Catch the Wave! Dive into New Employer Strategies for 2020

Amitabh Chandra is the Malcolm Wiener Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the McCance Family Professor of Business Administration Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Congressional Budget Office’s panel of health advisors and is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Amitabh is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the first-prize recipient of the Upjohn Institute’s Dissertation Award, the Kenneth Arrow Award for best paper in health economics, the NIHCM Research Award, and the Eugene Garfield Award for the impact of medical research. In 2012, he was awarded American Society of Health Economists medal.
His research focuses on productivity and innovation in healthcare with an emphasis on oncology and hospital care, medical malpractice and racial disparities. He has testified before the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and served as Massachusetts’ Special Commissioner on Provider Price Reform.

Sara Rothstein is the director of the health fund for the 32BJ Benefit Funds, the umbrella organization that administers health, training, pension, retirement savings and legal services benefits to Local 32BJ SEIU members. In this role, Sara manages comprehensive healthcare benefits for 32BJ members and their dependents. Sara is responsible for developing innovative plan designs that improve healthcare quality while also reducing the overall cost of benefits.

Prior to joining 32BJ Benefit Funds in 2016, Sara served as the director of policy and planning at New York State of Health, New York’s health insurance marketplace. Sara also worked at the Service Employees International Union for more than eight years where she analyzed financial, legislative and regulatory trends in the healthcare industry. Sara has a master’s degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Bryn Mawr College.

Adam Entenberg is vice president of benefits at Viacom Inc. and leads all aspects of the company’s benefits programs and is involved in strategic planning and development of new benefits programs and initiatives. Before joining Viacom, Adam was director of benefits and HRIS for Adecco, a senior consultant with Ernst & Young, human resources manager at Tower Air, and a pension administrator at Mellon Bank.

Adam received his bachelor’s degree from the University at Albany, State University of New York. In addition, he earned an MBA in finance from Baker College Center for Graduate Studies in Michigan.

Michelle Martin is senior vice president of total reward experience at ViacomCBS and is responsible for the strategy, design and performance of the company’s health and welfare plans, employee engagement and development of HR policies.

Michelle is a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist with a certification in global benefits management. As a human resources professional with broad experience, Michelle taught a CEBS course at Hofstra University that emphasized key economic, accounting and financial concepts essential in the administration of employee benefit plans.

She holds an MBA from Adelphi University. Michelle is an active member of the human resources community and is on the board of directors of the Northeast Business Group on Health, HealthPass

New York and The Leapfrog Group. She also sits on an advisory board for Covenant House Mother Child Center in New York City.

Since joining Pfizer in 2009 as head of Global Benefits, Steve has led efforts to ensure that Pfizer colleagues have access to comprehensive, high-quality healthcare benefits. He and his team have developed partnerships with health plans and health innovators to put in place programs that best meet the needs of Pfizer’s population. Steve has been a member of NEBGH’s board of directors since 2009 and serves on the board’s Executive Committee as well. As a board member, Steve has been instrumental in setting strategic direction for NEBGH.

Steve joined Pfizer through the acquisition of Wyeth. He is an actuary and has worked for both Watson Wyatt (now Willis Towers Watson) and Hewitt (now Aon).

Urvashi Saigal is the US Benefits Manage for Unilever, North America.  She works on the strategic design and development of programs to engage and promote a consumeristic mindset.  Her wellness program experience includes establishing a brand and platform for well-being enabling a culture shift towards health while utilizing key internal partnerships with Safety, Diversity and Inclusion, and Charitable Giving. Her current wellness strategy includes a focus on nutrition as well as physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing and finding one's purpose. Prior to joining Unilever this year, Urvashi worked within Health and Well-being at NRG Energy, Siemens, CA Technologies, and held consulting roles for various companies throughout New York and New Jersey. Urvashi holds an MS in Management from Stevens Institute of Technology and a BA in Economics from Rutgers University. 

Arnnon Geshuri is the chief people officer at Livongo Health, where he is responsible for recruiting, onboarding, workforce development and culture.

Previously, Arnnon was the vice president of human resources at Tesla and was responsible for driving HR operations and global recruitment efforts. Prior to Tesla, Arnnon was the senior director of staffing operations for Google, where he designed the company’s recruitment organization and talent acquisition strategy.

Before Google, Arnnon was vice president of human resources and director of global staffing for E*TRADE Financial. Prior to E*TRADE Financial, he worked at Applied Materials, where he built and managed corporate-wide staffing.

During the 2000s, he launched a startup focused on developing project management software for the service industry, and in the early 1990s, he was an organizational effectiveness consultant for New United Motors Manufacturing, the joint venture of Toyota and General Motors.

Arnnon has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Irvine and a master’s in industrial/organizational psychology from San Jose State University.

Brian Woods is senior vice president of enterprise at Sharecare, a digital health company that helps people manage all their health in one place. In this role, Brian works with large employers and national health plans to implement health engagement programs that drive meaningful daily member engagement and influence positive health outcomes. 

Prior to joining Sharecare, Brian spent 20 years as a healthcare consultant, working with some of the largest, most organizationally complex employers in the country. His clients included private equity firms, Fortune 100 employers and some of Silicon Valley’s most prestigious tech companies. He also founded and invested in multiple technology startups, including a health data web services company and a mobile app that uses targeted messaging to improve patient engagement.

Brian graduated from Boston College with a bachelor’s degree in biology and a minor in economics.

Sandi Stein is the senior vice president, global head of total rewards at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., the last privately held bank in the United States. At BBH, which she joined in March 2012, Stein is responsible for furthering the global rewards agenda to ensure that compensation and benefits align with the organization’s overall business strategy while designing meaningful and competitive programs that motivate and support the workforce.   She leads an award-winning, well-being program. Sandi is also the global chair of BBH’s Pride Network.

Prior to joining BBH, she was vice president of global benefits, including global mobility, at NYSE Euronext, and was responsible for delivering competitive, best-in-class benefits programs for the organization and related subsidiary companies.

Stein joined Securities Industry Automation Corp. in 1991 as a 401(k) benefits specialist. In 2006, the company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the New York Stock Exchange, where she assumed the lead HR/benefits role.

Stein earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from SUNY Albany and completed coursework as a certified financial planner from New York University.

 

Jeff Harner is the chief analytics officer at Teladoc Health. He is continuously pioneering advancements in the company’s analytics product offerings to better serve clients and better identify members the company can help serve. In working to expand the Best Doctors analytics service, he focuses on providing and applying information-based business intelligence and analytics to solve specific problems for both clients and Teladoc Health’s business leaders.

With executive leadership roles at Best Doctors, Nationwide Better Health, Cigna Health Care and Healthnet, Jeff brings an extensive career in health analytics and informatics to Teladoc Health, with expertise in medical management, health promotion, disability and absence management and population risk assessment.

Jeff holds a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration from Providence College and a master’s in health care management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Justin Burns is senior vice president of product management and technology at bswift. Justin brings client-centric leadership to bswift’s product development initiatives. He leads the benefit enrollment product development team and is directly responsible for bswift’s Affordable Care Act solutions. Prior to his current role, Justin led bswift’s direct client services team. His pre-bswift experience includes positions at Hewitt Associates, where he provided implementation, operations and client management support to several key large-market clients. Justin earned a bachelor’s degree from Augustana College with a major in business administration and minors in computer science and physics.

Kathleen Harris is the Founder of Cornfield Point Consulting LLC, a boutique firm based in the metro New York City area. Her areas of focus include advising digital health startups; care navigation; healthcare cost transparency; near site, on site and virtual health clinics; and population health.

Prior to starting her consulting firm, Kathleen was Vice President of Benefits for Time Warner Inc.  She was elevated to this role in 2011 and was responsible for defining and implementing the Company’s health and welfare, retirement and wellness strategies.

In her role, Harris streamlined health and welfare and retirement benefits globally across every business of the Company.  In addition to being responsible for Time Warner’s benefit plans, Harris designed and implemented leading edge wellness and care management programs that provided support to Time Warner employees with complex, acute and chronic conditions.  She also introduced several policies such as bonding leave, surrogacy reimbursement, and egg freezing reimbursement.

Harris is an Advisor to the Board of Directors of the Northeast Business Group on Health.

Prior to joining Time Warner in 2006, Harris spent four years as a Senior Consultant and Client Delivery Lead of the Group and Healthcare Practice at benefits consulting firm Watson Wyatt.  During her time at Watson Wyatt she worked with several F500 clients on benefits and wellness initiatives and served as a subject matter expert for: absence and disability; onsite clinics; and wellness program design.

Previously, Harris worked as a Health and Welfare Consultant at Towers Perrin.

Harris holds a B.S degree from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington and an M.P.H. from Yale University’s School of Public Health.

Angela Profeta is SVP of Strategy at CityMD, a leading urgent care provider with more than 120 locations in New York, New Jersey and Washington. She is also an instructor at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in Health Policy and Management. Prior to CityMD, Angela was a healthcare consultant at Gold Health Strategies for almost 10 years. She is also a co-founder of Manna Project International, a 501(c)(3) non-profit and student alliance where she led the development of a maternal and child health clinic and other health programs in Nicaragua. Angela holds a BA in Psychology and Neuroscience from Vanderbilt University, an MPH in Health Policy and Management from Columbia University and a PhD from NYU Wagner in health policy and economics. Her research focuses on health care access.

Dr. Wayne Jenkins is the chief medical officer at Centivo. Prior to Centivo, he was the chief clinical officer for population health at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he provided clinical oversight of value-based care delivery and completed the formation of Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs).

Before his time at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Wayne served as senior vice president and chief strategy officer of Orlando Health and president of Orlando Health Physician Partners.

Previously, Wayne was the chief of radiation oncology and subsequently the medical director for the Florida affiliate of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, a subsidiary of Orlando Health.

Wayne holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee, an MD from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and a master’s in health policy and administration from Johns Hopkins University. He is board-certified in radiation oncology.

Matt McCambridge is the chief executive officer of Eden Health. Previously, he was a technology and software investor at Insight Venture Partners, a global venture capital and private equity firm with over $20 billion of assets under management. Matt is also vice president of the board at Areté Education and leads its effort to build a boarding school for high school students in the South Bronx. Matt earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard University and taught at the Kennedy School of Government under Ron Heifetz.

Amy Meister, DO, MRO, is the president of worksite solutions at OptumCare, and oversees the firm’s on-site clinic product. She previously served as the vice president of provider services and led the Employer Health Services division of MedExpress.

Before joining MedExpress, a division of OptumCare, Amy held several leadership roles at UPMC, serving as vice president of hospitalist operations for the ERMI division, residency director for the UPMC Hospitalist APP residency program, and medical director for UPMC’s Center for Hospital Medicine. Amy managed several large physician groups and provided oversight for the care delivered to more than 1,500 patients daily at 22 different locations. 

Amy obtained her medical degree from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine and completed her residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins University. She is board-certified in internal medicine and is a certified medical review officer. 

Marco Diaz is Senior Vice President, Global Head of Benefits for News Corp. He is responsible for setting the overarching US benefits strategy in conjunction with the various business divisions with oversight to UK and Australian operations as well. Benefits include a broad suite of Health & Welfare plans, retirement plans such as defined contribution, defined benefit and non-qualified.

Prior to News Corp, Marco worked for Thomson Reuters 2000 where he oversaw the Americas benefits function.

Lydia Fenet serves as the managing director and global director of strategic partnerships at Christie’s. Lydia has trained all of Christie’s benefit auctioneers for the past seven years, and travels around the country to speak to corporations and groups on “the art of selling.” Her auctioneering achievements have been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Vogue, Crain’s, Elle, Vanity Fair, Forbes, WWD, Vogue.com and WorkingMother.com. In addition to her role within Christie’s, she has raised over half a billion dollars for more than 400 non-profits worldwide as the leading benefit auctioneer in the country. She is the author of The Most Powerful Woman in the Room is You, which was published in April 2019.

Lindsay Jurist-Rosner is the CEO of Wellthy, Inc. based in New York City. Wellthy is helping the 66 million Americans who care for aging, chronically ill, and disabled loved ones. With Wellthy, Lindsay is building the company she needed throughout the 28-years caring for her mother.

Prior to founding Wellthy in 2014, Lindsay was in the advertising technology and media industries with functional responsibilities in marketing, product and sales. Lindsay served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing at NY-based advertising technology startup, Simulmedia. Before that, Lindsay ran Marketing Research at Machinima; worked in product and strategic marketing at Microsoft; worked in marketing at LA-based startup, Spot Runner; and ran the west coast advertising and marketing relationships for The Atlantic.

Lindsay received an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics-Operations Research from Columbia University. Lindsay lives in New York City.

Bruce Sherman, MD, FCCP, FACOEM, is the chief medical officer for the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, where he provides guidance for clinically-related organizational activities. He also serves as medical director of population health management for the RightOpt private exchange at Conduent HR Services. His primary area of responsibility is health/well-being strategy, with a goal of implementing integrated, data-driven approaches to optimize workforce health and performance for employer clients. He has also served as the consulting corporate medical director for Wal-Mart Stores, Whirlpool Corp. and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

Bruce has presented on a broad range of population health management and human resources practice-related topics to diverse audiences. He received his MD from NYU School of Medicine, his master’s from Harvard and his bachelor’s from Brown, and is on the clinical faculty at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Jared Lewis is Senior Director, Total Rewards at Curtiss-Wright, a diversified industrial company providing highly engineered products and services to the Aerospace, Defense, and Industrial Markets. With over 25 years of total rewards experience, Jared is responsible for the global strategy and administration of Curtiss-Wright’s compensation and benefits functions.  Prior to Curtiss-Wright, Jared oversaw the total rewards functions for other large corporations and managed outsourced benefits administration for many large and diverse clients.

Jared earned his B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science from Binghamton University and holds an MBA with a concentration in Human Resources Management from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Danielle R. Shanes is Senior Vice President and Head of Global Benefits & Wellbeing at the NBA, where she drives the organization’s benefits and well-being strategy with an emphasis on employee engagement. At the NBA, Danielle is a member of the Pride Employee Resource Team and the Women’s Network, where she facilitates coaching circles.

Outside of the NBA, she is a board member of the Northeast Business Group on Health and chair of the nominating committee. In her free time, she volunteers with organizations that feed people from food insecure homes, reads, plays strategy games, and is preparing her only child to go off and do great things at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 

Heather Tinsley-Fix is a senior advisor at AARP, where she leads the organization’s work on employer engagement and helps drive AARP’s focus on providing members and workers 50 and over with tools to thrive in today’s work environment. She also focuses on employer engagement on a variety of topics affecting the 50+ worker. With a background in marketing, innovation and program management, Heather works with employers and job seekers, external partners and academics to provide thought leadership on 50+ labor market issues and create practical resources that enable employers to capitalize on the value of experience. Prior to joining AARP in 2006, she held various marketing, strategy and program management positions with the American Psychological Association, MicroStrategy and the Advisory Board. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and a master’s in literary theory, both from the University of Exeter.

Adam Schuster oversees the people strategy at EHE, including recruiting, hiring, onboarding, performance management, benefits and compensation.

Prior to joining EHE, Adam was the vice president of human resources for Songkick, a concert discovery app and direct-to-fan ticketing company. Under Adam’s leadership, Songkick was recognized as one of the most innovative companies in music by Fast Company. 

Adam also led HR for Harlem RBI, a nonprofit organization in East Harlem and the South Bronx that serves more than 2,500 boys and girls with year-round academic and summer programming.

Adam started his career as an employment attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York. He graduated from Cornell University and earned a Juris Doctor degree from Syracuse University and a certificate in leadership from Columbia Business School.

Michelle Martin is senior vice president of total reward experience at ViacomCBS and is responsible for the strategy, design and performance of the company’s health and welfare plans, employee engagement and development of HR policies.

Michelle is a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist with a certification in global benefits management. As a human resources professional with broad experience, Michelle taught a CEBS course at Hofstra University that emphasized key economic, accounting and financial concepts essential in the administration of employee benefit plans.

She holds an MBA from Adelphi University. Michelle is an active member of the human resources community and is on the board of directors of the Northeast Business Group on Health, HealthPass

New York and The Leapfrog Group. She also sits on an advisory board for Covenant House Mother Child Center in New York City.

Karan Singh is the co-founder and chief operations officer at Ginger, where he leads its clinical operations and strategy. He has over 13 years of experience in healthcare from management consulting for biopharma to data analytics, having worked at leading healthcare firms including ZS Associates and Humedica.

Karan is a frequent speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship, health innovation and new models of care. He has served as a scholar at the Aspen Institute, delivered keynotes at the Public Health Institute and the National Institute of Mental Health and been recognized as a rising star in healthcare by LinkedIn's Next Wave.

He holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, attended the Harvard Medical School/MIT Health, Science & Technology program, and received bachelor’s degrees in economics and business administration from the University of California at Berkeley.

Kimberly Wilson is a seasoned media professional, entrepreneur and professor. Her work experience has included roles at ESSENCE, TheGrio, The Root, Black Enterprise, the NAACP Image Awards, the American Black Film Festival and Think Tank Digital. After serving communities of color for over a decade, she founded the healthcare tech startup HUED, which connects patients to diverse healthcare providers that understand their cultural, physical and mental health needs.

Kimberly is an adjunct professor at Howard University and New York University. Her classes cover content and social media strategy, advanced public relations, as well as integrated marketing.

Kimberly received her bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Maryland and her J.D. from the Howard University School of Law. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and is involved in her community through the Precious Dreams Foundation, the Council of Urban Professionals and the National Urban League.

Rebecca Zack Callahan, MSN, WHNP-BC, is a women's health nurse practitioner. She received bachelor’s degrees from Princeton University and New York University before earning her master’s degree in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania. She is also an 800+ hour certified Jivamukti and prenatal/postpartum yoga teacher. Currently she serves as a product adviser and nurse practitioner for Maven Clinic (www.mavenclinic.com) - the digital clinic for women. She is honored to sit on the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing Dean's Council (formerly the Board of Advisors). She lives with her husband, daughter (age 7), and identical twin boys (5) in Manhattan.

Claire Levitt is deputy commissioner for the New York City Mayor’s Office of Labor Relations where she is responsible for overseeing health care strategy for the 1.2 million employees, dependents and retirees of the City of New York.

Claire has extensive experience in health insurance, managed care, medical cost management, benefit plan design, population health and operations. Before joining the mayor’s administration, she was executive director of the Amalgamated National Health Fund and was concurrently the president of Alicare Medical Management, an affiliate company of Amalgamated Life Insurance Co. As executive vice president of Amalgamated Life, her responsibilities included oversight of all health-related operations. Claire was recently named a Notable Woman in Health Care by Crain’s New York Business. She received a bachelor’s degree with honors from Binghamton University and holds a master’s degree in management with a specialty in health management from New York University.

Dr. Cunningham-Hill is an employee health expert known for his ability to create, identify and implement high-quality workplace health programs including prevention and screening, chronic illness interventions, and mental health and wellbeing initiatives. His broad occupational medicine and public health experience encompasses addressing chronic diseases impacting employers, employees and communities within the context of  social, cultural and racial determinants of health.

Mark has served as the Medical Director for Northeast Business Group on Health since early 2018. Until 2017, he served as Senior Director, Global Solutions Center and Head of Occupational Medicine at Johnson & Johnson, Inc . At J&J, Mark led a team of experts covering occupational medicine, health and wellness, personal energy management, EAP and mental wellbeing, and work-life effectiveness, and supported regional operational groups delivering health services to 135,000 employees in 120 companies. Prior to seven years at J&J, Mark spent 17 years at GlaxoSmithKline in both London and Philadelphia, including as Head of Global Operations, Employee Health Management.

Mark received his MB ChB, Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at Manchester University in the UK. He is a Fellow of both the American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, and the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, London.