About Us - Boards
Board of Directors
David Calone, Esq., Chairman of the Board
David L. Calone is the President and CEO of Jove Equity Partners LLC, a private equity and venture capital firm which invests in the health care, internet, software, digital media, and real estate sectors. Mr. Calone serves as a director of seven privately-held companies located throughout the United States.
Mr. Calone also serves on the board of the Long Island Power Authority, the second largest public utility in the United States, and he is the Chairman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission. He also serves as a board member of the United Way of Long Island and the Long Island Angel Network. In 2008, he served as the head of the transition team for newly elected U.S. Congressman Jared Polis.
Previously, Mr. Calone was a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Honors Program where he received a 2003 Attorney General’s Award in recognition of his work fighting terrorism-related and corporate international crime including his role in the September 11th-related prosecutions. He also served as a Special Assistant Attorney General in the NY State Attorney General’s Office where he negotiated the largest state health care fraud settlement in New York history. He also worked as an associate at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison in New York.
Mr. Calone is an honors graduate of Harvard Law School. He has a degree in economics from Princeton University where he was named a USA Today College Academic All-American.
Sam Havens, Director
Samuel Havens currently serves as a director and business development catalyst for several leading-edge healthcare technology and services companies. Previously, Mr. Havens served as President of Prudential Health Care, a national healthcare company with over $7 billion in revenue, where he was responsible for all health and dental operations.
While serving as President of Group Operations at Prudential, Mr. Havens led the company to recognition as the first national health plan network accredited by the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA). He designed and built the Prudential Research Center – a leader in the development of clinical outcome studies and consumer report cards – and created a joint venture with Rush Presbyterian Hospital to build a joint provider/insurer partnership in the Chicago marketplace. Prudential HealthCare grew to $7 billion of revenue and 16,000 employees in markets throughout the United States. Mr. Havens received his Bachelor’s degree as well as a Juris Doctor degree from Temple University.
Carol McCarthy, Esq., Director
As former president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, Ms. McCarthy brings a unique perspective to her health care clients. Her first-hand experience with the inner workings of the health care system allows her to provide quality legal advice that is, at the same time, practical.
She has extensive experience representing hospitals and physicians with business relationships and transactions, as well as managed care contracting, clinical research endeavors and professional matters. From the business perspective, her practice regularly involves assisting clients with Medicare compliance issues, the development and assessment of joint ventures, medical practice acquisitions and mergers, physician recruitment and retention, clinical research oversight, the development and operation of IRBs, the development and operation of IPAs, Physician-Hospital Organizations and Management Services Organizations, third party payor negotiations and contracting of all kinds. Her representation on professional matters centers on physician privileges actions, JCAHO and ACGME accreditation issues, OHRP and FDA compliance and EMTALA defenses. She is a trained mediator who is on the AHLA's list of dispute resolvers. She has also been named one of the ten Outstanding Physician Practice Lawyers in the United States by Nightingale's Healthcare News.
Victor Lazzaro, Jr., Director
Victor Lazzaro is the Chief Executive Officer of BridgeHealth Medical. With over 25 years of senior management experience in the health and managed care fields, he has held positions responsible for marketing, finance, administration and healthcare delivery.
Previously, Mr. Lazzaro was president and CEO of United Healthcare Corporation - Mountain States (UHC). Prior to his position at UHC, Mr. Lazzaro was regional vice president of Health Plans Operations, Gulf South for Prudential Insurance Company of America. At Prudential, he also had CEO responsibility for healthcare management in the Houston Health Plan, Arkansas, Southeast Texas and Louisiana, where his responsibilities included oversight of 30 primary specialty care clinics. Prior to entering healthcare, Mr. Lazzaro was International Controller of a Black & Decker Subsidiary.
Mr. Lazzaro is also the Managing Director of Volante Capital and an active board member of a number of community and business organizations and previously served on the advisory board of MediExpress, a UHC affiliate, in Kuala Lumpur. He is also a guest lecturer at the University of Colorado at Denver, MBA in Health Administration program. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington and Jefferson College in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Lazzaro has been interviewed by PBS Nightly Business Report, PBS American Health Journal, Fox Business Channel’s Happy Hour with Rebecca Diamond, HR Executive, USA Today, Business Week and Modern Healthcare, among others. He has also authored articles on the subject of medical travel for California Broker, CDHC Solutions, The Self Insurer, Business Insurance, Employee Benefit Plan Review and National Underwriter Life and Health, and served as a speaker at the Self Insurance Institute of America (SIIA) and U.S., European, and Middle Eastern Medical Travel and Insurance Conferences.
Board of Advisors
Arthur Laffer, PhD, Advisor
Arthur B. Laffer is the founder and chairman of Laffer Associates, an institutional economic research and consulting firm, as well as Laffer Investments, an institutional investment management firm utilizing diverse investment strategies. Laffer Associates’ research focuses on the interconnecting macroeconomic, political and demographic changes affecting global financial markets. Laffer Investments’ investment management strategies utilize some of the economic principles and models pioneered by Dr. Laffer as well as other unique offerings managed by the firm’s portfolio management group. The firms provide research and investment management services to a diverse group of clients, which includes institutions, pension funds, corporation, endowments, foundations, individuals and others.
Dr. Laffer’s economic acumen and influence in triggering a world-wide tax-cutting movement in the 1980s have earned him the distinction in many publications as “The Father of Supply-Side Economics.” One of his earliest successes in shaping public policy was his involvement in Proposition 13, the groundbreaking California initiative that drastically cut property taxes in the state in 1978.
Years of experience and success in advising on a governmental level have distinguished Dr. Laffer in the business community as well. He currently sits on the board of directors of several public companies, which include: MPS Group Inc. (MPS) and Oxigene Inc. (OXGN). He also sits on the board of directors or board of advisors of a number of private companies including: Nicholas Applegate Institutional Funds, Retirement Capital Group, Pillar Data Systems, LifePics, Jovian Holdings, Roth Capital, Atrevida Partners, HealthEdge Partners, First Q Capital, BAP Power, Alpha Theory, F-Squared Investments, and Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics.
Dr. Laffer was a member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board for both of his two terms (1981-1989). He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Reagan/Bush Finance Committee in 1984 and was a founding member of the Reagan Executive Advisory Committee for the presidential race of 1980. He also advised Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on fiscal policy in the United Kingdom during the 1980s.
Dr. Laffer received a B.A. in economics from Yale University in 1963. He received a MBA and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University in 1965 and 1972 respectively.
Mike Hakimi, Advisor
Mr. Hakimi is a telecom industry veteran with operational and transaction experience in the field of communications technology and infrastructure. He founded Chicago-based American Information Systems (AIS) in 1994 to apply early internet technology to commercial applications. As CEO of the company, he built AIS into Chicago's leading independent provider of internet services to the enterprise market. After coordinating the sale of AIS to Exodus Communications in 1999, He joined Exodus as Senior Director of Corporate Development. While at Exodus, He was responsible for executing a broad range of strategic transactions including acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, strategic alliances and private equity investments. Since 2001, He has managed MH Capital Holdings, LLC, a private investment company engaged in venture capital, private equity and real estate transactions. He holds a degree in Finance, with honors, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 1997, Crain's Chicago Business named he to its list of the 100 most influential technology players in Chicago.
Jeffrey Becker, Esq., Advisor
Jeffrey Becker is a Co-Founder of the leading law firm, Epstein Becker & Green and a New York Managing Shareholder. He is a Member of the Firm 's Health Care and Life Sciences practice. He is based in the firm's New York office, where he provides strategic advice and transactional legal guidance to a wide range of health care organizations. His clientele represents the complete array of health industry interests: proprietary, voluntary and governmental.
Mr. Becker's clients include academic medical centers; hospitals and health systems; medical groups and other physician organizations; health plans and other managed care organizations; investment banks and venture funds; and other health care-related entities. He represents these organizations in mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, governance issues, complex contractual arrangements and other affiliations and collaborative efforts. Mr. Becker and his colleagues at EBG also provide his clients with a full range of legal advice and services, including antitrust law; Medicare reimbursement and other third party payment issues; Stark, fraud and abuse, and other health care compliance issues; tax and tax-exempt counseling; privacy law; corporate restructuring; labor and employment law; and liability and litigation matters.
Mr. Becker is listed in the Health Care Law section of The Best Lawyers in America. Prior to founding the firm in 1973, Mr. Becker was associated with the Wall Street law firm of Shearman & Sterling, where he specialized in corporate law.
Dana Jones, Advisor
Dana is a group Employee Benefits insurance broker and welfare plan consultant for middle market employers. He has worked for Higginbotham, one of the nation’s 100 largest independent insurance agencies based on revenue, for over 10 years in its Fort Worth corporate office. Upon graduation from the University of Kentucky, Dana was recruited into a sales/consulting position in Higginbotham’s Employee Benefits Department. He was promoted from Account Executive to Executive Vice President in 2005 based on sales volume. In addition to health plan design, renewal analysis, carrier negotiation, claim analysis and regulatory compliance, Dana is experienced in managing key account services including employee communications, wellness programs and enrollment strategies. Dana is an active member of Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Refugee Services, and serves as an Elder at First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth. In 1997, Dana received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Kentucky.