2017 Agenda At-A-Glance

• The Future Of Health Plan/Provider Organization Business Relationships

  Plenary Address | September 26, 8:30 am

  

  Martha R. Temple, Senior Vice President, Behavioral Health Services, Optum

  Martha R. Temple

  Senior Vice President, Behavioral Health Services, Optum

  

  Martha Temple joined Optum Consumer Solutions Group in 2015 as Senior Vice President, Optum Behavioral Health Services (OBHS), a leading mental health and substance abuse services provider to more than 35 million members. Martha is responsible for the overall profitability of the business, including ensuring the highest quality and clinical effectiveness and driving growth within commercial, Medicaid, Medicare and payer markets.

  Prior to joining Optum, Martha cultivated a 25-year career at Aetna, Inc. An actuary by training, she received her Fellowship in the Society of Actuaries in 1994. She spent the majority of her career in executive management positions after successful roles in underwriting, reserving and operations. Martha created Aetna Global Benefits and under her leadership grew the business into the industry’s largest provider of expat benefits. Martha served as President of Aetna’s New England Market from 2010 to 2015.

  Martha is an active community member, having served on the boards of the Middlesex United Way, Connecticut Business & Industry Association, MetroHartford Alliance and Achieve Hartford!, a youth education foundation. In addition, Martha serves on the board of the Coginchaug Valley Education Foundation and the Shoreline Arts Alliance.

  Martha graduated from the Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. She is based in Hartford, Connecticut. ×

• You Were Right & I Was Wrong: How Abraham Lincoln Owned His Mistakes, & Accepted Responsibility, As An Ideal Leader

  Classroom Workshop | September 26, 3:00 pm

  

  Harold Holzer, Director, The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute

  Harold Holzer

  Director, The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute

  

  Lincoln historian Harold Holzer is the Jonathan F. Fanton Director of The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York, a post he assumed in 2015 after 23 years as senior vice president of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. He also served in 2017 as Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Straus Center at Yeshiva University.

  For six years (2010-16), Holzer served as chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, and the previous 10 as co-chair of the U. S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, appointed by President Clinton. In 2008, Holzer was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President George W. Bush. Holzer is the author, co-author, or editor of 52 books on Lincoln and the Civil War. His Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion won the 2015 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize, the Mark Lynton History Prize from the Columbia University School of Journalism, and the Goldsmith Prize from the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. Holzer’s 2012 book, Lincoln: How Abraham Lincoln Ended Slavery in America was the official young-adult companion book for the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln, for which Holzer served as script consultant. He also served for three years as Roger Hertog Fellow at the New-York Historical Society.

  Holzer (www.haroldholzer.com) has written some 550 articles in both scholarly journals and popular magazines, published 15 monographs, and contributed chapters or prefaces to more than 50 additional volumes. Among his many other awards are a second-place Lincoln Prize in 2005 for Lincoln at Cooper Union, and book prizes from the Freedom Foundation, the Manuscript Society of America, the Civil War Round Table of New York, and the Illinois State Historical Society, along with lifetime achievement awards from the Lincoln Groups of New York, Washington, Peekskill, Kansas City, and Detroit; as well as honorary degrees from nine colleges and universities. Holzer is a member of many history boards and advisory committees and for 20 years has served as vice chairman of The Lincoln Forum. He is now a Trustee of The Metropolitan Museum.

  Holzer lectures throughout the nation. One of his programs, “Lincoln Seen and Heard,” with actor Sam Waterston, was staged and telecast from the White House, the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library, the Clinton Presidential Library, the Library of Congress, and Ford’s Theatre. Holzer appears frequently on C-SPAN and the History Channel, has served as an on-air commentator on CBS, PBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, Fox, and the BBC, and has created and performed Lincoln programs on stage with such actors as F. Murray Abraham, Alex Baldwin, Annette Benning, Kathleen Chalfant, Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, Stephen Lang, Norm Lewis, Liam Neeson, Chris Noth, Anna Deavere Smith, Fritz Weaver, and Dianne Wiest.

  Before joining the Met in 1992, Holzer spent his early career as a journalist, a campaign and Congressional press secretary for Rep. Bella Abzug, an aide to New York Governor Mario Cuomo, and as spokesman for New York’s PBS station, WNET. He and his wife Edith live in Rye, New York, and have two grown daughters and a grandson.

  Biography in Brief/ January 2016 ×

• The Future Of Long-Term Services & Supports: A New Business Model For A Medicaid Managed Care Market

  Plenary Address | September 27, 8:30 am

  

  Nancy Thaler, Deputy Secretary for the Office of Developmental Programs, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services

  Nancy Thaler

  Deputy Secretary for the Office of Developmental Programs, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services

  

  Prior to her appointment as the Deputy Secretary in 2015, Ms. Thaler served as the Executive Director of the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) keeping leaders in the 50 states and the District of Columbia informed about federal policy and service innovation, representing states’ issues to federal agencies, and providing information and technical assistance to state administrators.

  Ms. Thaler began her career in 1971 working in Pennsylvania provider agencies developing community services for children and adults with developmental disabilities. Joining Pennsylvania government in 1987, she was appointed the state’s Deputy Secretary for Developmental Disability Services from 1993 to 2003. From 2003-2005, Ms. Thaler served as the Director of Quality Improvement for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and was responsible for developing federal oversight of state-operated Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Waiver programs.

  Ms. Thaler has a Bachelor of Arts and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoria Causa from College Misericordia and a Master of Human Organization Science/Public Administration from Villanova University.  Ms. Thaler has been awarded two prestigious awards in 2015.  The Administrative Citation Award given by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Katie Becket Award given by National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities (NASUAD).  Last year, former First Lady Rosalyn Carter received the Katie Beckett Award.

  Ms. Thaler and her husband are the parents of an adult son with developmental disabilities. ×

• Breathing Through Stress & Using The Principles Of Yoga To Manage People

  Classroom Workshop | September 27, 3:30 pm

  

  Sharon Hicks, MBA, MSW, Senior Associate, OPEN MINDS

  Sharon Hicks, MBA, MSW

  Senior Associate, OPEN MINDS

  

  Sharon Hicks, MBA, MSW, has more than 20 years of experience in the health and human service field. She has extensive expertise and a wide range of experience in health plan management, clinical operations management, and technology. A recognized thought leader among her peers, Ms. Hicks is a regular keynote speaker at industry conferences and association meetings, as well as an author of hundreds of articles and resources for professionals in both clinical and executive roles.

  Prior to joining OPEN MINDS, Ms. Hicks spent two decades in a number of executive positions within the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) system. She served as the Chief Operating Officer for Community Care Behavioral Health, UPMC’s managed behavioral health organization responsible for $800 million in annual revenue. At Community Care, Ms. Hicks was responsible for all aspects of the organization’s operations, including fiscal, information systems, the claims processing department, and the design of clinical systems. She also managed the day-to-day operations of human resources, facilities, purchasing, and security.

  Ms. Hicks also served in a variety of tech leadership roles for UPMC. In 2002, she was appointed as the Vice President of Technology Strategy for the UPMC Insurance Services Division before becoming the Chief Executive Officer of Askesis Development Group, a leading provider of electronic health record software for behavioral health and social service organizations. In this role, Ms. Hicks was responsible for the growth and profitability of the company and the direction of software development. In addition, Ms. Hicks was the President of U Squared Interactive, a UPMC-owned organization with the exclusive United States rights to Beating The Blues – the renowned computerized cognitive behavioral therapy solution for treating anxiety and depression.

  Ms. Hicks started her impressive career as a psychiatric social worker and an Assistant Director of Social Work. Prior to her promotions, Ms. Hicks served as a Clinical Administrator for both Ambulatory Services and Emergency and Intake Services at the UPMC Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. In this role, Ms. Hicks managed the behavioral health division, the budgets for all departments, and implemented new software replacing paper billing for clinical services.

  Ms. Hicks received both her Masters of Business Administration and Masters of Social Work degrees from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Before pursuing her graduate education, Ms. Hicks received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Point Park College, Pittsburgh, PA.

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• Leading Your Strategy Development & Your Team In Uncertain Times

  Plenary Address | September 28, 8:30 am

  

  Monica E. Oss, Chief Executive Officer, OPEN MINDS

  Monica E. Oss

  Chief Executive Officer, OPEN MINDS

  

  Monica E. Oss, M.S., Chief Executive Officer and Senior Associate, is the founder of OPEN MINDS. For the past two decades, Ms. Oss has led the OPEN MINDS team and its research on health and human service market trends and its national consulting practice. Ms. Oss is well known for her numerous books and articles focused on the strategic and marketing implications of the evolving health and human service field. She has unique expertise in payer financing models, provider rate setting, and service pricing. She has led numerous engagements with state Medicaid plans, county governments, private insurers, managed care programs, service provider organizations, technology vendors, neurotechnology and pharmaceutical organizations, and investment banking firms – with a focus on the implications of financing changes on delivery system design. ×