Speaking Faculty

Deborah Ault is well known and respected in the healthcare industry and has been the builder of successful medical management programs since 1996. Deborah has pioneered the “proactive,” “day-one, dollar-one,” and “progressive patient-centric” models of medical management. Most recently the creation of P3CM™ (patent pending) tops her resume. Deborah combines her proven success in the industry with her proven organizational leadership.

A registered nurse for 13 years, Deborah Ault has a diverse background in health care management and in all facets of nursing care. She worked in major hospitals, and acquired business development, management and marketing expertise at several prominent managed care organizations. Most recently, as vice president of care management for a national firm, she successfully utilized care management best practices to integrate two separate business operations into one company, while containing major health care costs.

Deborah began her nursing career upon graduation from Marion Technical College, and studied at several colleges and universities before earning her BBA degree and then MBA. Her leadership, multi-tasking and organizational skills, coupled with her advanced studies in mathematics and statistics, have proven invaluable in helping clients realize savings from medical management interventions.

Felipe Barganier is the founder of Atlanta-based GAB International LLC. After 15 years in the financial services and insurance industry, he started the firm as a direct result of seeing that there was a need in the insurance industry to not just sell insurance to groups and individuals but to help employers and individuals make more informed decisions and help them contain cost.

GAB International is rapidly expanding and is a fast-growing brand in the large group market and currently is expanding nationally as its reputation for excellence and value within Georgia has garnered Felipe national recognition.

Felipe was recognized as one of the top five employee benefit advisors in the country as a finalist for 2017 Broker of the Year in BenefitsPro magazine. He was also honored as a 2016 award recipient for GMBA Insurance Industry of the Year for the state of Georgia and in 2017 was featured in Who's Who in Atlanta.

He is the co-author of the Amazon #1 Bestseller, NextGeneration Healthcare: Proven Secrets of Managing the Healthcare Value Trend to Improve Outcomes and Reduce Costs.

JOHN B. BULGER, DO, MBA is the Chief Medical Officer of Geisinger Health Plan (GHP) and the Chief Medical Officer for Population Health for Geisinger. The Geisinger Health System has a clinical presence spanning central Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. GHP serves over 500,000 members throughout central Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maine. He is tasked with improving the quality of care and adding value for the people and populations that Geisinger serves.

Dr. Bulger served as the Chief Quality Officer for Geisinger from 2011 to 2015. Prior to that, Dr. Bulger founded Geisinger Medical Center’s hospitalist program with six physicians and lead the program’s development to include six hospitals and over 100 physicians and advanced practitioners.

Dr. Bulger is a lifelong resident of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Juniata College, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the Pennsylvania State University. His wife Michele is a pediatrician and member of Geisinger’s faculty. They reside in Danville with their children Ethan, Ben, and Ava.

Mabel Jong is an award winning journalist with more than two decades of experience working in business and television production in the United States, Asia, and Europe. Prior to returning to the Boston area, she wrote and produced a weekly show out of London for CNBC Europe that focused on the strategies of a different CEO. In addition to her extensive production work, she has worked as an anchor and correspondent for CNBC, NBC News, and ABC News. She reported in Asia during a pivotal time in the region's history, landed a one on one interview with Britain's Prime Minister, and has done live shots out in the middle of the ocean aboard an aircraft carrier.

After graduating with a degree in finance from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2006, Ben signed on with Conner Insurance as an insurance advisor. Using his strengths in strategic planning, finance, and communication, Ben’s exceptional vision and execution with his clients led him to be recognized as a top advisor in both the firm and the Indiana insurance industry. By his late 20’s, he had been hired by some of the largest and most reputable privately held and publicly traded companies in Indiana.

Because of his outstanding efforts, Ben was promoted to CEO in 2013. In 2015, Ben Conner and his business partners acquired Conner Insurance from the previous owners. In the 12 years since the joining the firm, Conner Insurance has retained 90% of its clients, the firm has grown 3x, Conner has tripled their number of insurance advisors on staff, and the firm has grown the average customer size by more than 10 times, positioning the firm as one of the highest-growing and most trusted consulting firms in Indiana. Utilizing his leadership, work ethic and expertise, Ben’s benefits clients have experienced best in class national results in managing their health plans. Eighty percent of Ben’s clients have experienced flat or reduced healthcare expenses over the last 5-10 years, which is unheard of in the benefits healthcare industry.

Through his guidance and focus on workplace culture, Conner Insurance was recognized as one of the 100 Healthiest Workplaces in American in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. Conner Insurance was also named the Healthiest Employer in Indiana in 2016, and was a finalist in 2012, 2014, and 2015. Additionally, Conner Insurance was a Top 10 finalist for the Best Places to Work in Indiana in 2014 and 2015, and was a finalist in 2016. Ben has also been recognized in 2019 by Employee Benefit Adviser as a Rising Star in Advising, which is a national recognition of advisors who are making a difference in the benefits consulting field. Ben is also a Board Member and President for a local household goods moving company, Jay’s Moving, that was recognized in 2018 as a FAST25 Company by the Indianapolis Business Journal, which recognizes the 25 fastest growing companies in the Indianapolis market.

Ben lives in Fishers, IN with his wife, Alyssa, and their two children (Evie, 2; Quinn; 1). Ben loves to read, play/watch sports, travel, and spend time with his family.

Allison founded De Paoli Professional Services in 2015 to provide outstanding enrollment communication solutions to small and midsize businesses by utilizing best in class technology alongside best in class people to help ensure that employees receive information in the best manner for them.

De Paoli began her insurance career in the Greater Washington DC area and shortly thereafter moved to Florida to work in the family benefits business as Vice President of Operations. After moving to San Antonio in 2000, she began working as an Aflac associate quickly becoming a top 1% sales producer.

After a successful career as an associate and producer, Allison decided to put her knowledge and expertise to work with her own firm, De Paoli Professional Services, allowing her to deliver first class enhanced benefits as well as effective enrollment, implementation and communication strategies.

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

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

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

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

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

In his 27^th year with Microsoft, Kevin Dolan currently serves as Director, Health Industry Strategy and Solutions for Microsoft’s Health and Life Sciences (HLS) Industry Unit where he is responsible for working with US Healthcare organizations to identify their needs and assemble solutions incorporating the broad capabilities of Microsoft platforms, products, devices and services.

Kevin has deep experience in understanding the core challenges impacting our health and wellness industry. He has a passion for helping organizations accelerate through their digital transformation journey in areas such as clinical worker productivity and collaboration, virtual health, EMR optimization, patient engagement, care coordination, population health analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT and genomics.

He has a unique ability to understand and appreciate the critical business requirements for sustaining a health delivery system while technically proficient in his ability to align the appropriate information technology services from latest enterprise cloud models to secure and compliant mobile devices to personal wearable devices. He began his career at Microsoft in 1993 and has held various leadership positions throughout sales, consulting, business strategy and development, and partner alliance establishment.

Kevin has nearly four decades of experience in the technology industry. Prior to Microsoft, he led various projects, sales and business development activities and held global senior leadership roles for Compaq Computer Corporation since its’ startup phase to position as #1 computer company in the world. He began his career with Texas Instruments as a software programmer.

Kevin earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics from the University of Georgia. He resides in the Washington D.C. area.

Daniel J. Durand, M.D. serves as the Chief Innovation Officer and Chairman of Radiology for LifeBridge Health, a $2.5 B health care system with 4 hospitals, 500 physicians, and over 100 locations and joint ventures in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Dr. Durand earned his medical degree at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and has over twenty years of experience in healthcare, science, and technology. Before becoming CINO, Dr. Durand led the LifeBridge Health ACO, LLC, one of the largest and most successful Medicare Accountable Care Organizations in the state of Maryland. Dr. Durand previously served as the first Director of Accountable Care for Johns Hopkins Medicine, where he led operations and strategy for one of the nation's largest ACOs. Prior to Hopkins, Dr. Durand was a Vice President and member of the executive leadership team at Evolent Health, a healthcare IT start-up where he helped grow revenues from $8 million to $130 million in the time leading up to Evolent's successful IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Prior to Evolent, Dr. Durand worked as an Associate with McKinsey & Company out of the firm's Washington, DC office.

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

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

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

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

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.

Nelson Griswold has been called “visionary” by Art Dammers of Anthem, “an authority on voluntary benefits and consultative selling” by Employee Benefit Adviser magazine and “a well-recognized industry thought leader” by Ron Leopold of MetLife.

Nelson has been honored by the Voluntary Benefits Association with their prestigious Industry Leadership Award, for his “professional accomplishments that drive the voluntary benefits industry forward.” A nationally-known agency reinvention and growth expert, he is the author of DO or DIE: Reinventing Your Benefits Agency for Post-Reform Success, the industry bestseller that has been hailed as the only comprehensive blueprint for agency leaders to reinvent their firm to survive and grow in the post-ACA era. As a practice management and agency growth consultant, Nelson works with leading agencies across the country to grow their top- and bottom-line revenue.

Nelson serves as Managing Director of the Agency Growth Mastermind Partnership, a national executive peer-exchange network for non-competing benefits agency owners who collaborate and cooperate to identify best practices and proven growth strategies to remain relevant, profitable, independent & growing.

Nelson is also a leading strategic consultant to carriers and other industry vendors on broker distribution & activation, voluntary benefits, and next-generation engagement & enrollment strategies. Nelson writes a monthly column for Employee Benefit Adviser magazine, has written for Benefits Selling, Producers eSource and other leading industry publications, and writes a blog for Zywave. He is an in-demand keynote speaker and presenter at industry conferences. He is a board member and serves on the executive committee of both the Workplace Benefits Association and the Voluntary Benefits Association

Eric D. Hargan is the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS is dedicated to promote and enhance the health and well-being of the American people and as the largest department in the federal government has an annual budget in excess of 1.3 Trillion dollars and over 80,000 employees across 26 divisions. As Deputy Secretary, he is the Chief Operating Officer is a responsible for day-to-day operations and management of the department in addition to leading policy and strategy development.

Mr. Hargan was sworn into office as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on October. 6, 2017. He immediately served as Acting Secretary of HHS from October 2017 to January 2018.

From 2003 to 2007, Mr. Hargan served at HHS in a variety of capacities, ultimately holding the position of Acting Deputy Secretary. During his tenure at HHS, Mr. Hargan also served as the Department’s Regulatory Policy Officer, overseeing the development and approval of all HHS, CMS, and FDA regulations and significant guidances.

He received his B.A. cum laude from Harvard University, and his J.D. from Columbia University Law School, where he was Senior Editor of the Columbia Law Review. In between his tours of duty at HHS Mr. Hargan taught at Loyola Law School in Chicago, focusing on administrative law and healthcare regulations.

Mr. Hargan lives in Virginia with his wife and their two sons.

Mike Hill 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.

Chris Jennings is an over three decades-long health policy veteran of the White House, the Congress and the private sector. Mr. Jennings is currently President of Jennings Policy Strategies (JPS), a nationally respected health care consulting firm committed to assisting foundations, purchasers, health systems and other aligned stakeholders develop policies to ensure higher quality, more affordable and sustainable health care. He is also a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center where he works to develop bipartisan policies designed to lower cost growth, enhance coverage and improve quality.

In January 2014, Mr. Jennings departed from his second tour of duty in the White House where he served as Senior Advisor to the President for Health Policy and Coordinator of Health Reform. He served in a similar capacity in the Clinton White House for nearly eight years. From his positions in the executive branch, Mr. Jennings has helped implement access and delivery reform provisions of the Affordable Care Act as well as played leadership roles in the development, passage and implementation of bipartisan health reforms, such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) of 1997 and major Medicare reforms in the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997.

In his decade of service in the U.S. Senate, he served as the Deputy Director of the Special Committee on Aging for three Senators (including his home state Senator, John Glenn) and led major reform efforts in the areas of long-term care, prescription drug coverage/cost containment, and rural health care. In this capacity, he also served in a major role for the U.S. Bipartisan Commission on Health Care (also known as the “Pepper Commission”).

Beth Johnson is an employee benefits adviser and President of Mitchell Insurance Inc. As a healthcare strategist and consultant for nearly 25 years, Beth has a demonstrated history of reducing employer healthcare spend by creating synergies between employers and local healthcare systems to bring about real change in how employees view and utilize their health plan. She has proven track record working with a variety of industries of eliminating barriers to care so employees receive the right care, at the right time, in the right place for the right price.

Beth is a 1992 Cum Laude graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is an active member in her community and currently serves as Vice-Chairman of the Missouri Delta Medical Center Board of Directors, is a past member of the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and past Girl Scout Troop Leader. As a member of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, she is a current board member and past president of the parish school board. Beth and her husband, Joe, reside in Sikeston with their children David and Kathleen.

With deep experience in both the public and private sectors, Maurice Jones took the helm as LISC's fourth president & CEO in September 2016. Immediately prior to joining LISC, he served as the secretary of commerce for the Commonwealth of Virginia, where he managed 13 state agencies focused on the economic needs in his native state. He previously served as deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) overseeing operations for the agency and its 8,900 staff members. Prior to that he was commissioner of Virginia’s Department of Social Services and deputy chief of staff to former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner.

Trained as an attorney, Maurice worked during the Clinton Administration on legal, policy and program issues at the Treasury Department, where he also helped manage a then-new initiative called the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) fund—a federal program that has grown to be a critical supporter of nonprofits that leverage its capital to bolster their communities. In the private sector, Maurice was the general manager of The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk and went on to become president and publisher of its parent company. He also worked for a Richmond law firm and a private philanthropy investing in community-based efforts to benefit children in Washington, D.C.

Raised by his grandparents in a rural southern Virginia community where his family had a tobacco and corn farm, Jones was awarded a full merit scholarship to Hampden-Sydney College, a small liberal arts school. In 1986, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was selected as a Rhodes scholar. At Oxford University, he earned a master’s degree in international relations. In 1992, he graduated from the University of Virginia Law School.

Deke Lape, vice-president of Mitchell Insurance of Sikeston, Missouri, has been in the insurance business for 20 years. Working as a medical insurance consultant, Lape has continued the 80-year-old family tradition of providing health insurance to companies and individuals in Missouri and surrounding states.

Lape along with the Mitchell Insurance and the Health 180 team have developed a narrow network of hospitals, clinics, and doctors to whom the team steers group medical clients. The team also provides biometric screening and onsite assistance to company associates. Mitchell Insurance understands the changing world of health care, and their team wants to provide the very best care and cost-effective coverage for their clients.

Mitchell Insurance and Health 180 are working to change the culture within each employer, and believe the best way to do that is to connect the most important pieces: Medical Provider, Employer, and Employee. If that is accomplished, everyone wins.

A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, Lape has served on the Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Council for three years, and he is also a past member of the Roundstone Insurance Advisory Council, an innovative think-tank that collaborates with other producers throughout the country to discuss and implement cost-containment strategies for group medical clients.

Luther joined Yelp in 2008 as an account executive on the company’s sales team and a year later moved into the role of Manager of Business Outreach, where he built a department that educates small business owners about the importance of Yelp. Since 2011, Luther has led public policy at the company. As Vice President of Public Policy, he manages and directs the company’s global outreach to policy makers about the vital role Yelp plays in driving economic activity to local businesses while serving as a platform to empower and protect consumers. Previously, Luther worked as a Special Assistant to retired four-star General Wesley Clark. He holds a B.A. in government from The College of William & Mary.

As the Senior Vice President of Clinical Programs & Operations, Bridgette is responsible for the Post-Acute Care product lines at eviCore healthcare.

Bridgette McGrath’s responsibilities include management of the clinical post-acute teams, both internal and external, development and implementation of clinical programs ensuring best practices and optimal patient outcomes. Bridgette is a Registered Nurse for the past 25 years with 13 years business experience in Post-Acute care administration and management practices. Bridgette has been working in the Post-Acute arena for the past 15 years focusing on program development and implementation, utilization management, case management and medical management. Bridgette has directed and managed teams of remote and on-site nurses in the acute and post-acute settings. She has demonstrated success in level of care determination, length of stay reduction and readmission avoidance. Prior to working at eviCore, Bridgette worked in and managed the ICU unit in London, prior to that she ran an Emergency Department in South Africa. Bridgette holds degrees in Midwifery, Community Nursing and Psychology.

For professional speaker and comedienne Jan McInnis, life is full of “finding the funny.” She – and the audiences who continually rate her programs “hilarious” – wouldn’t have it any other way.

Inspired by fifteen years as a marketing director in the 9 to 5 world, Jan has cornered the association and corporate convention market. And over the past 23+ years on the full-time speaking circuit, she has spoken at hundreds of conferences, employee retreats and banquets held by such groups as Anthem Blue-Cross, the American Heart Association, the Federal Reserve Banks, and the Mayo Clinic. Jan was featured in the “Wall Street Journal” as one of the top convention comedians whose material is clean and in the Washington Post for her clean comedy writing and also in the Huffington Post.

Learning doesn’t have to be boring! Jan has a knack for humorous analysis, which enables her to keep her audiences laughing, not just with a comedy show, but also with some of her keynotes such as “Finding the Funny in Change.” In this keynote she shows people how to use humor to handle change.

Jan has also sold comedy material to just about everyone. . . from the Tonight Show monologue, to greeting cards, hundreds of radio stations and even guests on the “Jerry Springer Show” (yes, some of it is staged), and she is author of 2 books - “Finding the Funny Fast: How to Create Quick Humor to Connect with Clients, Coworkers and Crowds.” And “Convention Comedian: Stories and Wisdom From Two Decades of Chicken Dinners and Comedy Clubs”

Born in D.C., Jan was in charge of the “Joke of the Day” for her junior high school lunch table. Not surprisingly, she majored in communications at Virginia Tech, where she was a disk jockey for the local radio station.

Mary Ellen McIntire is a staff writer for CQ Roll Call covering health care policy and politics. She covers Congress, the Department of Health and Human Services and state issues, and has reported on the Affordable Care Act and Republicans' efforts to roll back the law, Democratic proposals to expand health insurance coverage, drug pricing and the opioid epidemic. McIntire is a New Hampshire native and graduate of the George Washington University. She previously covered health care for Morning Consult.

Nupur Mehta, MD, MPH, FACP is Chief Medical Officer of CareMore East. Dr. Mehta oversees clinical excellence in all of CareMore’s Eastern markets, and through his proven abilities as an innovative healthcare strategist and implementation leader, fosters the growth of our care models, scales the capabilities that will ensure continuation of the organization’s unique clinical culture, and helps develop new approaches to address and better serve our diverse patient populations. His clinical and research interests are in value based care delivery, reimbursement reform, and improving healthcare cost and quality.

Prior to CareMore, Dr. Mehta was a faculty member at the George Washington University Hospital, where he was both an Attending Physician and an Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. Prior to that he served as Vice President and Medical Director for Evolent Health, as well as a Senior Associate at McKinsey and Company, where he was tasked with designing, developing and implementing strategies for R&D, profitability and healthcare reform.

A graduate of Duke University, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard University School of Public Health, Dr. Mehta has been honored as Attending of the Year at George Washington University, is a recipient of Evolent Health’s Walk-The-Walk Award, and the winner of both the Howard Hiatt Global Health Equity Fellowship and the Paul Dudley White Health Fellowship. His research has been published in peer-reviewed articles, abstracts, and poster presentations.

Seven-time Olympic Medalist, Shannon Miller is the only female athlete to be inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame – Twice! [Individual (2006) and Team (2008)]

Shannon has won an astounding 59 International and 49 National competition medals. Over half of these have been gold. In 1993/94 Shannon became the first US gymnast to ever win back-to-back World All-Around Titles, and she is the first American female to medal in the individual all-around of a non-boycotted Olympics. Her tally of five medals (two silver, three bronze) at the ’92 Olympics was the most medals won by a US athlete in any sport. At the ’96 Games, she led the “Magnificent Seven” to the US Women’s first ever Team Gold and for the first time for any American gymnast, she captured Gold on the Balance Beam. She is the first American gymnast to win an individual gold medal at a fully-attended summer games and cemented her place as the most accomplished gymnast, male or female, in U.S. Olympic history.

After retiring from Olympic competition, Shannon received her undergraduate degrees in marketing and entrepreneurship from the University of Houston and her law degree from Boston College. She then moved from Olympic athlete to advocate for the health and wellness of women and children.

Shannon launched her company Shannon Miller Lifestyle: Health and Fitness for Women in July, 2010. She continues to travel the country as a highly sought after motivational speaker and advocate for the health and wellness of women and children. Shannon’s seeks to empower women to make their health a priority through education and awareness.

In January of 2011, Shannon was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer. She had the baseball sized tumor removed successfully and followed up with an aggressive chemotherapy regimen. Shannon has remained open and public about her diagnosis and treatment and continues to empower women to make their health a priority. Shannon is currently cancer-free and continues to be a strong advocate for early detection.

Shannon’s book, It’s Not About Perfect: Competing for My Country and Fighting for My Life, is her inspirational memoir written to encourage and empower others to break through and overcome their own personal challenges.

Shannon remains involved with the sport of gymnastics and the Olympics as a commentator and analyst. In addition, She has partnered with Mancino Mats to create the Shannon Miller Collection (Training Tomorrow’s Legends) of gymnastics mats and padding, and with A-1 Awards to create the “Dare to Dream” line of medals and trophies. She has also partnered with Alpha Factor to create her personal line of fitness apparel, Salto, and her gymnastics leotard collection that helps athletes look great and feel confident. You can see all of Shannon’s partners HERE.

Jason W. Mitchell, MD, is the Chief Medical and Clinical Transformation Officer for Presbyterian Healthcare Services, a not-for-profit health care system, integrating New Mexico’s largest health care provider and health plan. Dr. Mitchell leads a team of 1,000 employed providers spanning 50 ambulatory clinics and eight hospital campuses in addition to medical staff operations and provider clinical quality in a mixed medical staff model. Dr. Mitchell oversees $600 million in fully capitated delivery system risk arrangements, delivery system care and case management, clinical informatics and enterprise Population Health Services.

Dr. Mitchell focuses on re-designing clinical practice at the system level and is transforming the role of the physician executive to better serve clinicians and patients during a time of rapid healthcare change. He is a key leader in developing enterprise strategy across care delivery, the health plan and Presbyterian’s Fluent Health – a leader in partnering with delivery systems to start or strengthen their own provider-led health plans.

Under Dr. Mitchell’s leadership, Presbyterian has deployed new care models, processes and technology to help connect the care continuum, payers, providers and patients in a way never before possible and enabled intense evidence-based care design, process improvement, value-based care, health plan integration and standardization. Ultimately, the changes have yielded significant gains in disease management and overall management of population health.

Dr. Mitchell is passionate about the quadruple aim and continues to see patients as a family practice physician. He earned his medical degree from the University of New Mexico, where he also completed his residency in family medicine. Dr. Mitchell is board-certified in both family medicine and clinical informatics. He has been with Presbyterian since 2006.

Robert E. Moffit is a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, and former Chairman of the Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC).

Moffit long has specialized in health care and entitlement programs, especially Medicare. He brings to the health reform effort his government experience as a Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and a senior official of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), where he served during the Reagan administration. In 2010, Modern Healthcare magazine named Moffit as one of the 100 most influential Americans in health care. He has testified frequently before congressional committees.

Moffit’s articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Fortune, The Irish Independent, The National Interest and National Review. He has also published in numerous professional and specialty journals, among them Health Affairs, Health Systems Review, Harvard Health Policy Review, Inquiry, Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, National Affairs, New England Journal of Medicine, Postgraduate Medicine, and Journal of Medicine and Philosophy.

Moffit holds both a master's degree and a doctorate in government from the University of Arizona. He received his bachelor's degree in political science from LaSalle University in Philadelphia. His essays on political science have appeared in The Catholic Historical Review, Law and Liberty Review, Modern Age and The Political Science Reviewer.

Moffit serves on the advisory board of the Buckley School of Public Speaking in Camden, South Carolina. Recognition for his work includes public service awards from diverse organizations such as the American College of Eye Surgery, the International Hyperbaric Medical Association, and the National Hispanic Family Against Drug Abuse.

Dr. Moffit is married and lives with his wife, Barbara, in Severna Park, Maryland.

Andy Neary is a healthcare strategist with The Olson Group. He has more than 15 years of experience in helping employers affect the rising cost of healthcare through innovative strategies. He works with his clients to move them from the benefits status quo with innovative and creative strategies that provide savings for employers and a rich benefit plan array for employees.

He recently was named to the “Boulder 40 Under 40” list, recognizing his professional and charitable contributions to that Colorado community. He was a former pitcher in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.

As a former professional athlete, Neary understands the hard work and daily grind needed to perform at the highest level. His personal motto is, “It’s the work done when no one is watching that generates success”. He takes the same approach with his clients creating truly elite benefit programs.

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.

Derek Rine heads up the employee benefits practice at David Rine Insurance. As a Group Benefits Consultant, he does a lot more than just identifying and meeting the insurance needs of his clients. While protecting personal, business, financial and human assets is a top priority, he also assists businesses in bringing more value to their companies in many other respects. David Rine Insurance exists in part of make life easier for HR professionals through advanced software and other technology.

Derek has spent the last several years evaluating the healthcare climate to identify new strategies and resources to better protect the long-term interests of their clients. These innovations include alternative funding strategies for employer health plans; elite concierge services to gain transparency with providers and guide clients' employees to high quality but low cost facilities in order to improve their loss ratio and ultimately lower their premiums; and proprietary pharmacy programs, which are able to source prescriptions for 50 cents on the dollar in many cases.

A co-author of the Amazon #1 Bestseller, BREAKING THROUGH THE STATUS QUO: How Innovative Companies Are Changing the Benefits Game to Help Their Client and Boost Their Bottom Line, Derek recently was profiled in Employee Benefit Adviser magazine for his innovative strategies to enhance the benefits plan while driving EBITDA to the client’s bottom line.

Sheila Shapiro is senior vice president of National Strategic Partnerships for UnitedHealthcare Clinical Services. Sheila is responsible for the development, advancement and implementation of industry-leading models that will standardize how new types of data can be captured and used to improve people’s health outcomes, with an emphasis on connecting individuals to community and social services through local and national strategic partnerships.

Sheila joined UnitedHealthcare in 2009 as chief operations officer for the Community Plan of Arizona. She has also served as health plan president for the State of Washington Community Plan as well as national vice president of the myConnections program, a Medicaid program that builds new capabilities around transportation, housing and other social support services for UnitedHealthcare’s most vulnerable populations.

Sheila has more than 30 years of experience in the health care industry. Prior to joining UnitedHealthcare, she held executive positions with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana, Molina and Premera Blue Cross. She has held leadership roles across a broad range of operations and strategic positions, including claims, customer service and financial operations.

Sheila holds a master’s degree in management from the University of Phoenix, a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and a financial management certificate from the Wharton School of Business. She is an Arizona Women in Business honoree and has served as vice chair on the board of directors for the March of Dimes.

Tyler Shultz is an entrepreneur fostering innovation in healthcare. He graduated from Stanford with a Biology degree and entered the national scene when he courageously blew the whistle at Theranos. Tyler complained to the public health regulators in New York and was a source for a series of Wall Street Journal articles exposing Theranos’ dubious blood-testing practices. Owing to his role in exposing the fraud, Shultz was featured in Bad Blood, the book about the scandal penned by John Carreyrou, the original author of the Wall Street Journal articles, as well as in Alex Gibney’s HBO documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley.

Ed Simcox is the Acting Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Ed provides leadership and direction to ensure that HHS effectively leverages data, technology, and innovation to improve the lives of the American people and the performance of the operating divisions across the Department. Simcox has been working at the intersection of healthcare and technology for 18 years.

Prior to joining HHS, Simcox served as the Healthcare Practice Leader at Logicalis, an international IT service provider and consultancy with over 300 healthcare clients in the United States. In this role, Simcox led the strategy, solution development, and consulting for the U.S. healthcare sector. He engaged with healthcare providers across the US in a consulting capacity and advocated for the liberation of healthcare data and telehealth adoption.

Chad Smolinski is Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer of U.S. News & World Report. He is a member of the company’s Executive Committee and focuses on growing its consumer decision and advice franchises.

Mr. Smolinski was a founding team member of U.S. News Ventures, a joint venture established in 2006 to accelerate the transition of U.S. News from a print to a digital brand. Since that time, he has led the creation of new U.S. News digital franchises in several categories including Health, Money, Automotive, Travel and Real Estate. He also oversees the Product and User Experience teams as well as the Health Analysis team that produces the flagship U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings.

Prior to joining U.S. News, Mr. Smolinski worked at AOL where he focused on transitioning company's business model away from its heritage as a dial-up Internet service provider. Earlier in his career, he spent several years as a venture capitalist with Venturehouse Group, a Washington, DC-based investment firm, and worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. Mr. Smolinski holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Cornell University. He lives in Great Falls, Virginia with his wife and three children.

Martin VanTrieste brings over 35 years in the pharmaceutical industry – focusing on manufacturing and quality. He was ranked #2 on the 2018 Medicine Maker Power List of Industry Influencers.

Martin VanTrieste was the Chairman of the Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) Board of Directors. The PDA represents over 10,000 members, and is the leading global facilitator of scientifically sound, practical technical information, quality systems and expertise to advance Pharmaceutical / biopharmaceutical manufacturing science and regulation so members can better serve patients. He recently retired as the senior vice president of quality at Amgen. He was responsible for quality assurance, quality control, compliance, operational excellence, environment, health and safety along with training at Amgen.

Prior to joining Amgen, VanTrieste was with Bayer Healthcare’s Biological Products Division as vice president of worldwide quality and Abbott Laboratories as the vice president of quality assurance for the Hospital Products Division. While at Abbott, VanTrieste held various positions in Quality, Operations, and Research and Development. He started his career at Abbott in 1983 after obtaining his Pharmacy degree from Temple University School of Pharmacy.

He is the founder of Rx-360 and first Chairman of the Board of Directors. Rx-360 is a nonprofit international supply chain organization that enhances patient safety by increasing the security and quality in the biopharmaceutical supply chain.

VanTrieste has been actively involved with various professional and trade organizations, including, United States Pharmacopeia (USP), Pharmaceutical Quality Research Institute (PQRI), Pharmaceutical Research and Manufactures of America (PhRMA), and AdvaMed

PharmaVoice in 2012 named VanTrieste as one of the 100 most inspiring people in the pharmaceutical industry, calling him “a man with a mission”. The Medicine Maker in 2016, 2017 and 2018 named him one of the most influential people in the world of drug development and manufacture saying, “he is known throughout industry for his work on advancing quality assurance and helping to ensure a more reliable supply of high-quality medicines.”

Matt Wallaert is a behavioral scientist working at the intersection of technology and human behavior, designing products and programs that help people live happier, healthier lives and teaching others to do the same. An advocate for behavior change as the outcome of everything, he has a checkered past: academia, building and selling two successful startups, Microsoft's first behavioral scientist, director at Microsoft Ventures. He is currently the industry's first Chief Behavioral Officer at Clover Health, an insurance company focused on health outcomes. Wallaert sits on the board of a variety of startups and non-profits, prioritizes underrepresented founders and audiences, and continues to build side products like GetRaised.com, which has helped underpaid women ask for and earn over $2.3B in salary increases. And more important than all of that, he's a proud dad to a son named Bear.

Ben leads the Consumer Tech and Services business at Aetna, a CVS Health Company. Prior to Aetna Ben worked at Walmart where he co-founded and successfully launched a start-up business (Walmart Care Clinic) as well as joint ventures with McKesson and Quest Diagnostics. He began his career as a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Strategy and Operations Consulting practice with a primary focus on buy-side M&A advisory work with clients in a variety of industries.