Julie Miller-Phipps
President
Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Health Plan and Hospitals

Julie Miller-Phipps is president of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Health Plan and Hospitals. She directs Hospital and Health Plan operations and partners with the leadership of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group to improve the health of more than 4.6 million members and their communities in an area that extends from Bakersfield to San Diego. Nearly 75,000 employees collaborate with more than 7,600 Southern California Permanente Medical Group physicians to deliver high-quality, affordable care through this Region’s 15 hospitals and 234 medical offices. Miller-Phipps, who has more than three decades of health care leadership experience, was appointed to this position in August 2016.

In addition to her operations responsibilities, Miller-Phipps oversees funding and grants for programs that cultivate improvements in the economic, social, and environmental factors that strengthen the quality of health in Southern California. Annually, this equates to nearly $1 billion in support of Kaiser Permanente’s mission to help communities thrive.

Prior to her current role, Miller-Phipps was appointed president of Kaiser Permanente Georgia Region, Health Plan and Hospitals in 2014 where she was responsible for the delivery of health care to nearly 300,000 Kaiser Permanente members served through a network of 26 medical offices and specialty centers, as well as four contracted hospitals. She oversaw 2,600 employees and worked closely with the 500 physicians of the Southeast Permanente Medical Group to strengthen the medical-management partnership for which Kaiser Permanente has become a model.

From 2002 to 2014, Miller-Phipps served in Southern California as senior vice president and executive director for Kaiser Permanente’s Orange County Service Area where she directed Hospitals and Health Plan operations, supported by nearly 7,000 staff and 760 Permanente physicians, to provide care to more than 489,000 members.

Miller-Phipps earned her master’s degree in health care administration from the University of La Verne, and her bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fullerton. She also completed the Executive Leadership Program at the University of North Carolina.

An active member of the community, Miller-Phipps serves on several boards or as an advisor for organizations that improve the quality of health and life; advance the role of women in business and society; and promote innovation. She is a member, American Hospital Association Policy Board; board director and executive committee member, California Hospital Association; member, board member, The United Way of Greater Los Angeles; Presidential Health Advisory Council at the University of La Verne; co-chair (with former California Governor Gray Davis), Southern California Leadership Council; member, Advisory Board, Women’s Choice Awards; Advisory Council member, Board of Directors, Alliance for SoCal Innovation; and member, The Trusteeship and the International Women’s Forum.

She was also listed in the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2018 and 2019 LA500, the publication’s selection of the most influential people in Los Angeles. In January 2020, Miller-Phipps was presented with an honorary doctorate at the University of La Verne during the winter commencement ceremony in which she delivered a keynote address.

 

Ed Ellison, MD
Executive Medical Director and Chairman of the Board
Southern California Permanente Medical Group

Ed Ellison, MD is co-chief executive officer of The Permanente Federation, a consortium of all the Permanente Medical Groups in the nation, supporting the work of nearly 23,000 Permanente physicians in the eight Kaiser Permanente regions across the country. In this role, Dr. Ellison and co-CEO Richard Isaacs, MD, provide leadership and strategic direction to all the Permanente Medical Groups, and to the national Kaiser Permanente Program.

Since 2012, Dr. Ellison has also served as executive medical director and chairman of the board for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG) SCPMG is one of the largest self-governing medical groups in the country, consisting of more than 8,500 physicians caring for more than 4.5 million Kaiser Permanente members in 221 medical offices and 15 hospitals across Southern California.

He is also the Chairman of the Board and CEO of The Southeastern Permanente Medical Group in Georgia and a founding board member of the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine. Prior to these roles, Ed was the Area Medical Director for SCPMG’s Orange County service area, leading more than 600 physicians in caring for 430,000 members in two hospitals and 19 medical offices. Ed joined SCMPG in 1984. After completing his undergraduate degree at Duke University, Ed received his medical degree from the University of Virginia. He completed his residency training in Family Medicine at Halifax Hospital Medical Center, University of South Florida, where he served as Chief Resident. Ed is board certified in Family Medicine. In his spare time, Dr. Ellison is an avid skier and traveler, enjoys time with family, favors a plant-based diet and always takes the stairs.

 

Ramin Davidoff, MD
Executive Medical Director-Elect
Southern California Permanente Medical Group

Ramin Davidoff, MD, will assume the role of Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG) Executive Medical Director and Chairman of the Board on January 1, 2021.

SCPMG is one of the largest self-governing medical groups in the country, consisting of 8,500 physicians who care for more than 4.6 million members in 221 medical offices and 15 hospitals across Kaiser Permanente Southern California.

Dr. Davidoff has served as an Assistant Area Medical Director at Baldwin Park since 2008. In this role, he oversees surgery, anesthesiology, operating room, the post-anesthesia care unit, central processing, emergency department, inpatient units, and physician leadership development. He has also overseen the opening of the KP Next Generation medical office buildings in Irwindale and on the Baldwin Park campus.
 
For five consecutive terms (12 years), Dr. Davidoff has been an elected member of the SCPMG Board of Directors. He has sat on various regional committees, including Member Appraisal of Physician and Provider Services and Ambulatory Satisfaction Questionnaire (MAPPS/ASQ) and Safety & Security Threat Oversight. Dr. Davidoff also served as the Medical Staff President at Baldwin Park and is a past recipient of Baldwin Park’s Physician of the Year Award.

Dr. Davidoff completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of California, Irvine. He first joined SCPMG in 1992 as an intern in general surgery at Los Angeles Medical Center and later completed his residency training in urology at LAMC. In 1998, Dr. Davidoff began his urology practice at Baldwin Park Medical Center. He is board certified in urology.

Dr. Davidoff’s vision for SCPMG is for the organization to continue as a high-performing medical group and thrive in the face of disruptive forces within the health care industry. “By leveraging technology in a simplified manner, we will support physicians, who are the indispensable drivers of our organization’s success.” Dr. Davidoff will make it his mission to provide physicians with the autonomy necessary to do what they do best – practice Permanente Medicine.

In his spare time, Dr. Davidoff enjoys spending time with his family, including traveling and playing basketball with his three sons. An avid sports fan with a special interest in basketball and soccer, Dr. Davidoff has played basketball every Sunday morning with the same group of friends for the last eight years. He also enjoys reading and has been a vegetarian since 2017.

 

Kevin Carroll
Guest Keynote Speaker

After serving in the Air Force for ten years and earning a college degree, Kevin became an athletic trainer at the high school and collegiate levels in Philadelphia. His expertise in sport performance was recognized by the 76ers organization and led to earning a dream job as the head athletic trainer for the Philadelphia 76ers in 1995. (Special Note: Carroll was the third African-American athletic trainer in the history of the NBA!) While at the 76ers an unexpected “verbal altercation” was a catalyst to gain the attention of Nike who offered him an opportunity to bring his unique + diverse experiences to the sneaker giant in 1997. Although no job "officially" existed at the time, Nike executives directed Kevin to create a position at the company that would add value to the overall mission of the brand. Carroll stayed for seven years as the "Katalyst" (the 'K' is for Kevin)—a creative change agent. At Nike he was instrumental in helping the company develop a deeper understanding of athletic product performance, team dynamics and interpersonal communication. Carroll left Nike in 2004 to create his own company, Kevin Carroll Katalyst, committed to elevating the power of sport and play around the world. Kevin is the author of four highly successful books published by ESPN, Disney Press, McGraw-Hill and A Kids Book About. Kevin has helped turn creative ideas into reality for organizations such as Nike, Starbucks, adidas, Walt Disney, Target, Proctor & Gamble, Google, Columbia Sportswear, Mattel, the National Basketball Association and many others.

 

Bill Caswell
Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Clinical Operations
Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Health Plan and Hospitals

Bill Caswell is the senior vice president and chief operating officer, for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals in Southern California. Since 2006, he has overseen hospital operations for seven of the Region’s medical centers – Los Angeles, West Los Angeles, South Bay, Baldwin Park, Woodland Hills, Panorama City, and Kern. He also has accountability for the Region’s Health Plan strategic growth objectives, business development, marketing and sales.

From July 2017 to May 2018, Caswell also served as interim president for Kaiser Foundation Health and Hospitals’ Hawaii Region. Caswell joined Kaiser Permanente in 2004, as vice president for Marketing and Business Development for Southern California. In this role, he worked closely with regional operations on product development, account management and sales, marketing, advertising, and pricing strategy to help expand the organization’s market share in an area that extends from San Diego to Bakersfield, and currently includes more than 4.3 million Health Plan members.

Before his career at Kaiser Permanente, Caswell served in the dual role of executive vice president, Southern California Healthcare Systems, and vice president, Strategic Business Development, for Huntington Memorial Hospital. He held senior management positions for NYL Care Health Plan, Maxicare Health Plans, and UniHealth America where he worked with all aspects of the Southern California marketplace from both the plan and provider sides of the health care business.

Caswell earned master’s degrees in public health and business administration from the University of California, Los Angeles, and bachelor’s degrees in economics and biology from Stanford University. Caswell served as chairman of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce in 2015 and is currently a board member for the California Hospital Association, California Business Roundtable, and the Integrated Healthcare Association.

 

Lesley Wille, RN
Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Health Plan and Hospitals

As senior vice president and chief operating officer of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Health Plan and Hospitals, Lesley Wille, RN, directs the operations for Southern California's medical centers located in Anaheim, Fontana, Irvine, Moreno Valley, Ontario, Riverside, and San Diego.

Lesley has worked at Kaiser Permanente since 1989 and began her current leadership role in May 2019.

A native of Scotland, Lesley Wille, RN, began her career as a staff nurse in the Accident and Emergency department at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. After immigrating to the United States in 1988, she began working as a surgical care nurse at Kaiser Permanente’s Anaheim Medical Center.

Over the next 13 years, Lesley advanced to House Supervisor, Assistant Department Administrator of the Emergency Department and Director of Utilization Management. In 2003, she transferred to Kaiser Permanente’s Riverside Medical Center to serve as Department Administrator of Orthopedic Services. She was named Continuing Care Leader in 2007 and, later, Director of Health Plan and Hospital Operations for the new Coachella Valley Area.

For the last 7 years, Lesley led Kaiser Permanente’s South Bay Medical Center as Senior Vice President and Area Manager. Her leadership in South Bay helped foster incredible results including consistent margin improvement, strong membership growth, and top quartile performance in patient safety, quality, and service.

Lesley graduated as a registered general nurse from Inverclyde and Bute College of Nursing and Midwifery, in Scotland. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Chapman University and completed Harvard Business School’s Executive Leadership Program.

 

Erin Schuyler Bilvado
Vice President, HPSA and Consumer Experience
Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Health Plan and Hospitals

Erin Schuyler Bilvado is the new Kaiser Permanente Southern California VP – Health Plan Service Administration & Consumer Experience, effective June 1st, 2019. In this new role, Erin is dedicated to the development and implementation of key elements of the consumer strategy focused on attraction, engagement, and retention of Kaiser Permanente’s Members for Southern California.
 
Erin’s focus is to lead the Kaiser Permanente Southern California’s region-wide efforts to reduce complaints, grievances and appeals.  She partners with key delivery system stakeholders to advance the work around “Right Care, Right Place, Right Time” – a multi-disciplinary approach focused on improving the consumer experience. The improvement of our Members’ and Patients’ end-to-end journey is central to Kaiser’s success in the years to come.
 
Erin has been with KP for 15 years.  Prior to this new VP position, she served as the Vice President for Kaiser Permanente’s California Patient Financial Services in Revenue Management. Leading this critical shared services function, Erin led teams to address the revenue cycle restructure, digital payment platform, process improvements that dramatically decreased our hospital and professional accounts receivable, while partnering with Regional Leaders throughout the Program.  She has also been instrumental in partnering with Finance and Health Plan teams to improve the Paying for Care & Coverage consumer experience.

Erin graduated from Santa Clara University with an MBA and from UC Davis with a degree in Economics & Psychology.

 

Frank Hurtarte
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Health Plan and Hospitals

Frank Hurtarte joined Kaiser Permanente Southern California in July 2019 as senior vice president of Human Resources. He also serves as a member of the Southern California Combined Group and the Joint Executive Team.

With more than 20 years of experience as a proven HR executive and strategic partner, Frank has shown he can innovate and lead results-driven teams in large, highly matrixed organizations. He joined Kaiser Permanente in 1997 and progressively moved into leadership roles in Northern California. In 2013, Frank left KP and joined Providence Health and Services as vice president of Human Resources, where he led HR support for that organization’s medical groups and operations across 5 western states. He rejoined Kaiser Permanente in 2015 and most recently served as vice president of Human Resources for the Northwest Region.

Frank earned his master’s degree in organizational development from the University of San Francisco, and his bachelor’s degree in management from St. Mary’s College. He also completed Kaiser Permanente’s Executive Leadership Program at Harvard University.

He is married to Dana Hurtarte and they have three children: Kaitlyn, 21; Cole, 19; and Ethan, 16. In his spare time he likes to volunteer in the community, watch his children play sports, and relax with family.

 

Dan Huynh, MD
Regional Assistant Medical Director, Hospital Quality
Southern California Permanente Medical Group

Dr. Dan Huynh is a Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG) hospitalist. He graduated from the University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine, in 1995, then went on the complete his Internal Medicine residency at UCI Medical Center in 1998.  Dr. Huynh joined SCPMG in 1998. His current roles include SCPMG regional assistant medical director for hospital quality, SCPMG regional hospitalist chief, and SCPMG regional physician director for home care services.

 

 

Ramona Snipes, MD
Assistant Executive Medical Director, Permanente HR and Physician Culture
Southern California Permanente Medical Group

Ramona Snipes, MD, is the assistant executive medical director of Permanente Human Resources and Physician Culture for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. Working with current leaders of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity, Physician Wellness, and Physician and Physician Leader Development, Dr. Snipes provides oversight to ensure the execution of strategic programs in the key areas of people and culture.

Before assuming her regional position in January 2019, Dr. Snipes was the assistant area medical director of the Hospital-Based Service Line at the Kaiser Permanente San Bernardino Medical Center; a position she was appointed to in 2016. Prior to that, Dr, Snipes was chief of service of the Emergency Department at San Bernardino County Medical Center, where she also served as the physician liaison for disaster planning and triage.

Dr. Snipes joined Kaiser Permanente Southern California in 2008 and became a partner physician with SCPMG in 2011. In her leadership roles, Dr. Snipes has employed effective strategies that supported positive work in the areas of culture, diversity, leadership development, communication, and community engagement.

Prior to her time at Kaiser Permanente, she was a physician and later partner physician at Emergency Physicians of Tidewater in Virginia. She also held an associate professorship in the department of Emergency Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va.
Dr. Snipes completed her emergency medicine residency at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York in 2003. She received her medical degree in 1999 from Loma Linda University and her bachelor’s degree at Oakwood College in Alabama.

Dr. Snipes is a member of the American College of Emergency Physicians, the California American College of Emergency Physicians, and the San Bernardino County Medical Society.

 

Cindy Striegel
Vice President, Strategic Accounts
Kaiser Permanente

Cindy Striegel joined Kaiser Permanente in 1995.  Her work experience, including her prior employment in Human Resources for a large national employer with oversight of more than 20,000 employees, has given her a unique and thorough perspective of all levels of Kaiser Permanente's Sales and Account Management. In her current role, she provides direct line leadership including go to market strategy and general management as well as responsibility for maintaining and increasing membership for all Strategic Accounts in Northern and Southern California, which represents the largest California based employers with a total of 2.5 million members and 18 billion in revenue. A major portion of Cindy's position is to provide strategic leadership and direction for Kaiser Permanente's future development, which requires her to initiate and maintain strong relationships with the key decision-makers, including customers, brokers, and consultants, for those specialized accounts.  In addition, Cindy is responsible for sponsoring regional and enterprise strategic initiatives within Kaiser Permanente.

Cindy graduated from California State University, Northridge, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.