Kannact Leadership

• Krishna RaoChief Executive Officer

  

  Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kannact INC since inception in Aug 2012. Krishna has an undergraduate in physics and an MBA. He started his technology career as a senior business analyst for Hewlett Packard and left 12 years later as a senior manager responsible for all of Corvallis site services. Upon leaving HP he became one of the early founding team members at Credence and was involved in the IPO and multiple activities. From 1997 to 2000 Krishna served on the Mitsubishi Silicon Board and was the Chief Financial Officer and raised over $1 Billion to expand and build new facilities.

• Jeff MertenChief Corporate Development Officer

  

  Jeff played PAC-10 soccer for Oregon State University and graduated with a BA in History from the University of Oregon. From there he returned to Corvallis to Co-found the Indoor Sports Parks. Taking his entrepreneurial way of thinking into the insurance world he worked for AFLAC receiving both the Top-10 award (RSC) and was part of the President’s Club (RSC). Jeff is constantly on the move to grow and develop Kannact’s sales and plays a pivoting role in developing the integrated systems for Kannact.

• Jeff BrizzolaraChief Wellness Officer

  

  Jeff Brizzolara, PhD, MPH, is Chief Wellness Officer at Kannact and has been developing well-being programs and leading health management organizations for nearly three decades. As a thought leader and subject matter expert in the areas of health coaching, digital health, and corporate wellness, Jeff has dedicated his academic training and professional endeavors to improving the health status of employees and returning a positive ROI for businesses and corporations. Dr. Brizzolara currently serves on local, national and university-affiliated health and wellness advisory boards.

• Nandan RaoChief Operating Officer

  

  Nandan previously founded GovTech firm, Virtual Lab, that enables impact evaluations for public health interventions for organizations such as The World Bank and UNICEF. Before that, he was Head of Engineering at venture-backed machine-learning startup Relink Labs and taught machine learning and causal inference as an Associate Professor in the MSc. Data Science program at Barcelona School of Economics. And before all the software and statistics, he made movies.

  He has an MRes in Economics from Pompeu Fabra University, an MSc. in Data Science from Barcelona School of Economics, and a BFA in Film and Television Production from New York University.

• Dr. Surin VasdevChief Medical Officer

  

  Dr. Surin Vasdev received his medical degree from the University of London, England. He completed his Medicine residency and Gastroenterology fellowhips at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Mn. After a short stint on staff there he moved to Corvallis, OR where he established a successful Gastroenterology practice. In addition to clinical work, he has been involved in all aspects of practice administration and teaching, and has served on the boards of various medical organizations as well as Medical Advisor to several health care related organizations.

  Dr. Vasdev brings experience in health care management and delivery with a focus on prevention and early intervention.

• Andrew GilchristMedical Director

  

  Dr. Andrew Gilchrist, MD is a board-certified Internal medicine physician based in Eugene, Oregon. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington, went to medical school at the University of Nevada School of Medicine and did his internship and residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa. He has over 25 years of experience in the practice of both primary care and hospital-based medicine. In addition, he has served in leadership roles including terms as chief of staff at McKenzie-Willamette Hospital and president of the Lane County Medical Society in Eugene.

  Dr. Gilchrist is a first generation American with deeply held British roots. In his spare time he enjoys drives in his vintage British cars, motorsports, and traveling with his family. He is an avid runner and makes an effort to run two marathons every year.

• Lee StrandburgDirector of Pharmacy

  

  Dr. Lee Strandberg is Professor Emeritus, Pharmacy Economics and Public Health Oregon State University and was Director, Managed Care Pharmacy for Samaritan Health Plans from September 2005 through June 2011. Currently, he is Director of Pharmacy for Kannact, Inc. He was appointed in August 2011 by Governor Kitzhaber to the Oregon Health Policy Board, Medicare-Medicaid Integration of Care and Services Work Group which wrote part of the Coordinated Care Organization (CCO) organizational and reporting structure. He also was appointed to the Oregon Practitioner-Managed Prescription Drug Plan Evidenced-Based Review of Prescription Drugs conducted by the Oregon Health Authority as a Preferred Drug List Committee Member in 2010. He holds a BS degree in Pharmacy and an MS in Social and Behavioral Sciences from North Dakota State University and a Ph.D. in Health Administration and Business from the University of Colorado. He is licensed to practice pharmacy in Oregon and North Dakota. During the past 35 years he has published numerous articles and presented over 500 invitational seminars in five countries and 48 States to various audiences on health care delivery, data management and the impact of pharmaceutical use on health care costs and quality. He has served as a health care management consultant to US government agencies, insurance companies, various HMOs and private sector corporations. Included among these are the US Government's Congressional Budget Office, Coors Company of Colorado, Oregon's Medicaid Program, the Teamsters Union and the US Veterans Administration. He was responsible for developing the State of Oregon Public Employees Retirement System Uniform Drug Plan and also assisted the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, the Alberta Pharmaceutical Association, the Alberta Minister of Health and private business interests in Canada regarding issues related to development of new technologies and strategies needed to market to and manage their health care delivery systems. Dr. Strandberg was named Pharmacy Management Professor of the Year in 1992 by the National Association of Community Pharmacists and was the Texas Pharmacy Foundation ‘s Distinguished Lecturer in 1995. He also received the 2000 Faculty Excellence in Pharmacy Administration Award from the National Community Pharmacists Association’s Foundation during their 102 nd Annual Convention in San Antonio.

• Karla OsegueraDirector of Finance and Administration

  

  After earning her Finance degree at Oregon State University, Karla has worked with Kannact to strengthen processes across the organization’s financial and administrative departments. Her professionalism and business mindset has added value and structure to Kannact’s growth and development.

  More recently Karla has also completed her MBA in Organizational Leadership and has been able to implement the knowledge and experience that this program provides into Kannact’s Finance department.