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Executive Profiles

Pat Wang, J.D.Pat Wang, J.D. - President & Chief Executive Officer

Pat Wang joined Healthfirst as President and CEO in March 2008. Prior to that, Ms. Wang was a Senior Vice President at the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) where she worked on healthcare finance policy, managed care, and advocacy at the local, state and national levels. One of her first projects at GNYHA was the creation of a new model of a hospital-sponsored managed care plan, which became Healthfirst.

Prior to joining GNYHA, Ms. Wang worked as a healthcare attorney for Kalkines, Arky, Zall and Bernstein. There, she specialized in matters affecting hospitals serving low-income and uninsured populations. Ms. Wang received an A.B. from Princeton University and a J.D., cum laude, from New York University School of Law.

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Daniel McCarthyDaniel McCarthy - Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Mr. McCarthy joined Healthfirst in April 2008 bringing almost 20 years of experience in healthcare with expertise in product development, operations and business strategy. Mr. McCarthy served most recently as President of Metcare Health Plans, Inc., a Medicare Advantage plan in Florida, and a client of Healthfirst's management services organization. For the thirteen years prior to joining Metcare, Mr. McCarthy was an executive with Empire BlueCross BlueShield of New York where during the course of his tenure he was responsible for Network Contracting and Management, Senior Market Products, Individual Products, the New Jersey market, Medical Economics, Group Underwriting, as well as other areas of responsibility.

Mr. McCarthy holds a B.A. from Fordham University and an M.B.A. in Finance and Management from New York University.

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Elizabeth St. Clair, Esq.Elizabeth St. Clair, Esq. - Senior Vice President & General Counsel

Ms. St. Clair joined Healthfirst in May 2008 with extensive healthcare experience. Prior to joining Healthfirst, Ms. St. Clair served as General Counsel at Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers in New York City, a not-for-profit health care system comprised of eight hospitals, four nursing homes, three home care agencies, and more than 60 ambulatory care sites. She was responsible for legal affairs, corporate compliance, governance, insurance, and risk and claims management. During her tenure as General Counsel, SVCMC went through a successful bankruptcy reorganization, including several hospital divestitures and debt refinancing.

Prior to joining Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, Ms. St. Clair served as general counsel at New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation where she developed the corporation's first compliance program. She also held positions as Division Chief of the New York City Law Department's Office of the Corporation Counsel from 1992 - 1997, and as partner at Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Kieberman, P.C. from 1988 - 1992.

Ms. St. Clair holds a J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Washington.

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Marybeth TitaMarybeth Tita - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Marybeth Tita has more than 14 years of experience in accounting and financial reporting for the health insurance industry. She joined Healthfirst in 2007 with responsibility for managing the Corporate Finance Department. Her responsibilities include overseeing maintenance of the company's books and records, processing payments, billing and collections, budgeting and forecasting, treasury management and financial reporting. Ms. Tita is a financial executive with a strong managed care background whose accomplishments demonstrate success in evaluating operations, implementing innovative solutions, and improving internal controls.

Ms. Tita began her career as an accountant at Touche Ross, where she led audits of clients in various industries, including insurance and healthcare. Before joining Healthfirst, she spent time working for other New York insurers and managed care companies where she led change, enhanced controls and implemented systems which led to the improved safeguarding of corporate assets and more transparent financial reporting.

Ms. Tita is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Internal Auditor. She obtained her BS in Accounting from St. John's University and her MBA in Finance and Management from Columbia University, Graduate School of Business.

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Steven SakovitsSteven Sakovits - Sr. Vice President. Chief Information Officer

Steven Sakovits has over 20 years of experience in healthcare information systems, accumulating an extensive background in software development, technical services and project management. In 1997, he came to Healthfirst to manage the implementation of a new managed care systems infrastructure. In 1998, he assumed the role of Chief Information Officer and reorganized the Information Services Department to better align with the new systems environment and to take advantage of emerging technologies. Healthfirst Information Services Department is an exceptionally stable organization, providing reliable and innovative healthcare systems to improve service quality and reduce administrative costs.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Sakovits developed clinical practice management systems and retail pharmacy systems. He
also managed major back office data processing contracts for New York based payers. Steven later assumed responsibility for EDI development, customer services and implementation and consulting services for national accounts. He then joined a national healthcare sales force automation firm and assumed project ownership for initiatives focused on development and improvement of operational metrics and capacity planning.

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Jay Schechtman MD, MBAJay Schechtman MD, MBA - Sr. Vice President. Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Schechtman has been Chief Medical Officer of Healthfirst since 1999. Dr. Schechtman’s responsibilities include medical management, appeals and grievance, quality improvement, network and ancillary. Dr. Schechtman is an industry expert in HEDIS turn-around, provider profiling and incentive programs as well as medical cost control.

Dr. Schechtman also serves as the Assistant Clinical Professor in Community and Preventive Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. As such, Dr. Schechtman works with both residents and fellows, and participates in various research projects.

Prior to working at Healthfirst, Dr. Schechtman was a National Medical Director for Magellan Specialty Health and a full time academic physician at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. Dr. Schechtman is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He obtained a medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and an MBA from the combined healthcare management program of Mount Sinai and Baruch College. Dr. Schechtman is board-certified in rehabilitation and was chief resident at Mount Sinai.

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John Cheng- Chief Marketing & Communications Officer

John Cheng is a marketing and business development executive with over 10 years of healthcare industry experience, specializing in electronic media. He joined Healthfirst in April 2010 with responsibility for developing new and innovative marketing strategies and effectively maximizing Healthfirst’s brand.

Prior to joining Healthfirst, Mr. Cheng served as the Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Communications at Aetna Health Care. His earlier experience includes positions with Oxford Health Plans, CIGNA HealthCare, GE Capital, AT&T Corporation and more. Mr. Cheng has held senior roles in Strategic Marketing, Business Development and Strategic Planning, and obtained a Six Sigma Green Belt focused on the development of new products.

Mr. Cheng oversees the Marketing and Communications, Corporate Communications and Product Management Departments at Healthfirst. He has an MBA from Pace University and received his Bachelors Degree from Brooklyn College.

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Keith Y. GordonKeith Y. Gordon - Senior Vice President & Chief Sales Officer

Keith Gordon has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Upon graduating from Northeastern University, he went to work for several for-profit and managed healthcare companies including U.S. Healthcare, Aetna and United Health Group.

Mr. Gordon has held several senior marketing roles throughout his career, including Vice President of Commercial Sales, General Manager of Commercial and Medicare Sales, and Executive Director responsible for Medicare Sales and Hospital and Physician Contracting. Mr. Gordon joined Healthfirst in 2004. Under his leadership, Healthfirst has significantly increased its membership to over a half million members and has developed strong partnerships with hospitals, physicians and community leaders. Mr. Gordon’s areas of expertise includes team building, training, recruitment and identification of talent, compliance and regulatory policy, and achievement of sales objectives.

 

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Christine HelznerChristine Helzner - Vice President, Regulatory Affairs

Christine Helzner has more than 15 years of experience in government sponsored healthcare programs, regulatory compliance and general corporate operations. After joining Healthfirst in 2004, Ms. Helzner was instrumental in the development and implementation of the organization’s facilitated enrollment compliance program, which became a model for the healthcare industry.

As the head of Regulatory Affairs, Ms. Helzner helps to ensure the company’s adherence to all federal and state regulations as well as our contractual requirements, which includes communicating changes or new requirements to the company and assisting with the implementation. Ms. Helzner also serves as the company’s Privacy Officer and is responsible for all government relations for the organization. She also oversees the Special Investigations Unit, which is responsible for the detection, investigation and resolution of instances of alleged fraud and abuse by employees, members and providers, as well as all complaints of sales or marketing violations.

Prior to joining Healthfirst, Ms. Helzner spent 10 years at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) where she served as lead analyst for Medicare bankruptcy petitions and oversaw the evaluation of Medicare contractor performance, compliance and policy implementation. Ms. Helzner holds a BBA from Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland.

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Sonya L. HendersonSonya L. Henderson - Vice President, Compliance and Audit. Corporate Compliance Officer

Sonya L. Henderson joined Healthfirst in September 2009 with over 20 years of operations and corporate compliance experience in the healthcare arena. Ms. Henderson has a strong background and extensive knowledge in negotiation and conflict resolution.

Ms. Henderson will build on Healthfirst’s existing comprehensive compliance program and will continue to promote a culture of compliance and ethical behavior throughout the organization. She will ensure that employees have a complete understanding of the importance of compliance and how compliance relates to their everyday tasks. Ms. Henderson also oversees the audit team, which performs both compliance audits and internal audits of Healthfirst processes to ensure compliance with outside regulatory requirements and that our internal processes adequately protect the organization against business risk. She oversees the Compliance program and audit activities within Healthfirst, and provides ongoing updates to the Audit and Compliance Committee of the Board of Directors.

Prior to joining Healthfirst, Ms. Henderson held positions at AmeriChoice, HorizonNJHealth, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ. During her time at both Horizon NJ Health and AmeriChoice, Ms. Henderson served as the organization's Compliance Officer. Ms. Henderson holds a BA in Communications from The University of Pittsburgh.

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Michael HonigMichael Honig - Sr. Vice President, Business Development and Analysis

Michael Honig has worked in managed care for over 30 years. He joined Healthfirst in September of 1999. Michael Honig is currently responsible for the analysis of health care performance, product pricing and evaluation of new business opportunities. His earlier experience includes serving as President of Fairfield Health Plan (FHP) in 1977 and President of American Health Management and Consulting Corporation (AHMAC) in 1991.

At AHMAC, Michael specialized in the development of provider sponsored health plans. He is directly responsible for the development of more than a dozen managed care plans in the tri-state area including: Health Partners of Philadelphia, Mercy Health Plan of Pennsylvania, Yale Preferred Health in Connecticut and, under the auspices of the Greater New York Hospital Association, the creation of Healthfirst.

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Andrea ForinoAndrea Forino - Vice President, Human Resources

Andrea Forino has over 14 years experience in human resources. She joined Healthfirst in 2002, and is currently responsible for overseeing human resources and training for Healthfirst and its employees.

Prior to joining Healthfirst, Andrea’s experience included: heading the human resources functions for companies in different industries including healthcare marketing and communications and engineering. In addition, she has over 4 years experience consulting on improving employee performance and productivity.

Andrea is a member of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) and previously served on the Board of Directors for Body Positive, Inc.

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Neither Healthfirst, Inc. and its subsidiaries in New York or Healthfirst Health Plan of New Jersey, Inc. in New Jersey have any association with Greenville Hospital System, Healthfirst, Inc. of South Carolina, or any other organization operating elsewhere in the country under the name Healthfirst.

 

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