Board of Directors

RIZE Massachusetts is led by some of the most highly respected leaders in health care, addiction treatment, business, labor, and those with lived experience.

Jack Connors

The Connors Family Office

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Jack Connors, Jr. is a founding partner and former CEO of Hill Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Inc., a full-service marketing communications company. Under his leadership, Hill Holliday evolved from a one-room shop to one of the top 20 advertising firms in the United States. Mr. Connors also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mass General Brigham (formerly Partners HealthCare System) for 16 years. He is a member of the Board of Fellows at Harvard Medical School. Active in leading philanthropic efforts and civic campaigns in Boston, Mr. Connors is the co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Camp Harbor View, Chairman of the Board of the Campaign for Catholic Schools and a member of the Board of the Atrius Health Equity Foundation.

John Cook

UBS Financial Services

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John joined UBS in 2016 after a career in campaign finance, strategy, and budget operations. John brings a unique dynamic to the team, supporting clients with a wide variety of advisory needs. He is focused on assisting clients with long term planning, M&A liquidity solutions, and navigating the vast resources of the firm, including the UBS Family Office Solutions Group.

Previously, John was appointed by the White House office of Presidential Personnel to serve at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Pentagon (DOD), ending his Federal service as a Senior Advisor and Director at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). John’s government portfolio included work on the National Defense Authorization Act, as well as domestic and international programs dedicated to the remediation of Nuclear Weapons testing and clean-up sites. John received the DOE’s distinguished career service award for his work with the Republic of the Marshall Islands, a former U.S. territory and testing site.

Before and after his time in the Federal Government, John served as chief financial strategist and budget manager for major campaigns. He is honored to have had a U.S. President, a U.S. Senator, and the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as former employers. Just prior to joining UBS, he served as Senior Advisor and Finance Chairman to Governor Charlie Baker, and was President of the Baker-Polito Transition Committee.

John has also worked in a family business affiliated with Cedar Works Playsets. He supports a number of non-profit fundraising events, primarily focused on urban youth academic and sports programs, as well as addiction services organizations. He serves on the Boards of Directors for THE BASE in Roxbury, MA and Gosnold Behavioral Health on Cape Cod.

John graduated from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University and resides in Wayland, MA with his wife and three sons.

Michael Curry

Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers

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Michael Curry is chief executive officer of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, representing 52 health centers serving over one million patients. Prior to joining the League, Mr. Curry worked at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, primarily as senior policy advisor in the corporate affairs division.
Mr. Curry is the past president of the Boston Branch of the NAACP (2011-2016) and has been a member of the national NAACP board of directors since 2014. He has served on the transition teams for former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and was involved in the passage of Massachusetts Health Reform and the Affordable Care Act.

In addition to NAACP and RIZE, Mr. Curry serves on the boards of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center and Massachusetts Nonprofit Network.

Tim Foley

1199 SEIU

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Tim Foley is executive vice president at 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. Working in a union-wide capacity while based in Massachusetts, Mr. Foley is a veteran political leader and operative. Prior to being elected executive vice president, he was vice president at-large of 1199SEIU and also served as the union’s political director for Massachusetts.  He is vice president of the MA AFL-CIO and serves on the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, an independent state agency that develops policy to reduce health care cost growth and improve the quality of patient care. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Delaware and a Masters’ degree in public affairs from the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Christie L. Hager

Former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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Chris Hager was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the regional director of region I of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she oversaw the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in New England from 2010-2014. Prior to her service in the Obama Administration, she was chief health counsel to the Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives during the development and implementation of the Massachusetts health reform law enacted in 2006.

Ms. Hager has also served in senior executive roles at Beacon Health Options, a national behavioral health organization. From 2019-2021 she led a full-time consulting engagement at MassHealth as director of behavioral health, focusing on the COVID-19 public health emergency response and community-based system reform.

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Doris Kraemer

Learn to Cope

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Doris is a registered nurse who is certified in community health and holds certificates in bioethics and gerontology.  Specializing in long term care during her professional career and as a business owner, Doris is always advocating for families, helping them navigate the healthcare systems, obtaining insurance benefits, providing assessments, developing quality ratings for providers and licensing providers.  Doris continues to support the MetroEast Reserve Corps under FEMA with providing vaccinations and emergency preparedness for her local community.

While her son has been in long term recovery, Doris remains active and committed to helping family members learn about the disease of addiction and recovery.  As a member of Learn to Cope, Doris has facilitated meetings in Cambridge for more than ten years.  In addition to providing peer support and training family members on naloxone, Doris was appointed to Governor Baker’s 2016 Commission on Licensed Addiction Treatment Centers, demonstrated at the Dept of Justice in Washington in December 2021, and accepted an appointment to the Falmouth Commission on Substance Use in 2022.

Doris joined the staff of Learn to Cope in June of 2022 with the goal of establishing a Cape Cod family resource center to provide services for families impacted by substance use disorder (SUD). Her initial efforts will focus on reducing stigma, saving lives, and providing education by bringing Naloxboxes to municipalities and schools in Barnstable County, assisting in post overdose resources and addressing SUD in seniors, an often overlooked and underserved population.  

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Steven Lipiner

Former State Street Global Advisors

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Steve Lipiner is formerly executive vice president and chief operating officer of State Street Global Advisors, the fourth largest global asset manager with $4.1 trillion in assets. Mr. Lipiner is a board director for the State Street Global Advisors Trust Company, a limited purpose trust company with $1.2 billion in annual revenues. He is a member of the State Street Global Advisors executive management group, senior risk committee, human capital working group and the finance executive leadership team.

Mr. Lipiner holds a B.A. in political science from State University of New York (Buffalo) and an M.B.A. in finance from City University of New York at Baruch College. He serves on the board of directors of Victory Programs, is a director at the Dimock Center Community Foundation Board and a member of the Baruch College Fund Board of Trustees.

Patricia Ma

CareQuest Institute for Oral Health

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Patty Ma is executive vice president & chief legal officer at CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. Ms. Ma has more than 25 years of experience in navigating health care legal, regulatory and compliance matters. She has served in executive leadership roles and as general counsel for both private and publicly traded health care companies.
Before joining CareQuest Institute, Ms. Ma was general counsel and chief compliance officer for Active Day, the country’s largest operator of adult day health centers. Prior to that, Ms. Ma held leadership roles at Zelis Healthcare, DentaQuest, an affiliate of CareQuest Institute, and Gentiva Health Services.

Steve Pollock

DentaQuest

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As the president of DentaQuest, Steve Pollock leads the nation’s largest provider of Medicaid dental benefits and spearheads the team’s mission to improve the oral health of all. Mr. Pollock has successfully built an organization that drives market growth and opportunity for clients while also advancing the oral health industry to achieve better outcomes and equitable access for every American. Under Mr. Pollock’s stewardship, DentaQuest developed Preventistry®, an inclusive approach to quality care and expanded access that prioritizes prevention-focused oral health.

During his 20-year tenure at DentaQuest, he has held several other senior leadership positions, including chief executive officer, chief operating officer, executive vice president, and general counsel.

Mr. Pollock is a member of CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion, the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, and the state bar of Wisconsin.

Candace Reddy

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

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Candace Reddy is chief of staff to CEO Sarah Iselin and senior vice president of government & regulatory affairs for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the largest private health plan in the state and one of the largest independent, not-for-profit Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in the country. We serve nearly 3 million members and more than 20,000 employers and are consistently rated among the nation’s best health plans for overall member satisfaction and quality.

Candace serves as the CEO’s liaison to key internal and external stakeholders, and provides support for executive-level meetings, speaking engagements and community events. She is also responsible for oversight of state and federal fiscal and public policy issues and advises senior leaders on the impact of political changes to Blue Cross Blue Shield’s strategic goals and business agenda.

Candace has more than 15 years of executive-level management experience in the public and private sectors. Before joining Blue Cross, she served as senior director of payor relations for Boston Children’s Hospital, partnering with health plans to ensure patient access to high-quality, complex, pediatric care.

Before that, Candace was vice president of external affairs and business development at CeltiCare Health and New Hampshire Healthy Families, a wholly owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation. In that role, Candace was responsible for government affairs, marketing and communication and business growth for the New England region. She also served the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as assistant secretary for health care finance in the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, playing a leadership role in the state’s work to implement the Affordable Care Act.

Candace earned her Bachelor of Arts in Business and her MBA in finance from Clark University.

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Frank Robinson

Baystate Health

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Frank Robinson, Ph.D., is vice president of public health at Baystate Health responsible for integrating clinical and community care to better serve vulnerable populations. Dr. Robinson joined Baystate in 1995 and for 20 years served as the executive director of Partners for a Healthier Community and the director of community health planning.

Dr. Robinson has won several awards including: 2008 Luminary Award from the City of Springfield; 2009 Rebecca Lee Award from Harvard School of Public Health; and the 2010 Lemuel Shattuck Award from the Massachusetts Public Health Association.

He earned his Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst); Master of Arts in Community Psychology from Mansfield University; and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from State University of New York (Oswego).

Joy Rosen

Massachusetts General Hospital

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Joy Rosen serves as the vice president for behavioral health at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). In this capacity, she oversees program development, business planning, administrative and clinical operations, research management, and finance for four departments/institutes at MGH — the Department of Psychiatry, the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine, the Home Base Program, and provides executive oversight for the Center for Community Health Improvement. She also serves as a liaison for the MGH and Mass General Brigham on various government relations matters. Previously, Ms. Rosen served as the director of government relations for Partners HealthCare, overseeing advocacy efforts with the state and federal governments on healthcare reform legislation and the Massachusetts Stem Cell Bill. She served for 12 years as the Department of Public Health’s assistant commissioner for management, seven years overseeing residential programs at the Department of Mental Health, and worked as a senior policy analyst on health care issues for the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. Ms. Rosen has a BA from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and a MS from Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management.

Michael Tang

Cityblock Health

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Michael Tang, MD, MBA, is head of behavioral health at Cityblock Health, and a pediatrician, child psychiatrist, and adult psychiatrist. Dr. Tang completed his residency in pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center, and residency and fellowship in adult and child psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital. He also served two years as the Boston site director of Health Leads, a nonprofit addressing social determinants of health, and is currently the co-chair of the Child Mental Health Taskforce at the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Tang is a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, and the Brandeis Heller School for Social Policy and Management.  

Program Strategy Committee

Members

Mike Tang, MD, Chair
Head of Behavioral Health, Cityblock Health

Christie L. Hager
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Obama Administration

Doris Kraemer
Cape Cod Family Liaison, Learn to Cope

Frank Robinson, PhD
Vice President of Public Health, Baystate Health

Joy Rosen
Vice President, Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts General Physician Organization & Mass General Brigham, System Behavioral and Mental Health

Steve Pollock, ex officio
President and CEO, DentaQuest

Julie Burns, ex officio
President and CEO, RIZE Massachusetts Foundation

Non-Director Members

Sydney Durand
The Phoenix

Matt Fishman
Mass General Brigham/MA League of Community Health Centers

Anna Gosline
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

James Jones, MD
Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Miriam Komaromy, MD
Boston Medical Center

John McGahan
Gavin Foundation

Sarah Wakeman, MD
Mass General Brigham

James Willmuth
1199 SEIU