Jeff Garibaldi
Founder & CEO
Jeff Garibaldi is a seasoned healthcare leader with 35+ years of experience driving innovation, scaling companies, and leading high-growth organizations. He has played a pivotal role in multiple healthcare ventures, including leading a pre-revenue startup to a NASDAQ IPO within ~7 years and engaging in second private equity exit totaling $700M+ in combined valuations. Over his career, Jeff has successfully raised over $250M in capital from Seed to Series A/B/C and has engaged in leadership roles leading to $500M+ in revenue captured from healthcare organizations across the U.S. and worldwide.
As Co-Founder and CEO of an innovative mHealth and telehealth technology startup with Cedars-Sinai Los Angeles, Jeff led the company from concept to becoming one of the Top 100 Digital Health companies globally. As Chief Product Officer at Navvis Healthcare, he established an integrated product technology ecosystem for value-based care and population health, forming strategic product partnerships across data, analytics, and care management while forming three proprietary health platforms.
Jeff has also demonstrated global leadership by launching 150+ sales executives across 20+ countries and driving groundbreaking product innovations. He is the lead or co-inventor of ~60 issued healthcare patents spanning capital equipment, medical devices, therapies, and software, which have collectively enabled over $300M in revenue. Early in his career, Jeff pioneered multiple world's first solutions including but not limited to the first-ever Consolidated Display Solution for healthcare Cath Labs, further solidifying his reputation as an industry innovator.
With deep expertise in sales, product, partnering, technology development, commercial marketing, and P&L operations, Jeff remains passionate about turning ideas into game-changing commercial offerings, helping healthcare startups scale and succeed in highly competitive markets.
David B. Nash, MD, MBA
Aspire Medical Advisor
David B. Nash is the Founding Dean Emeritus, and he remains on the full-time faculty as the Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor of Health Policy, at the Jefferson College of Population Health (JCPH). His 11 year tenure as Dean completes more than 32 years on the University faculty. JCPH is dedicated to developing healthcare leaders for the future.
A board-certified internist, Dr. Nash is internationally recognized for his work in public accountability for outcomes, physician leadership development, and quality-of-care improvement. More recently, he has achieved wide acclaim for his Covid19 thought leadership and served as the Chief Health Advisor for the Philadelphia Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (PHL-CVB) for the duration of the pandemic.
Repeatedly named to Modern Healthcare’s list of Most Powerful Persons in Healthcare, his national activities cover a wide scope. Dr. Nash is a principal faculty member for quality of care programming for the American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL). He served on the NQF Task Force on Improving Population Health and the John M. Eisenberg Award Committee for The Joint Commission. He also is a founding member of the AAMC-IQ Steering Committee, the group charged with infusing the tenets of quality and safety into medical education.
Dr. Nash has governance responsibilities for organizations in the public and private sectors. He has chaired the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (HC4) for more than 25 years and he is widely recognized as a pioneer in the public reporting of outcomes. Dr. Nash has been a hospital trustee for 20 years. He served on the Board of Trustees of Catholic Healthcare Partners (now Mercy Partners), in Cincinnati, OH (1998–2008), where he was the inaugural chair of the board committee on Quality and Safety. He concluded his tenure (2009-2017) on the board of Main Line Health, a four-hospital system in suburban Philadelphia, PA, where he also chaired the board committee on Quality and Safety. He now serves on the board of the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM). In 2019, he joined the AMGA Foundation Board in Arlington, VA. Finally, he joined the board of CAHME – the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education in 2021.
In the for-profit sector, he very recently completed nearly a decade as a member of the Board of Directors for Humana, Inc., one of the nation’s largest publicly traded healthcare companies. In 2014 he joined the board of InfoMC, a leading information technology company in suburban Philadelphia. He is on the health care advisory board for Arsenal Capital Partners in NYC and just joined the board of MaxHealth, a portfolio company of Arsenal. In late 2018 he joined the board of ANI Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded generic drug manufacturer, headquartered in Princeton, NJ. Finally, he is a board member of FOX Rehab, a portfolio company of Blue Wolf Capital.
Dr. Nash has received many awards in recognition of his achievements. He received the top recognition award from the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (1995), the Philadelphia Business Journal Healthcare Heroes Award (1997), and was named an honorary distinguished fellow of the American College of Physician Executives (now AAPL) in 1998. In 2006 he received the Elliot Stone Award for leadership in public accountability for health data from NAHDO. Wharton honored Dr. Nash in 2009 with the Wharton Healthcare Alumni Achievement Award and in 2012 with the Joseph Wharton Social Impact Award. Also in 2012, he received the Philadelphia Business Journal award for innovation in medical education. In 2021, he was honored as a top national communicator for his work with the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau and he received the Champion Award from the regional Health Information Exchange (HIE).
Dr. Nash’s work is well known through his many publications, public and virtual appearances, and online column on MedPage Today. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and edited 25 books, including The Quality Book, Demand Better, and most recently his best selling book, How Covid Crashed the System: A Guide to Fixing American Healthcare. He was the inaugural Deputy Editor of Annals of Internal Medicine (1984-1989). Currently, he is Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Medical Quality and Population Health Management.
Dr. Nash received his BA in economics (Phi Beta Kappa) from Vassar College; his MD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and his MBA in Health Administration (with honors) from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. While at Penn, he was a former Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar and Medical Director of a nine-physician faculty group practice in general internal medicine. He has received honorary doctorates from Salus University in Philadelphia, GCSOM, and the University of Rochester. Dr. Nash has delivered a score of endowed and named lectures across the country and has given more than 15 commencement addresses.
Dr. Nash lives in Ardmore, PA, with his wife of 42 years, Esther J. Nash, MD. They have 3 adult children. He enjoys tennis, jogging, biking, and yoga. Together, the Drs. Nash have endowed an eponymous annual prize, across all learners throughout Jefferson, in healthcare quality and safety (which debuted in October 2021). This prize is the first of its kind in the nation.
Twitter: @NashPopHealth
Carlos Saenz, MBA
Chief Operating Partner
Carlos is a highly respected and well known ~40 year healthcare business development executive that has been successful as an individual contributor and leader of national healthcare business development teams responsible for engaging the latest health systems in the US.
Carlos brings experience in senior marketing and business development strategy in multiple segments of healthcare products, consulting, and contract management services. He has served all facets of today’s healthcare markets including C Suite sales to Physicians, Hospitals, University Health Systems, Integrated Delivery Systems, Group Purchasing and National Accounts, Corporate Account Management, Managed Care, Senior Living and International Clients.
In addition, Carlos’ experience has been in top sales and business development leadership roles in major organizations such as Mercy Health, Abbott Laboratories, McKesson, ARAMARK, Sodexo and EmCare. During his career he has been directly responsible for the close and delivery of multiple multi-million and multi-billion contractual agreements including the largest single sales contract that he closed with a major health system for ~$9B. Due to his deep understanding of the needs and expectations and requirements of the multiple segments of healthcare, Carlos has developed innovative solutions that drive the close of the complex sales process.
Carlos holds a BBA in Marketing from the University of Texas at El Paso and MBA studies at The University of Texas at Arlington. Carlos is certified as a Professional in the Academy of Healthcare Management by the American Association of Health Plans and has been awarded numerous President’s Club, Chairman Awards and was the recipient of the prestigious Neal Harlan Award for his Humanitarian accomplishments. Currently, he serves on the advisory board for the Catholic Charities of St. Louis and the board of directors for Good Shepherd Children and Family Services. He is an active and lifelong member of the St. Louis Executive Connections organization supporting senior executives with networking support while they are in career transition.
Carlos Saenz retired at the end of 2021, as Vice President of Business Development for Mercy. Currently, he assumed a part time job managing executive recruiting duties for Mercy, in addition to engaging as an Aspire Partner. When Carlos is not working, he enjoys the outdoors including snow skiing, woodworking, travel, time with family and he is a proficient fly fisherman.
Todd Edwards
Aspire Partner
Todd Edwards is a multi-dimensional healthcare business executive. He has over 35 years of combined experience at Marquette Electronics, GE Healthcare, and ConsortiEX. He has demonstrated success across functional areas including engineering development, sales and engineering management, upstream and downstream marketing, information systems business leadership, business acquisition leadership, healthcare executive leadership consulting, P&L responsibility to the U.S. federal government, and executive coaching.
Within those positions, Todd grew the Marquette cardiovascular IT business from $12M to $75M in three years as the marketing manager, started a GE consulting business from $0 and grew it to over $100M as its sales leader and then Consulting P&L director, grew the government business from $200M to $500M as its DoD global director, and started his own company from idea to having an installed base of 1200 hospitals as VP/GM. Todd is excellent at building relationships that result in growing businesses and people.
Lynn Eschenbacher, PharmD, MBA, FASHP
Aspire Partner
Lynn Eschenbacher, PharmD, MBA, FASHP is a results-driven, innovative healthcare executive with extensive experience sizing market potential, developing strategies and solutions to drive growth. She has been a top leader of a 100+ hospital health system directing skillful execution of operations, clinical care, and business development initiatives, resulting in improved patient safety and quality as well as business outcomes and profitability.
Dr. Eschenbacher has over 20 years of health care pharmacy experience with a broad range of experience from academic medical centers to community hospitals, medication safety, clinical services, revenue management, and process improvement. In addition, she has testified in front of Congress to advocate for pharmacy. Dr. Eschenbacher has experience of being the Ascension Chief Pharmacy Officer of the $25B+ health system, the Assistant Director of Pharmacy at WakeMed Health & Hospitals and the Medication Safety Officer for the prominent Duke University Hospital.
Dr. Eschenbacher holds a master’s of business administration from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University with a focus in Health Sector Management; is a Six Sigma Black Belt; is a fellow of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP); and was awarded the National Distinguished Service Award by ASHP.
Tom Lawry
Aspire Partner
Tom Lawry is a strategic advisor to health leaders worldwide and is the best-selling author of Hacking Healthcare – How AI and the Intelligence Revolution will Reboot an Ailing System. In a Harris Poll of more than 3,000 attendees of the 2023 JP Morgan Health Conference, Tom was named as one of the most recognized leaders driving change and engagement in healthcare today.
Tom is the Managing Director of Second Century Technology and a former Microsoft executive where he served as National Director of AI for Health and Life Sciences, Director of Worldwide Health, and Director of Organizational Performance for the company’s first health incubator. Prior to Microsoft, Tom was a Senior Director at GE Healthcare, the founder of two venture-backed healthcare software companies, and a health system executive. Tom is well-published and a sought-after keynote speaker in the United States, Western Europe, and the Middle East. His work and views have been featured in Forbes, CNET, NEJM, Inside Precision Medicine, and numerous webcasts and podcasts in health, medical, and business media.
Representative Keynote Presentations
“The Intelligent Health Revolution is Upon Us – Are You Ready?” HealthFront, NYC, April 2022
“Making Telehealth Smarter,” American Telemedicine Association, Boston, May 2022
“Why Healthcare Needs AI,” Arab Health, Dubai, June 2021
“Making Healthcare More Delightful,” HLTH, October 2020
Representative Articles/Social Media
Hacking Healthcare—How AI and the Intelligence Revolution will Reboot an Ailing System, Inside Precision Medicine, October 2022
How AI And Machine Learning Will Impact The Future Of Healthcare, Forbes, September 2022
American Telemedicine Association Sunday News Desk, May 2022
AI in Healthcare Interview, CNET, June 2021
Lynne Nowak, MD
Aspire Partner
Lynne Nowak, MD is an experienced and visionary senior physician executive with a demonstrated history of delivering results in both clinical and corporate settings. Passionate about using data, technology, and clinical interoperability to improve health outcomes, Dr. Nowak has over 30 years of healthcare experience including senior leadership roles in a Fortune 25 leading health plan and pharmacy benefit management corporation as well as in an early stage, rapidly growing, privately held health tech company.
Before joining Lark Health in 2022, Dr. Nowak spent nearly 9 years at Express Scripts/Evernorth/Cigna where she led clinical strategy, provider engagement and experience, digital provider solutions, health information interoperability strategy including compliance with FHIR data standards and interoperability regulations, price transparency strategy and regulatory compliance, advanced business and clinical analytics, and data-driven product development and go-to-market strategy for a growing data, analytics, and platform solutions business.
As Lark Health’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Nowak is currently responsible for Lark’s clinical product development strategy, clinical studies and research publications, business insights and partner analytics, and strategic partner development. In addition to leadership, strategy, product development, and data/tech expertise, Dr. Nowak has deep clinical and healthcare operations experience from her 15 years practicing as a board certified internal medical physician in outpatient primary care, inpatient hospitalist medicine, skilled nursing and long term care, and hospice/palliative care medicine.
Dr. Nowak earned her degree at the University of Notre Dame and her Medical Degree at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, and she completed her Internal Medicine training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
Paige Hargrove
Aspire Partner
Paige Hargrove has approximately 30 years of experience including leading national sales organization and global commercial / training initiatives for innovative healthcare companies. She has expertise in accelerating revenue growth specializing in US and global medical device to digital health commercialization. Paige has held leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson, Intuitive Surgical and Stereotaxis to name several. She is founder of a leadership consultancy focused on helping healthcare start-ups develop and implement strategies from pre-market initiatives to regulatory clearance and approval for a comprehensive commercial launch. Notable experience includes building and executing a strategic plan representing more than $35M in revenue while maximizing profit margins achieved within only 18 months. Paige has led worldwide training and clinical adoption for some of the fastest growing healthcare companies. Paige has been pursuing her passion for digital health engaging with organizations to empower their ability to transform products into revenue.
Simon Lee
Aspire Partner
Simon is a highly respected and well-known thirty-year veteran in healthcare information technology - A senior-level commercial executive with broad experience in digital health transformation with an astute knowledge of startup commercial business development, sales, marketing, team building, and leadership. Wide-ranging healthcare market expertise in payer, provider, employer, consumer, and life sciences-—Simon is an influential strategic thinker with a solid technical understanding and global experience. Throughout his career, he has excelled as an individual contributor and held several senior-level roles, building and managing successful commercial teams. Most recently, as SVP of Commercial Growth for AiZtech, a global, AI-driven digital health company developing a new scientific approach to diagnosing disease by scanning the eyes. Simon was also Chief Commercial Officer for Resonea and Chief Commercial Officer for DeepThink, two leading digital health companies focused on AI-driven mobile diagnostics and real-world data solutions. Historically Simon held senior-level roles with Syapse, Nanthealth, Lumeris, HealthTrio, Prime Clinical, and BSCA, a Blue Cross Blue Shield company.
Simon has a BSc in Mathematics with Computer Science. He resides in Florida, where he enjoys the outdoors, cycling, sailing, deep-sea fishing, and spending time with family and friends.
Greg Meier, CPA, CGMA
Aspire Partner
Greg is a healthcare finance and operations executive with 35 years of experience profitably growing large, small and entrepreneurial organizations. Greg has a unique skill to develop organizational & financial strategy, convert it into operational plans and drive performance execution. This has led to success in leadership roles at the supply chain divisions of HCA (HealthTrust) and Mercy Health (ROi) as well as at Cigna, YesCare, and EY.
While at ROi, Greg had responsibility for finance, strategy and M&A. After ROi’s sale to HCA, he became Chief Operating Officer of Regard Clinical Packaging Solutions (CPS), ROi’s medical device manufacturer. While leading CPS, he had complete responsibility for strategy, sales, operations, and P&L performance. Greg also played an integral role in ROi’s commercialization strategy and helped drive its numerous start-ups, working with leaders on business plan creation and implementation. While at YesCare, he drove commercialization of behavioral health and LTC pharmacy divisions and also led operations for a $190M health services segment.
Greg is currently President and CEO of Peak Organization Performance, LLC, a provider of Fractional CFO and COO services, while also serving on several advisory boards for start-ups, early stage and middle market companies. Greg has presented on numerous healthcare, finance and innovation topics, including being a two-time speaker at HFMA’s Annual National Institute. Greg’s leadership extends into the community where he is Board Chair for Easterseals Midwest and served as Regional Chair for Truman State University’s Pursue the Future capital campaign.
Matt Hillis, MD, FACC
Aspire Partner
Dr. Matthew Hillis was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in biology, cum laude, at Harvard University. He received his medical degree at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and then fellowships in cardiovascular diseases and clinical cardiac electrophysiology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Dr. Hillis has a diverse cardiovascular practice with a focus on heart rhythm disorders, cardiac device management, and cardiovascular prevention. He has been named a Top Doctor in Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology by Philadelphia Magazine on multiple occasions. He has expertise in catheter ablation and the implantation and management of multiple cardiac devices including leadless and transvenous pacemakers, subcutaneous and transvenous defibrillators (ICDs), cardiac resynchronization devices (CRT), implantable loop recorders, cardiac contractility modulation devices, and central sleep apnea nerve stimulator devices.
Jason Parrott
Aspire Partner
Jason Parrott is a 30+ year seasoned healthcare executive and currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Enterprise Growth and Partnerships at Vida Health, a San Francisco-based health technology company. He has been responsible for expanding Vida’s partnerships with leading healthcare providers and payers across the United States in a high growth organization serving millions of patients today.
Prior to joining Vida Health, Jason led strategy for some of the largest employers engaging in a broad array of innovation initiatives to transform care and utilization of their populations. For nearly a decade, he was the leader of Healthcare & Well Being Strategy of The Boeing Company - the world’s largest aerospace company and top U.S. During his tenure at Boeing, Jason was an early adopter of Vida’s integrated mental / physical health approach and oversaw the strategic direction of the Chicago-based aerospace company’s healthcare offering. Prior to that, Jason joined AT&T a Fortune 25 in 1994, where he held progressive roles in M&A and benefits strategy. In addition, he has also served as Chairman of the Board for Midwest Business Group on Health, while also serving as a Board Member of the Employer Health Innovation Roundtable, Integrated Benefits Institute, and Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute.
Jason earned an M.B.A., M.S. in Organizational Behavior and Bachelor of Science.
Jim Giordano
Aspire Partner
Jim is a 37+ year seasoned senior healthcare executive. During the course of his career, he has functioned as a healthcare strategist, a health systems and provider network executive, and as an enabler of the value-based care model.
He has served as CEO of health systems including several Bon Secours Health System NY holdings, Vice President at Lumeris, a value-based managed services/payer organization where he performed business development functions in the Southeast US, and Partner/National Director of Value Based Care Services for Kurt Salmon, an international health care strategy consultancy where he focused on enabling value-based care enterprise strategy and operations success for client organizations.
As President/COO and Executive Director in large value-based care-oriented provider networks, he has significant experience forming and leading value-based provider networks. Jim was most recently Executive Director at St. Joseph Health Partners (SJHP) CIN. SJHP is a 2022 NAACOS Leader in Quality Excellence Quality Award-winning 850-provider network in NJ.
Jim is also founding partner of Managed Transitions, a healthcare consultancy providing interim and fractional executive leadership to a variety of healthcare enterprises nationally.
He is a certified master executive coach who is passionate about helping to create high-performing teams and healthy corporate cultures. He has served as trusted advisor to multiple healthcare executive teams.
Mr. Giordano is experienced at developing and operationalizing transformational volume-to-value strategies in multiple markets. The resulting value creation has driven long-term physician alignment and excellent value-based contract performance for providers and contracted payers, contribution margin improvement and market share shift for sponsoring provider organizations, and improvements in quality of care, patient satisfaction, access to care, and total cost of care reductions for managed populations.
He has assembled teams and vendor partnerships to enable this success via strong population management efforts, comprehensive network development, efficient physician office workflows, while fully leveraging the potential of technology, as well as the support of highly competent clinical teams of nurse navigators and quality management personnel.
Jim is a thought leader and regular speaker on healthcare value-based strategy and operations issues on the national stage.
Ron Parton, MD, MPH
Aspire Partner
David Austin, MBA
Aspire Partner
He has recently co-founded and launched Summit Sales Partners LLC, a B2B business and sales development outsourcing firm, and was most recently VP of Healthcare Safety, Corrections and Security at Metrasens, Inc., a VC-held technology firm based in the United Kingdom.
He has also served in leadership roles with both publicly-traded corporations and VC- and PE-funded companies, including Siemens Healthineers, Hologic (as part of the acquisition of Sentinelle Medical), Applied Spectral Imaging, and Olympus Medical.
He has led negotiations for large multi-year agreements with Premier, Vizient, Healthtrust, and The Resource Group GPOs, as well as IDNs including BJC, SSM, Houston Methodist, MD Anderson, St. Luke's University Health Network, Kettering Health Network, and Mayo Clinic, among others.
David earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Missouri and his MBA from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.
David is married to Liz Austin, the Chief Marketing Officer at Green Street Real Estate Ventures, and together they are raising three wonderful children.
In his (limited) spare time, he enjoys family time, golf, youth sports, and travel.
Stephen Bilotta
Aspire Partner
His proficiency in building and executing sales channels has consistently driven revenue growth and fostered successful partnerships with top health systems, GPOs, and ACOs nationwide. Stephen’s ability to innovate with virtual sales teams positions him as a trusted expert in the evolving landscape of remote business.
Stephen’s rapid career progression is marked by consistent results across large organizations, growth-stage and startup companies. He has held significant roles with industry giants such as GE Healthcare and Steelcase and has also assumed leadership positions in growth companies within the fields of pharmacy automation and population health.
Currently, Stephen serves as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at RxLive. Stephen has spearheaded the sales and marketing strategy for a population health digital health and services company, resulting in a 5x revenue increase within 15 months and expanding the sales pipeline from less than $1M to $15M.
He launched and led a specialized sales team and partnership channel at GE Healthcare, culminating in a $120M annual channel and realizing a 42 to 46% YoY increase. Stephen increased sales for a pharmacy automation/SaaS product, moving from the initial customer to $10M total contract value in less than 5 years and establishing partnerships with premier health institutions, including 12 of the top 15 academic medical centers and 3 of the top 5 ranked health systems, while ensuring consistent YoY growth (2–3x).
Stephen’s experience and accomplishments demonstrate his expertise in sales and marketing. He has consistently delivered results across various organizations and has established successful partnerships with top health systems, GPOs, and ACOs nationwide.
His ability to innovate with virtual sales teams positions him as a trusted expert in the evolving landscape of remote business. Stephen has combined his diverse real-world experience and continuous learning to deliver strategy and execution that boosts businesses, strengthens sales pipelines, and increases revenue through sharp sales and marketing efforts in the healthcare sector.
His skill in creating and growing strategic partnerships, along with a proven track record of driving impressive year-over-year growth across various organizations, establishes him as a skilled and dependable leader in sales and marketing.
Stephen holds a BBA in Marketing, with emphases in Management Information Systems, Sales Leadership, and the Chinese language.
Erik Thomas
Aspire Partner
Dennis Barnes
Aspire Partner
Kate Reed, RN, MBA
Aspire Partner
The through thread from the NICU to now, is that Kate is driven by the need to make a difference in health care. She no longer directly cares for critically ill babies but has expanded that passion for making a difference by working to get game-changing new technology placed in the hands of health care provider organizations so that the tech reaches it highest potential impact for patient care, safety, patient experience, organizational efficiency, and professional staff working at the highest edges of their licenses.
In today’s complex and fiscally constrained health care environment, purchasing new tech, no matter the potential impact and/or ROI is a huge challenge. At Aspire, Kate and the other Aspire partners don’t just screen start up companies for potential impact, they bring creative financing solutions, including Venture Capital funding to the table so that new tech solutions don’t languish on the drawing boards and in marketing power points for lack of funding. Our goal isn’t just discovery and guiding exciting new high tech companies, it’s to facilitate getting tech placed so that it reaches its full potential. To Kate, profitability is meaningless in the absence of demonstrating positive impact on the lives of patients and families in need.
Kate is a Wharton MBA and a Licensed Registered Nurse. She has additional Certifications: in Negoation from the Harvard Law School Program in Negotiation, and in LEAN leadership from both Virginia Mason and Shingijutsu. She has been a leader, innovator, and team builder in many roles: SVP of Ambulatory and Networks, SVP of Marketing and Communications, Hospital President, Interim CEO, Chief Customer Relations and Chief Patient Experience Officer, Vice President, and National Health Care Director - at sterling organizations including Boston Children’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Virginia Mason Medical Center, BayCare Health System, Lifespan, Vizient, Surgical Theater and Towers Perrin Watson.
Claire Willman
Aspire Partner
She has held leadership roles in market research, operations, finance (public and private companies), and business development. Claire has also developed demand methodologies for health care services, directed regulatory and state certificate of need projects, and has led hospitals and healthcare systems through financial and operational turnarounds in her areas of expertise. Claire leads discussions with hospital C-suites, physician leaders, and clinicians in-order-to improve operations, clinical quality, and financial return for her clients through at risk, results oriented fee structures. Claire has been directly responsible for closing over 70-multimillion-dollar deals in her last 10 years as a strategic partner for hospitals and health systems, navigating through complex and long sales cycles.
Claire holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, Bachelor of Science and Business Administration degree in Marketing, and a Master of Business Administration from Saint Louis University in Missouri, and received certificates from Yale School of Law in Contracts I & II.
Born and raised in Scotland and emigrating to the United States, Claire enjoys golf, travels to Europe, and time with family. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Golf Foundation of Missouri, teaching the lessons of life for inner city youth, through the game of golf.
Brian Taylor
Aspire Partner
Key Highlights Include:
- Created and executed go-to-market plans scaling 20%+ sales growth
- Transformed declining sales trends into double-digit gains
- Built and led high-energy sales organizations focused on customer needs
Outside of driving growth for clients, Brian enjoys spending time with his family, watching and playing soccer, and giving back to the community through volunteer work - outlets where his empathy, determination, and generosity of spirit can shine through.
Brian Mericle
Aspire Partner
Key Highlights Include:
- Created and executed go-to-market plans scaling 20%+ sales growth
- Transformed declining sales trends into double-digit gains
- Built and led high-energy sales organizations focused on customer needs
Outside of driving growth for clients, Brian enjoys spending time with his family, watching and playing soccer, and giving back to the community through volunteer work - outlets where his empathy, determination, and generosity of spirit can shine through.
Eric Vanderhoef, MBA, MHA
Aspire Partner
Eric Vanderhoef, MBA, MHA, is a highly respected person in managed care and the integration of primary care physicians into value-based care. His extensive experience in the payor-provider-consumer ecosystem has demonstrated a strong proclivity to making money for the business and providing quality outcomes for the consumers. Over his 35+year healthcare career he has effectively designed, negotiated, and successfully implemented programs that were innovative and drove superior outcomes while delivering strong P&L for the companies.
Eric has held executive positions at some of the largest HMOs that include CEO for United Healthcare’s most profitable Medicare Advantage division and led contracting departments specializing in risk arrangements for Kaiser Permanente and Aetna. Eric also has a rich consulting background, consulting on an array of managed care issues for HMOs, Department of Defense and Justice, VCs, PEs, mutual funds, and companies attempting to contract with HMOs. Additionally, as an entrepreneur, he has built four companies bringing three to profitability. Eric’s unique Medicare Advantage model for rewarding PCPs to practice holistic care rather than episodic care was introduced by UHG, and adopted in the Affordable Care Act, to create the Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organization Model.
Mr. Vanderhoef holds an MBA from the Chaifetz School of Business at Saint Louis University, and a master’s degree in healthcare administration from Saint Louis University’s School of Public Health and Social Justice where he also taught the Managed Care class for the executive master’s degree program.
Jennifer Holmes
Aspire Partner
Jennifer Holmes is a visionary and results-driven C-suite executive in the healthcare sector, bringing 30 years of experience in leading commercial sales and marketing strategies for medical device and MedTech companies. Throughout her career, she has consistently accelerated revenue growth, spearheaded succession planning, and managed complex change initiatives. Recently, as CEO, she successfully guided her former company through a merger and acquisition, selling its assets and intellectual property to a major private equity firm.
Her extensive leadership experience includes roles such as Board Chairman, President and CEO, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Sales, Vice President of National Accounts, and various management positions at prominent companies, including Boston Scientific, Guidant Corporation (Abbott), Spectranetics (Philips), MedAssets (Vizient), Central Logic (ABOUT Healthcare), and Rehab Boost, Inc (MEDBRIDGE). Several notable achievements was launching the first enterprise sales initiative targeting C-suite executives at large healthcare systems, driving $42 million in top-line growth for an $800 million public healthcare supply chain( GPO), revenue cycle management, workforce labor optimization and consulting organization. Additionally, during her tenure at a mid-cap medical device company, she turned around US sales operations, increasing revenue from $65 million to $110 million in three years. Over her career, she has successfully launched hundreds of new medical devices, secured multi-million-dollar contracts with major Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs), and achieved double-digit growth at several early-stage startups. Her expertise lies in executing commercial operating plans, aligning sales and marketing strategies, leading turnarounds, and building high-performing teams.
Jennifer has received numerous accolades, including multiple President’s Club honors and the prestigious CEO Millbrook Award. As CEO of a SaaS healthcare IT company, she was recognized as a Fierce Innovation Award Finalist for developing a comprehensive care coordination solution. Under her leadership, the company was named one of Modern Healthcare’s Top 100 Best Places to Work. She has been featured in Becker’s Hospital Review as one of the Top 17 “Female Health IT Company CEOs to Know” and was a finalist for the Women Tech Council’s Utah Tech Awards. A thought leader and keynote speaker, she frequently presents on topics such as Women in Leadership in Healthcare Tech, Diversity and Inclusion in Healthcare, and the Power of Mentoring Women. She has spoken at events including the South-Central Kentucky College Women in Computing Conference, Georgia Tech’s Women Leadership Conference, and various national forums.
Jennifer has served as Chairman of the Board for the Integrating Women Leadership Foundation and has participated on the Boards of the American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Lung Force Council for Women, and chaired the JDRF Finance Committee.
Outside of her professional accomplishments, Jennifer is an accomplished competitive figure skater who trained for the 1980 Winter Olympics at The Broadmoor, the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. In her free time, she enjoys golf, tennis, pickleball, running, traveling, and spending time with family.
David W. Bobb, RPh, MA, JD
Aspire Partner
David W. Bobb is a pharmacist, attorney, and retired United States Air Force Colonel with experience in both the civilian and federal healthcare management sectors.
His widely varied career has placed him in such practice settings as independent pharmacies, large retail chain pharmacies, United States Air Force pharmacies, industry, and positions within the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense.
He has had the opportunity to manage and execute multi-billion-dollar budgets, integrate and consolidate diverse healthcare systems, build cohesive high-performing teams, and develop effective medication safety and quality assurance programs including opioid management programs across the spectrum of pharmacy operations to optimize patient care.
In addition, he provides sound legal advice to federal pharmacists in respect to changing Food and Drug Administration policies, Drug Enforcement Administration laws, opioid/controlled substance compliance, and federal and state legislative initiatives.
Working with Congressional delegations and staffers, he provided Department of Defense (TRICARE) pharmacy program updates to both the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.
He has been an integral member of several Boards of Directors, including the American Society for Pharmacy Law, Department of Defense Pharmacy Advisory Board, and the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium.
Mr. Bobb has also provided over 30 CE-accredited pharmacy law presentations and authored over 20 publications for federal pharmacists and technicians.
Lastly, he serves in an Adjunct Faculty position at the University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy and has taught leadership courses at Ohio Northern University.
Jim Lammers
Aspire Partner
Jim Lammers has more than 30+ years of experience, and currently serves as the Chief Information Officer at Pharmacy Partners, LLC. He was formally the Executive VP and Chief Technology & Strategy Officer for the Federal Reserve System, where he advanced technology strategies, including blockchain for a US digital currency, and has a 13-year tenure at Express Scripts, where he ultimately served as CTO. Jim holds a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Notre Dame and a Master’s from Washington University in St. Louis. He actively engages in his St. Louis community, founding a golf tournament that raised over $2 million for Autism Speaks.
Mandy Khaira, MD, MPH
Aspire Partner
Dr. Khaira is a results-oriented physician executive with 20+ years of leadership in clinical transformation, AI strategy, product development, and operational excellence across value-based care (VBC), population health, and wellness. She has led technology-driven, end-to-end transformations in both startup and established healthcare settings—impacting health systems, payers, acute/post-acute care, and physician organizations—delivering over $500M in value. Dr. Khaira excels in P&L management, partnership development, and talent cultivation, empowering 10,000+ healthcare professionals. With expertise across 30+ U.S. states and international markets (Europe, Asia), she has held key C-suite roles, including Chief Clinical Transformation Officer, Chief Medical Officer, Chief Learning Officer, and National Lead of Population Health.
As Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of NÜVA Ventures, Dr. Khaira partners with healthcare organizations to design and scale end-to-end transformations that optimize outcomes, build strategic partnerships, and ensure long-term sustainability. Early in her career, Dr. Khaira expanded healthcare access in rural India through physician recruitment, partnerships with local medical institutions, and organizing medical camps that provided over 265 free surgeries and served thousands of patients annually. At Main Line Health System, she implemented Lean Six Sigma process improvements, established ED observation units, and rolled out the NCQA PCMH model. At Bayada Home Health Care, Dr. Khaira developed and scaled population health initiatives across 22 states, generating $28.56M in revenue, and launched national programs focused on post-acute, chronic conditions and palliative care, across 100 service offices. She trained over 3,500 healthcare professionals and drove over 15 partnerships with health systems, physician practices, and payers.
At Surround Care (including Navvis), Dr. Khaira was pivotal in its transformation from a consulting firm to a national VBC leader. She developed infrastructure and secured key partnerships generating $45M in revenue. Dr. Khaira built VBC teams, established a data visualization center, achieved NCQA prevalidation and launched an AI committee, scaling solutions across 11 markets, impacting 4M+ lives and generating $64.6M in revenue. She also implemented a national multimodal learning strategy, educating physicians, executives, and care teams across payers, health systems, and physician organizations.
Dr. Khaira earned her MD from Saint Petersburg State Medical Academy and her MPH from West Chester University. She holds certifications in Artificial Intelligence (MIT Sloan), Product Management (Cornell), and is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (Villanova). She is an Adjunct Professor at Jefferson College of Population Health and serves on the Editorial Board of the Population Health Management Journal.
Thomas H. Hale MD, PhD, MS
Aspire Partner
Dr. Hale has had a distinguished career in healthcare and virtual care medicine supported by AI and digital surveillance.
During his time at Mercy Health, Dr. Hale maintained a general internal medicine practice for 23 years. He was a founder of Mercy Medical Group (a 350-member integrated physician multispecialty group partnered with the Sisters of Mercy St. Louis) and served as its president for 15 years. During this tenure, he was also the lead physician for Mercy’s Epic implementation (44 hospitals and over 2,000 physicians).
In 2010, Dr. Hale transitioned from his medical group leadership position and created Mercy’s Center for Innovative Care (CIC). The CIC was charged with changing the traditional Mercy care model through innovations in virtual care delivery, including eICU, eHospitalist, ED and behavioral health virtual support, and care at home. It focused on managing value-based contracts by virtually managing ambulatory chronically ill patients, allowing them to stay at home with 24/7 virtual support. The CIC evolved into the creation of the world’s first virtual care center, which opened in 2014.
Dr. Hale has also served as Senior Vice President for Care Solutions at NAVVIS Healthcare, Chief Medical Officer of VirtuSense Technologies (an AI fall prevention solution), and has consulted with health systems and medical groups regarding virtual care applications in the U.S. and overseas.
Dr. Hale holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from Saint Louis University. He received his medical degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia Medical School, subsequently completing his internal medicine internship and residency at Mercy Hospital St. Louis, leading to Board Certification in 1983. In 2011, he earned a master’s degree in medical informatics from Northwestern University.
Alan Gilbert, MPA, FHIMSS
Aspire Partner
Mr. Gilbert is a mission-driven Growth Serial Entrepreneur with an “up through the ranks” experience in the healthcare industry focused on the achievement of systematically improved outcomes and reduced costs across the healthcare continuum. He is involved in initiatives related to the Disruption and Positive Impact of Telemedicine, Population Health, Accountable Care, Chronic Care Management, Remote Patient Monitoring, Digital Therapeutics, and Artificial Intelligence in Improved Healthcare Delivery. He possesses a clear understanding of the current healthcare landscape, and has conceived and implemented strategies that resulted in new markets, new clients and increased revenue. Mr. Gilbert benefits from having a well-developed network of long-standing relationships at the executive level, with access and credibility to be viewed as their trusted advisor.
Sharon Richardson Howell, PhD, MBA, FACHE, CPXP, MSc
Aspire Partner
Sharon Richardson Howell, PhD, MBA, FACHE, CPXP, MSc, has a 20+ year record of empowering people, processes, and technology to deliver peak performance and discover their potential. Her exceptional achievements traverse six countries on four continents and multiple industries: healthcare, technology (mobile and games), hospitality, service, and academia. She has deep passion for efforts that seek to transform, uplift communities, impact equity, and restore dignity for the most vulnerable populations.
With expertise in performance and experience, Dr Howell has held key executive and board roles—from start-ups, to non-profits, as well as Fortune 25 entities, and across the ecosystem—notably including health system, payor, shared services, home health, palliative care, hospice, and digital. Most recently, as Chief Performance Officer, Clinical Solutions, at Fortune-25 Centene Corporation, she was accountable for a population health and medical management (CM, UM, DM) portfolio representing vendor, partner, and internal solutions aimed at improving physical and behavioral health outcomes in Medicaid, Medicare, and Marketplace populations. Prior to Centene, at technology powerhouse SmarTek21, Sharon Howell led Experience, creating Joint Commission-compliant products using artificial intelligence and natural language processing assets, that supported over $100M in contracts. In addition, while leading Strategy and Partnerships for the PeaceHealth system, she delivered the system’s first five-year plan and filled its deals pipeline with unprecedented value. Among them was the acquisition of ZoomCare, where she had held the role of General Manager, Growth, reporting to its Founder, with responsibility for performance of its 38 same-day urgent, primary, and specialty care clinics.
Sharon R. Howell holds a PhD in Management Strategy & Innovation from London’s Sir John Cass School of Business (now Bayes), an MSc from Harvard Medical School in Clinical Service Operations, an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and a BSc from the University of Southern California (USC). Among her numerous certifications and training are operational effectiveness methodologies such as project management, Lean, Agile, Scrum, Change, and Transformation, as well as industry gold standards: FACHE and CPXP.
An active angel investor, mentor, teacher, volunteer, advisor, and board member, Dr Howell supports communities across the United States and the globe. She recently added Board Advisory at HeraMED (ASX: HMD), and TiE Australia Charter membership to her former board member roles at both TiE Global and TiE Oregon, and is exploring collaborative opportunities with a number of Australian entities in industry and academia.
Joe Block
Aspire Partner
Joe was Vice President of Payer & Provider at GeBBS. Joe brings to this senior position more than 25 years of sales leadership experience, which he will draw on as he leads GeBBS revenue growth strategy and execution moving forward.
Joe most recently was with Wider Circle as their Chief Growth Officer. He was responsible for leading the organization’s business development and sales functions with a particular focus on growing the organization’s Medicare and Medicaid business.
Prior to Wider Circle, Joe was with nThrive where he served as vice president and sales team lead. Earlier in his career, he served in executive sales and partner development functions at Evolent Health and MedAssets and also spent considerable time employed at McKesson Corporation. Joe is also proud to have served as a Captain in the U.S. Army.
Alan R. Gessel
Aspire Partner
Alan Gessel is an experienced and skilled Senior Executive with three decades of experience in Board, C-Suite & Sr. Executive roles at companies such as ARAMARK, Sodexo, AVI Foodsystems, Thrive Frozen Nutrition, Allied BioScience, Jani-King International as well as experience in both US and International Markets.
He has multi-industry experience in the B2B business outsourcing and B2B-2C contract business services industry in subsegments such as Food & Nutrition Services, Dining Services, Full-Service Restaurants, QSR restaurants, high end Catering, Facilities Services (IFM, Hard FM, and Soft FM Services), commercial cleaning, manufacturing, distribution, product development, and other on-site and off-site business support services.
His leadership experience is broad and deep with a unique skill set and keen insight into the contract services industry having been either a CEO, COO, EVP, other c-suite / board leadership roles, as well as served in external roles such as a competitor, supplier, or client in the industry marketplace.
He has a diversity of senior executive leadership experience in large public, large private, mid-market, early stage, and start-up companies including public, private, PE, VC, and family-owned companies.
He founded, launched, and led five companies from concept to market and understands the critical functions of running a company P&L, bootstrapping, with limited capital, scarce resources, and tight margins. He is particularly skilled in scaling companies for rapid growth and expansion in short time windows
He has managed companies ranging in size from <$10M USD to $780M USD including experience in both domestic and international expansion and has led teams ranging in size from 6 to 4,500 personnel.
Shea Long
Aspire Partner
Shea brings over 25 years of experience to his focus on B2B and B2C product initiatives that drive growth and enhance customer experiences. He has a passion for leading cross-functional teams that create strategic solutions to benefit both the resident/patient and the business. Shea has brought human-centered design techniques to the business to deliver exceptional product experiences.
Prior to his current role, Shea led the product organization at ModivCare (the largest Social Determinants of Health solutions provider in the nation). He was responsible for building a product organization from the ground up to deliver mobile application solutions for members to engage with their care, home delivery solutions for medically necessitated meals, remote patient monitoring solutions, and medication adherence capabilities.
While at Centene, Shea was the Staff Vice President of Commercial Innovation at Centene Corporation, a Fortune 50 healthcare provider. He led the development of new capabilities to drive dramatically improved digital member experiences via mobile app solutions, significant member engagement in their healthcare, rural healthcare initiatives, and Social Determinants of Health solutions. Shea was seen as a pioneer in the payer space in his use of Lyft as a tool to close access-to-care issues related to transportation.
In addition to these accomplishments, he is known as a leader in developing vital partnerships with providers through innovative technology integrations and business models. Shea began his career in product development with the Space Systems Division in the U.S. Air Force AT&T in 1988, building classified satellite systems.
Patrick Coulson
Aspire Partner - JB Team
With nearly 30 years in the healthcare industry, Patrick brings deep expertise in value-based care, Medicare Advantage, and payer-provider relationships. He has held impactful C-suite, SVP, and VP roles at organizations including GA Foods, Signify Health, MedSolutions, Matrix Medical Network, and BCBS Michigan. Throughout his career, Patrick has driven revenue growth, developed high-performing teams, and successfully expanded solutions across health plan and provider markets, building lasting client relationships along the way.
Jeff Turner
Aspire Partner - JB Team
Jeff, with nearly 40 years of industry experience, has held senior leadership positions including SVP at Advantasure, SVP at Catamaran RX, and VP of Sales at WellPoint Next RX (now Anthem/Elevance Health). While at Catamaran, Jeff played a key role in securing the company’s largest client, Cigna, and successfully managing a significant joint agreement with them. Cigna, with over $180 billion in annual revenue, became a major partner under Jeff’s leadership. Jeff specializes in implementing and driving growth for technology products and services in the Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and Commercial markets.