2018 Speaking Faculty

Ashok Chennuru is a veteran Anthem employee with over ten years’ experience. He currently serves as the Vice President, IT Clinical Analytics for the Market Place Solutions/Heath Care Analytics team. In this role he over oversees the following:

• Technical delivery of all capabilities in Provider Collaboration/Enablement & Analytics. This includes all value based arrangements, Population Health Management, Bundled Payments, Provider profile, provider management analytics and Accountable Care Solutions.
• Clinical and Member Management analytics including delivery of clinical care gap engine with Resolution Health, Inc (RHI).
• Technical delivery of Commercial and Government Risk Adjustment initiatives, Medicare revenue Management including STARS, Clinical quality Management(HEDIS)
• Program Integrity(Fraud, Waste and Abuse) for Commercial and Government markets
• Health Information Technology strategy, execution of Longitudinal Patient Record and enterprise Clinical data acquisition and clinical interoperability.

In addition, Ashok has experience with implementing EMR/EHR systems in a wide variety of provider settings ranging from small provider groups, IPAs and integrated delivery systems.

Prior to joining Anthem, Ashok led the Information Management/Business Intelligence team at Liberty Mutual and focused on delivering analytics to key business areas like Actuarial & Finance. Preceding Liberty Mutual, Ashok worked in software giants SAP and Oracle as a software development engineer of Business Intelligence products.

Ashok holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from University of Missouri and BS in Computer Science and Engineering from Madurai University in India.

Holly has over 30 years’ experience in health care clinical programs, services, and managed care strategy. She is a nurse executive with deep industry and consulting experience in government programs managed care product innovation and development, strategic planning, program/ product and operational design, market and opportunity analysis, financial feasibility, network strategy, quality and performance improvement, revenue management. Holly specializes in managed care programs serving Medicare, Medicaid, dual eligibles and other specialized populations, and is a nationally-recognized thought leader and speaker on specialized managed care programs. Holly was responsible for building and leading the first and still largest managed LTC plan in NYS, and is a former NYS Medicaid managed care plan President and CEO. Holly received her Masters in Public Health Administration, Masters of Science in Urban Planning, and Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Columbia University

Stacey Geffken is Director of Product Development and Market Research for Geisinger Health Plan, with oversight of research and development activities across all lines of business, serving approximately 500,000 plan members. Stacey is a Market Research and Insights professional with a proven ability to enhance decision-making by providing research and intelligence that produces actionable results and insights. In her current roll, Stacey brings insights from the voice of the customer, together with health plan benefit and program design. Prior to joining Geisinger Health Plan, she led market research, and enrollment forecasting functions at Highmark and at Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania, for 17 years, in roles that included Director of Market Analytics, and Manager, Market Research and Intelligence. During her tenure at the Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, Stacey helped guide strategic development with a focus on member experience and the impacts of the competitive landscape.

Stacey is a graduate of Penn State University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Quantitative Business Analysis.

An expert in operational performance and excellence, Jenny has over 15 years of experience developing and implementing innovative operational strategies to improve overall business performance and utilization. As a founding partner, Jenny has led engagements for clients in the Health Insurance and Insurance Brokerage industries. Her functional expertise includes customer service, correspondence, claims, medical management, enrollment, brokerage servicing, policy management, underwriting operations, requirements development, and information technology.

Working in collaboration with executives and their teams, Jenny focuses on developing strategic recommendations that make a positive impact on the customer experience by vastly improving internal processes and management. Jenny has led instructional design teams, developed member centric operating models and best in industry training and skills development programs. Effective in both off- and on-shore projects, Jenny has experience handling aggressive ramp up timelines including 30-day implementations.

A recognized Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP), and a Lectora Certified Advanced Author, an eLearning development tool. Jenny was a member of the Honor’s Program at Babson College and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

David brings almost 20 years of experience within the healthcare industry with focus in the areas of analytics, reimbursement methodologies and alternative payment methodologies. The majority of David’s time has been spent on the vendor and consulting side of the healthcare ecosystem providing services both to Health Plans as well as Providers.

David joined Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana in June of 2015 in the role of Vice President of Provider Reimbursement and Payment Innovation. He now holds the position of Interim SVP of Medical Economics with responsibility for Alternative Payment Strategy, Reimbursement Methodology and Strategy as well as Provider Contracting, Credentialing and Communications. Prior to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, he worked at Trover Solutions as the SVP of Payment Integrity, Accenture as Healthcare Analytics Senior Manager, and OPTUM/Ingenix as VP/General Manager Payment Integrity, VP Hospital Solutions, and VP Data Analytic Solutions. Prior to OPTUM David worked at HSS, Inc., eHealthFirst and Health Process Management.

David did his undergraduate education at the University of Vermont graduating with two BS degrees, one in Mathematics and the other in Computer Science. He has a master’s degree from the University of Vermont in Mathematics and did PhD work in Applied Mathematics at the University of Arizona.

David lives with his wife Mitzi in Baton Rouge and enjoys golf and music.

Jonna Kurucz is Staff Vice President for Anthem’s clinical client development. In that capacity, she is responsible for commercial business clinical strategy, business development and innovation. She frequently presents clinical strategy and custom solutions in finalist meetings with Fortune 500 companies, and delivers updates on Anthem’s total population health approach to national benefit consulting firms.

Prior to joining Anthem, Jonna was with Resolution Health, Inc., a technology company Anthem acquired in 2008. There she managed the relationship with Anthem, which was Resolution Health’s largest customer and strategic investor prior to the acquisition.

Jonna’s previous roles include being a member of Nextel’s Leadership Team, where she led the Strategic Business Solutions unit focused on the financial, insurance, health care, pharmaceutical and professional services industries. She was a key contributor in developing strategic direction for the Business Solutions teaming with cross-functional organizations.

Jonna was also a member of the Executive Team of BenefitPoint, Inc, a start-up technology infrastructure company. Her sales, account management and sales support organization managed executive relationships at the largest consulting customers, including Mercer Human Resources Consulting, Marsh Employee Benefit Services, Aon Consulting and Willis as well as large carrier customers, including UNUM. She grew the customer base to150 large brokerage/consulting firms including six of the top 10 in the U.S. Jonna created and supervised strategic and tactical project plans for 400 broker offices representing 52,000 employers, 120,000 employer benefit plans accounting for over $80B in employee benefits revenue.

Jonna’s career began at Prudential, where among various roles she developed and communicated corporate public policy positions reporting to consecutive CEOs. In that role, she represented Prudential Enterprise on national trade associations during height of health care reform including The Business Roundtable and the American Association of Health Plans (now AHIP). Jonna also served on national advisory groups for the American Academy of Family Practice Physicians and the National Business Coalition on Health.

Jonna earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College.

Ms. Leo oversees the overall performance, strategic direction and product development for Cigna Healthspring’s Medicare products. Prior to joining Cigna, she worked for Aetna, where she was most recently was the National Head for Medicare Advantage product and strategy.

Previously, Ms. Leo held leadership roles at Aetna in national contracting, network contracting, operations and dental. She has an MBA from St. Joseph’s University and lives in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter.

As Executive Director of Operations Integrity for Aetna, Audrey leads efforts to ensure organizational success and operational compliance. Responsible for mobilizing business resources to identify, mitigate, and remediate challenges leading to compliance and business risk, she has supported the execution of strategic goals. Prior to this role, Audrey served as the Medicare Compliance Officer of the Amerigroup Corporation, and held Product Management and Compliance roles at Healthfirst and Centerlight Health Systems before that. She has continued to bring her health insurance expertise and leadership skills to guarantee the success of the projects she joins.

Pranav Mehta is the Senior VP of Product and Business Planning at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care where he is responsible for Product Strategy and Execution to support growth in all New England states. Additionally he serves as the market leader for the Massachusetts market and leads the Business Planning activities for the company including development of the corporate annual business plan.

Prior to joining Harvard Pilgrim, Pranav was the VP of Marketing at Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, where he led the strategy and implementation efforts relative to compliance with the Affordable Care Act including planning for exchanges He started his early career at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and progressed through numerous management roles.

Pranav is a native of India, where he trained as a BioMedical Engineer. He came to the US and obtained his MHA from the Sloan Program at Cornell University, where he now serves on the alumni board.

Results-driven Senior Executive with a stellar, 20+ year record of achievements focused on marketing analytics and consumer engagement. Past Gartner CRM Excellence award recipient for healthcare member engagement. Proven track record for past 10 years in healthcare member engagement optimization with multiple industry leading health plans. Highly talented entrepreneur who drives rapid growth by seizing business opportunities and penetrating lucrative markets.

Adam has been with UPMC Health Plan for 10 years holding various roles in Sales and Product Development. Currently he is responsible for strategic development and P&L; for the Individual and Small Group market segments. He was responsible for launching the Individual business line in 2012 for UPMC and subsequent launch of ACA compliant Small Group and Individual plans in 2014.

Robin Randall-Lewis is a rule breaker, Rock-n-Roll Mom of 5 who is half of the fun couple and a seasoned healthcare strategist. She has spent the latter part of a 30 year career in healthcare helping to find ways to engage consumers in navigating and managing the complex terrain of healthcare. Building on years of core foundation of clinical information technology in hospitals, Robin moved over to consulting at Ernst & Young where her marquis solution was developing a consumer engagement portal that was ahead of its time. Leveraging that experience she jumped into the dot com foray and designed self-scheduling solutions for hospitals and Providers. Squarely ensconced in the vendor world, she moved over to be a P&L; owner for Clinical Solutions at Thomson Medstat/Truven/now IBM. Here she “leapfrogged patient safety” and elevated provider ranking methodologies to consumers and other healthcare stakeholders. Fast forward to the last 10 years where Robin has been working at engaging consumers at United/Optum Health, Consulting for J&J; and WebMD, and building out technology enabled consumer engagement solutions at Anthem. She is a published author and speaker on consumer engagement, Wellness, incentives, and healthcare data acquisition.

Susan helps companies facing massive change solve problems and capitalize on opportunities more effectively, through more creative thinking. Some of the world’s largest corporations call on Susan to consult with them on innovation initiatives, strategy, and culture. Clients include Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Florida Blue, & Spaulding Rehabilitation Network.

She was a keynote speaker at the NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center Innovation Expo, and is a frequent speaker in creativity and innovation across the U.S. and around the world. She has spoken at conferences and led innovation initiatives in places as diverse as South Africa, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, the U.K., China, France, Brazil, Mexico, and Greece.

She teaches executive education and graduate level courses in creative thinking at Harvard University, as well as being a senior faculty member at the annual Creative Problem Solving Institute, the largest and longest-running innovative thinking conference in the world.

Sue Schick is Chief Growth Officer at UnitedHealthcare Community & State. In this role, Sue is responsible for designing and building innovative strategies to support state government customers that make the health care system work better. UnitedHealthcare Community & State proudly serves nearly 6.4 million Medicaid members in 26 states, plus Washington D.C. UnitedHealthcare is a division of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) which is a diversified health and well-being company with a mission to help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone.

Prior to serving as Chief Growth Officer, Sue was the Chief Executive Officer of the UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Pennsylvania where she managed both Medicaid and Commercial products. Before this role, Sue held a variety of business development leadership positions, including National Vice President of Distribution Strategies and Regional Vice President of Sales. She joined UnitedHealthcare over ten years ago and has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the health and employee benefits industry. Sue is also a Culture Facilitator and Coach, and was recognized with the UnitedHealthcare Values Token in 2015.

Sue is active in the community, serving in leadership roles with health-related organizations, including the national March of Dimes Board of Trustees. In addition, Sue works to lead change and guide healthcare delivery improvements across the country. In recognition of these efforts, Modern Healthcare recognized her as a finalist for their national Community Leader Award in 2013, and honored her as one of 10 Women Leaders to Watch in 2017. Sue is also active in supporting state governments, most recently serving as Chair for the Pennsylvania Commission for Women, and serving on the Governor’s Innovation & Privatization Task Force.

Sue earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics/Business from Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, where she is an active volunteer serving on the Board of Trustees and as past President of the Society of Alumni. Sue also holds her Master of Science degree in Healthcare Delivery Science from Dartmouth College.

As one of the youngest Vice Presidents at Avera Health, Jennifer Schultz manages a multimillion-dollar budget, oversees strategic marketing for the major service lines and business units of the entire health system, physician communications, population health initiatives, leads a team of over 20 people, and has led numerous successful and award-winning campaigns. In 2015, she completed her MBA through the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Jennifer is skilled at connecting dots before other people see the overall vision. She has become a trusted resource for the physicians and leaders of Avera Health. Jennifer has volunteered for committee work for the South Dakota Symphony and was on the steering committee that founded Dress for Success in Sioux Falls. She has a passion for being involved in programs that improve the lives of women and children. She's also a graduate of the EmBE (formerly YWCA) Women's Leadership program and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and the EmBe Marketingtz

As Senior Director of Dual programs for Aetna, Karen employs strategic leadership skills and industry expertise to provide strategy development and operations oversight for Dual Eligible Products at Aetna. Karen joined Aetna in 2012 and has led end to end operations for their dual demonstrations and dual special needs plans in multiple states. She has successfully led multiple programs and process improvement initiatives that includes successful CMS data validation audits as well as plan program audits. Prior to this role, she worked as the Senior Director of Clinical Programs at XLHealth Corporation where she developed strategies and programs to support dual eligible beneficiaries that reduced medical costs and readmissions by 25%.

Mary Woods is vice president of marketing and communications for Kaiser Permanente’s National Medicare line of business.

Mary is a seasoned health care industry professional with communications and marketing experience spanning more than three decades in the managed care and care delivery sectors – mostly at Kaiser Permanente (KP). A substantial part of her career at KP has been in corporate and marketing communications with leadership positions in the Southern California and Mid-Atlantic States regions, and Program Office.

In her current Program Office role, Mary is accountable for ensuring that KP’s national Medicare marketing is aligned with business strategies and achieves membership goals. Additionally, Mary is responsible for ensuring the compliance of KP’s Medicare marketing programs and materials with all Federal government regulations. She also provides internal communication leadership for the Medicare line of business.

Mary joined KP in 1982 as a public affairs representative in the Orange County, California service area. After taking on increasing responsibilities throughout the Southern California region, she ultimately became assistant director of public affairs. In 1992, she relocated to KP’s Mid-Atlantic States region as director of public affairs. Her responsibilities were expanded to include marketing and communications for the region – and she eventually became director of corporate and marketing communications for both the Mid-Atlantic States and Ohio regions. From 2000 to 2004, Mary supported KP’s senior vice president of brand and communications in the redesign of the national communications structure, the launch of KP’s Thrive brand, and the naming of KP HealthConnecttm, KP’s online medical record.

Mary is a magna cum laude graduate from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, with a bachelor of science degree in journalism and business administration. She resides in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband and two sons. She is an avid runner and golfer; and active in her church, children’s school, and other community organizations.