2018 Speaking Faculty

Nebeyou serves as Vice President Health & Well-being for Sodexo North America. He is responsible for enterprise-wide health and well-being strategy, advising clients on their workforce (and community) health and well-being goals, developing comprehensive employee health and well-being solutions, and establishing mutually beneficial partnerships with private, public and non-profit entities.

Nebeyou earned his Masters in Social and Public Policy from Georgetown University, Bachelors in Economics from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Project Management Professional (PMP) credential from the Project Management Institute. From 2008-12, he served as a federal-level advisory board member for the Office of Minority Health. In 2012, Nebeyou was honored with the prestigious "40under40" award by the Envest Foundation for his work and contributions in public health. His work has been published in national peer review publications including Modern Healthcare, Diabetes Spectrum, Journal of Medical Internet Research, and Employee Business Plan Review. Nebeyou is a highly sought out speaker and has been interviewed by several media outlets.

Todd Bisping is the Global Benefits Manager at Caterpillar Inc. In this role he is responsible for overseeing the global strategy and initiatives for all benefits, including Caterpillar's Total Health Strategy and Global Mobility. Todd previously has held a wide range of responsibilities in the benefits arena including plan design, administration, compliance, government and policy issues as well as the management of the Caterpillar PPO network which includes over 30 hospitals and 4000 providers. He also has been instrumental in the development and implementation of industry leading pharmacy benefit innovations and solutions. Todd also served as the Chief Strategy Officer for the Health Transformation Alliance during it's launch.

Since joining Caterpillar in 1989 as part of the company’s Engineering program, he has held numerous positions with increasing responsibilities in the areas of Engineering, I/T, and Product Support. He also is certified as a 6 Sigma Blackbelt and Master Blackbelt.

Bisping, a native of Linn, Kansas, graduated from Kansas State University with a bachelor’s degree in Engineering, and Bradley University with a MBA. He also has been certified as a Benefits Professional. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Heartland Healthcare Coalition as well as a member of the Board of Directors for the Health Transformation Alliance. He is involved in numerous community activities in his hometown of Morton, IL.

Dave is Author of The CEO’s Guide to Restoring the American Dream: How to Deliver World Class Healthcare to Your Employees at Half the Cost. He is Co-founder of Health Rosetta and has built the Health Rosetta ecosystem over the last six years, first while building his last startup and then as a venture investor.

Chase’s TEDx talk entitled “Healthcare Stole the American Dream – Here’s How We Take it Back” sums up health care’s devastation of the middle class and the redemption coming via a bottom-up movement. Chase was named one of the most influential people in Digital Health due to his entrepreneurial success, speaking, and writing. He delights in sharing how high-performing organizations have solved health care’s toughest challenges. Chase co-authored the health care Book of the Year in in 2014.

Chase was the CEO/Co-founder of Avado, acquired by and integrated into WebMD and Medscape. Before Avado, Chase spent several years outside of health care in startups as founder or consulting roles with LiveRez.com, MarketLeader, and WhatCounts. He also played founding and leadership roles in launching two new $1B+ businesses within Microsoft including their $2 billion health care platform business.

Mr. Neil Goldfarb is President and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health (GPBCH, www.gpbch.org), an employer-led non-profit organization established in 2012 with the mission of developing best practices for maintaining a healthy workforce, and ensuring that when healthcare is needed it is safe, high-quality, accessible and affordable. GPBCH represents over 1.5 million covered lives nationally, including 750,000 lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware. Mr. Goldfarb brings over 30 years of healthcare research and management experience to his Coalition leadership position. As Associate Dean for Research in the Jefferson College of Population Health, he was responsible for developing and carrying out the school’s research agenda, focused on healthcare quality and value, and economic evaluation of healthcare technologies. Concurrently, Mr. Goldfarb served as Director of Ambulatory Care Performance Improvement for the Jefferson faculty practice plan. His previous positions include Executive Director of a quality improvement consulting and data collection firm, and Vice President of Health Services for the Philadelphia region’s first Medicaid managed care plan. Mr. Goldfarb has authored over 60 articles in the peer-reviewed literature. Mr. Goldfarb is Chair of the Board of Governors of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, and founding co-Director of the College for Value-based Purchasing of Health Benefits.

Jason Morgan is a Global Health and Wellness leader with broad expertise in Strategic Design, Program Implementation, Business Development and Account Management. Jason has a distinguished track record of developing, delivering, enhancing and managing global and domestic employee wellness initiatives in Fortune 500 companies as well as serving as a subject matter expert for corporate health & wellness consulting.

Within his roles of creating strategic direction for corporate wellness programs, he has the unique skill set of establishing the global corporate strategy and delivering employee wellness programs worldwide at Mars, Inc.

Given his natural ability with people and his confident, energetic, and outgoing nature, he has built and managed highly effective teams, mentored numerous colleagues and clients, and established a solid reputation as an industry leader.

Jason seeks to transform the approach to corporate health & Wellness by empowering and inspiring individuals and organizations to take action with effective strategies that will look not just at health, but overall happiness as well.

Ryan Sledge has a passion for improving the health of individuals and populations. He currently serves as Director of Corporate Wellness Operations for OhioHealth, the largest healthcare system in Central Ohio. In this capacity, Ryan is responsible for innovation, integration, and expansion of wellness programs provided to employers in Columbus, Ohio and the region. During his tenure at OhioHealth, Ryan has also been responsible for creating a sustainable culture of health for OhioHealth’s 29,000 employees.

Ryan has over 10 years of experience in wellness and health management working with employer and community populations. He believes in making healthy choices accessible to all.

Ryan’s academic background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science, a Master of Public Health degree from Michigan State University, and a Master of Business Administration degree from University of Michigan.

RE Sutton & Associates, a division of Brown & Brown of Indiana, LLC

As an independent broker/consultant, Richard works with a variety of small and large employers and specializes in working with school systems, libraries and other public employers. Richard is a graduate of Ball State University where he majored in Public Relations and Political Science. While at Ball State, Richard was active as President of his Fraternity and President of the Student Center Governing Board.

Prior to founding RE Sutton & Associates, LLC in July, 2001, Richard was a partner at the firm of D.B. Englehart & Associates. Before his consultant work, Richard worked ten years at Blue Cross/Blue Shield and The Acordia Companies, where he received numerous awards for new sales and service to existing clients.

RE Sutton & Associates was named as one of the Top 25 Largest Indianapolis-Area Independent Insurance Agencies/Brokerage firms by the Indianapolis Business Journal for five years. In 2008, RE Sutton & Associates merged with Brown & Brown of Indiana creating the Largest Indianapolis-Area Independent Insurance Agency in the Indianapolis area and the firm has remained at the top of that list.

Richard contributed to a book series “Inside the Minds: Employee Benefit Best Practices”. The book, written by leading executives across the country, is an authoritative perspective on key strategies for offering secure, affordable coverage, while continuing to attract, retain and award employees. Richard’s chapter is entitled: “A Transparent Effort for Servicing Clients in the Employee Benefits Industry.

Richard is a graduate of Leadership Hendricks County. Through that program he was instrumental in instituting the Summer Lunch Bunch for Kids in Brownsburg. This program brings lunch, activities and entertainment to the children of Brownsburg during the summer months. Richard serves on the advisory board for several insurance and health related corporations.

Richard was included in the 2011 Indianapolis Business Journal list “Who’s Who in Health Care and Benefits.” This list includes administrators, benefits experts, insurance executives, and doctors doing groundbreaking work, attorneys, CPAs and policymakers.

As a heart disease survivor, Julie believes she was given a second chance at life for a reason. She finds that that when she is sharing the inspiration behind her second chance with others, she is living into her life purpose.

Julie is the North American Wellness Lead for Accenture, a Global Fortune 500 Company, CEO and Owner of Seven Studios (a yoga and fitness studio), published author of The 7 Life Miracles, a Life Coach, a motivational speaker and an entrepreneur, owning several companies, including: aromatherapy product lines, an online life coaching series and a public speaking academy.

Julie has appeared on The Carol Alt Show with Fox News, interviewed on The Marilu Henner Show and has been featured on many television shows and new stations either as a fitness/wellness expert, author of motivational content or entrepreneur. Julie has spoken and presented across the globe, including at the White House, The Tower of London, the US Chamber of Commerce, TED Talk, Solutions at Work Live, various national health conferences, the National Business Group on Health, International Women’s Day, and the US Department of Defense. In 2016, she was selected a one of “25 Remarkable Women” from Role Model Magazine and one of 12 ‘Women You Should Know’ in Central Ohio by the Women for Economic and Leadership Development (WELD) organization. Julie has been featured in numerous magazines including: FITNESS Magazine, Columbus CEO, Weight Watchers Magazine, Fit Columbus Magazine and others. Julie has shot over 80 fitness and motivational videos, has several health and wellness mobile phone apps and is an author and often serves as a subject matter expert for local and national news stories. Julie won the Employee Benefits Newsmagazine Leadership In Health Care Award, was selected as one of FITNESS MAGAZINE’S Top 10 Champions of Health and Wellness, was named a 40 Under 40 award winner, TechColumbus Innovation Award Finalist, one of 100 Buckeyes You Should Know, and a lululemon athletica ambassador. Julie is also an animal lover and volunteers with several pet organizations. She is also passionate about the Make a Wish organization and serves as a wish granter for children with life-threatening illness.

Julie has a Master’s Degree in Education-Exercise Physiology from The Ohio State University, and a Bachelor’ s Degree in International Business from Marietta College. She has her Registered Yoga Teacher Training 200 hour certification with Yoga Alliance and fitness and pilates certifications from ACE, AFAA, ACSM, and Fitour. She also has a life coach certification from Well Coaches.

Jackie Womble is the Sr Manager of Health & Well-Being for Sodexo North America. She helps manage the deployment of Sodexo’s enterprise wide health and well-being strategy. Jackie is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian who specializes in corporate wellness, sports nutrition and physical fitness. She is an American College of Sports Medicine certified Exercise Physiologist and Certified Spinning Instructor. She uses her expertise in exercise physiology and nutrition to help thousands of people from around the globe find a healthy balance in their daily routines. Jackie’s energetic personality for health and wellness is witnessed during her personal consultations, fitness and nutrition articles and public speaking engagements. She works to help find lasting solutions on how to improve the quality of life in the clients we serve. Jackie believes we should all enjoy nature’s pleasures with a positive, healthy, and active outlook.

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

As CEO of the HTA, Andrews oversees the strategic direction of 40+ major corporations who have come together in an alliance to do one thing: fix our broken healthcare system. Formed by 4 founding members in September 2015, the HTA has grown to include more than 40 of our nation’s leading employers, who collectively are responsible for more than 7 million employees, dependents and retirees and an annual health care spend of $26 billion. Through Andrews’ leadership, the HTA has launched value-driven solutions specifically designed to improve patient care and economic value through world class data & analytics, pathbreaking pharmaceutical solutions, high quality medical networks and robust consumer engagement initiatives.

Andrews previously led the Government Affairs practice at Dilworth Paxson law firm for two years before joining the HTA. Prior to private practice, Andrews served as a Member of the United States House of Representatives for nearly 24 years. Upon his departure from the Congress, President Barack Obama praised Andrews’ service as “an original author of the Affordable Care Act...and a vital partner in its passage and implementation,” and cited his “tenacity and skill” in representing the people of New Jersey. Andrews is married to Camille Spinello Andrews, an Associate Dean at Rutgers Law School and former Dilworth partner, and they have two daughters, Jacquelyn and Josie.

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

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

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

Education:
J.D., magna cum laude, Cornell Law School, 1982 • Cornell Law Review • Order of the Coif B.A., summa cum laude with honors, Bucknell University, 1979 • Phi Beta Kappa

Marilyn Bartlett is Administrator of Health Care and Benefits Division for the State of Montana. She is responsible for administration of Montana’s largest self-funded health plan, with over 31,000 members. Marilyn assumed this position in 2014, with a focus on improving the plan’s financial performance and enhancing benefit offerings.

Marilyn was previously employed as CFO for a regional TPA firm, Controller for a Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan, Administrative Superintendent for an international mining company, and Controller for a regional CPA firm. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the University of Nevada – Reno and completed the Accounting/Finance program at Montana State University – Billings. Marilyn earned Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, Certified Global Management Accountant, and Certified Financial Management designations.

Marilyn and her husband, Ed, reside in Helena, Montana, where Ed is an attorney/lobbyist.

Todd Bisping is the Global Benefits Manager at Caterpillar Inc. In this role he is responsible for overseeing the global strategy and initiatives for all benefits, including Caterpillar's Total Health Strategy and Global Mobility. Todd previously has held a wide range of responsibilities in the benefits arena including plan design, administration, compliance, government and policy issues as well as the management of the Caterpillar PPO network which includes over 30 hospitals and 4000 providers. He also has been instrumental in the development and implementation of industry leading pharmacy benefit innovations and solutions. Todd also served as the Chief Strategy Officer for the Health Transformation Alliance during it's launch.

Since joining Caterpillar in 1989 as part of the company’s Engineering program, he has held numerous positions with increasing responsibilities in the areas of Engineering, I/T, and Product Support. He also is certified as a 6 Sigma Blackbelt and Master Blackbelt.

Bisping, a native of Linn, Kansas, graduated from Kansas State University with a bachelor’s degree in Engineering, and Bradley University with a MBA. He also has been certified as a Benefits Professional. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Heartland Healthcare Coalition as well as a member of the Board of Directors for the Health Transformation Alliance. He is involved in numerous community activities in his hometown of Morton, IL.

Dave is Author of The CEO’s Guide to Restoring the American Dream: How to Deliver World Class Healthcare to Your Employees at Half the Cost. He is Co-founder of Health Rosetta and has built the Health Rosetta ecosystem over the last six years, first while building his last startup and then as a venture investor.

Chase’s TEDx talk entitled “Healthcare Stole the American Dream – Here’s How We Take it Back” sums up health care’s devastation of the middle class and the redemption coming via a bottom-up movement. Chase was named one of the most influential people in Digital Health due to his entrepreneurial success, speaking, and writing. He delights in sharing how high-performing organizations have solved health care’s toughest challenges. Chase co-authored the health care Book of the Year in in 2014.

Chase was the CEO/Co-founder of Avado, acquired by and integrated into WebMD and Medscape. Before Avado, Chase spent several years outside of health care in startups as founder or consulting roles with LiveRez.com, MarketLeader, and WhatCounts. He also played founding and leadership roles in launching two new $1B+ businesses within Microsoft including their $2 billion health care platform business.

Paul Fronstin is Director of the Health Research and Education Program at the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to original public policy research and education on economic security and employee benefits. He also oversees the Center for Research on Health Benefits Innovation. He has been with EBRI since 1993.

Dr. Fronstin's research interests include trends in employment-based health benefits, private health insurance exchanges, workplace wellness programs, consumer-driven health benefits, retiree health benefits, employee benefits and taxation, and public opinion about health benefits and health care. He currently serves on the board of trustees for Emeriti Retirement Health Solutions and for the Maryland Patient Safety Center. He also serves on the National Advisory Board for the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design. He is the associate editor of Benefits Quarterly and is also a TIAA-CREF Institute Fellow. From 2012-2016, Dr. Fronstin served on the Maryland Health Care Commission. In 2010, he served on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Determination of Essential Health Benefits.

Dr. Fronstin earned his Bachelor of Science degree from SUNY Binghamton and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Miami.

David Henka is the President and CEO of ActiveRADAR (formally RxTE Health), a company specializing in pharmacy cost reduction programs. David brings decades of experience consulting with health plan sponsors on a wide range of employee benefit issues, including plan design, benefit strategies, funding and plan management, to his role at ActiveRADAR. David previously served as ActiveRADAR’s COO, responsible for sales and the development of the company’s IT and analytics platform. Prior to joining ActiveRADAR, David served as the Director of the Reta Trust, a nonprofit Catholic employer healthcare trust. There he was responsible for vendor contracting, benefit design, clinical reporting and strategic market planning. David holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from University of California Los Angeles.

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

Kim joined Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc. as an Area Vice President in 2017. He has over 25 years of experience in the benefits industry, and previously served as a senior vice president and local practice leader for another national consulting firm for over 14 years.

The majority of Kim’s work has been with self-funded employer groups, including both public and private entities. He has extensive experience in the design, financing and implementation of comprehensive health and benefits programs. In particular, he has significant experience and expertise in value based, direct-to-employer programs. He has worked with many employers to develop innovative approaches to delivering healthcare in their community, including patient centered medical homes, proactive medical management and provider quality initiatives.

Kim obtained his undergraduate degree in accounting and management, and has completed his Masters in Business Administration (MBA). He is a frequent speaker on benefits related topics.

Angela has many years of experience challenging the status quo to improve healthcare in the US. Her Executive Masters in Public Administration is focused on health care transformation through federal and state policy and reform initiatives. In the health care industry she focused on Patient Centered Medical Home designs and created a team-based leadership model that was adopted across 5 states. She also created new creative wats to drive improvements through the patients perspectives, bringing them across the table with the health care system executives to demand improvements, and it worked. These programs are now running across the state of OR and are embedded into all primary care and hospital practices.

For the past several years, Angela has been leading innovative, employer-led ACO models for Intel in the US. No other large employer has this direct contracting relationship with local health care systems, so to build them all took strong leadership and partnership. The most recent data shows how the vision behind the ACO models is working, achieving Triple Aim outcomes: reducing costs, improving health outcomes, and getting high member satisfaction and engagement rates. Angela is a passionate leader in health care that brings the right people around the table to make the impossible happen.

Marcus Osborne serves as Vice President, Health & Wellness Transformation for Walmart. In that role, he is focused on furthering Walmart’s stated goal of improving the healthcare industry in the U.S. by increasing access, quality and affordability in the system for consumers. Prior to joining Walmart, Marcus was a Senior Management Consultant with Alliance Consulting Group in Boston, Massachusetts. He also served as the Chief Financial Officer of the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative. Marcus attended the Harvard Business School and received his Master’s in Business Administration, graduating with honors.

Martin Otto is currently on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) and served as its Chairman from 2016-2017. In these roles, Mr. Otto works with the NACDS leadership to shape pharmacy industry policy and inspire NACDS’ members to embrace an increasingly larger set of responsibilities as health care providers, businesses and corporate citizens.

Known to his colleagues for his candid assessment and broad vision, Mr. Otto relies on his extensive experience and background to help advance pharmacy’s leadership position in the U.S. healthcare system. Mr. Otto currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of H-E-B, a $23 billion supermarket/pharmacy chain operating in Texas and Mexico. H-E-B is #13 on the 2016 Forbes list of America’s largest private companies and is among the more than 100 NACDS chain member companies, comprised of traditional drug stores, supermarkets and mass merchants with pharmacies.

Mr. Otto is a strong believer in the potential for collaborating at the national and local level to design healthcare solutions by confronting an array of socio-economic challenges. With 40,000 chain pharmacies industry-wide, employing 178,000 pharmacists who interact with these concerns on a daily basis, Mr. Otto sees pharmacy care as a key health care element.

In his 26 years with H-E-B, Mr. Otto has held numerous leadership roles in merchandising, store operations and finance, serving most recently as Chief Merchant and Chief Financial Officer, and serving earlier in his career in a variety of store management roles. He continues to mentor H-E-B’s key leaders, contributing his in-depth knowledge to assessing opportunities across the company’s operations.v

Mr. Otto's past professional experience also includes real estate investment banking and public accounting. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Harvard Business School.

Olivia Ross is an Associate Director with the Pacific Business Group on Health responsible for the operation and expansion of the Employers Centers of Excellence Network (ECEN). The ECEN is a national, multi-employer initiative that identifies and provides employees access to high quality surgical care through prospective bundled rates. Before joining PBGH, Olivia spent four years managing several projects at Northwestern University. Her work with the Chicago Pediatric Patient Safety Consortium and the Transplantation Outcomes Research Collaborative focused on risk assessment, improving clinician communication and teamwork. Olivia holds an MPH from UCLA and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

William Slocum, Executive Vice President for ESurgeries. Slocum is a longtime veteran of the insurance industry, having spent a decade consulting for middle-market clients in all areas of insurance, employee benefits and risk management before joining ESurgeries. William also was an integral part of forming the industry we now know as “Referenced Based Pricing”.

In an article he wrote for the Council of Insurance Agent and Brokers (CIAB) William remarked, “We spend a lot of time figuring out how to reduce the costs of healthcare but little asking why medical services are so expensive in the first place.” (Leaders Edge Magazine March 2015)

Residents of Shreveport, LA, William and his lovely wife of 29 years, they have two boys that attend his Alma Matter; LSU. Their favorite pass-time is family; whether backpacking in Montana or skiing in Colorado they always look forward to the next family adventure. “Lately my hobby has become cooking”, he adds “you can’t say your from Louisiana but don’t know how to cook.”

Michael Thompson is the President and CEO of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (National Alliance), an association of approximately 50 regional coalitions collectively supporting over 12,000 healthcare purchasers providing health coverage to more than 45 million Americans. The National Alliance helps to lead improvements in health, wellbeing and value for our companies and communities across the country.

Prior to joining the National Alliance, Mike was a Principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for 20 years. Thompson is a nationally recognized thought leader for business health strategies and health system reform. He has worked with major employers and other stakeholders on sustainable cost reduction, integrated health, wellness and consumerism, retiree health, private health exchanges and health reform. Known for developing and promoting collaborative cross-sector health industry initiatives, Mike participated on the steering board of the World Economic Forum’s “Working towards Wellness” initiative and co-founded the Private Exchange Evaluation Collaborative (PEEC). Prior to PwC, Mike served as an executive with diverse roles with Prudential Healthcare for over 17 years.

Mike is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, serving on the Health Practice Council, and chairs the Medicare Sub-Committee of the American Academy of Actuaries (AAA). He is also widely recognized as a leading national advocate for mental health and wellbeing and was Past President of the New York City chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI). Mike previously was an active member of the board of the Northeast Business Group on Health for 11 years.

Marilyn Bartlett is Administrator of Health Care and Benefits Division for the State of Montana. She is responsible for administration of Montana’s largest self-funded health plan, with over 31,000 members. Marilyn assumed this position in 2014, with a focus on improving the plan’s financial performance and enhancing benefit offerings.

Marilyn was previously employed as CFO for a regional TPA firm, Controller for a Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan, Administrative Superintendent for an international mining company, and Controller for a regional CPA firm. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the University of Nevada – Reno and completed the Accounting/Finance program at Montana State University – Billings. Marilyn earned Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, Certified Global Management Accountant, and Certified Financial Management designations.

Marilyn and her husband, Ed, reside in Helena, Montana, where Ed is an attorney/lobbyist.

David Contorno is President of Lake Norman Benefits, now part of the Hilb Group and one of the employee benefit practice leaders inside this now top 40 largest insurance agency. As a native of New York, David began his career in the insurance industry at the age of 14, and has since become a leading expert in the realm of employee benefits over the last 21 years. The Hilb Group continues to grow organically by ensuring all management is handled locally, providing top notch solutions and supports, and through strategic acquisitions.

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

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

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

Vincent Esposito is Chief Operating Officer of the New York based-company, Endeavor Plus, Inc., where he has a wide range of responsibilities covering all aspects of the company’s day-to-day operations, particularly those that are financially-related. He joined the company in 2014 after a decade of diversified experience working as a financial investment analyst.

Prior to joining Endeavor Plus, Vincent was a Senior Analyst with Wexford Capital in Greenwich, CT. At the time, Wexford Capital managed $6B in assets, invested globally and approached the market with a thematic lens and coupled this perspective with fundamental analysis to identify trends across sectors and invested in best-of-breed names by triangulating information through multiple avenues to develop unique opportunities in the public market, based on proprietary work.

Mr. Esposito began his Wall Street career at SES Partners (formerly Circle-T Partners) in New York as a Research Analyst. At SES Partners, he married their tactical strategy with fundamental analysis for their US Long/Short Opportunistic Equity Fund. He worked to identify inflection points & catalysts for specific investments through his research with C-Suite industry executives, as well as both buy and sell side specialists.

As a Presidential Scholar at Siena College, Loudonville, NY, Mr. Esposito graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance.

Greg is the Founder and CEO of Payer Compass, LLC, charting a course to reduce healthcare reimbursement costs and increase plan savings for the self-insured, Health Plans, Medicare/Medicaid and various Government, Tribal and Indigent programs through the power and innovation of reference-based pricing, standard Medicare/Medicaid repricing and now bundled payments.

With over 25 years in the managed care and healthcare software business, Greg brings relative knowledge and first-hand experience to both provider and payer organizations.

Greg’s entrepreneurial spirit and passion for making healthcare more affordable led him to purchase the technology assets of Chart-Tech, Inc. in April 2013, providing the foundation for Payer Compass’s repricing, analytics and consulting offerings.

Recognizing the importance of patient advocacy and care management for plan members and their employers, Greg added the integral services of Innovated Medical Risk Management, now known as CareValent, a Payer Compass Company. Additionally, a partnership was established with The Phia Group to provide a complete, best-in-class RBP program that incorporates pricing, advocacy, and balance billing avoidance and support.

Payer Compass’s RBP program yields plan savings of ~40% and < 1% of claims escalating to a balance bill, overwhelmingly empowering Health Plans and the Self-Insured.

When offline, you can find Greg on the beach, on the links or on a boat cruising any body of water.

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

Lee Lewis runs Gallagher’s Innovation Lab practice, a mission-driven group devoted to improving the cost, quality and design of American healthcare. Lee advises several health startups working to solve meaningful healthcare problems.

The Innovation Lab has a track record of breakthroughs. It leads the effort to bring sophisticated health plan audits to private employers. It pioneered specialty drug direct purchasing without using a PBM. His team led a grassroots effort to identify all independent freestanding Emergency Rooms in Texas. The innovation lab developed the first HSA compliant model for back and joint pain prevention, and is piloting first-ever ultra-high value virtual networks in 2018 in two major U.S. cities.

His current and past clients include American Airlines, Comcast NBC Universal, Albertson’s Grocery Stores, Home Depot, Abbot Laboratories and dozens of other large and jumbo employers.

Lee is a Rhodes Scholar Nominee. He graduated Second in his Class, Magna cum Laude with University Honors in Accounting from Brigham Young University.

Dr. Josh D. Luke has more than ten years senior healthcare operations experience, including eight years as a hospital CEO. Most recently he is credited for designing Total Wellness Torrance (TWT Model), an innovative re-admission prevention protocol for Torrance Memorial Medical Center. TWT includes a unique Emergency Department triage system that quickly evaluate re-admit candidates to confirm compliance and utilization of previously offered post-acute transitional services, while seeking alternative levels of care for the patient to prevent un-necessary hospitalization.

Dr. Luke has experience in for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals, acute rehab hospitals, sub-acute, TCU, SNF and assisted living facilities. He previously served as CEO for Western Medical Center in Anaheim and HealthSouth Las Vegas Rehab Hospital, as well as an Executive Director for Kindred. He has Lean Six Sigma Black Belt training and is a Fellow with The American College of Healthcare Executives. He is an expert in dual eligible coverage (Medi/Medi) having served as Chair for Cal Optima's Provider Advisory Committee in 2011-2012, as an Executive Board Member for HASC in 2011 and is a licensed SNF and RCFE Administrator.

Paul Mackey has direct management, plan design, and third-party contract negotiation responsibility for Alliance Coal, LLC and Affiliates’ self-insured health and welfare plans, covering more than 11,500 participants and spending in excess of $70 million annually on health care. Mr. Mackey has similar responsibility for the company’s tax-qualified defined benefit pension and 401(k) retirement plans.

Paul has dedicated 23 years managing Alliance’s ERISA Benefits, Pension, 401k, Life, and of course, Health. He has focused his professional efforts for the last 19 years on designing an innovative health care strategy to improve the health of the Alliance Coal employees and their families, all while trying to manage the upwardly spiraling health cost trend. Mr. Mackey’s health plan leadership team includes an independent physician managing the treatment of Alliance only participants at 11 on-site primary care clinics employing over 30 (MD’s, NP’s, RN’s and support staff), and a dedicated physician led UR/pre-cert and care coordination team performing payment and case management functions for Alliance plan participants. This strategy has produced a negative cost trend for the past 4 years without shifting the cost burden to participants and without charging employees or dependents health plan premiums.

The Alliance PSSP participant statistics reveal impressive retirement readiness practices with a 401-K participation rate of 93% of eligible participants, an avg employee deferral rate of 8.6% of compensation and an employer deferral rate of 8% of compensation. Participants are actively engaged in planning for their retirement.

Paul received the Senior Professional Human Resources (SPHR) designation through the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM). He served for several years on the Tulsa Area Human Resources Board of Directors and was a past Chairman of the Oklahoma Human Resources Conference.

Paul has worked for the Alliance Resource Partners, L.P, for 30 years in both the Government Affairs and Human Resources Departments and currently serves in the position of Vice President of Employee Health and Benefits. Alliance is a diversified producer and marketer of coal to major United States utilities and industrial users. Alliance, the nation's first publicly traded master limited partnership involved in the production and marketing of coal, is currently the third largest coal producer in the eastern United States with mining operations in the Illinois Basin, Northern Appalachian and Central Appalachian coal producing regions. Alliance operates eleven mining complexes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland and West Virginia.

Valerie has 25 years of Human Resources experience across multiple industries, with a strong record of helping align workers to assignments that capitalize on individual strengths, drive business results and increase employee engagement.

Valerie is gifted at taking the complex, breaking it down and making it understood by a broad audience. This is evident by the consistently achieving higher than industry and corporate average employee participation in self-directed benefits.

During her career, in addition to her HR responsibilities, Valerie accepted “out of the box” assignments, taking on Security, Fleet and Facilities Management, opportunities that honed her project management and process analysis skills.

Valerie’s Human Resources knowledge and experience combined with her operational assignments has developed her into a true business partner. Understanding the needs and goals of the enterprise/business is the foundation of Human Resources, Organizational Development and Strategic Management.

Valerie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from The Catholic University of America (Washington, DC) and completed the American Management Association’s MBA Certificate Program. She is a former member of the Board for the Southern CT chapter of the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) and is Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for Search for Change.

Martin Otto is currently on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) and served as its Chairman from 2016-2017. In these roles, Mr. Otto works with the NACDS leadership to shape pharmacy industry policy and inspire NACDS’ members to embrace an increasingly larger set of responsibilities as health care providers, businesses and corporate citizens.

Known to his colleagues for his candid assessment and broad vision, Mr. Otto relies on his extensive experience and background to help advance pharmacy’s leadership position in the U.S. healthcare system. Mr. Otto currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of H-E-B, a $23 billion supermarket/pharmacy chain operating in Texas and Mexico. H-E-B is #13 on the 2016 Forbes list of America’s largest private companies and is among the more than 100 NACDS chain member companies, comprised of traditional drug stores, supermarkets and mass merchants with pharmacies.

Mr. Otto is a strong believer in the potential for collaborating at the national and local level to design healthcare solutions by confronting an array of socio-economic challenges. With 40,000 chain pharmacies industry-wide, employing 178,000 pharmacists who interact with these concerns on a daily basis, Mr. Otto sees pharmacy care as a key health care element.

In his 26 years with H-E-B, Mr. Otto has held numerous leadership roles in merchandising, store operations and finance, serving most recently as Chief Merchant and Chief Financial Officer, and serving earlier in his career in a variety of store management roles. He continues to mentor H-E-B’s key leaders, contributing his in-depth knowledge to assessing opportunities across the company’s operations.v

Mr. Otto's past professional experience also includes real estate investment banking and public accounting. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Harvard Business School.

Sarah has over 15 years of international experience in benefits, compensation, internal communication, and change management.

Currently she is accountable for Total Rewards and Customer Care within KinderCare Education, a provider of early childcare education with 30,000 employees across the United States. Previously, she was accountable for Eddie Bauer’s Benefits, Compensation, Employee Communication, and Recognition Programs across the US, Canada, and Hong Kong.

Through managing the balance of fiscal accountability and employee engagement, Sarah has a proven track record of increasing appreciation for Total Rewards in her organizations while driving down erroneous spend. During her tenure at KinderCare Education, Sarah’s innovative work in cost containment has helped the company out-perform the industry average on benefits cost mitigation, and her creativity in building a meaningful total rewards package has enabled the company to stand out as a total rewards leader in the Early Childhood Education industry.

At Eddie Bauer, the work Sarah and her team accomplished helped to secure the company's spot at number 19 on Outside Magazine's "top 50 places to work" list.

Sarah is a Board Member of a Portland based not-for-profit, Start Making A Reader Today (S.M.A.R.T). The group is committed to helping children develop a love of books and reading through one-on-one attention. A passionate supporter of people, Sarah is also the author of a regular blog (www.sarahredgrave.com) dedicated to supporting people from all backgrounds succeed in navigating their careers.

Adam V. Russo, Esq. is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Phia Group LLC; an experienced provider of health care cost containment techniques offering comprehensive claims recovery, plan document and consulting services designed to control health care costs and protect plan assets. The Phia Group’s overall mission is to reduce the cost of plans through its recovery strategies, innovative technologies, legal expertise, and focused, flexible customer service.

Attorney Russo is also the founder and managing partner of The Law Offices of Russo & Minchoff, a full-service law firm with offices in Boston and Braintree, MA. Attorney Russo’s practice is devoted to representing employers, plan fiduciaries, third-party administrators and carriers in employment and employee benefits matters throughout the United States. He is a frequent speaker and author on health care and employee benefits topics at webinars, conferences and seminars across the country.

Attorney Russo obtained a Juris Doctorate degree from Suffolk University Law School and a Masters Degree in Finance from the Frank Sawyer School of Management at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. He also acquired an undergraduate degree from Suffolk University, where he double majored in Political Science and Public Relations. He was recognized by Suffolk University with the 2005 Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award.

Attorney is on the Self-Insurance Institute of America, Inc. (SIIA) Board of Directors, the Board of the Massachusetts Association of Health Underwriters (MAHU), and the Board of Directors at JFS of Metro-West, a non-profit agency that provides social services, elder care, adoption services, and domestic violence assistance. Attorney Russo is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Adam and his wife Kelly have four wonderful children named Soli, Maeve, Samuel and Shae. In addition to spending his spare time with his family and friends, Adam enjoys watching his beloved Cleveland Indians baseball team.

RE Sutton & Associates, a division of Brown & Brown of Indiana, LLC

As an independent broker/consultant, Richard works with a variety of small and large employers and specializes in working with school systems, libraries and other public employers. Richard is a graduate of Ball State University where he majored in Public Relations and Political Science. While at Ball State, Richard was active as President of his Fraternity and President of the Student Center Governing Board.

Prior to founding RE Sutton & Associates, LLC in July, 2001, Richard was a partner at the firm of D.B. Englehart & Associates. Before his consultant work, Richard worked ten years at Blue Cross/Blue Shield and The Acordia Companies, where he received numerous awards for new sales and service to existing clients.

RE Sutton & Associates was named as one of the Top 25 Largest Indianapolis-Area Independent Insurance Agencies/Brokerage firms by the Indianapolis Business Journal for five years. In 2008, RE Sutton & Associates merged with Brown & Brown of Indiana creating the Largest Indianapolis-Area Independent Insurance Agency in the Indianapolis area and the firm has remained at the top of that list.

Richard contributed to a book series “Inside the Minds: Employee Benefit Best Practices”. The book, written by leading executives across the country, is an authoritative perspective on key strategies for offering secure, affordable coverage, while continuing to attract, retain and award employees. Richard’s chapter is entitled: “A Transparent Effort for Servicing Clients in the Employee Benefits Industry.

Richard is a graduate of Leadership Hendricks County. Through that program he was instrumental in instituting the Summer Lunch Bunch for Kids in Brownsburg. This program brings lunch, activities and entertainment to the children of Brownsburg during the summer months. Richard serves on the advisory board for several insurance and health related corporations.

Richard was included in the 2011 Indianapolis Business Journal list “Who’s Who in Health Care and Benefits.” This list includes administrators, benefits experts, insurance executives, and doctors doing groundbreaking work, attorneys, CPAs and policymakers.

As chief health officer for SAS Institute Gale Adcock is responsible for all operations of the onsite health care center at HQ in Cary, NC; serves as media spokesperson for health and wellness issues; partners with Benefits for enhancements to SAS’ self-funded medical and drug plans; and speaks, writes and conducts research on the SAS model of onsite health care delivery.

Adcock is a family nurse practitioner of 30 years and has been at SAS since 1991.

As Director of Health Management Services for Trion, Dave has more than 30 years of experience in the health care consulting arena and specializes in employee health strategy, program design, worksite health services, health management and wellbeing, consumer-driven plans, health data utilization and cost analysis and evaluating/selecting health vendors. Dave has been a frequent presenter at national and regional health care conferences including the National Business Group on Health, American Bar Association, CEBS, CFO Magazine, NY Times and HR Magazine.

Dave has worked extensively with major Fortune and nonprofit clients including CalPERS, Apple, BMW, Facebook, Western Digital, LPL Financial Services, First American, Volvo, LegalZoom, Applied Materials, Edwards Lifesciences, Scripps Healthcare, Sharp Healthcare, Providence Health, Ascension Health, Mayo Health Services, and Yale Health System. Prior to joining Trion, David held various regional and national positions in health care with Towers Watson, Hewitt Associates and PWC.

Dave is Author of The CEO’s Guide to Restoring the American Dream: How to Deliver World Class Healthcare to Your Employees at Half the Cost. He is Co-founder of Health Rosetta and has built the Health Rosetta ecosystem over the last six years, first while building his last startup and then as a venture investor.

Chase’s TEDx talk entitled “Healthcare Stole the American Dream – Here’s How We Take it Back” sums up health care’s devastation of the middle class and the redemption coming via a bottom-up movement. Chase was named one of the most influential people in Digital Health due to his entrepreneurial success, speaking, and writing. He delights in sharing how high-performing organizations have solved health care’s toughest challenges. Chase co-authored the health care Book of the Year in in 2014.

Chase was the CEO/Co-founder of Avado, acquired by and integrated into WebMD and Medscape. Before Avado, Chase spent several years outside of health care in startups as founder or consulting roles with LiveRez.com, MarketLeader, and WhatCounts. He also played founding and leadership roles in launching two new $1B+ businesses within Microsoft including their $2 billion health care platform business.

Lisa serves as Director of Total Rewards for Chesapeake Energy Corporation in Oklahoma City. She is responsible for all compensation, benefits, HRIS and payroll functions for the Fortune 500 Company. Her specialty is design of plans and systems which result in enhanced employee experience and reduced corporate expense.

Lisa joined Chesapeake in 2014. She has worked in benefits and compensation roles at a variety of Fortune 500 companies ranging from Halliburton Company to Dell Computer, Cadbury and Walmart. Lisa graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Accountancy degree and a Juris Doctorate degree. Lisa is an ERISA attorney and a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association.

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

Martin Otto is currently on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) and served as its Chairman from 2016-2017. In these roles, Mr. Otto works with the NACDS leadership to shape pharmacy industry policy and inspire NACDS’ members to embrace an increasingly larger set of responsibilities as health care providers, businesses and corporate citizens.

Known to his colleagues for his candid assessment and broad vision, Mr. Otto relies on his extensive experience and background to help advance pharmacy’s leadership position in the U.S. healthcare system. Mr. Otto currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of H-E-B, a $23 billion supermarket/pharmacy chain operating in Texas and Mexico. H-E-B is #13 on the 2016 Forbes list of America’s largest private companies and is among the more than 100 NACDS chain member companies, comprised of traditional drug stores, supermarkets and mass merchants with pharmacies.

Mr. Otto is a strong believer in the potential for collaborating at the national and local level to design healthcare solutions by confronting an array of socio-economic challenges. With 40,000 chain pharmacies industry-wide, employing 178,000 pharmacists who interact with these concerns on a daily basis, Mr. Otto sees pharmacy care as a key health care element.

In his 26 years with H-E-B, Mr. Otto has held numerous leadership roles in merchandising, store operations and finance, serving most recently as Chief Merchant and Chief Financial Officer, and serving earlier in his career in a variety of store management roles. He continues to mentor H-E-B’s key leaders, contributing his in-depth knowledge to assessing opportunities across the company’s operations.v

Mr. Otto's past professional experience also includes real estate investment banking and public accounting. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Harvard Business School.

Mindy is a thought leader focused on achieving organizational growth and development with over 20 years dedicated to the health, fitness and well-being industries. She is a highly effective team builder with a proven record of success. Her hands-on, participative management style brings teams together to create exceptional experiences and achieve organizational success. She thrives on and encourages continuous innovation from every team member.

Originally from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Mindy has spent the majority of her life in the Mid-Atlantic region. She holds a degree in Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise from Virginia Tech and completed the Rotary International Exchange program in Belgium. Her background includes commercial fitness center management and corporate well-being program management & business development. She is experienced in creating, developing, marketing and administering initiatives and revenue generating programs and is skilled in a variety of media relations formats. She holds the Certified Exercise Physiologist certification from the American College of Sports Medicine, the Exercise is Medicine Level 2 Credential and Group Fitness Instructor certification from the American Council on Exercise. Mindy has been a master trainer for both Life Fitness and LeMond Fitness.

Mindy currently develops and implements the strategic business and growth plan for Adventist HealthCare LifeWork Strategies, AHC's employer health services business offering comprehensive Employee Well-being and Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) to employers nationwide. She leads and motivates a high performing team of well-being professionals who deliver exceptional service to a diverse book of business. Mindy works collaboratively with healthcare providers and organization leadership to ensure that interventions appropriately address employer client needs. She also leads AHC’s $39 Million self-funded medical plan and the employee benefits department for AHC’s 5600+ employees.

Nicole Stec is the Employee Health and Wellness Manager for the City of Mesa and a frequent speaker about employer wellness programs. For the past ten years, Nicole has worked in community and corporate health settings, designing and implementing well-being programs for organizations, including healthcare systems, small businesses, the U.S. military and local government.

In her current role, Nicole is responsible for the City of Mesa’s Health and Wellness Center and the City’s worksite wellness program. The Wellness Center and Program offer several resources to City of Mesa employees and families, including chronic disease self-management programs, preventative health services, screenings and coaching.

Nicole is a Certified Wellness Practitioner (National Wellness Institute), an Integrative Health and Lifestyle specialist (University of Arizona) and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (National Strength and Conditioning Association).

A graduate of The University of Virginia, Stuart completed a successful four-year-tour in the United States Marine Corps as an infantry officer culminating in a strategic battalion position during Operation Desert Storm. Following Desert Storm, he embarked on a five-year sales and operations opportunity with consumer products giant Newell-Rubbermaid Corporation, and concurrently earned his MBA from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. In 1998, Stuart was recruited by Bank Boston Ventures to work with one of its portfolio companies, Langston Corporation, where he managed 500 employees and developed sales budgets in excess of $75,000,000.

Seeing the opportunity to assist Academic Medical Centers in developing new revenue streams led Stuart to lead the sales efforts for Johns Hopkins HealthCare Solutions, a for-profit business enterprise that commercializes Johns Hopkins faculty innovations and discoveries into products and services for the employer market. Focus areas have been on-site employer clinics and Johns Hopkins validated programs supporting Diabetes, Cancer, Behavioral Health and Well-Being.

Specialties: Marketing, strategy development, new revenue channels, private exchanges, population health, behavioral health

Suzanne Webb is the Founder and CEO of Exclusive Surgeries Solutions, LLC. After spending 15 years in the Ambulatory Surgery Center marketplace Ms. Webb found the place where the safest surgical procedures are performed by the best surgeons. She has spent the last 3 years developing a surgery solution and one where the best surgeons and Ambulatory Surgery Centers provide safe and effective surgeries. Exclusive Surgeries Solutions is a national solution that has relations with 1,000’s of Ambulatory Surgical Centers and surgeons that provide this exceptional level of care -- all at a price point that self-insured companies want.

Prior to Exclusive Surgeries Solutions, Ms. Webb founded Lone Peak Group, LLC in 2006 and opened a new division ASC Billing Specialist, LLC. These companies are both National Medical Billing & Consulting Companies which focus on teaching doctors and medical providers how to maximize profits. Over the past 7 years ASC & LPG has brought in over $300 million for their clients. In 2012 contracts have already been signed to increase revenues by 54%. The company philosophy is to use out-of-network benefits to increase revenues and generate higher profits. The consulting arm of the company has held positions as administrator of Ambulatory Surgery Centers and all aspects of an ASC to create proper operations and procedures. The companies have worked with hundreds of medical professionals nationally with a large base in CA and now TX. There are also clients in MD, PA, NY, IL, GA, AZ, OR, OH, FL, and almost every state. Understanding how to be profitable in these changing times is important to all ASCs and we want everyone to understand these principles. The billing company was sold in 2013.

From 1996 to 2001, Ms. Webb held the role of Chief Financial Officer for three hospitals chains at Universal Health Services, King of Prussia, PA, Behavioral Healthcare, Nashville, TN and Iasis Healthcare, Nashville, TN. At every facility the challenge was the same: How to increase revenues. There were increases over 30% in these facilities due to understanding insurance companies and how to maximize revenues. Contract negotiations, budgeting and cash collections have always been the driving force and with the knowledge gained from working at UHS, these principles have continued to reap rewards.

From 1984 to 1996, Ms. Webb was Accountant/Controller at UHS, a fortune 500 hospital management company in King of Prussia PA. As an accountant, she assisted in helping the company go public. Her areas of responsibility included an Accounting Manager involved in everything from payroll to hospital consolidation. In 1984 when Ms. Webb started with the company they owed only 26 hospitals and when she left the company had grown to 45 acute centers and 18 behavioral health centers. After achieving the goals Ms. Webb had set for herself at Corporate she requested a move to a psych facility and quickly turned that facility to one of the most profitable within the behavioral division. Corporate quickly introduced her strategies as the proper way to bill behavioral healthcare. She was promoted to Controller after only a year at the facility.

Ms. Webb was educated at Brigham Young University, Provo UT, Villanova, PA and Bryn Mawr College, PA from 1979-1984.

She belongs to the NAPW Phoenix Chapter and serves as President, ASU Mentors, Peoria Chamber of Commerce, Glendale Chamber of Commerce, Glendale City Sports Volunteer Coach, Boy Scouts of America, Women’s in Healthcare Leadership Organization, Top 200 Women in Healthcare. She is a Board Member of the Peoria Chamber of Commerce, June 2016 and Treasurer in March, 2017.

Her activities include raising her six children, and 4 grandchildren helps to keep her balanced.

Spencer is a Vice President of Insurance Office of America where he serves as a Senior Consultant and Practice Leader in four states. Spencer has been engaged in the employee benefits arena for 32 years and his clientele are typically the larger privately held or smaller publicly held companies. His focus is in the creation of progressive healthcare strategies and risk management techniques that lower cost, mitigate risk, engage members and improve the health and productivity of the employees. Spencer has also developed extensive knowledge in the Pharmacy and On-site Clinic space which compliments his approach to population health management. This "design-build" consultancy utilizes data analytics to drive program decisions to engage members while reducing Plan Sponsor spend.

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.

Gary Becker has been a benefit consultant specializing in self-insurance since 1985 and is the CEO of Becker Benefit Group, Inc. and ScriptSourcing, LLC.

In 2009, Gary created the first benefit captive in the Mid-Atlantic area, helping like-minded mid-sized employers transition from “fully insured” to self-funded” to achieve transparency, control, and risk management.

His impressive success in risk management led to the formation of ScriptSourcing, LLC – a pharmacy cost-mitigation program providing solutions and engagement to help employers slash the cost of maintenance name-brand meds and specialty meds by 70-90% while providing a $0 copay for health plan members. In 2017, Gary established Achieve Health Alliance which is an exclusive benefit consortium for highly proactive benefit consultants and employers.

In 2016, he received the “Innovation Award” from the Association for Insurance Leadership in recognition of his “contribution to the advancement of innovation in the employee benefits industry.”

Prior to his role at SISD, Inc., Gary Bender was previously Chief Financial Officer with three privately held manufacturing and engineering companies following a successful 20+ year career with Air Products and Chemicals.

At Air Products he held a number of key executive roles in finance, business development, operations and general management. Prior to Air Products, he held positions in the international unit of R J Reynolds Industries with assignments in Europe, Canada and Asia.

Gary received his MBA degree from University of North Carolina and his undergraduate degree from Penn State University.

He has served on a number of community zoning boards and is on the boards of two privately owned companies, the Life Sciences Council board, on curriculum advisory boards for two technical engineering schools, the Workforce Investment Board. He is founder of the CFO Solution.

Gary Everling has been in healthcare administration since 1998 and assumed his role at Hendricks Regional Health in 2013. Prior to that, he served as System Executive of Business Development for St. Vincent Health.

Active in his church, for the past 22 years he has enjoyed singing in an a cappella men’s quartet ministry. As an adjunct faculty member, Everling teaches healthcare policy, marketing and statistics at Indiana Wesleyan University. He is a member of the Medical Group Management Association and the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development.

Jeff Fox has been in benefit consulting for over 30 years. For the majority of his career, he has been in sales/consulting with three different prominent Third-Party Administrators. Because he has dedicated himself to the TPA marketplace, he has a keen understanding of self-funding and the inherent ability to manage plan assets. In 2003, Jeff joined HJ Spier Co., Inc. as their lead employee benefits consultant and since has become a principal in the firm.

Jeff enjoys a very loyal customer base, due in large part to his personal attention to their needs. Through Jeff, his clients are presented with fresh and creative ways to manage their plan costs. He is aware of the ever-changing marketplace and will not hesitate to introduce new concepts and ideas that enable his clients to offer a competitive, yet affordable benefits package.

Jeff creates a partnership with his clients and strives to become a trusted member of their benefits team. He hopes to create an environment of trust and respect, where his clients have his counsel on a regular basis to help them reach their goals.

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

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

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

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

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

As an Employee Benefit Specialist since 2002, Karen Gast goes beyond mere activity on her clients’ behalf to produce real bottom-line results. She is a specialist in strategies that control the quality and cost of a company’s healthcare to reduce their overall healthcare and benefits budget while improving both benefits and healthcare outcomes for the employees.

In 2003, Karen was selected as one of the Peoria Area 40 Leaders Under Forty as sponsored by InterBusiness Issues magazine.

Her civic involvements, previous and current, include Secretary to the Board of Directors for the Zeta Theta chapter of Alpha Delta Pi, Activities Committee to Creve Coeur Club, Red Carpet Committee with Peoria NEXT, Opera Illinois League Board Member, WTVP volunteer, Peoria Park District volunteer, and member of the Young Professionals Organization.

Karen graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in Political Science.

Bob Gearhart Jr. is the third generation to lead DCW Group and has reshaped the company into a Next Generation Benefits Firm. He and the team at DCW Group are committed to delivering high performing employee benefit plans to the market, one client at a time. Bob’s goal is to reverse the hyperinflation of healthcare that has led to middle class wage stagnation over the last 20 years.

Bob is also a nationally recognized speaker on Healthcare Reform and Employee Benefits. He frequently appears on radio, television, and in print to provide insight into the ever-changing landscape surrounding healthcare in America. In 2017, Bob was invited to El Salvador by that nation’s Ministry of Health to provide feedback on the healthcare facilities and providers in their growing Healthcare Abroad Network for patients around the world.

Bill Geraci is an insurance consultant for employers who are challenged by the rising costs of health care for their employees.

Bill has been in the insurance business since the early 1980’s and to this day continues to serve his clients with the cutting-edge information needed to make the most appropriate insurance decisions. He started his career with Aetna in 1981, and during his sixteen years he worked in various offices, serving in ever increasing roles of management and leadership.

He took the challenge to learn everything he could about the health care industry. In 2001 he dove into health insurance industry and hasn’t looked back. By 2007 he purchased the consulting firm Metro Area Group Insurance Consultants (MAGIC).

Most employers are unaware of the advantages of alternative-funding. In partnership with MAGIC, employers become more proactive in addressing the increasing health care costs. He helps his clients find alternatives that yield results – more profit, more control over costs, and less hassle – both employers and employees benefit.

Bill’s clients receive the most efficient and economic opportunities to control health care costs. He takes his clients step-by-step through the process so they are not caught in a web of confusion. Through his initiatives, countless employers are now educated on the value and benefits of alternative-funding strategies.

Bill, who has extensive experience in self-insurance, brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the area of health care insurance. Employers who use MAGIC’s wellness initiatives and claims management are in greater control of the cost of one of their largest budget items. Thus, employers can invest the savings in other areas of the businesses they manage.

For decades, business owners in Northwest Indiana have relied on Will Glaros to deliver the highest quality benefit services to companies throughout the region. Will founded Employer Benefit Systems (EBS), which was one of the largest locally owned employee benefits firm in Northwest Indiana until the company merged with HIA Insurance in 2014 to form the Meyers Glaros Group.

In his current role as managing partner at Meyers Glaros Group, Will continues to work with the area’s leading employers to develop their benefit plans. Very active in the healthcare industry, he has led the Northwest Indiana Wellness Council, served as past president of the Northwest Indiana chapter of the National Association of Health Underwriters, sits on an advisory board for the Indiana Department of Insurance, and is a member of the Leading Producers Roundtable and Anthem Broker Advisory.

Will has been interviewed by numerous news outlets for his wealth of knowledge about healthcare reform and speaks to organizations about trends in healthcare. Throughout his life, Will has also been involved with many community and civic organizations including serving as past president of Habitat for Humanity and current board member for the Early Learning Partnership (formerly Parents as Teachers).

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

Troy is the President and Co-Founder of Health 180, a comprehensive health risk management consulting company. Health 180’s programs are designed to make healthcare more accessible, more affordable, and more effective for individuals and organizations. They offer a comprehensive solution using cutting edge health risk management practices, partnerships and technology to change the way healthcare benefits are funded, delivered, and utilized.

With over 15 years of experience in the insurance industry, Troy Hanratty brings a consultant’s point of view to health risk management. During his career, he has risen from sales and account management roles to leading and operating a consulting agency and third-party administrator. Understanding both the insurance industry and what employer’s need has allowed him to develop and launch many cost saving initiatives. Troy has a passion for helping employer’s find their best insurance path which starts with understanding their own company’s risk and finding the correct funding mechanism.

Ben Krambeck serves as Chief Executive Officer of ClaimDOC, LLC. In this capacity, Mr. Krambeck is responsible for all staffing decisions, sales, marketing and distribution channel management. Mr. Krambeck was a co-founder of ClaimDOC in January 2013.

Prior to his time at ClaimDOC, Mr. Krambeck held a dual role as Regional Vice President with The TJS Group, a division of TrueNorth Companies, and also served the firm as a self-funded medical plan subject matter expert for the Top 100 insurance brokerage headquartered in Cedar Rapids, IA.

Mr. Krambeck served on the Iowa Association of Health Underwriters Board of Directors from 2006-2009, and his career began in the insurance industry as a Group Sales Representative for Sun Life Financial.

Mr. Krambeck is a licensed insurance agent and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology from Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa in 1997. He resides in Des Moines, IA with his wife, Jennifer, and his two daughters Emma and Hannah.

Inc. magazine calls Craig Lack, “Craig Lack is the most effective consultant you’ve never heard of.” As the creator Performance Based Health Plans®, Craig consults with public and private C-level executives and independent health care consultants to eliminate employee out-of-pocket expenses, measurably lower health care claims, and drive earnings to the bottom line.

He is a leading authority and a sought-after speaker at national conferences, business coalitions on health and to C-suite groups. Craig has appeared in Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Huffington Post, Success, and Yahoo Finance and has been featured on CBS, ABC, CW and FOX.

His mission is to help employees eliminate $1 billion in out-of-pocket expenses for their employees.

Inc. says, “Craig Lack is the most effective consultant you’ve never heard of.” http://www.inc.com/logan-kugler/this-entrepreneur-gave-up-nba-dreams-to-make-millions-off-healthcare.html

Forbes calls Craig Lack a “Broker Whisperer for independent healthcare consultants.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/davechase/2016/06/26/if-you-want-to-see-the-future-of-healthcare-watch-the-cable-industry-what-happened-to-newspapers/#3af3a2a16bb1

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.

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.

In 2003, Tim Olson founded The Olson Group – an employee benefits consulting firm with an emphasis in retirement planning and group insurance plans.

Tim’s focus on serving his clients holistically garnered him and The Olson Group the honor of being named 2015’s Benefit Adviser of the Year by Employee Benefit Adviser magazine. Since then, Tim and his team have set the standard in client service by reinventing and reinvesting in the practice to deliver ACA expertise, electronic enrollment platforms, wellness initiatives, and fiduciary expertise among other vital solutions. Recently developed BenefitsEdge® – a game-changing strategic planning process that allows organizations to intentionally determine the outcomes of their benefits investment.

The Olson Group currently works with more than 150 employers participating in 500 employee benefit plans, and covering more than 20,000 employees throughout Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas.

Dr. Sanjay Prasad is a world-renowned Neurotologic surgeon who has been practicing for 22 years. He is widely published in national and international peer-reviewed journals and is the author of multiple chapters in authoritative texts in the field of Neurotology. Neurotology is a super-specialized field of surgery that involves microsurgery of the inner ear, facial nerve and brain. He is the Founder of Metropolitan NeuroEar Group and is the Founder and Managing Partner of Tower Oaks Surgery Center in the Washington, DC, area.

In 2007, he pioneered the concept of bundled pricing within Neurotology and offered this to patients with no insurance or high deductible health plans. Over time the bundled pricing strategy was applied to multiple specialties, such as orthopedics, gynecology, podiatry, general surgery, etc. This was the birth of a competitive marketplace where surgeons now have to compete not only on the basis of bundled pricing but also surgeon-specific, procedure-specific quality parameters.

Dr. Prasad founded SurgiPrice™, a healthcare technology company that developed a bidding platform that forces surgeons, dentists and radiology facilities to compete for patients. SurgiPrice™ has championed use of the bidding platform to foster market competition in the healthcare landscape.

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.

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.

As the Principal and Managing Partner of Axial Benefits Group, Mr. Rodgers brings his extensive background in health and welfare plans to Axial's clients.

He has been pioneering Healthcare Purchasing Coalitions since 2009 specializing in assisting medium and large corporations, many of whom have multi-state locations, with the development of effective health care programs. Specifically, he has designed, implemented and managed 5 successful healthcare purchasing coalitions helping hundreds of companies lower costs and stabilized renewals.

Prior to co-founding Axial Benefits Group, Mr. Rodgers founded its predecessor company, Atlantic Benefits, in 2003. He also founded The Staffing Exchange (TSE) in 2012, a successful healthcare purchasing coalition dedicated specifically to the Staffing industry. He has had over 22 years of experience and held senior consulting positions at Hays Companies, William Gallagher Associates, and Marsh & McLennan. Mr. Rodgers is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts School of Engineering. He is a former Massachusetts high school wrestling state champion and collegiate wrestler. He is an avid national speaker on the Affordable Care Act and has become known as one of the nation's experts on the topic of its compliance. He is the former Chairman of the Boston Board of Directors for the March of Dimes and has been involved with the development of corporate programs for the both Friends of Boston's Homeless charity and various local Habitat for Humanity Chapters. He lives in Concord, MA with his wife and family, where he is also a town meeting member.

As Senior Vice President of Sales, Ziad plays a role in all aspects of new business and implementations. His job functions include the following:

• Drive accountability and performance management to delivery LDI growth
• Develop and establish strategic partnerships with retail and wholesale channels with ABC market and other health plans
• Research & anticipate business needs in current and potential market segments to determine the most effective overall pharmacy solution
• Establish and recommend policies and standards to assess product results and performance by market segment and distribution
• Develop unique value propositions and business partnerships to positively impact development PBM Services sales opportunities
• Develop marketing strategy and execute measureable campaigns and tactics to drive demand, industry and brand awareness
• Design marketing strategy and product offering that identifies key customer segment opportunities, actionable-oriented marketing materials and methods to track campaign success

John W. Sbrocco, CSFS is a healthcare strategist and founder of both Questige Consulting and Achieve Health Alliance. He began consulting in 2005 and specializes in bringing innovative risk management solutions to self-funded employers. John holds a designation as a Certified Self-Funding Specialist.

John recently visited El Salvador as a guest of the Ministry of Health on a fact-finding mission to evaluate that country’s healthcare facilities and physicians for their Healthcare Abroad program for patients around the world who travel for superior medical outcomes at substantial savings over domestic healthcare.

An in-demand speaker at industry events & conferences, John has been featured in industry publications including, most recently, BenefitsPro magazine. He is a Charter Member of the Association for Insurance Leadership and a member of the exclusive Agency Growth Mastermind Partnership – an elite group of high-performing benefits consultants and advisors from around the country.

An intentionally small “concierge” consulting firm offering a unique approach to benefits management to a select group of clients, BenefitStrategies and Mitigate Partners provide Insurance, Risk Management and Employee Benefits Consulting.

Serving as a Population Health Manager specializing in Cost Containment and Risk Mitigation, the partners pride themselves on their ability to be creative in designing innovative, optimum plans and helping companies and individuals make the most of their financial resources by serving as a Fiduciary and Steward of health plan dollars. With more than 25 years of experience in employee and executive benefits consulting and financial planning experience, Carl offers clients improved cash flow, saves money and retains top talent with well-structured employee benefit and financial planning solutions. He is also an accomplished speaker and author.

After spending the last 5 years searching for the best in class Healthcare Solutions to solve the Healthcare Jigsaw Puzzle, by integrating these to significantly reduce his clients’ health plan spend, Carl created and is trademarking FairCost, a health plan design he pioneered.Carl has successfully networked with other trusted partners/vendors such as insurance companies, PBM’s, TPA’s, health care destinations, employee benefit communication companies, and onsite clinics. To the delight of his clients, he has a proven track record of bringing comprehensive High Performance Healthcare Solutions to businesses regarding healthcare costs, benefit design, improved medical outcomes, and improved employee communications. Carl is an employer advocate and provides easily understood solutions and encouragement to employers.

He was selected as one of the first group of 30 forward-leaning Benefits Advisors in the U.S. to participate as a Charter Member in the Health Rosetta Certification Program for Benefits Advisors. The Health Rosetta is a blueprint of best practices for intelligently purchasing health benefits that’s been sourced from the most forward leaning benefits purchasers of all types around the country. The certification program helps ensure he stays at the front of the market to better serve his clients.

As an Employee Benefits Client Advisor, Dan’s consultative approach helps him gain insight to his clients’ needs and improve the value of their Employee Benefits program. He has worked with Gulfshore Insurance since 2005 and became a partner in 2010. Originally from Maryland, Dan is a licensed 220 & 215 agent and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and a Master’s in Business Administration from Hodges University. Prior to working with Gulfshore, Dan worked for both ADP and Paychex.

Dan is active in the business community through his involvement in the Florida Association of Special Districts, the Southwest Florida Chapter of Health Underwriters, and the Bonita Springs Chamber of Commerce. He was selected as one of Southwest Florida’s “40 Under 40” Leaders by Gulfshore Business Magazine for distinguishing himself in his profession and in the community.

Brian Tolbert has over ten years of experience in the health and benefits industry and is one of the founders of Bernard Health. Based in Nashville, Bernard’s mission is to be the world’s most trusted advisor when it comes to helping people plan for their healthcare. Today, they provide employer advisory services in multiple markets and license their proprietary all-in-one HR software, BerniePortal, through other trusted benefits advisors all over the country.

Brian received his BS from Vanderbilt University and earned his MBA from the Owen Graduate School of Management. He and Bernard Health were honored with the 2017 Summit Award from the Association for Insurance Leadership in recognition of their creating a NextGeneration Benefits Firm that provides a superior and more cost-effective benefits plan for employers and enhanced benefits for employees. Most recently, Bernard Health was named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in the U.S.

Josh Ayers, CPA, CITP, CISA, CISSP, CCSFP is a managing director in BDO USA, LLP’s Assurance Services Department. Josh serves a variety of industries, with an emphasis in healthcare, self-funding and third-party administration, and provides technical support and manages the planning, performance & review of financial statement audit and attestation engagements, information technology audit and attestation engagements, and service organization control (SOC) engagements. Josh received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting from Saint Louis University, his Master of Arts in Accountancy from the University of Illinois – Springfield, and has presented on financial reporting and information technology topics across the country.

Don Barbuto is a partner at Centurion Benefits. Don has 40+ years of experience in health care and risk management that includes a key management role at Independence Blue Cross. Prior to Centurion Benefits, Don was a partner in a national employee benefits firm. Don also founded a nationally recognized utilization management company in the late 90’s. Don has also been involved in the formation of various managed care systems including PPOs, EPOs, PHOs and IPAs. Don is also a certified healthcare underwriter.

Don’s focus at Centurion Benefits is on larger employer groups with particular interest in using predictive modeling to manage risk and the use of technology to manage, collect and interpret data that leads to cost savings and the development of preferred contracts, including direct contracting with providers and Reference Based pricing arrangements.

Don serves as a trustee on several boards including Holy Redeemer Health System, Hospital and Healthcare Association of Pennsylvania, Junior Achievement, Boy Scouts of America, Archdiocese of Philadelphia Catholic Committee on Scouting, Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce, Holy Cross Regional School and HealthWorks Academies

Ray L. Bowman, Ph.D., is the Senior Vice President for Talent and Team Development and CHRO at MarineMax, headquartered in Clearwater, Florida. MarineMax is the nation’s largest boat and yacht retailer with approximately 70 stores and marinas from coast to coast with approximately 1600 employees, referred to as “team members”. MarineMax is self-insured. In his position at MarineMax, Dr. Bowman also oversees the company’s health care plan as well as executive development, various training functions, strategic planning coordination, and succession planning. Regarding MarineMax’s health care plan, Dr. Bowman has been instrumental in piecing together a set of cost saving strategies for both team members and the company.

Prior to joining the MarineMax team, Dr. Bowman spent nearly four decades practicing Clinical Psychology with four offices in three counties surrounding Tampa Bay, Florida. He is board certified (with Diplomate status) in Neuropsychology, Psychopharmacology, Forensic Psychology, and Clinical Psychology. He has degrees from Eckerd College, Notre Dame, and the University of Georgia. He completed his internship at Shand’s Hospital at the University of Florida. He retired from clinical practice in 2011.

Dr. Bowman is married to his beautiful wife, Debra, of 40 years and has one son, Robert, who lives in Palm Beach Gardens with his wife, Ashley, and Dr. Bowman’s two extraordinarily gifted granddaughters, Hannah and Grace, ages six and two.

Jeff is currently employed as the Superintendent of the Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District. Jeff served as the Chief Financial Officer of the ISD for 15 years, prior to being named Superintendent in 2015. In his role as CFO, he started a health insurance work group in 2005 that implemented a self-funded health insurance program for the 220 employees of the CEISD. Utilizing research, plan design, employee commitment, wellness programs, and along with a healthy group of families it has become one of the most effective self-funded school health insurance plans in Michigan saving the district MILLIONS of dollars over the past decade.

Brian Flowerday serves as the chief administrator for SET SEG Employee Benefit Services, a not-for-profit healthcare consulting and administrative service provider helping Michigan’s public schools address the healthcare affordability crisis. In his current role, he oversees development and deployment of SET SEG’s benefit-related strategy and operations, with a special focus on helping schools understand the various dysfunctions within the current healthcare system and adopt progressive solutions.

Prior to joining SET SEG, Brian worked as a productivity consultant and manufacturing executive specializing in helping organizations implement lean principles, which he learned and applied in the automotive sector. Brian has more than 20 years of strategic, innovation, and operational management experience and is a graduate of the University of Michigan College of Engineering.

Bernie Heer is an employee benefits expert and advisor to small and mid-sized businesses, primarily in New Jersey. Bernie is oddly passionate about helping his clients find exactly the right solution to their benefit plan needs, and finds it immensely rewarding to resolve thorny issues for employees who feel they are losing the battle against the healthcare and health insurance companies. His atypical approach – focused equally on his employer-clients’ objectives and on their employees’ needs – results in a dramatic improvement in the level of appreciation employees have for their benefit plans, and allows his clients to achieve positive ROI on this large expenditure. His company, Frenkel Benefits – an EPIC Company, is among the top independent insurance advisory companies in the United States.

Bev Helkey is Executive Director of the Employers Healthcare Coalition and the Tri-State Purchasing Coalition. She has 30+ years’ experience in healthcare cost management strategies and employee benefits. She joined the coalitions in 2002. She provides management and oversight of two non-profit organizations. Employers Healthcare Coalition provides health education, health literacy, and healthcare cost and outcome resources to the community, and the Tri-State Health Care Purchasing Coalition which group purchases services to their members and the community.

With her extensive experience in healthcare cost management strategies, she has served the organizations through the design, development and implementation of their robust cost saving programs – including education-focused on health literacy, healthcare cost, outcomes and the patient experience.

Ms. Helkey’s career in healthcare cost strategies spans more than 30-years. Helkey holds a bachelor’s degree in Business. She is board member of Leadership Illinois, The Quincy Family YMCA, CDC - The National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health (NLAPH) and the Association for Corporate Risk Management (ACHRM).

Steve Kelly is the co-founder and CEO of ELAP Services LLC, a healthcare cost management and employee advocacy services firm. Founded in 2003, ELAP’s innovative approach to bring rationality to the price of heath services anticipated the future of healthcare years ahead of current Healthcare Reform initiatives.

Mr. Kelly is a recognized expert in the insurance, employee benefits and risk management industry, possessing over 25 years of experience in solving his clients’ healthcare challenges. Since the formation of ELAP, Mr. Kelly has helped hundreds of employers increase their profits by empowering them to take control of their healthcare cost using ELAP’s groundbreaking approach.

Prior to founding ELAP, Mr. Kelly founded the Aldwyn Group, Inc., a Managing General Underwriter of employer stop loss and prescription drug coverage on behalf of reinsurers, including Lloyd’s of London and Munich RE. Aldwyn currently operates as a retail and wholesale insurance brokerage serving clients nationwide.

Mr. Kelly has been featured as an expert commentator on the US Healthcare system on National Public Radio, America’s Healthcare Advocate Radio, and in The New York Times.

Mr. Kelly is involved in several charitable organizations in the Philadelphia community, including the Eagles Fly for Leukemia (President) and The Philadelphia International Visitors Council (Executive Board). Mr. Kelly is an active volunteer at Eagleville Hospital and is a member of the Self Insurance Institute of America, the New Jersey Health Care Financial Management Association (Managed Care Committee) and The New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute.

Bill Lacy has over 30 years experience in executive and financial leadership positions. Currently, Bill serves as the President and CEO for the Association for Corporate Health Risk Management (ACHRM), a membership based organization comprised of progressive employers ranging in size up to 30,000 employees and Best-In-Class Sponsor Partners seeking education, a venue to collaborate, innovative methodologies, disruptive technologies and other resources to more effectively contain their organization’s health care costs.

Following the launch of ACHRM’s Philadelphia Chapter in 2012, ACHRM has several hundred employers in its community across ten Chapters. ACHRM expects to have at least 30 chapters across the US over the next five years. Within each ACHRM Chapter, the Association is building strategic relationships with colleges and universities to address the Health Risk Management (HRM) industry’s educational needs, including professional certificates, degrees and research.

Prior to ACHRM, Bill was CFO and COO for Business Health Services, a national Corporate Wellness and Behavioral Risk Management provider based in Baltimore, Maryland; and CFO for Planet Fitness PA based in Lafayette Hill, PA. Bill has also held executive positions with the Association for Corporate Wellness (ACW), Susquehanna (Equity) Bank, Exelon (PECO) Energy, Rainbow Industrial Products and NatWest, and Entre Advisors LLC.

Bill serves as Vice Chairman for the University of the Sciences’ Board of Visitors, the Burlington County College Foundation Internship and Mentoring Committee as well as other Boards and Committees during his career. He earned his MBA (finance and marketing) from Drexel University and BS (math and economics) from Ursinus College.

Dr. Smith recently published a book on artificial intelligence and a number of peer-reviewed scientific papers. He has worked with startups and large pharmaceutical corporations over the past seventeen years developing advanced analytics, machine learning, and knowledge management tools to enable research and support high level decision making. Before joining a startup bioinformatics company in Cambridge, MA, Tim completed his Ph.D. in Toxicology at Cornell University. Tim also holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of Washington.

Flip Steinour has been the Director of Human Resources for Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit located in Lancaster, PA for the past 11 years. Prior to that, Steinour also served in the same capacity for both two other Pennsylvania intermediate units. He started his professional career in human resources in private industry working for Knouse Foods and True Temper Hardware.

Steinour graduated with a BA from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania and also has attained his MS in Human Resource Development from Villanova University. He earned the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification from the Society of Human Resources in 2000.

Over his professional career, Steinour has served as a member of the Executive Board of the Pennsylvania Association of School Personnel Administrators. Additionally, he has chaired the Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units HR Directors job-alike group three times over his 21-year career working for intermediate units. Steinour has also presented for superintendent preparation programs involving HR-related topics at Temple University, Penn State University, and Immaculata Universities. In 2015, he was presented the Gary L. Miller Memorial Distinguished Service Award in Recognition of Outstanding Leadership and Significant Contributions to Education by a PAIU Employee.

He has a passion for helping youth as he has been a volunteer coach for lacrosse, junior high football, Special Olympics basketball, Challenger Little League baseball, and has traveled to Vietnam to help stop the sexual trafficking of Vietnamese children.

David has worked in the employee benefits industry since 1981 after graduating from Furman University with a BS in Economics. He left Marsh/Mercer to join GPA in 2006 and previously worked for several other insurance companies and third party administrators. Throughout his career he has worked in the areas of underwriting, marketing operations, sales and client management, network development, benefits brokerage, and several areas of management. In his current position he is responsible for helping clients understand and manage their clinical cost drivers; developing direct relationship, risk and cost management programs for clients; managing vendor relationships; improving interdepartmental communication; and identifying and implementing internal and external revenue growth and risk avoidance strategies. He is currently on the Board and the Legislative Chair for the Texas Association of Benefit Administrators; he is a former Officer and President of the DFW Chapter of Certified Employee Benefits Professionals; and he has spoken at and worked with several other professional organizations in various capacities.