Richard F. Rivers, Executive Vice President
Richard F. Rivers joined Great-West Healthcare in August 2002 and is the senior executive for Great-West Healthcare, which operates a national health care network that includes more than 4,200 hospitals and 540,000 providers and provides health care coverage to approximately 2.0 million people nationally. In this position, Rivers is responsible for all of the division’s strategic initiatives, including those related to sales and marketing, network development, medical management, finance and operations.
Rivers brings more than 25 years of experience to Great-West Healthcare. He has held a variety of high profile, senior executive positions with Prudential Health Care, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia and PacifiCare Health Systems.
Rivers holds a bachelor’s degree from Penn State University.
Neil Waldron, Great-West Healthcare Senior Vice President Group Health
Neil Waldron joined Great-West Healthcare in 2007 as senior vice president of group health. Waldron is responsible for the group health business unit that includes select, mid-market and national account sales and underwriting.
With more than 30 years of group insurance and managed care experience, he most recently served as head of sales and marketing for Aetna’s small and middle markets in Hartford, Conn. Waldron was responsible for sales, marketing, training and compensation for the small and mid-market segments. Additionally, he was accountable for the sales and marketing and general management for Aetna’s Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, North Central, Southeast, Southwest and West regions.
Prior, he was president and chief executive officer with Sloans Lake Managed Care, Denver, responsible for the operations, strategy, profits and losses of the company. Waldron also has held a broad range of sales and management positions with Mass Mutual Life and Health and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Waldron holds a bachelor’s degree in history, magna cum laude, from Eisenhower College.
Donna Goldin, Senior Vice President, Healthcare Operations
Donna Goldin has more than 25 years of experience in health care management and has held a number of key positions within Great-West Healthcare since 1996. She is currently responsible for managing healthcare operations, including Plan Services, Member Services, Claims Administration and operations for life, Flexible Spending Account and Health Reimbursement Account product lines.
Prior to joining Great-West Healthcare, Goldin was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Harris Methodist Health Plan in Dallas, Texas. She was also involved from start-up in 1986 with Private Healthcare Systems in Boston, serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
Goldin is a graduate of the University of Bridgeport, where she earned her Master of Science in Mathematics. She earned a Bachelor of Arts (summa cum laude) in Mathematics/Physics from the College of Mt. St. Vincent in New York.
Chris Knackstedt, Senior Vice President of Healthcare Management
Chris Knackstedt is Great-West Healthcare’s senior vice president of health care management. With 14 years of health care experience, Knackstedt is responsible for network management, network development, provider relations, and local medical management and medical outreach activities. He has been with the company since 2004 and also served as the president of the West region.
Prior to Great-West Healthcare, Knackstedt was the chief financial officer of Centura Health/St. Anthony Health System, a nonprofit, faith-based health care system and a chief financial officer of Sierra Providence Health Network, a system of three hospital and several outpatient centers based in El Paso, Texas. He also has experience as an auditor with KPMG Peat Marwick, an audit, tax and advisory firm.
Knackstedt earned a master’s degree from the University of Texas at El Paso and a bachelor’s degree from New Mexico State University. He also is a certified public accountant.
Marc Neely, Vice President of Sales, Select and Mid-Markets
Marc Neely is Great-West Healthcare’s vice president of sales, responsible for the strategic leadership of the organization’s select and mid-market accounts.
Most recently, Neely was Great-West Healthcare’s regional manager of sales for the Denver region. For two years, he managed the Denver sales team and posted a solid track record in new sales and membership growth.
Neely brings a wealth of health care sales experience to Great-West Healthcare. Prior, he was the director of employee benefits for Financial Designs, Ltd., where he was responsible for generating new business in the select employee market. Neely also worked as a regional sales manager for ChannelPoint, Inc., where he directed the strategic sales and business development of business-to-business eCommerce software to large insurance carriers and distributors. With Foundation Health Systems, Inc., Neely was a regional sales director responsible for strategic planning, revenue and membership growth and bringing structural synergy to the company’s Colorado and New Mexico sales operations.
Neely holds a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Dr. Terry Fouts, Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Terry Fouts joined Great-West Healthcare in May 2003 as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). In this role, Dr. Fouts has national responsibility for all Medical OutreachSM programs, including care management, quality management, pharmacy, disease management and technical assessment.
Prior to joining Great-West Healthcare, Dr. Fouts held several senior-level positions in managed care organizations over the past 20 years. Most recently he was at Aetna in Hartford, Connecticut, where he was national medical director for patient management. He also has served as global medical director for CIGNA International in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with responsibilities in Latin America, Asia and Europe.
Dr. Fouts’ managed care career began at Health Net, where he held multiple national medical leadership positions, including CMO. His move to Great-West Healthcare represents a return to Colorado – where he began his medical career as a practicing internist.
Kent Boyer, Vice President, Specialty Markets
In his role as Vice President of Great-West Healthcare's Specialty Risk business segment, Boyer is responsible for developing business partnerships and programs with third-party administrators and insurance carriers. He also develops targeted markets, including Taft-Hartley union business and the association and affinity business that includes Great-West Life’s long-standing relationship with the American Dental Association.
Boyer brings more than 20 years of experience in health care, including business development, joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions. He has held senior executive positions at MetLife, General American Group Life and HealthCare Interchange, and has served as a consultant to health care provider systems, health care insurers, biotechnology and home health care markets.
Boyer received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Missouri.