ZOOM+, which runs more than 20 neighborhood clinics in the Portland and Seattle metropolitan areas, lost two high-level executives in June.
Lauren Wallace who was hired by CEO Dave Sanders as general consul, stepped down following a 10-month stint. She was hired in August 2016.
Earlier she had been a member of the Tonkon Torp law firm in Portland where she worked with information and security practice groups on entrepreneurial services and intellectual property. She also has had significant experience in corporate law, privacy law and practice, intellectual property and contract negotiations, according to her Linked In profile. An earlier article that appeared in the Portland Business Journal indicated that she had been a veteran of several large tech companies, including Apple and Microsoft.
Nearly the same time as Wallace handed in her resignation, ZOOM+ lost one of its longest tenured employees, Jody Maxwell, who had been its quality assurance manager. Maxwell joined Zoom+ in 2012 working as test lead, helping with the implementation of the Zoom+ Health Plan. Earlier, he held a similar position at Assurant Health.
A few weeks ago, Maxwell stepped into a new role at Cambia Health Solutions, the parent company of the Regence BlueCross BlueShield plan, where he’s the lead quality assurance manager.
Neither Maxwell nor Wallace could be reached for comment by press time. However, inside sources told The Lund Report that both had left voluntarily.
In the past year, four other high level executives, left either ZOOM+ or its sister company, Zoom Health Plan:
- Ellie Godfrey who came on board in February 2015 and was the driving force that established ZOOM+ valuable member services. Her goal was to deliver “twice the service, half the cost and ten times the satisfaction,” according to a comment posed on Linked In. Earlier, she spent 25 years at Kaiser as vice president of quality and service. Since leaving ZOOM+, Godfrey has become the population health manager for PacificSource Health Plans as it embarks on a partnership with Legacy Health.
- Denise Honzel, who became vice president and health plan manager in August 2014 to guide ZOOM’s insurance product in Oregon and Washington and launch its large employer plan. Honzel spent 25 years at Kaiser Northwest and had been a health policy consultant for the Oregon Business Council.
- Kathy Prosser joined Zoom Care Health Plan in November 2014, having been recruited by Honzel and Sanders to become vice president of sales, and encouraged small employers to join its health plan. She had spent 19 years as a senior partner at Mercer, and is now the northwest benefits practice leader at Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.
- Dr. Brett White, who came on board as the medical director of the ZOOM+ health plan known as Performance Health Insurance, and had also been an associate professor at Oregon Health & Science University. White has since moved back to California.
Last year, when contacted by The Lund Report, CEO Sanders denied anything was amiss. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he told The Lund Report. “We’re performing at such a high level of success; it’s amazing. We had a record fourth quarter in all-time growth, and set a record pace in revenue during the first quarter,” he said.
Len Bergstein, a spokesman for ZOOM+, downplayed the significance of recent departures.
"The real story at ZOOM+ in 2017 is a rapid transition to a total focus on direct care," Bertgstein said, noting that the company has hired 70 professional providers and clinical support staff, opened two clinics and made other improvements.
Federal investigators served a subpoena on Zoom Health Plan earlier this month, after former employees reported the failed insurance company to the FBI for possibly fraudulent activity, according to state officials and a former high-level insider who has cooperated with the investigation. Click here to read more about that investigation.
Diane Lund-Muzikant can be reached at [email protected].
