Chris McGoff, Founder of The Clearing, Inc., has spent the last 30 years helping governments and organizations to engender new, transformative possibilities for a better world. Through his work and research, Chris has developed a comprehensive approach to help organizations drive toward consensus and solve problems involving the highest levels of stakeholder and technological complexity. At the World Bank he helped the organization create a new formula for aid allocation that minimized the problem of corruption and renewed the World Bank’s power to address global poverty.
McGoff is also the author of the published book for leaders, THE PRIMES: How Any Group Can Solve Any Problem. Accessible and immediately applicable, the 46 universal phenomena identified in The Primes are the underpinning for The Clearing’s consulting methodology.
His client list includes many of the agencies of the U.S. federal government as well as a wide range of organizations including IBM, AARP, Consol Energy, DuPont, the United Nations, and Boeing. McGoff has facilitated strategy sessions for over 10,000 government and industry professionals.
Prior to launching The Clearing in 2009, Chris founded his first company, Touchstone Consulting, in 1991, which grew to $40 million in revenue and 200 employees and was bought by SRA International Inc. in 2005. Prior to founding Touchstone, he designed and built IBM’s Decision Support Center and initiated the commercialization of work group technology.
McGoff also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland Graduate School of Public Policy.
Dexter W. Braff is President of The Braff Group, one of the nation’s leading health care merger and acquisition advisory firms (source: Thomson Reuters). Since its founding in 1998, the firm has completed more than 330 health care deals. With 30 years of experience representing health care service companies, Dexter is recognized as the industry expert in health care M&A. He has written and contributed to feature articles that have appeared in numerous health care industry publications and has written a chapter in the Handbook of Business Valuation published by John Wiley & Sons. He is frequently interviewed on various topics regarding health care mergers and acquisitions by news outlets including Bloomberg News, CNBC, USA Today, The Huffington Post, The Palm Beach Times, and numerous health care sector journals. Additionally, the firm is the publisher of marketWATCH, a quarterly review of mergers and acquisitions activity in six industry segments: Behavioral Health Care, Digital Health, Home Health and Hospice, Pharmacy Services, Urgent Care, and Home Medical Equipment. Dexter has presented seminars, webinars, moderated discussion panels, and has been the keynote speaker on various issues regarding health care mergers and acquisitions and finance at conferences across the country including Art of the Deal, the Remington Think Tank, Health Care Capital Investors Conference, HME News Business Summit, HHFMA Financial Managers Conference, Treatment Center Investment and Valuation, Foundations: Moments of Change, Behavioral Health Care: Buying, Selling and Valuing, National Association for Home Care, National Home Infusion Association Conference, Homecare 100, Long Term Care 100, Medtrade, Urgent Care Association of America, and many more. He was recently inducted into The Home Care and Hospice Financial Managers Association Hall of Fame as “deal-maker extraordinaire.” Dexter holds an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master of Science from the University of Oregon, a Bachelors of Arts from Cornell University, and received the Vincent W. Lanfear Award for academic achievement.
Eric Scharber is a Principal at Simione Healthcare Consultants, leading all talent acquisition and employee retention efforts for the Post-Acute Healthcare industry through Exact Recruiting, a Simione talent solution. He oversees executive search and non-executive recruiting services, as well as advisory services including compensation analysis and employee satisfaction survey services. After founding Exact Recruiting in 2005, Eric led the firm to become one of the most respected recruiting and executive search firms in this industry, serving clients across the U.S. and placing more than 1700 professionals since inception. Eric is a regular speaker nationally on the topics of Employee Retention and Recruitment, Building Culture and Leadership Development.
Dr. Hanna C. Rue is Head of Clinical Development for LEARN’s. She oversees clinical standards and assists in the design and implementation of numerous research projects and staff training protocols. Dr. Rue is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in Massachusetts and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. She obtained her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of North Dakota and completed her pre-doctoral training at May Institute. Her current research includes identification of evidence-based practice for treatment of ASD and skill acquisition procedures.
CEO and Principal, Empowering Synergy
A licensed clinical psychologist, Board Certified Behavior Analyst and co-founder of Autism Spectrum Therapies (AST), one of the largest autism service providers in the nation, Dr. Ronit Molko has 30 years of experience serving the autism community. With her unique combination of clinical, service and business expertise, Dr. Molko is shaping the nationwide conversation toward improved long-term outcomes for people with autism. Today she serves as an advisor to investors seeking to understand the investment opportunities the fields of autism and broader behavioral health services present, and the ways their capital can generate strong returns while making a positive impact on individual lives, and the world.
Her book, Autism Matters: Empowering Investors, Providers and the Autism Community to Advance Autism Services, has gained her national recognition as a Forbes speaker, which garnered her a TED Talk: “Reconsidering the Autism Spectrum.”
She is a board member of LEARN Behavioral, the Los Angeles Chapter of the Autism Society of America, and the Galt Foundation, and is a platinum member of the Women Presidents’ Organization.
Dr. Molko received her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas where she studied with some of the founders of Applied Behavior Analysis. She completed her Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA, CA and more recently an OPM Certification from Harvard Business School.
Russell Lehmann: Speaker, Author, Poet, Advocate
Russell Lehmann is an award-winning and internationally recognized motivational speaker, poet, author and advocate who happens to have autism.
A graduate of MIT’s “Leadership in the Digital Age” course, Russell showed signs of autism as a newborn, however he was not formally diagnosed until the age of 12 after suffering through 5 weeks in a lock down psychiatric facility.
His new book, “On the Outside Looking In” recently hit bookstores nationwide.
In 2018, Russell was named as Reno-Tahoe’s “Most Outstanding Young Professional Under 40”. In 2019, Russell lectured for the prestigious King’s College of London.
Russell currently travels the world spreading hope, awareness and compassion in a raw and dynamic fashion, while also setting his sights on erasing the stigma and stereotypes that come with having a disability. Russell’s passion is to be a voice for the unheard, for he knows how difficult and frustrating it is to go unnoticed.
Sara Gershfeld Litvak is an entrepreneur and behavioral scientist who currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Behavioral Health Center of Excellence, the only ABA-specific accrediting body. She has served as a consultant for numerous payers, state and governmental organizations designing Quality Assurance processes to ensure that ABA organizations provide clinically sound services. Sara also regularly provides due diligence for healthcare investors with a special focus on technology, autism and developmental disabilities.
Sara is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst who serves as an Adjunct Professor for the Applied Behavior Analysis program at Pepperdine University. She is an education blogger for the Huffington Post, has served as past Co-Chair of the Autism Special Interest Group for the Association for Behavior Analysis International, on the Board of Directors for the Association for Science in Autism Treatment, and as a Subject Matter Expert for the Behavior Analysis Certification Board (BACB). In her free time Sara enjoys anything tech, traveling, yoga and spending time outdoors.
Throughout his career, Scott Klososky has lived on the leading edge of technology innovation and its impact on the business world and society in general. He is recognized globally for his unique ability to accurately predict future digital trends and provide the logic behind why they will alter the current status quo.
Scott has the ability to entertain, inspire and enlighten audiences while also translating difficult to understand technology topics. He is known for architecting each presentation specifically for the audience, and with the very latest information available. Topics include content such as the importance of organizational digital maturity, leading through the Digital Transformation, cybersecurity, machine intelligence, data intelligence, trendspotting, digital marketing, and best practices for digital governance.
He is equally adept at giving large stage keynotes, speaking to small boards of directors, facilitating half and full day workshops, and doing break-out sessions. His topics often create many questions and he enjoys being interactive with audiences when appropriate. The best measure of his ability to inspire and inform audiences is the high percentage of speaking clients who bring him back for follow on work with their audiences.
Managing Director and Co-Head of Healthcare Founding Partner, Intrepid Investment Bankers
Adam has more than 17 years of investment banking experience in the middle market. He joined Intrepid as Vice President and Founding Principal in 2010, after nearly a decade of focusing on middle-market mergers and acquisitions at Barrington Associates and Wells Fargo Securities. Adam has executed transactions involving private and public companies in a broad variety of industries, including healthcare, consumer products, business services and industrial manufacturing. In particular, Adam advised Autism Spectrum Therapies in its sale to Learn Behavioral.
In addition to executing transactions, he’s actively involved in the management, growth and development of the firm.
Adam is a passionate Washington Redskins fan who remains loyal, despite the team’s challenges on the field. On his daily run each morning, he enjoys listening to various sports and entertainment podcasts. Adam is on the Board of Directors for the Association for Corporate Growth – Los Angeles and graduated from Skidmore College.
Managing Partner
David founded Tuscany Strategy Consulting in 2007 with the goal of building a consulting firm that delivers high-impact strategy from an operational perspective. The firm focuses primarily on the Education and Healthcare industries and has developed a special focus on areas where these markets come together, including ABA therapy, and health and medical education.
David has worked in growth-oriented operating roles involving new market expansion, product launches, turnarounds, acquisitions, and startups. David has also developed analytic tools designed to improve decision making and align products with underlying customer needs. These tools focus on demand discovery, pricing, consumer switching behavior, business intelligence and data analytics, product positioning, market efficiency, and value proposition design.
Prior to founding Tuscany, David served in a variety of executive-level internal consulting and operating roles where he developed new product lines and launched new businesses. This work spanned technology startups, product line extensions, product development, and the launch and development of new business divisions. He holds an MBA from The Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and mathematics from St. John’s College, Annapolis. David also serves as faculty in the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering where he teaches graduate courses in the Practice of Consulting and Demand Discovery.
Mr. Clark is a managing director in Harris Williams' Healthcare & Life Sciences Group. Over his 20-year career, which includes experience in investment banking, venture capital, and consulting. For nearly two decades Mr. Clark has focused exclusively on advising healthcare companies on M&A advisory assignments. Mr. Clark’s healthcare experience includes sell-side engagements across a wide range of healthcare services, products, and technology market segments. Prior to joining Harris Williams, Mr. Clark was an Investment manager in Ericsson AB’s Strategic Venture Capital Group and a manager in Arthur Andersen’s Strategy, Finance, & Economics practice.
Mr. Clark earned an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma for academic honors. Mr. Clark also earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of North Carolina. Mr. Clark has served on the Kenan-Flagler Business School Board of Advisors (BOA) since 2017. He also serves on the Leadership Board at UNC’s Center for the Business of Health. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Mr. Clark lives in Richmond with his wife and two children.
Executive Vice President of Operations
Jamie joined the team in September 2018 and brings 25 years of experience in Healthcare Business Operations to ABS.
Most recently, Jamie was Vice President Acute and Post-Acute Revenue Cycle at TeamHealth, one of the nation’s largest healthcare companies. In 2015, TeamHealth acquired IPC Healthcare (IPC). Jamie joined IPC in 1999 when it was a start-up company and she played an instrumental role in Revenue Cycle Management, financial and data analysis, strategic process management as well as system and process design. Jamie was also responsible for the Billing and Collections department with a staff of over 350 employees.
Jamie received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics with an emphasis in Economics and Psychology as well as a Masters of Education, Mathematics from University of California Los Angeles.
Julie Kornack is the director of public policy for the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.She is co-author of A Response to Papatola and Lustig’s Paper on Navigating a Managed Care Peer Review. She co-founded and serves on the board of directors of the National Coalition for Access to Autism Services, as well as several state and national advisory committees and task forces.
Consultant
Thomas Reilly is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University with a Master of Science in Engineering Management. During his tenure at Tuscany, Thomas has led a wide variety of technical and non-technical casework including business intelligence, data analytics, pricing, new market entry, market analysis, product innovation, due diligence, and brand strategy. Thomas has been instrumental in developing novel analytic techniques related to measuring consumer behavior, product strategy, and business intelligence. He has extensive experience combining quantitative and qualitative techniques to yield new evidenced-based market insights, and has worked with clients specializing in ABA and special education.
Before attending Johns Hopkins, Thomas lived in Western Australia and worked as an environmental advisor for BHP Billiton Iron Ore, focusing on mining and infrastructure operations. He earned undergraduate degrees in engineering and commerce from the University of Melbourne and completed internships with the Australian Department of Finance and Deregulation in the Deregulation Policy Division.
Mr. Knier is a director in Harris Williams' Healthcare & Life Sciences Group. During his investment banking career, Mr. Knier has advised a diverse group of publicly traded and privately held companies on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, and strategic advisory assignments across a wide range of industries, including healthcare. Prior to joining Harris Williams, Mr. Knier was a vice president in Blackstone Advisory Partners L.P., The Blackstone Group’s mergers and acquisitions advisory practice. Mr. Knier’s prior experience also includes working in Lehman Brothers’ Healthcare Investment Banking group.
Mr. Knier earned an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management and a B.S. in Business Administration with Special Attainments in Commerce at Washington and Lee University. Mr. Knier lives in Richmond with his wife and three children.
Peter Erickson is a Managing Director at TripleTree, leading the firm’s financial sponsor coverage efforts as well as new business development, client engagement, and transaction execution in the Healthcare Services and Technology sectors. Peter has deep experience advising autism companies, including successful outcomes for Trumpet Behavioral Health, Caravel Autism Health, and Norwest Venture Partner’s investment in Gateway Learning Group. Prior to joining TripleTree, Peter worked in Washington D.C. where he helped manage international development programs focused on Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. He earned a B.A. from DePauw University and an M.B.A. with a concentration in Finance from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.
Vice President, Clinical Care Services Autism
As Vice President of our Autism Center of Excellence, Yagnesh Vadgama oversees a national team of care managers (LCSW, LMFT, and BCBAs) and care workers. Yagnesh is a BCBA with over 15 years of direct level experience in ABA. Starting as a direct level technician, Yagnesh worked his way up as a supervisor, program director, and eventually to the world of managed care. He speaks at conferences, universities and facilities on autism, ABA, insurance funding, and levels of care that best serve individuals with ASD.
Director Co-Head of Healthcare
During a career spanning more than 19 years of healthcare finance experience, Jonathan has assisted clients in mandates, including buy-side and sell-side M&A, capital raising and management consulting. His transactional experience includes key execution roles in the healthcare investment banking group at Deloitte Corporate Finance and the healthcare M&A group at Cowen and Company.
Jonathan brings a unique perspective to M&A advisory services, leveraging his prior roles as Management Consultant and Vice President of Finance for a publicly traded healthcare services organization. His operating and consulting roles give him unique insight on revenue cycle management, IT vendor selection, and various cost reduction strategies, as well as divisional budgeting, financial reporting, and buy-side M&A implementation.
Over the course of his career, he has advised companies in nearly every healthcare sector, including: behavioral health, dental services, devices, home health, hospice, hospitals, IT, pharmacy, pharmaceuticals, physician groups and revenue cycle management.
Jonathan was raised in New Orleans and is still a huge fan of the city’s food, music and football team, the Saints … Who Dat!
The founder of AccuPoint, Matthew Serel, started his first IT company when he was 14 years old. His company, Purecode Consulting, managed technology services for small and medium businesses on Long Island, NY. One of his client’s, RES TBI Services, approached him in 2009 and asked if he could build a platform that not only handled their scheduling, payroll, and billing processes, but one that could also proactively manage compliance in a rapidly changing environment. Matt said absolutely, and AccuPoint was born. AccuPoint was developed and tested for two years before we formally began selling our services in July of 2011. In the past 4 years AccuPoint has grown tremendously, and due to its flexible design has been able to support all different types of providers including
James Craig, LCSW, MBA is the Corporate Vice President for Autism Solutions at Beacon Health Options, the largest autism services managed care provider in the US covering over 14 million lives with over 14,000 cases in service. In this role, he is responsible for Beacon’s autism product and network strategy and the ongoing development of clinical services and programs delivered to children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and their families. James has held numerous positions in managed behavioral health care most recently as the Director of Behavioral Operations at Accolade, a start-up built for purpose company specializing in integrated approaches to support medical and behavioral health decision making for consumers. Prior to that, he served as General Manager for Behavioral Health for the Eastern United States at Aetna where he was responsible for health plans and self-insured customers. In this capacity, James developed the first Autism Case Management program incorporating a care coordination and utilization management model in fulfillment of the emerging state mandates. James has developed a wide range of behavioral health programs designed to improve quality and effectiveness that have led to behavior change for those with medical and behavioral health issues. These have included telehealth coaching, online social media resources and member and provider engagement strategies.
Bio Coming Soon
Chris Sullens is the Chief Executive Officer of CentralReach and is leading the company in its mission to provide an end-to-end platform of software and services that enable Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) clinicians and educators to produce superior client outcomes for people with autism. Sullens brings decades of experience to the company and has a proven track record of building strong company cultures and taking customer-centric technology companies, like CentralReach, to the next level. Since he joined, CentralReach has won a handful of awards including Deloitte Technology Fast 500, NJBIZ Fast 50, Silver Stevie for Most Innovative Company of the Year, NJBIZ Best Places to Work, and Best in Biz Company of the Year – demonstrating the positive effects of the investments the company is making in its people, process, systems and client satisfaction initiatives.
Prior to CentralReach, Sullens spent 10 years as President and CEO of WorkWave, a leading provider of cloud-based software solutions for the field service and last mile logistics industries, which was recently acquired by IFS, an EQT-backed, global enterprise software provider based in Sweden. Sullens was responsible for developing the vision, setting the strategy and driving the execution for the company since joining in 2008. During his time there, Sullens transformed WorkWave through significant investment and 11 strategic acquisitions from a single product, single market, predominantly on-premise company, to a multi-product and multi-market SaaS company that is now the leading provider of cloud-based solutions for the field service and last mile logistics industries. Sullens grew employee count from 38 to almost 300 and increased revenue by 800% while maintaining double-digit EBITDA margins, creating an award-winning culture and building a world class SaaS leadership team.
During his tenure, the company was a seven-time winner of NJ Best Places to Work, named an Inc. Best Place to Work and a five-time Inc. 5000 fastest growth award winner among other awards. Sullens was also named 2016 EY Entrepreneur of the Year in NJ for Software Services and won a Stevie award for People Focused CEO of the Year in 2017. Sullens also sits on the board of directors for CentralReach along with a few other organizations including Fulfill of Monmouth and Ocean County, OnePlus Systems, CultureIQ, NJ Tech Council and the Monmouth School of Science Dean’s Council. He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech and an M.B.A. with Honors in Finance, Strategy and Entrepreneurship from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Jamie Pagliaro is Chief Learning Officer and one of the co-creators of Rethink (Autism). Prior to Rethink, Jamie was Executive Director of the New York Center for Autism Charter School, New York’s first public charter school exclusively dedicated to serving students with special needs. The program has received national recognition from both the media and professional publications as a model in the public school system. After several years of leading the education division of Rethink and forming partnerships with hundreds of local, state and federal programs in the United States, Jamie launched Rethink’s behavioral health division. His focus is on building and deploying practice management software as a service to autism treatment providers and behavioral health networks worldwide, and is particularly interested in value-based care models. He also serves on the advisory board of the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (BHCOE). In the early part of his career, Jamie worked directly with individuals with disabilities in all stages of life across a variety of home, clinic and school settings. Jamie earned an MBA from Villanova University and a BA with honors in Psychology from Wesleyan University. He speaks nationally and has authored numerous articles and book chapters on staff performance and the use of technology to enhance programs and outcomes for individuals with disabilities. Outside of work, Jamie enjoys hanging out with his wife and two kids, performing Shakespeare, playing guitar and volunteering in his community of Montclair, NJ.
Harry Nelson has been recognized as one of the leading healthcare regulatory lawyers in America. He is the founding partner of Nelson Hardiman, the largest healthcare/life science firm in Los Angeles. Harry has received national recognition for his groundbreaking efforts to drive legal changes to improve the quality and safety of addiction treatment and behavioral healthcare, including the Behavioral Health Network’s Advocacy Award, the Davis Direction Foundation Award for Book of the Year, and the Spirit Award from CLARE Matrix. Harry Nelson is the author of the best-selling The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain (ForbesBooks 2019) and From ObamaCare to TrumpCare: Why You Should Care (2017). He has worked extensively with autism treatment providers and therapies, navigating regulatory, reimbursement, and other compliance challenges, as well as on transaction readiness and diligence issues.
David Alben, Senior Vice President - Mr. Alben leads the Compliance team within the Advisory Group and is responsible for working with Marwood clients to help them assess how a company operates from a clinical quality and compliance perspective. Prior to joining the Marwood Group, he served as a Founder/Principal Consultant at Genco Healthcare Management where he focused on Regulatory Compliance, Business Process Improvement, Medical Billing and Collections, and Credentialing and Contract negotiations. Prior to his tenure at Genco Healthcare Management, Mr. Alben held roles at Formé Rehabilitation Center, American Medical Response, and Community Medical Transport. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jon is a Managing Director at Berkery Noyes with 17 years of healthcare investment banking experience. He advises leading companies and private equity firms on M&A and recapitalization transactions. Jon has broad experience in healthcare services, with particular expertise in behavioral health, healthcare information technology, and retail healthcare.
Bio
Nick Merkin is the Chief Executive Officer of Compliagent, a national healthcare compliance consulting firm based in Los Angeles. As part of his consulting practice, he frequently serves as a fractional or interim Chief Compliance Officer for organizations experiencing rapid growth, enforcement challenges, or in the process of merger and acquisition. Nick has a thorough knowledge of complex and rapidly changing state and federal laws and policies regarding organizational governance issues, board oversight and liability, compliance auditing, the Stark Law, the Anti-Kickback Statute, HIPAA privacy, data security, and the False Claims Act. Nick also has particular expertise in the areas of alternate payment methodologies and innovative provider structures for networks within the healthcare industry. Nick earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was named a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and served as Managing Editor of the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems. Nick was also awarded an M.B.A. from Tel Aviv University's Recanati School of Business and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. A member of the California Bar, Nick is certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC) and Healthcare Privacy Compliance (CHPC) by the Compliance Certification Board (CCB). Nick is also a certified California RCFE Administrator and a member of the Public Affairs Committee of the California Association of Hospital Facilities.
Dr. Cameron’s expertise in in the area of Applied Behavior Analysis, behavioral medicine, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Dr. Cameron is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, licensed in the states of Arizona and Texas, an international consultant, and a faculty member at the University of Southern California (USC).
Dr. Cameron’s professional experience includes: (1) establishing clinic, center, and home-based services for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder; (2) building the clinical infrastructure for interdisciplinary services (i.e., Applied Behavior Analysis, Speech and Language Pathology, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy); (3) working for a private equity firm (i.e., Great Point Partners) to scale an Applied Behavior Analysis company from a single state (California) to a multi-state operation (i.e., California, Texas, New Mexico, New York, Virginia, Massachusetts); (4) developing technology supports to enable clinical quality assurance and quality control (i.e., via the use of Clinical Decision Support Systems); (5) serving as the Clinical Chair for an interdisciplinary Grand Rounds team to support clinicians (i.e., the Grand Rounds team includes Board Certified Behavior Analysts, Speech and Language Pathologists, Licensed Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Psychiatrists, and Physicians); and (6) educating and mentoring international students (e.g., from Saudi Arabia).