Heather Adams currently serves as the Senior Medicare Product Line Manager at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina. Heather brings a multi-faceted, unique perspective to product design and management. For over a decade, her vast experience within multiple verticals of health care provides success in building high-performing, cross-functional teams to support evidence-based initiatives which support quality improvement and product optimization. In her current role, she leverages her experience and passion working with non-profits such as the American Cancer Society and National MS Society to advocate and implement product lines that provide the necessary support for all individuals to attain the highest level of health by breaking down barriers to health equity. Outside of her role at Blue Cross North Carolina, Heather presently serves as the Vice Chair of the Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition where she advances its reach across payor and health systems with a strategic focus on furthering programs that address health equity and underrepresented/underserved populations.
Dr. Justin Barclay Vice President, Consumer Insights & Analytics
Tivity Health
A veteran of analytics and program evaluation across for-profit, nonprofit, and government organizations, Dr. Barclay is Tivity Health’s Vice President of Analytics, Consumer Research, and Data Strategy. He leads the company’s efforts in these areas and is responsible for overseeing a strategy which effectively captures the voice of the customer and converts actionable insights from data into business outcomes which positively impact millions of seniors each year.
Jen Callahan is the Chief Operating Officer of ATRIO Health Plans. For the past 19 years, Jen has established herself as a trusted thought leader and helped shape the managed care industry with her innovative ideas and expertise. Jen has dedicated her career almost exclusively to managed care and is an industry leading expert in all areas of Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement programs.
Prior to joining ATRIO, she co-founded a field management organization, Keen Insurance Services, Inc. to create a provider-centric Medicare focused sales and distribution organization from the ground up. Prior to that, she held the position of Vice President, Medicare Product at Aetna, a CVS Health company where she oversaw the product development and implementation Aetna’s entire Medicare portfolio, contributing over $24 billion to Aetna’s revenue. Throughout her career, Jen has also held various leadership positions at Healthfirst, Inc. and Anthem, Inc. focused exclusively on Government sponsored business.
Jen holds her MBA from North Carolina State University and earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Fordham University. Jen currently resides in Waxhaw, a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband, their three kids and pet cat. Jen loves spending time with her family and friends and hosting them at their home.
Dan Chambers Executive Vice President of Business Development
PayForward
Dan Chambers, is the Executive Vice President of Business Development at PayForward, and responsible for leading Business Development and Revenue Operations. Dan joined PayForward in 2014, initially serving as Senior Vice President of Sales. His promotion to EVP of Business Development took place in August 2022. Before joining PayForward, Dan held senior positions at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Double Fusion, and D&R Radio. With a wealth of experience spanning over two decades, Dan possesses extensive knowledge in global sales leadership, encompassing operational excellence, segmentation, deal structuring, and overall sales management. Dan obtained his undergraduate degree from California State University Northridge.
Evelyn Chojnacki brings an extensive health plan background to Sword Health with over 19 years’ experience serving clients and members. This includes client management, health care program development, vendor assessment and integrations, market deployment and strategy.
Evelyn joined Sword in early 2021 and remains focused on advocating for the needs of health plan partners while supporting the advancement of virtual care across the industry. This means promoting solutions positioned to deliver impactful clinical results and equitable member access to convenient care - all while tackling escalating healthcare costs.
Outside of work, Evelyn is an active outdoor and travel enthusiast.
Omar joined Community Health Plan of Washington, CHPW, as the Director of Pharmacy in 2019 after sixteen years with Walgreens Co., where he led Specialty Pharmacy operations for the Pacific Northwest Region.
Omar has extensive experience in Specialty Pharmacy, Managed Care including government programs, and Clinical Pharmacy quality initiatives. Omar’s current role is focused on PBM relationship oversight, clinical pharmacy integration, and utilization management of medical and prescription drug benefits.
Omar received his Doctorate of Pharmacy Degree from the University of Washington in 2005 and continues to reside in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
Dr. Shannon Decker is principal at VBC One, a consulting firm assisting physician groups, health plans and vendors maximize the performance of their value based contracts and offerings. Dr. Decker has more than 20 years experience in health care and most recently led teams in risk, quality, data and analytics, telehealth, COVID response and delegation compliance. Of her more than 20 years of experience in healthcare--15 include working with risk adjustment, quality and Medicare. Dr. Decker has a PhD. in Interdisciplinary Studies, dual MBA degrees--in Finance and in Marketing, as well as an M.Ed. in Secondary Education and a M.Ed. in Administration and Leadership. Dr. Decker is on the faculty at Arizona State University and is also an associate professor of Higher Education & Adult Learning (HEAL) and chief methodologist for Walden and Capella Universities where she chairs and oversees the dissertations of doctoral students. An author of two books and several peer-reviewed articles, and a prolific national public speaker, her interests include the study of human behavior and how theories on motivation and learning may be brought to bear on population health management.
Bill Friedman Vice President of Payer and Provider Engagement
Wider Circle
Bill has deep expertise in selling and marketing digital health engagement solutions to payers and providers with an intimate knowledge of the health payer landscape. Most recently, Bill led payer sales at Carrot Fertility, a global provider of fertility benefits. Prior to Carrot, Bill led all sales and lead generation for Zipari, a SaaS-based consumer engagement solution for health insurers. His team was instrumental in the company's growth from startup to scale and eventual acquisition by Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity firm. Additionally, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Sales Officer for Health Republic Insurance of New York, the largest CO-OP health insurance carrier in the nation, leading sales operations, broker relations, strategic sales planning, and marketing growing the company from startup to 220,000 members in less than three years. Prior to joining Health Republic, Bill served as Senior Vice President of Sales at Easy Choice Health Plan of New York, where he was vital in launching the company’s Medicare Advantage products, and Atlantis Health Plan, a provider-owned HMO focused on the commercial health insurance space.
Mr. Friedman’s recent speaking engagements include AHIP and The RISE Summit on Social Determinants of Health.
In his spare time, Bill enjoys live music, playing guitar, the NY Yankees, and he is currently studying for his private pilot’s license. He lives in New York's lower Hudson Valley with his wife, Lisa, four children, and two poodles.
SE VP of Sales and Marketing, Cigna Government Sector
18 years leading pharmaceutical teams in Account Management, Sales, Marketing, and Training
With over 30 years in the healthcare industry, Mark has led pharmaceutical and Medicare Advantage teams in both a sales and P&L capacity. Most recently, he was President of the southeast market for Cigna’s Medicare Advantage division, and has spoken frequently on product design, member engagement, clinical outcomes, medical economics and SDoH.
Ana Handshuh, Principal at CAT5 Strategies, is a government programs executive with expertise in creating and implementing corporate programs for the healthcare industry. Her background includes Quality, Core Measures, Care Management, Benefit Design and Bid Submission, Accreditation, Regulatory Compliance, Revenue Management, Communications, Community-based Care Management Programs and Technology Integration. Ms. Handshuh currently serves on the Board of the Resource Initiative and Society for Education (RISE), the preeminent national professional association dedicated to managed and accountable care financing and delivery. She is a sought after speaker on the national healthcare circuit in the areas of Quality, Star Ratings, Care Management, Member and Provider Engagement, and Revenue Management. Her recent consultancy roles have included assisting organizations create programs to address the unmet care management needs in the highest risk strata of membership, document their processes and procedures, achieve accreditation status, design and submit government program bids, institute corporate-wide programs and create communications strategies and materials. She possesses sophisticated business acumen with the ability to build consensus with cross-functional groups to accomplish corporate goals. Ms. Handshuh served as the Vice President of Managed Care Services at Central Florida Inpatient Medicine (CFIM). In this role, she provided leadership and strategy on CFIM projects and collaborations with physicians, risk entities, hospital health care systems, and health plans. CFIM is the largest Hospitalist group in Central Florida, with 70 providers discharging over 50,000 patients annually from multiple hospitals across two health care delivery systems and 24 skilled nursing facilities. At CFIM Ms. Handshuh previously served as the Vice President of Operations. Prior to those assignments, she worked with Precision Healthcare Systems as their Vice President of Quality Improvement. In that capacity, she led the IPA’s Quality efforts and collaborated with payers on implementing programs to move the needle on Quality and Star Rating initiatives. Ms. Handshuh also served as the Director of Corporate Program Development at Physicians United Plan. In this role, she led the Quality Management and Corporate Communications departments and spearheaded the development of innovative integrated technology solutions to drive business excellence and Star Rating achievement initiatives. For the past fifteen years Ms. Handshuh has taken an active role in redefining and implementing changes that have led to improvements and greater efficiency within Government programs and healthcare delivery. Prior to joining Physicians United Plan Ms. Handshuh was the founder of I-Six Creative. Under Ms. Handshuh’s vision and leadership, I-Six Creative provided expertise in the areas of managed Medicare benefit design, MSO/IPA operations, provider network strategy, new market launches, technology integration, corporate communications and quality improvement.
Dani is a Senior Medicare Product Manager for Regence (Cambia Health Solutions). She has been working within the health insurance industry since 2005.
Dani has been working primarily with Medicare products since 2014, with a focus on Medicare Advantage plans. Regence covers the four states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Utah, and includes HMO, PPO, and PDP types of plans. Dani has an MBA from George Fox University, and a BA from Willamette University. Prior roles in the health insurance industry include sales, marketing communication, benefit management, and product management. She has worked with all lines of business including large group, small group, individual, and government programs, as well as ancillary products such as dental, vision, and hearing products.
Kaleb began his career in health insurance in 1999 when he first joined the SelectHealth customer service team. He has worked in claims, provider relations, coverage policy management, product management, product development, and pretty much anything else they would let him get his hands on. In 2011 when the decision was made for SelectHealth to launch an MA plan, Kaleb enthusiastically joined the team and has never looked back. Medicare Advantage has been an incredibly challenging and rewarding field and he isn’t sure he could ever leave it. Kaleb has been described by work colleagues as a true Medicare Advantage nerd, which essentially just means he is really fun at parties.
Kaleb spends most of his personal time with his wife and best friend, Sarah Jean. They have four children in total. None yet show any inclination toward Medicare Advantage, but there is still time. They like to watch movies, go on picnics, and take the occasional road trip when they can get everyone together.
Sion Hughes has 10 years of experience in Medicare Advantage. In his current position at HealthPlus of Michigan,Sion is responsible for the development, marketing, and management of its Medicare productline. Under Sion’s leadership, the Health Plus product line has grown an average of 10.8% per year while maintaining one of the highest quality rated plans in the State of Michigan. Prior to Joining HealthPlus of Michigan, Sion worked in the roles of Sales and Program Oversight and BlueCross BlueShield of Michigan where he gained insight to all of the operational areas that are required to operate a Medicare Advantage program.
Sarah is an Associate Actuary in the Tampa office of Milliman. She joined the firm in 2019. Sarah has over five years of experience working with and for Medicare Advantage plans with pricing, provider contracting and financial reporting. She has assisted in the development of Medicare Part C and D bid submissions for clients over the last four years. She also assists with Medicare Advantage feasibility studies, statements of actuarial opinions, Part D stakeholder and formulary analysis, and development of pricing models. Sarah graduated from FSU with a degree in Risk Management Insurance with a double major in Actuarial Science.
Nikki Hungate
Director of Medicare and Government Programs Product Strategy
Nikki Hungate Director of Medicare and Government Programs Product Strategy
MVP Health Care
Nikki Hungate, a long-time resident of Western NY region, currently serves as the Director of Medicare & Government Product Strategy at MVP Health Care. Utilizing the 17 years of experience in the health plan industry she us accountable for leading a team of product innovators that create and deliver a suite of high-quality government products that address the needs of the community in a customer-centric fashion, placing emphasis on those populations that are most vulnerable and undeserved. Nikki holds a Bachelors and Master of Science in Health Administration from Roberts Wesleyan College. She is currently an Executive Leadership doctoral candidate at the University of Charleston. Nikki has a passion for sharing knowledge, and also serves as an adjunct professor in the health sciences degree programs at Monroe Community College and Roberts Wesleyan College. In her free time she volunteers as the fundraising coordinator for the local Vietnam Veterans of America chapter in Rochester, NY.
Nate Lucena is a Senior Consultant for Rex Wallace Consulting, where he specializes in helping health plans achieve their Quality Improvement performance goals through data-driven and equity-focused strategies. He began his career spending over a decade in academic research, specializing in the neural bases of schizophrenia, brain aging, Alzheimer’s Disease and human cognition. Nate has been published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology and Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, and regularly presented research findings at industry conferences.
Nate shifted into a managed care career at Centene Corporation, where he built and led an Enterprise Quality Analytics and Data Science team specializing in data strategy, QI initiative outcomes studies, member-level predictive modeling of experience and clinical outcomes, and performance forecasting. Additionally, he was the key analytics lead in the development of an award-winning QI Health Equity Analysis Model, incorporating stratified reporting and advanced statistical modeling to help health plans identify health disparities and drivers in HEDIS and CAHPS. He went on to lead Ratings Improvement Strategy, National Vendor Management, and Quality RFP/Business Development for Medicare, Medicaid, and Marketplace lines of business.
Core to Nate’s work across the academic and corporate sectors is a deep commitment to creating diverse workplaces rooted in equity and inclusion through measurable action. His commitment is evidenced by leadership roles in the Washington University LGBT Advisory Board, co-creator and leader of the SafeZones training program for faculty and staff departments, co-Presidency of Centene’s cPRIDE employee inclusion group, and participation in numerous equity-focused community groups. This equity focus is the primary lens through which he helps managed care organizations bring disparity reduction to the forefront of their QI strategic focus.
Nate has Master’s degrees in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience/Aging from the College of William & Mary and Washington University in St. Louis.
April Martin Medicare Product Strategy and Management
Cigna Healthcare
My name is April Martin. I serve as a Medicare Advantage Product Strategy Lead for Cigna HealthCare. While supporting all our Southeast markets within the Medicare segment, specifically I manage our Alabama and Georgia markets. Throughout my career in Product, I’ve been heavily involved in benefit design and product innovation, development, and implementation with a special focus on SDoH and SSBCI benefits. With over 15 years of HealthCare industry experience, my prior roles have included healthcare administration, market expansion, provider contracting and management, quality and utilization management, and STARs. I truly resonate with Cigna’s mission to improve the health and vitality of those we serve. I am a graduate of the University of South Alabama, and a native of Mobile, Alabama.
Jake Mead is a seasoned professional with 20+ years of expertise in crafting and implementing state-of-the-art healthcare solutions. His comprehensive knowledge spans various healthcare domains, granting him a holistic understanding of customer challenges and the ability to tackle intricate issues adeptly. His career includes collaborations with in-home providers, care management teams, and diverse programs serving vulnerable populations and government initiatives. Alongside his passion for healthcare, Jake is an avid Lakers fan and relishes quality moments at the beach and traveling with his family.
Gary is a clinical pharmacist at Network Health, a local health insurance provider in Northeast and Southeast Wisconsin. He is currently one of three pharmacists involved making MTM calls in-house. His responsibilities also involve NCQA, pharmacy appeals, P&T Committee, as well as member and provider relations.
Gary also has experience as pharmacy manager for a national long term care company, as pharmacy manager for a retail pharmacy chain, and as pharmacy director for a national health care provider. In addition, he has been a pharmacy instructor at a local medical college family practice clinic.
Dr. Meyer is a clinical audiologist with over 30 years of experience in diagnostic assessment of hearing loss, tinnitus, and balance dysfunction as well as hearing aid evaluation, fitting, and verification. In her role as Director of Clinical Programs, Dr. Meyer works with providers, health plans and members to optimize member hearing health outcomes by improving clinical care pathways through provider innovation, member education and support. In 2021, Dr. Meyer successfully led her team through the accreditation process and Amplifon Hearing Health Care was granted full accreditation for Health Utilization Management by the Utilization Review Accreditation Committee (URAC), the first hearing health care organization to receive this accreditation. Dr. Meyer was appointed to the American Board of Audiology Board of Directors in 2022.
Dr. Claire Morrow Physical Therapy Consultant Manager
Hinge Health
Claire Morrow is a doctor of physical therapy at Hinge Health and has been practicing physical therapy for ten years. She is a board-certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist and Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy.
In addition to being a PT at Hinge Health full time, she is also a clinical faculty member in an orthopedic residency and fellowship program in the Bay Area, where she mentors and teaches new physical therapists. Prior to joining Hinge Health, she practiced in a variety of outpatient settings, including hospital-based, onsite employer clinics, and touring with professional athletes. Her professional mission is to empower individuals to take control of their pain for improved function and overall quality of life.
Spencer Pratt Vice President of Growth and Strategy
NourishedRx
Spencer Pratt is the VP of Growth & Strategy at NourishedRx. Spencer has spent his career in healthcare building innovative solutions and frameworks around SDoH, health equity, member engagement, and quality improvement. Prior to joining NourishedRx, Spencer held leadership roles at Unite Us and Carrot Health, and established a consumer insights solution at Optum.
Laura Sheriff, RN, MSN, is currently working as Vice President Operations, Risk Adjustment for Southwestern Health Resources (SWHR). She also works as a consultant with physician groups and health plans to capitalize on risk adjustment performance and operations. Laura is an MSN with >13 years’ experience in Medicare, Medicaid, and Marketplace Managed Care and has led teams in risk, quality, telehealth, and population health analytics. Laura demonstrates effective leadership, innovative problem-solving techniques, and goal-oriented focus to execute business objectives and meet performance metrics. Laura has designed and coordinated activities including provider education, training, auditing, data mining, and data analysis to direct program success. Laura has a Master’s in Nursing Education and is also a certified professional coder and a certified risk coder. Laura is also a frequent speaker for RISE, a best-in-class organization for all things related to accountable care and government healthcare reform.
Melissa Smith is Chief Consulting Officer at Healthmine. She is a well-known thought leader and health care strategist with over 25 years of experience in Star ratings, strategy, sales, and marketing for health plans, providers, pharmacy benefit managers, and industry vendors. As head of Healthmine’s advisory division, she helps clients evaluate market dynamics and opportunities, optimize distribution channels, and fulfill strategic planning needs.
Monica Suire
Director, Government Programs Contracting & Networking Development
Monica Suire Director, Government Programs Contracting & Networking Development
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana
Monica was born and raised in a little town called Erath, about 20 miles south of Lafayette, Louisiana. She pursued higher education at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette - GEAUX CAJUNS! She is a proud 2004 alumna, with a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing & Business Law, and a minor in Finance. Lucky for her, it didn’t take long to land a dream career in healthcare.
Voted as a Woman of Excellence, by her local community’s Chamber of Women and a United Way Volunteer of the Year, Monica has nearly 19 years of experience in healthcare, traversing multiple domains – including IT, Finance, Marketing, Business/Product Development, Operations, and Network Development. While serving primarily in an analytics, strategy, and leadership role, Monica also has depth and breathe of experience in change management, communications, and sales.
Of her 19 years in healthcare, the first 11 were on the provider side and the last 7 have been on the payor side, with a year’s worth of consulting in between. During that time, Monica has gained a vast understanding of the importance of market research, modeling, and leveraging technology to make informed decisions. Healthcare is an ever-changing space, with immense work to be done!
Outside of concurring the corporate world, you can find Monica living her best life as a chauffer, photographer, crisis manager, and cheerleader for her precious daughter, Layla. When she’s not recovering from life with a teen, you can find her passionately pursuing her faith, volunteering in her community, writing for local blogs, or at her CrossFit box. Monica has a passion for people and empowering her peers, but if you want to empower her, then it will most certainly be through a freshly brewed pot of coffee!
Rajkumar Venkatesan Professor, Academic Director, MSBA
Darden School of Business, University of Virginia
Rajkumar Venkatesan is the Ronald Trzcinski Professor of Business Administration at the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia. Raj has written about and taught quantitative marketing to MBA and executive education students worldwide. At Darden he has taught a course on marketing analytics for more than ten years, and a course on marketing technology products for five years. His experience in these courses he translated into the books, Cutting Edge Marketing Analytics, published by Pearson Education in 2014 and AI Marketing Canvas in 2021. He has published extensively in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Harvard Business Review, and California Management Review. He serves as an Associate Editor for Journal of Marketing, and Journal of Academy of Marketing Science. More than 250,000 individuals have participated in his Coursera course on marketing analytics.
Matt Viveiros
VP, Product, Marketing, and Project Management Office
Daniel Weaver Senior Vice President, Stars and Quality
Zing Health
Daniel Weaver recently became the Senior Vice President of Stars and Quality at Zing Health. With over 25 years of experience in Operations and Star Ratings strategy, Daniel has previously served as VP, Government Quality Programs at Gateway Health and Director of Stars Programs at Highmark Health, helping both organizations achieve and maintain their first 4.5 Star Ratings. In his career, Dan has overseen the development and implementation of many analytics-driven and customer-focused programs, and he advocates for continuous improvement and operational excellence philosophies for sustained success. In his new role with Zing Health, Daniel will focus on implementing a high-performing Stars infrastructure to support the organization’s rapid growth with a focus on servicing special needs members in several states.
Dr. Alla Zilbering
Medicare National Medical Director for Health Equity
Dr. Alla Zilbering Medicare National Medical Director for Health Equity
Cigna
Dr. Alla Zilbering is Cigna Medicare’s first National Medical Director for Health Equity. Her passion is working toward a U.S. health care system that provides high-quality, cost-effective care for all. She advocates for members and providers to eliminate health disparities by developing strategy and identifying solutions.
She continues to serve at the Market Medical Executive for Cigna Medicare markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. She is a board-certified internist with over a decade of clinical experience, specializing in medically underserved and complex urban populations. She has been with Cigna Medicare for 10 years and has in depth knowledge on improving patient health outcomes, quality- based incentive programs, and containing medical cost.
Dr. Zilbering was born in Russia and grew up in New York City. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Haverford College, attended University of Buffalo School of Medicine, and completed her training at Temple University Hospital. She is currently pursuing her MBA.
