Leadership
Innovation Requires a Vision
EBMS co-founders Rick and Nicki Larson have said the single most important factor to their success was hiring the right people to carry out their vision. That legacy continues today. The EBMS leadership team is made up of high-energy, visionary people who have the courage to step outside of their comfort zone.
Delivering service above and beyond all client expectations is a daily goal for these talented teammates—which is why they remain highly accessible to clients, brokers, and plan members.
James Vertino | Chief Executive Officer
James Vertino, a dynamic leader who has spearheaded transformational changes at EBMS and other healthcare companies throughout his career, was named Chief Executive Officer in January 2019.
He joined EBMS as CIO in 2017 and took on additional responsibilities to position the company for growth. He helped recruit exceptional leaders and guided significant upgrades to technology infrastructure, allowing us to better serve members and evolve into a fully integrated healthcare-management company with a national presence.
In his more than 25 years of leadership experience with MetLife, Lehman Brothers, CareSource and HealthPlan Services, his work has had positive impacts on the well-being of millions of customers and thousands of employees. He graduated magna cum laude from Medaille College in Buffalo, N.Y., with a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems.
Alex Schott | Chief Financial Officer
Alex Schott, who joined EBMS in July 2018 as Chief Financial Officer, says its mission to reduce costs, improve care and make it easy is “a perfect fit” with his goals to streamline processes, identify savings and produce better outcomes.
He has extensive leadership experience in finance and accounting at healthcare organizations. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President of Strategic Operations at BioScrip, Inc. He was Chief Financial Officer at Home Solutions for almost three years before BioScrip acquired it in 2016.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting at Metropolitan State University of Denver and is a Certified Public Accountant. He grew up in Franktown, Colorado, southeast of Denver.
Ronald Walters Jr. | Chief Operating Officer
Chief Operating Officer Ronald Walters Jr. has more than 25 years as a leader in the insurance and financial services sector, producing a strong record of improving profitability, efficiencies and customer satisfaction. He joined EBMS in December 2018.
Ron was formerly Senior Vice President of Operations at HealthPlan Services. He also served as President of Harrington Health, a full-service TPA with 400,000 members, and spent 13 years at Nationwide Health. He has a continuous drive to improve and a disciplined focus on data and results.
He spent three years in Brazil and two years in Luxembourg helping develop three financial services and insurance companies. He has a BS degree from Miami University and an MBA from The Ohio State University.
Rod Kastelitz | Executive Vice President of Sales & Account Management
When Rod Kastelitz joined EBMS after college, we had 20 employees. That was 26 years ago. Today, he is Executive Vice President-Sales, and we have over 320 employees serving more than 275 organizations.
He leads our account management team and oversees marketing and a captive stop-loss insurance company. He thrives on client-facing duties, those that meet needs of current partners and attract new ones. He embraces our belief that it is important to build lasting relationships and provide unmatched service.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Rocky Mountain College in Billings and has served as President of the RMC Board of Trustees.
Melissa Lyon | Executive Vice President of Human Resources and Strategic Planning
Since joining the company in 2011, Melissa has guided initiatives regarding employee engagement, talent acquisition and team development. She’s an advocate of strong communication and clarity of mission to help develop our team’s expertise. Her distinguished career in banking and human resources helped her tackle issues right away at EBMS.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rocky Mountain College in Billings and a master’s in business administration from the University of Montana. She is also a certified employee benefits specialist.
Rob Carr | Vice President of Client Implementation & Technology
Rob Carr, Vice President of Client Implementation and Technology, joined EBMS in 2018 eager to share his expertise as an operations and IT innovator. He oversees the Project Management Office, IT and the configuration team. He has extensive experience in executing strategies to drive growth and boost efficiency. His approach is customer and employee centric, matching technology solutions to business challenges.
In over 30 years as senior Vice President of Carrier Solutions and Professional Services at HealthPlan Services, a division of Wipro, he helped HPS grow, increase system performance, reduce risk and strengthen security. Among his many accomplishments was managing initiatives converting over 3.5 million members.
Carr, graduated from the College of St. Francis in Joliet, Ill., with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management.