Dr. Kathleen Rasmussen, Chair

Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University, Kathy is internationally known for her research, which has been supported by the NIH and the USDA, among other organizations, and which has included studies in experimental species, observational and intervention studies in human subjects in the US and several developing countries, and epidemiologic studies based on data from medical records and large cohorts. Continuing her long interest in mentoring future leaders in nutrition, Kathy serves as the principal faculty member at the Dannon Nutrition Leadership Institute, which she helped to develop in 1998. She has served as Secretary and then President of the American Society of Nutritional Sciences and also as the President of the International Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation. Kathy was Associate Dean and Secretary of the Cornell University Faculty and, in 2004, began a 4-year term on Cornell’s Board of Trustees.

Donna K. Lencki is an experienced healthcare entrepreneur with a passion for out-of-the-box thinking. She is currently engaged as a healthcare consultant through her company Geneia. Her clients include health plans, national employers and government sponsored benefit plans. From 1999-2005, she was Co Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Choicelinx Corporation. The Choicelinx Company was sold to CIGNA in August 2005. Today Choicelinx operates as a separate and stand-alone unit of CIGNA Healthcare and its configuration technology has become the foundation for their “custom design benefit builder” which is being deployed nationally. Prior to Choicelinx, Ms. Lencki served as Chief Executive Officer of the Healthsource New England based companies and Senior Vice President for the New England Region of CIGNA Healthcare, which purchased Healthsource in May 1997. In her capacity, she was responsible for managing multiple health plans, almost a billion dollars in revenue, and more than 1,600 employees. From July 1985 - 1993, Ms. Lencki served as Vice President of Marketing for Healthsource, contributing to its growth from a start-up organization to a national managed care company.

Dr. Ariel Linden, President of Linden Consulting Group, Ariel works with health plans on clinical quality improvement and research. His focus in the last three years has been on Disease Management, specifically evaluation strategies for determining program effectiveness and measurement of cost effectiveness. He is widely published and highly regarded in this area. He is active in the Managed Care accreditation process, serving as a surveyor for the Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC). Additionally, he sits on several nationwide boards and committees focused on improving the quality of care delivered to patients, health plan members, and disease management program participants. Ariel currently holds adjunct positions at Oregon Health and Science University’s School of Medicine and School of Nursing.

Van McMurtry, a partner with Davis & Harman, advises his firm on issues regarding corporate tax, Medicare, health care reform, insurance and financial services, and employee benefits. He is the former chief counsel and staff director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance and served for 12 years as Senior Vice President for federal government relations at Aetna Inc., where he partnered with federal government officials and congressional committees on issues related to health/medical care, insurance and financial services. Among his roles, he worked with the Treasury Department to establish the allowances for Health Savings Accounts. His Washington career also included five years on the staff of the Joint Economic Committee, where he studied and produced reports on the major economic issues confronting the nation. He has also directed government relations for both Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania.