Josh Boynton

Josh is currently the VP of Aetna (Medicaid) Better Living and with various stakeholders including the Aetna Medicaid National Advisory Council is responsible for developing Aetna’s innovative approach to supporting people with complex needs including people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.   Aetna Better Health has nearly two million Medicaid members across the nation, all with diverse ethnicities, social complexities and health needs. Prior to joining Aetna, Josh and his wife Rachel started LifeShare in 1996 with the intention of creating an organization that supports people of all abilities with dignity and respect.  Josh is a steadfast advocate of equality for all people and believes strongly that everyone can and should live and work in the community.  Josh passionately believes independence and self-determination is not a privilege but a civil right for all. Under Josh’s entrepreneurial leadership, he grew LifeShare into a nationally recognized, COA accredited, multi-state, multi-million-dollar organization.  Collectively, Josh developed sustainable and scalable “go to market strategies” around person-centered, and whole-person health plan solutions, including a fully integrated managed care program for individuals with developmental disabilities.  Josh was instrumental in developing innovative solutions including Pathways, Visions for an Integrated Life, RCRS (Rapid Crisis Response System) now known as BeyondCrisis a behavioral health suite of services. Today, LifeShare employs hundreds of people in several states all over the country. LifeShare was acquired by the Centene Corporation in 2013 and Josh stayed on as President & CEO during the integration and served as Chairman Emeritus through 2017. During this time, Josh served on the board of the Health Care Enterprises group and was nominated and selected by Centene’s Chairman, President and CEO, to attend REACH a Health Care Executive Leadership program affiliated with Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and The Brookings Institute in Washington, DC. Previously, Josh served as Managing Director for VERTESS a nationally recognized Mergers and Acquisition firm specializing in health care consulting and advisory services and received his CMAA at Pepperdine University.  Josh received his bachelor’s Degree from Keene State College in Psychology, with a concentration in Clinical Psychology and graduated with a master’s in management/leadership from New England College. In 2009, Josh was named by Business NH Magazine’s one of 25 leaders to watch in the next 25 years and was appointed by Governor Lynch as a Commissioner for the NH Commission for Human Rights. Josh was appointed by Governor Craig Benson to serve on the NH Developmental Disability Council and was appointed by Governor Jeanne Shaheen to serve on the Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC) and served as the chairperson for 4 years.  Josh was named to the 40 under 40 Class of 2007 and was also awarded the Keene State College Alumni Inspiration Award.  Josh has served in various leadership positions in the disability community over the past twenty years.