UnitedHealthcare National Accounts

Tom Choate leads UnitedHealthcare’s national group business, which includes National Accounts and UnitedHealthcare Retiree Solutions. He is responsible for the growth and financial performance of these market-leading businesses, delivering high-quality, affordable, long-term solutions to meet the needs of employers and plan sponsors across the United States. UnitedHealthcare National Markets serves over 1,000 clients, nearly 11 million medical members and generates $28 billion in revenue. Tom’s leadership is marked by building winning teams, developing leaders and change management with a consistent record of driving record earnings and organic growth.

Prior to being named CEO of UHC National Markets, Tom served as Chief Executive Officer for UnitedHealthcare’s Southeast Region commercial business from 2015-2020, where he had strategic, operational, business execution and P&L (profits and losses) responsibility for the Health Plan businesses and lead five Health Plan CEO’s with 370 employees in nine states, generating $10 billion in annual revenue, and serving over seven million members.  

Tom served as the Chief Growth Officer for the Employer & Individual business from 2012-2015 during which time he was named the national leader for the Federal Employee Benefits program.  In 2005, Tom took the role of Executive Vice President of Underwriting and Actuarial and during his time in that role, was selected to participate in the President’s Leadership Development Program.  During his career, Tom has held various underwriting positions at UnitedHealthcare (joining the company in 1998), as well roles with HealthNet and Cigna.  

Tom received his BA from the University of Connecticut and his Masters of Healthcare Delivery Science from Dartmouth College.  He has also completed the UHC/Wharton Leadership Education Program. Additionally, Tom has served as a board member of Leadership Greater Hartford and is currently a board member of the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation. He lives in Orlando, Florida with his wife and three children.

Joe Clark leads a team that is responsible for building and growing UnitedHealthcare’s relationships with consultants, brokers, general agents and other distribution partners. In this role, he oversees the development of solutions designed to help these organizations meet their goals and improve the health and productivity of their clients’ employee populations.

Prior to joining UnitedHealthcare, Joe was an associate partner and leader within McKinsey & Company’s health care practice where he specialized in sales transformations, distribution excellence, and specialty product expansion and profitability. Before McKinsey & Company, Joe held various financial, actuarial and underwriting roles at Cigna.

Joe is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and is based out of Philadelphia. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics and Biology from Duke University.

John manages the UnitedHealthcare National Accounts client services and implementation organization and strategic business solutions team, which includes training, quality and project/process improvement work.

He is responsible for providing a seamless, holistic service and implementation experience for clients .

John began his career with UnitedHealth Group in 1985 and has worked in a variety of functions including claims, underwriting, sales, marketing services and client services.

John graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Stonehill College and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Connecticut.

Jerry was a practicing OB/GYN for 16 years, most recently with HealthPartners in Minneapolis/St. Paul. During his tenure with HP, he was also an Assistant Clinical Professor with the University of Minnesota department of OB/GYN.

Jerry joined Optum in November, 2012 as a Medical Director, working with the case management teams serving large national accounts. During his time at Optum, he served as a Site Lead Medical Director, Senior Medical Director for Healthcare Strategies and CMO for Population Health Services/Employer Market.

As the Chief Medical Officer/Senior Vice President for UnitedHealthcare’s National Accounts business, Jerry is responsible for all of the clinical aspects of UHC’s employer line of business. He leads the team of Senior Medical Directors and Clinical Account Executives that support UHC’s largest clients across the country. This team leverages Optum and UnitedHealthcare capabilities to formulate tailored clinical solutions for key customers.

Jerry also serves as a Colonel in the U.S. Army reserves. He is currently the Commander of the 7302D Medical Training Battalion. His battalion is responsible for the training of approximately 2000 medical soldiers each year in a full scale 2 week field exercise, creating and implementing medical scenarios which include the coordination of Army, Navy and Air Force assets. He has also served as a Division Deputy Chief of Staff, Division Command Surgeon, Chief Medical Officer and staff physician.

Jerry is a graduate of Albion College (BA), Wayne State University (MD) and The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University (MBA).

As Senior Vice President of Client Management, Craig is responsible for the overall satisfaction, retention and growth of UnitedHealthcare’s National Account business.  As leader of the West region, he is responsible for leading the teams charged with the growth and retention of more than 200 clients. Craig is focused on ensuring the organization maximizes its core strengths, innovative culture and best practice sharing capabilities to deliver solutions to meet each client’s needs.

Prior to leading the West Region, Craig was Vice President, Private Exchange Strategy for UnitedHealthcare National Accounts.  Private Exchanges are consultant led marketplaces where employers can offer multiple carriers and plan options to their population.  Private Exchanges have been around since 2012 and have been a significant source of growth for National Accounts.  Craig grew the business to more than $1.2B in revenue and serving more than 800,000 consumers.  Craig is responsible for developing the Strategy for how UnitedHealthcare will participate and compete in the Private Exchange space.  Craig led the team responsible for sales and client management functions for clients that have chosen to join a Private Exchange.       

Craig joined UnitedHealth Group in 2002 and has over 25 years of experience the health care industry.  Craig has spent most of his career in National Accounts where he has held various client management roles.  Most recently, Craig held the role of Vice President Client Management where he was responsible for some of the largest relationships in National Accounts through building relationships, and client growth and retention.

Prior to UnitedHealthcare, Craig was at HCSC (BCBS IL) where he had various roles in National Accounts focusing on client relationships through growth and retention.

Craig is a graduate of the University of Iowa and received his CEBS degree from the Wharton School of Business.  He completed the General Management Program in Executive Leadership.  Craig lives in Naperville, IL with his wife and three children.

Craig joined UnitedHealthcare in 2005 to begin forming a team of strategic customer analytic specialists. That team is focused on leveraging clinical, financial and consumer behavior health care data in a strategic customer dialog. Their goal is to partner with employers, helping them to maintain health care affordability and increase their competitive advantage with a healthy and productive workforce. Craig served many customers himself and many more through his team. He was also accountable for the continual innovation of analytic tools nationally, supporting commercial, public sector and government programs. Those innovations focused on the ability to hot spot subsets of the population to focus on the communities in need of interventions.

Starting in 2013, Craig assumed the role of Senior Vice President of Analytic Innovations for UnitedHealth Group. In this role, he focused on analytic innovations, community health analytics and complex customer support for UHG. He leveraged the breadth of UHG’s data to create actionable insights across a wide array of audiences ranging from customers to communities to policy makers. He focused on spreading best practice innovations across the UHG enterprise to impact all of the members that it serves. Craig also served as an Innovation Champion for the enterprise.

In 2016, Craig transitioned into UnitedHealthcare to focus on enhancing the role that analytics plays in our ability to support our National Account customers. Craig formed the Center for Advanced Analytics to focus on analytic innovations that change the way we evaluate health care value. His team also focuses on the largest, most complex clients that require a deeper and broader view of data, ranging from cost and utilization data to productivity and disability exposure. He is constantly working on inventing the next generation of health care analytics.

Dave Lardieri has been with UnitedHealthcare since 2000.

As Senior Vice President of Client Management, Dave is responsible for the overall satisfaction, retention and growth of UnitedHealthcare’s National Account business.  As leader of the East region, he is responsible for leading the teams charged with the growth and retention of more than 150 clients. Dave is focused on ensuring the organization maximizes its core strengths, innovative culture, and best practice-sharing capabilities to deliver solutions to meet each client’s needs.

Prior to his tenure as SVP, Dave served as the Regional Vice President of Client Management for National Accounts’ Tri-State Region.  In the role of RVP, Dave led a team of Client Executives growing and retaining a regional book of business with a focus on deepening enterprise relationships within each client.  Dave is also active on the Enterprise Health Care Value team, along with many other key initiatives.

Prior to this role, Dave served as Vice President, Sales and Account Management for NY and NJ Key Accounts, where he oversaw new business development and existing account management.  Dave managed the Account Executives responsible for retention and sales in the 1000+ employee market on the UnitedHealthcare, UMR and Oxford platforms.  In addition, Dave also helped lead the integration of POMCO into UMR/UnitedHealthcare for the NY market.  

Away from the office, you’ll often find Dave in the stands at a soccer game, basketball game, or gymnastics meet watching his three children compete.

Dave is a graduate of Wake Forest University, where he earned his BA degree in English and The University of St. Thomas where he earned his MBA.  He is also a graduate of UnitedHealth Group’s Executive Development Program through Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and UnitedHealth Group’s General Manager Program.  He resides in New Jersey with his wife of 22 years and their three children.

Chris McGoldrick leads a team that is responsible for building UnitedHealthcare’s relationships with consultants, brokers and General Agents. In this role, he oversees the development of solutions designed to help these organizations meet their goals and improve the health and productivity of their clients’ employee populations.

McGoldrick has more than 25 years of experience in the health care industry, including roles in business development, client management, underwriting and partnership development. Since joining UnitedHealth Group in 2010, he has held several leadership roles, including his most recent role as President of UnitedHealthcare’s retiree business, which helps private-sector employers deliver sustainable programs designed to improve the health and well-being of retirees.

McGoldrick holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame and a Master in Business Administration from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Prior to joining UnitedHealth Group, he held various leadership roles with CIGNA HealthCare.

As President of Enterprise Strategic Accounts, Jessica is responsible for client growth, retention and profitability of UnitedHealthcare’s National Accounts most complex clients.  She leads a team of sales and account management professionals who manage this diverse client portfolio representing 5M members. Jessica regularly meets with leaders of our clients to assess UHC performance, better understand customer’s health care strategies and develop appropriate UHC solutions. 

Prior to leading Enterprise Strategic Accounts, Jessica spent 18 years with UHC all in the National Accounts business. Throughout this tenure, Jessica has held positions ranging from a Strategic Client Executive, NY/NJ Region Head and Senior Vice President of the East Region, which comprised a team of sales and account management professionals managing over 150 clients. She has also consulted with clients at Towers Perrin, where she was a Health and Welfare Consultant both in the Boston, MA and New York, NY offices.

At UnitedHealthcare Jessica has enjoyed her work and won numerous awards, including:

• 2017, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2009, 2007 and 2006 Pinnacle Award Winner
• 2017 and 2016 Highest NPS Score – NY/NJ Region
• 2016 UnitedHealth Group General Manager Program
• 2008 UnitedHealth Group Executive Development Leadership Program
• 2005 and 2006 UnitedHealthcare Meridian Council; the Meridian Council is a group focused on improving health care and steering critical initiatives for UnitedHealthcare

Jessica received her Masters of Science Degree in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and her Bachelors of Arts in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University. Based out of New York City, she resides in New Jersey with her husband, John, of 15 years and two boys, John Jr. and Christopher. She sits on the Board of the NorthEast Business Group of Health (NEBGH).

Jodi P. Zaffiris is the E&I National Accounts Chief Operating Officer, responsible for managing the strategic planning process, leading key strategic projects, measuring organizational progress and providing leadership as we seek to deliver high-quality, affordable, long-term solutions to meet the needs of employers and plan sponsors across the United States. Jodi also serves as Chief of Staff for National Markets, supporting both National Accounts and UnitedHealthcare Retiree Solutions (URS).

Prior to joining National Markets, Jodi worked as National Vice President of Association, Trust and Private Equity, where she had national responsibility for the overall net growth and strategic direction of approximately 450,000 members nationally.

Jodi joined UnitedHealth Group in November 2001 and has served in various capacities during her time with the organization, gaining both deep and broad business experience. Jodi started as a Senior Account Executive within the Optum organization before transferring to UnitedHealthcare of South Florida as a Senior Strategic Account Executive. Eventually working her way to Vice President of Key Accounts for UnitedHealthcare South Florida, Jodi led the team in new sales, persistency and broker relationships. In August of 2012 Jodi took a brief departure from UnitedHealthcare and joined the Aon Hewitt organization, where she worked as a consultant for the middle market. Knowing that, in her heart, she was truly invested in UnitedHealth Group’s mission, Jodi rejoined the UnitedHealthcare team in June of 2014 as the Southeast’s Regional Vice President of Public Sector, where she was responsible for implementing and supporting local and national growth strategies as part of the Southeast Region leadership team and national growth organization.