Nolan Ahern | Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the House Majority Whip

Panelist: Inside Capitol Hill: A Candid Conversation with Key Congressional Staff

Mike Allen | Co-founder and Executive Editor of Axios, Former POLITICO Chief White House Correspondent

Keynote Dinner Speaker

Mike Allen is one of Washington’s most influential and well-connected journalists. He is the co-founder and executive editor of Axios, a disruptive media company delivering news and insights on politics, business, media, and tech. The company, whose name means “worthy” in Greek, specializes in high-quality news and analysis easily shared among the country’s influential readers and across social platforms. Axios has been recognized for its forward-thinking approach to the way people consume news in the 21st century. The approach is chronicled in Allen’s book Smart Brevity: Saying More with Less, which he co-authored alongside Axios co-founder, Jim VandeHei. In the book, Allen and VandeHei share transformative communications methods for punching through the noise to get people to pay attention to what matters most. Their Smart Brevity approach was pivotal to Axios becoming a powerhouse media property in just five years, leading to a $525 million acquisition by Cox Enterprises. Allen was also the co-creator and executive producer of Axios on HBO, a documentary news series that ran for four seasons, profiling the world’s top leaders and covering the most consequential topics of the day. The series fused the Smart Brevity of Axios’ digital reporting with cinematic, documentary storytelling.

In addition to starting Axios, Allen was a co-founder at POLITICO, the digital media company that upended and revolutionized political and policy journalism in Washington, New York, and Europe. He not only reported on but also drove the day’s conversations in and around the Beltway. His sharp journalistic experience and coveted insider status make him an ideal choice to discuss the latest political happenings. In presentations, he offers his nonpartisan, energetic and up-to-the-minute insider perspective on the political issues of the day, the current administration, Congress, and building a business in an unsteady economy. Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, he has been praised for his dedication, passion, and unmatched ability to give a political story dimension and context.

Building a Political Powerhouse. In 2006, Allen joined POLITICO and sought to carve out a niche in the marketplace by focusing on giving readers one solid take-away from select stories. He served as the chief White House correspondent and was the founding father of the successful daily email tip-sheet Playbook. It quickly became the early morning must-read source for movers and shakers in politics and media. The New York Times called Allen “The Man the White House Wakes Up To,” and Vanity Fair said, “Reading Playbook is as close as you can come on a Washington morning to knowing everything.”

Award-Winning Political Coverage. TIME named Allen one of its top 140 Twitter feeds, calling him “the Virgil of the beltway, leading the rest of us hapless Dantes through the inferno of America’s political universe.” In 2017, Vanity Fair named Allen to its “New Establishment List,” an annual compilation of industry titans. The magazine previously named him to its 2011 (#39) and 2012 (#19) “Top 50 New Establishment and Powers That Be” lists, and Allen also won the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Merriman Smith Memorial Award for “Outstanding presidential coverage on deadline” in 2004. 

Allen is also the creator of the daily newsletter, Morning Money, which gives readers insight into the intersection of Washington and Wall Street. He is the co-author of two e-books focusing on the 2012 presidential campaign — POLITICO Playbook 2012: The Right Fights Back and Inside the Circus: Romney, Santorum and the GOP Race. 

Ambassador Andrew Bremberg | President Emeritus of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation

Fireside Chat Speaker: Healthcare Regulatory Environment in the New Administration

Ambassador Andrew Bremberg is President Emeritus of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Previously Ambassador Bremberg served as the Representative of the United States to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva.

Ambassador Bremberg has a long history of public service. Prior to his work at the UN, he served as Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council for the Executive Office of the President.  He previously served as Policy Advisor and Counsel on Nominations for the Office of Senate Majority Leader.  He also worked for the non-profit MITRE Corporation as a senior health policy-analyst and department manager, and for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Ambassador Bremberg earned a B.A. from Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio and a J.D. from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.  He and his wife Maria have four children and live in Virginia.

Larry Bucshon, M.D |Senior Policy Advisor, Holland & Knight

Moderator: Inside Capitol Hill: A Candid Panel with Key Congressional Staffers

Larry Bucshon, M.D., is a senior policy advisor and lobbyist in Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C., office and a member of the firm's Public Policy & Regulation Group. Dr. Bucshon focuses his practice on matters related to healthcare and energy.

Since his election to Congress in 2010, Dr. Bucshon has advocated for patient-centered healthcare reforms that support innovation and give patients access to high-quality, affordable and timely care while also ensuring that patients and their doctors have the freedom to make their own healthcare decisions. Most recently, Dr. Bucshon served as a senior member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and vice chair of the Subcommittee on Health, vice chair of the House GOP Doctors Caucus and as a co-chair of the Congressional Kidney Caucus. In the 117th Congress, Dr. Bucshon was selected to the Healthy Future Task Force and led the Subcommittee on Doctor/Patient Relationships.

In addition, Dr. Bucshon is a champion of an all-of-the-above energy approach and served on the Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Energy, Climate and Grid Security, along with the Subcommittee on Innovation, Data and Commerce. His district, which encompassed all or part of 21 counties in southern and west central Indiana, is rich in energy resources, and he focused on advancing energy policies that use all sources of energy to make the nation energy-independent.

Dr. Bucshon has also served on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Committee on Science, Space and Technology, where he served as chair of the Subcommittee on Research and Technology.

Prior to his political experience, Dr. Bucshon was a practicing physician and surgeon, specializing in cardiothoracic surgery. He also served as chief of cardiothoracic surgery and medical director of the open heart recovery intensive care unit at St. Mary's (now St. Vincent) hospital in Evansville, Indiana.

During his surgical residency, Dr. Bucshon enlisted with the U.S. Navy Reserve and served for almost a decade before being honorably discharged.

Sheila Burke, MPA, BSN, FAAN | Former Secretary of the Senate and Strategic Advisor and Chair, Government Relations and Public Policy Group, Baker Donelson

Panelist: The Political Landscape in Washington: Policy and Priorities Under the Current Administration

Sheila Burke, MPA, BSN, FAAN, serves as a Senior Public Policy Advisor and Chair of the Government Relations Policy Group at Baker Donelson in Washington D.C. As chair, she brings a deep knowledge of federal policy and programs drawn from her distinguished career in the private and public sectors to provide clients with the perspective they need for effective strategic and public policy decision-making. 

In addition to her role at the Firm, Ms. Burke served as a faculty member at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where she taught a number of health policy courses from 1996 to 2024. From 1996 to 2000, she was executive dean. Ms. Burke also serves as a senior advisor to the Bipartisan Policy Center. 

Ms. Burke served for 19 years on Capitol Hill. Early in her career, she was a member of the staff of the Senate Finance Committee responsible for legislation relating to Medicare, Medicaid and other health programs. She ultimately became Deputy Staff Director of the Finance Committee. She went on to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and later as his Chief of Staff. 

In addition to her government and academic experience, Ms. Burke served as the deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum and research complex. As the chief operating officer, she had responsibility for the overall operations of the 19 individual museums and galleries, the National Zoo and nine research facilities located in Washington, D.C., five states and 150 foreign countries with revenues of approximately $1 billion and an endowment of $1 billion. 

She is a member of the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine, and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and the American Academy of Nursing. She serves on several boards including the Commonwealth Fund, Abt Associates, Ascension Health and Chubb Limited. She served as a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (2000-2007) and on the Kaiser Family Foundation board (1999-2008), where she served as Chair. 

Ms. Burke is a recipient of the National Academy of Medicine’s David Rall Award, the Smithsonian Institution Secretary’s Gold Medal for Exceptional Service Award, and in 2023, the Daisy Foundation’s HealthImpact DAISY Nurse Leader Award. She was also recognized in 2024 in Washingtonian Magazine as one of “The 500 Most Influential People Shaping Policy.” 

Dr. Carrie Cochran-McClain | Chief Policy Officer, National Rural Health Association 

Breakout Session Speaker: Shaping Health Policy: A Candid Conversation with Key Stakeholders

Dr. Carrie Cochran-McClain serves as the Chief Policy Officer at the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). Carrie joined NRHA staff in 2020 where she is the head lobbyist for the association and is responsible driving the policy agenda for rural health for the 21,000 member organization. She has more than 20 years of experience working in federal health policy development, including serving in the Senior Executive Service at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Deputy Director at the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, and as a Principle at Health Management Associates. Carrie earned a BA in sociology from Willamette University and an MPA with a concentration in health policy and management from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. She completed a doctor of public health at the UNC Gillings School with a focus on access to obstetrical care in rural areas. 

Liz Fowler | Former Director and Deputy Administrator, CMS Innovation Center

Panelist: The Political Landscape in Washington: Policy and Priorities Under the Current Administration

Liz Fowler is a nationally recognized expert in federal health policy and a visionary leader with a proven record of success in both public and private sector executive roles. Most recently, Liz was Deputy Administrator and Director of the Innovation Center at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In that role, she was responsible for advancing innovative payment and care delivery models in Medicare and Medicaid to promote value-based care on a national scale. Under her leadership, the CMS Innovation Center launched a new strategy focused on accountable care and designed, announced, and administered 37 payment and care delivery reform models impacting nearly 200,000 hospitals, physicians and 57 million patients between 2022 to 2024. These value-based payment models have provided an important testing ground and scaling opportunity for innovative start-ups and health care disrupters. 

Prior to leading the Innovation Center, she was Executive Vice President of programs at The Commonwealth Fund and Vice President for Global Health Policy at Johnson & Johnson. In 2011-2012, she served as special assistant to President Obama on health care and economic policy at the National Economic Council to implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As Chief Health Counsel at the Senate Finance Committee, she played a major role in the drafting and passage of the ACA in 2010, and she also played a key role drafting the 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act (MMA). Liz has over 25 years of experience in health policy and health services research. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a law degree (J.D.) from the University of Minnesota. She is admitted to the bar in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Liz is a Fellow of the inaugural class of the Aspen Health Innovators Fellowship and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2022. 

Maria Ghazal | President & CEO, Healthcare Leadership Council

Speaker: Level-Set Discussion

Maria Ghazal serves as President and CEO of the Healthcare Leadership Council, the leading healthcare industry association representing all segments of American healthcare. Ms. Ghazal previously was Senior Vice President and Counsel for Business Roundtable (BRT), an association representing the CEOs of America’s top companies. Throughout her nearly two decades with BRT, Ms. Ghazal played a leadership role in the public policy work of the organization, including health policy, serving as the primary advocate for America’s leading corporations during the debate over the Affordable Care Act. She also directed membership outreach, recruitment, and retention, and oversaw policy development and advocacy for the Business Roundtable Corporate Governance Committee. This led to the Roundtable’s groundbreaking work on a new “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation” which sparked a worldwide dialogue on the role of corporations in society. 

Prior to joining the Business Roundtable, Ms. Ghazal was Director of Health Policy at the American Benefits Council, the leading voice for employers that offer benefits programs to their employees. Previously, she served as Director of Government Relations at Verizon and worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Her career began as an aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY). 

Ghazal earned a law degree from American University, a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy and a bachelor’s degree from Bates College. She has testified before Congress and the SEC and is a frequent speaker at national conferences. She is a member of the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bar Associations, Health on Wednesday, the Tax Coalition, and Women Corporate Directors. In addition, Ms. Ghazal is a founding member of Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy Advisory Board and serves on the Advisory Board of the Wake Forest University Center for the Study of Capitalism. She is an active member of the invitation-only U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Committee of 100 and the CEO Update Women in Leadership initiative. 

Sohini Gupta | Executive Vice President, America's Health Care Plans

Breakout Session Speaker: Shaping Health Policy: A Candid Conversation with Key Stakeholders

Sohini Gupta leads AHIP’s advocacy teams in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 states, engaging with legislators and policymakers on matters impacting coverage, care, and patient outcomes. Gupta joins AHIP from Global Medical Response, where she led government affairs for the nation’s largest ground and air emergency response company. Her 25 years of experience includes government affairs leadership roles at UnitedHealth Group; WellCare, which was acquired by Centene; the American Hospital Association; and Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas. Gupta earned her undergraduate degree from Butler University and a J.D. from Indiana University. 

Chip Kahn | President and CEO, Federation of American Hospitals

Breakout Session Speaker: Shaping Health Policy: A Candid Conversation with Key Stakeholders

During a career that has spanned more than four decades in Washington, Chip Kahn has earned the reputation as one of the nation’s most impactful health policy influencers. Since 2001, he has served as the President and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals, the national advocacy organization for tax paying hospitals. Previously, he was the President and CEO of the Health Insurance Association of America where he served an earlier stint as Executive Vice President. 

Chip also had a long and distinguished career as a professional staffer in the US Congress, specializing in health care financing and delivery policy. He worked many years both in the Senate and the House of Representatives and from 1995-1998 as staff director for the Health Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee and played a key role in writing the most significant health legislation of that period. 

Chip is a founding member and co-chair of the Future of Health community. A group that brings together senior leaders from leading health organizations around the world with the objective of advancing health and care delivery for 2030 and beyond. 

Chip was a co-founder and principal of the former Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA), a private-public partnership, and for many years he served as a co-chair of the National Quality Forum’s Measure Application Partnership’s Coordinating Committee. 

He is the only health care leader who has appeared on Modern Healthcare magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” annual list since its inception 21 years ago, and his professional experience combined with volunteer efforts led to him being honored with the B’nai B’rith National Health Care Award in 2016. He frequently writes about the topic of health care performance measurement in publications such as Health Affairs, as well as serving on the boards of several companies and foundations. 

Chip earned his BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MPH from Tulane University and has taught health policy at both universities as well as George Washington University. 

Marielle Kress | Senior Health Advisor, Committee on Finance (Minority)

Panelist: Medicaid at a Crossroads: Policy Challenges and Opportunities in a Changing Landscape

Lance Leggitt | Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, TeamHealth

Fireside Chat Speaker: Healthcare Regulatory Environment in the New Administration

Lance Leggitt is a former senior White House Advisor for two Presidents (Trump 45 and Bush 43) and a seasoned strategic government affairs advisor with over 25 years of public and private sector experience. Lance has also served as the HHS Chief of staff, Counselor to a Virginia Governor and as an Assistant Attorney General in Virginia.

Sarah Levin | Deputy Staff Director, Subcommittee on Health of House Ways & Means Committee

Panelist: Inside Capitol Hill: A Candid Conversation with Key Congressional Staff

Charlene MacDonald | Executive Vice President, Public Affairs, Federation of American Hospitals

Breakout Session Speaker: Shaping Health Policy: A Candid Conversation with Key Stakeholders

As Executive Vice President, Public Affairs, Charlene MacDonald leads FAH’s Government Relations and Public Affairs teams directing the Federation’s advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill and beyond. She will also work closely with the organization’s policy experts to advance health care quality and access for the millions of patients served by our members’ facilities. 

During her more than 20-year career in public affairs, Charlene has held a wide range of leadership positions in both the House and Senate, as well as the private sector, most recently serving as Chief Government Affairs Officer for CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. In that role, she led the group’s advocacy, public policy and government affairs team with a focus on promoting politics that positively impacted members’ health outcomes. 

Prior to CareFirst, Charlene was Head of Health Care and Life Sciences at FTI Consulting, where she led a multidisciplinary strategic communications team and advised clients on all aspects of stakeholder engagement, including public affairs and government relations. 

Charlene also brings more than a decade of experience working inside government. She served as top health advisor to former Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Senior Policy Advisor for Medicare & Social Security at the Senate Budget Committee, and Deputy Chief of Staff to Representative Allyson Schwartz (D-PA). Her accomplishments include the drafting, negotiation and enactment of numerous bipartisan health bills ranging from the 21st Century Cures Act to the Medicare and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). 

She holds a M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School and undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Sociology from Lake Forest College. 

Lily Murphy | Government Affairs Analyst, America’s Health Insurance Plans

Breakout Session Speaker: Shaping Health Policy: A Candid Conversation with Key Stakeholders

Charlotte Rock, Senior Health Policy Advisor, Senate Finance Committee

Panelist: Medicaid at a Crossroads: Policy Challenges and Opportunities in a Changing Landscape

Matt Salo | CEO, Salo Health Strategies and former Executive Director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors

Moderator: Medicaid at a Crossroads: Policy Challenges and Opportunities in a Changing Landscape

Matt Salo is the founder and CEO of Salo Health Strategies, a boutique healthcare consulting firm in the Washington DC area that specializes in strategic advice, health care policy, Medicaid market development and relationship building across 56 states and US territories. The firm capitalizes on decades of experience working with state and federal government officials as well as the full spectrum of Medicaid and broader health care stakeholders ranging from health plans, providers, pharmaceutical companies, foundations, and consumer groups. 

Matt is the founding Executive Director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD), having started the association in February 2011, and he worked in that role until he stepped down in August 2022. The organization represents the state government leaders responsible for administering the Medicaid program. NAMD was established as a permanent community for state leaders to share best practices, and worked to develop technical assistance, invest in leadership development, and formulate a strong unified voice in communication with Congress, the Administration, and other key national stakeholders. He built the organization from an initial staff of one to a full-time complement of ten staff and an operating budget of more than $3 million. 

Matt formerly spent 12 years at the National Governors Association, where he worked on the Governors’ health care and human services reform agendas. His major accomplishments included getting legislation passed that guaranteed state control of the entire $250 Billion tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, which resulted in Forbes Magazine naming NGA one of the nation’s top ten most influential lobbying organizations. He also worked to get legislative approval of more than $100 billion in state fiscal relief during the Great Recession; and in bringing bipartisan groups of Governors together on multiple occasions to reach agreement on Medicaid reform proposals, ultimately serving as the backbone for the Deficit Reduction Act of 2007. 

Matt was a substitute teacher for two years in the Alexandria City public school system before joining the DC health policy world. He holds a BA in Eastern Religious Studies from the University of Virginia, and is still trying to find ways to explain how that got him to where he is today. 

Matt is a nationally recognized expert in Medicaid, state government, health care reform, federalism, long term care. He was recently named by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the 500 most influential people in Washington DC. He is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), and was recently recognized by the National Academy of State Health Policy as its 2022 Academy Award Winner for a lifetime of contributions to health policy. 

Matt has extensive experience in public speaking before audiences up to 1500 people, is frequently quoted in major mainstream news media and health care trade press, and has guest lectured at GWU, Duke, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Virginia. 

He has spoken on a variety of topics, including: 

• The impact of the pandemic on the US healthcare system
• The role and value of the Medicaid program in serving as the nation’s healthcare safety net
• The dynamics of investing in Social Determinants of Health
• Medicaid leading the country in transforming the healthcare system from a “pay for volume” system to a “pay for value” system Medicaid’s hidden but critical role as the nation’s primary long term care program
• The policy and politics of the Affordable Care Act and state adoption of the Medicaid expansion
• The importance and challenges of focusing on improving racial and ethnic disparities and other inequities in the health care system

Mark Tipps | Partner & COO, Frist Cressey Ventures

Moderator: The Political Landscape in Washington: Policy and Priorities Under the Current Administration

Mark Tipps joined FCV in 2023 and serves as Partner and COO. Previously, he served as partner at Bass, Berry & Sims and managing partner at Walker, Tipps & Malone, as well as Senator Bill Frist’s first chief of staff in Washington, DC, helping the Senator build and manage his Washington team. Later, he served in 1997 as deputy chief counsel to U.S. Senator Fred Thompson in the nationally televised “Chinagate” hearings, where he managed a team of over 50 attorneys, investigators and FBI agents. Mr. Tipps was also the national campaign manager for U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander’s 2000 presidential run. 

Building on his multi-faceted experience in creating and directing large teams and managing organizations, Mr. Tipps has also advised senior management of major corporations, including Honeywell, Dow Chemical and St. Paul/Travelers on legal and governmental matters. 

Most recently, Mr. Tipps served at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, TN, helping oversee the day-to-day operations as Associate Head of School, Athletics Director and as a faculty member and coach. 

Mr. Tipps holds a B.A. in accounting/finance from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota and a J.D. degree from The University of Tennessee College of Law.