Leadership

As president and CEO, Brendan is responsible for the health plan’s overall performance. Before joining HealthTeam Advantage in September 2015, Brendan worked at a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan for more than 24 years in various leadership roles; he has extensive experience in compliance, and internal audit and claims.

In addition to his more than 28 years of healthcare leadership experience, Brendan holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of North Florida and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. Brendan also holds the Certified Internal Auditor® designation.

Brendan and his wife Lori are active in the community volunteering at Ronald McDonald House and St. Benedict Catholic Church, where Brendan serves on the finance council. Brendan and Lori also enjoy the outdoors and traveling and have a desire to visit all the national parks!

Trish is the Chief Financial Officer. In addition to being responsible for all aspects of the company’s financial operations, budgeting and strategies, Trish also oversees the information technology, data analytics, and revenue program management functions. She joined the organization in 2017 as the controller before moving into her current role.

Trish began her career in public accounting at Ernst & Young, LLP, specializing in the healthcare sector in New York, where she was responsible for managing audits for large hospital systems such as New York Presbyterian. After seven years at Ernst & Young, LLP, Trish moved into private industry in the role of controller at June Media, Inc. rising to chief financial officer and vice president of operations over a 10-year tenure.

Outside of the office, Trish is an active volunteer with several animal rescue organizations. She serves as treasurer to two charities, including the Declan Donoghue Foundation (run by her family), which is dedicated to building playgrounds in communities here in the Triad.

As Chief Pharmacy Officer, Deanna provides oversight to the pharmacy and quality programs. She’s an accomplished, mission and strategy-driven senior executive and licensed pharmacist with 16 years of comprehensive management experience in managed care, pharmacy benefit, clinical and retail environments, with expertise in Medicare Part D plans, Medicare quality programs, medication therapy management programs, and cost-effective formulary development.

Prior to joining HealthTeam Advantage in 2016, Deanna was the first financial clinical pharmacist at EnvisionRX Options where she helped develop and enhance pharmacy benefit management services for more than five million members across a variety of functions, including Medicare Part D, fraud, waste, and abuse, trend analysis, and cost reporting, and accreditation. Within one year, she was promoted to director operations for the national Part D plan where she oversaw all pharmacy benefit management activities, medication therapy management programs, compliance monitoring, formulary development, grievances, coverage determinations and appeals. In this newly created position, she was responsible for establishing the first pharmacy benefit management oversight department.

Deanna started her health plan career at Mercy Health Plans, Inc., a regional provider-owned insurance company in Missouri. As the clinical pharmacist and then clinical pharmacy manager, she helped effectively manage pharmacy and medical prescription medication spends for members across Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. She also provided technical expertise for all areas of pharmacy across education, quality improvement and multi-faceted cost containment initiatives, and coordinated with sales, marketing, and finance to develop and deploy strategic pharmacy benefit designs for commercial and Medicare lines of businesses.

Deanna has pharmacy experience in hospital, retail, and long-term care settings.

When she isn’t working, Deanna spends her time walking/jogging on the Greensboro Greenway, baking, watching sports with her husband Tom, and playing with their puppy Diego.

As the Chief Medical officer, Dr. Chawla is responsible for the value-based care initiative while providing comprehensive and integrated care to the beneficiaries. He believes in leveraging technological innovations to improve quality and outcomes. His focus is on improving the population health by promoting PCP-guided preventative and wellness services with due consideration for the determinants of health.

Before joining HTA in August 2022, Dr. Chawla was the Lead Medical Director at naviHealth (Optum, UnitedHealthcare). He was responsible for providing the appropriate post-acute care to Medicare Advantage members. Prior to that, he has served in leadership roles as a Clinical Informaticist and practicing Physician with Mid-Atlantic Kaiser Permanente.

Dr. Chawla completed his medical training in India and his Internal Medicine residency at Atlanta Medical Center. He completed his Executive MBA in Healthcare Administration and Pharmaceutical Management at the University of Colorado, Denver.

Ravi resides in Fairfax, Virginia. He is an avid Disney fanatic and loves to spend his time off with his family at one of the Disney parks.

Joleen serves as the vice president of operations and is responsible for member services, enrollment, provider relations, claims, appeals, and grievances.

With more than 20 years’ experience in Medicare managed care, Medicare regulations, benefits, and successful partnership with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), she’s considered a subject matter expert on Medicare operations.

Prior to joining HealthTeam Advantage, Joleen served at Evolent Health as the director of operations for all health plans managed within the payer services and operations department, at AIM Specialty Health, a WellPoint Company as the director of government programs, as well as for Fidelis Senior Care, a Medicare Special Needs Institutional Plan as the corporate director of operations. Joleen has also held management positions at PwC, HealthSpring, United Healthcare, and Humana.

Outside the office, you can find Joleen reading historical fiction, crocheting, or traveling throughout the United States. One of Joleen’s goals is to visit every state in America! At last count, she only had eight more states to visit.

Though born and raised in Chicago, Joleen enjoys the Triad area and everything the state has to offer, like being close to both the beach and the mountains—a big change from the Midwest!

Steve is a medical officer. He’s responsible for providing clinical expertise for medical, care, and utilization management programs, as well as quality improvement, to make sure we provide high-quality, responsive care to our members. Steve has been with the company since 2018 in utilization management roles.

During his career, Steve has worked in a variety of clinical and management positions, including the development of hospitalist and skilled nursing facility practices. He has facilitated the launch of hospices, Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), special needs plans (dual, chronic, and institutional), home health care companies, and other programs at the hospital/post-hospital interface. His particular interest has focused on applications of frailty metrics in elderly populations. This led to his clinical research with Dalhousie University and consulting with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contractors in the area of independent review of utilization and quality in Medicare post-acute programs.

Steve lives in upstate New York, where he maintains a small geriatric medical practice.

Steve received his medical degree from Northwestern University and completed family medicine residency and geriatric medicine fellowship programs at the University of Minnesota and the State University of New York. He completed the Physician Leadership Academy program through the University of California at San Francisco.

As director of sales and marketing, John is responsible for all sales distribution channels through external and internal licensed agents. He maintains relationships with our Field Marketing Organizations (FMOs). John also oversees marketing to prospective members.

Before joining HealthTeam Advantage, John worked as the senior vice president of sales and marketing for a national Field Marketing Organization. John has more than 15 years’ experience in insurance sales and marketing, mostly with Medicare and ACA products.

John has many interests outside of the office, including golf, fitness, and spending time with family. For him there is nothing better than a long weekend at the beach with his family. John is a lifelong resident of the Triad and he enjoys the four seasons as well as the proximity to both the beach and to the mountains.

As the Director of Operations, Claims and Appeals & Grievances, Amy is responsible for Part C claims and configuration as well as overseeing our Part C Appeals & Grievances department.

Amy has more than 25 years’ experience in Medicare managed care, Medicare regulations, and successful partnership with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). She’s considered a subject matter expert on Medicare operations.

Amy lives in Wesley Chapel, Florida, with her husband and two dogs. She has two adult children and three grandchildren. When she is not working, Amy loves to spend time with family, go on her boat, or attend arts and craft fairs around Central Florida.

As Director of Accounting, Annette is responsible for overseeing the Accounting and Financial reporting functions of HTA.

Annette has over 30 years of accounting experience in a wide range of industries.  She received her BS in Management Studies and Accounting from the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, W.I. and a MS in Accounting and Finance from Keller School of Management in Miramar, Florida.

She has made significant contributions to organizations such as DHL, Cross Country Healthcare, Garda Cash Logistics and For Eyes by Grandvision.

Annette enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling and exploring new places.  She serves with her husband Dennis as leaders of their local church and also as Treasurer of their homeowner’s association.

Ashley serves as the Director of Operations, Enrollment and Member Services and is responsible for all member-related services in her role. It’s her job to ensure HealthTeam Advantage’s Enrollment team and Healthcare Concierge team provide exceptional service to our members.

Ashley has more than 10 years’ experience in management and has a background in customer service and employee development. While working in public health, Ashley discovered she could combine her experience and passion to assist others with their health plan questions and concerns.

After earning her Bachelor of Business Administration from Mid-America Christian University of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, she and her family relocated to North Carolina where she joined HealthTeam Advantage in October 2015. Ashley was one of the first leaders to join HTA where she built the Healthcare Concierge team to service North Carolina members specifically, expanding the HCC team from 6 to 20 members.

Ashley enjoys spending time with her family, reading, traveling, and watching her children compete in many different sports.

As the director, provider services and claims, Bethany is responsible for direct oversight for the Plan’s provider services department (call center, education and onboarding as well as supporting contracting, credentialing and provider data management), Part C claims and configuration as well as overseeing our Part C appeals and grievances department.

Bethany has more than 25 years of operational management in several sectors: corporate, medical practice, small business owner, and non-profit.  In 2016, looking for a change of pace, she left her career as a pediatric practice administrator and entered the realm of Medicare Advantage.

Bethany earned her Master of Health Administration and her Master of Business Administration from Pfeiffer University at Charlotte.  She is also a Board Certified Medical Practice Executive through the American College of Medical Practice Executives.

Bethany has been a North Carolina resident since attending Elon University for her undergraduate studies.  She has been proud to call Greensboro home for over 25 years.  She has two adult children.  Her son is a graduate of Penn State and her daughter currently attends college at the University of North Carolina Charlotte.   In her free time, if she doesn’t have a book in her hands, you can find her hiking the trails of NC with her dogs.

Caryn is the Director of Risk Adjustment.  She is responsible for ensuring the risk scores for each member are accurate and reflective of the current health status of our members.  This includes ensuring the data is accurately submitted and the codes are compliantly billed.  Caryn’s team also provides provider education and performs routine compliance audits on our vendors.

Caryn brings more than 20 years of healthcare experience both in the provider and health plan roles.  She spent over 10 years learning the intricacies of the provider revenue cycle, performing billing and coding audits and educating physicians about coding and documentation trends.  In her prior position at another health plan she was responsible for the configuration of the claims system and the risk adjustment department.

Caryn obtained a Bachelor’s of Science Health Information Management degree at the Western Governors University.  She is currently working on obtaining a Masters Degree in Healthcare Management and currently holds many coding certifications from both AHIMA and the AAPC.

Outside the office, Caryn likes to continue to learn new things, read books, and work on multiple different crafts.

Dr. Francisco M. Hodges is a Medical Director for HealthTeam Advantage. He graduated with honors from Wright State University’s Boonshoft School Of Medicine in 1996. Dr. Hodges is a Family Medicine Specialist in Asheboro, North Carolina and opened Hodges Family Practice with his wife Beth in 1999.

As Director of Human Resources, Katrina is responsible for originating and leading Human Resources (HR) practices and objectives that will provide an employee-oriented, high-performance culture emphasizing, quality, accountability, and the retention and ongoing development of a superior workforce. She develops and administers programs, procedures, and guidelines to help align the workforce with the strategic goals of the company.

Katrina boasts extensive HR knowledge gained from diverse roles, including healthcare, telecommunications, banking, manufacturing, and consulting. She earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Waynesburg University and a Master’s in Management from High Point University. In addition, she holds several professional certifications — the Society for Human Resources Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), and the Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF).

Katrina currently serves on the YWCA board of Greensboro and is the Chief Administrator for New Birth Community AME Church. She is the current President for the North Carolina Society for Human Resource Management (NCSHRM) State Council.

Katrina is a native of Jacksonville, FL, and currently resides in Oak Ridge, NC. She is married and has one adult son.

As Director of Care Management, LaSandra is responsible for oversight of HTA community case and disease management programs, as well as transition of care coordination for members across all product plans at HTA.

LaSandra has a clinical background in cardiac/critical care, home health, and hospice nursing. She has led clinical compliance and case management programs for Medicare Advantage plans, and has also provided leadership for a community inpatient hospice program.

LaSandra earned her nursing degree at American Sentinel College of Health Sciences and holds certifications in case management as well as hospice/palliative nursing. She is currently completing the MBA program at NC A&T State University.

Outside of work, LaSandra enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her family and friends.

As the Director of Quality, Marsha is responsible for the overall Medicare Advantage STARS program at HealthTeam Advantage, focusing on the quality of care for our members, patient experience, and health outcomes. She brings more than 27 years of clinical nursing experience in a wide range of medical settings—18 years of medical management and supervisory experience with a focus on consumer-oriented leadership, and 12 years of Medicare Programs experience. Marsha has a both a BS and an MS in nursing. In addition, she has numerous certifications including Certified Professional Coder (CPC), National Association for Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) and, most interestingly, National Aquatic Fitness Certification.

Marsha began her Medicare career in 2004 as a Case Manager/Prior Authorization Auditor with Altius Health Plan. In 2012, she started with Humana, Inc., and moved up in the ranks to the Lead Stars Quality Medicare Advantage and Part D Programs. Most recently, she was the Director of Quality Improvement and Patient Education for Cucamonga Valley Medical Group. She has been viewed as an expert in Nursing Quality Core Measures and NCQA National Standards of Care and is well versed in CMS Star Ratings, HEDIS, Acumen Patient Safety, CAHPS/HOS, Medicare Advantage and Part D programs.

Marsha resides in Utah, where she enjoys multiple outdoor activities, including teaching water aerobics at the local County Recreation Center. She and her family enjoy traveling in their spare time.

As the Sr. Director, Information Technology (IT), Sikander is responsible for overseeing the company’s IT infrastructure and for developing goals and strategies to ensure that the IT department runs smoothly and effectively. He also focuses on the use of modern software and technologies to streamline business operations and monitors changes in the technology sector to discover ways for the company to continuously improve and develop.

Sikander has more than 20 years of experience in information technology and has a strong technical background. He began his career as a network administrator with a satellite internet provider, where he quickly rose to become a field manager for their IT network.

He has contributed his wealth of IT knowledge and skills at organizations such as Gateway Health, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wachovia.

Outside of the office, Sikander is an active volunteer with “The Islah”, a small non-profit organization dedicated to feeding the hungry and supporting the needy. He loves outdoor sports including hiking and his all-time favorite, cricket.

Shae Parker is the Director for Utilization Management for HealthTeam Advantage. She is a native of Greensboro and mother of 3 who graduated from Walter Hines Page High School.  Shae is a registered nurse who obtained a bachelor’s of science in nursing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a master’s in healthcare administration from Pfeiffer University. Shae also holds a Certified Professional Coder certification through the AAPC.

Shae has nearly 15 years of experience in operations, utilization management and staff development.  Working in the health care arena, her experience includes strategic leadership, process improvement, health plan startups, and supervision of employees.  Shae’s positions have consisted of team building, interdepartmental leadership, acquisition planning/development and financial management.

Shae has a strong understanding of Medicare Advantage and takes great pride in serving HealthTeam Advantage members. Shae understands and values the importance of members receiving the right care at the time right time to foster successful outcomes in the home and community.