Commissioners
Javaid Anwar (NV): Dr. Anwar is the CEO of Quality Care Consultants, LLC.The company provides consultant services in health care strategy and policy development for employers and health care organizations. In addition, Anwar practices medicine with Internal Medicine Associates and is the Medical Director for Employers Occupational Health, the largest worker's compensation insurance company in Nevada. Anwar is a member of the Board of Directors of the Nevada Cancer Institute. He also serves as the President of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners. Anwar is a member of Senator Harry Reid's Select Committee for Candidate Interviews for Armed Services in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Dr. Anwar is on the board of directors for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. Dedicated to education and public service, President Truman often spoke about the importance of promoting young leaders, and envisioned a program for students that would encourage educated citizenship and political responsibility. Firmly rooted in President Truman's belief that education promotes the general welfare of our country, the Truman Scholarship remains committed to encouraging future "change-agents" of America. Many of those chosen as scholars go on to serve in public office, as public defenders, leaders of non-profit organizations, and educators.
(Pictured Left) Judy Brachman (OH): Judy Brachman served as director of the Ohio Department of Aging from 1991-1999. Brachman was president of the National Association of State Units on Aging and held an assistant secretary post at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. More recently, she served as co-chair of The Jewish Federations of North America's Aging and Family Caregiving Committee. She has been a senior vice president of the Columbus Jewish Federation. She is a long-time JFNA board member.
Judy's commitment to the community is also evident in many of her community activities. These include serving as president of the National Association of State Units on Aging, for all 50 states; producer and host of a weekly radio program on Ohio Public Radio covering issues facing older adults; adjunct professor at The Ohio State University Department of City and Regional Planning; member of the Ohio Women's Advisory Council of the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services; presidential member of the U.S. Architectural & Transportation Barriers Compliance Board; president of the Board of Trustees of Columbus School for Girls; and member of the State of Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management.
Laphonza Butler (CA): Ms. Butler is the President of SEIU ULTCW - the United Long Term Care Workers' Union, which represents 180,000 in-home caregivers and nursing home workers across California. Butler brings to her position years of experience working to improve the lives of members by successfully running strategic organizing campaigns, forming alliances with community and political allies, and partnering with other unions to build workers' strength.
Most recently, she served as SEIU's Property Services division director, responsible for the strategic direction of the more than 250,000 janitors, security officers, window cleaners, and food service workers across the country. Prior to that, Butler directed the national Stand for Security campaign that reached collective bargaining agreements for 20,000 security officers in nine major cities across the United States and well as organizing agreements with the London-based Wackenhut Corporation. As the organizing director of SEIU 1199 Maryland, she organized and bargained collective bargaining agreements to represent hospital and nursing home workers in facilities like Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Butler is a graduate of Jackson State University, in Jackson, MS.
Henry Claypool (CO/DC): Executive VP of American Association of People with Disabilities. Henry Claypool served in the dual roles of Principal Deputy Administrator of the Administration for Community Living, as well as a member of the HHS Secretary's senior staff as Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Disability Policy.
Prior to his appointment as Principal Deputy Administrator, Mr. Claypool served as Director of HHS' Office on Disability, a post he assumed in April 2009 at the beginning of the Obama Administration. In this role he oversaw the implementation of all HHS programs and initiatives pertaining to Americans with disabilities.
Mr. Claypool has 25 years of experience developing and implementing disability policy at the federal, state, and local levels, and he has personal experience with the nation's health care system from the perspective of an individual that has relied on Medicare, Medicaid Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income for support due to disability.
Prior to his appointment by President Obama, Mr. Claypool held several advisory positions in the federal government. From 1998-2001, he served as the senior advisor for disability policy to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. From 2005-2006, he served as a senior advisor in the Social Security Administration's Office of Disability and Income Support Programs. Mr. Claypool was also appointed by Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia to serve on the Commonwealth's Health Reform Commission in 2007.
Judy Feder (VA): Dr. Feder is a recognized health care expert who worked with the Pepper Commission. She is a professor of public policy and, from 1999 to 2008, served as dean of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute. A nationally-recognized leader in health policy, Judy has made her mark on the nation's health insurance system, through both scholarship and public service.
A widely published scholar, Judy's health policy research began at the Brookings Institution, continued at the Urban Institute, and, since 1984, flourished at Georgetown University. In the late 1980s, Judy moved from policy research to policy leadership, actively promoting effective health reform as staff director of the congressional Pepper Commission (chaired by Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV) in 1989-90; principal deputy assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the Department of Health and Human Services in former President Bill Clinton's first term; a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (2008-2011) and, today, as an Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute.
Judy is a political scientist, with a B.A. from Brandeis University, and a master's and Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Stephen Guillard (OH):CEO, Mr. Stephen L. Guillard serves as CEO and President of Belmont Nursing Center Corp. He has a total of 29 years of experience in the long-term care industry and is a licensed Nursing Home Administrator. Mr. Guillard served as the Executive Vice President of HCR ManorCare, Inc. (also known as Manor Care, Inc) since June 1, 2005 and its Chief Operating Officer since January 1, 2007. He has responsibility for all of Manor Care's nursing center and assisted living operations, for which annual revenues total $3 billion in skilled nursing, assisted living and rehabilitation businesses, and exceed $500 million in annualized revenues for the company's home health and hospice businesses.
Mr. Guillard served as Chief Executive Officer of Harborside Healthcare Corp. from March 21, 1996 to June 1, 2005. and as Chief Executive Officer (2001-2005) and as President of Harborside Healthcare Corp. from 1996 to 2001. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Diversified Health Services ("DHS"), a long-term care company which he co-founded in 1982. For a number of years, Mr. Guillard has been a leader and national advocate for the country's elderly, with a focus on promoting quality improvements at long-term care facilities. As part of his involvement, he served four years as chairman of The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, a coalition of 18 national provider organizations that care for 650,000 elderly and disabled patients annually and employ approximately 425,000 caregivers nationwide.
Chris Jacobs: Chris Jacobs is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Heritage Foundation. He brings with him a decade of health policy experience in a variety of roles on and off Capitol Hill. Prior to his association with Heritage, he worked as a Senior Policy Analyst with the Joint Economic Committee's Senate Republican staff. Before that, he worked as a Policy Advisor for the House Republican Conference under Chairman Mike Pence during the debate surrounding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and as a Health Policy Analyst for the Senate Republican Policy Committee during the first two years of the law's implementation. He got his start on Capitol Hill as an intern for then-Congressman Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Jacobs writes for The Morning Bell, Heritage Foundation's Daily newsletter.
Chris received his Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and History from The American University in Washington, DC, where he teaches part-time on health policy.
Neil Pruitt, Jr. (GA): Neil Pruitt, Jr. currently serves as Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of UHS-Pruitt Corporation where he is responsible for the overall operational and financial functions of the organization. UHS-Pruitt Corporation operates post-acute, skilled nursing, and assisted living centers in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. It offers skilled nursing, rehabilitative nursing, medical, dental, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, therapeutic recreation, consultant pharmacist, social, dietary, and respiratory therapy services. The company also provides home health care, end-of-life care, rehabilitation, veteran care, consultative pharmaceutical, intravenous therapy, specialized medication dispensing, customized consulting, hospice, and other health care related services. Mr. Pruitt is currently President of the American Health Care Association.
"I believe that we have an opportunity with this Commission to reach new pinnacles in caring for our nation's seniors, and that means also finding ways to keep Medicare and Medicaid funding financially secure. I look forward to working with my fellow commissioners in the development of a patient-focused plan for a comprehensive, coordinated, and high-quality system that ensures the availability of long-term services for current and future generations."
Carol Raphael (NY): MPA, M.Ed - currently Vice Chairman of the Board of AARP, since May 2012. She has a wealth of health care policy, economics and management experience. Ms. Raphael served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Visiting Nurse Service of New York From 1989 to April 2011, as the Director of Operations Management at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, and as the Deputy Commissioner of the Human Resources Administration in charge of the Medicaid and Public Assistance programs in New York City. She served as a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) from 1999 to 2005. She has served on numerous councils and committees: the New York State Hospital Review and Planning Council from 1992 to 2004, as Chairman of Fiscal Policy Committee of New York State Hospital Review and Planning Council and Chairs Better Jobs, Better Care Initiative at Robert Wood Johnson national advisory committees. She is the Chair of the Long-Term Quality Alliance, a Member of the National Quality Forum Coordinating Committee, where she Chairs its Post Acute/Long-Term Care Workgroup, and is a Strategic Advisor to the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA). She has an MPA from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and has completed its Senior Executive Program.
Lynnae Ruttledge currently serves as a Presidential appointee to the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency that advises the President, Congress and other federal agencies on disability policy. In addition, she serves as a disability policy advisor to an Irish-led international research institute, DOCTRID (Daughters of Charity, Technology Research into Disability). Ms Ruttledge provided national leadership to the public vocational rehabilitation program as Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration with the US Department of Education from 2010 - 2012. Throughout her extensive public service career, Ms Ruttledge held policy development and executive level leadership positions at the local, state and national levels. Committed to international disability rights advocacy, she has been affiliated with Mobility International USA since 1988. In 2000, Ms Ruttledge was honored with the Governor's Award as Disabled Oregonian of the Year. In 2007, she received the Washington Governor's Award for Leadership in Management. Ms Ruttledge received a Bachelor of Science degree from Northern Michigan University.
Judy Stein (CT): Ms. Stein is the founder and Executive Director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc. Focused on legal representation of the elderly since beginning her legal career in 1975, Stein was the Co-Director of Legal Assistance to Medicare Patients (LAMP) where she managed the first Medicare advocacy program in the country. She has extensive experience in developing and administering Medicare advocacy projects, representing Medicare beneficiaries, producing educational materials, teaching and consulting. She has been lead or co-counsel in numerous federal class action and individual cases challenging improper Medicare policies and denials. She is also the editor and co-author of several books, articles, and other publications regarding Medicare and related issues.
Ms. Stein is a recipient of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA, now CMS) Beneficiary Services Certificate of Merit. She represented Senator Christopher Dodd as a delegate to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging and received the Connecticut Commission on Aging "Age-wise Advocate Award" in 2007.
Grace Marie Turner (VA): Grace-Marie Turner is president of the Galen Institute, a public policy research organization that she founded in 1995 to promote an informed debate over free-market ideas for health reform. Her career has focused on developing and promoting ideas for reform that transfer power over health care decisions to doctors and patients. She speaks and writes extensively about incentives to promote a more competitive, patient-centered marketplace in the health sector.
Ms. Turner served for a three-year term as a member of the National Advisory Council of Healthcare Research and Quality and served as a member of the Medicaid Commission, charged with making recommendations to modernize and improve Medicaid. She is the editor of Empowering Health Care Consumers through Tax Reform and produces a widely-read weekly electronic newsletter, Health Policy Matters. In the mid-1990s, Grace-Marie served as executive director of the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform. For 12 years, she was president of Arnett & Co., a health policy analysis and communications firm. Her early career was in politics and journalism.
George Vradenburg (DC) - Mr. Vradenburg is the Chairman and Co-Founder of USAgainstAlzheimer's, an education and advocacy campaign committed to mobilizing America to stop Alzheimer's.
Through his USA2 work, George has brought together powerful voices to escalate the fight against Alzheimer's - as co-convener of Leaders Engaged on Alzheimer's Disease (LEAD) (a network of major Alzheimer's-serving organizations from the not-for-profit, foundation, academic, corporate and government sectors) and as convener of the Global CEO Initiative Against Alzheimer's (a public-private initiative to link public, private and NGO efforts to implement the National Alzheimer's Goal to stop Alzheimer's by 2025). He has been named by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to serve on the National Alzheimer's Advisory Council to advise on the first-of-its-kind National Alzheimer's Strategic Plan. And, among other efforts, George has testified before Congress about the global Alzheimer's pandemic; has conceived and supported the Alzheimer's Study Group; and, through the Vradenburg Foundation, has supported the Alzheimer's Disease International World Alzheimer's Reports and the NIH's Global Alzheimer's Research Summit.
George and his wife Trish launched and co-chaired for 8 years the National Alzheimer's Gala, raising over $10 million for the Alzheimer's Association. Before his retirement, George served in senior executive positions at AOL/Time Warner, Fox and CBS.
George is active in Washington's civic and philanthropic community, as Chairman of the Board of The Phillips Collection (America's first museum of modern art) and trustee of the University of the District of Columbia. George is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of Washington.
In recognition of his community service, George received the Outstanding Community Leadership Award, the Golden Links Award from the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Bridge Builders Award from the Partners for Livable Communities.
George received his B.A. from Oberlin College, magna cum laude, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, cum laude.
