Karen M. Johnson is the Medicare Officer at Health Net, a Centene Corporation company. Ms. Johnson leads the building of business strategies and operations for the Medicare line of business. She has more than 30 years of leadership know-how. This includes her time as Medicare Regional President for WellCare (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Missouri and Washington). In this role, she oversaw finances, network growth and provider relations, among other duties. Johnson is a leader with a proven track record of growing programs and leading teams. These teams aim to improve the health status of at-risk populations. For instance, prior to her role at WellCare, she served as Senior Vice President of Clinical Services at Health Essentials. While in this role, she launched a clinical care model, driven by a home-based supportive care program designed to support high-risk patients and end-of-life care. As an executive with UnitedHealthCare, she worked to drive growth in their government sponsored programs.
Ms. Johnson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctorate from Michigan State College of Law. She also holds an Executive Certificate from the Wharton School of Business. She has served on the Board of Directors for several organizations, and currently serves on the Board of Boys and Girls Clubs of America and ONEgeneration. She also served on The YWCA, Planned Parenthood, Jack and Jill Foundation, United Way and the American Diabetes Association boards. Ms. Johnson was selected to serve on the board of directors due to her extensive experience in operational leadership roles at healthcare services companies.
Mark Pacala brings more than 30 years of general management and private equity experience in healthcare and consumer services companies. He is a senior advisor for several private equity firms and serves on the board of several portfolio companies in the healthcare industry. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at Marriott Corporation and Walt Disney Company. Mr. Pacala was also CEO of Forum Group and American Whole Health. He was a general partner at Essex Woodlands Health Venture until 2009 and senior advisor at Oak Hill Capital Partners until 2016, focusing on healthcare investments. Mr. Pacala holds a Bachelor of Arts from Hamilton College and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Mr. Ling is the Co-Founder of M33 Growth, a Boston-based venture capital and growth equity firm that invests in emerging technology and healthcare companies and partners with founders to rapidly grow their businesses. Mr. Ling has led investments in companies including The Oncology Institute, Acclivity Health, Dependable Health Services, YAPI, and RHI Group. Before starting M33 Growth, he was a Partner at General Catalyst, a leading venture capital firm where he spent over a decade helping entrepreneurs build their companies. While at General Catalyst, he served on several boards including Datalogix (acquired by Oracle), CLEAResult (acquired by General Atlantic), Oceans Healthcare (acquired by Webster Capital), OGSystems (acquired by Parsons), and Brighter (acquired by Cigna). Mr. Ling holds a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University.
Dr. Daniel Virnich joined The Oncology Institute in 2020. As Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Virnich believes in focusing on clinician and teammate culture as a key to driving great oncology care and the best patient outcomes.
Before joining The Oncology Institute, Dr. Virnich was the President of DaVita Medical Group, Florida. In that role, Dr. Virnich managed a full-risk medical group and IPA with over 1,400 teammates and clinicians accountable for over 92,000 Medicare Advantage members. Prior to running HCP’s Florida Market, Dr. Virnich was Senior Vice President of Operations for Healthcare Partners in Southern California.
Earlier in his career, he was the Chief Medical Officer for Team Health’s Acute Care services division. Dr. Virnich received his BA and MD from the University of Chicago and his MBA from Northwestern University. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at UCLA and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.