Healthcare's premier CX transformation event

Karen Hanlon is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Highmark Health, a $26 billion national, blended health organization that includes one of America’s largest Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers and a growing regional hospital and physician network. Based in Pittsburgh, Pa., Highmark Health’s 42,000 employees serve millions of customers nationwide through the nonprofit organization’s affiliated businesses including Highmark Inc., Allegheny Health Network, HM Insurance Group, United Concordia Dental, enGen, and Helion.

Ms. Hanlon is a key leader, strategist and visionary for Highmark Health, helping to guide the organization’s mission to create remarkable health experiences that free people to be their best. She is responsible for overseeing the strategy and long-term operations of Highmark Health and Highmark Inc., as the organization focuses on bringing transformational care to its customers and disrupting traditional health care models, products and services. Ms. Hanlon also oversees the operations of Allegheny Health Network, Highmark Wholecare, the Highmark Health-Penn State Health partnership and enGen.

Ms. Hanlon began her career in public accounting at KPMG Peat Marwick prior to joining Highmark Inc. in 1997, where she held several positions within the finance division before becoming the chief financial officer and treasurer of Highmark Health in 2014, and the chief operating officer of Highmark Health in 2018.

In recognition of her achievements, Hanlon was named to the 2023 Power 100 list of the region’s most influential business leaders and as a 2018 CFO of the Year by The Pittsburgh Business Times. She was also recognized as a 2019 recipient of The Grove City College Alumni Association Jack Kennedy Memorial Alumni Achievement Award, which honors alumni who have made significant contributions in their field.

Ms. Hanlon is a strong advocate of supplier diversity and women in the workforce, serving as an executive sponsor for these important initiatives at Highmark Health. She believes in implementing best practices, innovation and community partnerships that encourage businesses to provide consistent opportunities for minority-owned and operated businesses in the supply chain.

John W. Boerstler was sworn-in on February 16, 2021, as the Chief Veterans Experience Officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Prior to his current position, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Combined Arms, a collaborative backbone organization whose purpose was to unite collaborative methodology and technology in order to more effectively connect Veterans to thousands of government and non-profit services. As Chief Veterans Experience Officer, John will provide executive oversight of the many innovative projects and programs housed within the Veterans Experience Office (VEO) and work collaboratively within VA’s leadership to help achieve greater access and outcomes for Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors.

John has a distinguished career as a leader in the Veteran services field as a recipient of both the Eisenhower and Marshall Memorial Fellowships, having travelled to the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Israel, Bosnia, Hungary and Ukraine to write comparative papers on their military transition systems. As the first Marshall Prize recipient, John recently completed a 3-year project in Ukraine to assist in the development of their Ministry of Veterans Affairs – the first of its kind in Europe. John was also honored to be selected in the inaugural cohort of Stand-To Scholars at the George W. Bush Institute’s Veteran Leadership Program in 2018.

John is a native Texan who served honorably in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1999-2007 as a non-commissioned officer and infantry unit leader, including one combat tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2004-2005 and Operation Natural Fire in the Republic of Kenya in 2006. John has also served as the Executive Director of NextOp, a program manager with Wounded Warrior Project, the Mayor of Houston’s Office of Veterans Affairs, and as a policy and district staffer for a U.S. Representative. In 2009, John helped found the Lone Star Veterans Association which became the largest network of Post-9/11 Veterans in Texas and successfully merged with Combined Arms in March 2019.

Sukanya Lahiri Soderland is Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategy, Innovation, Enterprise Data & Analytics and Business Performance and Process Improvement for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

Prior to joining Blue Cross, she served as a senior Partner in their Health and Life Sciences Practice, co-founded the Oliver Wyman Health Innovation Center, and was the lead health care Partner in Oliver Wyman’s Digital, Technology, Operations & Analytics Practice.

She is a frequent speaker in national forums on healthcare transformation and serves on the boards of the Trustees of Reservations, Podimetrics, and the board of museum advisors for the Museum of Science.

Sukanya holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor of arts degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard College.

Mike Butler has over 30 years of experience across a range of senior executive roles in the healthcare industry. He was formerly President of Providence, where he helped to create the third-largest health system in the U.S., increasing revenue from $2 billion when he joined in 1998 to $25 billion today. Mike also served as Providence’s CFO and COO, with accountability for ambulatory and hospital operations, finance, strategy, technology, digital innovation, clinical institutes, population health and people development.