THE
LIBERTY PEOPLE
Amir Neshat, D.D.S
Founder/Chairman/CEO
LIBERTY Dental Plan
Dr. Neshat’s experience in managed healthcare and dental benefits
results from leadership roles at multiple organizations including,
Preferred Dental Care, Family Dental, Dental café Mobile Dental Services,
and Columbus Dental Group. He has been a professional involved in
many different aspects of dental care for approximately 15 years.
He comes from a family of health care professionals and successful
business professionals and has demonstrated his capabilities in dentistry,
general business management, and turn-around management through various
different ventures.
In 2001, he seized an opportunity to save from closure and insolvency
a CA licensed dental HMO. Today, just a few years later, LIBERTY
Dental Plan has established itself as one of the highest quality,
efficient and fastest growing companies of its kind in the Nation.
Dr. Neshat’s education includes a Bachelor of Science Degree from
the University Of California, San Diego (UCSD) and a Doctor of Dental
Surgery Degree from the University of Southern California (USC).
He has been an expert consultant/provider in the dental field for
a number of health/dental insurance companies, legal firms, and government
agencies.
John J. Carvelli
Executive Vice President
LIBERTY Dental Plan
John is a Director and EVP of the LIBERTY Dental group of companies.
John recently completed a multi-year project as President and director
of the former Lincoln Hospital Medical Center, Inc. in Los Angeles,
CA. The project included the management and work-out of one of the
oldest and largest community clinic organizations known as Clinica
Medica Familiar. He has extensive experience in healthcare financial
matters and with the underserved Medi-Cal (Medicaid) and Medicare
populations.
In 1996 Carvelli established Empire Pacific, LLC, a business and
public affairs consulting company. Empire Pacific and affiliates,
provide business and public affairs services predominantly for healthcare
companies including the Children’s, Adventist, Tenet and Sharp Healthcare
systems.
Carvelli is and has been active in numerous political, legislative
and campaign activities for over 25 years. He served as a press aide
to former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey and for a member
of the California State Assembly in 1986, John served as manager of
a CA statewide political campaign for Lt. Governor.
In 1984, Carvelli received a BA degree from The Catholic University
of America in Washington, D.C. While in Washington, D.C., Carvelli
also served an internship in The U.S. House of Representatives.
John has served on numerous boards and currently serves on the Advisory
Board of the Parents Television Council.
Randy Brecher
Senior Vice President
LIBERTY Dental Plan
Mr. Brecher is a senior operations and finance executive with many
years of experience running dental insurance companies. Mr. Brecher
served as the President of PacificDental Benefits Inc.; initially
recruited as the Chief Financial Officer of this start-up venture
with a final membership base of 750,000, before it was sold to UnitedHealth
Group in 2004.
Prior to that Mr. Brecher served as the Chief Financial and Chief
Operations Officer of Delta PMI Dental Health Plan; a dental HMO with
1,000,000 members at the time of Mr. Brecher’s departure.
Mr. Brecher possesses considerable expertise in strategic planning,
financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting, accounting, underwriting,
utilization management, customer service, membership accounting, claims
processing, information technology and human resources.
Mr. Brecher is a graduate of Colorado State University with a
B.S. Business Administration in Accounting and a member of the Beta
Alpha Psi Accounting Honors Fraternity. His professional credentials
include being licensed as a Certified Public Accountant and a member
of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Lynda Bull
Vice President, Professional Services
LIBERTY Dental Plan
Lynda provides LIBERTY with over 27 years of healthcare industry
experience. She is currently the Vice President of Provider Relations
and is integrally involved in the executive management of LIBERTY.
Lynda most recently worked for United Health Group’s division, UnitedHealthcare
(UHC), as the Western Regional Vice President for Professional Network
Relations, Dental and Vision. During her 7 year tenure at UHC and
its acquired company, Pacific Dental Benefits (PDBI), Lynda was responsible
for regional operations, all Professional Relations activities including
provider network development and retention, quality management and
served as an integration team leader and special project manager.
Lynda’s background includes serving as Vice President, Professional
Relations for Delta Dental Plan of California, Vice President for
Oral Health Services, Inc. of California and directing the start up
of Dental Net for Blue Cross of California. Lynda’s expertise includes
plan benefit design, regulatory compliance, education program development
for providers, employers and members, and all interrelated quality
assurance processes.
Richard Hague, D.M.D., M.P.A.
Dental Director
LIBERTY Dental Plan of CA
Dr. Richard Hague has been the Dental Director for LIBERTY Dental
Plan since inception. His undergraduate degree was earned at Portland
State University and he obtained his dental degree at the Oregon Health
Science Center. Dr. Hague then did his Endodontic Fellowship Training
in Norfolk, VA, with a Masters in Public Administration obtained at
Troy State University.
Dr. Hague has primary responsibility for dental policy and decision-making
for the company. He is responsible for the direction and supervision
of LIBERTY’s Quality Management and Improvement Department consisting
of numerous committees, dentists, administrative staff and professional
consultants. He is involved in all aspects of LIBERTY’s quality management
activities, including but not limited to, grievance, peer review,
quality assurance, quality audits, monitoring, training, credentialing,
utilization management reporting, and other quality management aspects
of LIBERTY’s operations.
Dr. Hague joined SmileCare Dental Group as a district manager and
director of specialties. He managed a region of dental offices monitoring
budget, production revenue and staffing. He also coordinated dental
specialties in 17 dental centers in southern California
In 1999, Dr. Hague joined Preferred Health Plans as Dental Director.
In this position, he performed audits for Preferred Health Plans providers
throughout southern California.
Stuart Gray
LIBERTY Dental Plan
Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Gray brings over 30 years of experience in the healthcare benefits
industry including over 20 specific to state Medicaid dental programs.
He is responsible for LIBERTY’s operational activities including member
services, claims and eligibility.
Previously, Mr. Gray served as vice president of operations for Universal
Care, Inc. for 13 years; a 500,000 member HMO that was active in multiple
states. Universal Care focused on Medicaid and SCHIP programs for
both medical and dental beneficiaries. This experience gave Mr. Gray
unique perspective in understanding the medical dental relationship,
relative but not limited to developing joint health education initiatives
related to oral health through outreach to the physician community.
Mr. Gray was able to increase preventative service to dental beneficiaries
by 50%. He also developed and established day-to-day dental operations
of an established network of 1400 providers for the delivery of dental
care for both Medicaid and SCHIP programs. Prior to that, he served
as the Director of Operations and Administration with American Dental
Health Providers
Mr. Gray received his education and training at the Unites States
Armed Forces Institute (USAFI) through the University of Maryland
University College, in Adelphi, Maryland. He is also a veteran of
the United States Marine Corps. He currently serves as the chairman
of the Board of Alta Med Health Service Corporation (a regional FQHC)
and is an active member of Leadership Cabinet for Center for Brand
New Day (503c).
Hugh Hazlewood
Vice President., New Business Development
Hugh Hazlewood, V.P., New Business Development for LIBERTY Dental
Plan for the past five years, has over 29 years of successes in the
health benefits industry including medical, dental, and vision insurance
along with Knox-Keene licensed prepaid plans. Hugh began his health
benefits career with the Blues plans in New Mexico, Colorado, northern
California and southern California. He then was a Senior Account Executive
with Delta Dental Plan of California for 10 years. Hugh joined Maxicare
in 1995 as V.P. of National Accounts before accepting the position
of V.P., Western Region for Pacific Union Dental in 2000.
Hugh’s primary business focus in the California health benefits market
has been Taft-Harley Trust Funds. He is accepted by the labor community
as a trustworthy sales and service individual who can deliver the
products and the outstanding service he sells. Hugh also has many
contacts in the commercial brokerage community.
For the past 17 years, Hugh has been an active
board member of the charity, Guide Dogs of America and was recently
appointed as Board Vice President.
Patrick Carolan
Vice President
LIBERTY Dental Plan East
He has over 25 years of professional management experience in the
health insurance/ Medicaid Managed Care industry. Mr. Carolan served
as Director of Government Programs for M.D. Health Plan, where he
managed the Connecticut State Employee health plan, Medicaid Managed
Care plan and the Federal Employee Health Plan.
While at MD Health Plan, Mr. Carolan developed and implemented the
“Health awareness For Kids” (HANK) program, this program received
national recognition as an example of an innovative health promotion
program for children.
Mr. Carolan’s other positions include serving as Executive Director
of BeneCare Dental Plans in Connecticut, where he was responsible
for the management of all aspects of both the commercial and Medicaid
dental products. In his role as the Executive Director of BeneCare
Dental Plans of Connecticut Mr. Carolan was involved in finding solutions
to improve dental access for the underserved populations. He successfully
developed several pilot programs to improve access to dental care
including “Bringing Children to Treatment” program”, which was presented
at a National Oral Health conference.
Mr. Carolan has been a member of Connecticut Medicaid Managed Care
Advisory Council and has presented at various conferences and meetings
including the National Oral Health Conference. He has worked as a
consultant to several companies involved in mergers and acquisitions
predominately in the dental and Medicaid arenas.
Mr. Carolan received his Bachelors of Science Degree Southern Connecticut
State University
Bill Henderson
Vice President; Business Development Government Programs
He has over 15 years of professional management experience in the
health insurance/ Medicaid /Medicare Managed Care industry. Mr. Henderson
served as Executive Vice President of Dental Economics, LLC Government
Programs and developed the program nationally.
Mr. Henderson’s other positions include serving
as CEO of OptiCare Health System division in Texas from 1994 until
2003 and SR.VP of Business Development for OptiCare Health Systems
parent company from 1994 until 2003.
While OptiCare and Dental Economics
Mr. Henderson has served as Chairman of the Texas Department of
Solvency Committee.
Marsha Hazlewood
Vice President of Client Services
Marsha Hazlewood, Vice President of Client Services for LIBERTY Dental
Plan, has been a member of the management team for over five years.
She entered the dental benefits industry in 1989 after a 20 year career
as an expanded-functions chair-side dental assistant.
Marsha was a Sales Representative and Provider Relations Representative
for Delta Dental Plan of Kansas prior to transferring to the Sales
Department of Delta Dental Plan of California in 1991. In 1995, she
joined Ameritas as a Sales Representative in southern California.
Marsha moved to the medical benefits arena in 1998, working as a Senior
Account Manager for Maxicare. She left Maxicare to join the Sales
Department of Pacific Union Dental in 2000.
During her 18 years in the benefits industry, Marsha has been able
to utilize her extensive dental knowledge to enhance the sales and
service for her companies. The experiences and knowledge of the industry
she has gained through the years has enabled her to have a broad understanding
of not only the sales and service aspects, but the intricate inter-workings
of a benefit company and how each contributes to the success of the
company.
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