In 1988, Charlie Baker helped start the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, an independent, nonpartisan state think tank. Baker left Pioneer in January, 1991 to join the newly elected Weld/Cellucci Administration as Undersecretary for Health in the Massachusetts’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services. As Undersecretary, Charlie played pivotal roles in Medicaid reform, facility consolidation, and the expansion of a number of key public health programs. He became the Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services in the fall of 1992, and led the Administration’s efforts to enact welfare reform.

Baker served as Massachusetts’s Secretary of Administration and Finance from1994 to 1998. He re-structured and simplified the state’s purchasing system, led a major effort to improve the state’s capacity to collect third party revenue, and oversaw the largest effort ever to modernize the state’s code of regulation. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Governor’s Association in 1998.

Baker became CEO of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates (HVMA) in the fall of 1998, and was soon recruited by Harvard Vanguard’s parent – Harvard Pilgrim Health Care – to serve as its CEO in May, 1999. Under Baker's tenure, HPHC went on to become the highest ranked health plan in the country for member satisfaction and clinical effectiveness for five years running.

Charlie Baker attended Harvard College and graduated with a degree in English in 1979. He worked as Media Relations Director for the New England Council, and then as Corporate Communications Director for the Massachusetts High Technology Council. He earned an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in 1986. Baker is currently running for Governor of Massachusetts.

Thomas Barker is a legislative veteran who has worked on health care policy issues on both sides of the aisle. Under the Bush Administration he served in a succession of high-level federal health care policy positions, and most recently served as acting General Counsel and policy advisor under HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt where he played a key role in the implementation of several major health policy initiatives: the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit; Medicaid modernization; the President's agenda on healthcare transparency and health information technology; and the President's health care access proposals.  He helped enact Medicare part D in 2003; helped draft President Bush's Executive Order on health care transparency; developed health care initiatives for the President's State of the Union Addresses in 2007 and 2008 and was principal liaison between HHS and the Department of Treasury on tax issues for health care.
 
Thomas Barker joined Foley Hoag in March 2009, and splits his time between the firm's Washington, DC and Boston offices and focuses his practice on complex federal legal and regulatory health care policy matters and general rule makings.

Thomas Barker graduated with honors from Jacksonville University with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Political Science and later, from Suffolk University Law School with the distinction of magna cum laude.

Dr. Yaron Brook is a prominent advocate for Objectivism, the philosophy of novelist Ayn Rand. As president of the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI), an educational organization based in Irvine, California, he also serves as Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Center of Individual Rights located in Washington, DC, the public policy arm of ARI. He is interviewed regularly in the media to debate and discuss current economic and financial news from the Objectivist viewpoint.

Dr. Brook is a frequent guest on a variety of radio and TV shows, having appeared on Fox Business News (John Stossell), Fox News (Glenn Beck, The O'Reilly Factor, Your World with Neil Cavuto, At Large with Geraldo Rivera), CNN (Talkback Live), and CNBC (CNBC Reports, Closing Bell and On the Money).

A popular lecturer at corporations, universities, public forums, community and professional groups, Dr. Brook is known for his radical ideas and passionate speaking style. He often talks about the moral foundations of capitalism and defends the rights of businessmen to act in a free market unfettered by government regulation. Dr. Brook has spoken twice at the prestigious Ford Hall Forum in Boston, and is scheduled for a third appearance this spring.

Ted Crooks is the general manager of Global Analytics Inc., a subsidiary of Global Analytics Holdings, a US / India / UK company that provides analytical products and services sold by partners like Hewitt Associates for human resources, MasterCard Worldwide for payments services and others.
 
Before joining Global in 2007, Ted was Vice President of Global Fraud Solutions for Fair Isaac Corporation and earlier led new businesses for HNC Software before its acquisition by Fair Isaac. He was also co-founder of Burning Glass Technology, applying artificial intelligence to employment processes like the initial hiring of TSA officers.

Educated at Stanford in economics and computer science, Crooks has authored three technical books and is the inventor of multiple US and foreign patents in analytics and robotics. For 30 years, he has specialized in using analytics, artificial intelligence and statistical modeling to create novel solutions to real-world problems in industries like food products, telecommunications, banking, investing, Internet services, automobile manufacturing, recruiting, education and security.

Dr. David Cutler has developed an impressive record of exceptional achievement in both academia and the public sector.  He was Senior Health Care Advisor to Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign and served on the Council of Economic Advisors and National Economic Council under President Clinton. Dr. Cutler now works closely with members of Congress, state governments, corporations and private interest groups to formulate strategies for health-care reform and has done pioneering research on the value of medical innovation and strategies to improve the return on our health care dollars.

Currently, Dr. Cutler is the Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics at Harvard University and is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  His focus is on value creation: taking a health care system that is haphazard in quality and too costly and centering it on the core mission of value enhancement. 

Dr. Cutler's work in health economics and public economics has earned him significant academic and public acclaim.  At Harvard University, he served as Assistant Professor of Economics from 1991 to 1995, was named John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Social Sciences in 1995, and received tenure in 1997. In addition to his current role in the Department of Economics and Kennedy School of Government, Dr. Cutler recently completed a five-year term as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for Social Sciences.  Among other affiliations, Dr. Cutler has held positions with the National Institutes of Health and is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Dr. Cutler is the author of Your Money Or Your Life: Strong Medicine for America's Health Care System, which was the subject of a feature article in the New York Times Magazine.  Dr. Cutler was recently named one of the 30 people who could have a powerful impact on healthcare by Modern Healthcare magazine and one of the 50 most influential men aged 45 and younger by Details magazine.

Tom Davis served seven terms in Congress representing Virginia. In 2003 Davis was named Chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform & Oversight and served in the Congressional Leadership as Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the entity responsible for raising funds and overseeing operations for Congressional members and new candidates.
As Chairman of the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, Davis had jurisdiction on how every element of the government is to function, in addition to the government contracting process for private enterprise.  Davis is an expert on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka "The Stimulus Bill") and the opportunities that exist for the private sector.

With his background as an information technology executive, Davis was at the tip of the spear in Congress in educating his colleagues and the Administration about the new economy.  From his experience in local politics to the halls of Congress, Davis never wavered in his goal to be a true independent voice and work with all sides and interests to get things done.

Davis currently sits as Director of Federal Government Affairs for Deloitte LLP in Washington, DC, where he continues his effort to bring effective, common-sense solutions to government.

Kelli (Osborne) Littlejohn, R.Ph., Pharm.D., currently serves the practice of pharmacy as the Director of Pharmacy for the Alabama Medicaid Agency, where she oversees the Pharmacy Clinical Services, Pharmacy Administrative Services, and the Drug Rebate Program. Dr. Littlejohn’s responsibilities include: Preferred Drug List (PDL); Prior Authorization (PA) and Academic Detailing Program; Drug Utilization Review (DUR); Pharmacy policy, reimbursement, and budget; Medicare Part D coordination.

Kelli’s 15 years of professional pharmacy experience includes long term care pharmacy as well as community pharmacy. She is a graduate of and served on various professional/leadership organizations at Snead State Community College, Auburn University School of Pharmacy, and Arkansas University School of Medical Sciences. Dr. Littlejohn is proud to serve her profession on the Alabama Pharmacy Association Board of Trustees, as well as the community through her work with the Alabama Lung Association and Camp WheezeAway, a summer camp for asthmatic children.

Carol Steckel has served the State of Alabama as Commissioner of the Alabama Medicaid Agency since her appointment by Governor Bob Riley, December 2003. She previously held the position as Commissioner November 1988 through July 1992. Prior to her appointment, she served as Director of the Survey Companies, LLC, Birmingham, Alabama, and as Chief Executive Officer of Survey Associates, LLC, Birmingham, Alabama.

Commissioner Steckel is actively involved in policy making at the national level. She currently serves as Chair of the Executive Committee of the National Association of State Medicaid Directors (NASMD), and is actively involved with her peers in the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA). Commissioner Steckel has a Master’s Degree in Public Health from UAB and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Sociology from Birmingham-Southern College.

John M. Coster, Ph.D., R.Ph., is Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, National Community Pharmacists Association.

Prior, from 2007 to 2009 he served as Vice President, Federal Affairs and Public Policy, Rite Aid Corporation. He was responsible for maintaining and developing relationships with policymakers, members of Congress, and regulatory agencies and identifying and impacting Federal health program legislation and trends that impacted Rite Aid's business objectives and operations. He was also responsible for developing and executing policy and strategy relating to Federal and state health care issues.

From April 1990 through April 1994, he served as a professional staff member of the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging.  In his capacity, he was responsible for all issues relating to pharmaceutical coverage and cost containment.  He was involved in the drafting of the Medicaid pharmaceutical rebate provisions of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1990, the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992, and the Medicaid pharmaceutical and vaccine-related provision of OBRA 93.  He served as a member of the President’s Task Force on Health Care Reform, and helped to draft the pharmaceutical-related provisions of the President’s Health Security Act, including the Medicare outpatient prescription drug benefit.

Prior to joining the staff of the Senate Aging Committee, he was a Health Analyst at the United States Congress Office of Technology Assessment (1989-90), a Policy Fellow at the Center Drugs and Public Policy at the University of Maryland Graduate School in Baltimore (1988-89), and a staff member of the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists, ASHP (1984-1987).

His education includes a B.S. in Pharmacy from St. John’s University College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions in New York (1984), and a Masters (1988) and Ph.D. (1989) in Health Policy from the University of Maryland Graduate School in Baltimore.  He completed an executive residency in association management at ASHP (1985).  He holds pharmacist licenses in New York and Maryland.

Ms. Khani has over fifteen years of experience leading coalitions, lobbying at the state and federal levels, developing and advancing policy positions, and building strategic grassroots campaigns.  Prior to joining NACDS, Ms. Khani served as a legislative manager in Ford Motor Company’s Washington, DC office, where she was responsible for health and labor issues, as well as the company’s political action committee (PAC).  During her tenure at Ford she was also a member of the Worldwide Public Policy Office in Dearborn, Michigan.

Before joining the Ford Motor Company, Ms. Khani was Associate Director, Government Relations at Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates where she managed several successful statewide campaigns on health and welfare issues.  She holds a B.A. from New York University and an M.P.A. from The George Washington University School of Business and Public Management.

Cathy Polley has over two and a half decades of pharmacy experience. She spearheads the Food Marketing Institute’s pharmacy program launched to strengthen industry advocacy on federal pharmacy policy and provide members with a clinical perspective in identifying and developing policy. Additionally, Cathy leads the association's health and wellness initiatives recognizing the unique assets of a grocery store - food, pharmacy, and knowledgeable nutrition experts - and the supermarket's important role in our customer's ability to lead healthy lives.

Prior to joining the Food Marketing Institute, Ms. Polley was Chief Policy Officer and Senior Vice President of Government and Professional Affairs at the American Pharmacists Association. Cathy has also served as Vice President of State Government Affairs for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) where she was responsible for leading the development and implementation of the association's state legislative, regulatory and political agenda.

Before joining NACDS, Cathy spent over 19 years with Kmart Corporation in numerous positions within the pharmacy division including community pharmacist, Pharmacy District Manager, Director of Pharmacy Operations, Director Pharmacy Health Services and Third Party and Director, Government and Trade Relations where she represented more than 1,500 Kmart Pharmacy locations on state and federal pharmacy and health care issues.

Cathy is a former member of the Michigan Board of Pharmacy. She earned her pharmacy degree from the University of Michigan.

Ben Sasse, Ph.D.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health And Human Services, 2007-2009; Public Policy Faculty Member, LBJ School Of Public Affairs, University of Texas

Ben Sasse served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2007 to 2009.  Nominated by President Bush and unanimously confirmed by the Democratic Senate to the fourth-ranking position in the government's largest-budget agency, Sasse led policy, planning, and research functions across the Department's eleven operating divisions, with a special focus on Medicare, Medicaid, and the Food and Drug Administration. 
                           
He teaches public policy at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.  His research looks at efforts to modernize payment systems in American health care, to eventually migrate from "paying for more" to "paying for better" in ways that will stimulate entrepreneurial innovation from doctors, hospitals, and adjacent industries.  Previously, he served as a Chief of Staff in the U.S. House of Representatives and as the Chief of Staff of the Office of Legal Policy, the internal think-tank of the U.S. Department of Justice. He was educated at Harvard, Oxford, and St. John's (Annapolis) before receiving his Ph.D. from Yale.