Title: co-founder and chief growth officer of MaxHealth
Hometown: Tampa
Alma mater: Florida State University (FSU)
On the job: MaxHealth provides high-quality, high-value primary care services to nearly 80,000 patients across Florida. We focus on understanding the true health care needs of our patients in order to provide high-quality care and customer service as we help them navigate the often-confusing healthcare environment. We employ over 500 team members, most of whom reside in the Tampa Bay, Sarasota and South Florida markets. My current roles as the co-founder, chief growth officer and member of the board of directors of MaxHealth was the result of more than 10 years of dedicated, focused effort, grit and a Tampa Bay Lightning game. I graduated from FSU with a plan to enter the pharmaceutical sales industry, but attended a Lightning game where I met local Tampa physician Rajankumar Naik. Dr. Naik convinced me to take a role with his practice while I continued my job search — the only requirement was to show up the next morning. I did — and I didn’t leave.
As a middle-school aged woman and through high school, I volunteered at nursing homes and veterinary practices and my role at Best Care was an extension of those opportunities, a place where I could serve people in need and earn a living. The venture grew quickly and in 2012 Dr. Naik sold Best Care to a larger, local provider group, JSA Healthcare. I stayed on to transition the organization to JSA before rounding out my early career with roles at Aetna and Chicago Pacific Founders, a Chicago-based private equity firm.
In 2018, I returned from Chicago to found Best Value Healthcare (now MaxHealth) with Dr. Naik. Not unlike our first venture together, Best Value experienced very rapid growth. We were able to expand our footprint from a few practices in Tampa, Clearwater and Miami to more than 20 locations across Central and South Florida, more than 200 team members and 30 physicians. In order to maintain this trajectory, we decided to bring in an outside partner and in late 2020 we concluded a process that saw us enter into a relationship with Arsenal Capital Partners to help us invest in our patients, team, technology and growth.
Under my leadership and since our partnership with Arsenal Capital Partners, our organization has achieved a number of significant milestones, including nearly 300% growth in value-based care membership, expansion into the Gulf Coast market, rebranded the entire enterprise from Best Value to MaxHealth, transitioned our sales strategy from channel sales to direct to consumer, originated and facilitated more than 10 acquisitions and during the pandemic, transitioned practice to a virtual platform allowing us to continue to care for our patients when they needed guidance and recommendations that only a primary care doctor can provide.
Giving back: Through my business and the populations we serve, I am engaged in a variety of community-based initiatives focused on solving some of the social determinants of health, including food, shelter and access to high-quality health care. All too often I see patients whose underlying health conditions are really a result of inadequate living conditions, mental health issues or lack of access to food. I ensure that we make extra effort within our organization to promote organizations and events, both public and private, that work to meet these needs. We work with our patients to provide them access to community resources, food pantries and resources they can leverage to address their basic needs.
Outside of my efforts through our organization, I am an active participant in a number of local charities and nonprofits both directly and through my foundation – the KOI Foundation. Most directly, I have worked with the local chapter of Make-A-Wish to promote fundraising, but have a long-term vision involving a more elderly population to provide greater opportunities for social connection and engagement. Through the KOI Foundation, I have been active in promoting nonprofits focused on connecting active cancer patients with survivors and promoting art education for children in need. As previously stated, much of our health and well-being is derived from our ability to connect. If the connections we need as individuals are cut off as a result of income, physical disability or age, we as people generally tend to degenerate more rapidly. It’s a personal goal of mine to use the resources at my disposal to ensure that we make these connections and provide people an outlet.
When I’m not in the office, you can find me spending quality time with my husband and children, Wyatt, 8, and Vera, 6.
When I was a child, I wanted to be a veterinarian.
My secret talent or skill is that I have an ability to recognize talent in unconventional places and am motivated to help them succeed.
My dream vacation is Tuscany. I enjoy learning about wine from around the world, but Tuscany is by far my favorite region and the place I would love to spend an extended amount of time exploring.
The best piece of advice I’ve ever received is, “The hard is what makes it fun.” — Wyatt Rademacher, 8
My favorite thing about Tampa is: I moved to Tampa after a backpacking trip through Asia in 2008 and the city has undergone a massive transformation, while still maintaining a sense of community. I am very excited to see what the next decade brings to the region, but the growth has been exciting to watch and it is nice to see the city finally get the recognition it deserves as a world-class location to live and work.
My motto or philosophy that I live by is karma. I give to the world what I would want back.
My hero or inspiration is Oprah Winfrey.
My pump-up song is “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton.
My most ambitious goal is to own and operate a winery that also serves as a rescue shelter for at-risk animals.
The greatest adversity I’ve faced is being a female entrepreneur at a relatively young age is a blessing, but it has also presented a number of challenges that have ultimately made me a stronger person.
