* Indicates An OPEN MINDS Leadership & Management Course With Course Hours
Having An Impact On Health Equity—Challenges, Opportunities & Inspiration
What is the future of measuring and managing health equity issues in the health and human service field? Karen Dale, the Market President at AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia provides insights into the challenges of assuring equity in access to and delivery of health care for all members. In her presentation, she will talk about the effects of lack of equity on the AmeriHealth plan performance and their new initiatives to measure and improve health equity among their members.
AmeriHealth Caritas is a national leader in health care solutions for complex consumers, currently serving approximately 5 million members in 13 states and the District of Columbia. In her tenure as Market President, Ms. Dale has been dedicated to improving health care service delivery and outcomes.
Karen Dale
Karen M. Dale is Market President for AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia, a mission-based Medicaid Managed Care Organization in Washington, D.C., and the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer for the AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies. Her focus includes applying a health equity lens to impact all levels of policies, processes, decisions, laws, and outcomes for the communities AmeriHealth Caritas serves.
She also leads a decidedly metric-driven business approach to mobilize leaders and accelerate strategies to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion inside and outside the walls of AmeriHealth Caritas. As a result, opportunities for people to experience health, wholeness, and belonging are enhanced by addressing the social, economic, and environmental conditions that are drivers of poor health.
In addressing the landscape of needs among the nation’s vulnerable populations, Dale has cultivated a focus that has helped AmeriHealth Caritas concurrently innovate, while meeting the highest levels of quality and service. These efforts include the use of digital tools to aid in the management of chronic diseases, peer-to-peer outreach using community health workers and peer specialists, and the use of a human-centered member engagement approach.
Dale’s vision is notably reflected in key programs addressing Black maternal health, racism, housing, transportation, violence interruption, and food insecurity. In addition, her philosophy that health care must evolve into a health ecosystem that promotes wellness without barriers, starting where people are, has led to several collaborative relationships with providers, community partners, philanthropists, and businesses to implement sustainable, scalable solutions with high impact.
Her hobbies include gardening, creating healthy Caribbean recipes, traveling, and watching her son’s soccer games.
Welcome To The 2025 OPEN MINDS Pitch Day
Opening remarks and introduction to the second annual OPEN MINDS Investment Pitch Day.
Jonathan Evans
Jonathan Evans, MS, brings 30 years of experience in the behavioral health field.
Previously, Mr. Evans was the Chief Executive Officer of InnovaTel Telepsychiatry, LLC. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health, an organization known for clinical innovations. He brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in the design of community-based programs, new service line development, expertise in telehealth-based service delivery, and governance and leadership expertise.
Mr. Evans began his career at Hamot Institute for Behavioral Health (IBH), where he initially worked in the emergency department providing initial evaluations for patients. He had a long tenure at Hamot IBH, serving as both Director of the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center (DEC) and the Director of the Adult Division.
Mr. Evans left Hamot IBH in 1993 to become the Founding Chief Executive of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health. Safe Harbor was established to assist the State of Pennsylvania with an initiative to close state hospitals and move consumers with serious mental illnesses to the community. Safe Harbor provides intensive outpatient services to patients with serious mental illness and provides 24-hour a day crisis intervention services to anyone in Erie County. The program’s annual operating budget has grown from the initial $300,000 to over $8 million. Safe Harbor currently provides services to over 4,000 consumers each year.
Mr. Evans is also the Founding President of Northwest Beacon Group, LLC. Northwest Beacon, a subsidiary of Safe Harbor, provides outpatient behavioral health services in the Erie community and employee assistance services to over 100 organizations with over 40,000 employees.
Mr. Evans was also the Founding Board Chairman of Presque Isle Psychiatric Associates, a non-profit organization that provides psychiatric coverage for hospitals and community-based providers. In addition, he serves on many boards, including The Pennsylvania Community Providers Association, The Erie Center on Health and Aging and Community Behavioral HealthCare Network of Pennsylvania Provider Advisory Board.
Mr. Evans received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and his Masters’ Degree in Clinical Psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Grant Chamberlain
Grant Chamberlain joined Ziegler in 2015 as a managing director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Practice. With over 25 years of investment banking experience, Grant has dedicated the majority of his career to advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies with particular focus on transactions with telehealth companies such as Vimly, CXC, TM2U, Somnoware, Avera eCare, Philips Lifeline / ConnectAmerica, Tridiuum, Anelto, SmartMeter, CancerIQ, Validic, Doctible, CentralLogic, SCI, Regroup, Forefront, Basys, Airstrip, Forefront, IRIS, MDLIVE and Voalte.
Prior to Ziegler, Grant led the mHealth sector coverage at Raymond James – which included telehealth, remote monitoring and wireless healthcare solutions – after spending 25 years advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies on a broad variety of M&A, joint ventures/partnerships and private financings. Additionally, Grant has completed dozens of transactions in the physician practice management space with a specific concentration in oncology, having closed over 15 deals in that sector in his career.
Prior to Raymond James, Grant was a principal at Shattuck Hammond Partners, which was acquired by Morgan Keegan. He was also a part of the corporate finance group of General Electric Capital Corporation and the financial services division of GE Medical Systems.
In addition, Grant is an elected Director of the ATA, the leading international advocate for the use of advanced remote medical technologies. He is also on the Board of Directors for The MAVEN Project, which uses telehealth and a network of volunteer physicians affiliated with the nation’s foremost medical school alumni associations to improve healthcare access for underserved populations.
Grant earned a B.A. in finance and investment banking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tania S. Malik, J.D.
As co-founder of The Office of CEO, Tania brings a 25-year success record of C-level leadership, board experience, interim executive engagements, consultancy, investor experience, and serial entrepreneurship with multiple successful exits. Over the course of her career, she has realized several industry firsts as she launched several telemedicine companies starting in 1999. She is the Founder or Co-Founder of Medical Web, Inc, Virtual Medical Group, Inc. 1stonlinepharmacy.com (all related to online primary care with Medical Web being acquired), Vital Health Network. LLC (an online naturopathic company that implemented with Aetna), COPE Today, LLC (a telemental health company acquired by a venture firm), Virtual Medical Services and Veteran Benefit Management Services (dedicated to providing Independent Medical Opinions for veterans).
After two exits, she pivoted to board work, consultancy, and investments.
She serves as executive advisor to Excelerate Health Ventures (focusing on health SAAS companies) and member of Triangle Angel Partners (includes companies outside of healthcare).
As COO of the Center of Digital Health, Innovation and Telehealth for Optum, she focused on a virtual-first care delivery model. She also served as a strategic advisory board member for OmnySense, Inc. and Innovatel Telepsychiatry, acquired by Quartet Health in 2021. As co-founder and CEO of Medical Web, she led the first-of-its-kind online physician-patient communication platform to acquisition in 2014. She also served on the Board of Directors for Mindcare Solutions Group upon its 2013 acquisition of COPE Today, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood Direct and other non-profit boards. She is a Fellow in the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) College of Fellows and was the ATA Woman of the Year in 2020.
Early in her career, Tania practiced law as a Senior Enforcement Attorney with the Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Georgia, and held the position of Administrative Law Judge with the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH) as well as General Counsel for an HMO, Master Health Plan, Inc. A key tenure in management consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ healthcare practice in Atlanta served as a launch pad for business and entrepreneurial opportunities across the healthcare space.
Tania holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University, and a Doctor of Law from Georgia State University College of Law.
Steven Mason, M.Ed.
Steven is a Managing Partner and healthcare industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience starting and operating market-leading technology and services companies in the health and human services industries.
He has been instrumental in Fund I’s investments, including Care Continuity, where he recently served as CEO. Prior to serving as Executive Vice President at Iodine, Steven was the Chief Executive Officer at ChartWise Medical Systems, Inc., a computer-assisted clinical documentation system company that automated and improved the completeness and accuracy of physician documentation for faster and more optimal reimbursement of services provided. Iodine acquired ChartWise in 2021.
Prior to his success with ChartWise, he led several successful start-up ventures including OnFocus Healthcare, a leading provider of web-based enterprise performance management software solutions for healthcare providers and payers. The company was acquired by MedeAnalytics, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the EPM Business Unit. In this role, Steven was primarily responsible for integrating, managing, and growing the Mede Performance Management (MedePM) business unit within the broader MedeAnalytics portfolio.
Additionally, he was Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualifacts Systems, a SaaS based electronic medical records software provider, and Chief Operating Officer of Camelot Care Centers, a national behavioral healthcare provider organization.
Steven received his BA in History from the University of Mississippi and an M.Ed. Human and Organizational development / counseling from Vanderbilt University. Mr. Mason currently serves on the Board of Directors of several private digital health companies.
John Tote
John is a strategic business development innovator who can engage and assist a variety of agencies and organizations in providing a vibrant foundation and platform for growth. John has more than 30 years of working in and partnering with groups of all sizes to create unique pathways of excellence designed on each entity’s individual characteristics, needs and goals.
With his passion for seeing others succeed, John has developed a career of advocacy, service, and organizational growth and excellence. In roles ranging from business and strategic development leadership to CEO, through John’s guidance organizations have experienced more than $800 million of financial growth. Further, these organizations have been able to hire more than 4,600 additional professionals to assist in service delivery and community enhancement.
John has also been able to utilize his experience and background in for-profit, not-for-profit, public sector and academic settings to provide motivating and thought-provoking messages to thousands of individuals and groups around the country. John’s extensive written articles, in-person presentations, podcast and webinar events now number more than 500. Additionally, John has also directed and hosted more than 85 conferences and seminars throughout the US.
With an ever-changing health and human services landscape, John continues to provide a stable base of usable, realistic leadership that is vital to payers and providers of services in critical areas of organizational quality and impact, such as strategy development, operational growth, leadership development, governance, financial modeling, integrated care planning and network development, the use of data and analytics, mission and vision development, marketing, communications, brand differentiation and more.
Expanding Revenue Beyond Medicaid: New Funding Strategies For I/DD Providers
Sponsored By: 
As Medicaid funding remains stagnant, behavioral health and I/DD providers must explore innovative ways to diversify revenue streams. This session will uncover non-traditional funding opportunities that can enhance financial sustainability while staying true to your organization’s mission.
Drawing from real-world examples and decades of experience, this presentation will cover:
- Identifying viable alternative funding sources at the federal, state, and municipal levels
- Assessing alignment with your organization’s goals and services
- Navigating the steps to secure new revenue streams
Attendees will gain practical insights into securing government contracts, grants, and partnerships that can strengthen financial resilience and reduce reliance on traditional Medicaid funding.
Terence Blackwell
Terry Blackwell is a seasoned leader with operational expertise in managing budgets, program requirements, risk mitigation, funding, and people. Terry brings more than three decades of diverse leadership experience serving the needs of people with disabilities. A recognized thought leader among his peers, Terry is a regular presenter at the national level for Applied Behavior Analysis International.
Notably, Terry helped lead the development of the country’s only I/DD- and autism-focused ACO. During the establishment of this entity, he worked with NCQA to impact national policy to accommodate the special needs of the I/DD and ASD (Autistic Spectrum) populations.
Previously, Terry was the Chief Executive Officer for Chimes International, a large multi-service nonprofit operating in the mid-Atlantic and in partnership with Chimes Israel in Tel Aviv. He worked closely with the board of directors of the parent company and the six affiliate companies in developing a coherent voice and outward-facing presence to external stakeholders. Terry also created new and exciting program ventures within the company, consistent with the evidence-based best practices in the fields of integrated supported work I/DD, autism, and behavioral health.
Terry was also the Chief Operating Officer for Services for the Underserved (SUS), a nonprofit organization that provides services to people with autism, intellectual disabilities, behavioral health, mental health, and substance abuse issues as well as veterans’ services in a variety of coordinated and integrated care models. In this role, Terry provided operational leadership and oversight for this 187-million-dollar social services agency with 2,000 employees. He also co-created and co-chaired a 2.8-billion-dollar membership group of I/DD provider organizations oriented to aligning best practices in the field for managed care impact in Pennsylvania.
Before SUS, Terry was the Vice President of Operations for Fedcap, Inc., a 75-year-old NYC-based nonprofit serving over 1,000 clients with special needs throughout the New York metropolitan area, where he identified and developed associated license and programs for persons who have lifetime disabilities that may qualify for supports through federal and state initiatives.
Terry also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Developmental Delay Rehabilitation Services, Inc., where he provided direction and oversight for fiscal, programmatic, and development function of a New York State Education Department and New York State Department of Health approved home and community-based early intervention and early childhood program. The program was referenced by key national autism experts as a “best practices publicly funded services for autism” program in the Northeast.
In addition to earning his Master of Science degree in Psychological Services from the University of Pennsylvania, including attendance at the Wharton School, Terry is a Licensed School Principal, Board Certified Behavior Analyst, and Certified Addictions Specialist. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Saint Peter’s University.
The 2025 OPEN MINDS Pitch Day—Tritone Health
Tritone Health is revolutionizing care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and brain injuries through Gen AI-powered digital tools. Their app, Medii, personalizes support, enhances communication, and improves access to care, effectively reducing preventable hospital visits and costly crisis interventions. By providing health education to caregivers and providers, Medii fosters personalized care and better decision-making. The app is already adopted by the English hospital system and is set to expand into the United States.
Dr. Naveed Iqbal, MBBS, MChem
Dr. Naveed Iqbal is the Founder and CEO of Tritone Health, the company behind the Medii platform. A pioneering platform designed to support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), brain injuries, and dementia. Drawing on over 15 years as a Primary Care Physician, Dr. Iqbal leads work at the intersection of technology, prevention, and health equity. Medii empowers individuals, families, and care teams by improving communication, promoting self-management, and enhancing access to care. Dr. Iqbal is passionate about advancing digital inclusion and healthier outcomes for people with complex needs across the U.S. and internationally.
Jonathan Evans
Jonathan Evans, MS, brings 30 years of experience in the behavioral health field.
Previously, Mr. Evans was the Chief Executive Officer of InnovaTel Telepsychiatry, LLC. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health, an organization known for clinical innovations. He brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in the design of community-based programs, new service line development, expertise in telehealth-based service delivery, and governance and leadership expertise.
Mr. Evans began his career at Hamot Institute for Behavioral Health (IBH), where he initially worked in the emergency department providing initial evaluations for patients. He had a long tenure at Hamot IBH, serving as both Director of the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center (DEC) and the Director of the Adult Division.
Mr. Evans left Hamot IBH in 1993 to become the Founding Chief Executive of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health. Safe Harbor was established to assist the State of Pennsylvania with an initiative to close state hospitals and move consumers with serious mental illnesses to the community. Safe Harbor provides intensive outpatient services to patients with serious mental illness and provides 24-hour a day crisis intervention services to anyone in Erie County. The program’s annual operating budget has grown from the initial $300,000 to over $8 million. Safe Harbor currently provides services to over 4,000 consumers each year.
Mr. Evans is also the Founding President of Northwest Beacon Group, LLC. Northwest Beacon, a subsidiary of Safe Harbor, provides outpatient behavioral health services in the Erie community and employee assistance services to over 100 organizations with over 40,000 employees.
Mr. Evans was also the Founding Board Chairman of Presque Isle Psychiatric Associates, a non-profit organization that provides psychiatric coverage for hospitals and community-based providers. In addition, he serves on many boards, including The Pennsylvania Community Providers Association, The Erie Center on Health and Aging and Community Behavioral HealthCare Network of Pennsylvania Provider Advisory Board.
Mr. Evans received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and his Masters’ Degree in Clinical Psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Grant Chamberlain
Grant Chamberlain joined Ziegler in 2015 as a managing director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Practice. With over 25 years of investment banking experience, Grant has dedicated the majority of his career to advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies with particular focus on transactions with telehealth companies such as Vimly, CXC, TM2U, Somnoware, Avera eCare, Philips Lifeline / ConnectAmerica, Tridiuum, Anelto, SmartMeter, CancerIQ, Validic, Doctible, CentralLogic, SCI, Regroup, Forefront, Basys, Airstrip, Forefront, IRIS, MDLIVE and Voalte.
Prior to Ziegler, Grant led the mHealth sector coverage at Raymond James – which included telehealth, remote monitoring and wireless healthcare solutions – after spending 25 years advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies on a broad variety of M&A, joint ventures/partnerships and private financings. Additionally, Grant has completed dozens of transactions in the physician practice management space with a specific concentration in oncology, having closed over 15 deals in that sector in his career.
Prior to Raymond James, Grant was a principal at Shattuck Hammond Partners, which was acquired by Morgan Keegan. He was also a part of the corporate finance group of General Electric Capital Corporation and the financial services division of GE Medical Systems.
In addition, Grant is an elected Director of the ATA, the leading international advocate for the use of advanced remote medical technologies. He is also on the Board of Directors for The MAVEN Project, which uses telehealth and a network of volunteer physicians affiliated with the nation’s foremost medical school alumni associations to improve healthcare access for underserved populations.
Grant earned a B.A. in finance and investment banking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tania S. Malik, J.D.
As co-founder of The Office of CEO, Tania brings a 25-year success record of C-level leadership, board experience, interim executive engagements, consultancy, investor experience, and serial entrepreneurship with multiple successful exits. Over the course of her career, she has realized several industry firsts as she launched several telemedicine companies starting in 1999. She is the Founder or Co-Founder of Medical Web, Inc, Virtual Medical Group, Inc. 1stonlinepharmacy.com (all related to online primary care with Medical Web being acquired), Vital Health Network. LLC (an online naturopathic company that implemented with Aetna), COPE Today, LLC (a telemental health company acquired by a venture firm), Virtual Medical Services and Veteran Benefit Management Services (dedicated to providing Independent Medical Opinions for veterans).
After two exits, she pivoted to board work, consultancy, and investments.
She serves as executive advisor to Excelerate Health Ventures (focusing on health SAAS companies) and member of Triangle Angel Partners (includes companies outside of healthcare).
As COO of the Center of Digital Health, Innovation and Telehealth for Optum, she focused on a virtual-first care delivery model. She also served as a strategic advisory board member for OmnySense, Inc. and Innovatel Telepsychiatry, acquired by Quartet Health in 2021. As co-founder and CEO of Medical Web, she led the first-of-its-kind online physician-patient communication platform to acquisition in 2014. She also served on the Board of Directors for Mindcare Solutions Group upon its 2013 acquisition of COPE Today, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood Direct and other non-profit boards. She is a Fellow in the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) College of Fellows and was the ATA Woman of the Year in 2020.
Early in her career, Tania practiced law as a Senior Enforcement Attorney with the Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Georgia, and held the position of Administrative Law Judge with the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH) as well as General Counsel for an HMO, Master Health Plan, Inc. A key tenure in management consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ healthcare practice in Atlanta served as a launch pad for business and entrepreneurial opportunities across the healthcare space.
Tania holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University, and a Doctor of Law from Georgia State University College of Law.
Steven Mason, M.Ed.
Steven is a Managing Partner and healthcare industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience starting and operating market-leading technology and services companies in the health and human services industries.
He has been instrumental in Fund I’s investments, including Care Continuity, where he recently served as CEO. Prior to serving as Executive Vice President at Iodine, Steven was the Chief Executive Officer at ChartWise Medical Systems, Inc., a computer-assisted clinical documentation system company that automated and improved the completeness and accuracy of physician documentation for faster and more optimal reimbursement of services provided. Iodine acquired ChartWise in 2021.
Prior to his success with ChartWise, he led several successful start-up ventures including OnFocus Healthcare, a leading provider of web-based enterprise performance management software solutions for healthcare providers and payers. The company was acquired by MedeAnalytics, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the EPM Business Unit. In this role, Steven was primarily responsible for integrating, managing, and growing the Mede Performance Management (MedePM) business unit within the broader MedeAnalytics portfolio.
Additionally, he was Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualifacts Systems, a SaaS based electronic medical records software provider, and Chief Operating Officer of Camelot Care Centers, a national behavioral healthcare provider organization.
Steven received his BA in History from the University of Mississippi and an M.Ed. Human and Organizational development / counseling from Vanderbilt University. Mr. Mason currently serves on the Board of Directors of several private digital health companies.
John Tote
John is a strategic business development innovator who can engage and assist a variety of agencies and organizations in providing a vibrant foundation and platform for growth. John has more than 30 years of working in and partnering with groups of all sizes to create unique pathways of excellence designed on each entity’s individual characteristics, needs and goals.
With his passion for seeing others succeed, John has developed a career of advocacy, service, and organizational growth and excellence. In roles ranging from business and strategic development leadership to CEO, through John’s guidance organizations have experienced more than $800 million of financial growth. Further, these organizations have been able to hire more than 4,600 additional professionals to assist in service delivery and community enhancement.
John has also been able to utilize his experience and background in for-profit, not-for-profit, public sector and academic settings to provide motivating and thought-provoking messages to thousands of individuals and groups around the country. John’s extensive written articles, in-person presentations, podcast and webinar events now number more than 500. Additionally, John has also directed and hosted more than 85 conferences and seminars throughout the US.
With an ever-changing health and human services landscape, John continues to provide a stable base of usable, realistic leadership that is vital to payers and providers of services in critical areas of organizational quality and impact, such as strategy development, operational growth, leadership development, governance, financial modeling, integrated care planning and network development, the use of data and analytics, mission and vision development, marketing, communications, brand differentiation and more.
Evolving Best Practice Models In Whole Person Care For People With Cognitive Disabilities: A Panel Discussion
As we embark on times of great change, organizations must reflect on where they are on the journey to whole person care, and what their strategic vision for the future is. With challenges like funding for dual eligibles and complex care individuals, organizations are looking for ways to integrate care to ensure there is “no wrong door” when consumers are receiving services.
Join a panel of experts and hear how they are addressing these challenges by shifting to integrated care models and developing innovative programs in order to serve the most complex and costliest of consumers with great outcomes and cost-savings to the system.
During this session, attendees will hear:
- Advances in whole person care models for people with cognitive disabilities, including technology, staffing, and service models of care
- The legal, governance, and programmatic strategies when implementing a whole person care model
- Solutions to integrate whole person care strategies for a more holistic and impactful approach to service delivery
Tine Hansen-Turton, MGA/MPA, J.D., FCPP, FAAN
A seasoned Healthcare and Human Services Executive with 25 years of experience in C-suite executive leadership throughout her career in Nonprofit, Private, and Government Organizations, Tine Hansen-Turton is the President and CEO of Woods System of Care (WSOC). WSOC is a leading population health and advocacy organization in PA and NJ that provides life cycle care to meet the lifelong needs of children and adults with intellectual disabilities and autism (ID/A), acquired brain injuries, and /or mental health challenges who may also have complex medical and genetic conditions. She oversees 7500 staff that serves more than 52,000 individuals. Ms. Hansen-Turton also serves as the founding Executive Director and Administrator for the Convenient Care Association (CCA), the national trade association of over 3500 private-sector retail clinic industry, serving 40 million people with basic health care services across the country. Ms. Hansen-Turton formerly served as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Public Health Management Corporation, where she oversaw and led corporate strategy, operations, business development, and M&A. Additionally, Ms. Hansen-Turton served as CEO of the National Nurse-led Care Consortium, a non-profit organization supporting the growth and development of over 500 nurse-managed and school health clinics. Ms. Hansen-Turton also teaches public and social innovations, leading nonprofits, health policy, and the social innovations lab at the University of Pennsylvania Fels Institute of Government and School of Nursing. Ms. Hansen-Turton is the founder and publisher of a social impact/innovation journal and has published eight books. She received her BA from Slippery Rock University, her Master of Government/Public Administration from the University of Pennsylvania Fels Institute of Government, and her Juris Doctor from Temple University Beasley School of Law.
Simon Kimmelman
Simon Kimmelman, Esq., serves as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating and Legal Officer for the Woods System of Care. In his role as Chief Legal Officer, he heads up the Woods Legal Department and oversees all law-related matters for Woods, its affiliates, and related entities. As Chief Operating Officer, he is directly responsible for implementing the Woods Strategic Directions Plan and coordinating the Woods System of Care operations. Previously, he was a member of Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. and served as Managing Partner of the Firm’s Princeton, New Jersey office. Mr. Kimmelman’s practice was focused on business bankruptcy, health law, general corporate matters, and commercial litigation. He has represented major entities involved in many of the most significant Chapter 11 cases filed in New Jersey and several other jurisdictions. He served as the bankruptcy trustee for Kiwi International Airlines and John Z. DeLorean. He is admitted to the Bar in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and former Chair of the Bankruptcy Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association and the Lawyers’ Advisory Committee to the New Jersey Bankruptcy Court. In recognition of his contributions to the advancement of medicine and dental medicine, he has recently been elected a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Mr. Kimmelman has been involved in various charitable endeavors and most recently served as President of Har Sinai Temple in Pennington, New Jersey. He also served as a long-standing Member and Board Chair of the Woods Resources Board of Trustees. Mr. Kimmelman received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School.
Dr. Sailaja Musunuri
Dr. Sailaja Musunuri, MD, Executive Vice President of Integrative Medicine and Chief of Psychiatry. Dr. Musunuri is an accomplished physician, psychiatrist, and leader with over 20 years of experience in clinical practice, specializing in the care of children and adults with intellectual disabilities, autism, co-occurring psychiatric disorders, and other complex medical conditions. She currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Integrative Medicine and Chief of Psychiatry at Woods System of Care, where she is recognized for her exceptional leadership, innovative thinking, and ability to deliver results across diverse clinical settings. Double board-certified in both Adult and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Dr. Musunuri is known for her compassionate, high-quality care and her ability to think creatively, challenging conventional approaches to healthcare. Her leadership extends beyond clinical practice to include fostering key collaborations with nonprofit health organizations and pharmaceutical leaders, focusing on improving services and outcomes for individuals with intellectual disabilities. She has played a pivotal role in building trust and driving mission-critical initiatives within her organization. Dr. Musunuri is also the founder of the Mollie Woods Hare Center for Excellence in Neurodivergence – Intellectual Disability, Autism, and Mental Health, which serves as the training and dissemination hub for best practices in the field. In addition, she is an active Board Member of The Network: Toward Unity for Health (TUFH), a global non-state actor aligned with the World Health Organization. TUFH works to foster equitable, community-oriented health services and research globally, and Dr. Musunuri’s involvement further underscores her commitment to enhancing healthcare access for vulnerable populations. With her unique combination of clinical expertise, leadership, and global partnerships, Dr. Musunuri continues to drive forward the strategic goals of Woods System of Care, ensuring that individuals with disabilities receive the highest quality of care and support. Her connections across the U.S. and India are instrumental in developing new programs and partnerships aimed at improving services for people with disabilities in both regions.
Jeanne Marshall, M.Ed, MA, BCBA, LBA
Jeanne Marshall has been affiliated with the Easterseals Midwest organization since 1987 when she began volunteering and working as a classroom assistant. She graduated from the University of Missouri with a Master’s degree in Special Education in 1991. She served in a variety of program roles prior to becoming the Director of the Training Program in 1997. In 2004, Jeanne was appointed as Chief Program Officer for and continued in that role until 2024 when she was appointed President. In 2004, she completed a Master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from The University of Nevada and is a Board Certified and Licensed Behavior Analyst. She also holds teaching certifications in Special Education for Learning Disabilities and Behavior Disorders.
Jeanne has served for more than 15 years as a surveyor for CARF International , a not for profit organization that reviews and grants accreditation for organizations providing services in the industry. She has served on the Board of Directors for St. Bridget of Kildare School, The Association for Aging With Developmental Disabilities, the Missouri Association for Behavior Analysis, and The Autism Collective. She currently serves on the Missouri Autism Commission and the Starling Board of Directors.
Tisha Jackson
Tisha Jackson is an experienced executive leader in healthcare operations, currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer at Abound Health. In this role, Tisha is responsible for leading operational strategies, ensuring quality and compliance, and fostering innovation.
Previously, as a Novant Health leader, she was responsible for both ambulatory and acute facility neuroscience programming. Tisha holds a Master of Science in Health Administration from Louisiana State University at Shreveport and is dedicated to advancing quality outcomes in healthcare.
The 2025 OPEN MINDS Pitch Day—5e Analytics
5e Analytics transforms complex data into actionable insights using AI and machine learning. Their proprietary platform, Memphi, offers a range of analytics solutions from descriptive insights to advanced predictive models, automating decision-making processes. With integrations from over 50 data sources, including payroll, EHR, and marketing systems, Memphi empowers organizations to harness their data effectively.
Alex Pelaez
Dr. Alexander Pelaez is a Professor in the Information Systems and Business Analytics department at Hofstra University. His research interests include artificial intelligence, machine learning, healthcare information systems and technology strategy. He has over 15 journal publications and 30 conference publications on topics across artificial intelligence, machine learning, financial systems, healthcare and econometrics. In addition to his academic role, Dr. Pelaez serves as the Chief Executive Officer of 5e Analytics, a data science firm specializing in providing comprehensive data services, including a robust enterprise data platform to integrate data across a number of systems and provide for visualizations and data science including AI/ML and Natural Language Processing. Dr. Pelaez’s professional experience spans over two decades in senior management positions within various companies. His extensive background in both academia and industry underscores his expertise in leveraging artificial intelligence, data science and analytics to drive informed decision-making across multiple sectors.
Jonathan Evans
Jonathan Evans, MS, brings 30 years of experience in the behavioral health field.
Previously, Mr. Evans was the Chief Executive Officer of InnovaTel Telepsychiatry, LLC. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health, an organization known for clinical innovations. He brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in the design of community-based programs, new service line development, expertise in telehealth-based service delivery, and governance and leadership expertise.
Mr. Evans began his career at Hamot Institute for Behavioral Health (IBH), where he initially worked in the emergency department providing initial evaluations for patients. He had a long tenure at Hamot IBH, serving as both Director of the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center (DEC) and the Director of the Adult Division.
Mr. Evans left Hamot IBH in 1993 to become the Founding Chief Executive of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health. Safe Harbor was established to assist the State of Pennsylvania with an initiative to close state hospitals and move consumers with serious mental illnesses to the community. Safe Harbor provides intensive outpatient services to patients with serious mental illness and provides 24-hour a day crisis intervention services to anyone in Erie County. The program’s annual operating budget has grown from the initial $300,000 to over $8 million. Safe Harbor currently provides services to over 4,000 consumers each year.
Mr. Evans is also the Founding President of Northwest Beacon Group, LLC. Northwest Beacon, a subsidiary of Safe Harbor, provides outpatient behavioral health services in the Erie community and employee assistance services to over 100 organizations with over 40,000 employees.
Mr. Evans was also the Founding Board Chairman of Presque Isle Psychiatric Associates, a non-profit organization that provides psychiatric coverage for hospitals and community-based providers. In addition, he serves on many boards, including The Pennsylvania Community Providers Association, The Erie Center on Health and Aging and Community Behavioral HealthCare Network of Pennsylvania Provider Advisory Board.
Mr. Evans received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and his Masters’ Degree in Clinical Psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Grant Chamberlain
Grant Chamberlain joined Ziegler in 2015 as a managing director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Practice. With over 25 years of investment banking experience, Grant has dedicated the majority of his career to advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies with particular focus on transactions with telehealth companies such as Vimly, CXC, TM2U, Somnoware, Avera eCare, Philips Lifeline / ConnectAmerica, Tridiuum, Anelto, SmartMeter, CancerIQ, Validic, Doctible, CentralLogic, SCI, Regroup, Forefront, Basys, Airstrip, Forefront, IRIS, MDLIVE and Voalte.
Prior to Ziegler, Grant led the mHealth sector coverage at Raymond James – which included telehealth, remote monitoring and wireless healthcare solutions – after spending 25 years advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies on a broad variety of M&A, joint ventures/partnerships and private financings. Additionally, Grant has completed dozens of transactions in the physician practice management space with a specific concentration in oncology, having closed over 15 deals in that sector in his career.
Prior to Raymond James, Grant was a principal at Shattuck Hammond Partners, which was acquired by Morgan Keegan. He was also a part of the corporate finance group of General Electric Capital Corporation and the financial services division of GE Medical Systems.
In addition, Grant is an elected Director of the ATA, the leading international advocate for the use of advanced remote medical technologies. He is also on the Board of Directors for The MAVEN Project, which uses telehealth and a network of volunteer physicians affiliated with the nation’s foremost medical school alumni associations to improve healthcare access for underserved populations.
Grant earned a B.A. in finance and investment banking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tania S. Malik, J.D.
As co-founder of The Office of CEO, Tania brings a 25-year success record of C-level leadership, board experience, interim executive engagements, consultancy, investor experience, and serial entrepreneurship with multiple successful exits. Over the course of her career, she has realized several industry firsts as she launched several telemedicine companies starting in 1999. She is the Founder or Co-Founder of Medical Web, Inc, Virtual Medical Group, Inc. 1stonlinepharmacy.com (all related to online primary care with Medical Web being acquired), Vital Health Network. LLC (an online naturopathic company that implemented with Aetna), COPE Today, LLC (a telemental health company acquired by a venture firm), Virtual Medical Services and Veteran Benefit Management Services (dedicated to providing Independent Medical Opinions for veterans).
After two exits, she pivoted to board work, consultancy, and investments.
She serves as executive advisor to Excelerate Health Ventures (focusing on health SAAS companies) and member of Triangle Angel Partners (includes companies outside of healthcare).
As COO of the Center of Digital Health, Innovation and Telehealth for Optum, she focused on a virtual-first care delivery model. She also served as a strategic advisory board member for OmnySense, Inc. and Innovatel Telepsychiatry, acquired by Quartet Health in 2021. As co-founder and CEO of Medical Web, she led the first-of-its-kind online physician-patient communication platform to acquisition in 2014. She also served on the Board of Directors for Mindcare Solutions Group upon its 2013 acquisition of COPE Today, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood Direct and other non-profit boards. She is a Fellow in the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) College of Fellows and was the ATA Woman of the Year in 2020.
Early in her career, Tania practiced law as a Senior Enforcement Attorney with the Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Georgia, and held the position of Administrative Law Judge with the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH) as well as General Counsel for an HMO, Master Health Plan, Inc. A key tenure in management consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ healthcare practice in Atlanta served as a launch pad for business and entrepreneurial opportunities across the healthcare space.
Tania holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University, and a Doctor of Law from Georgia State University College of Law.
Steven Mason, M.Ed.
Steven is a Managing Partner and healthcare industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience starting and operating market-leading technology and services companies in the health and human services industries.
He has been instrumental in Fund I’s investments, including Care Continuity, where he recently served as CEO. Prior to serving as Executive Vice President at Iodine, Steven was the Chief Executive Officer at ChartWise Medical Systems, Inc., a computer-assisted clinical documentation system company that automated and improved the completeness and accuracy of physician documentation for faster and more optimal reimbursement of services provided. Iodine acquired ChartWise in 2021.
Prior to his success with ChartWise, he led several successful start-up ventures including OnFocus Healthcare, a leading provider of web-based enterprise performance management software solutions for healthcare providers and payers. The company was acquired by MedeAnalytics, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the EPM Business Unit. In this role, Steven was primarily responsible for integrating, managing, and growing the Mede Performance Management (MedePM) business unit within the broader MedeAnalytics portfolio.
Additionally, he was Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualifacts Systems, a SaaS based electronic medical records software provider, and Chief Operating Officer of Camelot Care Centers, a national behavioral healthcare provider organization.
Steven received his BA in History from the University of Mississippi and an M.Ed. Human and Organizational development / counseling from Vanderbilt University. Mr. Mason currently serves on the Board of Directors of several private digital health companies.
John Tote
John is a strategic business development innovator who can engage and assist a variety of agencies and organizations in providing a vibrant foundation and platform for growth. John has more than 30 years of working in and partnering with groups of all sizes to create unique pathways of excellence designed on each entity’s individual characteristics, needs and goals.
With his passion for seeing others succeed, John has developed a career of advocacy, service, and organizational growth and excellence. In roles ranging from business and strategic development leadership to CEO, through John’s guidance organizations have experienced more than $800 million of financial growth. Further, these organizations have been able to hire more than 4,600 additional professionals to assist in service delivery and community enhancement.
John has also been able to utilize his experience and background in for-profit, not-for-profit, public sector and academic settings to provide motivating and thought-provoking messages to thousands of individuals and groups around the country. John’s extensive written articles, in-person presentations, podcast and webinar events now number more than 500. Additionally, John has also directed and hosted more than 85 conferences and seminars throughout the US.
With an ever-changing health and human services landscape, John continues to provide a stable base of usable, realistic leadership that is vital to payers and providers of services in critical areas of organizational quality and impact, such as strategy development, operational growth, leadership development, governance, financial modeling, integrated care planning and network development, the use of data and analytics, mission and vision development, marketing, communications, brand differentiation and more.
The 2025 OPEN MINDS Pitch Day—Mindsigns Health
Mindsigns Health provides a cloud-based platform addressing neuropsychiatric illnesses like epilepsy and schizophrenia. By processing diverse data types, their system offers insights for treatment monitoring and symptom evolution, leading to better healthcare outcomes through timely interventions. The NeuroBrowser is currently being tested in Singapore’s healthcare system and a major US hospital, with the potential to reduce EEG analysis time by up to 75% in ICU and ambulatory settings. Their mobile product, GenMind, supports remote monitoring for cognitive impairments, enhanced by an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) pipeline aimed at improving patient functionality.
Michel Birnbaum
Michel is co-founder and CEO of Mindsigns Health™ Inc a cloud-based neuropsychiatry platform with international collaborations and partnerships.
Michel is currently Director of Entrepreneurship and Research Translation at NTU-SCELSE, working on technology commercialization via spinoffs and industry collaborations and partnerships, strategy and corporate development.
During that time he was also responsible for the development and operations, from 2019-2022, of the Singapore National Biofilm Consortium, creating partnerships in the US, UK and EU and funding proof of concept and tech transfer projects between academia and industry.
Michel was a lecturer for the MIT-SMART ACT program where he developed and taught the course “Lab to Market”.
He is also co-founder and advisor to two other healthcare spinoffs involved in anti-microbials and microbiome.
Michel has held board positions with a number of technology and healthcare growth companies internationally, in operational and advisory roles and has managed technology & healthcare IPOs on both European markets and NASDAQ as well as M&A and investments.
Michel served as Vice Chairman of the Singapore Venture Capital Association (SVCA) and was a member of the Executive Council of BioSingapore. Michel won the SVCA’s Highest Impact VC/PE-Backed Company Non-Executive Board Member award in 2013
Michel holds a B.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering (PINY) and attended General Electric’s Advanced Engineering program. Michel was a graduate of General Electric’s Edison Program. He earned his MBA from the London Business School and has certifications in machine learning, data privacy and QMS for Medtech.
Jonathan Evans
Jonathan Evans, MS, brings 30 years of experience in the behavioral health field.
Previously, Mr. Evans was the Chief Executive Officer of InnovaTel Telepsychiatry, LLC. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health, an organization known for clinical innovations. He brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in the design of community-based programs, new service line development, expertise in telehealth-based service delivery, and governance and leadership expertise.
Mr. Evans began his career at Hamot Institute for Behavioral Health (IBH), where he initially worked in the emergency department providing initial evaluations for patients. He had a long tenure at Hamot IBH, serving as both Director of the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center (DEC) and the Director of the Adult Division.
Mr. Evans left Hamot IBH in 1993 to become the Founding Chief Executive of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health. Safe Harbor was established to assist the State of Pennsylvania with an initiative to close state hospitals and move consumers with serious mental illnesses to the community. Safe Harbor provides intensive outpatient services to patients with serious mental illness and provides 24-hour a day crisis intervention services to anyone in Erie County. The program’s annual operating budget has grown from the initial $300,000 to over $8 million. Safe Harbor currently provides services to over 4,000 consumers each year.
Mr. Evans is also the Founding President of Northwest Beacon Group, LLC. Northwest Beacon, a subsidiary of Safe Harbor, provides outpatient behavioral health services in the Erie community and employee assistance services to over 100 organizations with over 40,000 employees.
Mr. Evans was also the Founding Board Chairman of Presque Isle Psychiatric Associates, a non-profit organization that provides psychiatric coverage for hospitals and community-based providers. In addition, he serves on many boards, including The Pennsylvania Community Providers Association, The Erie Center on Health and Aging and Community Behavioral HealthCare Network of Pennsylvania Provider Advisory Board.
Mr. Evans received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and his Masters’ Degree in Clinical Psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Grant Chamberlain
Grant Chamberlain joined Ziegler in 2015 as a managing director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Practice. With over 25 years of investment banking experience, Grant has dedicated the majority of his career to advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies with particular focus on transactions with telehealth companies such as Vimly, CXC, TM2U, Somnoware, Avera eCare, Philips Lifeline / ConnectAmerica, Tridiuum, Anelto, SmartMeter, CancerIQ, Validic, Doctible, CentralLogic, SCI, Regroup, Forefront, Basys, Airstrip, Forefront, IRIS, MDLIVE and Voalte.
Prior to Ziegler, Grant led the mHealth sector coverage at Raymond James – which included telehealth, remote monitoring and wireless healthcare solutions – after spending 25 years advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies on a broad variety of M&A, joint ventures/partnerships and private financings. Additionally, Grant has completed dozens of transactions in the physician practice management space with a specific concentration in oncology, having closed over 15 deals in that sector in his career.
Prior to Raymond James, Grant was a principal at Shattuck Hammond Partners, which was acquired by Morgan Keegan. He was also a part of the corporate finance group of General Electric Capital Corporation and the financial services division of GE Medical Systems.
In addition, Grant is an elected Director of the ATA, the leading international advocate for the use of advanced remote medical technologies. He is also on the Board of Directors for The MAVEN Project, which uses telehealth and a network of volunteer physicians affiliated with the nation’s foremost medical school alumni associations to improve healthcare access for underserved populations.
Grant earned a B.A. in finance and investment banking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tania S. Malik, J.D.
As co-founder of The Office of CEO, Tania brings a 25-year success record of C-level leadership, board experience, interim executive engagements, consultancy, investor experience, and serial entrepreneurship with multiple successful exits. Over the course of her career, she has realized several industry firsts as she launched several telemedicine companies starting in 1999. She is the Founder or Co-Founder of Medical Web, Inc, Virtual Medical Group, Inc. 1stonlinepharmacy.com (all related to online primary care with Medical Web being acquired), Vital Health Network. LLC (an online naturopathic company that implemented with Aetna), COPE Today, LLC (a telemental health company acquired by a venture firm), Virtual Medical Services and Veteran Benefit Management Services (dedicated to providing Independent Medical Opinions for veterans).
After two exits, she pivoted to board work, consultancy, and investments.
She serves as executive advisor to Excelerate Health Ventures (focusing on health SAAS companies) and member of Triangle Angel Partners (includes companies outside of healthcare).
As COO of the Center of Digital Health, Innovation and Telehealth for Optum, she focused on a virtual-first care delivery model. She also served as a strategic advisory board member for OmnySense, Inc. and Innovatel Telepsychiatry, acquired by Quartet Health in 2021. As co-founder and CEO of Medical Web, she led the first-of-its-kind online physician-patient communication platform to acquisition in 2014. She also served on the Board of Directors for Mindcare Solutions Group upon its 2013 acquisition of COPE Today, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood Direct and other non-profit boards. She is a Fellow in the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) College of Fellows and was the ATA Woman of the Year in 2020.
Early in her career, Tania practiced law as a Senior Enforcement Attorney with the Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Georgia, and held the position of Administrative Law Judge with the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH) as well as General Counsel for an HMO, Master Health Plan, Inc. A key tenure in management consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ healthcare practice in Atlanta served as a launch pad for business and entrepreneurial opportunities across the healthcare space.
Tania holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University, and a Doctor of Law from Georgia State University College of Law.
Steven Mason, M.Ed.
Steven is a Managing Partner and healthcare industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience starting and operating market-leading technology and services companies in the health and human services industries.
He has been instrumental in Fund I’s investments, including Care Continuity, where he recently served as CEO. Prior to serving as Executive Vice President at Iodine, Steven was the Chief Executive Officer at ChartWise Medical Systems, Inc., a computer-assisted clinical documentation system company that automated and improved the completeness and accuracy of physician documentation for faster and more optimal reimbursement of services provided. Iodine acquired ChartWise in 2021.
Prior to his success with ChartWise, he led several successful start-up ventures including OnFocus Healthcare, a leading provider of web-based enterprise performance management software solutions for healthcare providers and payers. The company was acquired by MedeAnalytics, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the EPM Business Unit. In this role, Steven was primarily responsible for integrating, managing, and growing the Mede Performance Management (MedePM) business unit within the broader MedeAnalytics portfolio.
Additionally, he was Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualifacts Systems, a SaaS based electronic medical records software provider, and Chief Operating Officer of Camelot Care Centers, a national behavioral healthcare provider organization.
Steven received his BA in History from the University of Mississippi and an M.Ed. Human and Organizational development / counseling from Vanderbilt University. Mr. Mason currently serves on the Board of Directors of several private digital health companies.
John Tote
John is a strategic business development innovator who can engage and assist a variety of agencies and organizations in providing a vibrant foundation and platform for growth. John has more than 30 years of working in and partnering with groups of all sizes to create unique pathways of excellence designed on each entity’s individual characteristics, needs and goals.
With his passion for seeing others succeed, John has developed a career of advocacy, service, and organizational growth and excellence. In roles ranging from business and strategic development leadership to CEO, through John’s guidance organizations have experienced more than $800 million of financial growth. Further, these organizations have been able to hire more than 4,600 additional professionals to assist in service delivery and community enhancement.
John has also been able to utilize his experience and background in for-profit, not-for-profit, public sector and academic settings to provide motivating and thought-provoking messages to thousands of individuals and groups around the country. John’s extensive written articles, in-person presentations, podcast and webinar events now number more than 500. Additionally, John has also directed and hosted more than 85 conferences and seminars throughout the US.
With an ever-changing health and human services landscape, John continues to provide a stable base of usable, realistic leadership that is vital to payers and providers of services in critical areas of organizational quality and impact, such as strategy development, operational growth, leadership development, governance, financial modeling, integrated care planning and network development, the use of data and analytics, mission and vision development, marketing, communications, brand differentiation and more.
Innovation From Within: Leveraging Partnerships, People & Data To Drive Real-World Results
Sponsored By: 
You don’t have to look for the “next big thing” to drive innovation at your clinic. And in today’s uncertain environment, adding risk to your clinic is off the table. In this discussion with Brad Farmer, executive director at Acadiana Area Human Services District, and Brittany Miller, pharmacist and director of partnerships at Genoa Healthcare, you’ll hear how the two organizations looked inward to find innovation, including:
- Ways to improve access to care for their consumers
- How to collaborate as one care team to improve outcomes and reduce staff burdens
- How to lean on existing data and reporting to maintain CARF accreditation and other standards
Brad Farmer
Brad Farmer is the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of Acadiana Area Human Services District (AAHSD) in Lafayette, Louisiana and has approximately thirty-three years of professional experience. AAHSD provides substance abuse, mental health, and developmental disabilities services to individuals (adults and children/adolescents) and families within a seven-parish area. Through direct service and contract providers, AAHSD serves approximately 40,000 persons per year.
AAHSD has received and maintained the highest level of accreditation by CARF International through four surveys in the areas of Behavioral Health and Employment & Community Services. In October 2022 AAHSD received a four-year CCBHC-PDI grant from SAMHSA to transform its service delivery system into a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic. In October 2023, AAHSD was surveyed by CARF International and was the first organization in the country to earn accreditation as a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic.
Brad has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northeast Louisiana University (now the University of Louisiana Monroe) in psychology and substance abuse counseling and maintains a professional credential as a Licensed Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselor. He has also earned an MBA in Healthcare Management from Western Governors University.
Brittany Miller, PharmD
Brittany is a 2009 Graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana College of Pharmacy, where she obtained a Doctor of Pharmacy and Bachelor of Science all while being a college athlete. She has worked as a licensed Pharmacist in Arkansas and Louisiana in retail pharmacy and opened an independent pharmacy in Arkansas. Brittany joined Genoa Healthcare in 2020 as a pharmacy site manager and recently transitioned to Director of Partnerships and Client Success supporting Genoa’s partners in the Southern and Mid-Atlantic regions.
Genoa Healthcare operates behavioral health pharmacies located within community mental health centers across the country. As a pharmacist at Genoa, Brittany was able to build strong relationships with her consumers, clinic partners and the community, which empowered her to improve consumer outcomes, provide critical support to providers and develop a deep understanding of the needs and challenges community mental health centers face. That expertise is crucial in her current role, where she’s responsible for maintaining strategic relationships with Genoa’s clinic partners across her region.
The 2025 OPEN MINDS Pitch Day—Hearo
Hearo Technologies brings a flexible, person-centered approach to remote support, enabling provider agencies to design and deliver custom programs tailored to individual needs. The ecosystem—featuring patented devices, mobile and tablet apps, a real-time monitoring dashboard with custom notifications, automations, and communication tools—empowers greater independence for individuals while supporting their care circles, including service coordinators, families, and caregivers.
Myke Bates
Myke Bates, co-founder and CEO of Hearo Technologies, leads the company in creating innovative assistive technology that empowers individuals to live more independently. His forward-thinking approach drives Hearo’s mission to improve lives through empathetic, human-centered design.
Jonathan Evans
Jonathan Evans, MS, brings 30 years of experience in the behavioral health field.
Previously, Mr. Evans was the Chief Executive Officer of InnovaTel Telepsychiatry, LLC. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health, an organization known for clinical innovations. He brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in the design of community-based programs, new service line development, expertise in telehealth-based service delivery, and governance and leadership expertise.
Mr. Evans began his career at Hamot Institute for Behavioral Health (IBH), where he initially worked in the emergency department providing initial evaluations for patients. He had a long tenure at Hamot IBH, serving as both Director of the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center (DEC) and the Director of the Adult Division.
Mr. Evans left Hamot IBH in 1993 to become the Founding Chief Executive of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health. Safe Harbor was established to assist the State of Pennsylvania with an initiative to close state hospitals and move consumers with serious mental illnesses to the community. Safe Harbor provides intensive outpatient services to patients with serious mental illness and provides 24-hour a day crisis intervention services to anyone in Erie County. The program’s annual operating budget has grown from the initial $300,000 to over $8 million. Safe Harbor currently provides services to over 4,000 consumers each year.
Mr. Evans is also the Founding President of Northwest Beacon Group, LLC. Northwest Beacon, a subsidiary of Safe Harbor, provides outpatient behavioral health services in the Erie community and employee assistance services to over 100 organizations with over 40,000 employees.
Mr. Evans was also the Founding Board Chairman of Presque Isle Psychiatric Associates, a non-profit organization that provides psychiatric coverage for hospitals and community-based providers. In addition, he serves on many boards, including The Pennsylvania Community Providers Association, The Erie Center on Health and Aging and Community Behavioral HealthCare Network of Pennsylvania Provider Advisory Board.
Mr. Evans received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and his Masters’ Degree in Clinical Psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Grant Chamberlain
Grant Chamberlain joined Ziegler in 2015 as a managing director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Practice. With over 25 years of investment banking experience, Grant has dedicated the majority of his career to advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies with particular focus on transactions with telehealth companies such as Vimly, CXC, TM2U, Somnoware, Avera eCare, Philips Lifeline / ConnectAmerica, Tridiuum, Anelto, SmartMeter, CancerIQ, Validic, Doctible, CentralLogic, SCI, Regroup, Forefront, Basys, Airstrip, Forefront, IRIS, MDLIVE and Voalte.
Prior to Ziegler, Grant led the mHealth sector coverage at Raymond James – which included telehealth, remote monitoring and wireless healthcare solutions – after spending 25 years advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies on a broad variety of M&A, joint ventures/partnerships and private financings. Additionally, Grant has completed dozens of transactions in the physician practice management space with a specific concentration in oncology, having closed over 15 deals in that sector in his career.
Prior to Raymond James, Grant was a principal at Shattuck Hammond Partners, which was acquired by Morgan Keegan. He was also a part of the corporate finance group of General Electric Capital Corporation and the financial services division of GE Medical Systems.
In addition, Grant is an elected Director of the ATA, the leading international advocate for the use of advanced remote medical technologies. He is also on the Board of Directors for The MAVEN Project, which uses telehealth and a network of volunteer physicians affiliated with the nation’s foremost medical school alumni associations to improve healthcare access for underserved populations.
Grant earned a B.A. in finance and investment banking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tania S. Malik, J.D.
As co-founder of The Office of CEO, Tania brings a 25-year success record of C-level leadership, board experience, interim executive engagements, consultancy, investor experience, and serial entrepreneurship with multiple successful exits. Over the course of her career, she has realized several industry firsts as she launched several telemedicine companies starting in 1999. She is the Founder or Co-Founder of Medical Web, Inc, Virtual Medical Group, Inc. 1stonlinepharmacy.com (all related to online primary care with Medical Web being acquired), Vital Health Network. LLC (an online naturopathic company that implemented with Aetna), COPE Today, LLC (a telemental health company acquired by a venture firm), Virtual Medical Services and Veteran Benefit Management Services (dedicated to providing Independent Medical Opinions for veterans).
After two exits, she pivoted to board work, consultancy, and investments.
She serves as executive advisor to Excelerate Health Ventures (focusing on health SAAS companies) and member of Triangle Angel Partners (includes companies outside of healthcare).
As COO of the Center of Digital Health, Innovation and Telehealth for Optum, she focused on a virtual-first care delivery model. She also served as a strategic advisory board member for OmnySense, Inc. and Innovatel Telepsychiatry, acquired by Quartet Health in 2021. As co-founder and CEO of Medical Web, she led the first-of-its-kind online physician-patient communication platform to acquisition in 2014. She also served on the Board of Directors for Mindcare Solutions Group upon its 2013 acquisition of COPE Today, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood Direct and other non-profit boards. She is a Fellow in the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) College of Fellows and was the ATA Woman of the Year in 2020.
Early in her career, Tania practiced law as a Senior Enforcement Attorney with the Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Georgia, and held the position of Administrative Law Judge with the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH) as well as General Counsel for an HMO, Master Health Plan, Inc. A key tenure in management consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ healthcare practice in Atlanta served as a launch pad for business and entrepreneurial opportunities across the healthcare space.
Tania holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University, and a Doctor of Law from Georgia State University College of Law.
Steven Mason, M.Ed.
Steven is a Managing Partner and healthcare industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience starting and operating market-leading technology and services companies in the health and human services industries.
He has been instrumental in Fund I’s investments, including Care Continuity, where he recently served as CEO. Prior to serving as Executive Vice President at Iodine, Steven was the Chief Executive Officer at ChartWise Medical Systems, Inc., a computer-assisted clinical documentation system company that automated and improved the completeness and accuracy of physician documentation for faster and more optimal reimbursement of services provided. Iodine acquired ChartWise in 2021.
Prior to his success with ChartWise, he led several successful start-up ventures including OnFocus Healthcare, a leading provider of web-based enterprise performance management software solutions for healthcare providers and payers. The company was acquired by MedeAnalytics, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the EPM Business Unit. In this role, Steven was primarily responsible for integrating, managing, and growing the Mede Performance Management (MedePM) business unit within the broader MedeAnalytics portfolio.
Additionally, he was Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualifacts Systems, a SaaS based electronic medical records software provider, and Chief Operating Officer of Camelot Care Centers, a national behavioral healthcare provider organization.
Steven received his BA in History from the University of Mississippi and an M.Ed. Human and Organizational development / counseling from Vanderbilt University. Mr. Mason currently serves on the Board of Directors of several private digital health companies.
John Tote
John is a strategic business development innovator who can engage and assist a variety of agencies and organizations in providing a vibrant foundation and platform for growth. John has more than 30 years of working in and partnering with groups of all sizes to create unique pathways of excellence designed on each entity’s individual characteristics, needs and goals.
With his passion for seeing others succeed, John has developed a career of advocacy, service, and organizational growth and excellence. In roles ranging from business and strategic development leadership to CEO, through John’s guidance organizations have experienced more than $800 million of financial growth. Further, these organizations have been able to hire more than 4,600 additional professionals to assist in service delivery and community enhancement.
John has also been able to utilize his experience and background in for-profit, not-for-profit, public sector and academic settings to provide motivating and thought-provoking messages to thousands of individuals and groups around the country. John’s extensive written articles, in-person presentations, podcast and webinar events now number more than 500. Additionally, John has also directed and hosted more than 85 conferences and seminars throughout the US.
With an ever-changing health and human services landscape, John continues to provide a stable base of usable, realistic leadership that is vital to payers and providers of services in critical areas of organizational quality and impact, such as strategy development, operational growth, leadership development, governance, financial modeling, integrated care planning and network development, the use of data and analytics, mission and vision development, marketing, communications, brand differentiation and more.
Addressing Health-Related Social Needs In Your Service Delivery: Strategies & Solutions
Social determinants of health, such as housing instability, food insecurity, and lack of access to care significantly impact overall well-being, especially for those with cognitive disabilities. Service providers across various sectors of health care, social services, and community organizations, are increasingly called upon to address these needs to improve health outcomes. In this session, we will explore effective strategies for integrating health-related social needs into service delivery for the autism and I/DD populations.
This session will cover:
- Identifying common health related social needs in persons with cognitive disabilities
- Practical strategies for incorporating screenings and assessments into service delivery
- Building collaborative partnerships with community organizations and leveraging technology to better track and address social needs.
Marco Damiani, MA, BS, ABD
Marco Damiani has spent his entire career in disability rights, fighting for full inclusion of people with intellectual/developmental disabilities into their communities. Starting as a Direct Support Professional, working for a non-profit at the Willowbrook State School as it began closing, he quickly realized the power of collective advocacy on behalf of people who are perceived as different. As Marco’s career progressed, he devoted much of his energy in working to achieve health equity for people with disabilities, playing a major role in developing integrated care models for people frequently underserved by the conventional healthcare system.
As CEO of AHRC NYC, a Forbes Best American mid-size company, he leads a staff of 5,000, supporting 15,000 individuals with IDD and their families.
Marco is an appointee to the NYU College of Dentistry Dean’s Strategic Advisory Council and is a recipient of the Kriser Medal, the College’s highest honor, a recipient of Pace University’s Opportunitas-in-Action Medal, The Arc of the United States National Convention of Executives Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award, a Certificate of Special U.S. Congressional Recognition for outstanding and invaluable service to the community, Crain’s Business and Empire BCBS Whole-Healthcare Hero and The Excellence in Autism Award from Mental Health News Education. He has also received Citations from The NYS Assembly and the Bronx Borough President for Meritorious Advocacy and Community Service.
He is a Mayoral Appointee of the NYC Community Services Board, a member of NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ Transition Team, Board Member of the Inter-Agency Council of IDD Agencies, NY Disability Advocates, Care Design NY, Metro Community Health Centers, and Cafe Joyeux U.S., an international network of cafes staffed primarily by neurodiverse people. He has published articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities and the Journal of Social Work in Disability and Rehabilitation, among others. Marco has a BS in psychology from Manhattan College, a Masters in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University, and is ABD in Educational Psychology from New York University.
Nia Uhlenhake
With over a decade of experience in the field of Autism and advocacy, Nia Uhlenhake is the Family Support and Community Outreach Manager at AZA United, where she has been a driving force for the past six years. Nia’s journey in this field began 12 years ago when her son, now 17, was diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, ODD, and Anxiety. Motivated by a deep desire to understand the systems of care to better support her son, she began working at the Division of Developmental Disabilities as a Support Coordinator. This early experience ignited her passion for helping families navigate complex systems and led her to AZA United.
Starting as the sole Family Support Specialist, Nia helped develop the family support program from the ground up. Soon she began leading a thriving team of five additional family support specialists. Her unwavering commitment to advocacy and her “no stone left unturned” approach has made her a trusted resource for families, ensuring they receive the support and resources they need to thrive. Nia has become a reliable community resource and has been invited to present at multiple events and serve as a panelist, sharing her expertise and experiences with a wider audience. She was also the recipient of the 2024 Arizona Peer and Family Career Academy’s Family Support Partner of the Year Award, a recognition of her dedication to supporting families in need. Nia is passionate about creating lasting positive changes in the lives of families and individuals.
The 2025 OPEN MINDS Pitch Day—Predictive Power In I/DD: Using Data To Reduce ANE, Med Errors & DSP Turnover
At Vista Care, we’re reimagining the future of care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Launching later this year, our innovative approach leverages powerful data insights to transform how challenges are predicted, managed, and solved. By aggregating and analyzing information from across the I/DD ecosystem—including providers, caregivers, and technology platforms—we’re building a next-generation care model that supports service providers and empowers individuals to live fuller, more independent lives.
We collaborate with visionary I/DD providers and leading-edge tech partners to deliver smarter, data-informed care that not only improves outcomes but also drives long-term cost efficiency across the system.
Aaron Baca
Aaron joined Vista Care in 2024 to help lead the development of the next wave of tech-enabled I/DD services. Before Vista Care, he founded Mox Capital, where he partnered with innovative healthcare companies focused on reducing costs and enhancing outcomes. Aaron also served as Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Kingfish Group, where he sourced investment opportunities and drove strategic growth for portfolio companies. He holds a BA from Stanford University and a Master’s Degree from Oxford University.
The Monarch Whole Person Care Model: A Lunch & Learn Session
Join Blake Martin, President of Monarch, as he discusses how the organization is transforming its system of care through a behavioral led approach to primary care.
Blake Martin, MHA
Blake Martin, MHA, serves as Monarch’s President. Under the direction of Chief Executive Officer Dr. Peggy Terhune, Blake leads the organization’s strategic planning efforts, build and maintain relationships with state and national policymakers and oversee operations of key business units, enabling the company to continue as well as expand the delivery of exceptional care across all services.
As President, Blake is directly responsible for identifying and developing strategic opportunities and maintaining relationships with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, statewide local management entities and managed care organizations (LME/MCOs), social services agencies, licensing agencies and the people and families Monarch supports, among other key stakeholders.
Blake brings extensive experience in health care administration, operational oversight and fiscal management, having most recently served as Monarch’s Chief Strategy Officer, where he led the development and implementation of a new five-year strategic plan. He holds both a Master of Health Administration (MHA) degree and a bachelor’s degree from Pfeiffer University. He also serves as a member of Pfeiffer University’s Board of Trustees.
The 2025 OPEN MINDS Pitch Day—Welcome Back Remarks
Welcome back remarks and re-introduction of the judges.
Jonathan Evans
Jonathan Evans, MS, brings 30 years of experience in the behavioral health field.
Previously, Mr. Evans was the Chief Executive Officer of InnovaTel Telepsychiatry, LLC. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health, an organization known for clinical innovations. He brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in the design of community-based programs, new service line development, expertise in telehealth-based service delivery, and governance and leadership expertise.
Mr. Evans began his career at Hamot Institute for Behavioral Health (IBH), where he initially worked in the emergency department providing initial evaluations for patients. He had a long tenure at Hamot IBH, serving as both Director of the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center (DEC) and the Director of the Adult Division.
Mr. Evans left Hamot IBH in 1993 to become the Founding Chief Executive of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health. Safe Harbor was established to assist the State of Pennsylvania with an initiative to close state hospitals and move consumers with serious mental illnesses to the community. Safe Harbor provides intensive outpatient services to patients with serious mental illness and provides 24-hour a day crisis intervention services to anyone in Erie County. The program’s annual operating budget has grown from the initial $300,000 to over $8 million. Safe Harbor currently provides services to over 4,000 consumers each year.
Mr. Evans is also the Founding President of Northwest Beacon Group, LLC. Northwest Beacon, a subsidiary of Safe Harbor, provides outpatient behavioral health services in the Erie community and employee assistance services to over 100 organizations with over 40,000 employees.
Mr. Evans was also the Founding Board Chairman of Presque Isle Psychiatric Associates, a non-profit organization that provides psychiatric coverage for hospitals and community-based providers. In addition, he serves on many boards, including The Pennsylvania Community Providers Association, The Erie Center on Health and Aging and Community Behavioral HealthCare Network of Pennsylvania Provider Advisory Board.
Mr. Evans received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and his Masters’ Degree in Clinical Psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Grant Chamberlain
Grant Chamberlain joined Ziegler in 2015 as a managing director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Practice. With over 25 years of investment banking experience, Grant has dedicated the majority of his career to advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies with particular focus on transactions with telehealth companies such as Vimly, CXC, TM2U, Somnoware, Avera eCare, Philips Lifeline / ConnectAmerica, Tridiuum, Anelto, SmartMeter, CancerIQ, Validic, Doctible, CentralLogic, SCI, Regroup, Forefront, Basys, Airstrip, Forefront, IRIS, MDLIVE and Voalte.
Prior to Ziegler, Grant led the mHealth sector coverage at Raymond James – which included telehealth, remote monitoring and wireless healthcare solutions – after spending 25 years advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies on a broad variety of M&A, joint ventures/partnerships and private financings. Additionally, Grant has completed dozens of transactions in the physician practice management space with a specific concentration in oncology, having closed over 15 deals in that sector in his career.
Prior to Raymond James, Grant was a principal at Shattuck Hammond Partners, which was acquired by Morgan Keegan. He was also a part of the corporate finance group of General Electric Capital Corporation and the financial services division of GE Medical Systems.
In addition, Grant is an elected Director of the ATA, the leading international advocate for the use of advanced remote medical technologies. He is also on the Board of Directors for The MAVEN Project, which uses telehealth and a network of volunteer physicians affiliated with the nation’s foremost medical school alumni associations to improve healthcare access for underserved populations.
Grant earned a B.A. in finance and investment banking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tania S. Malik, J.D.
As co-founder of The Office of CEO, Tania brings a 25-year success record of C-level leadership, board experience, interim executive engagements, consultancy, investor experience, and serial entrepreneurship with multiple successful exits. Over the course of her career, she has realized several industry firsts as she launched several telemedicine companies starting in 1999. She is the Founder or Co-Founder of Medical Web, Inc, Virtual Medical Group, Inc. 1stonlinepharmacy.com (all related to online primary care with Medical Web being acquired), Vital Health Network. LLC (an online naturopathic company that implemented with Aetna), COPE Today, LLC (a telemental health company acquired by a venture firm), Virtual Medical Services and Veteran Benefit Management Services (dedicated to providing Independent Medical Opinions for veterans).
After two exits, she pivoted to board work, consultancy, and investments.
She serves as executive advisor to Excelerate Health Ventures (focusing on health SAAS companies) and member of Triangle Angel Partners (includes companies outside of healthcare).
As COO of the Center of Digital Health, Innovation and Telehealth for Optum, she focused on a virtual-first care delivery model. She also served as a strategic advisory board member for OmnySense, Inc. and Innovatel Telepsychiatry, acquired by Quartet Health in 2021. As co-founder and CEO of Medical Web, she led the first-of-its-kind online physician-patient communication platform to acquisition in 2014. She also served on the Board of Directors for Mindcare Solutions Group upon its 2013 acquisition of COPE Today, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood Direct and other non-profit boards. She is a Fellow in the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) College of Fellows and was the ATA Woman of the Year in 2020.
Early in her career, Tania practiced law as a Senior Enforcement Attorney with the Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Georgia, and held the position of Administrative Law Judge with the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH) as well as General Counsel for an HMO, Master Health Plan, Inc. A key tenure in management consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ healthcare practice in Atlanta served as a launch pad for business and entrepreneurial opportunities across the healthcare space.
Tania holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University, and a Doctor of Law from Georgia State University College of Law.
Steven Mason, M.Ed.
Steven is a Managing Partner and healthcare industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience starting and operating market-leading technology and services companies in the health and human services industries.
He has been instrumental in Fund I’s investments, including Care Continuity, where he recently served as CEO. Prior to serving as Executive Vice President at Iodine, Steven was the Chief Executive Officer at ChartWise Medical Systems, Inc., a computer-assisted clinical documentation system company that automated and improved the completeness and accuracy of physician documentation for faster and more optimal reimbursement of services provided. Iodine acquired ChartWise in 2021.
Prior to his success with ChartWise, he led several successful start-up ventures including OnFocus Healthcare, a leading provider of web-based enterprise performance management software solutions for healthcare providers and payers. The company was acquired by MedeAnalytics, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the EPM Business Unit. In this role, Steven was primarily responsible for integrating, managing, and growing the Mede Performance Management (MedePM) business unit within the broader MedeAnalytics portfolio.
Additionally, he was Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualifacts Systems, a SaaS based electronic medical records software provider, and Chief Operating Officer of Camelot Care Centers, a national behavioral healthcare provider organization.
Steven received his BA in History from the University of Mississippi and an M.Ed. Human and Organizational development / counseling from Vanderbilt University. Mr. Mason currently serves on the Board of Directors of several private digital health companies.
John Tote
John is a strategic business development innovator who can engage and assist a variety of agencies and organizations in providing a vibrant foundation and platform for growth. John has more than 30 years of working in and partnering with groups of all sizes to create unique pathways of excellence designed on each entity’s individual characteristics, needs and goals.
With his passion for seeing others succeed, John has developed a career of advocacy, service, and organizational growth and excellence. In roles ranging from business and strategic development leadership to CEO, through John’s guidance organizations have experienced more than $800 million of financial growth. Further, these organizations have been able to hire more than 4,600 additional professionals to assist in service delivery and community enhancement.
John has also been able to utilize his experience and background in for-profit, not-for-profit, public sector and academic settings to provide motivating and thought-provoking messages to thousands of individuals and groups around the country. John’s extensive written articles, in-person presentations, podcast and webinar events now number more than 500. Additionally, John has also directed and hosted more than 85 conferences and seminars throughout the US.
With an ever-changing health and human services landscape, John continues to provide a stable base of usable, realistic leadership that is vital to payers and providers of services in critical areas of organizational quality and impact, such as strategy development, operational growth, leadership development, governance, financial modeling, integrated care planning and network development, the use of data and analytics, mission and vision development, marketing, communications, brand differentiation and more.
The 2025 OPEN MINDS Pitch Day—NonBinary Solutions
NonBinary Solutions has revolutionized autism care with Knowetic.ai, an AI-driven platform that standardizes treatment planning and equips clinicians with data-driven insights. Combining the expertise of behavior analysts and clinicians with over 25 years of experience, Knowetic.ai enables instant record reviews and personalized recommendations via its AI assistant, KnowYeti. The platform has achieved an impressive 98.5% accuracy in early autism spectrum disorder (ASD) identification, optimizing resource allocation for significant cost savings and ensuring equitable, high-quality care.
Amanda “Mandy” Ralston
Amanda (“Mandy”) Ralston is a queer, neurodivergent serial entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in behavior analysis. Certified as a behavior analyst since 2002, Mandy has founded and scaled two clinics that delivered life-changing applied behavior analysis (ABA) services to hundreds of families, schools, and individuals with autism and other developmental or intellectual disabilities. Her successful exit in 2019 to the fourth-largest ABA provider in the U.S. marked a significant milestone in her career.
Mandy is recognized internationally as a thought leader in behavior analysis, ethics, outcomes, and practice. She has served as a Subject Matter Expert on global panels, sharing her expertise to shape the future of the field. As a dynamic and sought-after speaker, she addresses audiences worldwide on topics including autism spectrum issues and her acclaimed talk, “#ItsNotBinary: Avoiding Binary Thinking in Work, Life, and Social Media.”
Her accolades include being a two-time nominee for Small Businessperson of the Year (2015, 2017) and the 2023 recipient of the prestigious Autism Innovation Award at the Autism Investor Summit.
Mandy’s latest venture, NonBinary Solutions, pioneers cutting-edge data analytics and technology, developing Clinical Decision Support Systems to empower ABA providers and stakeholders within the neurodiversity ecosystem.
Mandy is deeply committed to reshaping how the world perceives autism and advancing the field of behavior analysis. Her work centers on fostering a more inclusive and equitable society, driven by the belief that diverse perspectives are essential to meaningful change.
Jonathan Evans
Jonathan Evans, MS, brings 30 years of experience in the behavioral health field.
Previously, Mr. Evans was the Chief Executive Officer of InnovaTel Telepsychiatry, LLC. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health, an organization known for clinical innovations. He brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in the design of community-based programs, new service line development, expertise in telehealth-based service delivery, and governance and leadership expertise.
Mr. Evans began his career at Hamot Institute for Behavioral Health (IBH), where he initially worked in the emergency department providing initial evaluations for patients. He had a long tenure at Hamot IBH, serving as both Director of the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center (DEC) and the Director of the Adult Division.
Mr. Evans left Hamot IBH in 1993 to become the Founding Chief Executive of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health. Safe Harbor was established to assist the State of Pennsylvania with an initiative to close state hospitals and move consumers with serious mental illnesses to the community. Safe Harbor provides intensive outpatient services to patients with serious mental illness and provides 24-hour a day crisis intervention services to anyone in Erie County. The program’s annual operating budget has grown from the initial $300,000 to over $8 million. Safe Harbor currently provides services to over 4,000 consumers each year.
Mr. Evans is also the Founding President of Northwest Beacon Group, LLC. Northwest Beacon, a subsidiary of Safe Harbor, provides outpatient behavioral health services in the Erie community and employee assistance services to over 100 organizations with over 40,000 employees.
Mr. Evans was also the Founding Board Chairman of Presque Isle Psychiatric Associates, a non-profit organization that provides psychiatric coverage for hospitals and community-based providers. In addition, he serves on many boards, including The Pennsylvania Community Providers Association, The Erie Center on Health and Aging and Community Behavioral HealthCare Network of Pennsylvania Provider Advisory Board.
Mr. Evans received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and his Masters’ Degree in Clinical Psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Grant Chamberlain
Grant Chamberlain joined Ziegler in 2015 as a managing director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Practice. With over 25 years of investment banking experience, Grant has dedicated the majority of his career to advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies with particular focus on transactions with telehealth companies such as Vimly, CXC, TM2U, Somnoware, Avera eCare, Philips Lifeline / ConnectAmerica, Tridiuum, Anelto, SmartMeter, CancerIQ, Validic, Doctible, CentralLogic, SCI, Regroup, Forefront, Basys, Airstrip, Forefront, IRIS, MDLIVE and Voalte.
Prior to Ziegler, Grant led the mHealth sector coverage at Raymond James – which included telehealth, remote monitoring and wireless healthcare solutions – after spending 25 years advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies on a broad variety of M&A, joint ventures/partnerships and private financings. Additionally, Grant has completed dozens of transactions in the physician practice management space with a specific concentration in oncology, having closed over 15 deals in that sector in his career.
Prior to Raymond James, Grant was a principal at Shattuck Hammond Partners, which was acquired by Morgan Keegan. He was also a part of the corporate finance group of General Electric Capital Corporation and the financial services division of GE Medical Systems.
In addition, Grant is an elected Director of the ATA, the leading international advocate for the use of advanced remote medical technologies. He is also on the Board of Directors for The MAVEN Project, which uses telehealth and a network of volunteer physicians affiliated with the nation’s foremost medical school alumni associations to improve healthcare access for underserved populations.
Grant earned a B.A. in finance and investment banking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tania S. Malik, J.D.
As co-founder of The Office of CEO, Tania brings a 25-year success record of C-level leadership, board experience, interim executive engagements, consultancy, investor experience, and serial entrepreneurship with multiple successful exits. Over the course of her career, she has realized several industry firsts as she launched several telemedicine companies starting in 1999. She is the Founder or Co-Founder of Medical Web, Inc, Virtual Medical Group, Inc. 1stonlinepharmacy.com (all related to online primary care with Medical Web being acquired), Vital Health Network. LLC (an online naturopathic company that implemented with Aetna), COPE Today, LLC (a telemental health company acquired by a venture firm), Virtual Medical Services and Veteran Benefit Management Services (dedicated to providing Independent Medical Opinions for veterans).
After two exits, she pivoted to board work, consultancy, and investments.
She serves as executive advisor to Excelerate Health Ventures (focusing on health SAAS companies) and member of Triangle Angel Partners (includes companies outside of healthcare).
As COO of the Center of Digital Health, Innovation and Telehealth for Optum, she focused on a virtual-first care delivery model. She also served as a strategic advisory board member for OmnySense, Inc. and Innovatel Telepsychiatry, acquired by Quartet Health in 2021. As co-founder and CEO of Medical Web, she led the first-of-its-kind online physician-patient communication platform to acquisition in 2014. She also served on the Board of Directors for Mindcare Solutions Group upon its 2013 acquisition of COPE Today, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood Direct and other non-profit boards. She is a Fellow in the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) College of Fellows and was the ATA Woman of the Year in 2020.
Early in her career, Tania practiced law as a Senior Enforcement Attorney with the Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Georgia, and held the position of Administrative Law Judge with the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH) as well as General Counsel for an HMO, Master Health Plan, Inc. A key tenure in management consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ healthcare practice in Atlanta served as a launch pad for business and entrepreneurial opportunities across the healthcare space.
Tania holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University, and a Doctor of Law from Georgia State University College of Law.
Steven Mason, M.Ed.
Steven is a Managing Partner and healthcare industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience starting and operating market-leading technology and services companies in the health and human services industries.
He has been instrumental in Fund I’s investments, including Care Continuity, where he recently served as CEO. Prior to serving as Executive Vice President at Iodine, Steven was the Chief Executive Officer at ChartWise Medical Systems, Inc., a computer-assisted clinical documentation system company that automated and improved the completeness and accuracy of physician documentation for faster and more optimal reimbursement of services provided. Iodine acquired ChartWise in 2021.
Prior to his success with ChartWise, he led several successful start-up ventures including OnFocus Healthcare, a leading provider of web-based enterprise performance management software solutions for healthcare providers and payers. The company was acquired by MedeAnalytics, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the EPM Business Unit. In this role, Steven was primarily responsible for integrating, managing, and growing the Mede Performance Management (MedePM) business unit within the broader MedeAnalytics portfolio.
Additionally, he was Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualifacts Systems, a SaaS based electronic medical records software provider, and Chief Operating Officer of Camelot Care Centers, a national behavioral healthcare provider organization.
Steven received his BA in History from the University of Mississippi and an M.Ed. Human and Organizational development / counseling from Vanderbilt University. Mr. Mason currently serves on the Board of Directors of several private digital health companies.
John Tote
John is a strategic business development innovator who can engage and assist a variety of agencies and organizations in providing a vibrant foundation and platform for growth. John has more than 30 years of working in and partnering with groups of all sizes to create unique pathways of excellence designed on each entity’s individual characteristics, needs and goals.
With his passion for seeing others succeed, John has developed a career of advocacy, service, and organizational growth and excellence. In roles ranging from business and strategic development leadership to CEO, through John’s guidance organizations have experienced more than $800 million of financial growth. Further, these organizations have been able to hire more than 4,600 additional professionals to assist in service delivery and community enhancement.
John has also been able to utilize his experience and background in for-profit, not-for-profit, public sector and academic settings to provide motivating and thought-provoking messages to thousands of individuals and groups around the country. John’s extensive written articles, in-person presentations, podcast and webinar events now number more than 500. Additionally, John has also directed and hosted more than 85 conferences and seminars throughout the US.
With an ever-changing health and human services landscape, John continues to provide a stable base of usable, realistic leadership that is vital to payers and providers of services in critical areas of organizational quality and impact, such as strategy development, operational growth, leadership development, governance, financial modeling, integrated care planning and network development, the use of data and analytics, mission and vision development, marketing, communications, brand differentiation and more.
From Investment To Impact: How To Maximize Value In Health IT
Sponsored By: 
Maximizing the value of health IT requires more than meeting today’s needs—it takes long-term vision and a strategic plan for growth. In this session, Tricia Zerger, Senior Director of Human Services Strategy at Netsmart and Danielle Ross, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Consulting and Managed Services at Netsmart, will explore how organizations can move from reactive technology investments to intentional, impactful transformation. Tricia and Danielle will be joined by Jessica Fenchel of Access Services and Kirk Broome, PhD, Sr. Director of Transformation, MHMR of Tarrant County.
Using the Health IT Value Model as a guide, this session will highlight how innovative solutions and collaborative partnerships lay the groundwork for financial sustainability, operational scalability and better care delivery. Through real-world examples and client-led innovation, attendees will gain a clear understanding of how to build and execute a meaningful technology strategy that delivers both immediate returns and long-term value.
Key Learnings:
- How to use the Heatlh IT Value Model to create a practical roadmap for technology maturity
- What makes a strategic partnership successful in driving financial and operational outcomes
- Why aligning innovation with long-term goals helps organizations scale sustainably
Kirk Broome, Ph.D.
Kirk has been conducting health services research for almost 30 years, primarily in substance abuse treatment and prevention. He has studied client retention and engagement in treatment and long-term program outcomes. He has also studied the staff working environment in treatment programs, quality improvement initiatives, program costs, and the factors that drive them. That research has been published in refereed scientific journals and books.
Kirk has particular expertise in the statistical and research methods applied in these studies. He has served as a consultant and teacher for colleagues, students, and clients.
Specialties include multilevel models for hierarchical data, structural equation models, linear and logistic regression, techniques for handling missing data, psychometric analysis, measure development, and economic cost analysis.
Experience with statistical software such as SAS, SPSS, Mplus, HLM, LISREL, and Winsteps.
Experienced manager of personnel and research projects.
Jessica Fenchel
Jessica Fenchel is the Executive Vice President and COO at Access Services, where she supports the delivery of diverse community-based programming for children, adults, and families in Eastern Pennsylvania. Access Services is a nonprofit organization building community through the delivery of services in Behavioral Health, Children and Families Services, Intellectual Disability and Autism Programming, and Housing and Homeless Services.
Jess has been key in the startup of innovative initiatives across multiple service spaces, including crisis, forensics, schools, and homelessness. Jess believes that help should be helpful and that the people we serve deserve our best. She has led in partnership building to realize integration between behavioral health and physical health, driving solutions for vulnerable populations. Jess’ work to develop new models of partnership between law enforcement and crisis systems has led to overall reductions in arrests for those experiencing mental health crises.
Jess received her undergraduate degree from Messiah College, her master’s degree from Lasalle University in Clinical Counseling Psychology, training in Applied Behavior Analysis from the University of North Texas, a certificate in Nonprofit Management from Lasalle University, and a certificate from the Global Trauma Recovery Institute. Jess is an avid sports fan, especially of the Buffalo Bills, and loves being active outside with her husband, three kids, and dog.
Danielle Ross
Danielle’s experience includes over 16 years of work in leadership and consulting roles within the behavioral healthcare system in the state of Virginia. Her experience encompasses both service delivery leadership in the intellectual and developmental disability, behavioral health, and addiction treatment communities, as well as roles as vice president and virtual chief information officer. She is a sought after advisor for her skills in helping organizations to align their strategic initiatives and organizational operations with their investments in technology.
In her role as vCIO for Netsmart managed services, she provides customers with the necessary blend of IT leadership and service delivery knowledge to help them leverage their technology in the day to day operations and service delivery efforts of their organization. Her primary goal is to help clients gain the ability to focus their efforts on consumer care and service delivery by making sure their technology supports and enhances those efforts, versus creating challenges and barriers.
Tricia Zerger, MA
As Senior Director of Human Services Strategy, Tricia Zerger works closely with the clinical, development, and product teams to ensure all Netsmart technology and services align with client and market needs. This allows clients across the human services community to thrive in emerging models of care, like value-based reimbursement. She also advances Netsmart thought leadership, promoting addiction treatment, autism, behavioral health, child and family services, foster care, I/DD, and other human services markets, as well as oversees the Child and Family Advisory Council.
An active participant in advancing healthcare technology since 2003, Tricia’s career at Netsmart began in 2014. Over her tenure, she has held a variety of roles in areas such as solutions consulting, CareGuidance strategist, marketing, and specialty markets. Tricia holds a master’s degree in Professional Counseling and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Kansas. She serves as one of the Netsmart Certified Mental Health First Aid Certified Trainer. Netsmart has certified 1,000 associates in various locations across the country, with a goal of 100% certification. Tricia is a certified trainer of QPR (Question. Persuade. Refer) industry-leading approach to suicide prevention. She is helping Netsmart associates feel empowered to effectively intervene on behalf of suicidal and in-crisis people.
The 2025 OPEN MINDS Pitch Day—EMRAY Health
Developed by the Kepler Team, EMRAY is a custom digital health product engineering company dedicated to empowering health innovations. EMRAY consolidates digital therapeutic tools into a single EHR-integrated portal, facilitating startups’ traction with providers. Their innovator-centered approach focuses on streamlining the adoption of digital mental health solutions.
Olga Muller
Olga Muller is the CEO of the company behind EMRAY, a platform designed to simplify EHR integration and accelerate innovation adoption in healthcare. EMRAY is how Kepler Technologies channels its mission to support impact-driven startups—especially in mental health—by removing one of the biggest barriers to scale: integration into real-world clinical workflows. With over 10 years of experience working closely with digital health innovators, Olga brings deep understanding of what it takes to transform promising ideas into adopted, scalable solutions. Her work reflects a strong commitment to ethical, responsible innovation that improves access to care.
Olga Ryzhikova
Olga Ryzhikova has built SaaS and enterprise solutions across industries and partnered with startups to bring innovative products from concept to launch. Her approach blends deep technical expertise with agile principles, focusing on rapid iteration, user feedback, and simplicity in design to deliver scalable, secure systems that people love to use.
As CTO and co-founder of EMRAY, Olga leads the platform’s technology strategy with an emphasis on clinical integration, regulatory compliance, and intuitive user experience. She draws on her experience to create healthcare tools that reduce complexity and meet the real needs of care teams, bridging the gap between innovation and practical adoption.
Jonathan Evans
Jonathan Evans, MS, brings 30 years of experience in the behavioral health field.
Previously, Mr. Evans was the Chief Executive Officer of InnovaTel Telepsychiatry, LLC. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health, an organization known for clinical innovations. He brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in the design of community-based programs, new service line development, expertise in telehealth-based service delivery, and governance and leadership expertise.
Mr. Evans began his career at Hamot Institute for Behavioral Health (IBH), where he initially worked in the emergency department providing initial evaluations for patients. He had a long tenure at Hamot IBH, serving as both Director of the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center (DEC) and the Director of the Adult Division.
Mr. Evans left Hamot IBH in 1993 to become the Founding Chief Executive of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health. Safe Harbor was established to assist the State of Pennsylvania with an initiative to close state hospitals and move consumers with serious mental illnesses to the community. Safe Harbor provides intensive outpatient services to patients with serious mental illness and provides 24-hour a day crisis intervention services to anyone in Erie County. The program’s annual operating budget has grown from the initial $300,000 to over $8 million. Safe Harbor currently provides services to over 4,000 consumers each year.
Mr. Evans is also the Founding President of Northwest Beacon Group, LLC. Northwest Beacon, a subsidiary of Safe Harbor, provides outpatient behavioral health services in the Erie community and employee assistance services to over 100 organizations with over 40,000 employees.
Mr. Evans was also the Founding Board Chairman of Presque Isle Psychiatric Associates, a non-profit organization that provides psychiatric coverage for hospitals and community-based providers. In addition, he serves on many boards, including The Pennsylvania Community Providers Association, The Erie Center on Health and Aging and Community Behavioral HealthCare Network of Pennsylvania Provider Advisory Board.
Mr. Evans received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and his Masters’ Degree in Clinical Psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Grant Chamberlain
Grant Chamberlain joined Ziegler in 2015 as a managing director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Practice. With over 25 years of investment banking experience, Grant has dedicated the majority of his career to advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies with particular focus on transactions with telehealth companies such as Vimly, CXC, TM2U, Somnoware, Avera eCare, Philips Lifeline / ConnectAmerica, Tridiuum, Anelto, SmartMeter, CancerIQ, Validic, Doctible, CentralLogic, SCI, Regroup, Forefront, Basys, Airstrip, Forefront, IRIS, MDLIVE and Voalte.
Prior to Ziegler, Grant led the mHealth sector coverage at Raymond James – which included telehealth, remote monitoring and wireless healthcare solutions – after spending 25 years advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies on a broad variety of M&A, joint ventures/partnerships and private financings. Additionally, Grant has completed dozens of transactions in the physician practice management space with a specific concentration in oncology, having closed over 15 deals in that sector in his career.
Prior to Raymond James, Grant was a principal at Shattuck Hammond Partners, which was acquired by Morgan Keegan. He was also a part of the corporate finance group of General Electric Capital Corporation and the financial services division of GE Medical Systems.
In addition, Grant is an elected Director of the ATA, the leading international advocate for the use of advanced remote medical technologies. He is also on the Board of Directors for The MAVEN Project, which uses telehealth and a network of volunteer physicians affiliated with the nation’s foremost medical school alumni associations to improve healthcare access for underserved populations.
Grant earned a B.A. in finance and investment banking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tania S. Malik, J.D.
As co-founder of The Office of CEO, Tania brings a 25-year success record of C-level leadership, board experience, interim executive engagements, consultancy, investor experience, and serial entrepreneurship with multiple successful exits. Over the course of her career, she has realized several industry firsts as she launched several telemedicine companies starting in 1999. She is the Founder or Co-Founder of Medical Web, Inc, Virtual Medical Group, Inc. 1stonlinepharmacy.com (all related to online primary care with Medical Web being acquired), Vital Health Network. LLC (an online naturopathic company that implemented with Aetna), COPE Today, LLC (a telemental health company acquired by a venture firm), Virtual Medical Services and Veteran Benefit Management Services (dedicated to providing Independent Medical Opinions for veterans).
After two exits, she pivoted to board work, consultancy, and investments.
She serves as executive advisor to Excelerate Health Ventures (focusing on health SAAS companies) and member of Triangle Angel Partners (includes companies outside of healthcare).
As COO of the Center of Digital Health, Innovation and Telehealth for Optum, she focused on a virtual-first care delivery model. She also served as a strategic advisory board member for OmnySense, Inc. and Innovatel Telepsychiatry, acquired by Quartet Health in 2021. As co-founder and CEO of Medical Web, she led the first-of-its-kind online physician-patient communication platform to acquisition in 2014. She also served on the Board of Directors for Mindcare Solutions Group upon its 2013 acquisition of COPE Today, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood Direct and other non-profit boards. She is a Fellow in the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) College of Fellows and was the ATA Woman of the Year in 2020.
Early in her career, Tania practiced law as a Senior Enforcement Attorney with the Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Georgia, and held the position of Administrative Law Judge with the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH) as well as General Counsel for an HMO, Master Health Plan, Inc. A key tenure in management consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ healthcare practice in Atlanta served as a launch pad for business and entrepreneurial opportunities across the healthcare space.
Tania holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University, and a Doctor of Law from Georgia State University College of Law.
Steven Mason, M.Ed.
Steven is a Managing Partner and healthcare industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience starting and operating market-leading technology and services companies in the health and human services industries.
He has been instrumental in Fund I’s investments, including Care Continuity, where he recently served as CEO. Prior to serving as Executive Vice President at Iodine, Steven was the Chief Executive Officer at ChartWise Medical Systems, Inc., a computer-assisted clinical documentation system company that automated and improved the completeness and accuracy of physician documentation for faster and more optimal reimbursement of services provided. Iodine acquired ChartWise in 2021.
Prior to his success with ChartWise, he led several successful start-up ventures including OnFocus Healthcare, a leading provider of web-based enterprise performance management software solutions for healthcare providers and payers. The company was acquired by MedeAnalytics, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the EPM Business Unit. In this role, Steven was primarily responsible for integrating, managing, and growing the Mede Performance Management (MedePM) business unit within the broader MedeAnalytics portfolio.
Additionally, he was Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualifacts Systems, a SaaS based electronic medical records software provider, and Chief Operating Officer of Camelot Care Centers, a national behavioral healthcare provider organization.
Steven received his BA in History from the University of Mississippi and an M.Ed. Human and Organizational development / counseling from Vanderbilt University. Mr. Mason currently serves on the Board of Directors of several private digital health companies.
John Tote
John is a strategic business development innovator who can engage and assist a variety of agencies and organizations in providing a vibrant foundation and platform for growth. John has more than 30 years of working in and partnering with groups of all sizes to create unique pathways of excellence designed on each entity’s individual characteristics, needs and goals.
With his passion for seeing others succeed, John has developed a career of advocacy, service, and organizational growth and excellence. In roles ranging from business and strategic development leadership to CEO, through John’s guidance organizations have experienced more than $800 million of financial growth. Further, these organizations have been able to hire more than 4,600 additional professionals to assist in service delivery and community enhancement.
John has also been able to utilize his experience and background in for-profit, not-for-profit, public sector and academic settings to provide motivating and thought-provoking messages to thousands of individuals and groups around the country. John’s extensive written articles, in-person presentations, podcast and webinar events now number more than 500. Additionally, John has also directed and hosted more than 85 conferences and seminars throughout the US.
With an ever-changing health and human services landscape, John continues to provide a stable base of usable, realistic leadership that is vital to payers and providers of services in critical areas of organizational quality and impact, such as strategy development, operational growth, leadership development, governance, financial modeling, integrated care planning and network development, the use of data and analytics, mission and vision development, marketing, communications, brand differentiation and more.
Measuring Outcomes In Whole Person Care
For people with cognitive disabilities, a holistic approach requires tailored methods to assess progress, identify needs, and ensure that care plans are comprehensive and individualized. During this session, explore effective strategies for measuring outcomes in whole person care for individuals with cognitive disabilities.
During this session, attendees will:
- Examine challenges and best practices in engaging individuals with cognitive disabilities in outcome measurement.
- Learn how to measure health and wellness outcomes beyond clinical indicators, incorporating factors like quality of life, social engagement, and independence
- Gain insights into how interdisciplinary teams can collaborate to measure outcomes and make adjustments to care to meet evolving needs
Kimber Bruhn
Kimber Bruhn is the National Director of Quality and Nursing Services at Vista Care. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Administration. Kimber has worked in over 17 states as well as internationally to support people with disabilities over the past 20 years. She has worked in a variety of role,s including operations, project management, and quality & nursing. In her current role, she is responsible for technology supports, assistive technology, and building an electronic health record system in addition to all things Quality and Nursing.
The 2025 OPEN MINDS Pitch Day—Rovicare
Rovicare specializes in managing high-cost, high-need patients through a unified patient management dashboard. This solution coordinates care across medical, behavioral, social determinants of health (SDoH), and ancillary services. By tracking and directing patients to appropriate care levels, Rovicare effectively reduces length of stay and streamlines follow-up appointment scheduling.
Pankaj Likhmania
Daniel Jones
20+ year early-stage technology entrepreneur specialized in scaling healthcare technologies.
Jim Stringham
Stacy Garner
Stacy Garner has twenty-nine years of behavioral health experience. In those twenty-nine years he has served as Chief of Staff, Deputy CEO, VP of Operations, Regional Director, Arnold v Sarn Administrator and Case Manager. Stacy has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from the University of Missouri and a minor in Psychology. Stacy’s philosophy is bringing people together as one, and he is a true believer of the power of positive thinking in and outside of the workplace.
Jonathan Evans
Jonathan Evans, MS, brings 30 years of experience in the behavioral health field.
Previously, Mr. Evans was the Chief Executive Officer of InnovaTel Telepsychiatry, LLC. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health, an organization known for clinical innovations. He brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in the design of community-based programs, new service line development, expertise in telehealth-based service delivery, and governance and leadership expertise.
Mr. Evans began his career at Hamot Institute for Behavioral Health (IBH), where he initially worked in the emergency department providing initial evaluations for patients. He had a long tenure at Hamot IBH, serving as both Director of the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center (DEC) and the Director of the Adult Division.
Mr. Evans left Hamot IBH in 1993 to become the Founding Chief Executive of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health. Safe Harbor was established to assist the State of Pennsylvania with an initiative to close state hospitals and move consumers with serious mental illnesses to the community. Safe Harbor provides intensive outpatient services to patients with serious mental illness and provides 24-hour a day crisis intervention services to anyone in Erie County. The program’s annual operating budget has grown from the initial $300,000 to over $8 million. Safe Harbor currently provides services to over 4,000 consumers each year.
Mr. Evans is also the Founding President of Northwest Beacon Group, LLC. Northwest Beacon, a subsidiary of Safe Harbor, provides outpatient behavioral health services in the Erie community and employee assistance services to over 100 organizations with over 40,000 employees.
Mr. Evans was also the Founding Board Chairman of Presque Isle Psychiatric Associates, a non-profit organization that provides psychiatric coverage for hospitals and community-based providers. In addition, he serves on many boards, including The Pennsylvania Community Providers Association, The Erie Center on Health and Aging and Community Behavioral HealthCare Network of Pennsylvania Provider Advisory Board.
Mr. Evans received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and his Masters’ Degree in Clinical Psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Grant Chamberlain
Grant Chamberlain joined Ziegler in 2015 as a managing director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Practice. With over 25 years of investment banking experience, Grant has dedicated the majority of his career to advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies with particular focus on transactions with telehealth companies such as Vimly, CXC, TM2U, Somnoware, Avera eCare, Philips Lifeline / ConnectAmerica, Tridiuum, Anelto, SmartMeter, CancerIQ, Validic, Doctible, CentralLogic, SCI, Regroup, Forefront, Basys, Airstrip, Forefront, IRIS, MDLIVE and Voalte.
Prior to Ziegler, Grant led the mHealth sector coverage at Raymond James – which included telehealth, remote monitoring and wireless healthcare solutions – after spending 25 years advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies on a broad variety of M&A, joint ventures/partnerships and private financings. Additionally, Grant has completed dozens of transactions in the physician practice management space with a specific concentration in oncology, having closed over 15 deals in that sector in his career.
Prior to Raymond James, Grant was a principal at Shattuck Hammond Partners, which was acquired by Morgan Keegan. He was also a part of the corporate finance group of General Electric Capital Corporation and the financial services division of GE Medical Systems.
In addition, Grant is an elected Director of the ATA, the leading international advocate for the use of advanced remote medical technologies. He is also on the Board of Directors for The MAVEN Project, which uses telehealth and a network of volunteer physicians affiliated with the nation’s foremost medical school alumni associations to improve healthcare access for underserved populations.
Grant earned a B.A. in finance and investment banking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tania S. Malik, J.D.
As co-founder of The Office of CEO, Tania brings a 25-year success record of C-level leadership, board experience, interim executive engagements, consultancy, investor experience, and serial entrepreneurship with multiple successful exits. Over the course of her career, she has realized several industry firsts as she launched several telemedicine companies starting in 1999. She is the Founder or Co-Founder of Medical Web, Inc, Virtual Medical Group, Inc. 1stonlinepharmacy.com (all related to online primary care with Medical Web being acquired), Vital Health Network. LLC (an online naturopathic company that implemented with Aetna), COPE Today, LLC (a telemental health company acquired by a venture firm), Virtual Medical Services and Veteran Benefit Management Services (dedicated to providing Independent Medical Opinions for veterans).
After two exits, she pivoted to board work, consultancy, and investments.
She serves as executive advisor to Excelerate Health Ventures (focusing on health SAAS companies) and member of Triangle Angel Partners (includes companies outside of healthcare).
As COO of the Center of Digital Health, Innovation and Telehealth for Optum, she focused on a virtual-first care delivery model. She also served as a strategic advisory board member for OmnySense, Inc. and Innovatel Telepsychiatry, acquired by Quartet Health in 2021. As co-founder and CEO of Medical Web, she led the first-of-its-kind online physician-patient communication platform to acquisition in 2014. She also served on the Board of Directors for Mindcare Solutions Group upon its 2013 acquisition of COPE Today, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood Direct and other non-profit boards. She is a Fellow in the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) College of Fellows and was the ATA Woman of the Year in 2020.
Early in her career, Tania practiced law as a Senior Enforcement Attorney with the Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Georgia, and held the position of Administrative Law Judge with the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH) as well as General Counsel for an HMO, Master Health Plan, Inc. A key tenure in management consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ healthcare practice in Atlanta served as a launch pad for business and entrepreneurial opportunities across the healthcare space.
Tania holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University, and a Doctor of Law from Georgia State University College of Law.
Steven Mason, M.Ed.
Steven is a Managing Partner and healthcare industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience starting and operating market-leading technology and services companies in the health and human services industries.
He has been instrumental in Fund I’s investments, including Care Continuity, where he recently served as CEO. Prior to serving as Executive Vice President at Iodine, Steven was the Chief Executive Officer at ChartWise Medical Systems, Inc., a computer-assisted clinical documentation system company that automated and improved the completeness and accuracy of physician documentation for faster and more optimal reimbursement of services provided. Iodine acquired ChartWise in 2021.
Prior to his success with ChartWise, he led several successful start-up ventures including OnFocus Healthcare, a leading provider of web-based enterprise performance management software solutions for healthcare providers and payers. The company was acquired by MedeAnalytics, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the EPM Business Unit. In this role, Steven was primarily responsible for integrating, managing, and growing the Mede Performance Management (MedePM) business unit within the broader MedeAnalytics portfolio.
Additionally, he was Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualifacts Systems, a SaaS based electronic medical records software provider, and Chief Operating Officer of Camelot Care Centers, a national behavioral healthcare provider organization.
Steven received his BA in History from the University of Mississippi and an M.Ed. Human and Organizational development / counseling from Vanderbilt University. Mr. Mason currently serves on the Board of Directors of several private digital health companies.
John Tote
John is a strategic business development innovator who can engage and assist a variety of agencies and organizations in providing a vibrant foundation and platform for growth. John has more than 30 years of working in and partnering with groups of all sizes to create unique pathways of excellence designed on each entity’s individual characteristics, needs and goals.
With his passion for seeing others succeed, John has developed a career of advocacy, service, and organizational growth and excellence. In roles ranging from business and strategic development leadership to CEO, through John’s guidance organizations have experienced more than $800 million of financial growth. Further, these organizations have been able to hire more than 4,600 additional professionals to assist in service delivery and community enhancement.
John has also been able to utilize his experience and background in for-profit, not-for-profit, public sector and academic settings to provide motivating and thought-provoking messages to thousands of individuals and groups around the country. John’s extensive written articles, in-person presentations, podcast and webinar events now number more than 500. Additionally, John has also directed and hosted more than 85 conferences and seminars throughout the US.
With an ever-changing health and human services landscape, John continues to provide a stable base of usable, realistic leadership that is vital to payers and providers of services in critical areas of organizational quality and impact, such as strategy development, operational growth, leadership development, governance, financial modeling, integrated care planning and network development, the use of data and analytics, mission and vision development, marketing, communications, brand differentiation and more.
The 2025 OPEN MINDS Pitch Day—NeuroSigma
NeuroSigma’s lead product, The Monarch eTNS System, is the first FDA-approved medical device for treating pediatric ADHD. This wearable neurostimulation device, used at home, delivers the benefits of ADHD medications without the associated side effects. NeuroSigma plans to launch the next generation of the Monarch device in the United States in 2025, furthering its mission to improve ADHD treatment.
Colin Kealey
Dr. Kealey has served as NeuroSigma’s CEO since January of 2022. Dr. Kealey has been with NeuroSigma since 2011, having previously served as our President, Vice President of Advanced Development and Medical Affairs, and Manager of Business Development. In these roles, Dr. Kealey spearheaded NeuroSigma’s regulatory submissions that ultimately led to FDA clearance of the Monarch eTNS System for pediatric ADHD. He also helped introduce eTNS to major academic centers and clinics throughout the United States, European Union and Canada. In these roles he interfaced with key opinion leaders in the field to convey the science behind eTNS and how it may fit into their current clinical practice. During his time at NeuroSigma Dr. Kealey has been a principal investigator on three National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants and is coauthor on 17 peer reviewed publications and three book chapters. He is also an inventor on 12 issued and pending U.S. patents. Prior to joining NeuroSigma, Dr. Kealey was a resident physician in the UCLA Department of Surgery from 2007 to 2011. During his time at UCLA, Dr. Kealey was responsible for all aspects of the care of surgical patients ranging from outpatient procedures to critically ill patients in the intensive care unit. From 2009 to 2011, Dr. Kealey completed a post-doctoral research program at UCLA’s Center for Advanced Surgical and Interventional Technology (CASIT) where he performed research and development on novel medical devices.
Dr. Kealey earned his B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and his M.D. from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.
Jonathan Evans
Jonathan Evans, MS, brings 30 years of experience in the behavioral health field.
Previously, Mr. Evans was the Chief Executive Officer of InnovaTel Telepsychiatry, LLC. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health, an organization known for clinical innovations. He brings to the OPEN MINDS team noted expertise in the design of community-based programs, new service line development, expertise in telehealth-based service delivery, and governance and leadership expertise.
Mr. Evans began his career at Hamot Institute for Behavioral Health (IBH), where he initially worked in the emergency department providing initial evaluations for patients. He had a long tenure at Hamot IBH, serving as both Director of the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center (DEC) and the Director of the Adult Division.
Mr. Evans left Hamot IBH in 1993 to become the Founding Chief Executive of Safe Harbor Behavioral Health. Safe Harbor was established to assist the State of Pennsylvania with an initiative to close state hospitals and move consumers with serious mental illnesses to the community. Safe Harbor provides intensive outpatient services to patients with serious mental illness and provides 24-hour a day crisis intervention services to anyone in Erie County. The program’s annual operating budget has grown from the initial $300,000 to over $8 million. Safe Harbor currently provides services to over 4,000 consumers each year.
Mr. Evans is also the Founding President of Northwest Beacon Group, LLC. Northwest Beacon, a subsidiary of Safe Harbor, provides outpatient behavioral health services in the Erie community and employee assistance services to over 100 organizations with over 40,000 employees.
Mr. Evans was also the Founding Board Chairman of Presque Isle Psychiatric Associates, a non-profit organization that provides psychiatric coverage for hospitals and community-based providers. In addition, he serves on many boards, including The Pennsylvania Community Providers Association, The Erie Center on Health and Aging and Community Behavioral HealthCare Network of Pennsylvania Provider Advisory Board.
Mr. Evans received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and his Masters’ Degree in Clinical Psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Grant Chamberlain
Grant Chamberlain joined Ziegler in 2015 as a managing director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Practice. With over 25 years of investment banking experience, Grant has dedicated the majority of his career to advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies with particular focus on transactions with telehealth companies such as Vimly, CXC, TM2U, Somnoware, Avera eCare, Philips Lifeline / ConnectAmerica, Tridiuum, Anelto, SmartMeter, CancerIQ, Validic, Doctible, CentralLogic, SCI, Regroup, Forefront, Basys, Airstrip, Forefront, IRIS, MDLIVE and Voalte.
Prior to Ziegler, Grant led the mHealth sector coverage at Raymond James – which included telehealth, remote monitoring and wireless healthcare solutions – after spending 25 years advising HCIT and tech-enabled outsourced services companies on a broad variety of M&A, joint ventures/partnerships and private financings. Additionally, Grant has completed dozens of transactions in the physician practice management space with a specific concentration in oncology, having closed over 15 deals in that sector in his career.
Prior to Raymond James, Grant was a principal at Shattuck Hammond Partners, which was acquired by Morgan Keegan. He was also a part of the corporate finance group of General Electric Capital Corporation and the financial services division of GE Medical Systems.
In addition, Grant is an elected Director of the ATA, the leading international advocate for the use of advanced remote medical technologies. He is also on the Board of Directors for The MAVEN Project, which uses telehealth and a network of volunteer physicians affiliated with the nation’s foremost medical school alumni associations to improve healthcare access for underserved populations.
Grant earned a B.A. in finance and investment banking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tania S. Malik, J.D.
As co-founder of The Office of CEO, Tania brings a 25-year success record of C-level leadership, board experience, interim executive engagements, consultancy, investor experience, and serial entrepreneurship with multiple successful exits. Over the course of her career, she has realized several industry firsts as she launched several telemedicine companies starting in 1999. She is the Founder or Co-Founder of Medical Web, Inc, Virtual Medical Group, Inc. 1stonlinepharmacy.com (all related to online primary care with Medical Web being acquired), Vital Health Network. LLC (an online naturopathic company that implemented with Aetna), COPE Today, LLC (a telemental health company acquired by a venture firm), Virtual Medical Services and Veteran Benefit Management Services (dedicated to providing Independent Medical Opinions for veterans).
After two exits, she pivoted to board work, consultancy, and investments.
She serves as executive advisor to Excelerate Health Ventures (focusing on health SAAS companies) and member of Triangle Angel Partners (includes companies outside of healthcare).
As COO of the Center of Digital Health, Innovation and Telehealth for Optum, she focused on a virtual-first care delivery model. She also served as a strategic advisory board member for OmnySense, Inc. and Innovatel Telepsychiatry, acquired by Quartet Health in 2021. As co-founder and CEO of Medical Web, she led the first-of-its-kind online physician-patient communication platform to acquisition in 2014. She also served on the Board of Directors for Mindcare Solutions Group upon its 2013 acquisition of COPE Today, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood Direct and other non-profit boards. She is a Fellow in the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) College of Fellows and was the ATA Woman of the Year in 2020.
Early in her career, Tania practiced law as a Senior Enforcement Attorney with the Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Georgia, and held the position of Administrative Law Judge with the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH) as well as General Counsel for an HMO, Master Health Plan, Inc. A key tenure in management consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ healthcare practice in Atlanta served as a launch pad for business and entrepreneurial opportunities across the healthcare space.
Tania holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University, and a Doctor of Law from Georgia State University College of Law.
Steven Mason, M.Ed.
Steven is a Managing Partner and healthcare industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience starting and operating market-leading technology and services companies in the health and human services industries.
He has been instrumental in Fund I’s investments, including Care Continuity, where he recently served as CEO. Prior to serving as Executive Vice President at Iodine, Steven was the Chief Executive Officer at ChartWise Medical Systems, Inc., a computer-assisted clinical documentation system company that automated and improved the completeness and accuracy of physician documentation for faster and more optimal reimbursement of services provided. Iodine acquired ChartWise in 2021.
Prior to his success with ChartWise, he led several successful start-up ventures including OnFocus Healthcare, a leading provider of web-based enterprise performance management software solutions for healthcare providers and payers. The company was acquired by MedeAnalytics, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the EPM Business Unit. In this role, Steven was primarily responsible for integrating, managing, and growing the Mede Performance Management (MedePM) business unit within the broader MedeAnalytics portfolio.
Additionally, he was Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualifacts Systems, a SaaS based electronic medical records software provider, and Chief Operating Officer of Camelot Care Centers, a national behavioral healthcare provider organization.
Steven received his BA in History from the University of Mississippi and an M.Ed. Human and Organizational development / counseling from Vanderbilt University. Mr. Mason currently serves on the Board of Directors of several private digital health companies.
John Tote
John is a strategic business development innovator who can engage and assist a variety of agencies and organizations in providing a vibrant foundation and platform for growth. John has more than 30 years of working in and partnering with groups of all sizes to create unique pathways of excellence designed on each entity’s individual characteristics, needs and goals.
With his passion for seeing others succeed, John has developed a career of advocacy, service, and organizational growth and excellence. In roles ranging from business and strategic development leadership to CEO, through John’s guidance organizations have experienced more than $800 million of financial growth. Further, these organizations have been able to hire more than 4,600 additional professionals to assist in service delivery and community enhancement.
John has also been able to utilize his experience and background in for-profit, not-for-profit, public sector and academic settings to provide motivating and thought-provoking messages to thousands of individuals and groups around the country. John’s extensive written articles, in-person presentations, podcast and webinar events now number more than 500. Additionally, John has also directed and hosted more than 85 conferences and seminars throughout the US.
With an ever-changing health and human services landscape, John continues to provide a stable base of usable, realistic leadership that is vital to payers and providers of services in critical areas of organizational quality and impact, such as strategy development, operational growth, leadership development, governance, financial modeling, integrated care planning and network development, the use of data and analytics, mission and vision development, marketing, communications, brand differentiation and more.
Uncovering The Challenges & Opportunities For Reimbursement: A Payer Panel
Join our expert payer panel as they delve into the complexities of reimbursement in the Autism and I/DD market. This session will explore the key challenges and emerging opportunities for payers, providers, and stakeholders navigating this landscape. Panelists will share insights on policy changes, funding models, and innovative solutions that can help ensure accessible and effective care for the autism and I/DD populations. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of how reimbursement strategies can drive improvements in care and outcomes for these complex consumers.
David Donohue, MBA
David Donohue is the Market President of CareSource’s Arkansas Market, CareSource PASSETM. Prior to joining CareSource, David served as the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Medicaid plan with WellSense Health Plan, where he led state operations. David’s dedication to Arkansas extends back to the launch of the Provider-Led Arkansas Shared Savings Entity.
David has extensive experience working with people with complex needs, including individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and those with significant Behavioral Health challenges.
His passion for these populations is rooted in working for and with fee-for-service providers of services as well as hospital systems and provider practices.
He has also supported the launch of managed care programs for both traditional and complex populations across the country. His previous work includes helping to develop specialized programs for people with Intellectual and Development Disabilities, Crisis Programs, and Value-Based arrangements for a variety of provider-types.
Community involvement is a priority for David, and he regularly supports organizations focused on eliminating food insecurity and improving health equity.
David holds a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications from Ball State University and an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University.
David Rogers
David Rogers is the President of Independent Living Systems (ILS) and a seasoned leader with more than 30 years of healthcare experience in both the public and private sectors. As President of ILS, Rogers is responsible for day-to-day management of the internal operations of the company as well as execution of strategies to optimize people, process, and technology across the enterprise and to continue to advance ILS as a driving force in healthcare innovation.
Prior to being named President of ILS in 2020, Rogers joined Florida Community Care (FCC), a subsidiary of ILS, as Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer in 2018. Before assuming his role at FCC, Rogers was Managing Principal of Health Management Associates (HMA) Medicaid Market Solutions where he advised and supported state agencies, health systems, health plans, and others. Rogers served as Assistant Deputy Secretary for Medicaid Operations, functioning as the Florida’s Medicaid program’s Chief Operations Officer. He has also served as Idaho’s State Medicaid Director.
David earned his Bachelor’s degree and Graduate Certificate in Health Services Administration and Public Policy from Florida State University.
Mastering Value-Based Contracting: Practical Strategies For Success
Sponsored By:
Value-based contracting stands as a critical strategy for enhancing patient outcomes and controlling costs. This session is designed for C-suite leaders seeking to deepen their understanding of value-based contracting, including how to effectively structure contracts and manage risk-bearing arrangements. Through real-world experiences from VNS Health, participants will gain practical insights into risks and ways to manage them, and actionable strategies to navigate the complexities of value-based agreements. Attendees will leave equipped with the knowledge necessary to drive organizational success in a value-based care environment.
Devin Woodley
Devin Woodley is the Vice President of Managed Care Contracting and B2B Sales for VNS Health. He has been with the organization for over 5 years. His department collaborates across the organization on product development, enhancement and performance. The scope of his team spans sales, contracting and payment integrity. Prior to his time at VNS, Devin was with a national Payor doing contract negotiations, including the development of national value based arrangements and alternative reimbursement models.
Scott Green
Scott Green leads the Care Dimensions business unit at Netsmart. In his role, he leads a team focused on building out a comprehensive suite of solutions designed to support organizations as they digitize their operations beyond the EHR. Green has been with Netsmart for 10 years and has held many roles during that time including leading the Human Services business unit.
Prior to joining Netsmart, he spent 13 years with Pfizer where he focused on building relationships and clinical initiatives with Integrated Delivery Networks.
Scott holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial psychology from Kansas State University and a graduate certificate in healthcare leadership from Park University.
The Future Of Value-Based Care For Consumers With Behavioral Health Disorders: The Centene Total Cost Of Care Model In Florida’s Sunshine Health Plan
For health plans, a big challenge is addressing the 5% of the member population with behavioral and cognitive conditions who use 35% of the total resources. The question is how to develop an integrated care model for those consumers that balances the quality of care with the cost of care. In this informative session, Carole Matyas, Vice President of Sunshine Health, a Centene health plan, reviews Centene’s total cost of care model – a program that assigns responsibility for the management of specific consumers to provider organization partners that can address their behavioral health, primary care, and social service needs. Ms. Matyas will discuss the challenges of advanced health plan/provider partnerships – and the future of these partner relationships in a changing health care environment.
Carole Matyas, MSW
Carole Matyas is the Vice President Operations for Sunshine Health Plan. She oversees the SMI Specialty Plan in Florida and has responsibility for overall operation of the program. Carole is accountable to assure the development of a fully integrated medical/behavioral program that is centered in whole person attention and care. She assists with representing the company externally to assure our members, providers and stakeholders have the information and support they need.
Carole has more than 30 years of behavioral health-related experience, with 20 of those years of experience in health plan operations. She joined WellCare in 2011 as VP Behavioral Health Operations at WellCare Corporate office. Previously she worked for Magellan Health Services, first as a general manager for call center operations, and then as Chief of Clinic Operations, where she led practice management and operations of 23 mental health clinics and a psychiatric urgent care center in Arizona. Her additional experience includes serving as Vice President of Public Sector Operations for Schaller Anderson, a Medicaid managed care organization and helped to develop their integrated model; and as Vice President for Value Options, a managed behavioral health care company whose contracts included carve out managed care for state and government agencies, where Carole was executive lead on a large carve out program in Texas. Carole spent her early career as a licensed social worker providing direct clinical services in a group practice, community mental health and a residential treatment center.
Carole has been recognized by Mental Health America and NAMI Texas for her dedication to mental health advocacy. Carole earned both her undergraduate and Master of Social Work degrees from Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
From Crisis Response To Long-Term Innovation: A New Era In Independent Living, Workforce Capacity & Provider Growth
Sponsored By: 
Traditional approaches to care can’t keep up and aren’t what the customer wants. As providers deliver care with a disappearing workforce, rising demand, and shifting expectations, survival requires more than patchwork solutions—it demands a fundamental redesign. This session unveils innovative solutions that significantly enhance organizational capacity while exponentially increasing revenue lines in existing service regions. Learn how GoodLife University’s nationally recognized strategies combine staffing innovations, culturally responsive benefits, and scalable neighborhood-based technology-leveraged support systems to stabilize operations and deliver the next generation of care people actually want—in their homes and communities.
Explore how organizations can:
- Use impact-driven labor models to improve margins and fill vacancies with “affordable”, well-paid full-time direct support professionals.
- Offer non-traditional benefits (like housing, transportation, and efficient, flexible schedules) that address real-life barriers and improve retention.
- Replicate “care ecosystems” that combine the best of congregate and in-home support to fill gaps in independence without sacrificing safety or sustainability.
- Leverage technologies that advance independence, self-direction, safety, life quality, and privacy.
With real-world data, policy implications, and actionable tools, this session equips leaders to move from crisis response to long-term innovation.
Mike Strouse, Ph.D.
For more than 39 years, Mike has led GoodLife Innovations, Inc., and its subsidiaries, including iLink Technologies and GoodLife University. Mike’s extensive work encompasses research, development, refinement, and dissemination of evidence-based, nationally-regarded community service models that consistently produce person-centered care and high quality-of-life outcomes and also improve the capacity of the direct support workforce. Mike earned his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior Management and holds a courtesy faculty appointment in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science at the University of Kansas. He continues to participate in research, assist with training graduate students, and successfully nurtures this important, 50-year partnership with the University.
Megan McKinney Todd
Megan leads GoodLife University’s internal and external collaborations, driving the outreach and dissemination of innovative solutions for workforce stability and technologies. Megan leans on decades of experience in strategic planning to optimize growth, outreach, and the development of GoodLife University’s ever-expanding toolbox. With a degree in English, graduate coursework in rhetoric and professional communication, and more than 20 years of professional nonprofit and business experience, Megan thrives as an engaging and articulate ambassador of GoodLife University’s service models and approaches.
Tech-Enabled Recruiting & Retention: Best Practices For Competing For The Best Talent
In today’s competitive market, tech-driven recruiting is essential for attracting and retaining top talent. This session will showcase practical case studies from organizations that have successfully implemented and optimized Human Capital Management (HCM) systems to streamline recruitment, enhance candidate engagement, and drive financial sustainability. Attendees will gain insights into the real-world application of HCM tools and how they can be leveraged to reduce turnover, enhance efficiency, and foster long-term growth.
Key Takeaways:
- Practical examples of how HCM systems streamline recruitment and cut hiring costs
- Proven strategies for attracting and retaining top talent through technology
- Case studies highlighting the financial impact of smart hiring practices and HCM tools
Brandon Ward, Psy.D.
Brandon Ward, PsyD is a dynamic healthcare leader, bringing together deep clinical insight, experience with complex technology solutions, and an innovative and collaborative style – all in the service of transforming behavioral healthcare in Colorado and beyond. In his current role as Chief Innovation Officer and VP of Information Systems at Jefferson Center, Dr. Ward leads a team of exceptional professionals in this pursuit – partnering within the organization and throughout the community to build robust, secure, and innovative solutions to behavioral healthcare’s toughest challenges.
David Goff, MBA
David Goff is a seasoned executive leader with over three decades of experience in behavioral healthcare administration and finance. As Vice President of Administration and Chief Financial Officer at Jefferson Center for Mental Health, David has played a pivotal role in the organization’s growth—from serving 10,000 to over 30,000 individuals annually and expanding from a $17 million to a $90 million operation.
David is known for his strategic vision, operational acumen, and ability to build high-performing teams. He has led major initiatives including the development of new clinical and residential sites, implementation of robust financial systems, and creation of a culture of wellness that has helped Jefferson Center earn recognition as a Top Workplace for 13 consecutive years.
He holds a BSBA in Accounting from Colorado State University and an MBA from Regis University. Beyond his professional role, David has served on multiple boards and civic committees.
Transforming Your Brand Image For Maximum Consumer Engagement & Visibility: A Clarvida Case Study
Organizations that want to stand out from the crowd should first look at their brand and image through the eyes of their employees. That’s one of the key lessons learned by a comprehensive health and human services agency that embarked on a campaign to create a single company identity and culture across 17 states, 72 service lines, 27 websites, and 50 years of tradition. Join Clarvida (nee Pathways) to learn how a strategic re-branding initiative improved staff recruitment and retention, heightened employee satisfaction, and set the stage to launch their 2030 vision: doubling their community impact to 180,000 people served each year.
Attendees will learn:
- How and why to start a re-branding initiative with the end in mind
- Navigating the transition to a “single company culture” over multiple “mini-cultures”
- Practical guidance and lessons learned from creating a new company image
Whitney McChane
Whitney McChane brings over two decades of marketing, branding, and communications expertise to her role as Chief Marketing Officer at Clarvida, along with experience supporting other high-impact organizations such as United HealthGroup, the National Center for Learning Disabilities, and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. As leader of the Marketing discipline, McChane is transforming the Clarvida brand into a symbol of excellence in health and human services. She is modernizing the brand and crafting a narrative that captures the essence of Clarvida: helping everyone, clients and employees alike, achieve their personal best. In parallel, McChane is building Clarvida’s Marketing Shared Services function to bolster the company’s marketing and communications across every market and service line in order to recruit and retain the best talent for Clarvida. Her past roles in leadership positions with franchise brands like International Dairy Queen and H&R Block have informed her ability to manage and unify marketing operations effectively.
The Innovation Success Factor In A Chaotic Market
In times of significant market disruption, innovation is often the first thing that organizations will abandon. However, for leaders in health and human services, these challenging times present a unique opportunity to rethink strategy, reimagine service delivery, and redefine marketing approaches. Join Monica E. Oss, Chief Executive Officer of OPEN MINDS, as she takes a candid look at the current industry landscape and offers actionable insights and tools to help organizations not only navigate uncertainty-but emerge stronger.
Monica E. Oss
Monica E. Oss, M.S. is the founder of OPEN MINDS and serves as its chief executive officer, executive editor of its publications and websites, and executive lead of its consulting engagements. For the past three decades, Ms. Oss has led the OPEN MINDS team and its research on health and human service market trends and its national consulting practice. She is well known for her numerous books and articles focused on the strategic and marketing implications of the evolving health and human service field – and its focus on the verticals of the field serving consumers with chronic conditions and complex support needs.
Ms. Oss has extensive experience in developing and implementing growth strategies for a wide array of organizations in the field. She has expertise in industry trend analysis, reimbursement and rate setting, and creating actionable plans for market success. In her role, she has led numerous engagements with state Medicaid plans, county governments, private insurers, and health plans, service provider organizations, technology vendors, neurotechnology and pharmaceutical organizations, and investment banking firms – with a focus on the implications of financing changes on delivery system design.
Prior to founding OPEN MINDS, Ms. Oss served as an executive with a nationally managed behavioral health organization, responsible for market development, actuarial analysis, and capitation-based rate setting. She also held a position as vice president of the U.S. risk management and underwriting division of an international insurance company.
Ms. Oss has been the keynote speaker at the conferences of dozens of national associations and has been published in a wide range of professional journals and trade publications. She has provided Congressional and state legislative testimony on issues as diverse as the financial impact of parity and payer medication access policies.
Ms. Oss has led a range of industry research and consultation initiatives, serving as principal investigator on research projects that include the examination of national managed care enrollment and service patterns, development of provider rate structures for government entities, creation of return-on-investment models for technology investments; design of performance-based compensation models within public and private health plans; and analysis of the economic impact of changes in benefit design, adoption of evidence-based practices, and new technologies.