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The Santa Cruz-Monterey-Merced Managed Medical Care Commission is the governing board for Central California Alliance for Health (the Alliance). The board:
- Has fiscal and operational responsibility for the health plan.
- Sets policy and strategic priorities for the organization.
- Oversees health plan service effectiveness.
The board is comprised of members of government, the Alliance’s health care partners and the public in the communities we serve.
Board meetings are open to the public.
- Supervisor Zach Friend, County of Santa Cruz
- Supervisor Josh Pedrozo, County of Merced
- Supervisor Wendy Root Askew, County of Monterey
- Elsa Jimenez, Director of Health, Monterey County Health Department – Alliance Board Vice Chairperson
- Monica Morales, Health Services Agency Director, County of Santa Cruz Health Services Agency
- Rebecca Nanyonjo, Director of Public Health, Merced County Department of Public Health
- Charles Harris, MD, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Natividad Medical Center
- Dori Rose Inda, CEO, Salud Para La Gente
- Joerg Schuller, MD, Vice President Medical Affairs, Mercy Medical Center
- Leslie Conner, Executive Director, Santa Cruz Community Health Centers – Alliance Board Chairperson
- Maximiliano Cuevas, MD, Executive Director, Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas
- Larry deGhetaldi, MD, President, Santa Cruz Division, Palo Alto Medical Foundation (Sutter Health)
- James Rabago, MD, Merced Faculty Associates Medical Group
- Allen Radner, MD, Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System
- Tony Weber, Chief Executive Officer, Golden Valley Health Centers
- Dorothy Bizzini
- Julie Edgcomb
- Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson
- Michael Molesky
- Rob Smith
Executive Management
Stephanie Sonnenshine joined the Alliance in 1999 and currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer. In this role, she reports directly to the Governing Board and provides strategic vision and leadership for the health plan; ensures access, quality, efficiency and innovation; is responsible for governmental and community relations; and supervises the Executive Team.
From 1999 to 2004, Stephanie held positions in the Provider Services Department. She practiced family law litigation in Santa Clara County from 2005 to 2009, and returned to the Alliance in July 2009, serving as the Provider Services Director, Compliance Director and then Chief Operating Officer. Stephanie has an understanding of the Alliance from both a strategic and tactical perspective, providing strength in leadership that has contributed to her success.
Stephanie holds a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of San Francisco, School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from University of California at Santa Barbara.
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.
Dr. Maurice Herbelin joined the Alliance as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in May 2022, having previously served as CMO for Optum Market Performance Partnerships at UnitedHealth Group. Previous roles include Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Senior Medical Director and Medical Director, focusing in areas of clinical strategy, solution development, technology enablement, payment integrity, coverage review and network medical management. Prior to his career in the managed care space, Dr. Herbelin was an emergency medicine physician and also worked as a consultant for clinical technology and innovation ventures.
Dr. Herbelin’s extensive experience with population health and value-based care models reflects his advocacy for health equity and person-centered delivery system transformation. In his role as CMO, Dr. Herbelin is responsible for: assuring the availability and quality of health care services for the health plan's members through leadership of the Health Services Department; medical management policies and data; and communicating key data and findings to the health plan, governing board and the Alliance’s provider network.
Dr. Herbelin received his medical degree from University of California, San Diego and did his undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California. He participated in the prestigious Fulbright Scholar Program and studied at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Dr. Herbelin holds an Executive MBA from California State University, Sacramento.
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.
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Alliance TDD Line: 877-548-0857
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