Ali Ahmadi is the CEO of TCARE, a family caregiver burnout preventions tool powered by predictive analytics. TCARE’s CMS-approved platform is used by health insurers to reduce family caregiver burnout, resulting in fewer claims, delayed nursing home placement, and improved CAHPS scores for the member. TCARE also partners with health plans to reduce foster parent burnout, increasing permanency in the home for foster children. The company’s evidence-based predictive technology saved Washington State Department of Social and Health Services over $20 million in a 2,300-caregiver pilot by delaying nursing home placements by an average of 21 months.
Chief Product Officer with PlanAllies with 20 years of experience as a senior executive, innovating health technology. PlanAllies is the Synthesis of technology and human engagement. Technology acts as a virtual assistant for call center agents, reacting to conversations, curating real time scripts that focus on getting to know each member as a person. Plan benefits are introduced by agents in the context of how they support the beneficiary’s lifestyle and aspirations. Personal, conversational introductions significantly increase plan literacy and utilization, with lower CTM and increased member satisfaction, retention and LTV. It's time to “ditch the scripts."
Gus Alvarez is a growth strategist with focus on taking ventures from startup design to full implementation. He started in the health insurance industry with Cornerstone America, where he was awarded the 'Million Dollar Producers Circle' and 'Ring of Honor', becoming their number one Medicare-selling agent. In 2008, he launched Team Alvarez Insurance Services, which has grown into a top producing field marketing organization/general agency. In 2014, he established InTouch Medical Marketing providing customized call center solutions, and 2019 saw the creation of Quality Health Partners, which helps primary care physicians achieve 5-star quality ratings. Through these three companies, Gus’ vision is to provide synergy and success for clients.
Karan Aneja is COO & co-founder of Reframe Financial and a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in healthcare and logistics. He previously founded Portea Medical, SE Asia's largest home healthcare company, and Vetted Petcare, an in-home veterinary service focused on data collection and vertical integration of an insurance solution. A graduate of The University of California Berkeley, Karan is an active investor and advisor to start-ups around the world needing help with strategy, business development and partnerships. His focus is on companies looking to transform and improve critical services that have the greatest impact on people's lives.
Manny is a proven leader with 20+ years of sales and marketing experience. His career began at 17 in a call center, where he was the top rep in Texas and received the Telcom MVP award. As General Manager of QVL, he increased sales by 250%. Manny has held leadership roles with Verizon, Trader Publishing, TruGreen, Telcom, and digiMedical Solutions. He was recognized with multiple awards and is currently the Director of Operations for InTouch Medical Marketing. At InTouch, Manny increased appointment volume for health assessments by 300% and decreased no-show rates to under 7%. He believes in leading by service.
Claudio has been in managed healthcare for 29 years. He has worked in health plans, a hospital and his roles included Customer Service, Provider Relations & Network Development. In 2004 he became an entrepreneur when he started his first IPA, All Care Health Networks. All Care served over 200 primary care physicians in Florida and managed 7 full risk payor agreements with over 30,000 lives under management. Today, he is the co-founder of New Health MD Holdings and serves as the CEO of Associated Medical Care (AMC). AMC is network serving over 1,000 primary care physicians in Florida, Texas, and Georgia with just under 100,000 lives under management.
Doug Armstrong is the Vice President of Health Products and Services at AARP Services, Inc. (ASI). Doug leads the team responsible for the AARP Medicare Supplement, Medicare Advantage, and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans insured by UnitedHealthcare, the AARP Prescription Discount program through OptumRx as well as new product development to grow the health products portfolio. Prior to joining AARP in 2011, Doug spent a decade as the Director of Public Programs Policy at the BlueCross and BlueShield Association and as Deputy Director of Government Programs Policy at America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). In these roles he was responsible for federal legislative and regulatory policy development for the health insurance industry. During his tenure he oversaw various programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, creation of and implementation Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage, helped develop and implement the MIPPA Modernized Medicare Supplement plans, led negotiations of the ACA those creating the MA STARs quality improvement incentives and helped negotiate the Children’s Health Insurance Program reauthorization.
Andrew Bard is the Chief Executive Officer of OptiMed Health Plans, a United Group Programs brand focused on serving today’s employee benefits market. Founded in 1968, OptiMed offers self-funded and fully insured products in most states and partners with carriers rated A- (Excellent) or better by A.M. Best. A senior insurance executive, Andrew leverages his expertise in sales, brand positioning, product acumen, team building, and improved profitability to accelerate the company’s growth and expand its offerings to meet consumer demand.
Barker is the Vice President of Digital Marketing for AmeriLife, Webmaster and Digital Marketing Leader for AgentandAdvisor.com and the Digital Marketing Leader for the YourMedicare brand.She has years of experience in marketing, specializing in the insurance industry, having experience in the P&C, Health/Life, Annuity, and financial industries. She began her digital marketing career in 2008 selling Yahoo Advertising and has since earned advanced certifications across multiple digital marketing channels.
Centre For Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI)
Mel Barsky is Director, Business Development at the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI). CABHI, led by Baycrest Health Sciences, helps innovators develop, disseminate, scale, and promote adoption of promising innovations in the aging and brain health sector. CABHI was formed as a unique private / public collaboration that has raised over $175M and has levered an additional $70M+ for investing in accelerating, scaling and growing the most promising technologies in the brain health and longevity sector. To-date, CABHI has funded ~400 projects globally. CABHI innovators and companies have secured over $529M in follow-on investments.
Dai Barth is the President of Dominion Outsourcing based in Richmond, VA. Dominion is a best in class outsource provider specializing in offering custom solutions including Licensed Insurance Sales, Member Engagement, Appointment Setting, Enrollment Verification and Quality Assurance Support. Dai is proud to personally partner with clients to develop engaging business strategies, design high-quality and scalable solutions, and build rich brand experiences with the necessary tools and expertise to maximize efficiencies and improve your KPIs.
Moshe is a managing member of Maccabee Ventures, an early stage venture fund focused on SilverTech® (Aging and Longevity), PropTech, FinTech and Cybersecurity. Moshe brings more than 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, strategic investor, and trusted advisor to early stage technology companies. Moshe is a third generation Senior Living owner/operator having served as Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) and VP of Business Development & Acquisitions at The Kensington Group. Passionate about educating the next generation of leaders, Moshe is also faculty member at the Sy Syms School of Business, Yeshiva University, teaching courses in Angel and Venture Capital Investing.
Kristy Berry is CEO of Cenegenics, the global leader in Performance Health Age Management and reverse aging, a passionate advocate for advancing cognitive, physical and metabolic longevity. Since joining the executive team in 2020, Kristy has implemented key strategies that leverage leading age-tech innovations to reshape our expectations for healthspan and longevity. Kristy leads a growing enterprise with 21 U.S. and 8 international locations delivering ultra-personalized Performance Health Programs tailored to each patient’s unique physiology and goals. Prior to her role as CEO, Kristy supported the growth of Cenegenics as its COO. Her expertise in building highly-effective teams and her focus on operational excellence enabled the global growth of the Cenegenics brand that she now leads.
Senior Managing Director, Global Insurance Services
FTI Consulting
Vince is an actuary and is recognized as one of the leading long-term care insurance experts in the country, having worked with such products since the 1980s. He has helped insurers and regulators develop innovative solutions for new products and in-force block management. Vince was recently named one of the “20 Most Creative People in Insurance” by ThinkAdvisor. Vince has led projects related to product design and pricing, distribution strategy, in-force management, experience analysis, strategic planning, financial analysis and projections, reinsurance, reserve valuations, operational reviews, company rehabilitations and liquidations, and mergers and acquisitions. He is a trusted advisor of industry management, regulators and public policy leaders. He has been engaged several times as an actuarial expert witness. Vince has twice served as Chairperson of the Society of Actuaries Long Term Care Insurance Section, Chairperson of the Intercompany Long Term Care Insurance Conference and Chairperson of the Society of Actuaries Long Term Care Think Tank.
Nichole Bontrager is the CEO and co-founder of Maria's Place, a woman-run business that revolutionizes the delivery of resources to older adults. Through collaboration, Nichole and her team help companies connect with their older adult clients in a purposeful and interactive way by incorporating Therapeutic Recreation into their outreach initiatives. She brings a decade of experience in the older adult industry. Nichole’s deep-rooted business and leadership experience has led her to believe that combining business and purpose makes for a better world. Her work has impacted the lives of over 100,000 older adults and caregivers to date.
Joseph’s professional area of practice is in new product development and healthcare information technology. He works with a variety of stakeholders in the healthcare system including payers and providers to drive new creative product solutions to market. He has served a variety of technical roles involving data warehousing, web development, and mobile app development. His product responsibilities have included market analysis, market research, design thinking and user testing, pricing strategies, and product launch strategies. Joseph is passionate about challenging the status quo and seeing new disruptive technologies add value to the healthcare system.
Jennifer Brooks-Kaluza serves as the Staff Vice President of Medicare Strategic Initiatives at Elevance Health. She is responsible for the planning and execution of Medicare programs, including supplemental benefits, retention initiatives, and product implementation. Brooks-Kaluza has extensive experience in both Medicare and Medicaid, specifically with special needs populations such as dual-eligibles and those on long term services and support (LTSS). Prior to her role in Medicare, Brooks-Kaluza served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Virginia Medicaid health plan at Elevance Health. In her 10+ years at Elevance Health, she has held several leadership positions in the government businesses, many with a focus on operations. Since 2020, Brooks-Kaluza has served on the board of the Autism Society of America, Tidewater, Virginia.
As General Counsel of GoHealth, Brad handles all of the company’s legal affairs, including commercial, regulatory, employment and corporate matters. Over the past 11+ years at GoHealth, Brad led the company through two private equity transactions, and in 2020, an IPO [NASDAQ: GOCO] where the company enterprise value was approximately $7 billion. Brad has been recognized for his accomplishments and leadership through various honors, including Crain’s Notable General Counsel, Legal500 GC Powerlist, and multiple First Chair Awards for Top General Counsel. Prior to joining GoHealth, he worked for two Chicago-based national law firms. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
John Busby serves as Centerfield’s Chief Marketing Officer and Managing Director, Digital Brands. In addition to corporate marketing, John leads Centerfield’s Digital Brands, which help millions of in-market consumers choose and purchase the right product or service through brands like Business.com and BroadbandNow. Prior to joining Centerfield, John was Head of Analytics for Amazon’s grocery division. Prior to Amazon, John was Senior Vice President of Analytics and Marketing at Marchex. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University.
Greg is an entrepreneur based in Baltimore, MD and is currently the founder of Twilight Technologies, Inc, a platform to help illuminate the caregiver journey. Prior to starting Twilight in January 2023 he served as Managing Partner of Olive Ventures, the venture studio arm of healthcare automation company Olive. During his time at Olive Ventures, the team launched a total of six digital health startups in 18 months, and went from start to seed funding in just under 5 months. Greg also serves as Chairman & Co-Founder of Betamore, Managing Member of the Baltimore Angels, and is a venture partner of Early Light Ventures. In 2001, Greg started and scaled, with no outside capital, Blue Sky Factory, a leading email marketing service provider, that was acquired by the private equity firm, Riverside Company in July of 2011.
Johanna Cazares is a highly experienced healthcare industry professional with over 15 years of experience. Throughout her career, she has focused on driving MA growth and retention, developing strong stakeholder relations, and fostering strategic partnerships. Having worked for both health plans and care delivery organizations, Johanna possesses a deep understanding of the complexities of the healthcare industry. She has a proven track record of successfully leading strategic planning and implementation efforts, resulting in significant growth and improved outcomes for her clients. Today, Johanna works as a full-time growth strategist and consultant, leveraging her extensive experience to help organizations achieve their growth and retention goals.
Michael is the Co-Founder and CEO of MyMedicareBot (“MMB”), a Medicare Insights and Sales Automation company located in Santa Ana, California. MMB helps Medicare health plans and brokers grow and retain their membership with actionable insights and innovative leads-to-enrollment distribution technologies. Previously, Michael was the Founder of DestinationRx now ConnectureDRX which built and operated the Plan Finder on www.medicare.gov for the CMS and operated Medicare exchanges for health plans brokers nationwide. Michael is now applying his 19+ experience to help modernize the Medicare leads-to-enrollment value chain he helped create and innovate since the passage of the Medicare Modernization Act in 2003. Michael received his MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA and a B.A. from Columbia University.
With 16 years of experience in highly regulated industries, Sean guides the development of compliance, speech analytics, and consumer experience platforms across several market verticals.
Melissa Crawford is the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Physicians Mutual. As an insurance executive with more than 30 years of experience, Melissa has an extensive background in marketing, strategic planning, product development and sales. As a member of the Physicians Mutual executive leadership team, Melissa has helped lead the company’s advancement of innovative insurance products and new market entries, including the development of innovative Medicare Supplement and dental products, and the entry into the preneed and pet insurance markets.
CEO of The Premier Agency and Founder of Medicare EXPO, Brent Crawley has served the Medicare Independent Broker Channel for 16 years and has found his passion in helping make agents lives better. Brent has spent years working on processes to improve relationships and outcomes and has never been afraid to draw close to people with special talents. Brent is proof that with the right attitude and the right people, anything can be something.
Aaron Davis is a technology leader with extensive experience in patient centric healthcare technology. He is the Product Director for ConnectureDRX's Plan Compare ONE, a Medicare shopping, quoting, enrollment, and retention platform. Aaron comes from a background in consumer research and product experimentation, running rapid research projects for Fortune 500s such as AARP, Cigna, Experian, and Intuit. Previously, he has served in an innovation role to build a patient engagement platform for individuals with rare diseases. He has a BA in finance and was a University Innovation Fellow at Stanford University's d.school.
Anna is the CEO/Cofounder of Uno Health, offering a uniquely win-win service enrolling Medicare members into all of the 7 key state and federal low-income programs (e.g., Medicaid, SNAP, Rx assistance) delivering millions of dollars in copay reductions and topline revenue for Medicare Advantage plans. Anna has 10+ years experience launching and shipping technology products across consumer tech and healthcare, starting her career at Google, and more recently leading product and operations at Clover Health. Anna completed her undergrad in Neurophysiology and Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, UK. She was born and raised in London, UK.
William R. DeCourcy, Jr. MBA (Bill) has been with AmeriLife since November 2021. Upon starting at AmeriLife, Bill built the lead distribution mechanisms for AmeriLife’s Direct-to-Consumer Call Center and lead the MarTech overhaul of their supporting infrastructure. Bill has, in the last year, founded and built an enterprise-wide leads distribution system (LeadStar), which provides real-time exclusive data leads, inbound and warm-transfer phone calls, and aged leads for AmeriLife’s contracted agents and call centers. Bill has a deep background in technology, research, and lead generation across several industries. Bill resides in Orlando with his wife and, in his free time, enjoys woodworking, fishing, camping, and volunteering in his community as the coach of a high school robotics team.
Canadian from Vancouver. Serial entrepreneur, three-time co-founder. I moved to Seattle in 1998 for my first US startup. This startup became a Kleiner Perkins backed company and then attracted a $42M Amazon investment. We grew the company to 1,800 employees and $120 million in sales over the next 30 months. $280M NASDAQ IPO. Fortunate to have worked at four companies that disrupted four different industries. iGuard is a disruptor of AgeTech for Seniors Aging in Place. Executive Sales and Marketing graduate from Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.
Nick Desai is an accomplished and visionary veteran of 5 successful venture-funded startups. Founded in August 2021, Renee is a transformative digital health assistant specifically designed for older and underserved Americans to coordinate, communicate and connect all aspects of their healthcare. Launched Oct. 2022, Renee gives people the meds they need and they help they deserve in one incredibly easy, unified experience. For Renee, Nick has raised $8.2MM in venture funding for Renee from Quiet Capital, Tau Ventures, Mucker Capital, Fika Ventures, Citylight Ventures and the AARP. Nick is the Founder and former CEO of Heal – the renowned market-leader in home-centric primary care and doctor house calls. From inception in October 2014 thru Feb. 2021, Nick led Heal’s torrid growth as CEO – expanding Heal to 10 states, serving over 300,000 patients, driving nearly $100MM in healthcare cost savings and raising over US $200 million in investment capital from top investors including Humana, Fidelity, Breyer Capital, Slow Ventures, Glenview Capital, IRA Capital and many others.
George Dippel spent the first 12 years of his career with Procter & Gamble at P & G’s renowned Healthcare Consumer Institute. While there, George studied the healthcare consumer across all aspects of care delivery and used those insights to provide high-level consultation to both P & G’s internal brand teams as well as many partner health insurance carriers. George brought his healthcare consumer market research expertise to Deft in 2010, and since then has worked with more than 130 carriers to help them better understand the modern healthcare consumer. George’s range of healthcare consumer research expertise spans Medicare Advantage, MedSupp, Small Group, ACA, Uninsured, PBM and Part D.
As Chief Marketing Officer, Ellen brings 25 years of experience leading results-driven business-to-business and direct-to-consumer marketing for healthcare and consumer brands. Prior to VillageMD, she was Chief Marketing & Experience Officer at Medecision, a provider of digital health management software and services. In that role, she led enterprise customer experience, brand activation, marketing and innovation programming, and alliances and helped lead that organization’s turnaround and re-emergence as a leading brand in the healthcare information technology sector. Before Medecision, Ellen was the founder and principal of a boutique marketing firm.
Mr. Donaldson serves as Simplicity’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Donaldson is responsible for defining the Group’s strategic direction and managing its various operating businesses. Prior to Simplicity, Mr. Donaldson was a managing director at an international investment bank, for which he was responsible for making and managing private company investments. Mr. Donaldson has also led the successful start-up of a national financial guaranty insurance company and a multi-billion-dollar asset management business. Prior to starting the entrepreneurial phase of his career, Mr. Donaldson held various financial, business, and legal positions in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Dr. Bethany Doran is a Duke trained cardiologist, bioinformaticist, and the CEO of Enabled Health, a tech powered clinical service designed to expand access to patients with chronic disease in rural areas. With a background in machine learning, data ethics, and enterprise software, she is one of the few clinicians that can bridge the functional gap between the thoughtful design and deployment of software systems and deep clinical experience. She is excited to share her experiences of building care in rural networks.
National Association Of Registered Social Security Analysts
Thomas Drapala, RSSA is the Director of Services at the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts. Tom is a highly in demand speaker for all Social Security related topics and is passionate about working with and presenting to financial professionals to help them enhance their practices. Tom is in charge of implementing and improving ways for advisors to have a turn-key system to work with and help their clients with Social Security planning through the RSSA eLearning program. Tom has a Masters in Financial Management from LIU Post and lives on Long Island with his wife and two young children.
Dr. Dua is a visionary physician-entrepreneur who created Renee based on her 15 years of
experience as a practicing nephrologist, her service as Chief of Medicine at two of LA’s largest hospitals and her 7 years as Chief Medical Officer of Heal – during which time she oversaw the successful delivery of over 300,000 doctor house calls. She founded Renee in August 2021 – and quickly raised $3.8MM in seed funding – to be the indispensable “best friend” that helps chronic disease patients follow their doctor’s care plan towards living happier, healthier lives. Since founding, she has led Renee’s product development including creating the first-ever flat-rate Rx program in the US. She is critical to Renee’s successful pilot program, business development and clinical success. Prior to Renee, Dr. Dua served as the Chief Medical Officer of Heal – a company she cofounded.
David Duel is currently the CEO of EasyHealth, a 300 person Medicare platform focused on combining insurance distribution and healthcare services to improve health outcomes. EasyHealth is backed by leading venture capital firms and insurance companies. David has been a serial entrepreneur and investor, having started companies in clean-tech, ad-tech, and real estate. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business. He has been actively engaged in civic life. David served as a co-founder and board member of many civic groups including 30 Years After, Gen Next, AIPAC, YPO, and many Jewish organizations.
PacSana was founded in 2018. With bases in Boston and Dublin, PacSana are realising their vision of digitally transforming the Home Care and Senior Living world. PacSana uses its wearable technology to gather data on exercise, gait, falls and location in the home to develop an accurate picture of care needs. PacSana helps Home Care and Senior Living organisations profile urgent and emerging risk, plan service and manage client transitions in the home or in a facility. Feargal has led digital transformation and health informatics projects for the last 20 years. His key expertise is in commercialization and scale.
Tyler is CEO and a Co-Founder of Retirable, the first-of-its-kind holistic retirement solution making financial management easy for everyday Americans. Tyler has nearly 15 years of experience at leading companies in the insurance and financial management industries. Before Retirable, Tyler worked as Head of Operations Expansion at PolicyGenius, expanding the company’s reach into new products — turning PolicyGenius into an industry-leading disability and P&C insurance distributor. Before working at PolicyGenius, Tyler worked as Wealth Management Advisor at prominent financial services organizations. As an advisor, Tyler played an integral role in helping clients define goals, achieve financial independence and retire with peace of mind. Through this work, Tyler has helped more than 10,000 people find the insurance they needed. Since founding Retirable, Tyler’s expert insights have been quoted in leading news outlets such as FOX Business, NY Business Journal, and MONEY. Tyler’s innovative approach to retirement planning has been mentioned in publications such as AlleyWatch, Forbes, and more. Last year, Retirable was included as an example of how money advisory apps could work best in a Forbes piece titled, Where Are The Personal Advice Apps For People Who Really Need Them? For more information, visit Retirable.com or check out his LinkedIn profile.
Darrik Erikstrup is an executive healthcare professional with 15 years of experience in the industry. Throughout his healthcare career, Darrik has taken a member-centric approach to developing and executing benefit programs for our nation’s most vulnerable populations. His tenured leadership responsibilities include strategy and innovation, benefit design, sales, vendor management and contracting, customer service, provider education, training, marketing, and finance and planning. He has worked for some of the biggest payers in the market including UnitedHealthcare, Bright Health Care, and Anthem (now Elevance Health), as well as supplemental health companies leading their strategy efforts in the payer space. Additionally, Darrik has held various advisory and consulting roles to startup companies in the supplemental and nutrition management space.
As GM of Health & Medicare at QuinStreet, Farzin is responsible for marketing Medicare products online to interested consumers. He is responsible for all aspects of performance marketing, from managing media partner compliance to ensuring carriers, agencies and individual agents receive the quality and volume of inquiries requested. He previously served as a managing partner of The Patient Guide, a Healthcare Marketing agency serving Dermatologists. Prior to that he was a Performance Marketing Strategist at Health IQ, and a Performance Marketing Director serving Ivy League universities including Harvard Business School and University of Pennsylvania. He has also done anthropological fieldwork and research in Ecuadorian Amazon. As an Anthropologist and experienced Performance Marketer, he can provide a unique perspective to healthcare organizations and agencie
Dr. Nathan Estrada is the VP of Clinical for Nymbl Science and an expert on older adult balance training and fall prevention. A physical therapist by training, he received his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the University of Colorado Denver, where he received the Hubert J. Levy Humanitarian Award. Professionally, he has worked in outpatient orthopedics, sports medicine, and home health, where he discovered a passion for empowering older adults to participate more fully in life. Dr. Estrada believes we have bought into the lie that aging is less and that health decline is somehow a normal expectation of aging.
Evan led the growth of Best Doctors, Inc., the pioneers of expert medical opinion as an employee and insurance benefit, from a startup to a company covering 75 million people in 40 countries. As CEO of Family First, Evan knows a comprehensive approach to caregiving — including navigation of the resources available to families and development of novel insurance products — is the next frontier of public health. Making sure caregivers and their loved ones have a healthspan equal to their lifespan is the best chance to solve the tremendous burdens facing governments, insurers, employers, and families.
Tony is devoted to the destructive effect costs and current delivery of health care have on the average American family. He got his start over 20 years ago in the advertising and promotion of health insurance, quickly recognizing a fragmented and possessive industry where absences of data and financial pressures do not benefit the customer’s highest priorities. His current company is driven by the vision of integrating platforms, which will help modernize healthcare through its utilization of technology, improved processes and a commitment to quality care.
Alex Fennell is a passionate advocate for women’s health and Co-Founder of Attn: Grace — the venture-backed, Certified B Corp. behind the world’s first skin-safe, sustainably designed line of incontinence products for women. Though Attn: Grace is her first start up, Alex is no stranger to innovation. She spent years as a partner in a large Boston law firm litigating complex patent cases nationwide. Expert in ownable differentiation, she is deeply excited to now apply her experience to a mission and vision she cares about so deeply.
Robert Ferguson is a father of two daughters; nationally recognized certified nutritionist; former U.S. Marine and professional athlete; researcher; fitness expert; television and podcast host; motivational speaker; author; and creator of the Diet Free Life methodology. He has written three books on nutrition and fitness, authored two evidence-based, clinically proven studies on improved overall health and weight management; he currently serves on the Presidential Task Force on Obesity for the National Medical Association; and continues to serve on science boards and health and wellness advisor to many companies. He continues to work with celebrities and professional athletes to include Chaka Khan, Katie Maloney, Toni Braxton, Daniel Baldwin, Ricki Lake, Chuck D of Public Enemy, La Toya Jackson, Bobbi Bonilla and the Days of Our Lives cast to name a few. In addition to his work with celebrities and executives, Robert has successfully worked as a physical conditioning and nutrition specialist for professional boxers on Showtime, HBO, ESPN and “The Contender” on NBC. Ferguson founded Diet Free Life and its methodology in 1995 and continues to serve as its CEO. He is also a co-founder and Chief Nutrition Officer for iCoura Health, which is a food prescription, supplemental health benefit company.
Vice President of Sales at Spark, passionate defender of the dignity of the human person striving to bring lasting value for independent brokers across the country.
HELAINE I. FINGOLD is a Partner in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice in the Baltimore office of Epstein Becker Green. She has more than 30 years of broad health law and health regulatory experience, including 20 years in the federal legislative and executive branches. Ms. Fingold advises health care plans and issuers, providers, and other stakeholders on legal and policy issues regarding: the Medicare Advantage and Part D programs, including, but not limited to: general program compliance and corrective action; marketing, agent/broker and TPMO issues; star ratings/quality bonus payments; application process and appeals; program/financial audits and other program oversight; and program enforcement/sanctions and appeals. She also advises on Medicare A and B; Medicaid fee-for-service and waiver/managed care programs; Medicare and Medicaid innovation programs; Qualified Health Plans and ACA commercial plan requirements; and federal and state Surprise Billing rules. From 2004 to 2012, Ms. Fingold worked in a range of capacities at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), with responsibility for areas of the Medicare Advantage program, including plan application review and approval, network adequacy, application denials and appeals, contracting, plan surveillance and oversight, and Medicare Advantage and Part D marketing. Subsequently, Ms. Fingold served in both senior staff and leadership roles with the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) in the Exchange Policy and Operations Group through which Ms. Fingold worked on the qualification of qualified health and stand-alone dental, plan oversight, essential health benefits, agent/broker issues, and market-wide cost sharing limitations. Ms. Fingold began her professional career as an attorney with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and then as a team lead within the Office of Research and Demonstrations at CMS’s predecessor agency, working on Medicaid waiver and Medicare demonstration programs. She then spent two years as a health care attorney with the DC office of Epstein Becker Green. She left the firm to serve as General Counsel for the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
Dave Francis is the Founder & CEO of Healthpilot. For three decades, Dave has been at the forefront of levering information technology in the health care market. Prior to co-founding Healthpilot, Dave was COO & CFO at eHealth where he led the company’s turnaround and growth from 2016 to 2020 when eHealth’s stock price rose by more than 10x under his leadership. Prior to eHealth, Dave was an industry-leading health care/technology investment banker and research analyst at leading Wall Street firms including Royal Bank of Canada and Jefferies & Co. Dave is well-known for his strategic vision in the health care and technology markets, and is a frequent speaker and guest lecturer. Dave earned a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Dario Fusato is CEO and co-founder of Savvly. Savvly offers the first investment solution of its kind, a “personal pension” that provides lump-sum payments for late-life financial security. Think of it like the opposite of life insurance — instead of paying your beneficiaries if you die young, Savvly pays you if you live a long life and helps provide financial peace of mind. Savvly has been featured on numerous wealth management publications including Investment and Wealth Institute, Financial Advisor Magazine, WealthManagement, and ThinkAdvisor. Savvly is also a Techstars portfolio company, in partnership with Pivotal Ventures, an investment company created by Melinda French Gates. Prior to Savvly, Dario, a scientist by background, held executive positions at companies like McKinsey & Co., Aon Plc and Arthur J. Gallagher. While working for corporate America, Dario and his teams had the privilege to pioneer new processes and technologies that have now become standard in the commercial insurance industry world.
Robert is currently a Partner at 7wireVentures, where he focuses on investments in digital healthcare and technology-enabled services that empower consumers to be better stewards of their health in today’s changing healthcare ecosystem. Robert has over 30 years of experience investing in, advising, and operating early-stage healthcare and technology companies and has co-managed four venture funds with $400M+ AUM. Before joining 7wireVentures, Robert served as Managing Director of Stratus Ventures and KB Partners where he led investments in early-stage healthcare and technology companies. Previously, Robert held key executive roles for three high-growth companies where he led operations, business development, and finance in the ecommerce and software industries. Robert received a Master of Business Administration degree from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Brian Garity is the CEO of GarityAdvantage Brokerage, a Boston-based health insurance brokerage agency founded in 1970. Brian joined his father right out of college in the 1980’s, becoming President in 1997 and owner in 2000. Under his leadership, the company shifted its focus to medicare and has grown to be one of the largest senior-market FMO’s in the country, with thousands of agents and clients across all 50 states. Brian is a frequent industry speaker and enjoys teaching agents and agencies how to grow their business quickly and profitably.
As a digital marketer with years of experience, Sandra has worked with thousands of small business owners, trained in high ticket consulting groups, spoken at multiple events including TEDX, been featured in two documentaries, runs a top rated Podcast (Binding Authority) all while being a wife and keeping the worlds cutest four year old entertained, happy and from falling off of tall things he climbs. Sandra is extremely passionate about helping people solve problems they are having in business. She has been described as being “a bit too much” or “a busy body” and voted “most eager to please” by her Highschool Senior Class. Sandra took these labels and turned into being famous for being a power connector and helping small business owners fix advertising and marketing issues. Known as the “Queen Of Organic Social Media Marketing.” Sandra is passionate about teaching agents to build their own personal brand. She also runs a group consulting course where she focuses on coaching and helping agents build smart marketing plans!
Ari Ginsberg is the CEO of Contact Marketing. he founded Contact Marketing 25 years ago with its sole mission to match new markets to direct mailers with creativity and innovation. Working with leading companies across verticals, he has proved time and time again, even in the world of big data, that the best prospect is an active prospect. As a pioneer in introducing lead-generated prospects to the direct mail industry, Ari is determined to bring the message of "response data" to the new world of data providers and lead-gen marketers.
Marc Glickman, FSA, CLTC, is CEO and co-founder of BuddyIns, a leading long-term care insurance education, marketing, and technology company. Marc is a licensed insurance agent in all 50 states and serves on the Board of Advisors for CLTC. Marc has over 15 years of experience as an actuary including as the Chief Investment Officer and Chief Sales Officer for a major LTC insurance company. Marc's experience provides him with unique insight into the inner workings of the insurance industry. He has been a consultant for several insurance companies to help design their long-term care insurance and hybrid products. Marc earned his degree in economics from Yale University. In 2019, Marc was named one of the top 20 innovators in the insurance brokerage space.
David Graf is on a mission to make Healthcare easily accessible and affordable for Seniors. Dave previously served as the Founder and CEO of TRANZACT for seventeen years – one of SunFire’s largest, top-performing customers. A long time Deadhead, David lives in New Jersey with his two daughters. He is a diehard NY Mets, Rangers, Knicks and Giants fan and enjoys playing backgammon and golf. David’s passion for authenticity leads our teams to do their best work to execute on SunFire’s innovative strategies with and for customers.
Rob’s been in Medicare marketing since 2017. He is responsible for two brands. The first, a consumer facing brand, is 100Insure. 100Insure generates high quality, high intent transfers to some of the biggest agencies and carriers in the country. The second brand, Medicare Express, is pioneering in person, high intent meetings between field agents and consumers. The company is solving one of the toughest challenges for field agents…qualified, quality meetings that deliver enrollments at a very high level. With an office in Saint Petersburg, FL, we focus on a customer first strategy that seeks to get the right person on the best plan available to them. Rob will be hosting a panel of industry experts helping to inspire new levels of achievement for field agents.
David partners with passionate entrepreneurs building meaningful and impactful technology companies. David helps lead healthcare investing at Quiet Capital, a $2B AUM early stage investor. Quiet invests across B2C care delivery, insurers and “payvidors”, and software to improve provider operations. Prior to joining Quiet, David was Head of Finance at Shift, an online car retailer that went public in 2021, a software investor at Vista Equity Partners, and a consultant at McKinsey. He received his BA degree from the University of Pennsylvania. In his free time, David enjoys outdoor adventures, board games, and playing and watching sports.
Shaily Gupta is the Chief Marketing Officer and Co-Founder of Mabel. She has spent the last decade working in Medicare -- as a payer, provider, and broker. Prior to Mabel, she was the Creative Director of Clover Health, launched a senior-focused primary care clinic, and spun off a Medicare-focused insurance brokerage. In addition to launching Mabel with her husband, Abhas Gupta, she advises other entrepreneurs against starting companies with their spouses. Shaily has a Sc.B with Honors in Biomedical Engineering from Brown University.
Abhas Gupta is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mabel, a marketing automation platform widely used by Medicare Advantage payers to send direct mail on behalf of doctors to their Medicare patients. Prior to Mabel, Abhas was a venture capitalist at Mohr Davidow focusing on the digital health, fintech, and automation sectors. He and his wife live in Irvine, CA with their two young children. Abhas has an M.D. from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and an Sc.B. in Computational Biology from Brown University.
Laura serves as innovation program manager for Nassau Re/Imagine, Nassau Financial Group’s Insurtech and Retiretech incubator. She drives community and industry collaboration and sources innovative partnerships for the company. Her professional experience includes a background in investor relations, economic development, and marketing roles. She also serves as co-organizer of TEDxHartford.
NIA Office Of Strategic Extramural Programs (OSEP)
Dr. Todd Haim serves as the Director of the Office of Strategic Extramural Programs at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) which coordinates NIA training, career development and small business funding programs. He oversees several efforts to elevate the impact of NIA’s small business seed funding programs (namely SBIR and STTR) and career development programs. Dr. Haim leads the development of initiatives to foster and accelerate commercialization of innovative products that address aging and Alzheimer’s Disease as well as efforts to support career development of aging researchers. His previous position was Program Director at the National Cancer Institute’s SBIR Development Center. Dr. Haim graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in January 2007 with a PhD in biomedical research and obtained a certificate in technology commercialization from John Hopkins’ Carey Business School in 2011.
Liz Hamburg is the founder and President of Candoo Tech, providing tech support and training specifically designed for older adults to help keep them independent, safe and secure. She has over 20 years of experience starting up and growing innovative organizations both in the U.S. and international markets. Liz was the President and CEO of the Taproot Foundation, a U.S. based nonprofit connecting nonprofits and social change organizations with over 35,000 skilled volunteers through pro bono service. Liz was the founder of Upstart Ventures, helping social entrepreneurs drive impact, and has been involved in the start-up and growth of over 15 new businesses, including ApplyWise, an education technology company. Liz was a member of the founding management team and board member of Vimpel Communications, one of the leading cellular operators in Europe which IPO’d on the NYSE. Liz is on the 2021 Forbes Next 1,000 list, and former board member of the West Side Inter-Agency Council on the Aging (WSIACA). Candoo Tech was selected into the AgeTech CollaborativeTM from AARP accelerator program. She is a frequent speaker on technology and aging. Liz received an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, a BA from Brown University and a certificate from the Executive Education program in Social Entrepreneurship at Stanford Business School.
Koby Hastings is the Founder & CEO of SalesRiver, the first all-in-one sales platform for distributed teams. SalesRiver currently serves over 20,000 insurance agents from over 100 agencies and carriers in the US. Headquartered in Lexington, KY and founded in 2018, the company was bootstrapped for it’s first 4 years in business, until it closed a Series A investment led by Mucker Capital in December 2022. With a passion for innovation, creativity and problem solving that comes naturally to him, Koby continues to lead SalesRiver towards success as they revolutionize the way businesses manage their sales team and interact with their customers. In Koby's free time, he enjoys playing golf and hanging out with his wife and two daughters.
Sara has over 15 years of experience as an actuary in multiple insurance industries, including health, reinsurance and property/casualty. She has actuarial expertise in a wide variety of products, including provider risk, commercial health, Employer and Provider Stop Loss, Medicare Advantage, Medical Excess of Loss and Managed Care Reinsurance. Sara has experience with pricing, reserving, development of complex actuarial models, strategic planning and forecasting, and MA-PD bids. Sara is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society, and is a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.
Gaylan is the founder and CEO of Senior Security Benefits, Inc. and Insurance Marketing Group. In the male-dominated health insurance industry, she pioneered her way to the top from her company’s inception in 2000 to sales of over $80 million in 2020. As she has risen in the industry, Gaylan’s philosophy has been to help others rather than compete against them. She shares her knowledge as a speaker at events such as 8% Nation, LeadsCon, Medicare Gurus Mastermind, and Ms. Medicare. Additionally, she launched Queen of the Bundle as her platform for coaching others in the industry individually, through podcasts, and on social media where she has gained 1400 followers. She conducts training in cross-selling insurance products with techniques she coined “30-60-90” and “Spouse in the House.” She has held her health and life insurance license since 1987 and serves on the advisory councils for Manhattan Life Insurance Company, Aetna, and Cigna.
Having over 30 years of experience in the financial industry, Ana Hernandez joined Amerilife in 2016. She is the Managing Director of Grupo Latinoamericano U.S and P.R. Ana opened the brick-and-mortar agency operation for Amerilife in Puerto Rico. There she also built and developed relationships with U.S and local carriers, agencies, and agents in the island. Growing from four carriers to over a dozen carriers in 3 years. In 2019 she relocated to the U.S. Spent a year helping develop the multicultural market for Amerilife career channel. In 2020 she took over management of the consolidated U.S and P.R. operations. Ana was born in Colombia S.A. arrived in the US at age 17. Held a 7/24 licenses for over a decade. Now keeping her Life, Health and Annuities licenses. She spent 20 years working in Wall Street and Foreign Exchange, before relocating to Florida in 1999 to work with one of the largest broker dealers in the industry.
Dan Hoemke is the Western Region President for VillageMD supporting payor partners in their value-based healthcare efforts in Colorado, El Paso, Arizona and Nevada markets. His region serves more than 300,000 Commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid customers through 80 integrated primary care clinics and 400 providers. Prior to joining VillageMD, Dan served as Cigna Medicare Desert States President, contributing materially to enterprise profitability and growth objectives and demonstrating market leading clinical quality culminating in recognition by US News & World Report as the #1 Medicare Plan in Arizona in 2022. Under his leadership, the Arizona market was recognized for architecting the broadest, high performing value – based primary care network across Cigna’s MA Segment, partnering with Evernorth Care Group, VillageMD, Oak Street, Center Well, Archwell and Equality Health.
David Hunter is the CEO and Principal Agent of Health1 Insurance Agency. Starting his career in 2002, David held leadership roles with such National carriers as UnitedHealthcare, Humana, and Centene. Entering the independent sales channel, he quickly implemented a strategy for agents and agencies that provided multiple layers of business development, sales coaching, custom marketing, mentorship, and brand creation, with a core focus on provider-specific engagement. Since 2015, Health1 has been annually recognized as an innovative, pioneering, and outperforming agency, with agents consistently sitting in the top 1% of all National carriers for Medicare sales.
Robert Hurley served as eHealth’s interim Chief Revenue Officer from February 2022 until September 2022 after being recruited back to eHealth’s Senior Leadership Team during a period of company transformation following twenty years of service to the Company. Prior to his appointment as interim CRO, Mr. Hurley held several leadership and executive officer positions at eHealth, including President of Carrier and Business Development, President of Medicare, Executive Vice President of Sales, Chief Operating Officer, and others. Most recently, Mr. Hurley served as an executive advisor to the Senior Leadership Team. Mr. Hurley’s tenure at eHealth includes leading some of the Company’s most notable milestones. He helped build eHealth from an early-stage concept to a leading IFP player, played a key role in its 2006 IPO, and later managed its entry into the Medicare market.
Rudy Inaba is the VP of Performance Health for Cenegenics, the premier performance health company celebrating their 26th year of successful clinical outcomes. With close to 20 years of experience in clinical exercise physiology and lifestyle management, Rudy leads a national team of 20+ performance health coaches, overseeing protocols, procedures, and performance health interpretations. Rudy is an expert in diagnostic assessments, clinical exercise testing, and patient consultations, providing guidance on how to manage the aging process through nutrition, exercise, and nutrient supplementation. He is also the charismatic host of an online educational series aimed at educating patients on the concepts of healthy aging. As a member of Cenegenics’ leadership team, Rudy has contributed to the development of quality assurance programs, custom clinical and sports performance programs, and nutraceutical formulations. He has a Master of Science in Clinical Exercise Physiology and is a published author by the American College of Sports Medicine.
President of Medicare Express which connects consumers who may be on the wrong MA plan to ethical licensed agents at scale. Medicare Express’s AI based technology educates the consumer about possible plans’ benefits to help them understand which plan might be right for their unique situation. Agents receive high-intent meetings that lead to sticky enrollments and long-term relationships. The steady flow of year-round meetings propel average agents into extraordinary producers by delivering educated consumers with high intent to enroll and stick. Mark coauthored the world’s most popular book on Facebook Advertising which led him to the MA space in 2020.
As the President of HPM, I am dedicated to ensuring that every agent receives exceptional service and support. My extensive experience in physician marketing has equipped me with a unique approach to guiding agents, which focuses on fostering quality relationships with the doctors in their respective areas. My passion lies in building companies, developing systems, and executing successful marketing initiatives. Our clients, agents, agency partners, staff, carriers, and physicians are our most valuable assets, and I am committed to nurturing those relationships. Training is an area that excites me, and I strongly believe in constantly learning and staying updated on industry trends.Apart from my professional commitments, I take immense pride in being a devoted husband and father of two wonderful children. When I am not spending time with my family, you can find me indulging in my hobbies, such as boating or scuba diving.
Sarah is the co-founder and CEO of FairStreet, a startup powering top independent Medicare insurance agents. FairStreet’s all-in-one platform enables agents to grow efficiently by streamlining the process of enrolling clients into Medicare and supercharging how agents interact with their clients year-round. Before FairStreet, Sarah led technology teams across insuretech and healthcare companies, including at Square and Stride Health. Sarah completed her undergrad and MBA at Stanford University.
Prior to starting Distinctive Living, Mr. Jedlowski was President and Owner of Milestone Retirement Communities, LLC since 2009. To date, he has been responsible for an array of integral senior housing projects, including but limited to new construction developments, acquisitions, change management, turn-around leadership, human resources, revenue development, net-income maximization and managing strategic relationships. Mr. Jedlowski proudly serves as an active member of the Arizona Assisted Living Federation Association, Florida Senior Living Association, the American Geriatrics Society, the National Association of Health Services Executives, The American College of Healthcare Administrators, and The American College of Healthcare Executives. He is an advocate of the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s Society, and American Red Cross.
James Jiang is the CEO and cofounder of Spark, where he leads overall strategy and growth in support of Spark’s mission: to help every Medicare beneficiary take control of his health. James spends his time building deep partnerships with leading independent agencies, providing powerful technology and world-class service to reimagine the agent and client experience. Before Spark, James built value-based in-home care programs for high-need Medicare beneficiaries at Roster Health and worked as an institutional investor in high-growth companies.
Scott A. Kaiser, M.D. is the CEO of Determined Health, a company he co-founded with a vision for a new approach to community care—one that starts with human connection, first. Dr. Kaiser is a board-certified family physician and geriatrician with executive leadership experience focused on the improvement of aging services, geriatric care, and population health. Engaged in clinical care, teaching, community outreach, advocacy, and research, Dr. Kaiser is the Director of Geriatric Cognitive Health at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute, an adjunct faculty member of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, and serves on the board of several community organizations. He is determined to solve healthcare’s greatest challenges and create healthy communities that support us all in living well and aging well.
Aaron started AgentMethods in 2009 to provide independent insurance agents with the tools they need to grow their sales online. After a decade consulting with many of the nation's largest insurance carriers on their websites and online marketing, he turned his focus to helping independent agents compete in an increasingly digital world. Thousands of senior market agents have taken their business online with AgentMethods. Today AgentMethods is recognized as the premier website and online marketing platform for independent insurance agents.
Lynne Katzmann, PhD. is the President and CEO of Juniper Communities, which she founded in 1988. In 2019, she was the inaugural recipient of McKnight's Women of Distinction Lifetime Achievement Award and in January 2020 she was inducted into the American Seniors Housing Association Hall of Fame. The International Council on Active Aging recognized Lynne with the 2022 CEO Pinnacle Award for Best in Wellness Leadership, and in 2023 McKnight’s recognized her with their Pinnacle Award for Thought Leadership. Under Lynne’s leadership, Juniper developed Connect4Life, a pioneering model of integrated care to position senior living operators to capture their inherent value in the post-acute continuum.
Anthony Kavouras is the CEO of OpenMedicare, a platform that helps seniors navigate the Medicare shopping process. He has 15 years of relevant leadership experience, having led teams across marketing, partnerships, business development, sales, and operations. OpenMedicare is on a mission to bring new life and energy to the process of learning about and shopping for Medicare plans. Anthony is passionate about empowering the curious Medicare shopper, and leading with transparency to develop ongoing trust in a saturated and confusing market.
As Chief Experience Officer at FarmboxRx, Jenn Kerfoot leads the strategic planning, design, and implementation of initiatives that drive member satisfaction and retention. Additionally, Jenn spearheads the Member Insights function using qualitative and advanced analytic approaches to understand the gaps in care and unmet needs of populations. As a military veteran, Jenn brings leadership and vision to diverse audiences, and offers a unique perspective within start-ups and high-growth stage companies. With a passion for organizational mission and values, as well as establishing a strong culture, Jenn works with all departments to streamline processes and programs that integrate the member experience into every aspect of the business.
Matt Kessler is the Director of Policy Sales at AWL. Matt has spent his entire career in the insurance industry and has more than 20 years of experience managing sales teams, customer acquisitions and policy focused sales for insurance organizations. Matt is a graduate of Sam Houston State University. He offers a combined expertise in strategic account operations, managing customer success and the ability to both build, train and successfully guide a sales team. He started his insurance career in 1999 and has since worked for three of the top insurance agencies in the United States. Matt has been with AWL for 10 years, starting as an account executive, and is now the Director of Policy Sales for AWL's MedicareGenius Insurance Agency. In that role he leads the insurance sales teams; focused on helping seniors to purchase insurance policies, developing sales talent and building the sales organization. Matt lives in Austin with his wife and two daughters.
Jessica Kim is co-founder/CEO of ianacare, on a mission to encourage, empower, & equip family caregivers after her experience caring for her mom with pancreatic cancer. She is a 3x startup founder, honored as Crain’s Top 40 under 40, Forbes Next 1000, and Woman in Digital Health Award 2020, served as the inaugural EIR & Presidential Council advisor at Brown University, & Venture Partner at Praxis Labs. She graduated from Brown University & holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Ryan Kimble is President, Integrity Health and a Managing Partner at Integrity. In this role, Ryan is responsible for leading Integrity’s health insurance division, ensuring that revenue and production goals are met. He also plays a key role in managing relationships between Integrity’s distribution and carrier partners. Additionally, he serves as President of Agent Pipeline. Ryan has transformed the industry and led Agent Pipeline as they became a top IMO with multiple Medicare and ACA carriers. Ryan is widely recognized for his innovation and leadership, not only in the senior market, but also in traditional life and health.
Jason Krasula is Chief Sales Officer for iptiQ Americas. Jason has held several leadership roles at Haven Life, Prudential, and The Hartford. Over his career, Jason has successfully built high performing teams that thrive in growing business in new markets. Passionate about building relationships, Jason brings people together to find creative solutions to achieve their goals. Jason and his wife both went to Miami University (Ohio) and currently live in Connecticut with their three children. In his free time, he enjoys working on his golf and tennis game along with cheering on his children at their lacrosse and soccer matches.
Vivek joined Commerce Ventures in 2017 and was promoted to Senior Associate in 2018. Previously, Vivek was an investment banking analyst at Financial Technology Partners where he was involved with numerous M&A and Private Placement transactions for growth and late stage FinTech & InsurTech companies. Vivek is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.
Nati Lavi is the founder and CEO of Shapa Health, a revolutionary insurtech platform that drives behavior change through engagement and adherence since 2018. Nati is responsible for the company’s overall strategy, product delivery. Nati has over 25 years of technology, sales , business and market development experience. For the last 20 years he has held executive positions within Silicon Valley, focusing on the business of high performance computing and storage, as well as being an industry veteran in digital cloud streaming. Previously he was heavily involved in numerous mergers and acquisitions. Nati enables decision making and the entrepreneurial spirit by constantly striving for innovation. This approach is what leads the core of Shapa Health’s culture, allowing it to constantly be on the forefront of technology and innovation.
Jean Lentsch is the epitome of compliance professionalism. With 30+ years in the insurance industry, over 25 of those being in the compliance realm at the carrier level, she is an advocate of agents and agencies as well as carrier/provider group partners. Her knowledge of the insurance regulatory requirements, standards, laws and policies, plus assessments of all existing and new regulatory changes as well as management of Western Asset Protection’s internal policies and standards is just the tip of the iceberg of her scope of work. She is a true compliance resource to many colleagues in the industry
Abby has spent her career helping businesses and consumer brands grow as an operator, entrepreneur and advisor, most notably in the wellness sector. Prior to Primetime Partners, Abby was an executive at SoulCycle, where she oversaw business development and revenue growth outside the consumer studio business, with an emphasis on building new digital products as the Senior Vice President of Strategy & Growth. Abby has also been a Founder herself, teaming with Arianna Huffington to launch Thrive Global, a behavior change technology company focused on employee productivity and wellness. Abby served as President of Thrive Global and remains on the Thrive Board. Abby began her career at McKinsey & Company then led product development at OXO International. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School.
Alex Lewis is vice president for Corporate Development at AmeriLife, and is responsible for partnership sourcing and downline agency acquisition. For the past two years, Alex has served as Chief of Staff to AmeriLife’s CEO Scott Perry, implementing an all-employee equity program, establishing AmeriLife’s foundation, playing a key role in the latest private equity transaction, and managing other high priority initiatives. Prior to AmeriLife, Lewis was with Unum for eight years. Lewis holds a Bachelor’s degree in Math and Economics from Furman University and a Master’s degree in Enterprise Architecture from The Pennsylvania State University. She lives in Tampa, Fla., and enjoys exercise, tennis and travel.
Dan started his first insurance agency at 18 and have been passionate about educating others about their insurance choices ever since. Dan served as the President of his local Association of Life Underwriters by age 21 and went on to serve as the Chairman for the Life Underwriter Training Council, and has been teaching Medicare courses at universities and keynoting national insurance conferences throughout his career. In addition to regularly publishing articles in several industry magazines he is a published author of a series of books entitled TalkingMEDICARE. His current position is Vice President of Growth and Development with Senior Marketing Specialists an Integrity Marketing Group company. His role is to help agents and agencies build successful and stable businesses as well as guide them through mergers and acquisitions, whether that succession is to someone in their current organization, a family member, or purchasing them through the Senior Marketing Specialists' career division.
Matt McClure is a producer and co-host for AmeriLife’s Retirement.Radio Network. An award-winning journalist, host and performer, he has more than 20 years’ experience in TV and radio. Matt currently lives in his home state of Georgia but spent more than 10 years in New York City. While in the nation’s #1 media market, he worked for The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, Spectrum News NY1 and WCBS Newsradio 880. A highlight of Matt’s career has been reporting regularly from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. He is now a Series 65 licensed advisor and a licensed life and health agent in the state of Georgia. Also a professional actor and singer, he has performed on musical theatre stages across the country. Matt studied journalism at Gainesville State College and acting at New York’s prestigious HB Studio.
Brendan McLoughlin, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has over 30 years of professional experience, with deep experience in executive leadership, product innovation, and data-driven marketing and sales strategies. Prior to joining Enrollment123, he served as interim CEO for Beauty Quest Group and CEO of Learner’s Digest International (LDI) after the company’s acquisition by Wolters Kluwer. In this role, Brendan led the digital transformation of the company into a technology-enabled provider of mobile medical education. Prior to LDI Brendan was the GM of Consumer Products at Discus Dental, a medical device company owned by Phillips, and was previously VP Marketing at Teleflora and a Group Product Director at Johnson & Johnson. Brendan has a B.S. from Virginia Tech in Decision Science and an MBA from The Wharton Business School.
Scott McMillan has been in the health care insurances industry for 27 years and lives in Southern California. He is currently with Golden Outlook in the role of National Director for Sales Operation. During his career, Scott has successfully Started an FMO, launched Sales Systems and created a multi-State Medicare operational structure. Scott enjoys spending time with his family, attending sporting events, learning about advanced technology and playing with his daughter Camila.
Ryan McMillan applies expert knowledge, industry experience and relentless energy to business. A graduate of Drury University, Ryan began his career in insurance sales over 22 years ago. Today, Ryan resides in St. Louis with his family. He specializes in working with companies within the insurance industry in the fields of business development, strategic planning, and sales implementation. Ryan gained his experience in many fields of insurance from Medicare, group, individual and ancillary products. Much of this experience has been his work in management roles with many of the industry leaders from Anthem, Humana, HCSC, Cigna and Bankers Fidelity.
Sam Melamed is the infectiously positive CEO and Chief Insurance Nerd at NCD, building and distributing supplemental dental and vision insurance products for the Senior market. Sam is also the founder of Insurance Forums and an investor in Insuretech Connect, The Medicarians Conference and a number of healthtech and insuretech startups.
David Mellentine is the founder and principal of David Mellentine Consulting. Prior to launching his own company, Mellentine was a results-oriented marketing and growth executive with nearly 30 years’ experience serving in Senior Director, Vice President, and Regional Growth Officer roles for NAMM California, PrimeCare, Monarch HealthCare, HealthCare Partners and Optum. He provides a unique and seasoned perspective on driving growth and retention strategies, sales channel development, conversion programming, and provider/payor partnership development. He is an accomplished problem solver with ability to quickly identify solutions and the capability of driving resolutions through complex business challenges.
Dr. Meyer is a clinical audiologist with over 30 years of experience in diagnostic assessment of hearing loss, tinnitus, and balance dysfunction as well as hearing aid evaluation, fitting, and verification. In her role as Director of Clinical Programs, Dr. Meyer works with providers, health plans and members to optimize member hearing health outcomes by improving clinical care pathways through provider innovation, member education, and support. In 2021, Dr. Meyer successfully led her team through the accreditation process and Amplifon Hearing Healthcare was granted full accreditation for Health Utilization Management by the Utilization Review Accreditation Committee (URAC), the first hearing health care organization to receive this accreditation. Dr. Meyer was recently appointed to the American Board of Audiology Board of Directors.
Jim is the founding partner of Prufrock Ventures, a venture studio and fund with a focus on longevity tech. Prufrock both invests and builds new companies from scratch. Many of the Prufrock team are serial and exited founders and former Amazonians. Prior to Prufrock, Jim founded Evolv (acquired by CSOD) and backed by LSVP, Khosla. GGV. Jim also founded InvestRx (acquired by WCP) and backed by Austin Ventures. He was also most recently a senior leader at Amazon. Jim brings a background as a serial entrepreneur, senior operator in big tech and investor to longevity tech.
Prasanna Nathan leads Digital Delivery at Aetna Senior Supplemental Insurance. Over the past 15 years he has led teams that have delivered various digital tools for Brokers and Members, including "Aetna Quote and Enroll", a multi-product quote to enrollment platform providing a shopping cart experience, easy to complete enrollment process for brokers, with various signature options and real-time underwriting decisions. "Quotes on the Go" a mobile quoting app for Android and Apple phones, Broker Portal for Agents and Agency teams. Member secure portal with - downloadable ID cards, claims reporting, self-help tools and more. Prasanna has a passion for digital technology, working directly with actual users - Agents and Agency offices, Business users and Members, identifying their real needs and delivering robust solutions.
Rick is a seasoned executive with experience building companies, leading public company operations, and advising successful start-ups. He is currently the CEO of Presidio Interactive, and sits on the board of Genstar-backed AWL (AllWebLeads). Rick's career spans 25+ years leading insurance marketing and sales organizations, including Affinion, QuinStreet, Potrero Media, InsWeb, and Benefytt.
26 years’ experience in Health insurance industry. A results-focused leader with expertise spanning strategic planning, project management, contact center & business development. Has grown her agency into an eight-figure annual revenue, with year over year growth of 20-40%. The agency has 1600 broker partners and employs W2 LOAs in a contact center setting. The Agency’s niche approach consists of national provider and carrier service contracts. Veronica also serves President of Keystone Coalition. A non-profit that partners with local 501C chapters, and chairs for a Houston nonprofit which provides scholarships for higher education for at risk children in the greater Houston area.
Jay Newton-Small is CEO and founder of PlanAllies, solving healthcare’s most challenging engagement problems with an unexpected solution: empathetic, human interaction. Previously, Jay was Washington correspondent for TIME Magazine, where she remains a contributor. At TIME she covered politics as well as stories on five continents from conflicts in the Middle East to the earthquake in Haiti and the November 2015 Paris terror attacks. She has written nearly a dozen TIME cover stories and interviewed numerous heads of state, including Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. She authored the 2016 best-selling book, Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works. Before TIME, Jay was a reporter for Bloomberg News, where she covered the White House and politics. Jay received an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University and undergraduate degrees in International Relations and Art History from Tufts University. She is a 2017 Halcyon Incubator fellow, a 2016-2017 New America fellow and a 2015 Harvard Institute of Politics fellow. She is the 2016 winner of the prestigious Dirksen Award for congressional reporting and the 2016 Deadline Club award for community service reporting.
Patrick Nichols, senior vice president of Corporate Development for AmeriLife, is a 30-year veteran of the insurance and financial services industry. Patrick has mentored hundreds of our industry's most successful insurance professionals on marketing and operational opportunities to deliver proven success. Over the last five years, Patrick, alongside AmeriLife's CFO Jim Quinn, has spearheaded efforts in partnering with quality insurance and financial service organizations to deliver a best-in-class platform. Patrick is a veteran of the U.S. Army National Guard and lives in Clearwater Beach, Fla., where he enjoys time with family and in the great outdoors.
Larry Nisenson is the Chief Growth Officer for Assured Allies, leading new business initiatives including NeverStop; a successful aging program that helps consumers age on their own terms and live independently for as long as they can. Previously Larry held senior leadership roles at Genworth Financial, Plymouth Rock Assurance Company, AXA Equitable, American General Life Companies and Allstate. Larry received his BA from Rutgers University and attended the Global Executive Leadership Program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth from 2018-2019. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Rutgers School of Design Thinking as well as the Alumni Board for Sigma Phi Epsilon.
Nick Olson is VP of Strategic Accounts for iptiQ Americas. Throughout his career, Nick has held various client management roles in the life and health space with focus on the independent agent and call center distribution channels. Nick builds strong relationships with his clients and leads the development of sales, marketing and distribution strategies that provide agents with the tools and resources needed to best serve their clients. He resides in Fargo, ND (brrrr!) with his wife and two kids and when not working can be found in a hockey arena rooting on his kids' teams or on a golf course.
Bruce has 30 years of experience building teams that build and ship software that changes companies and industries. At ACE Agents, he focuses on building AI-driven products that help contact centers not just overcome existing challenges in the industry, but position for scalable growth.
Chris Orestis, CSA President of Retirement Genius, is a nationally recognized financial, health/LTC, and retirement issues expert. He has over 25 years’ experience in the insurance and long-term care industries and is credited with pioneering the Long-Term Care Life Settlement over a decade ago. Known as a political insider and senior issues advocate, Orestis is a former Washington, D.C. lobbyist who has worked in both the White House and for the Senate Majority Leader on Capitol Hill. In 2007 he founded Life Care Funding, in 2017 he founded the LifeCare Xchange, and in 2020 he founded Retirement Genius. Chris Orestis is author of the books Help on the Way and A Survival Guide to Aging-- with a third book Retire Like a Genius to be published in 2022. He has been speaking for two-decades across the country about senior finance and the secrets to aging with financial and physical health and dignity. He has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, NBC News, Fox News, USA Today, and AARP, and has been a guest expert on over 100 radio programs and TV appearances.
Nick Ortner is a Senior Consulting Actuary with Milliman’s Chicago-Milwaukee health practice. He has consulted with the firm for almost 19 years and has perspective from his consulting and insurance company experience regarding many aspects of the MA and MedSupp product spaces. Nick’s presentations and publications have addressed topics ranging from pricing and financial performance to innovation, underwriting, sales/marketing, and consumer protections, spanning a diverse spectrum of organizations and markets. Nick regularly participates in industry meetings involving insurance carrier, regulatory, and other industry experts to discuss emerging issues across the MedSupp and MA landscapes.
Kevin Owens is President of Kellogg Insurance Marketing and a Managing Partner of Integrity Marketing Group. Beginning his career as a funeral director like his father, Kevin originally earned his life insurance license to be able to help families pre-arrange their funerals. This experience prepared Kevin for his future in health insurance by serving families and becoming more aware of the needs of seniors. In 2005, Kevin reached out to his long-time friend, Ron Kellogg, to learn more about Medicare. After building his own agency in Arizona and Colorado, Kevin moved to Utah in 2013 with an invitation from Ron to become a partner at Kellogg Insurance. After Ron’s unexpected passing, Kevin has led Kellogg Insurance in continuing Ron’s passion for helping seniors with their health insurance needs. Kevin resides in Draper, Utah, with his wife and three children. When not working to carry-on Ron’s legacy, Kevin enjoys fishing, being in the mountains and spending time with family.
Angela is Chief Operating Officer and co-owner of Pinnacle Financial Services, Warminster, PA. As one of the principals, Angela oversees all the daily operations of the company. Her responsibilities also include traveling the country to meet with agents, carriers, and vendors nationwide. Angela is a member of several nationally recognized insurance carrier advisory boards, has been a speaker at numerous industry events, including the National Medicare Supplement Conference. In 2022 Angela has been asked to participate and represent woman in business for several organizations. Additionally, she is on the NAHU Medicare Advisory Council and NAHU Medicare FMO Council. Angela is also involved in several community and philanthropic events and uses Pinnacle as a platform to volunteer and donate to charities throughout the year.
Sonal is a Principal at Tau Ventures, investing in early-stage AI startups in healthcare, enterprise, and automation. She began her career in buy-side M&A, evaluating multi-billion dollar deals at a Fortune 500 MNC in India, led business development at the top-rated heart hospital in India, and served as Chief of Staff to the CEO at Signos - a metabolic health startup. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and an MBA in Healthcare Management and Finance from Wharton. Outside San Francisco, she feels most at home in remote corners of the world photographing wildlife.
Dr. Pandit is an Industry Advisor for Global Healthcare, on the Salesforce Healthcare & Life Sciences (HLS) Advisory Team and a board-certified physician in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R). She continues to practice, and is based in New Orleans, LA. Before joining Salesforce, Dr. Pandit was Medical Director for the Rehabilitation Hospital at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, LA and prior to that, was at Baylor College of Medicine/Harris Health System in Houston, TX. She completed her PM&R training at University of Chicago/Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital, and her intern year at Montefiore Medical Center in NYC, NY.
Brian is an experienced product leader who has built and led product teams at leading consumer companies, such as Zynga, ClassPass, and Codecademy. He is a second time entrepreneur, who is currently building a product that aims to solve loneliness for older adults. Brian is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Nikhil Patel is the Founder & CEO of Craniometrix. Craniometrix is building a one-stop-shop care platform for Alzheimer’s, making it possible for family caregivers to navigate the disease and get what they need when they need it. Craniometrix has raised >$6M from Y Combinator, Quiet Capital, Defy.vc, and others. Nikhil founded the company in 2021 after graduating from Yale with degrees in computer science and economics, and is the youngest person on the 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 Healthcare list.
Chris Patrick started in the insurance industry when he was 18 coming from a linage of successful insurance industry superstars as his parents started the marketing division of Amerilife back in the 80’s. He is known as one of the legends in the industry. Chris has worked in just about all departments from managing mail and supply to product development and he currently runs a 50-state marketing firm Midwestern Marketing. Chris has concentrated on all products including but not limited to Life, Health and Annuities. With over 37 years in the business his specialty is turning around struggling firms as well as building from scratch new opportunities.
With a special interest in Medicare, Ebonie has led 140 experienced and newcomer agents during Medicare’s Open Enrollment Period and managed large teams of customer service advocates and MA sales agents. Ebonie is also a licensed health insurance agent in all 50 states, bringing an insider's view of the sales experience to her leadership. Most recently, Ebonie has worked as an AVP for 2 large health plans managing call center, broker, and remote Medicare sales agents. Ebonie believes strongly in giving back to the community. She has worked in volunteer recruitment/coordination. For the past 10 years, she has been writing policy for various nonprofits. She currently guides several foundations and start-ups, and facilitates streamlining non-profits’ leadership chains. Born on the south side of Chicago, Ebonie has a Masters degree in Organizational Leadership with an emphasis on public affairs, crisis management, communications and policy, focusing on culture and diversity. She is also a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
Allen has been with Integrity Marketing Group for over 10 years and in the Insurance industry for over 30 years. He started his career as an agent selling Medicare supplements and final expense door to door. Allen also has over fifteen years of experience in the corporate office of large insurance companies, where he was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President, leading teams to execute on growth strategies. In addition, Allen spent eight years as the Vice President of Marketing at two successful National IMO offices.
As AmeriLife’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and with more than 30 years’ industry experience, Scott Perry leads a multi-channel distribution business with a national network of over 300,000 insurance agents and financial advisors. Prior to joining AmeriLife in 2016, Scott was Chief Business Officer of CNO Financial Group and President of Bankers Life. Before that, he held leadership roles with Golden Rule, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and Premera Blue Cross. Scott is a board member with Vericity Inc., a publicly traded insurance holding company, and Insurance Technologies, a leading fintech solutions company in the THL portfolio.
Prior to entering senior housing, Sevy’s investment banking career spanned a decade of lending and structuring debt solutions for Senior Housing & Healthcare. In 2009, she and her family changed their career directions seeing a larger need in the affordable care sector. Priority Life Care (PLC) currently focuses on 3rd party management partnerships and provides all services available in Independent, Assisted Living and Memory Care communities. As a family-owned business, PLC has worked to create a family-centric model that permeates to all levels. As CEO, Sevy leads PLC in pursuit of its purpose to support independence, while empowering her team to be mindful of the roles they play in serving their residents.
Jeff Piotrowski serves as Market Leader, Insurance at Verisk Marketing Solutions (fka Jornaya). In his role, Jeff culls from years of experience working with the nation's top insurance providers across P&C, Life, and Health, with a focus on the use of data to drive exceptional, safe, and efficient customer experiences. Jeff leads buying journey research studies at VMS and his work has been published in various industry trades. Jeff speaks regularly at industry events; he is also a member of the Society for Insurance Research and the Life Insurance Direct Marketers Association. Jeff holds a B.S. in Finance from the Smeal College of Business at the Pennsylvania State University.
Brian started his insurance journey as an agent back in 2004. Since then, he has established himself as a serial entrepreneur with a track record of founding multiple thriving companies in the insurance and financial services sector. Some of his successful ventures include Agent Equity Group, a profit-sharing FMO, Advisor 123, a flat-fee investment-management platform designed for financial advisors, Valor Insurance Group, a property and casualty cluster, and Fynch, a social media insurtech startup aimed at bringing the financial services industry closer together. When he's not ideating new business concepts, Brian enjoys showcasing his exceptional guitar skills by shredding some wicked tunes.
Susan Plumer is the Chief Growth Officer for ConnectureDRX. Susan has been instrumental in giving multicarrier organizations and health plans more visibility in the Medicare industry, by creating new distribution networks between FMOs, agencies, health plans and seniors and developing innovative sales strategies for agencies to grow their business. Susan is highly experienced in Medicare quoting and enrollment technology sales with more than 15 years of Healthcare IT experience. Susan is passionate about health, fitness and wellness and her teenage daughter! https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-plumer-80b5b95/
Laurie A. Poulos is Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at TRANZACT, a leading provider of insurance marketing and brokerage services. In 2019, TRANZACT was acquired by Willis Towers Watson, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the world. Prior to joining TRANZACT, Laurie practiced law at two Am Law 100 law firms. Laurie currently serves as the President of the Insurance Advertising Compliance Association (IAdCA). Laurie earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School and her B.A. from SUNY Albany. She lives in Oceanport, NJ with her 2 sons and rescue dog and enjoys participating in triathlons in her free time.
Jim joined AmeriLife in 2017 as Chief Financial Officer and helped re-establish AmeriLife as a consolidation platform by building out the M&A team and execution playbook. Prior to joining AmeriLife, Jim served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for Marsh & McLennan Agency, the middle market consolidation platform of Marsh. He has more than 25 years of experience as an investor, executive and advisor in the financial services industry. He began his career with Goldman Sachs and spent over a decade with Olympus Partners, a middle market private equity firm. Jim graduated with a BA from Georgetown University and an MBA from The Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Amanda Rees is the CEO of Bold, a digital health company focused on disease prevention and healthy aging. Bold provides members with personalized clinical exercise programs that prevent falls, reduce musculoskeletal pain, and increase physical activity. Bold partners with healthcare organizations to reduce hospitalizations and costs within a year. Amanda founded the company after caregiving for a family member who had multiple falls and hospitalizations led Amanda to become a certified fall prevention instructor. Prior to Bold, she worked at The Schmidt Family Foundation, managing $100M in strategic grants and impact investments.
Craig Ritter is the CEO of Ritter Insurance Marketing, a national FMO for life and health products specializing in the senior market, and a Managing Partner of Integrity Marketing Group. Craig graduated from Penn State in 1992 with a degree in Finance. He has more than 30 years of insurance experience, including more than 25 years in life and health. The client base of agents who work with Ritter totals more than half a million Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and Medicare Part D policyholders. In 2022, these agents produced more than $34 million in Medicare Supplement premium and collected more than 159,000 MA and PDP enrollments. Craig was selected as the 2018 National Association of Insurance & Financial Advisors (NAIFA) Greater Harrisburg Presidents Award recipient and serves on NAHU’s Medicare FMO Council. He resides in Harrisburg, Pa., with his wife, Heidi, and his son, Cash. His eldest son, Quinn, attends Penn State and his daughter, Callie, attends Villanova University.
In 1993 Patrick Rodriguez launched Applied General Agency, Inc., which has now become one of the largest Medicare-focused National Marketing Organizations (NMO) nationwide. He founded AGA with the intention of providing unparalleled service to overworked agents who had more obligations than time. With the support of a full back-office team, Patrick knew he had the vision and tools to make quality agents even more successful. By always striving for innovation and increased levels of service, he has kept AGA at the forefront of the Medicare industry.
Dr. Ellen Rudy is Vice President of Health and Social Impact at Papa, with responsibility to evaluate Papa’s impact on members’ quality of life, health outcomes, and cost of care. Dr. Rudy earned her Ph.D. in Epidemiology from University of California, Los Angeles and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Health Policy and Research at RAND/UCLA. She most recently worked at Molina Healthcare, with leadership responsibility across Population Health Management, Health Policy and Research, Quality and Healthcare Operations. She currently serves as an expert faculty member at University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy.
The co-founder and CEO of AgentSync, Niji built his career and company on the ethos that solving problems at scale requires the right proportions of people, processes, and technology. Prior to AgentSync, Niji served in a variety of roles at Zenefits, a digital human resources platform. With Zenefits facing eight-figure regulatory penalties from nearly every jurisdiction, Niji pioneered solutions to manage the Zenefits compliance crisis. Those solutions would later become the foundation of AgentSync, all based on the idea that staying compliant and doing the right thing shouldn’t be that hard. AgentSync’s driving mission is to enable scaled innovation in the insurance industry by building the most modern and customer-centric technology that tackles all of the pain points associated with producer management. Prior to Zenefits, Niji served as global sales strategy and operations manager for LinkedIn. While at LinkedIn, he fought to invest in people and technology, building out the foundation and scalable business processes for the global sales teams.
Vak Sambath is the cofounder and CTO of Cuantafy. He leads all product development from systems architecture, big data integrations to customer business intelligence and analytics. Prior to Cuantafy, Mr. Sambath was the cofounder CreatorIQ, the most trusted software to unify and power advanced influencer marketing for the world’s most innovative enterprises. Over 20+ years of platform product development with emphasis in customer experience designs, data search designs, social media brand campaign tools, search discovery databases for varies industries such as healthcare, financial and sports technology industries. Mr. Sambath is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor.
Steve Schoonveld is a Managing Director in FTI Consulting’s Global Insurance Services practice with more than 30 years of experience in the Long-Term Care (“LTC”), Disability and Accident & Health Insurance industries. In particular, he brings a deep knowledge and understanding of private and public long-term care solutions, services and supports to the practice. Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Steve was Head of Industry Partnerships & LTC Resource Solutions with Lincoln Financial Group as an Assistant Vice President, MoneyGuard Business Management. Prior to this role, he was the Head of Linked Benefit Product Solutions, and served as the lead LTC architect for the company’s hybrid long-term care and industry leading MoneyGuard products. Steve led the development of the industry’s first LTC Concierge Care program to support members and their families as they age-in-place through wellness and care support tools and education.
Jason Allan Scott is an entrepreneur who has built and sold several businesses on three continents to now the Founder of BootStrapAquisition.com. A new type of events and media company where hundreds of thousands of investors, entrepreneurs, and P.E. companies come to learn about ways to leave a legacy, diversify income, generate wealth and increase their profits.
Mark Seghers has enjoyed a well-rounded career as an insurance and InsurTech executive, entrepreneur, and consultant. After leading E-commerce for two national carriers, Seghers launched a series of inventive, successful startups - most recently Inspire Health Tech, an AI-based plan recommendation engine for consumers and the agents who serve them. Mr. Seghers’ broad, varied background helps him understand the needs of carriers, agencies, and the increasingly tech-savvy (and fickle) insurance consumer. He believes that the right technology begins with the focus on the needs of the consumer which, if done well, can benefit the entire value chain.
Ashish leads the Dina team on its mission to power the healthcare industry’s transition to virtual and in-home care. He founded the company in 2015 and remains passionate about empowering care teams with the tools they need to help people age in place. Ashish previously served as CTO at Medicity, the market leader for vendor-neutral Health Information Exchange solutions (acquired by Aetna in 2011). Under his leadership, Medicity built a healthcare network with over 1,300 hospitals and 250,000 acute and ambulatory staff, sharing over two billion health records annually. Today, Dina works with many leading providers and health plans to extend their reach into the home to help people live their very best lives.
In his current role as VP and Head of Health and Wellness, Joe leads SCOR’s Health and Wellness practice in the US. This is an emerging area of interest for life insurance companies which brings together the natural overlaps between life insurance and healthy living for policyholders. Joe has been with SCOR since 2011 and prior to that had stops with Transamerica Re and Lincoln Re. His career has focused on Strategy, Marketing, Market Research, Business Development and Project Management in the US, Canada, and Latin America and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Liberty University.
Oren Shatken is the co-founder and CGO of Jukebox Health, which helps older adults thrive in their own homes through common sense, cost-effective home modifications. The company was founded by experienced entrepreneurs who have built businesses acquired by Angie’s List, Anthem, and Softbank and backed by top venture capital firms Primary Ventures and Meridian Street Capital. Oren is a serial entrepreneur who started his first company in his Purdue University dorm room which was later acquired by Angie’s List. Subsequently, Oren was VP of Product at Dispatch (acq. Vista) and COO at Zipdrug (acq. Anthem).
National Association Of Registered Social Security Analysts
Martha Shedden is President and Co-founder of the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts, NARSSA, which provides online education and training for financial professionals to become Registered Social Security Analysts. She is a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor and is passionate about educating financial professionals and retirees on the details of Social Security income planning. Martha has over a decade of experience providing Social Security education, consulting, and analyses for individual clients, financial and accountancy professionals and is the author of numerous Social Security white papers, seminar presentations and articles in financial publications.
Kevin Shields is the founder and CEO of Pinnacle Financial Services, a leading National Brokerage Organization. Throughout his career, Kevin has consistently demonstrated his commitment to the importance of relationships. He has always led with a hands-on approach and a laser focus to be at the forefront of technology and innovation. Under Kevin’s guidance, Pinnacle has developed back-office support that's superior in the senior marketplace and is constantly evolving to stay ahead of emerging trends. Kevin has been recognized as a visionary in the industry, and currently serves on the advisory board for several carriers.
Isaac Shloss is an IT and Compliance specialist with 25 years’ experience – exclusively focused on the Contact Center industry. As the Chief Product Officer for Contact Center Compliance, Isaac drives product creation that focuses on restoring trust and effectiveness in customer outreach through compliance, education, and problem solving within the regulatory framework. Isaac also serves as a Board Member for PACE, acting as Chair on their Government Affairs Committee. In this role, he tracks legislation that affects the industry, calls members to action, and works with lawmakers as appropriate. Isaac is PACE’s representative to the FCC, serving on several committees.
Austin is the Chief Operating Officer of Neo insurance Solutions, a Miami, FL based Insurance Marketing Organization focused on introducing technology enablement to the distribution and administration of Life and Health products in the Over-65 and Under-65 markets.
Readus C. Smith III, FACHE joined Wellvana in January of 2021 where he serves as the company’s Eastern Regional President, where he is focused on the expansion and operational success of the GA, FL, LA, VA, SC, and NC markets. Prior to Wellvana, Mr. Smith was the Chief Strategy and Development Officer for Island Doctors MSO, a group of preventative care physician offices throughout Northeast Florida, where he increased patient panel size by 300%. Mr. Smith brings to Wellvana extensive relationships across the healthcare system. Mr. Smith holds an associate degree from Gwinnett Technical Institute, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Memphis, an M.S. in corporate operations from LaSalle University, and a health law and policy degree from Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law. Mr. Smith serves as the Secretary General of Health for the Church of God in Christ and its affiliates worldwide, appointed by the Presiding Bishop’s office.
After her time as a nurse in the United States Army, Doris-Ellie Sullivan has dedicated over 25 years building her knowledge and experience in senior living industry in both the skilled nursing facility realm and then into the senior living industry realm. Most recently, she has provided leadership, guidance, and drive as President of Retirement Unlimited, Inc (RUI) based out of Roanoke, Virginia. Under her seven-year leadership, RUI has more than doubled in the number of senior living communities, adding communities that they own as well as many they manage in Virginia and Florida. She was charged with overseeing and coordinating the renovation of the original six communities and designing and successfully opening an additional four, some of which during the covid pandemic. Sullivan has since then worked through several acquisitions leading to a current total of 21 communities with more acquisitions and developments in the near future. Sullivan has transitioned RUI’s 40-year legacy from quiescent to an industrious and progressive organization, with proven records in occupancy and profit during all climates.
Michal Tavrovsky brings over 15 years of her career in product design and startup business development and management experience. At MenHealth, she has been in charge of managing the product redesign of the patient app, full development of the physician platform, and upcoming product pipeline. She also leads the company's commercialization efforts, building partnerships with urology groups, military hospitals, clinics, and universities. Prior to joining MenHealth in 2019 as a co-founder, she mentored and accelerated startups through accelerator programs and pitch events, and trained founders how to launch companies through JFE Network, an organization that she co-founded in 2009. Portfolio highlights include Tradle, HomeRoots, Greetly, and Snappy Gifts, the number 1 fastest growing company in the Northeast.
Martha Teka is an Associate at Telescope Partners, where she explores early growth B2B SaaS investments. Prior to joining Telescope, Martha was on the Corporate Strategy team at Bright Health Group, a diversified healthcare startup based in New York City, focusing on organic and inorganic growth strategy. Martha began her career in management consulting, where she worked on a variety of strategy, operations, and diligence projects across the healthcare, retail, and technology sectors.
Maria Thomas is Chief Strategy and Operations Officer for GetSetUp, a startup creating a learning and discovery platform for older adults, with classes taught by older adults. Maria previously served as a GM and CEO, helping to build some of the world’s most beloved brands, widely used digital products and reliably scalable platforms. Her career path wound through Amazon, NPR, Etsy, and SmartThings (acquired by Samsung).
Sarah Thomas is an accomplished leader of innovation. She serves as a global aging expert advising startups, large corporations and investors, with over 20 years dedicated to transforming the aging experience. Sarah is CEO of multinational staff-hosting company, MezTal in Guadalajara, Mexico & CEO of the consulting firm Delight by Design, creating age-inclusive products, brands, spaces and experiences that delight the consumer at every age. Sarah has held key leadership positions across the US and Asia, developing and implementing strategic corporate innovation initiatives, including change management. She has served as Executive-in-Residence at Aging2.0 and currently serves as Principal Fellow in the Nexus Insights firm for aging transformation and Mentor to Techstars Longevity Accelerator. She also is co- founder of AgeTech News, a media platform for global AgeTech News and deal flow and sits as a Venture Partner to AGETECH Capital and ThirdAct Ventures.
Zoë is co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at LUCID, a Canadian start-up developing music-based digital therapeutics. As a biomedical engineer and researcher, she leads clinical research strategy and partnerships across LUCID’s development pipeline in mental and neuropsychiatric health, including the development and validation of a personalized music therapeutic for people living with Alzheimer’s disease. Zoë is committed to advancing whole-person approaches to healthcare, innovative research paradigms, and music as medicine.
Karl is passionate about empowering older adults to have more freedom as they age because of his own experience helping his loved ones navigate their challenges of aging and struggling to find resources they needed to age independently. He is leveraging his experiences as an early leader in digital health starting in 2006 at OptumHealth, part of UnitedHealth Group, and his more recent experience as the Chief Product Officer and then CEO of Rally Health to help DUOS establish a system of aging that makes it easy for older adults and caregivers to get access to the support they need.
Jason Vallejos is the Executive Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer of Syndicated Insurance Agency, a multi-line general agency founded in 2003 offering all lines of coverage with a strong focus on Medicare Plan sales. Jason is head of sales, marketing and training for all sub-agencies working with Syndicated and fosters win-win relationships with professional partners including Medical Group Networks. Jason developed a passion for helping seniors with their healthcare needs while learning the operational and analytical support that run major carriers. Jason acquired business knowledge, actuarial analysis, insurance, networking, and managed care experience through his over 23 years of industry experience.
Raised in an English/Spanish home on Long Island, New York, Mal Varlack left the shipping industry in 2015 and found his niche in the insurance industry. In 2017 Mal joined Grupo Latinoamericano de Seguros as a marketer. Grupo Latinoamericano de Seguros is the bilingual life, health and annuity distribution team of Amerilife, based in Clearwater, FL. He was tapped in 2019 to become the team lead responsible for the development of the marketers in this branch of Amerilife. This unique division recruits, develops, and trains Spanish speaking agents and agencies. They are able to assist the underserved Hispanic community in making decisions to help themselves and their families nationwide. Wanting to understand his agent’s perspective, Mal obtained the FL life and health insurance license. This has helped him to better assist his marketers and agents to take care of their clients and to navigate thru the Medicare and the life insurance space. In his personal life, he is husband to Maria of 9 years. He has two stepchildren and is an associate pastor of his church in Tarpon Springs, FL. He also enjoys travelling, fishing, golfing and anything outdoors with his wife.
Bret is a healthcare entrepreneur committed to improving health outcomes for seniors, with a focus on improving payer-provider collaboration. As the founder of Tenure Health, Bret has led the creation of the first value-based Medicare Supplement plan, which is set to go-live in Texas in Q3 2023. Prior to starting Tenure Health, Bret most recently helped build Bright Health from pre-launch to serving over one million consumers, leading numerous business functions and overseeing more than twenty successful new market launches.
Rich Vollmer currently severs as Vice President of Strategy, Operations and Transformation for Humana’s MarketPoint distribution organization. Prior to his current role, Rich was Senior Vice President and Division Leader for the Northeast Division – responsible for Medicare business and market operations in 18 states covering 1.2 million individual and group Medicare Advantage members and approximately $2.2B in underwriting margin. Since joining the company in 2002, Rich has also served as President of Medicare East Region, Director of Healthcare Services and Manager of the Consulting Practice, where he led the company-wide effort to introduce Medicare Advantage products into the Puerto Rico market. Prior to Humana, Rich spent six years with Accenture, where he provided consulting services and subject matter expertise for multiple national Property and Casualty insurance companies. He received a bachelor’s degree with honors in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame.
Gus is a Product Designer and founder of Untangle UX design studios. He has a background in user research, UX and social anthropology. He normally works with start-ups and enterprise clients to create new products and UX strategy, but has recently turned his attention to age-tech and design for good. He's currently working on a new start up called Dignify which is in the advanced care planning space.
Steve Warner serves as the Chief Distribution Officer of UnitedHealthcare Government Programs, the nation’s largest business dedicated to the health and well-being needs of seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries. In his role, Steve is responsible for Medicare and Individual Exchange projects as well as the overarching management and operations of the sales organization including the development and execution of the sales channel strategy for the business’ portfolio of Medicare plans. This includes both employed and independent agents who sell on behalf of UnitedHealthcare Government Programs.
Jay Weintraub is the CEO of Connectiv Holdings, the events studio and holding company behind Blueprint, Cumulus, Manifest, and Medicarians. Jay and his team created and sold four events - LeadsCon, Mobile Apps Unlocked, HR Transform, and InsureTech Connect. Prior to becoming an event entrepreneur, Jay spent eight years in the internet advertising space. Jay is an investor in more than 50 startups and has been an advisor to more than a dozen companies. He is equally passionate about technology's role on the future of events, and Connectiv Holdings also includes Connects.at, their proprietary event technology business. Jay is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He is based in NYC with his wife, two children, and their other "child," Loopy.
Marc Wheeler is the founder and managing partner at Strategic Options a consulting firm focused on working with established and emerging Life and Medicare businesses in scaling revenue in high growth digital environments. Former executive with NetQuote, SelectQuote, and One America. Serves as an industry resource for investors regarding the Medicare category. Industry speaker and mentor through the Global Insurance Accelerator, PlugandPlay insurance sector and co-founder InsurTech Denver.
Sam Wiener is the Executive Vice President of Growth at Spark, a technology-enabled Medicare brokerage that partners with independent agents and agencies to help Medicare beneficiaries take control of their healthcare. At Spark, Sam is responsible for leading the sales, marketing, and operations teams and is focused on building local and national partnerships with the top Medicare agents in the industry.
Product Development Manager, Health Outcomes & Value-Based Innovation
Mutual Of Omaha
Celia Wilkinson is Product Development Manager for Health Outcomes & Value-Based Innovation at Mutual of Omaha, where she supports the testing and implementation of innovative benefits that help policyholders live their best lives.
Prior to coming to Mutual, Celia taught high school students in Memphis, TN as part of Teach for America. And prior to that, Celia graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in actuarial science. So she's not afraid of hard work! This analytic background plus her passion for service come together in a fun and innovative way in her role with Mutual.
Lauren Wilson is a seasoned executive with a passion for sales and marketing, currently serving as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for TSOLife, an AI driven technology company focused on enhancing the lives of seniors. With over 12 years of experience in the industry, Lauren has built a reputation for her creativity, networking, and the ability to lead high-performing teams. Lauren's journey with her Mom's Alzheimer's diagnosis has shaped her passion and drive to improve the quality of life for older adults. Lauren is a proud mother of three beautiful daughters and loves to travel.
Jason Worthen, Associate Vice President, Medicare for SelectHealth is responsible for the profit and loss of the Medicare product line. He is also responsible for product development and expansion in additional Intermountain Health markets. Prior to SelectHealth, Jason served as the Senior Vice President for Medicare products for Steward Health Care. He also oversaw ACO operations, managed care and risk contracting, and a national new business start-up within Steward. As CEO, Jason led a Medicaid and Medicare Health Plan licensed in Utah for 7 years prior to its sale in December of 2020. For the past 20 years, he has held senior level positions in government healthcare programs with several Fortune 500 growth-based companies and is an entrepreneur at heart. He and his wife Stacee live in South Jordan, Utah. He enjoys time with his family, motorcycle riding, gardening, and fishing.
My Medicare journey began in 2010 working for the Social Security Administration for nearly 10 years. I transitioned to full time in Medicare Entrepreneurship August 2019. January 2020, I became the VP of Agent Development at Nationcare Insurance Services. Through social media content creation, I passively recruited over 500 agents in my 2.5 years there and provided all their daily support and training. After serving Nationcare, and desiring to own my work, I created a health insurance focused FMO "Topflight Insurance Solutions LLC" as topflight means "being the highest level of achievement, excellence" and we focus on agent development.
Steve Yi is the Co-Founder and CEO of MediaAlpha, the leading provider of marketplace solutions for high-consideration categories such as property and casualty insurance, health and life insurance, personal finance, travel, education, and more. MediaAlpha uses technology and data science to help businesses optimize their customer acquisition efforts. The company's efficient, transparent marketplaces enabled more than $650 million in high-value advertising transactions in 2020 alone. Steve has worked in the internet advertising industry for almost 20 years after starting his career with Goldman Sachs and Oliver Wyman. Steve has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an A.B. from Harvard College.
Max Zamkow is the Managing Partner of Third Act Ventures, an Agetech-specific venture firm where he invests in founders working to change the way we age. He also serves as the Editor-in-chief of Agetech News, which reports on fundings, exits, and opportunities in Agetech. With his focus on later life, Max is able to support and empower visionary entrepreneurs to accelerate the pace of innovation in aging. Max is also involved with Aging2.0, supporting their global network Agetech ecosystem.
Sam Zimmerman is currently the CEO of Sagewell - where he is building a bank for his mom. Prior to this, Sam was the co-founder of Freebird, a General Catalyst backed consumer fintech startup acquired by Capital One and CTO of PathCheck Foundation, the world’s largest nonprofit open-sourced project for COVID-19 contact tracing which was the official app in five US states and territories and is used by millions around the world. Since 2011, Sam’s roles have consistently involved successful commercial applications of research technologies in financial services and computer science. Sam is a graduate of Duke University. In his spare time, Sam enjoys running, wrestling, animals, poetry, and eviction research.
