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Leadership at Beacon

Leadership




Elizabeth Pattullo, M.Ed.
Chairman and Founder
Elizabeth Pattullo, one of Beacon’s founders, is responsible for all strategic and business development activities. Creating the business concept of delivering client focused, cost effective behavioral health services, Ms. Pattullo has grown Beacon into a company that manages over one million members in four states. Having lectured at both the Heller School at Brandeis University and Harvard University Medical School, Ms. Pattullo has more than thirty years of public and private sector management experience in complex and highly-charged environments. As Executive Director for Mental Health Management of America (MHMA), she administered the first and largest carve-out of mental health and substance abuse services for Medicaid enrolled clients in the country. Under her leadership, MHMA improved treatment outcomes while reducing overall costs by $50 million. Ms. Pattullo earned her M.Ed. from Harvard University.


Timothy Murphy, MPP
President and Chief Executive Officer
Timothy Murphy joined Beacon in 2007 as President and is responsible for leading the company’s strategic and operational planning and management. Prior to joining Beacon, Mr. Murphy served as the Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In this capacity he oversaw a $12.0 billion budget and approximately 22,000 employees that delivered programs and services through 15 state agencies to over one million Massachusetts residents. A recognized leader in health care policy, Mr. Murphy’s signature accomplishment during his tenure was the development, passage, and initial implementation of the landmark Massachusetts health care reform law. Prior to his governmental service, Mr. Murphy was a successful investment banker in New York City advising and raising capital for both corporations and non-for-profit institutions. He holds a BA from Merrimack College, where he is a member of the college’s Board of Trustees, and an MPP from Harvard University.


Michael McGreal, MBA
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Michael McGreal joined Beacon in 1996 as one of the original seven employees and it’s first Director of Finance. In the Company’s formative years, Mr. McGreal led the development and implementation of the Company’s information systems, accounting standards and internal control systems. As Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, he has been critical to the Company’s growth while overseeing operations and administration. Mr. McGreal holds a BS in Finance from Framingham State College, and received his MBA from the Olin School of Management at Babson College.


Dan Rome
Dan Rome, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Rome brings to Beacon Health Strategies a depth of experience in managed care and managed behavioral health care. Prior to serving as Tufts Health Plan's Vice President for Medical Affairs he was, for many years, THP's Medical Director for Mental Health Services. In that capacity he played a leadership role in the founding and development of THP's mental health department, ultimately taking over management accountability for the department and for all Tufts Health Plan's mental health and substance abuse treatment programs. Prior to joining Tufts Health Plan, Dr. Rome was a Psychiatrist-in-Charge at McLean Hospital in Belmont, a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and an attending psychiatrist at Deaconess Waltham Hospital in Waltham. In addition, he maintained an office practice in general psychiatry. Dr. Rome is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School.


Russell Kopp
Russell T. Kopp, MBA, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
As Beacon’s Chief Financial Officer, Russell T. Kopp is responsible for leading the finances of the organization. Prior to joining Beacon in 2009, Mr. Kopp was the CFO of Network Health, a Massachusetts Medicaid managed care organization, where his contribution was integral to the health plan’s dramatic growth. Mr. Kopp has extensive finance and operations experience in previous roles as Senior Vice President for Network Management - New England at United Healthcare and as Vice President for Finance and Treasurer at Tufts Health Plan where he directed finance & accounting, treasury, underwriting & actuarial services, corporate compliance, internal audit, and real estate for 19 years. Mr. Kopp earned an MBA from the Wharton Graduate School, University of Pennsylvania and an engineering degree from the University of Rhode Island. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs, and President of the Edinburg Center, a Massachusetts mental health agency.


BJ Beck
BJ Beck, MSN, MD
Vice President for Medical Affairs
Dr. Beck worked as a consultant and Physician Advisor at Beacon for ten years, and was recently appointed its Vice President for Medical Affairs. A clinically practicing and academic psychiatrist, she was Medical Director of Mental Health/Social Services at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center for ten years, where she developed an innovative, primary care-driven model of consultation psychiatry, and primary care psychiatry training programs for both psychiatry and internal medicine residents. Throughout her career, she has supervised psychiatry residents and care of psychiatric outpatients at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and continues to do so, with a focus on the medically ill and those with HIV/AIDS. She has also worked part-time on an acute, psychiatric inpatient unit in a small community hospital. Dr. Beck served as supervising physician for the Boston Emergency Services Team (B.E.S.T.) in 1995 and had prior managed care experience with Mental Health Management of America (MHMA) and the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership (MBHP). A graduate of the University of Illinois, Dr. Beck received an MS in Nursing from Pace University/New York Medical College, and worked for seven years as a family nurse practitioner at a family practice residency program in Maine. She received her MD from the University of Vermont, followed by an Internship in Internal Medicine at Mt. Zion /UC San Francisco Medical Center. She completed her Psychiatry Residency and Fellowship in Psychosomatic Medicine at MGH. She is Board certified in General Psychiatry and the new subspecialty of Psychosomatic Medicine. She has an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School as Assistant Clinical Professor, and has authored several journal articles and numerous book chapters.


Christine Degan, RN, MA
Vice President for Clinical and Quality Management
Christine Degan joined Beacon in 1998 as Director of Quality Management and Improvement to lead the Company’s first NCQA accreditation. Ms. Degan successfully led Beacon to obtaining Full Accreditation within 2 years of hire, and has led subsequent NCQA accreditations in 2003 and 2006. As Director of Quality Management and Improvement, Ms. Degan was instrumental in the design and development of an Aftercare Follow Up program that produced top in the nation Medicaid HEDIS Follow Up After Mental Health Hospitalization rates. As Vice President for Clinical and Quality Management, she now oversees the Clinical, Quality and Member Services of the Company, ensuring high quality services for our partner health plans and their membership. Ms. Degan received her RN degree from College of Marin in California and her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Social Science Research from the University of New Hampshire.


James Spink, MPA
Vice President and Chief Client Officer
Jim Spink joined Beacon in 1997 as a Quality Specialist and soon was promoted to an Account Manager role. Through his leadership as an Account Manager, he was instrumental in developing the co-location model that is preferred by customers today. As Vice President of Field Operations, he oversees all client relationships and local office operations ensuring the highest quality of service to all Beacon clients. He represents the company in policy forums both locally and nationally. Mr. Spink received a BS in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a MPA from Suffolk University.


Brian Wheelan, MBA
Vice President for Corporate Development and Strategy
As Vice President for Corporate Development and Strategy, Mr. Wheelan leads the sales, development, partnering and acquisition activities of the company. In his previous role as Beacon’s Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Wheelan’s many accomplishments included creation of the Client Analytics Group that now performs in-depth analysis of utilization trends, member outcomes and return on investment for care management strategies, on behalf of Beacon customers. Before joining Beacon, Mr. Wheelan was a manager at Bain & Company, where he specialized in corporate strategy development and mergers and acquisitions for hospital systems, long term care systems and large payers. Prior to Bain, he served as Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning and the Deputy Director of Medicaid for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Mr. Wheelan graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a BA from Dartmouth College and earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School.


Laurie Rogers
Vice President of Human Resources
Laurie Rogers was one of Beacon’s first employees, joining the organization in 1996. As Vice President of Human Resources, she has developed all personnel policies and implemented systems to support recruitment, learning and development, benefits administration and employee relations for Beacon’s employees. Ms. Rogers plays a key role in the organizational development at Beacon’s home office, as well as all local offices. Her consistent focus on staff development is demonstrated in the growth of Beacon’s committed, successful workforce. Ms. Rogers has over 15 years of experience in Human Resources, beginning her career at John Hancock Life Insurance Company, where she was responsible for payroll, Human Resource system issues, growth and retention and benefit administration. Ms. Rogers has a certificate in Human Resource Management from Bentley College.


Peter O’Connor, MBA
Vice President of Business Development and Integration
As Vice President for Business Development and Integration, Peter O’Connor oversees all of Beacon’s business development and contract implementation activities, including the development of new products and services. Mr. O’Connor has more than 15 years of experience in the design, development, and implementation of commercial and public sector managed behavioral health care programs. During his 10 plus years at Beacon, Mr. O’Connor has played a key role in helping to build this start up company into one of the country’s most respected managed behavioral healthcare organizations. Prior to joining Beacon, he worked for ValueOptions where he led efforts to competitively re-procure a network of 1,750 outpatient providers. Peter began his career with Mental Health Management of America, which established the first statewide fully capitated Medicaid mental health and substance abuse managed care program in the country. Mr. O’Connor received a BS in Public Relations / Organizational Communication from Suffolk University and an MBA from Suffolk’s Sawyer Graduate School of Business.


Anup Vidyarthy, MS, MBA
Vice President and Chief Information Officer
As Vice President of Information Technology, Anup Vidyarthy is responsible for developing the information technology strategy and managing all aspects of technology for Beacon Health Strategies. Mr. Vidyarthy has over 15 years experience in health care strategic planning, business process engineering, outcomes based process improvements, implementation of enterprise wide managed care systems, telecommunications and call center technology. Mr. Vidyarthy joined Beacon Health Strategies in 1997 and has led the development, implementation and maintenance of Beacon’s information system platform, business intelligence/reporting systems and eServices applications. Prior to that, he was the Director of MIS for the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where he led the development and implementation of a statewide case management system across 23 agencies. Mr. Vidyarthy is an active member of the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium CIO Forum and holds a BS in electrical engineering from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, India, an MS in Information Systems and an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University.


Courtney Sullivan Gorzkowicz
Vice President of Operations and Strategic Initiatives
Courtney Sullivan Gorzkowicz joined Beacon in 2007. In her current capacity as Vice President of Operations and Strategic Initiatives, Ms. Gorzkowicz oversees the departments of Provider Network Management, Claim Operations and Member Services. Ms. Gorzkowicz also leads Beacon’s strategic planning and implementation of operational enhancements. Prior to joining Beacon Health Strategies, Ms. Gorzkowicz served as Chief of Staff in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and as Budget Director in the Massachusetts Senate Committee on Ways and Means. She received her B.A. in Political Science from Merrimack College and is currently pursing an M.B.A. from Boston University.