Influential Voices Leading the Conversation

Samrat Ambewadikar, MD

Regional Vice President-Medical Director, National Accounts

Anthem

Dr. Ambewadikar has served as RVP-Medical Director in Anthem National Accounts since 2018, where his responsibilities include support of National Accounts new business development efforts. He serves as the dedicated Medical Director for several high-profile National Accounts across the United States.

Known to his colleagues and Anthem clients as “Dr. Sam,” his work traverses every area within the Anthem Enterprise including Anthem Digital, Product Development, Client Health Analytics, Network Operations, Client Account Management, Innovation, Utilization and Care Management.

Dr. Ambewadikar has been a Board-Certified Pediatrician for over 15 years. He has extensive subject matter expertise in Clinical Informatics and has previously served as VP-Clinical Informatics at Verisk Health, now a wholly owned part of Cotiviti. He has worked within both payer and provider verticals and served as the Chief Medical Information Officer for Humana’s Care Delivery Organization as well as the Medical Director for Healthcare Informatics at Davita Medical Group of Florida. The subject matter areas that his work focused on are expansive, and include Custom Population Health Analytics development, STARS score optimization, Medicare Risk Adjustment, Payment Mechanism design ranging from one-sided to full capitated risk contracts, Pharmacy, and Medical Economics.

Dr. Ambewadikar is passionate about improving health outcomes and providing medical care for underserved children. He began his career as a General Pediatrician working at Federally Qualified Health Centers in underserved communities. He holds a Medical Doctorate from Boston University School of Medicine and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from The Wharton School.

Cybele Bjorklund

Senior Vice President, Policy and Government Strategy

Virta Health

Cybele Bjorklund is Senior Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs at Virta Health, where she works to improve access to Virta’s treatment and increase type 2 diabetes reversal awareness among key policy makers and healthcare thought leaders.

Cybele came to Virta from Johns Hopkins University & Medicine, where she led federal strategy and engagement efforts. Previously, Cybele was head of global policy at Sanofi, and served as strategic health policy consultant to investors and organizations. From 1995-2015, Cybele held several senior professional roles in the United States Senate and House of Representatives, including 14 years as the Democratic staff director for the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, four years as deputy staff director for health on the Senate HELP Committee and two years as an advisor to former Democratic Leader Senator Tom Daschle. Before moving to Congress, she was a social science research analyst at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

During her federal service, Cybele was at the center of virtually every major Medicare debate, and had a leading role in the creation and enactment of the Affordable Care Act, health IT and comparative effectiveness research provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and many other laws affecting private health insurance and key federal health programs.

Nathan Counts

AVP - Total Rewards

Amtrak

Nathan Counts has nearly 20 years working within the benefits space. His first 10 years as a consulting actuary where he assisted with labor negotiations, mergers & acquisitions, and valuing retiree benefits and the last 10 years on the employer side leading benefit teams at AT&T who covered 1 in every 300 Americans. He now leads Total Rewards as an Executive at Amtrak extending simple, personal, competitive rewards to the 20,000 employees who are working to connect nearly 500 communities in the US with passenger railroad. Nathan has formal degrees in math and computer science and lives in Dallas, TX with his gaggle of girls – his wife Jackie, daughters Lola & Mila, and their dog Francesca.

Rebecca Fentress

Director, Benefits

Capital One

Rebecca Fentress leads the health and welfare strategy and design team as the Director of Benefits at Capital One. With over 15 years of experience navigating ever-changing laws, tight labor markets, global pandemics, and economic downturns, she enjoys the challenges of curating a compelling set of offerings designed to improve the lives of associates and their family members. Rebecca lives on a farm in Virginia Beach with her husband, Josh, and kids, Evie and Jacob.

Jake Fochetta

Director of Corporate Strategy

Castlight Health

Jake Fochetta is the director of Corporate Strategy at Castlight Health. An experienced healthcare IT professional, he has spent more than 10 years in enterprise technology strategic planning for hospitals and health systems, operational transformation, patient engagement, and virtual care strategy development. At Castlight, his current focus is on working with the company’s internal product and customer teams to prepare for the new federal transparency regulations.

Casey Fordyce

Vice President, Global Benefits

Cardinal Health

Casey Fordyce is Cardinal Health’s Vice President of Global Benefits who is a savvy/business minded, forward thinking 20+ year Human Resources Executive with a passion for employee well-being and engagement. Results driven practitioner who develops and executes benefits strategies in support of the overall business plan and strategic direction of the organization. Casey earned her earn Bachelor of Arts in health promotion from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master of Public Health from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Outside of work, Ms. Fordyce is an accomplished explorer, fitness enthusiast, public speaker and gardener. Travelling each year with her spouse to destinations unknown give her a chance to expand her cultural awareness as well as satisfying her adventurous curiosity. 

Nick J. Gettas, MD

Medical Senior Principal, National Accounts

Cigna

Dr. Nicholas Gettas’ current responsibilities focus upon Client Sales, Clinical Sales Consultation and Reporting, Consultant Relationships and Client Clinical Model Development to meet evolving Client needs in a changing healthcare environment.

Dr. Nicholas Gettas’ joined Cigna Health Care in 1998. His direct responsibilities in Cigna have spanned Clinical and Client Sales; Networks (Delivery System Relationships; Collaborative Accountable Care Operations; Value Based Relationships and Business Development); Quality; Total Medical Cost Management and National Leader of Market Facing Clinical Teams (Market Medical Executives and Clinical Consultant Nurses). He has held various positions during his career at Cigna, including:

• Associate Medical Director, Virginia Market - 1998
• Vice President and Senior Medical Director, Virginia Market - 1999
• Vice President and Senior Market Medical Director, Mid-Atlantic Region - 2002
• Vice President and Senior Medical Executive, CIGNA National Accounts - 2005
• Chief Medical Officer – National Accounts - 2007
• Chief Medical Officer – Regional Accounts (2009 - 2017); Select Segment (2011- 2017); IFP Segment (2011- 2017)
• National Medical Officer – Market Facing Clinical Organization
• Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer, CareAllies – 2017- 2019
• Medical Senior Principle, Cigna National Accounts - 2019 to date

In 2004, he was awarded the CIGNA HealthCare’s President’s and Pinnacle Awards, in recognition of work to define and value the Integration of Medical and Pharmacy Benefits.

Dr. Gettas is a cum laude graduate (1980) of the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine, with many years of clinical, teaching and administrative experience.

Janell Hill

Senior Manager, US Benefits Strategy and Design

Walmart Inc.

Janell Hill serves as Senior Manager, Benefits Strategy & Design team at Walmart Inc. Janell is part of the team that designs and delivers benefits to more than a million Walmart associates. She has strong benefits knowledge and holds relationships with many key vendors in the benefits space and has successfully implemented many benefit programs and vendors. Hill is responsible for Digital transformation and manages several vendor relationships today for the team.

Garrett Hohimer

Vice President, Policy & Advocacy

Business Group on Health

Garrett is the Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at Business Group on Health. Business Group on Health is the only non-profit organization devoted exclusively to representing large employers’ perspectives on critical health, well-being and workforce strategy issues.

Prior to joining the Business Group, Garrett led government relations and served as regulatory and operations counsel for Alight Solutions LLC – a leading recordkeeper for health and retirement plans, and provider of payroll and other business solutions. Prior to Alight, he was regulatory counsel to Aon’s Active Exchange – a private, multicarrier health and welfare insurance marketplace for large employers; and before that was an attorney in private practice with a boutique benefits, labor, and employment firm in Chicago.

Garrett spent more than a decade in the performing arts, is a former U.S. Marine, and has his J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ghohimer/

Jim Huffman

Board Chair

Business Group on Health

Jim has an extensive career in employee benefits at large, global companies. Most recently, he was Head of Benefits for Fidelity Investments. In this role he was responsible for designing and delivering innovative benefits within the Health, Financial, and Work/Life domains for 60,000 associates worldwide. Jim worked closely with the senior leadership team to set the overall strategic approach for the firm’s benefits, and oversaw program innovation, product and plan design, benefits delivery, benchmarking, and measurement. Prior to joining Fidelity Jim held a similar position at Bank of America where he was Senior Vice President and Head of U.S. Employee Benefits.

Jim has extensive experience in employee benefits, including health care delivery and insurance, benefits design strategy and administration of employee benefits programs. Prior to joining Bank of America, Jim held roles at Fallon Healthcare System, Dell Computer and Towers Perrin consulting.

Jim serves in several industry association leadership roles including Chairman of the Board of the Business Group on Health (BGH), is a member of the Board of Governors for the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a member of the Employer Health Innovation Roundtable (EHIR), and a past Board member at the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC). Jim has recently attained a Master’s of Science degree focused on Health Care Transformation.

Ellen Kelsay

President and CEO

Business Group on Health

Ellen is president and CEO of Business Group on Health. Business Group on Health is the largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to representing large employers' perspectives on critical health, well-being and workforce strategy issues. The Business Group keeps its membership on the leading edge of innovation, thinking and action to address the delivery, financing, affordability and experience with the health care system. Leveraging its network of members and industry thought leaders, the Business Group drives change by sharing best practices, shaping health care policy and crafting innovative solutions to improve employee health and well-being and optimize business performance. Business Group members, many of whom have operations globally, include 72 Fortune 100 companies and over 440 companies in total who provide health coverage and well-being solutions for more than 60 million workers, retirees and their families in over 200 countries.

Previously, Ellen served as Chief Strategy Officer of the Business Group. During this time, she was responsible for shaping the strategy for the organization and its membership. She had overall strategic and operational responsibility for all key initiatives.

Prior to joining the Business Group, Ellen was a senior partner at Mercer; a global human resources consulting firm. During her 20-year tenure with Mercer, she held several leadership roles including: senior strategic consultant, member of the North America Leadership Team, and market business leader for East, South, Mid Atlantic and Canadian regions. She was responsible for leading the successful delivery of strategic consulting services to clients across the geography. She also led several strategic and operational initiatives on behalf Mercer’s North America Health & Benefits business. Ellen worked at Aetna prior to joining Mercer.

Ellen has a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology and business administration from the University of Richmond and is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dylan Landers-Nelson

Director

Business Group on Health

Dylan Landers-Nelson is a Director at Business Group on Health. In his role, he leads the Business Group’s Executive Committee on Value Purchasing, Health Innovations Forum and Industry Council. He also directs a strategic cross-organization initiative to elevate the industry’s focus on mental health care issues.

His areas of expertise include health care cost containment, health care delivery system engagement, and mental health. His work creates value for employer-members by delivering actionable information on multiple topics, including health care payment and delivery reforms, site of care strategies, benefit plan design and health care purchasing strategies, and specialty pharmaceuticals management.

Prior to his role at the Business Group, Landers-Nelson worked on the Aligning Forces for Quality project at George Washington University, focusing on grant management, payment reform, population health, and ambulatory quality improvement issues.

Landers-Nelson received his Bachelor of Arts degree in government and public policy from Dartmouth College and a Master of Public Health from the George Washington University.  

Shabboo Likouris

Director

Business Group on Health

Shabboo Likouris joined the Business Group on Health in August of 2021. She supports a team that identifies and disseminates best practices and effective solutions for controlling health care costs and improving the quality and safety of health care. Specifically, Shabboo leads the Evidence-based Benefit Design Committee, which seeks to promote value in health benefit plan design by identifying opportunities to incorporate evidence-based guidelines into coverage and programmatic decisions.

Shabboo has 19 years of benefits consulting experience working at Segal, Mercer and just prior to joining Business Group on Health was a Director at WTW.  In her role, she advised large, self-insured employers in the development of long-term strategies for their employee benefit plans, including the design of innovative solutions that advanced their goals and objectives.

Shabboo received her Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.

Lisa McDonnel

Senior Vice President, Client Network Solutions, National Accounts

United Healthcare

Lisa McDonnel leads client network solutions for United Healthcare’s national account business. In this role she is responsible for developing solutions that improve value and outcomes through network design, high performing providers and value-based incentives.

Ms. McDonnel started her managed care career developing, contracting and managing provider networks across the country. She joined UnitedHealthcare in 1997 and serves as part of the senior leadership team. Lisa led the value based contracting program at UnitedHealthcare changing the way providers are paid from volume to value. She is now developing client solutions that leverage network design and incentives to connect consumers with providers demonstrating better value.

Lisa has a Master of Health Care Delivery Science Degree from Dartmouth College and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from the University of CA Irvine.

Adam L. Myers, MD

Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Transformation Officer

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

Dr. Adam Myers is senior vice president and chief clinical transformation officer (CCTO) for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), a national federation of 34 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) companies. Today, one in three Americans is covered by the Blue System.

As BCBSA’s CCTO, Myers drives clinical transformation across the BCBS System through national networks, health analytics, quality initiatives, and policy and advocacy positions. In his role, he collaborates with the chief medical officers across the 34 BCBS companies and leads the Office of Clinical Affairs (OCA) and the BCBS Institute. Additionally, Myers serves as chief medical officer of the Blues’ Federal Employee Program (FEP), which covers more than 5.4 million members across all 50 states and abroad. A longtime advocate for community health and health equity, Myers helps set the vision for the Blues’ efforts to create a more equitable healthcare system.

Prior to joining the Association in September 2021, Myers served as the Cleveland Clinic’s chief of population health and director of the Cleveland Clinic Community Care program, where he provided leadership to a wide variety of clinical and residency programs, as well as the center for value-based research. In addition, he led the clinic’s care model redesign strategy, the community and public health strategy, and the Diversity Inclusion and Racial Equity Council. Previously, he served in senior clinical and operational leadership roles at several large health systems, including Texas Health Resources, Southwestern Health Resources and Methodist Health System.

A New York City native, Myers is board-certified in family medicine and was in private practice in Oklahoma for more than 10 years. He served on the faculty of the University of Oklahoma obstetrics and gynecology department teaching obstetrics and has earned the status of Fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives, The American Institute of Healthcare Quality and the American Association of Family Physicians. He holds additional board certification in healthcare quality management and patient safety and is a certified professional in healthcare risk management. He is past chair of the American Hospital Association board-level Committee for Clinical Leadership and has held board positions with both the Health Care Transformation Task Force and The Joint Commission.

Myers received his undergraduate degree from Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport, where he graduated from Louisiana State University Medical Center. He completed his residency with In His Image Family Practice Residency at Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa, Okla., and has completed fellowship work at the University of Oklahoma obstetrics and gynecology department. He also completed a master’s in healthcare management from Harvard University.

Elodie Olsen

Senior Director

WTW

Elodie Olsen is a Senior Director in Willis Towers Watson’s Health and Benefits business, where she serves as the North America Health Analytics leader. Elodie is passionate about using data to reveal actionable insights and empower employers to optimize their benefits programs.

With over 20 years of broad consulting experience, Elodie has consulted to clients on a vast number of benefit-related subjects, including employer benefit strategy, M&A, retiree medical, and basic plan management. Elodie has experiencing work with a number of industries, including financial services, technology, health care, engineering, and retail.

Elodie holds a B.S. in mathematics, with a concentration in actuarial science, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Eric Palmer

President and Chief Executive Officer

Evernorth

Eric Palmer is President and Chief Executive Officer for Evernorth, a Cigna company. Evernorth connects and coordinates best-in-class health services—in pharmacy, benefits management, care solutions and delivery and intelligence—to drive the most value for clients, customers and patients. As CEO, Eric is responsible for Evernorth’s strategic direction, financial performance and growth, and long-term vision to meaningfully change health care. He is a member of Cigna Corporation's enterprise leadership team.

Prior to this role, Eric served as President and Chief Operating Officer for Evernorth, overseeing core strategy and capabilities in pharmacy, care management and benefit management services. Previously, he also served as Chief Financial Officer, responsible for all of Cigna's financial operations and functions, as well as for the organization’s Investment Management, Corporate Development and Underwriting units. Eric’s leadership during this time was critical to the successful combination of Cigna and Express Scripts, as well as the launch of Evernorth.

Since joining Cigna in 1998, he has progressed through roles of increasing responsibility, including leadership positions with Cigna’s U.S. Commercial healthcare business, Cigna's global healthcare business, Cigna-HealthSpring and Cigna's group life and disability insurance business.

He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries. He holds a bachelor's degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Iowa.

Magda Rusinowski

Vice President

Business Group on Health

Magda Rusinowski serves as Vice President at Business Group on Health in Washington, DC. Business Group on Health is a community of members, a team of experts, and an ally for large employers. Magda has an overall strategic and operational responsibility for the Cost & Delivery Institute, leading that group in identifying best practices and promising solutions to employers’ health care cost and delivery challenges and influencing market-based payment and delivery reforms.

Prior to joining Business Group on Health in 2018, Magda served as the Director of US Health and Insurance Benefits at PepsiCo, Inc.  In that role, Magda was responsible for developing US health care strategy, factoring into the plan design decisions evidence-based insights, industry best practices and the needs of the diverse and largely frontline population. 

Magda is a CPA and spent the first 10 years of her career at PepsiCo working in various financial reporting and accounting roles.  She graduated from Baruch College, City University of NY in 1995 with a BBA in Accounting and joined PepsiCo in 2000.

Magda resides in and works remotely from North Salem, NY.

Brenna Shebel

Vice President

Business Group on Health

Brenna Shebel joined Business Group on Health in July 2006. She currently oversees the strategy and day-to-day operations of the Business Group’s Center for Data-Driven Insights (CDDI), which provides Business Group members with key statistics and benchmarking data to identify trends and best practices in the areas of health care benefits, delivery system transformation, well-being and workforce strategy. Before joining the CDDI team, Shebel coordinated the operations for the Business Group’s Institute on Health Care Costs and Solutions.

Before joining the Business Group, Shebel worked for Healthy Maine Partnerships (HMP) in promoting physical activity, nutrition, and tobacco resistance activities in schools, communities and workplaces in southern Maine. At HMP, she led efforts to establish tobacco-free communities, created youth advocacy programs in three school districts, and assisted with workplace wellness initiatives. Before that, she served as a research assistant at Dartmouth Medical School where she collected data for diabetes research, and mentored adolescents with a chronic illness in a variety of clinical, academic and community settings.

Shebel received a Bachelor of Science degree in community health education from the University of Maine at Farmington and a Master of Science degree in health policy and management from the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. Shebel has also completed a certificate in benefits and compensation from the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES).

Louise Short, MD

National Clinical Leader

Brown & Brown

Dr. Short is the National Clinical Leader, Brown & Brown and leads the Population Health practice, and is part of the leadership group for the Innovation Hub. She has a focus on making the healthcare system work better and has relationships with as well as in depth knowledge of many of the innovative health companies in the market-place that are trying to solve key issues facing employers and workers. She is also a member of Business Group on Health Cost & Delivery Institute. Dr. Short has a background in internal medicine, occupational and preventive medicine, and 25 years of experience providing clinical leadership in designing, implementing, and measuring population health programs and strategies. As a consultant she has worked with many large and jumbo employers to help improve population health and medical costs. Prior to consulting Dr. Short worked for Anthem, UnitedHealthcare, Heathway’s (now Sharecare), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as being in clinical practice. Her expertise also includes analytics, epidemiology, managed care plan administration and medical management, clinical and behavioral health strategy and program management, and outcomes measurement strategy and execution. Dr. Short has helped lead the COVID-19 response for Brown & Brown teammates and develop approaches to assist our clients and other employers with issues, policies and strategies related to COVID-19 and safe Return to the Workplace.

Rachel Schacht

Director

Business Group on Health

Rachel Schacht is a Director with the Business Group on Health who aims to cultivate inclusion and creativity in how we approach work, life and health for the well-being of people, families and businesses. She leads the Business Group’s Leave Optimization Forum and Best Employers: Excellence in Health & Well-being Award program and works with the Well-being & Workforce Strategy Institute to advance innovative, evidence-based approaches to improve employee well-being and optimize organizational performance. Rachel has also developed resources and provided thought leadership related to social determinants of health, health equity, caregiving, flexible work arrangements, disability inclusion and maternal health. Prior to joining the Business Group, Rachel was a Work-life and Engagement Specialist at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management for nine years where she provided governmentwide guidance and consultation to federal agencies on employee engagement and work-life programs. Rachel has a Master of Public Administration and graduate certificate in Organizational Change from American University, and two Bachelors of Science degrees in Human Development and Sociology from Virginia Tech (Go Hokies!).

Darcy Sementi

Health Care Benefits Manager

State Farm Insurance Companies

Darcy Sementi is the Healthcare Benefits Manager at State Farm Insurance Companies where she is responsible for the overall healthcare benefit strategy for both agents and employees, covering more than 150K lives. Darcy oversees a team of analysts responsible for daily health plan operations, healthcare innovation, program optimization, and plan governance. Prior to joining State Farm, Darcy served as Regional Vice President of Sales and Director of Operations for a national health plan and was the Vice President of Talent Acquisition for the nation’s largest dental support organization. Darcy has her MBA from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University.

Steven Serra, MD

Executive Director of Physician Consulting

Aetna

Steven Serra, MD, MPH, MSc, FACOEM, serves as the Executive Director of Physician Consulting within Aetna’s Plan Sponsor Insights business unit where he leads a team of senior Medical Directors in providing clinical consultation to Aetna’s Group Commercial customers focused on improving overall population health and helping plan sponsors reach their talent, financial and community goals in addition to advocating for health equity in employer-sponsored health plans. Dr. Serra is board certified in Occupational Medicine and board eligible in Aerospace Medicine and Clinical Informatics. He trained at the University of Utah where he completed his Occupational Medicine Residency and received a Masters’ of Public Health in Occupational & Environmental Health & Safety. Steven is also a graduate of the London School of Economics with an Executive Master’s in Social Business & Entrepreneurship. He is an active fellow within the American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine and in prior roles worked as a flight surgeon for United Airlines and Medical Director for DaimlerChrysler where he practiced occupational and aerospace medicine.

Nate Stokes

Health Care Strategy Specialist

Ford Motor Company

Nathan (Nate) Stokes is a Health Care Strategy Specialist within Ford's Health & Welfare Benefits group. Before joining Ford in October 2021, Nate spent 20 years providing consulting and advisory services to large employers in the Health & Wellbeing Analytics space, as well as a few years early on his career learning that he was decidedly NOT interested in becoming a life insurance actuary.

As a self-professed ""data geek"" and ""recovering actuary"", Nate is keenly interested in creating and executing measurement strategies which answer -- in a data-driven way -- the 3 age-old questions that every large employer asks:

• (1) What's driving my trend?
• (2) Of the programs that we have in place, what's working; what's not working; and what mid-course corrections should we be making?
• (3) Of all of the emerging solutions -- both long-standing and emerging -- available in the market, which ones present the largest opportunity for us?

Ellen Sullivan Frenis

Executive Director Health & Welfare Benefits

CVS Health

Ellen Sullivan Frenis, MBA, CEBS is Executive Director, Health and Welfare Benefits at CVS Health. Her primary responsibility is to lead the strategic design, delivery, and implementation of health benefit plans and programs for the company’s nearly 310,000 colleagues and retirees. Ellen began her career at Aetna and held various positions including Staff Accountant and HMO Underwriter before leaving Aetna for twelve years to provide client employers with expertise in the design and implementation of employee benefit plans as a Broker Consultant before she re-joined Aetna in 2007. Ellen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Post College and a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Healthcare Management from the University of New Haven. She also holds the professional designation of Certified Employee Benefit Specialist and maintains a Producers License in the State of CT.

Jason Tzau, PharmD

Head of Health Plan Benefits

Amazon

Jason Tzau leads global pharmacy benefits for Amazon, a company that employs over 1.4 million employees across the globe, and whose mission is to be Earth's most customer-centric company, Earth's best employer, and Earth's safest place to work. Jason Tzau, a pharmacist by training, is accountable for all strategic decisions, program management, operational and financial performance of Amazon's Pharmacy Benefit. In addition to developing the overarching framework that governs how pharmacy benefits is managed, he has a passion for building innovative solutions and forming mutually beneficial partnerships to ensure Amazonians have simplified access to high value medicines at an affordable price to improve health outcomes. This passion comes from working in the pharmacy industry for over 20 years across a wide array of leadership and individual contributor roles, including community and hospital pharmacy, managed care, medical care management, and pharmacy benefits consulting. This experience has given Jason a deep understanding of the drivers of pharmacy spend and the levers that generate material savings for Amazon and its' covered employees. He is an active member of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacists and serves on the WA Healthcare Alliance Biosimilar Collaborative Workgroup.

Scott Wallace, JD

Managing Director

Value Institute for Health and Care at Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin

Scott Wallace, JD, MBA is the co-founder and Managing Director of the Value Institute for Health and Care and an Associate Professor with appointments at the University of Texas Dell Medical School and the McCombs School of Business. At UT, Prof. Wallace works to transform health care delivery in the U.S. and around the world. He was awarded the Dell Medical School Excellence in Teaching Award.

Prof. Wallace led a team that created UT’s Master of Science in Health Care Transformation degree program, an innovative course for mid-career executives and clinicians. From 2016 to 2017 he was Dell Medical School’s Interim Chief Business Officer. Previously, Prof. Wallace taught at Dartmouth, and served on the faculty for Harvard Business School’s executive education program on health care strategy.

Prof. Wallace was appointed by President George W. Bush to chair a Federal Commission on Systemic Interoperability, which advised the White House and Congress on information technology and health transformation. He was also the first president and CEO of the National Alliance for Health Information Technology. Before his academic career, Prof. Wallace helped co-found an early-stage venture capital firm, was CEO of a specialty chemical company, and practiced corporate law at the Chicago law firm Kirkland & Ellis.

Prof. Wallace holds a juris doctorate from the University of Chicago Law School, a master’s degree with honors in business administration from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Duke University.

Jeff White

Senior Director, Global Health and Well Being

The Boeing Company

Jeff White is the Senior Director of Global Health and Well Being at The Boeing Company. In this role he leads a team responsible for benefits strategy, contract negotiations and plan policy which accounts for over $2.5 billion in annual spend. Jeff and his team take an active role in partnering with the provider community, associations and other industry stakeholders to explore innovative improvements to health care delivery systems. He has served on boards and committees of a variety of industry associations including the Purchasers Business Group on Health, Health Transformation Alliance, St. Louis Business Health Coalition and the HHS Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network. Jeff has been with Boeing since 2006. Prior to Boeing, Jeff was a consultant at two of the leading national health benefits consulting firms where he advised large organizations on health benefits strategy.

Jim Winkler

Chief Strategy Officer

Business Group on Health

As the Chief Strategy Officer for the Business Group on Health, Jim leads key initiatives for the Business Group, focused on enhancing member value. Working with the Business Group’s Leadership Team, Jim identifies emerging areas of member need and potential Business Group solutions.

Prior to joining the Business Group on Health from Aon. Over a 25 year career at Aon, Jim worked with large employers on the global and US health and wellbeing strategies. Most recently, Jim led Aon’s Global Health Solutions Advisory & Specialty team, focused thought leadership, innovation, and advisory support to address complex health and benefits challenges. Previously, Jim led the firm’s strategy regarding health care reform, testifying before the US Congress on this important issue for employers and their employees. Jim built and led Aon’s health innovation program, bringing together topical experts ad experience with the emerging vendor landscape to develop and scale solutions for employers.

Jim has held various global, national and regional leadership roles with Aon and its predecessor company, Hewitt Associates. Prior to joining Aon, he spent eight years working for a US-based national healthcare company in underwriting, pricing, marketing and sales positions.

Jim earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Hartford.

Lisa Woods

Vice President, Physical & Emotional Wellbeing

Walmart Inc.

Lisa Woods serves as Vice President, Physical & Emotional Wellbeing for Walmart Stores, Inc. Woods is a benefits professional with broad based knowledge and has been recognized nationally as an innovator and thought leader in health care with a strong commitment to ensuring that more than a million Walmart associates have access to benefits that are comprehensive, affordable, and competitive. Woods has played a key role in developing a portfolio of innovative programs focused on payment reform, reducing waste in the system, and ensuring appropriateness of care for Walmart associates. 

Lisa led the effort with her team to design and implement the Centers of Excellence program for heart, spine, joint replacements, and cancer with leading quality health systems. Lisa has also worked on developing narrow network plans focused on quality including direct contracting with ACO’s. Walmart was presented with the 2019 Helen Darling Award for Excellence in Health Care Value and Innovation by Business Group on Health for efforts to improve the health care delivery system. In addition, Lisa was named to Fortune magazine’s World’s Greatest Leaders (#10) in 2019 as a result of her efforts and most recently she was awarded the 2020 Top 25 Health Care Innovators.

Lisa has expanded her role within Walmart and she is responsible for the physical and emotional well-being of all U.S. associates, both those enrolled in our medical plans and those not enrolled.

Lisa serves on many committees and boards including board chair for the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH), president for the Council of Employee Benefits, several Business Group on Health affiliated committees, the American Benefits Council and Leapfrog.