Allison Sesso became the President / CEO of Undue Medical Debt in January of 2020. Undue Medical Debt was established for the sole purpose of reducing the medical debt burdens of low-income individuals with limited capacity to pay their medical bills by leveraging donations from people across the country. They have abolished $11,857,900,368 to date for over 7.45 million.

Under Allison’s leadership and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Undue Medical Debt launched the “Helping COVID Heroes Fund” focused on relieving the medical debts of healthcare workers and emergency responders like nurses, home health aids, pharmacists, social workers, hospital technicians, the National Guard and others working on the front lines of the pandemic. It also benefits service workers and others facing financial hardship resulting from the COVID induced economic downturn. Through this effort Undue has abolished over $100 million in medical debt.

Prior to joining Undue Medical Debt, Allison served as the Executive Director of the Human Services Council of New York (HSC), an association of 170 nonprofits delivering 90% of human services in New York City.

Under her leadership HSC pioneered the development of nationally recognized tools designed to illuminate risks associated with government contracts, including an RFP rater and government agency grading system. She led negotiations with New York City and State government on behalf of the sector and successfully pushed for over $500 million in investments to address the nonprofit fiscal crisis.

During her tenure at HSC, Allison also led a commission of experts focused on socialdeterminants of health and value-based-payment structures and published the report,Integrating Health and Human Services: a Blueprint for Partnership and Action, that examines the challenges of operationalizing relationships between health and human services providers, offering several recommendations. She also served on the New York State Department of Health’s Social Determinants and Community Based Organizations (CBO) Subcommittee helping to formulate recommendations around the integration of CBOs into Medicaid managed care.

Allison’s work on behalf of the human services sector led City & State to recognize her as a top nonprofit leader in 2018 and 2019, one of the 25 most influential leaders in Manhattan in 2017, and one of New York City’s 100 “Most Responsible” in 2016. She recently received the 100 “Most Responsible” award for the second time for her efforts at Undue Medical Debt.

Allison also serves as the Vice Chair of the nonprofit “Right to Be,” formerly Hollaback!, a global movement working to end harassment through bystander intervention training and storytelling.

Ravneeta Consul is the Chief Operating Officer at Undue Medical Debt. She works closely with the senior leadership to provide the management and vision necessary to ensure that the company has the proper operational controls, administrative and reporting procedures, and people systems in place to effectively grow the organization and to ensure financial strength and operating efficiency.

Prior to joining Undue Medical Debt, Ravneeta was Director at PwC for over sixteen years. She started work there as a consultant primarily focused on M&A consulting. She went on to hold different roles within the organization such as the lead Director for the Global Financial Services Innovation Center. Her last role was as the Operations Director for Products and Technology team. This group focused on developing products and technology to support the services that the firm delivered to the clients.

She has a BA in Psychology from Utkal University, BA in Psychology and Philosophy from Oxford University (attended as a Rhodes Scholar) and MBA from Yale University.

She is an avid reader, enjoys traveling and cooking comfort foods.

Blanca Godoi is a dynamic Executive Assistant and Administrative Manager renowned for her passion for event planning and coordination and exceptional organizational and administrative skills. With over 15 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, she brings a unique blend of creativity, strategic thinking, and leadership to her role.

Throughout her career, Blanca has earned recognition for her adeptness in developing and implementing strategies to streamline operations, reduce costs, and optimize resources—all while maintaining the highest standards of service for donors and beneficiaries. Her commitment to organizational efficiency and productivity has consistently bolstered the success of programs and initiatives.

With an unwavering commitment to excellence, Blanca embodies resilience, determination, and adaptability in navigating new challenges. She looks forward to continuing her learning journey and contributing to the welfare and well-being of society as a whole.

William von Mueffling is president of Cantillon Capital Management, an investment firm with more than $14 billion under management. Mr. von Mueffling was previously a managing director at Lazard Asset Management, where he was responsible for hedge funds. Prior to joining Lazard, he was with Deutsche Bank in Germany and France. He earned a BA from Columbia College and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Mr. von Mueffling is a member of Columbia Business School’s Board of Overseers, as well as chair of the advisory board for the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing. He also sits on Columbia College’s Board of Visitors and founded whosontheballot.org, a non-partisan civic engagement program of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Mr. von Mueffling has served on numerous non-profit boards and chaired the Buckley School Board of Trustees until 2016. Currently, he chairs the investment committee for the American Academy of Berlin and serves on the advisory committee for Europe and Central Asia for Human Rights Watch.

Jerry Ashton is a four-plus decade veteran of the credit and collections industry beginning in 1978 – the same year that the FDCPA (Federal Debt Collections Practices Act) came into existence. In these 40 years in various companies, he and the staff he trained and directed collected literally billions of dollars for their clients. Along the way, a number of those clients included healthcare professionals and practices.

This latter experience proved fruitful when in 2011, Ashton participated in the Occupy Wall Street Movement in New York City’s Zuccotti Park. What caught his attention was a group of activists raising awareness about the plight of unpayable medical debt. He was familiar with that problem from the collector’s side, but not from the debtor’s.

Inspired by their efforts, he enlisted his friend and fellow industry executive, Craig Antico, to join him in providing technical and advisory support for their work. When that  group changed direction and became occupied with other economic causes, the two partnered in creating a 501(c)(3) charity which they named “Undue Medical Debt” in early 2014. On July 25 that year their charity was recognized by the IRS and their work began.

Undue achieved national attention when it was employed by the comedian John Oliver on his “Last Week Tonight Show”  to help him abolish $15 million in medical debt. The charity became an Internet sensation and their work was propelled by the donations that poured in.

Fast forward to October, 2020. Ashton, having reached the original goal he and Craig Antico set to forgive $1 billion in medical debt, announced his retirement and plans to remain on Undue ’s Board. The debt forgiveness tally at that point was $2.7 billion in forgiven medical bills for over 1.8 million individuals and families.

Dr. Oxiris Barbot is a physician, public health practitioner and innovative leader at the intersection of public health and healthcare delivery.  Her commitment to social justice is the common thread through her career in advocating for health equity, children’s well-being, and community health.  She is currently Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Senior Fellow for Public Health and Social Justice at The JPB Foundation.

As Health Commissioner for New York City, Dr. Barbot was instrumental in directing the city’s response to the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic by taking science informed actions that flattened the transmission curve and addressed racial inequities.  Dr. Barbot made a priority of communicating with New Yorkers with candor and empathy, providing trustworthy information and a steady hand to lead the city through and out of its darkest days.   While Commissioner she was named to Crain’s New York Business Notable Women in Health Care and City and State New York Health Power 100 and Non-Profit Power 100.

Dr. Barbot was Commissioner of Health for Baltimore City, from 2010 to 2014.  She started her medical career providing general pediatric care to poor and uninsured families in Washington DC.  Her career has been shaped and inspired by the dignity and courage of the many patients she’s cared for and communities she has served.

Barbot received her B.A. from Yale University and M.D. from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

With more than 40 years of experience in the health care industry, Robert E. Goff is a recognized expert in care delivery, organization and financing. His career spans a wide range of leadership positions as a hospital administrator, managed care executive, consultant, regulator, and association executive. He’s held an academic posting as an adjunct professor in Managed Care and Healthcare Strategic Planning at the New School University, NY. He’s a frequent lecturer to physicians and community organizations. As an entrepreneur, Goff has been responsible for the development of numerous health care businesses, including one of the first for-profit HMOs in New York State, one of the earliest physician practice management companies, a chain of urgent care centers, the first network model Medicare and Medicaid managed care plans in a secondary market, plus provider-based health care business initiatives. Goff recently retired from service as Executive Director and CEO of University Physicians Network, LLC (UPN) in New York City.

As one of the founding partners of Major, Lindsey & Africa, Jon Lindsey built the firm into what is today the world’s leading and largest legal search and consulting firm, with offices in 29 cities around the globe and more than 200 consultants. He has repeatedly been included in Lawdragon’s “100 Leading Legal Consultants and Strategists“. Jon earned his law degree from Columbia Law School, where he was managing editor of the Columbia Law Review, and his B.A. with honors in government from Wesleyan University. After clerking for the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, he practiced with Debevoise & Plimpton, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, and as Counsel to New York City’s Planning Commission. Jon is currently on the board of the George Jackson Academy and previously served as a trustee of the Spence School. He is the co-author of the book Managing People in Today’s Law Firm (1995), has written and lectured widely, and has served on the board of editors for American Lawyer’s Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report.

Elizabeth Marincola is Senior Advisor for Science Communications and Advocacy at the African Academy of Sciences, which drives scientific research across Africa. Marincola is an international leader in non-profit management, open access publishing, science advocacy, communications, education and public engagement. She was CEO of the open access publisher PLOS, after serving as a long time PLOS board member. She launched AAS Open Research, an innovative scholarly publication. Marincola was President of the Society for Science & the Public, Publisher of Science News magazine, and Executive Director of the American Society for Cell Biology and the Coalition for Life Sciences. She served on the founding boards of PubMed Central and eLife, and on numerous US and EU advisory commissions on open science. She is currently on the board of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Humanitarian Health. She received her bachelors and MBA degrees from Stanford.

Michele Masucci serves as general and special counsel to private equity firms and other investors looking to make investments in health care. Michele helps companies address evolving concepts and capitalize on opportunities emerging from the accelerating convergence of health care and technology. She served as chair of the firm’s Health Care Group from 2010 to 2016.

Michele focuses her practice almost exclusively on representing for-profit health care entities in private equity and other corporate transactions. She currently represents health care focused middle-market private equity firms through their initial acquisitions and various add-ons of portfolio companies. As a former in-house counsel at a hospital, her uniquely holistic perspective helps her guide health care clients juggling day-to-day operational issues and new business ventures. With the Accountable Care movement in full effect, Michele advises clients from the initial analysis of their existing models through the formation and implementation of new operational models, such as value-based contracting, ACOs, bundled payments and medical homes.

Jose embodies the foresight that keeps HCG at the vanguard of Digital Finance Investing. His demonstrated ability to see how trends will evolve into investment opportunities and his rigorous, highly disciplined approach to portfolio management are key drivers behind HCG’s programs.

For the past 17 years, Jose has been an investor in both private and public markets, working in investment roles at JPMorgan Partners and SAB Capital Management. Jose has spent the majority of his career focused on financials and debt strategies. His first major career assignment took place at Morgan Stanley in 2002: working on the debt restructuring of the largest Argentine corporate default.

He has a B.A. in International Finance and Marketing and a B.A. in Computer Information Systems from the University of Miami.

Ram Raju, MD, combines his executive leadership experience in health care with a deep commitment to achieving social equity to improve the health of communities in need.

As the former senior vice president and community health investment officer, he evaluated the needs of Northwell Health’s most vulnerable communities, and provided solutions for them by collaborating with community-based organizations. He’s responsible for promoting, sustaining and advancing an environment that supports equity and diversity, and helping the health system eliminate health disparities.

Prior to Northwell, Dr. Raju served as president and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals from January 2014-November 2016. NYC Health + Hospitals has 42,000 employees, 11 acute-care hospitals, five nursing homes, six diagnostic and treatment centers, more than 70 community-based health centers, a large home care agency and one of the region’s largest providers of government-sponsored health insurance, MetroPlus Health Plan.

Dr. Raju also served as CEO for the Cook County Health and Hospitals System in Chicago, the nation’s third-largest public health system, where he improved cash flow by more than $100 million and changed the system’s financial health during his tenure from 2011-2014.

His medical career began at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn and he later served as chief operating officer and medical director at NYC Health + Hospitals’ Coney Island Hospital. In 2006, Dr. Raju became the HHC chief medical officer, corporate chief operating officer and executive vice president. Under his leadership, HHC continued to improve quality, patient safety and health care data transparency.

Dr. Raju served as vice-chair of the Greater New York Hospital Association and currently sits on the boards of numerous city, state and national health care organizations, including the American Hospital Association, the New York Academy of Medicine and the Asian Health Care Leaders Association. Among his numerous awards and accolades, Dr. Raju was selected to Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most-Influential People in Healthcare.” Modern Healthcare also named him one of the “Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare” and one of the “50 Most-Influential Physician Executives in Healthcare.” In 2013, he was named a Business Leader of Color by Chicago United.

Dr. Raju earned a medical diploma and Master of Surgery from Madras Medical College in India. He underwent further training in England, where he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He later received an MBA from the University of Tennessee and CPE from the American College of Physician Executives.

Dr. Raju currently teaches at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College.

Ted Sann was Vice Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of BBDO North America from 1993-2004. In this role, Ted oversaw the creative work of all of BBDO’s U.S. and Canadian agencies. Sann was also the Chairman and Chief Creative Officer for BBDO New York.

Jeff is a co-founder of HealthCare.com and founder of Pivot Health (acquired by HealthCare.com in Feb. 2018). Following the acquisition, Jeff is President, Insurance Services for HealthCare.com and continues the leadership of the Pivot Health business.

He is a results-oriented leader who has built and grown companies from back-of-envelope ideas to multi-million dollar, profitable and scalable entities with a focus on health insurance and other consumer-centric business models. He is a serial entrepreneur who has started several businesses – four of which have been acquired by publicly traded companies.

Creative thinker who has been a presenter at dozens of national trade conventions. Active marathon runner and member of Seven Continents Club — one of only 200 or so individuals to run a marathon on all seven continents. Cancer survivor, charity activist and motivational speaker.

Previously, Jeff helped create and grow the fully-insured segment at The IHC Group (NYSE:IHC) from $0 to nearly $300 million in revenue in seven years. He led AMIC (NASDAQ:AMIC) to significant direct-to-consumer growth and national recognition.

For the past 25 years, Jonathan has helped launch half a dozen startups in the Seattle area, with companies like Jott, an early mobile speech recognition company that was acquired by Nuance. At Nuance, Jonathan led the research team responsible for building the language models for Apple’s first launch of Siri. Jonathan has also led engineering efforts in the areas of telephony, mobile communications, and call center technology. Most recently he was the vice president of engineering and architecture at Avalara where he led several product engineering teams including the core tax platform and tax content services for 3 years before and 4 years post Avalara’s successful IPO. https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiggs/