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 Patricia 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.
 Daniel 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.
 Michael 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.
 Terence L. Byrd
Vice President, Executive Director, Healthfirst NJ
Terence L. Byrd joined Healthfirst NJ in August 2009, with over 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry. He has extensive experience in the New Jersey healthcare market with organizations that serve low-income populations. As the executive responsible for profit and loss for all the Healthfirst NJ lines of business, Mr. Byrd will oversee provider relations, sales functions, financial operations, and regulatory compliance for the organization.
Prior to joining Healthfirst NJ, Mr. Byrd held positions at QMedCare of NJ, AmeriChoice, Combined Insurance and Mercy Health Plan of NJ. While at QMedCare, he developed the first Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plan to be approved in New Jersey by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Additionally, Mr. Byrd founded TLB Byrd & Associates, a healthcare consulting firm specializing in all components of health insurance operations.
Mr. Byrd has a BA in Economics from Lafayette College, as well as a New Jersey license for Life, Accident, and Health Insurance. In addition, he has participated in Monmouth University's MBA program.
 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.
 Marybeth 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.
 Steven 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.
 Deborah Hammond, MD
Vice President,
Medical Director, New Jersey
Deborah Hammond, M.D. joined Healthfirst New Jersey in September, 2008. Since that time, she has been responsible for providing on-site review of 100% of cases referred by care managers; performing all utilization management for NJ with coverage of the New York plan for utilization reviews; representing Healthfirst at State regulatory meetings; interfacing with New Jersey Provider Relations; becoming involved in HEDIS activities in New Jersey; chairing New Jersey Quality and Credentialing Committees; and formulating and making presentations on performance to owner hospitals.
Dr. Hammond has substantial experience in health plan operations and the clinical management of health services. Prior to joining Healthfirst, she served as Vice President, National Standards at UnitedHealthcare. Having received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Oklahoma, with a specialty in Internal Medicine, she is Board Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine.
 Sonya 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.
 Andrea 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, training and corporate communications functions
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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