Meet the Executive Team
Alan Hoops
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
In March of 2006, Mr. Hoops became Chairman and CEO of CareMore Health Group. CareMore Health Group includes CareMore Medical Enterprises, Inc. and CareMore Health Plan. Previously, Mr. Hoops held the position of Chief Executive Officer, PacifiCare Health Systems (NYSE: PHS). Mr. Hoops co-founded PacifiCare, an $11 billion Medicare-focused HMO based in California in 1977 and later led the rapid expansion of the company during the 1990's.
During Mr. Hoops' tenure as President and CEO from 1993-2000, PacifiCare grew five-fold from $2 billion to $11 billion with approximately 4 million members in 9 states and Guam. During Mr. Hoops' first five years as President and CEO, PacifiCare's stock price doubled. Mr. Hoops started PacifiCare's Secure Horizon's program, which under his leadership, became the nation's largest Medicare HMO health plan, serving more than 1 million Medicare beneficiaries in nine states. Under Mr. Hoops' direction, the company also became a major commercial HMO and one of California's largest managed care insurers.
Since 2000, Mr. Hoops has been Chairman of Benu, Inc., and Enwisen. Mr. Hoops also serves as Board Director for Corvel.
Leeba Lessin
President, Health Plan Division
Leeba Lessin has over 18 years of experience in the healthcare and managed care industries. Ms. Lessin became President of Northern California operations for PacifiCare in August 1998, and President of Southern California, PacifiCare's largest region with 1.2 million commercial members, 380,000 Medicare members, and $4.1 billion in revenue in 2000. At the time of her appointment in 1998, Ms. Lessin was vice president of provider delivery systems for PacifiCare, with company-management companies. Prior to joining PacifiCare in 1995, Ms. Lessin was President and Chief Executive Officer of Monarch Health Systems, a managed care delivery system operating in California's central coast region. Ms. Lessin received her BA degree from Westmont College in Santa Barbara and an MBA from the University of Washington. In 2002, Ms. Lessin formed Lessin Management Advisors, which provides consultation and strategic project management for companies in the healthcare industry.
John Kao
President, Management Services Organization
John Kao has an extensive background in healthcare strategy, business operations, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisition, strategic planning, and finance. From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Kao served as executive vice president and Chief Revenue Officer of the TriZetto Group, an information technology company serving the payer market with over 125 health plans and 250 third party administrator customers. Prior to joining TriZetto, Mr. Kao served as President and CEO of the Ventures Division of PacifiCare Health Systems, managing PacifiCare's specialty businesses, including PacifiCare Behavioral Health, PacifiCare Dental and Vision and Prescription Solutions. He was also the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at PacifiCare and Chief Financial Officer for Secure Horizons USA, a PacifiCare franchise business unit. From 1995 to 1997, Mr. Kao served as Vice President of Mergers and Acquisition for FHP International Corporation where he was responsible for executing a turnaround plan, which included the divestiture of the FHP staff model. From 1987 to 1995, Mr. Kao was an investment banker with Bank of America, where he managed a portfolio of healthcare service and technology company investments. Mr. Kao received his BSC in Finance from Santa Clara University and an MBA in Finance from the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management. In 2011, Mr. Kao was honored with the “Father of the Year” award by the National Father's Day Council and the American Diabetes Association.
Dr. Ken Kim, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Kim joined CareMore as a Hospitalist in 1999. In 2007 he was appointed Regional Medical Officer responsible for Clinical Operations located in Downey, Lakewood, Long Beach, Los Alamitos and San Jose, CA. In 2008, Dr. Kim assumed responsibility for the management of all chronic care clinical programs and personnel based in the CareMore Care Centers. In addition, he oversaw CareMore’s wireless monitoring programs and mental health program. Dr. Kim was appointed as CareMore’s Chief Medical Officer in 2010, responsible for CareMore’s entire clinical organization.
Brendan Baker
Chief Financial Officer
Prior to joining CareMore, Baker was Senior Vice President of Network and Clinical Strategy for UnitedHealth Group’s (UHG) $15 billion Medicare divisions that include SecureHorizons and EverCare. He was responsible for building and maintaining a national contracted network of healthcare services for all Medicare products, which included approximately 1,600 hospitals and 200,000 physicians. Baker joined UHG in 2005 by way of its acquisition of PacifiCare Health Systems where he was both the CFO for SecureHorizons, PacifiCare’s Medicare division, and President of its Desert Region. He joined PacifiCare in 2001 as part of a turn-around team focused on rebuilding financial disciplines and ensuring profitable growth. During his tenure with the Company, PacifiCare’s market capitalization went form $400 million to $9 billion at the time it was acquired by UHG. Prior to joining PacifiCare, Baker was Executive Vice President and CFO for ForHealth, Inc., a start-up company established to provide full-risk, medical management to the frail elderly residing in nursing homes. He helped raise $13 million in venture capital funding, grow the company to $10 million in annual revenues within three years and assisted in the ultimate sale of the business to Geriatrix, Inc.
Earlier in his career, Baker held executive positions in CIGNA Healthcare, FHP Healthcare and PepsiCo Food Systems. He began his career in Public Accounting with Ernst & Young and Pannell Kerr Forster, CPAs. Baker holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from California State University, Long Beach, a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix, is a California licensed Certified Public Accountant and is a member of both the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Eric Van Horn
General Manager / Senior Vice President
Eric Van Horn joined CareMore Health Plan in May of 2006 as the General Manager, representing the companies' product-line growth, profitability and network strategy. Prior to his joining the CareMore team he spent 15 years and held several executive roles at United Healthcare covering over 70 million customers and PacifiCare Health Systems, a fortune 200 company. Most recently, Mr. Van Horn held the position of Executive Director for the Southern California market with United Healthcare, with profit and loss accountability for the Commercial product lines.
In 2000, Mr. Van Horn took over the Network Contracting and Operations efforts of the Central Coast, and Southern California markets for PacifiCare as the Vice President of Network Management. Mr. Van Horn started in health care economics where he built financial forecasting and reporting tools and represented the company in the creation of the current reimbursement system managed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Mr. Van Horn received his BA in Quantitative Economics and Decision Sciences from the University of California, San Diego and an MBA in Operations from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Dr. Charles Holzner, M.D.
Regional Medical Officer
Charles M. Holzner, M.D., is board certified in internal medicine. He graduated from Stanford University Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, and his Medical Degree from New York Medical College. Dr. Holzner then completed his Internship and Residency in internal medicine at the University of California at Irvine Medical Center. He worked for three years with the US Public Health Service, then began with Internal Medicine Specialists in 1986, where he has continued to improve his skills and expertise in internal medicine, endocrinology, infectious disease and intensive care.
Dawn Maroney
Chief Sales & Marketing Officer / Vice President
Dawn Maroney is CareMore’s Vice President / Chief Sales & Marketing Officer. In this position, Dawn spearheads CareMore’s sales and marketing initiatives and is responsible for membership growth and retention in all markets. During her tenure with CareMore, Dawn has launched the company’s services in eight new markets, building effective sales teams and competitive benefits packages while delivering and exceeding aggressive sales goals.
Ms. Maroney has devoted 23 years to Medicare consumers and has built multiple award-winning marketing campaigns in the healthcare industry. Considered an expert in the field of Medicare marketing, Dawn is currently senior health subject matter consultant for NBC Television in Burbank, CA.
Prior to joining CareMore in May of 2005, Dawn held the position of vice president, sales and retention at Secure Horizons. Her scope of responsibility included overall membership growth and retention across eight US states. Ms. Maroney successfully reduced higher-than-industry average disenrollment rates through her innovative programs and dedication to improved service throughout the membership experience. As a result of her diligent efforts in sales and retention, Secure Horizons membership grew to a peak of 716,000 members. In her first year with the company, membership far exceeded previous projections and grew by an astonishing 100,000 members. Before joining Secure Horizons, Ms. Maroney was western region vice president of Medicare programs with Health Net Inc., providing guidance for new product offerings and oversight of group retiree business. In addition to her success in membership growth, Dawn was awarded top region salesperson year-in and year-out for her entire tenure with the company.
Dawn’s true passion is diabetes research and she is focused on assisting industry associations and coalitions in this pursuit. Ms. Maroney is a current board member of the American Diabetes Association and volunteers her time with associated senior organizations in planning and events.
Kerry Matsumoto
Chief Information Officer
Kerry Matsumoto has over 25 years in Information Technology leading technological innovation and delivery in the health care and aerospace industries. He directs CareMore's digital transformation, strategic IT direction, and execution of key IT services and programs. At CareMore he is responsible for codifying the unique care delivery system into every aspect of our IT information and application portfolio. Prior to joining Caremore, in 2006-2007 he was the CIO of United Behavioral Health, with management of 45 million members across 15 national care centers with $1.7B in annual revenue. He also was the CIO of PacifiCare Behavioral Health and Dental & Vision, leading their system integration, web development, and IT operations initiatives and programs.
Mr. Matsumoto also held key IT leadership positions for aerospace companies including Rockwell International and McDonnell Douglas working on diverse Shuttle and Satellite space programs. Mr. Matsumoto holds a Master's in Public Health from UCLA, as well as a Master's in Business Administration and Bachelor of Science degree in Quantitative Systems from California State University, Long Beach.
Sergio Zaldivar
Senior Vice President of Corporate Development
Mr. Zaldivar has over 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry. His experience includes financial management of health plans, medical groups, and hospital providers.
Mr. Zaldivar has been with CareMore since 1998. During his tenure, he was instrumental in the growth of CareMore Medical Group and CareMore Medical Management Company. In 2001 he was part of the management team that obtained the Knox Keene license, thus creating CareMore Health Plan. He later raised capital for the leveraged deal and creation of the CareMore Employee Stock Option Plan. In 2006, he lead the analytics concluding to the transaction and sale of CareMore Medical Enterprises. Currently, Mr. Zaldivar oversees the company’s Corporate Development functions, focusing on growth and expansion. Formerly, as the company’s Chief Financial Officer, he had accountability for all of the company’s financial, accounting, and cash management operations.
Prior to assuming his position with the company, Mr. Zaldivar served as Administrative Director of Financial Planning & Reimbursement at Downey Regional Medical Center with responsibility for all financial, managed care, and third party reimbursement operations. Mr. Zaldivar also served as Division Controller at LifeFleet Ambulance Services. Mr. Zaldivar began his career as a Medicare auditor at Blue Cross of California, where his responsibilities included complete audits of providers Medicare Cost Reports. He is a graduate of California State University, Los Angeles with a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration and Accounting.
Chuck Weber
Senior Vice President of Operations
Chuck Weber has oversight of all operations for CareMore. In this capacity he leads the day-to-day activities as well as long-term planning in transforming the company to a leading consumer driven organization. Prior to joining CareMore, Mr. Weber held several executive roles with nationally recognized health care leaders such as United HealthCare leading claims, customer service and Information Technology and Health Systems Integration where he developed EDI and Data Warehousing products. Among his 16 years of experience in health care, he had the opportunity to share the Computer World Honors award where the system was ultimately included in the Smithsonian's permanent collection on technology.
Joyce Furlough
VP of Touch
Joyce Furlough has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare and managed care industries. From 1995 to 2000, Mrs. Furlough held a number of positions at PacifiCare Health Systems including Corporate Vice President of Marketing and Product Development. As Vice President, Mrs. Furlough was accountable for national sales, product development, and brand management for the Secure Horizons product line. Mrs. Furlough is credited with creating and implementing numerous noteworthy programs targeted towards the senior consumer. From 2000 to 2004, Mrs. Furlough was Managing Partner for Expedient Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in strategic planning and business development services for Medicare and Medicaid health plans. Most recently, Mrs. Furlough served as the National Director of Medicare Products for Kaiser Permanente where she was responsible for the Medicare product management and development including the implementation of the Medicare Part D program. Mrs. Furlough received her Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration from California State University at Northridge.
Michael C. Foster
General Counsel
Michael Foster has approximately 24 years of diverse legal experience focused on the health and managed care industries. Prior to joining CareMore in August of 2006, Mr. Foster was engaged in private practice as the managing partner of K&R Law Group, LLP, a Los Angeles-based law firm. Mr. Foster's legal experience encompasses a variety of corporate transactional and federal and state health care regulatory matters. They include: mergers and acquisitions; structure and formation of, and contract development for, managed care organizations and medical groups; Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan regulatory compliance; fraud and abuse, anti-kickback and provider self referral issues; and licensure. Mr. Foster received his BA in molecular biology from California State University Northridge and his law degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. He is admitted to practice in California and before the United States District Court Central District of California, and the United State Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
