviser in the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality at the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). She also served for five years as the Director of Patient Engagement at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and also led the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Patients for Patient Safety initiative, a program under the WHO Patient Safety Program.

Sheridan?had previously spent 10 years in patient advocacy inspired by?adverse family experiences in the healthcare system.?Sheridan is Co-Founder and Past President of Parents of Infants and Children with Kernicterus (PICK) as well as Consumers Advancing Patient Safety (CAPS), a nonprofit organization that seeks a safe, compassionate and just healthcare system through proactive partnership between consumers and providers of care.

Sue and her family were featured in To Err is Human, an in-depth documentary about creating a new age of patient safety. She speaks frequently on patient engagement and co-production of patient safety improvement efforts across all levels of the healthcare system at the national and international level. She also speaks on improving the medical liability system to ensure integrity, transparency, learning and healing. She testified at AHRQ’s First National Summit on Medical Errors and Patient Safety in 2000 and later testified before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on a Senate Hearing on Medical Liability: New Ideas for Making the System Work Better for Patients. She also participated in the Joint Commission’s roundtable and congressional hearing on Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Improving the Medical Liability System and Preventing Patient Injury. In April 2009, Sheridan was named to Modern Healthcare's list of Top 25 Women in Healthcare as well as Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare. In 2010 Sheridan was awarded the “Idaho Healthcare Hero” in community outreach by the Idaho Business Review and in 2011 Sheridan was appointed by The Secretary of Health and Human Services to serve on the Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality of the Health Resources and Services Administration. She also served on the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) CLIAC Federal Advisory Council and the Accreditation Council of Graduate Continuing Medical Education (ACGME) Board of Directors as a Public Director.

Sheridan received her BA from Albion College, her MIM and MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management and her Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Adrian College. She has a professional background in international banking and served in Ecuador with her late husband, Pat, as Peace Corps volunteers.

A benefits professional with more than 30 years of experience in the industry, and licensed in 12 states, Dawn has continuously been named one of the top analytical consultants in the Rocky Mountain area. She is the founder of four successful insurance agencies that focus on tailoring quality, cost effective programs and enhanced benefits for both small and large groups. The growth in her agencies is attributed to her secret recipe of “Baking in the Secret Ingredients” which maximizes sales and provides employee education and client advocacy.

Dawn is a veteran member of the nationally recognized study group for innovative and disruptive benefits advisers – NextGen Benefit Mastermind Partnership – and a co-author of the Amazon best seller “Breaking Through the Status Quo”. She lives in Jackson, Wyoming with her husband Thom.

David A. Shore is a leading authority on innovation and managing change initiatives to gain competitive advantage.  Throughout his career he has worked to combine research, teaching, consulting and writing to build constructive links between theory and practice.

Shore has been on the faculty of Harvard University for more than two decades. He is also Distinguished Professor of Innovation and Change at Tianjin University of Finance and Economics (China) and Adjunct Professor of Organizational Development and Change at the School of Business, University of Monterrey (Mexico).  Shore is a faculty member of The Governance Institute and Executive-in-Residence at Enable East (United Kingdom).  He has held visiting professorships including in Amsterdam, Santiago, and Shanghai and consulted on six continents.  Shore offers executive education seminars and facilitates strategic planning and guided implementation retreats.  He has delivered hundreds of keynote addresses and workshops across multiple industries.

Previously, Shore spent two decades at the Harvard School of Public Health, where he served as associate dean.  He founded and directed the School's flagship programs:  Forces of Change; The Trust Initiative; and the Certificate Program on Launching and Leading Successful Change Initiatives.

He has served on and chaired numerous boards and committees, and currently is a founding member of McKinsey & Company's External Implementation Advisory Board which has a primary focus on operationalizing strategy for transformational change.   He also sits on the Board of Directors of the Marshfield Clinic Health System, as well as several editorial boards.  Among his honors is the Doctorate Fellow from the Academy of Multi-Skills (United Kingdom).  Along with innovation and change, Shore's body of work focuses on creating higher performing organizations including building and rebuilding trust; reimaging and reengineering meetings; and, strategic marketing and branding.

His most recent books include Launching and Leading Successful Change Initiatives in Health Care Organizations: (Jossey-Bass, 2014); Forces of Change:  New Strategies for the Evolving Health Care Marketplace (Jossey-Bass, 2012); and High Stakes:  The Critical Role of Stakeholders in Health Care, with E. Kupferberg (Oxford University Press, 2011).  He has also written a book on trust and edited a second.

Professor Shore has been recognized as a Top Thought Leader in Trust by Trust Across America – Trust Around the World.   He is also a multiple recipient of Harvard's Letter of Commendation for Distinguished Teaching Performance, including in 2017 and 2018; and was chosen to deliver a 2015 and 2016 Harvard Lecture That Lasts (Harvard's version of a TED Talk) and a TEDx Talk. 

Never known to simply :admire the problem," beyond intellectually stimulating, Shore provides executable advice, inspiring leaders and organizations to gain a unique and adaptable competitive advantage.

Dr. Short is the National Clinical Leader for Strategic Benefit Advisors (SBA) and Brown & Brown. Her passion and her focus is working with employers to develop innovative strategies and solutions that engage and support employees and their families in making good choices to avoid the cost and consequences of poor health. She founded and runs the Innovation Hub at Brown and Brown which is focused on the application of digital health and other innovative solutions to improving health outcomes and healthcare costs, as well as improving human performance. Dr. Short has a focus on making the healthcare system work better, and has relationships with as well as in depth knowledge of many of the innovative health companies in the marketplace that are trying to solve key issues facing employers and members. She is also a member of the National Business Group on Health (NBGH) Innovation Forum.

Dr. Short has a background in internal medicine, occupational and preventive medicine, and 25 years of experience providing clinical leadership in designing, implementing and measuring population health programs and strategies. Previous to Brown and Brown Dr. Short was a partner at Mercer where she built the population health practice for the South and spent six years consulting to national and global employers on strategies to improve population health including evaluating, implementing, and measuring the impact of network strategies such as Centers of Excellence and direct contracting. She has worked with many jumbo employers including Lowe’s, Bank of New York Mellon, Dollar General, and PepsiCo. Her expertise also includes analytics, epidemiology, managed care plan administration and medical management, clinical and behavioral health strategy and program management, and outcomes measurement strategy and execution.

Prior to Mercer, Dr. Short worked at Healthways (now Sharecare), and previously spent over thirteen years working as a medical director for both UnitedHealthcare and Anthem, including serving as Corporate Medical Director for BCBSGA, a 2.5 million member plan. Previously, Dr. Short was an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and in clinical practice. Dr. Short has been involved in several studies related to quality and cost of care in areas including disparities of care, performance of centers of excellence networks, and drug safety and has published previously in journals such as Cancer and JAMA.

Dr. Short earned her undergraduate degree at Harvard, her MD from Tufts University School of Medicine, did her internal medicine residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and trained in occupational and preventive medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City where she also received a Master’s degree in Community Medicine.

The Honorable Dr. David J. Shulkin was the ninth Secretary of the US Department of Veterans Affairs, where he represented America’s 21 million veterans and was responsible for the nation’s largest integrated health care system with over 1,200 sites of care. Appointed by President Trump to serve in his Cabinet, Secretary Shulkin was confirmed by the US Senate by a vote of 100-0. Dr. Shulkin previously served as Under Secretary for Health having been appointed by President Obama and confirmed unanimously by the US Senate. Secretary Shulkin is the author of the best selling book “It Shouldn’t Be This Hard to Serve Your Country”.

Prior to coming to VA, Dr. Shulkin was a widely respected healthcare executive having served as chief executive of leading hospitals and health systems including Beth Israel in New York City and Morristown Medical Center in Northern NJ. Dr. Shulkin has also held numerous physician leadership roles including the Chief Medical Officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University Hospital, and the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital. Dr. Shulkin has held academic positions including the Chairman of Medicine and Vice Dean at Drexel University School of Medicine. As an entrepreneur, Dr. Shulkin founded and served as the Chairman and CEO of DoctorQuality one of the first consumer orientated sources of information for quality and safety in healthcare. He has served on boards of managed care companies, technology companies, and health care organizations.

Dr. Shulkin is a board-certified internist and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, his internship at Yale University School of Medicine, and a residency and Fellowship in General Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Presbyterian Medical Center. He received advanced training in outcomes research and economics as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.

Over his career Dr. Shulkin has been named as one of the Top 100 Physician Leaders of Hospitals and Health Systems by Becker’s Hospital Review and one of the “50 Most Influential Physician Executives in the Country” by Modern Healthcare and Modern Physician. He has also previously been named, “One Hundred Most Influential People in American Healthcare” by Modern Healthcare.

Andrew joined The Phia Group, LLC in the summer of 2014, dealing primarily with subrogation and third party recovery, and other opportunities to recoup funds for benefit plans. He soon branched into the consulting branch of our company, assisting clients with compliance inquiries, plan document and contract drafting and revision, reviewing vendor programs, and addressing any and all other consulting questions. He now serves as Compliance and Oversight Counsel, primary focusing is on the most complex and emerging legal and regulatory issues, both internally and for our clients as a member of Phia Group Consulting. Andrew is also the Phia Group’s HIPAA privacy officer.

Andrew attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, earning his B.A. in professional music. He then attended Suffolk University Law School, graduating with an intellectual property concentration with distinction. There, he took the step into the healthcare realm of the legal world, serving first as an editor and content contributor, and then on the executive board of the Journal of Health and Biomedical Law. Andrew is licensed to practice in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Karan Singh co-founded Ginger and currently leads its clinical operations and strategy. He has over 13 years of experience in healthcare from management consulting for biopharma to data analytics, having worked at leading health care firms including ZS Associates and Humedica. A leader in the digital health community, Karan is a frequent speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship, health innovation and new models of care. He has served as a scholar at the Aspen Institute, delivered keynotes at Public Health Institute (PHI) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and recognized as a rising star in Healthcare by LinkedIn's Next Wave. Karan holds his MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan, attended the Harvard Medical School / MIT Health, Science & Technology (HST) program, and received his BA and BS in Economics and Business Administration from UC Berkeley.

Robert has been in the benefits industry for over 16 years and specializes in helping employers manage the healthcare supply chain to create superior employee outcomes while growing the bottom line.

He is an expert on health insurance and has been quoted in trade magazines and the popular press (such as Crains, Chicago Tribune, US News & World Report, MSNBC.com, FoxNews, The Washington Examiner, and Yahoo Hotjobs). He is co-author of the Amazon best selling book entitled: NextGeneration Healthcare. Proven Secrets of Managing the Healthcare Value Chain to Improve Outcomes and Reduce Costs.

Robert has noticed that every year, employers see their investment in employee healthcare increase. Most executives feel helpless and are unable to reign in those costs which now represent their number two or number three budget line item.

Using data and creative solutions, Robert is able to REDUCE EMPLOYER COST while at the same time GIVING BETTER BENEFITS and Outcomes to employees.

Historically, it was nearly impossible to predict and control a company’s healthcare budget, but today, due to new solutions, strategies, technology, and a wealth of data, business leaders can (and are) taking back control of their healthcare budgets to reclaim trapped profits while actually creating healthier, happier employees that are more fulfilled and more productive.

As a next generation benefits adviser, he has the privilege of helping employers achieve those game-changing results and break through the status quo of just accepting increasing healthcare costs year after year. He works with over 40 colleagues from around the country to design and implement programs that benefit both the employer and employee.

Brokering insurance and negotiating the lowest cost increase is no longer a sustainable, viable, or preferred approach to managing a company’s healthcare investment. What’s required today is a legitimate consultative and strategic approach solves the problem long-term.

This new approach is healthcare supply chain management. This model allows companies to apply the same effective cost-control practices they leverage in other parts of the organization to their healthcare costs – the process eliminates wasted expenses, redirects dollars to produce a measurable ROI, and optimizes the employee healthcare experience creating a more loyal, productive, and profitable workforce.

If you want happier and more productive employees, and a long-term healthcare strategy that adds to your EBITA, then let’s chat. It is not certain that his approach will work for your organization, but he’s willing to invest a few minutes to find out and answer your questions.

Robert is Past President of the Illinois State Association of Health Underwriters (ISAHU) and Past Legislative Co-Chair for the DuPage Association of Health Underwriters (DAHU). He holds a Master’s of Science Degree in Education in Counseling from Northern Illinois University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Michigan (with a minor in International Business).

Robert and his wife Susan live in Naperville, Illinois, with their two children. He enjoys spending time with his family (and dog), reading, and being active in his community. His most recent position was as Chairman of the Permanent Funds Committee at his church.

Leslie Small is the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and RADAR on Drug Benefits, two subscription-only publications produced by AIS Health, a division of MMIT. In her role, she covers the ins and outs of the health insurance and pharmacy benefit management industries. Previously, she worked as a reporter and editor at FierceHealthcare, covering health care providers and then payers.

Even earlier in her career, she served as a copy editor at various community newspapers. A Philadelphia-area native, she now resides in a suburb near Washington, D.C., with her family.

Roy Smythe, M.D., is the Chief Executive Officer of SomaLogic, Inc., a leading-edge biotechnology company headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. During the course of his career, he has been an internationally recognized surgeon, biomedical scientist, academician, health system administrator and healthcare business entrepreneur.

While in medical school at Texas A&M, he was a Charles A. Dana Foundation Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Wharton School of Business. Following medical school, Smythe trained in general surgery, surgical oncology and thoracic surgery and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in molecular therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania. His medical and translational research career then began at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he was the recipient of NIH and numerous other funding awards. He subsequently chaired the Department of Surgery at Baylor Scott & White Health System and the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, where he was the Roney Endowed Chair, and later became the Medical Director of Innovation and Executive Vice President for Institute Development before moving into expanded roles in corporate healthcare.

Smythe came to SomaLogic from Royal Philips, where he served as Global Chief Medical Officer for Strategy and Partnerships. Before joining Philips, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Valence Health, a Chicago-based healthcare company. He held the same title previously at AVIA, a healthcare technology accelerator.

A highly sought-after lecturer and the author of more than 300 papers, abstracts and essays in academic, literary and humanities publications, Smythe is also currently a member of more than 20 U.S. national learned societies.

Michelle Stansbury has been with Houston Methodist since July 1993. Her current position is Vice President of Corporate Business / Revenue Cycle Systems and Innovations in the Information Technology Division. During her 27 years at Methodist, she has had many accomplishments. In 2016, Houston Methodist deployed Epic to its main academic medical center and all of its physician practices.

Houston Methodist received the highest adoption score of Epic functionality of any new Epic client and the hospital saw higher operating activity and greater revenue after the deployment of Epic. Her strength is in developing strategy and leading teams to drive those strategic initiatives.

Before joining Houston Methodist, Michelle held leadership roles at Compaq Computer Corporation and Amoco Oil. Her most recent passion is in Digital Health Innovation and has been part of the team leading innovation initiatives at Houston Methodist. Michelle was instrumental in establishment of the Center for Innovation and works closely with Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Information Officer. Within her innovation role, Michelle has responsibilities for day-to-day management of Innovation Department and has strategic responsibilities for Intelligent Automation and digital transformation of patient management and billing practices.

Michelle speaks regularly on innovation, digital transformation and building innovative cultures in conferences and panels. She was named as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT for 2019 – CIO and IT Executives by Health Data Management Magazine. She was also recently name as one of the Women to Watch in Health IT by Becker’s.

Michelle earned her Bachelor degree in Business Administration from Phoenix University. She is a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society.

Outside the office, Michelle enjoys motorsports and track racing.

In his over 30 years at SISC, Mr. Stenerson has grown the program from a small regional pool to a statewide coalition of over 400 school districts with an annual budget of $2.5 Billion. One out of every 1,000 Americans is covered by a SISC medical plan.

He is responsible for all aspects of SISC including implementing programs that promote access to high quality and appropriate health care, keeping health benefits affordable and maintaining fiscal stability.

He has presented on some of SISC’s successes to groups including the Association of Governmental Risk Pools (AGRiP), the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH) and the Catalyst for Payment Reform (CPR). He is a long time member on boards for the California Association of Joint Powers Authorities (CAJPA) and the California Health Care Coalition (CHCC). He also represented purchasers on the California Healthcare Performance Information System (CHPI) board.

He is a graduate of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.

Liz Stokes is the Director of the American Nurses Association Center for Ethics and Human Rights and demonstrates expertise in writing public policy on ethical issues including assisted death, intellectual disabilities, artificial intelligence, and women's reproductive health. She is an international speaker on the Code of Ethics for Nurses and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry. Liz is currently an American Association of Colleges of Nursing Jonas Scholar. Liz's sphere of influence as a nurse-attorney bioethicist enables a unique contribution to nursing ethics, law and policy. Her expertise and leadership is also demonstrated through various charitable roles in the health and legal communities.

A cross-functional and collaborative leader, James Story has built a reputation as a disrupter, a visionary, and an inspirational team builder. He believes people want to be supported, not managed by a system. With an entrepreneurial spirit and nearly 10 years of experience in the employee benefits industry, James is committed to significantly altering the future cost of healthcare and simplifying employee access to all things health.

Currently as CEO and Co-founder of Wellview Health, James is passionate about simplifying healthcare through a proactive, patient-centered approach to managing population health. He ensures execution of the company’s vision to provide innovative well-being solutions in a convenient and consumer-friendly way and is committed to inspiring and impacting lives.

James’ leadership at Wellview Health is the culmination of his passion for helping patients better understand the clinical and financial value of preventive care and his successful track record of growing businesses. Completion of the Executive Management Training Program at Southeast Financial FCU launched James into many successful years in employee benefits consulting. After advising business owners working with Northwestern Mutual, James founded Story Capital Group, LLC, an insurance and investment brokerage agency focused on employee-based benefit plans, later acquired by Regions Financial Corporation.

James began his professional career with Barbour Griffith & Rogers, an internationally recognized firm specializing in government relations, after earning his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Mississippi.

Since moving to Nashville, James has served as a member and board member for a number of professional and non-profit organizations, including Entrepreneur Organization, Nashville Entrepreneur Center, Junior Achievement, Leadership Brentwood, Cumberland University Business Advisory Board, The Phoenix Club of Nashville, and was named one of Nashville’s Top 30 Under 30. James, his wife, Jena, and their three daughters reside in Nashville.

Richard is a graduate of Ball State University where he was president of his fraternity and the Student Governing Board. He began his benefit career with Blue Cross Blue Shield and left there after ten years to forge a business in the consulting arena. Richard has specialized in doing business with Indiana public school corporations, public libraries and other public employee groups, and counts a considerable number of those as long-term clients. His community work includes membership on the School Board of Trustees at Brownsburg Community School Corporation and service on a number of other business advisory boards.

Matt Swain is a recognized Customer Communications industry thought leader. From hosting the Reimagining Communications podcast and delivering keynotes around the world to defining best practices, hundreds of well-known companies have relied on Matt’s expertise and research for their current and future omni-channel communication initiatives. As Managing Director and Practice Lead for Broadridge Customer Communications Consulting, Matt brings invaluable market research and consulting expertise to clients relative to benchmarking, customer experience optimization, and digital transformation.