Since retiring from Congress, Newt Gingrich has worked extensively on the issues of health and healthcare, devoting the majority of his time to advocating a transformation of the entire system. In 2003, he founded the Center for Health Transformation (CHT), a collaboration of public and private sector leaders dedicated to the creation of a 21st Century Intelligent Health System that saves lives and saves money. 

Honored most recently for the seventh year in a row by Modern Healthcare’s annual poll of the “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare,” Gingrich is widely recognized as a transformational leader, unparalleled in his ability to create and lead successful large-scale change.  As the architect of the Contract with America, he led the Republican Party to victory in 1994, capturing the majority in the U.S. House for the first time in forty years. Under his leadership, Congress passed transformational legislation including welfare reform, the first balanced budget in a generation, funding to strengthen our defense capabilities, and the first tax cuts in sixteen years. 

During his twenty years in Congress, Speaker Gingrich was committed to improving America’s healthcare system, co-chairing the Republican Task Force on Health for four years prior to becoming Speaker.  Under his leadership as Speaker, Medicare was improved, investment in medical research was dramatically increased, and FDA reform was enacted to allow for quicker approval and access to new medicines for those with terminal and degenerative illnesses. 

The Washington Times called him “The Indispensable Leader” and Time magazine, in naming him “Man of the Year” for 1995, said, “Leaders make things possible. Exceptional leaders make them inevitable. Newt Gingrich belongs in the category of the exceptional.”  He regularly participates as a healthcare expert in both the National Journal’s Healthcare Expert Blog, The Washington Post’s Health Reform Blog, “Health Care Rx” and as a commentator on Fox News.

Mr. Gingrich is currently a member of the Advisory Board for the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research and sits on the Board of Regents at the National Library of Medicine.  In addition, he co-chairs the National Commission for Quality Long Term Care. He has received numerous health and healthcare honors and awards, including:

•    1995    March of Dimes Georgian of the Year
•    1996    Georgia Breast Cancer Coalition Honoree
•    1996    Mental Health Association Advocacy Award
•    1997    Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Advocate of the Year
•    1998    American Association of Endocrinologists Patients Advocate of the Year
•    1998    American Diabetes Association Charles Best Medal (highest non-medical award)
•    1998    National Association of Community Health Centers Diabetes Healthcare Advocate of the Year
•    2001    Science Coalition’s Science Pioneer Award

•    2003    Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare

•    2004    Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare
•    2005    NCQA Health Quality Award (National Committee for Quality Assurance)
•    2005    National Minority Health Month Foundation Award for outstanding contributions to elimination of diabetes
•    2005    Louis Sullivan Award for his leadership and advocacy for the rapid adoption of health information technology (WEDI, the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange)
•    2005    HIMSS Advocacy Award for his leadership advancing information and management systems for the betterment of human health

•    2005    Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare
•    2006    National Hispanic Youth Initiative Award for Leadership

•    2006    Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare

•    2007    Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare
•    2008    Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare
•    2008    “Indispensible Person of the Year Award” by Alliance on Aging
•    2009    Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare

Speaker Gingrich has authored numerous health publications, columns and books, including Saving Lives and Saving Money, which describes the vision and principles of the Center for Health Transformation. His book Winning the Future includes key chapters on health and healthcare, based on his work at CHT. Speaker Gingrich and Center for Health Transformation CEO and President Nancy Desmond published The Art of Transformation in 2007, and in 2008, Real Change, which devotes a chapter to the necessary changes in today’s healthcare system.

Mark McClellan is senior fellow, director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform, and Leonard D. Schaeffer Chair in Health Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution.  Established in 2007, the Engelberg Center provides practical solutions to achieve high-quality, innovative, affordable health care with particular emphasis on identifying opportunities on the national, state and local levels.

 A doctor and economist by training, McClellan has a highly distinguished record in public service and academic research.  He is a former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.  McClellan served as a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and senior director for health care policy at the White House under President George W. Bush.  He also served in the Clinton administration as deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy, where he supervised economic analysis and policy development on a range of domestic policy issues.

 Previously, McClellan was an associate professor of economics and associate professor of medicine with tenure at Stanford University, where he directed Stanford’s Program on Health Outcomes Research; served as associate editor of the Journal of Health Economics; and was co-principal investigator of the Health and Retirement Study, a longitudinal study of the health and economic status of older Americans.  He has twice received the Kenneth J. Arrow Award for Outstanding Research in Health Economics.

 In his capacity as a health policy expert, McClellan is the co-director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Leaders’ Project on the State of American Health Care; co-chair of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America; and chair of the FDA’s Reagan-Udall Foundation.  He is also co-chair of the Quality Alliance Steering Committee, sits on the National Quality Forum’s Board of Directors, is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. 

 McClellan holds an MD from the Harvard University–Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Division of Health Sciences and Technology, a PhD in economics from MIT, an MPA from Harvard University, and a BA from the University of Texas at Austin.  He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, is board-certified in Internal Medicine, and has been a practicing internist during his career.

As President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Dave is now free to do what he wasn't able to do while running the Government Accountability Office: advocate for specific solutions, work proactively with grantees and other partners to build strong coalitions, and encourage and engage in grassroots efforts to bring pressure on Washington to act.

As Comptroller General of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) from 1998 to 2008, spanning both Democratic and Republican administrations, Dave served as the federal government's chief auditor. Appointed by President Bill Clinton and confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate, he was an outspoken, nonpartisan advocate for addressing the major fiscal and other sustainability challenges facing the country. He also enacted transformational reforms at the agency and within the accountability profession.

Prior to his appointment to run the GAO, Dave served as a partner and global managing director of Arthur Andersen LLP and in several government leadership positions, including as a Public Trustee for Social Security and Medicare from 1990 to 1995 and as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefit Programs during the Reagan administration.

Although no longer the US government's chief auditor, Dave continues to serve as a global accountability expert as chairman of the United Nations Independent Audit Advisory Committee. He also serves on the boards of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and the Partnership for Public Service. He has authored two books, is a regular commentator, and is the subject of the critically acclaimed documentary I.O.U.S.A., which arrives in theatres around the country in August 2008.

Dave holds a B.S. in accounting from Jacksonville University, a Senior Management in Government Certificate in public policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and several honorary doctorate degrees. He has won numerous leadership and other awards during his career. He and his wife Mary live in Alexandria, VA and have two children and three grandchildren.

Dr Marc Donner has over thirty years of experience in engineering of hardware, software, and complex systems. He has worked in basic research and in commercial development, where his experience has ranged from advanced robotics research to engineering very large-scale infrastructure. His interests include high performance, real-time, security, privacy, and reliability.

Brian Fortune is the Marwood Group's Political Strategist and a Managing Director of its Healthcare Research Group. Before joining the Marwood Group in 2002, Brian served as the Staff Director of the House Republican Leadership's policy analysis division, where he worked closely with the senior staff of all House committees, focusing particularly on Ways & Means, Energy & Commerce, and Appropriations. During his tenure on Capitol Hill, Brian worked on many Medicare and other healthcare initiatives including BBA97, BBRA, HIPAA, BIPA 2000, and the early versions of prescription drug legislation. Brian is a graduate of Oregon State University. He holds the FINRA Series 7, 65, 86 and 87.

Jonathan Korngold is a Managing Director at General Atlantic LLC, where he has worked since 2001. Mr. Korngold is based in the firm's Greenwich, CT headquarters and currently heads General Atlantic's global Healthcare sector.

More generally, Mr. Korngold has extensive experience with technology-enabled services companies and has specific expertise in working with business process outsourcing, transaction processing, government services, financial services, and healthcare-related businesses. In his capacity as a Managing Director, Mr. Korngold has worked closely with many of the firm's public and private portfolio companies and is currently a Board member of Emdeon Business Services.

Prior to joining General Atlantic, Mr. Korngold was a member of Goldman SachsÕs Principal Investment Area and Mergers & Acquisitions groups in London and New York, respectively. Mr. Korngold received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and graduated with a B.A. in Economics with Honors from Harvard College. In addition, Mr. Korngold has spent extensive time in China, where he studied Mandarin Chinese at Peking University.

Mr. Korngold is an active member in the community and is involved in a number of educational and non-profit organizations, including DonorsChoose.org, The Echoing Green Foundation, StreetWise Partners and the Central Park Conservancy.

Lambert van der Walde is the Capital Markets Advisor to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS plays a key role in the overall direction of the U.S. health care system. With a budget of over $800 billion and serving over 100 million beneficiaries in the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP programs, CMS is the largest purchaser of health care in the world.

Lambert directs CMS capital markets efforts, which include advising the CMS Administrator and other Administration officials of expected and actual market consequences of new and proposed regulatory and legislative actions as well as health care industry market performance, access to capital, and financial outlook.

Lambert also serves as the CMS point-of-contact for the investor community as the Agency’s liaison between policy makers, the investor community, and the health care industry. He speaks on a regular basis to investor and industry groups, provides explanation and interpretation of government health care policy and processes to research analysts and investors, and develops strategic relationships with leaders in the health care industry and the financial markets.

Prior to serving the Bush & Obama Administrations, Lambert worked for Salomon Smith Barney’s Investment Banking Division where he focused on equity and debt underwriting as well as mergers and acquisitions advisory services. Lambert has also worked in venture capital financing and other sectors of the financial services industry.

Lambert holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Washington and a Master’s of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

As Head of Healthcare at Google, Bill is responsible for developing and managing Google’s marketing relationships with healthcare and pharmaceutical companies.

With over twenty years media sales experience, Bill joined Google from Clear Channel Radio where he was Regional Vice President for National Sales.  Prior to Clear Channel, he worked for Katz Media, Interep and AT&T in sales and marketing roles.

He holds a BS from Fordham University, and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Mark Wagar currently serves as President and CEO of Empire BlueCross BlueShield, the leader in providing health insurance coverage to over 5 million New Yorkers including individuals, families, and seniors across a diverse spectrum of community, culture, age, geography, employment, labor and economic status.

A 33 year veteran of healthcare services, Mark brings a strong combination of health plan and provider management experience in both for-profit and non-profit organizations . His leadership roles prior to Empire included positions at Caremark, CIGNA HealthCare, and other managed care organizations , as well as with hospitals, physician groups, and outpatient care providers .
Mr. Wagar and his wife of 34 years, Ellen, live in Manhattan and are both graduates of The Ohio State University.

An experienced officer as well as director in public, private, community, and charitable organizations. Mr. Wagar currently serves on a number of private and community organizations. He is a board member for the Partnership for New York City, the Citizens Budget Commission, OxySure, Inc. and the Battery Park Conservancy, as well as a member of the Steering Committee of the Association for a Better New York (ABNY). He has been recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of The Ohio State University, a recipient of the Dr. Jonas Salk Memorial Mentor in Medicine Award, and a member of the 1971 Big Ten Champion Ohio State University Basketball Team.

David I. Cohen, M.D., M.Sc. is currently Senior Vice President for Clinical Affairs and Affiliations and Senior Vice Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Maimonides Medical Center.   Dr. Cohen received his B.A. and M.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and a M.Sc. in Epidemiology and Health from McGill University where he was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar from 1977 – 1979.  After completing his residency in Internal Medicine in New York and his clinical research fellowship in Montreal, he joined the faculty of Case Western Reserve University and was appointed Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital in 1981.   In that position he helped to develop the “firm system” as a model for patient care, clinical education, and health services research.  In 1986 he returned to New York to accept a position at Mt. Sinai Medical Center as Director of Ambulatory Care and Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education.  From 1988 – 1990 he was Vice President for Medical Operations for the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.  From 1990 –1991 he served as Deputy Dean for Clinical Affairs at the City University of New York Sophie Davis Medical School, and from 1991 – 1998 he served as the first full time Medical Director at Bellevue Hospital Center.

Marc Samuels is a partner with Washington, DC-based HillCo Partners, a strategic advisory firm focused on providing timely, strategic advice about the public and reimbursement policy risks and opportunities presented in the current public and private healthcare environment. 

Samuels’ provides support to product management and corporate reimbursement and policy resources beginning when a product is in Phase II clinical research through the product life-cycle to patent expiration.  Much of his time is spent educating and advising clients planning significant new initiatives in the regulatory arena, and providing independent expert opinion on policy and business issues in health care, helping to explore the ramifications of various public and reimbursement policy options.  Samuels also works with the investment community to identify potentially material changes in the regulatory and reimbursement environments faced by health care companies; and assess problems and opportunities in potential health care investments before the beginning of active due diligence.  He and his partners have each played pivotal roles in developing policy and affecting the regulatory agenda on some of the most critical coverage and payment policy issues affected by Medicare and Medicaid, including age-related macular degeneration, left ventricular assist devices, radiopharmaceuticals, obesity as an illness, anti-cancer therapies, IVIG, home infusion, ASP and AMP reform, and coverage of vaccines, oral-antiemetics, and vitamin-enhanced products under the Medicare Part D program.

Samuels’ attended the University of Texas School of Law, Yale School of Medicine and the University of Michigan.  He speaks on national health care issues to audiences throughout the country, and helps develop educational programs covering public and reimbursement policy developments and the concerns of client organizations and their members in the healthcare arena. 

He is a board member of the University Of Houston Health Law And Policy Institute.

Mitchell Morris is a Principal in Deloitte Consulting’s Life Sciences and Health Care practice and is the national leader for Health IT.  Dr. Morris has more than 25 years of health care experience in consulting, health care administration, research, technology, education, and clinical care.  Prior to consulting,  Dr. Morris has also served as a Senior Vice President for Healthcare Systems and Chief Information Officer at the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center where he was also Professor and a leading researcher and clinician.  Dr. Morris’s focus in consulting has been on:

•Developing and implementing information technology strategies to improve hospital, health system and medical school clinical, quality and patient safety, financial and research performance.

•Developing and implementing strategies for clinical quality and performance improvement

•Implementing clinical software packages for health care providers along with clinical and operational transformation/process improvement to fully leverage the automation.

•Designing and implementing business intelligence systems for financial, operational, and clinical applications.

•Developing disease management programs, treatment guidelines and protocols.

Dr. Morris is a frequent speaker on health IT and has published extensively.

As Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Government Services for Emdeon, Miriam Paramore is responsible for long-term strategic planning, thought leadership, public policy and government affairs. Paramore brings over 25 years of industry experience and plays a critical role in helping Emdeon shape a course for the future based on emerging trends in health information technology. She is a national speaker and currently she serves on the national Board of Directors for the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS), as well as on the Board for CareSource Management Group, a non-profit Medicaid managed care organization. She is a past chair the HIMSS Financial Systems Steering Committee, and serves on the eHealth Advisory Committee for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  As a longtime advocate for HIT in the public sector, Paramore serves as an advisor to key Congressional committees and the Congressional Budget Office on health IT, healthcare administrative simplification, and other practical solutions that can take costs out of the system and make healthcare more efficient.

Jon Cohen, M.D., was named senior vice president and chief medical officer of Quest Diagnostics effective March 30, the company announced. Cohen, 54, had been a senior adviser to New York Gov. David Paterson, focusing on policy and strategic planning and has advised Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) on healthcare policy. Prior to joining the governor’s administration, Cohen was managing director of health industry services at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and he also has served as CMO and senior vice president at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, based in Great Neck, N.Y. Madison, N.J.-based Quest Diagnostics develops diagnostic testing, information and services to providers.