HCPEA 2023 Forum

Adaeze Enekwechi is a healthcare executive and leading voice in US health policy including Medicare, value-based care, health equity, and evidence-based policy making.

Dr. Enekwechi is an Operating Partner at Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS), an investment firm focused on healthcare and technology. She works across the healthcare portfolio on sourcing, diligence, impact, policy and regulatory implications on investment decisions. At WCAS, she has also been leading the effort to quantify and articulate the additional investment value created with private capital in healthcare.

Prior to joining WCAS, she served as the President of IMPAQ, a $100 million research, implementation and advanced analytics company. She led the company to double their backlog within one year, provided oversight of all research, technical assistance, and advanced analytics services across healthcare, labor, and international development. She also led the organization’s work on health equity, advancing solutions and strategic engagement with clients and stakeholders. She successfully led the company through an M&A process that resulted in an acquisition in May 2020.

Dr. Enekwechi served as the head of Health Programs at the White House Office of Management and Budget under President Obama, where she provided policy, management, and regulatory oversight for over $1.6 trillion in spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and a range of programs across all federal health agencies. The agencies and oversight areas under her authority included the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where she oversaw the development of several key Medicare and Medicaid payment proposals and regulatory actions, and delivery system reform initiatives through the Innovation Center. Dr. Enekwechi led the multi-agency effort to implement the ACA, including budget, policy, and operational coordination with CMS and several federal agencies. She also had primary responsibility for all Operating Divisions under the Department of Health and Human Services such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Enekwechi led OMB’s policy and spending negotiations for Medicaid demonstrations and Sec. 1115 waivers, major public health crises such as the US response to Zika virus, Ebola, and the lead poisoning crisis in Flint, MI.

She has held other federal policy roles at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), and consulting roles leading evaluation of payment and value-based care projects with the Innovation Center.

Dr. Enekwechi grew up in the Midwest and completed a BA and PhD at the University of Iowa, and an MPP at the American University. She completed postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago. Among several awards, she recently received the Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Iowa.

Dr. Enekwechi serves on the board of directors at the Public Health Institute, Alliance for Health Policy, UnityPoint Health System, MedStar Health, and Tia, a venture-backed women’s health company and Liberty, a private equity backed company. She is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and lives in the Washington, DC metro area with her family.

Ms Christensen is a Partner and Co-Head of Healthcare at The Vistria Group. Prior to joining Vistria, Ms. Christensen was a Vice President at NewSpring Capital, a middle market private equity firm with a family of funds, including a dedicated healthcare fund. Prior to NewSpring, Ms. Christensen was an investment professional with the Gores Group and Calder Capital Partners. Ms. Christensen began her career as a healthcare consultant with the Huron Consulting Group.

Ms. Christensen currently serves on the Board of Directors of Behavioral Health Group, Chiro One, Supplemental Healthcare, Beacon Specialized Living, and Sandstone Care. She previously served on the boards of St. Croix Hospice, Angel Medflight, and Alacura.

Ms. Christensen received a B.S. from Northwestern University summa cum laude and an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business where she was an Andrew Alper Merit Scholar.

Andrew Cavanna is a Partner and Co-Head of Healthcare at Apax Partners. He joined Apax in 2017 and is based in New York. Andrew serves on the board of Eating Recovery Center (ERC), Kepro and InnovAge and previously served on the board of Genex. Andrew is also a Member of the Cornell College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Council and Board Member of School in the Square, a charter school providing elementary and middle school education to the Washington Heights community in New York City.

Prior to joining Apax, Andrew spent eleven years at Vestar Capital Partners where he was a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Healthcare Sector. At Vestar, Andrew was involved with a number of investments including Press Ganey, Essent Healthcare, StayWell, Joerns Healthcare, Sunrise Medical, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Veritas Collaborative. Andrew came to Vestar in 2006 from The Blackstone Group. Prior to Blackstone, Andrew was a Senior Associate at JPMorgan Partners. Andrew started his career as an Analyst in Leveraged Finance at Merrill Lynch.

Andrew holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA, cum laude, in Economics and Government from Cornell University.

Brian A. Kane is currently a strategic consultant to multiple leading private equity firms, providing strategic, operational, organizational and financial advice on a range of healthcare services companies. He recently served as the Chief Financial Officer of Humana (NYSE: HUM), a Fortune 50 health insurance company with approximately $90 billion in annual revenue and over $60 billion in equity market capitalization. In this capacity, Mr. Kane was responsible for all accounting, actuarial, analytical, financial, internal audit, investor relations, risk management, tax and treasury activities. In addition, Mr. Kane oversaw the Company’s high-growth primary care business with combined operations of 170 brick-and-mortar clinics and approximately $2.5 billion in revenue, one of the largest organizations of its kind in the nation.

Mr. Kane served as a member of Humana’s Senior Management Team for seven years and played a critical role in the formulation and execution of the Company’s strategy. He developed deep and trusting relationships with the Board of Directors, leading shareholders and Wall Street analysts, and was instrumental in guiding the Company to exceed analysts’ estimates for 23 quarters in a row. Mr. Kane is known for his disciplined operating approach, his ability to lead large organizations and his deal acumen.

Before joining Humana, Mr. Kane spent 17 years at Goldman, Sachs & Co. as a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division. Throughout his banking career, Mr. Kane sourced and executed significant financings and mergers & acquisitions, as well as managed shareholder activists on behalf of clients in the Healthcare, Consumer Retail, Financial Services, Real Estate, and Hospitality industries.

Outside of work, Mr. Kane serves on the New-York Historical Society’s Board of Trustees and is a member of its Executive Committee. He also sits on the Louisville Orchestra Board of Directors and Teach for America-Appalachia’s Executive Advisory Board. Mr. Kane is recently married, and he and his wife regularly take long hikes with their new dachshund. He also enjoys history, politics, travel, reading, golf, singing and classical music.

Prior to joining Vistria, Ms. Jurinka spent nearly two decades in the White House and Congress, specializing in health care policy and strategy. Most recently, Ms. Jurinka served in the White House as a Special Assistant to the President in the Office of Legislative Affairs where she worked with her colleagues to successfully promote and pass The American Rescue Plan (ARP), The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Prior to the White House, she served as Chief Health Advisor to Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and the Senate Finance Committee where she oversaw the development and execution of key health care priorities within the Committee’s extensive health care jurisdiction of Medicare, Medicaid, and key components of the Affordable Care Act. In this role, Ms. Jurinka was instrumental in developing the arguments and strategy used to successfully prevent repeal of the Affordable Care Act and spearheaded negotiations with the Committee Republicans on prescription drug pricing reform that later became the basis for policies passed in the Inflation Reduction Act.

During her tenure on Capitol Hill, she also negotiated several other major health care bills including the repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate, the longest CHIP extension since the program’s enactment, and chronic care reform, among others. Ms. Jurinka is also a Senior Policy Fellow at Yale University’s Tobin Center for Economic Policy.

Ms. Jurinka received her B.A. from the University of Maryland and her M.A. in Government from Johns Hopkins University.

Geoff is a Partner of Two Sigma Impact, the private equity business of Two Sigma. Prior to Two Sigma, Geoff worked in the private equity funds of Lee Equity Partners, TPG Capital and Bain Capital and began his career as a consultant at Bain & Company. Geoff has been a director of several companies, including Circle of Care, Solaris Health, Summit BHC, Westfall Technik, Eating Recovery Centers, PDR Networks, Key Health, Paragon Industries, and Aptalis Pharma. Geoff was a faculty lecturer at Stanford Business School and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Healthcare Private Equity Association. Geoff is also a co-founder of Inspire Inc, a volunteer consulting non-profit organization, where he continues to serve as a director. Geoff received an M.B.A. from Stanford Business School and a B.A. in Engineering Sciences cum laude from Dartmouth College.

Ira Coleman is the chairman of McDermott Will & Emery. When Ira took on this role in 2017, the Firm embraced a new strategic direction focused on being indispensable to clients, enhancing performance and nurturing a happy, fun culture. In line with this, McDermott also adopted the unofficial mantra of #AlwaysBetter, representing the Firm’s commitment for constant improvement with the goal of delivering ever-greater value for our clients, people and communities.

With this as a foundation, the Firm has achieved the strongest upward trajectory among big law firms, with consistent double-digit growth across all key metrics. McDermott has also expanded across practices and geographies, and has become a Firm of choice for top talent—supported by the Firm’s commitment to be the leading career accelerant in the profession. McDermott has also soared to the top of various industry rankings, including “Best Firms to Work For” by both The American Lawyer and The Vault.

Prior to taking on this role, Ira led the Corporate & Transactional Practice Group and served as the managing partner for the Firm’s Miami office.

He focuses his practice on all aspects of representing major private and publicly held corporations. In particular, he advises clients in navigating M&A and controversy matters that have “bet the company” implications. His other areas of focus include health, private equity and compliance.

Ira also serves as the general counsel for the Healthcare Private Equity Association (HCPEA). He presents regularly at private equity, national health care and leadership-focused conferences on a variety of subjects. He has authored and been quoted in numerous articles on private equity, health law, diversity and inclusion, and leadership. In 2021, he received the “Most Innovative Law Firm Leader” award by the Financial Times.

John Barkett is a Managing Director in BRG’s Healthcare Transactions and Strategy practice, where he counsels health plans, hospital systems, life sciences companies, consumer groups, coalitions and financial institutions, among others, on a range of issues related to transactions in the healthcare space.

Prior to joining BRG John served as the Senior Policy Advisor for Health Care Delivery System Reform on the White House Domestic Policy Council, where he covered drug pricing reform, Medicare Advantage and Part D, and value based care. He also previously served on the faculty of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, where he was an Assistant Scientist and Health Policy Scholar.

John was the Senior Director of Policy Affairs for Willis Towers Watson from 2012-2021. He worked for Extend Health, the nation’s largest private Medicare exchange, before it was acquired by Towers Watson in 2012.

Before joining Extend Health, John served on the Health Subcommittee staff of the Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives and the Office of Health Reform in the Department of Health and Human Services, during which time worked on the writing, passage, and implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and helped guide the implementation of all sections of the Affordable Care Act related to delivery system reform.

Previously, John worked for athenahealth, Inc., a revenue-cycle management and electronic medical record company, and Medica HealthCare Plans, Inc., a Medicare Advantage plan.

John earned an MBA in health care management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated cum laude from Harvard College, with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a secondary field in health care policy.

As Head of the Healthcare vertical and a member of the firm’s Management Committee, Josh manages a large and diverse portfolio and works closely with the Strategic Resource Group to drive growth for the firm’s portfolio companies. He also contributes thought leadership to THL’s Identified Sector Opportunity (ISO) platform and fosters a thriving culture through mentorship and professional development. Josh is currently a Director of Adare Pharma Solutions, Agiliti Health, Inc., Autism Home Care Holdings, Inc., CSafe Global, Hospice Care, Intelligent Medical Objects, Nextech, Professional Physical Therapy (ProPT), Senior Home Care Holdings, Inc. and Smile Doctors. His prior directorships include 1-800 CONTACTS, Inc., Curo Health Services, Hawkeye Energy Holdings, Healthcare Staffing Services, Intermedix Corporation, Party City and Syneos Health (formerly inVentiv Health, Inc.).

Before joining the THL team, Josh worked at J.P. Morgan Partners, McKinsey & Co. and The Beacon Group, LLC. In his spare time, he enjoys playing golf and cheering at his kids’ sports games. He lives outside of Boston with his superhuman wife and three active children.

Richard Mattera was named chief development officer of UnitedHealth Group in 2020. He leads corporate development efforts enterprise-wide, both legal and financial oversight, as well as strategic integration plan development, performance accountability and measurement responsibilities, fostering continued expansion of established and emerging businesses directly aligned with the social mission and growth strategy of the company. Previously, Mattera was the chief legal officer at Optum and has led the M&A legal function across UnitedHealth Group for over a decade. Prior to joining UnitedHealth Group in 2011, Mattera was a partner at the international law firm of Hogan Lovells, where he was represented publicly and privately held companies in a variety of matters, including in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, securities, corporate finance and corporate governance.

Scott Gottlieb is a physician and served as the 23rd Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Gottlieb’s work focuses on advancing public health through developing and implementing innovative approaches to improving medical outcomes, reshaping healthcare delivery, and expanding consumer choice and safety. He serves on the boards of Pfizer Inc. and Illumina, Inc., is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a partner at the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates.

Dr. Gottlieb is an aggressive advocate for advancing the health of patients, promoting healthcare access, and driving innovation. The agency’s historic and prolific advances in new policy distinguished his tenure as the FDA’s commissioner, in addition to a record-setting number of approvals of novel drugs, medical devices, and generic medicines. Under his leadership, the FDA advanced new frameworks for the modern and safe and effective oversight of gene therapies, cell based regenerative medicines, targeted drugs, and digital health devices. The FDA implemented new reforms to standardize drug reviews and make historic improvements of post market data collection and the use of real-world evidence. They promoted policies to reduce death and disease from tobacco, improve food safety, and aggressively confront addiction crises.

Previously, Dr. Gottlieb served as the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs and before that, as a Senior Adviser to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where he helped advance policies to improve healthcare quality and promote the effective use of new medical technologies. Dr. Gottlieb is widely published in leading medical journals and periodicals, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He has held editorial positions on the British Medical Journal and the Journal of the American Medical Association and is a regular contributor to CNBC. Fortune Magazine recognized him as one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” in 2018 and again in 2019. In 2018, 2019 and then again in 2020 Modern Healthcare named Dr. Gottlieb the “Most Influential Physician Executive and Leaders” in its annual survey of 50 physician executives, and Time magazine named him one of its “50 People Transforming Healthcare in 2018.” Dr. Gottlieb is also the author of New York Times Bestseller Uncontrolled Spread: Why COVID-19 Crushed Us and How We Can Defeat the Next Pandemic.

Dr. Gottlieb was a practicing hospitalist, and he is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. He lives in Westport, Connecticut with his wife and three daughters.

Steve is widely recognized as one of Washington, D.C.’s preeminent political and legislative strategists. With a career on Capitol Hill and in politics spanning more than 30 years, Steve’s tenure in Washington has been grounded in daily interaction with the White House, cabinet officials, senators, members of Congress and leading interest groups on the front lines of the economic, social, domestic, national security and foreign policy debates of the last decades. Steve rose to the highest-level Democratic staffer in the House of Representatives as chief of staff to House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt. Upon leaving the Hill, he served as a senior advisor to the Gephardt, Kerry and Clinton presidential campaigns. Since 2006, Steve has represented some of the nation’s most important corporations, trade associations and organizations on critical legislative and regulatory issues, helping to drive their businesses, build their brands and expand their market shares. He has been a guest on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, and is consistently listed among the most influential leaders in Washington by Politico, The Hill, GQ and other national publications.