Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please submit the good news—or the bad—from your shop, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Nevada, Medicaid Health Plan
Joy Thomas has been tapped as president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s Medicaid Health Plan in Nevada. She will ensure the more than 203,000 members receive access to innovative, high-quality healthcare and support services.
“Joy is a trusted and highly respected senior leader who has extensive knowledge and experience within the healthcare industry as well as a passion and track record for serving communities in Nevada,” Barsam Kasravi, president of Anthem’s Medicaid West Region, said in a statement. “She is an influential and dynamic leader who is capable of guiding Anthem through a time of tremendous growth and transformational change. We look forward to Joy’s leadership as we continue to improve health and lives across Nevada.”
Thomas previously held the roles of regional vice president of healthcare networks at Anthem Nevada and the regional director of managed care at Universal Health Systems.
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic has appointed its first chief artificial intelligence officer, Ben Shahshahani, a technology executive with more than 20 years of experience in AI and machine learning. In the newly created role, Shahshahani will drive Cleveland Clinic’s AI vision of transforming patient care and operations.
“Cleveland Clinic sees great promise for artificial intelligence in healthcare, as it has the ability to improve care for patients and streamline work for caregivers,” said Dr. Chandra. “However, we need to be thoughtful about how we implement it. Ben has a track record of effectively and strategically applying new technologies to create beneficial change for organizations. We are excited to bring his expertise to Cleveland Clinic.”
Shahshahani comes to Cleveland Clinic from the music industry, formerly holding roles at Sirius XM and Pandora, where he worked on machine learning.
Bamboo Health
Bamboo Health has added two executives to its leadership team: Erik Moore, Chief Technology Officer and Nazir Rostom, Chief Financial Officer.
Erik Moore has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare technology sector, focusing on improving healthcare outcomes through technology innovation and leveraging product development. Moore has led start-ups and Fortune 500 companies in finding creative ways to respond to market opportunities, improve productivity and build revenue and profit through cutting-edge solutions and services. Prior to joining Bamboo Health, he held various positions at Optum, Siemens Healthcare and CVS Health.
Moore will spearhead Bamboo’s technology, ensuring all technological resources are aligned with Bamboo’s goals of enhancing healthcare delivery through innovative, reliable and secure solutions.
Nazir Rostom has over 20 years of experience accelerating growth and rapidly scaling organizations. As a results-oriented and passionate finance leader, Rostom has been recognized for his ability to drive enterprise-focused financial and business results, including several successful exits, according to a company press release. With considerable experience in market and geographical expansion, M&A and building high-performance teams, he has consistently provided insights and strategic recommendations that directly contributed to financial and market share growth. Rostom comes to Bamboo Health from Ocelot, a leader in artificial intelligence student engagement space, where he was president. Concurrently, Nazir was an operating partner at K1 Investment Management and a member of PerfectServe and Panopto’s Board of Directors. He held multiple CFO positions at companies including PerfectServe, GetWellNetwork and RLJ Entertainment.
> Sachin Jain, Julie Klapstein and Adam Stavisky joined virtual diabetes prevention provider Omada’s board of directors.
> Hannah Hurley was tapped as the vice president of communications at the Federation of American Hospitals. Geoff Werth was tapped as the vice president of government relations at the organization.
> Digital documentation company Abridge has hired its first general counsel, Tim Hwang. He joins the team as a leader in AI policy, previously working as a legal expert for Inflection AI, Substack and Google.
> Arcadia, a leading data platform for healthcare, has brought on Luke Hansen, M.D., as chief medical officer.
> Community Health Plan of Washington has appointed Stuart Battersby as chief financial officer.
> Meritus tapped Lynn Haines as chief legal counsel.
> Collective Health announced the addition of digital health entrepreneur, investor, and industry luminary Halle Tecco to its board of directors.
> Joining the Highmark Health board of directors is Nish Vartanian, current chairman and retired president and CEO of Mine Safety Appliances (MSA).
> Gina Clark, executive vice president and chief business and communications officer at AmerisourceBergen Corporation is joining the Highmark Inc. board of directors. Lynn McKee, retired executive vice president, human resources at Aramark, is also joining the Highmark Inc. board of directors.
> Mark Kamlet, university professor of economics and public policy, chair of the Graduate Committee and provost emeritus at Carnegie Mellon University, retired from the Highmark Inc. board after 11 years of service.
> Element Care PACE, a nonprofit healthcare organization helping older adults live safely and comfortably in their homes, announced Eric Reines has been promoted to chief medical officer. Reines has served at Element Care PACE for nearly 16 years as an internist and geriatrician.
> Project HOPE has welcomed two new health experts to our board of directors: Syra Madad and Ron Piervincenzi.
> Randolph Sergent has been tapped as general counsel and executive vice president of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield.
> Digestive health tech startup Cylinder has hired Brad Rouse as CFO.
> Intelliguard announced their new chief strategy officer, Shane Smith.
> Cara McNulty was tapped as the CEO of Vibrant Emotional Health.
> HealthEdge, a SaaS platform that partners with 130-plus health plans, announced the appointment of Rob Duffy as chief technology officer to lead its technological initiatives aimed at digitally transforming the healthcare industry
> DLA Piper announced that Karina Lynch will be joining its Public Policy Practice in Washington, D.C.