CPR Staff

Suzanne F. Delbanco is the executive director of Catalyst for Payment Reform, an independent, non-profit corporation working to catalyze employers, public purchasers and others to implement strategies that produce higher-value health care and improve the functioning of the health care marketplace. Suzanne helps CPR members and employers collectively push for improvements in the quality, affordability, and transparency of health care. In addition to her duties at CPR, Suzanne serves on the advisory board of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Institute and participates in the Healthcare Executives Leadership Network. Previously, Suzanne was the founding CEO of The Leapfrog Group. Suzanne holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy and a M.P.H. from the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley.

Andréa E. Caballero is the program director for Catalyst for Payment Reform. Andréa has 18+ years of experience in the health care industry. Prior to joining CPR, Andréa served as Vice-President, Enterprise and Health Services Policy for UnitedHealth Group, one of the nation’s largest health and well-being companies, where she worked on a range of health care policy issues at the state and federal levels. From 2002-2005, Andréa was a member of PacifiCare’s Public Affairs team as the Director of State Government Relations for the Western Region. Before joining PacifiCare, Andréa was with Humana serving as a Regional Legislative Manager. A Wisconsin native, Andréa began her career in Madison, Wisconsin working for the State Senate and as a Legislative Liaison representing various issues before the state legislature, regulators and administration. Andréa received her MPA from Brandman University and her Bachelor of Arts degrees from Ripon College.

Ryan Olmstead is CPR’s director of member services. Ryan provides front line assistance to CPR members, directs CPR’s employer-purchaser collaboratives, manages CPR’s health plan user groups, and contributes his expertise to CPR’s case studies and other educational offerings. Prior to joining CPR, Ryan spent 12 years as a benefits consultant to large employers.  He was an assistant vice-president for health and benefits at Aon Hewitt and a senior associate in health and benefits with Mercer. Ryan received his MPH from UCLA’s School of Public Health.

Julianne is CPR’s project and research director. In this role, she leads and collaborates on a variety of CPR initiatives from developing strategic solutions for purchasers to evaluating programs implemented by purchasers and health plans. Prior to joining CPR, Julianne was Chief of Staff for the department of Payment Innovation, then the Program Director for National Network Optimization at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. In these roles, she wore many hats including communications director, lead sales engineer, and strategy and operations consultant. From 2008-2013, Julianne worked for Kaiser Permanente – first in Quality and Operations consulting for The Permanente Medical Group, then as Chief of Staff for the department of Delivery System Strategy. Julianne holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the Goldman School at UC Berkeley, and a BA in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Lea Tessitore, Catalyst for Payment Reform’s senior project and research manager, oversees and manages a variety of projects focusing on special topics including palliative care, price transparency, program evaluations, and maternity care, among others. Lea leads and supports initiatives to develop tools and resources for health care purchasers in the areas of payment reform, benefit design, and delivery reform. In addition, she manages CPR’s event series and virtual summits, assists in the development of online education courses, purchaser collaboratives, and the creation of CPR scorecards and report cards. Lea brings her unique perspective and training as a bioethicist to CPR, using frameworks and principles of health care ethics to help inform CPR’s work. Lea received her MBA in Healthcare Management from Union Graduate College, Master of Science in Bioethics from Clarkson University, and Bachelor of Arts from Union College. 

Alejandra (Ale) Vargas-Johnson is project and research manager with Catalyst for Payment Reform, assisting the program director with CPR’s Scorecard on Payment Reform 2.0 initiative in addition to other research and analysis work. Ale is passionate about using health care research to spur change and previously worked as a research analyst at UCSF’s Bixby Center in the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health program. This knowledge influenced her work on CPR’s Maternity Care Payment Action Brief. She is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and worked as a middle school teacher in Brazil for two years.  She holds a dual Bachelors of Arts in Sociology and Spanish from University of Southern California, where she was a Trustee Scholar. She is currently pursuing an online MicroMasters in Data, Economics, and Developmental Policy through MITx.

Emma Wager is the project and research assistant at Catalyst for Payment Reform. She is passionate about using data to push for evidence-based transformation within the health care system. Prior to joining CPR, Emma was on the policy and research team at the New York State Health Foundation, working on data-driven analyses aimed at improving the health of New York State residents. In 2016, she served as a fellow at the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission in Boston, working to implement legislation aimed at curbing year-over-year cost growth among the state’s payers and providers. Emma holds a Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University with a concentration in Health Policy and Management, and a dual Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics from the University of Connecticut.

Kathy Flock manages operations and accounting for Catalyst for Payment Reform on a part-time basis.  Over the last 20 years she has been a small businesses consultant supporting operations, finance, contracts administration, human resources, and insurance and investor relations. For seven years she was director of operations for a boutique commercial real estate firm in San Francisco.  Kathy is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a degree in business economics.

Gabriella Klein is CPR’s project coordinator. Gabriella provides administrative and operations support for CPR and contributes to a wide range of projects, including online education, product assessments, and website operations. Prior to working at CPR, she spent a year in operations at a health technology startup in San Francisco and completed internships at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the University of Sydney School of Public Health. Gabriella received her B.S. in Global Public Health and Communications from New York University.