Leadership

Michael Schrader joined the Alliance as CEO in April 2023. Schrader previously served as the CEO of two local non-profit California health plans that are similar in model to the Alliance, including the Health Plan of San Joaquin and CalOptima in Orange County. He brings a wealth of experience in Medi-Cal, Medicare and the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). Michael currently serves on the boards of California Association of Health Plans (CAHP), Local Health Plans of California (LHPC) and Association for Community Affiliated Health Plans (ACAP). Schrader holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Arizona and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Lisa Ba joined the Alliance in October 2017 as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). In this role, Lisa oversees the financial viability of the organization and monitors fiduciary strategies related to fiscal forecasting, management, growth and development of Alliance operations.

Lisa has over 20 years of experience in the health care industry. Most recently, she served as Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis at Molina Healthcare, a Fortune 200 company with $18B in revenue and 4.7M members. She served as CFO for the Molina Direct Care Delivery line of business, where she oversaw accounting, finance, forecasting, strategic planning, revenue cycle management, provider network development, claims and contract negotiations for 27 Medical Groups across seven states.

Prior to Molina, Lisa worked at AltaMed, a $600M managed care organization with more than 220,000 members, where she was the Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis, responsible for developing and implementing strategic initiatives through budgeting, forecasting, financial analysis, contract negotiation and physician compensation modeling.

Lisa holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from California State University, Los Angeles and she is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in California.

Scott Fortner joined the Alliance in February 2001. In his current role as Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Scott oversees Human Resources, Employee Training & Development, Administrative Services, Facilities and Communications.

Prior to joining the Alliance, Scott was a professional Human Resources consultant and advisor for several pre-IPO start-up/dot-com firms in Silicon Valley. His career in HR began in the U.S. Marine Corps, and as a Marine he served in operations Desert Shield and Storm during the first Gulf War in 1991.

Scott graduated Magna Cum Laude from National University with a major in Business Administration and a minor in Human Resources Development. He is certified as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR, SHRM-CP) and Facilities Management (FMP) and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management.

Omar Guzmán, MD, joined the Alliance as Chief Health Equity Officer (CHEO) in February 2024. Dr. Guzmán is a board-certified emergency medicine physician and brings a commitment to community outreach and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Previously, Dr. Guzmán served as director of the Kaweah Health Street Medicine Team, which provides direct care to the unhoused population encampments of Tulare County. He was also a core faculty member on the Kaweah Health Emergency Medicine Residency Program and served as the Director of Undergraduate Medical Education at Kaweah Health Medical Center. He has served on the boards for the Tulare County Medical Society and the California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians.  

Dr. Guzmán attended the University of California, Irvine for his undergraduate degree and medical school. He is a graduate of the inaugural cohort for the Medical Justice in Advocacy Fellowship through the American Medical Association.  

Dr. Guzmán’s accomplishments, honors and awards include Health Care Sector Representative for Tulare County Task Force on Homelessness, Top Latino Leader by the Council for Latino Workplace Equity, and Physician of the Year by the Central Valley Medical Student Association.

Jenifer Mandella joined the Alliance in 2010 and currently serves as the Chief Compliance Officer. In this role, she oversees the Alliance’s Compliance Program, ensures that the health plan operates in alignment with state and federal requirements, and provides executive leadership of the Alliance’s Legal Services activities. Jenifer first joined the Alliance as a Compliance Specialist and has served in progressive roles as Compliance Manager, Compliance Director and Compliance Officer.

In her 12 years at the Alliance, Jenifer developed the Alliance’s Compliance Program and has overseen the Alliance’s legal affairs function. Jenifer comes with early professional experience as a Harm Reduction Outreach Worker for the Santa Cruz AIDS Project and as a Foundation Executive, managing the day-to-day operations of five philanthropic foundations. Jenifer has a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Cecil Newton joined the Alliance in March 2022 as Chief Information Officer (CIO). In this role, Cecil oversees the Information Technology Services (ITS) Division.

Cecil has more than 20 years of IT experience in health care and information security. Prior to joining the Alliance, he held the position of Director of Systems Development & Infrastructure at San Francisco Health Plan (SFHP), as well as Information Security Officer. Prior to his work with SFHP, Cecil served as a consulting Chief Technology Officer/Chief Information Security Officer with Montclair Technology and Vice President of Technology Services with Charles Schwab.

Cecil holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from City College of New York’s School of Engineering at CUNY. Cecil is credentialed as a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) from CISO Institute, UC Berkeley and as a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) from ISACA, a global association for IT governance professionals.

Van Wong joined the Alliance in November 2019, first serving as Chief Information Officer (CIO) and then becoming Chief Operating Officer (COO) in December 2021.

Throughout her career, Van has provided guidance and leadership to numerous health organizations in process improvement, business application development and systems implementation. Prior to joining the Alliance, Van served as the Director of Business Systems Integration at San Francisco Health Plan for more than nine years. Additionally, Van held management roles at Dignity Health and L.A. Care Health Plan.

Van received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Health Administration from the University of Southern California. She holds a designation of Certified Healthcare Insurance Executive (CHIE) as recognized by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). Van is a board member of the HealthCare Executive Group (HCEG), which provides a platform for promoting health care innovation among a nation-wide network of select health care executives and thought leaders.