Our Leadership

Steve Nelson is chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare, a $180 billion division of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) – No. 5 on the Fortune 500 list. UnitedHealthcare serves one in eight Americans, making it the single largest business dedicated to health and well-being in the United States.

Previously Steve served as chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare & Retirement business, the nation’s largest organization dedicated to seniors and Medicare beneficiaries. Other past roles include leading UnitedHealthcare’s Community & State business, an organization that delivers Medicaid solutions in 30 states and the District of Columbia, serving 6.7 million beneficiaries, and leading the West Region of UnitedHealthcare’s Employer & Individual business. Before coming to UnitedHealthcare, Steve was president of the Eastern Region and Senior Products Division at HealthNet (NYSE: HNT) and served for 10 years in executive roles at the Henry Ford Health System.

Dan Schumacher is the president and chief operating officer of UnitedHealthcare and was named to the Office of the Chief Executive for UnitedHealth Group in September 2017. Dan has oversight responsibility for U.S. and global commercial markets including the Employer & Individual business. Additionally, he leads the clinical, network, operations and technology groups for all of UnitedHealthcare’s domestic teams.

Prior to this role, Dan held various executive positions within UnitedHealthcare including serving as a member of the Office of the CEO for the past two years, chief financial officer, controller, chief financial officer of the Group Insurance Division of Specialized Care Services (now OptumHealth), director of Finance for Specialized Care Services and director of Corporate Development for UnitedHealth Group in enterprise-wide merger and acquisition activity.

Brian Brueckman was named Executive Vice President of Operations for UnitedHealthcare in March 2016. He leads global operational performance across UnitedHealthcare, focused on advancing quality and growth across the company and overseeing 30,000 operations employees and leaders across multiple business areas at UnitedHealthcare.

With deep experience in consumer satisfaction, Brian is working to bring operational consistency across the UnitedHealthcare enterprise with sharp attention to improving the customer experience for the company’s members and providers. He is spearheading efforts to resolve member and provider issues more quickly, create brand champions in the employee population, and make UnitedHealthcare the preferred healthcare choice.

Brian has more than 25 years of experience in consumer affairs in the wireless telecommunications industry. Prior to joining UnitedHealthcare, Brian spent 18 years as an operations leader at T-Mobile, most recently as Executive Vice President, Direct to Customer Operations. He had responsibility for customer and technical service, collections, telesales, web sales, and service partner management.

While at T-Mobile, Brian won two J.D. Power & Associates awards for customer service. He led a program that generated more than $200 million in revenues through service package sales, and he drove more than $350 million of savings in operational expenses.

Heather Cianfrocco is the chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare Community & State. UnitedHealthcare Community & State proudly serves 6.7 million Medicaid members in 28 states, plus Washington D.C.  UnitedHealthcare is a division of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) which is a diversified health and well-being company with a mission to help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone. UnitedHealthcare Community & State leverages the national capabilities of UnitedHealth Group and delivers them at the local market level to support effective care management, strong regulatory partnerships, greater administrative efficiency, improved clinical outcomes, and the ability to adapt to a changing market environment.

Before being named CEO of Community & State, Heather served as senior vice president of Health Advancement and Clinical Transformation for UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement. Before this role, Heather served in several leadership positions with Community & State, most recently as senior vice president of Clinical Strategy and Operations where she oversaw the Clinical Operating Team and was responsible for complex care and quality, including core clinical performance, quality improvement, complex care product performance, and network and clinical affordability. Prior to this, Heather served as Northeast Region CEO and Quality Leader with Community & State after leading the Pennsylvania Community Plan as CEO. Throughout her time with UnitedHealthcare, she has held other leadership positions within Community & State in legal, compliance, operations, and contracting.

Before joining UnitedHealthcare, Heather worked in private legal practices in Pittsburgh where she concentrated on corporate and securities law, representing health care entities in mergers and acquisitions. She has also volunteered her time for animal rescues and various community organizations, including previously serving as a member of the national advisory board of The Salvation Army. Heather also serves on the board of directors for the UnitedHealth Foundation.

John Cosgriff is Senior Vice President of Business Development for UnitedHealthcare, a $163 billion division of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) – Number 6 on the Fortune 500 list. UnitedHealthcare serves one in eight Americans, making it the single largest business dedicated to health and well-being in the United States.

John works with leaders across UnitedHealthcare to define and drive the strategic direction for the overall organization, including identifying new ways to grow and diversify the business, increase the value provided to clients and consumers, and ensure the distinct long-term leadership position of UnitedHealthcare in the market. In this role John oversees the chief strategy officer function for the business, and heads mergers and acquisitions.

John joined UnitedHealth Group in 2005. Past roles in the company have included responsibility for marketing and business development, mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships and innovation. Prior to joining UnitedHealth Group, John was a management and technology consultant in Accenture’s Washington, D.C. consulting practice, where he served financial services and health services clients in the United States and Europe. John previously held staff positions in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.

John is a Trustee for St. Paul Academy and Summit School, and the Science Museum of Minnesota. He is also a mentor for Techstars, a national startup accelerator.

Stephanie Fehr is executive vice president and chief human capital officer for UnitedHealthcare. Stephanie brings over 20 years of human resources and talent development experience to her role at UnitedHealthcare and is responsible for building the UnitedHealthcare talent infrastructure.

Since 2000, Stephanie has held human resources and talent leadership roles in Apple’s Operations, Leadership Development, and Retail divisions. She led the design, development and implementation of Apple's leadership training program, AMP, and has been a key member of Apple’s Retail executive team.

Kirsten Gorsuch is the chief communications officer for UnitedHealthcare. In this role, she oversees a team that develops and implements communications strategies to enhance and protect UnitedHealthcare’s reputation, create a more favorable business environment and strengthen employee engagement.

Prior to joining UnitedHealthcare, Kirsten served as senior vice president of external affairs
for Blue Shield of California where she was responsible for corporate communications, government affairs, alliance management, corporate social responsibility and community relations. She also served as the head of corporate communications at Medtronic, the world’s leading medical device company. Prior to her corporate roles, Kirsten was senior vice president at two global public relations firms, Ketchum and GCI Group, where she counseled a wide range of clients in the health care sector.

She is a former trustee and current member of the Arthur W. Page Society, an organization of individuals who have reached the highest level of practice in the field of corporate communications or public relations.

Bill Hagan is president of UnitedHealthcare Clinical Services and is responsible for delivering clinical programs for the company’s Commercial, Medicaid and Medicare businesses. Bill and his team partner with physicians, hospitals and other health care professionals to improve the quality and efficiency of health care to help millions of people live healthier lives.

Bill has been with UnitedHealthcare for more than 16 years. He has served in multiple leadership roles, including chief growth officer for the company’s Medicaid business
that served approximately five million members across 23 states, Regional CEO for UnitedHealthcare’s Medicaid business for the western territory and Tennessee, and CEO of health plans in Arizona and Wisconsin. He was also CEO of the company’s subsidiary, Information Network Corporation, managing call centers, claims processing, provider data management and technology for the Medicaid business.

Before joining UnitedHealthcare, Bill held various senior executive positions at XML Solutions, IBM Global Services and American Express that spanned software development, business intelligence and global data management services.

Bill is a board member of Health Current, the Arizona state-wide Health Information Exchange and a board member of Grace & Mercy Ministries, a homeless and refugee support organization in Phoenix.

Dr. Sam Ho is chief medical officer for UnitedHealthcare and is responsible for improving health care safety; promoting evidence-based clinical best practices; reducing unwarranted variation in quality, utilization, and costs; enhancing consumer and health professional preventive and medical care decisions; advancing collaborative and collegial relationships with a broad spectrum of health care industry stakeholders, including medical societies, physicians and other health professionals, and hospital providers; and strategic planning and distinctive execution.

With more than 25 years of experience, Dr. Ho ranks as one of the nation’s leading health care executives and has garnered recognition through multiple industry awards. His work has consistently sought to transform health care in the U.S., and has helped innovate to promote value-based quality and cost outcomes, and advanced data and analytical capabilities.

Dr. Ho is a member of the Board of Directors and the Leadership Council for eHealth Initiative (eHI), whose mission is to improve health care quality, safety and efficiency through information technology. He also serves on the Board of Advisors for his alma mater, Tufts University School of Medicine, as well as on the Board of Visitors for his undergraduate college, Northwestern University

He has practiced, taught, and consulted as a family physician with University of California, San Francisco, and has served as the County Health Officer and Medical Director for San Francisco.

Thad Johnson is chief legal officer of UnitedHealthcare. In this role, he has overall responsibility for UnitedHealthcare’s legal and regulatory affairs functions. Prior to this, he was general counsel of UnitedHealthcare’s Employer & Individual business and had oversight of legal, compliance, regulatory affairs and health care reform implementation.

Thad joined UnitedHealth Group in 2000 as an associate general counsel and assistant secretary supporting corporate development, treasury and finance. He has held various legal leadership roles, including network, pharmacy, clinical services, transactions, vendor and strategic partnership contracting, and corporate governance and licensing.

Prior to joining UnitedHealth Group, Thad was with Dorsey & Whitney where he advised private and public companies on securities law, merger and acquisitions, debt and equity offerings, private equity placements, corporate governance concerns and other general business matters. 

He currently serves on the board of directors for the Children’s Law Center of Minnesota.

Molly Joseph is chief executive officer, UnitedHealthcare Global and executive vice president of Global, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) – No. 6 on the Fortune 500 list. UnitedHealthcare Global provides clinically integrated benefits, services and medical delivery to 7 million people in more than 130 countries. Molly also serves on UnitedHealthcare’s Executive Council and is a member of UnitedHealth Group’s Executive Leadership team.

Previously Molly served as chief executive officer, UnitedHealthcare Global Solutions and senior vice president, Global, for UnitedHealth Group. Past roles included serving UnitedHealth Group in corporate development where she led acquisitions and other transactions for the company. Prior to joining UnitedHealth Group, Molly was an investment banker focused on mergers and acquisitions. She began her career as a corporate lawyer, also focused on business transactions.

Molly earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Santa Clara University and her Juris Doctorate from Georgetown Law Center.

Molly is Board Chair for Empresas Banmédica, a leading health care provider serving people in Chile, Colombia and Peru. She also serves on the Board of Directors of First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), on the Advisory Board of Children’s HeartLink, a global nonprofit health care organization, as well as on the Board of Directors of Young Voices of Austin, a nonprofit children’s organization. She was named a 2018 Courageous Woman in Health Care by the Women’s Health Leadership TRUST and was recognized with the 2014 Minneapolis / St. Paul Women in Business Award.

Phil McKoy is chief information officer of UnitedHealthcare. He is responsible for establishing, leading and executing strategic technology roadmaps and the associated capital investments to support UnitedHealthcare’s businesses through innovative and differentiated technology capabilities.

Phil is accountable for driving technology imperatives that support the company’s commercial Employer & Individual, Medicare & Retirement, Community & State, and Global business segments, as well as specialty areas including UnitedHealthcare Dental and UnitedHealthcare Vision.

Prior to joining UnitedHealthcare, Phil was senior vice president and chief information officer for the Global Loyalty Services division of Aimia, a $2.5 billion global leader in loyalty management and analytics. Phil also served as vice president of Target.com, where he was responsible for elevating the end-to-end guest experience on Target.com and other Target mobile platforms. During his eight years at Accenture, Phil consulted with Fortune 500 companies in the United States and Europe.

He is on the board of Reve Academy, an innovative out-of-school program creating pathways to digital careers for kids in disadvantaged communities (www.reveacademy.orgOpens a new window) and is also a member of the Executive Leadership Council (www.elcinfo.orgOpens a new window).

Jenny O'Brien is the chief compliance officer for UnitedHealthcare and provides oversight and strategic direction for the business’ compliance programs, collaborating with leaders from across the organization to ensure the business
meets state and federal compliance requirements.

Before joining UnitedHealthcare in 2009, Jenny was a partner within the health care compliance practice at a Minneapolis law firm. She also served as compliance officer for a large integrated health care system and as an assistant attorney general for the State of Minnesota.

Jenny is on the board of directors and past president of the Health Care Compliance Association/Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics, and a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit & Compliance Committee for the Bon Secours Health System in Maryland. Jenny has also served as adjunct professor at Hamline University School of Law and on the Hamline Health Law Institute Advisory Board in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Jeff Putnam is the chief financial officer for UnitedHealthcare. Jeff is responsible for the overall financial management of the combined commercial, Medicare and Medicaid benefits businesses.

Before moving to UnitedHealthcare, Jeff was senior vice president and controller for UnitedHealth Group. He served in this role from 2011 through 2016 and was responsible for the corporate accounting, financial planning and analysis, capital planning, corporate actuarial and accounts payable functions. 

From 2007 through 2010, Jeff was the senior vice president of financial planning and analysis, leading enterprise budgeting and forecasting, management reporting and analysis, accounts payable, and corporate procurement activities. In 2005 and 2006, he served as chief financial officer for the Medicare Advantage business, where he had oversight of financial planning, underwriting and operations. Before joining UnitedHealth Group in 2005, Jeff spent 13 years in the airline industry in various finance and operations senior management roles.  

Jeff currently serves on the board of Second Harvest Heartland, and previously served as a director and board chair of Free Arts Minnesota.

Tami Reller is chief marketing and experience officer of UnitedHealthcare. In this role, she leads the company’s brand, marketing, consumer and provider experience, digital, and external partnerships designed to advance our product, technology, engagement and growth strategies.

Before moving to UnitedHealthcare, Tami served as executive vice president, global sales and marketing for Optum, leading the Growth Office, brand and marketing, Optum International and OptumLabs. She also served as chief financial officer and chief marketing officer for Optum.

Reller joined Optum in 2014 following a 13-year career at Microsoft that included numerous executive leadership roles across finance, marketing and product. During her time at Microsoft she held leadership roles in the Windows and Surface product businesses, and consolidated and led the Marketing organization. 

She sits on the boards of two technology companies, SPS Commerce and Avalara.

Daniel Rosenthal is president of UnitedHealthcare Networks, responsible for assuring UnitedHealthcare’s individual, employer-sponsored, Medicare and Medicaid members have access to affordable, high-quality care delivered through a national network of physicians, health care professionals, hospitals and other care facilities. Today, UnitedHealthcare Networks includes more than one million physicians and health care professionals and more than 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. Rosenthal also manages UnitedHealthcare’s relationship with OptumRx for commercial and Medicaid customers.

Rosenthal has more than three decades of leadership roles in the health care industry, including 10 years with UnitedHealthcare. Rosenthal was appointed to his current position after serving as CEO for the West Region of UnitedHealthcare Employer & Individual, following multiple successful leadership positions with the company. Previously, he held various industry roles at Baptist Health South Florida, The Douglass Group of Deloitte & Touche and Price Waterhouse. 

Dan currently sits on the board for the Swim with Mike Foundation and the Advisory Council for the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation. Previously, he served as chairman for the Executive Leadership Committee of the American Heart Association’s East Bay Heart of Gold Ball, which raised more than $1.8 million in 2013 and 2014.

Brian Thompson is chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare's Medicare & Retirement business, a $65 billion division of UnitedHealthcare and the largest organization dedicated to seniors and Medicare beneficiaries.

Prior to leading the Medicare & Retirement organization, Brian served as its chief financial officer where he oversaw all aspects of the business' financial performance. Brian joined UnitedHealth Group in 2004 and since then has held numerous leadership positions including chief financial officer for both UnitedHealthcare Employer & Individual and UnitedHealthcare Community & State. In addition, he has served as the financial controller for UnitedHealthcare's Employer & Individual business as well as a director in Corporate Development. 

Prior to joining UnitedHealth Group, Brian was a practicing CPA at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, serving as a manager in the Transaction Advisory Services group the Audit practice.