People thrive in connected communities

As CEO of Intrepid Ascent, Mark leads our dynamic team to guide clients through the design of community ecosystems for people-centered care. With an interdisciplinary background in anthropology, technology, and policy, Mark applies integrated local approaches to global challenges. See this interview for more about Mark and his perspective on health care in the US.

Prior to founding Intrepid Ascent in 2014, Mark played key roles in California’s implementation of federal programs to advance health IT. He received a B.A. from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, where his research was supported by the Fulbright and National Science Foundations. Mark currently serves on the Board of the California Association of Health Information Exchanges (CAHIE).

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Mark has embraced life in Medellín, Colombia, bringing new ideas back and forth to the San Francisco Bay Area.

As the leader of our Technology & Data Strategy Group, Alex provides strategic leadership in health IT systems and data management to our clients, leveraging more than 14 years of experience as a health care technical executive and systems architect. An expert in health information management, population health, and health data analytics systems, Alex helps our clients use their data as an asset for strategic planning and system redesign. He draws on his health IT expertise to focus on innovating effective and scalable solutions for integrating data, systems, people, and processes across the health care and social sectors to help communities better address the social determinants of health (SDOH) and to succeed in their goals to share data across sectors.

Prior to co-founding Intrepid Ascent in 2014, Alex served California’s East Kern County Integrated Technology Association (EKCITA) HIE as its inaugural chief architect and technology officer from 2007 to early 2013 and later as California Health Information Partnership and Services Organization’s (CalHIPSO) director of technology services. These roles with a pioneering health information organization (HIO) with one of the West Coast’s first HIOs and the nation’s largest Regional Extension Center (REC) during the foundational early days of mass EHR adoption shaped his view that there’s always room for innovation in the U.S. health care system, and that thinking outside the confines of convention are critical to successfully pushing the envelope toward better health. Currently based in our Brooklyn, N.Y., office, Alex was raised in rural California and received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: In an effort to simulate his favorite hikes in the High Sierras on the West Coast, Alex plans backpacking trips to every East Coast mountain he can find, taking him farther and farther afield from Brooklyn each time. Next on the list: Quebec!

Danielle is passionate about advancing systems change to improve health outcomes through human ingenuity and shared learning. In her role leading Intrepid Ascent’s Community Change Group, Danielle harnesses her expertise in quality improvement, change management, and learning organizations to guide clients and their stakeholders through the evaluation, implementation, and adoption of technology with people at the center. Danielle recently led Intrepid Ascent’s development of the onboarding program for the Alameda County Community Health Record, as well as offering her expertise to other clients to support workflow redesign, training, onboarding, technology adoption, and evaluation.

Previously, Danielle led multiple large-scale quality improvement initiatives that trained clinicians and frontline staff to critically evaluate their system’s performance and identify opportunities to make fundamental change. Danielle holds a bachelor’s degree in physiology and neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego, and a Master of Public Health degree from Touro University California.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: When not working, Danielle loves spending time with family. On the weekends, you can find her chasing her boys around the playground and spending time in her garden.

Sokkim has an interdisciplinary focus that sits at the intersection of policy, systems, clinical interventions, and community-based services. She has more than 10 years of experience assisting providers across various health care and social service sectors with data-driven pathways to improvements in coordinated, patient-centered care. She regularly manages time-critical, high-stakes projects that often involve complex strategic issues and multidisciplinary stakeholder environments. Her recent projects include providing expertise to local and state public health departments for the prevention and management of chronic diseases as well as community information exchange (CIE)–related initiatives, including the Whole Person Care Pilots program, which seeks to coordinate health, behavioral health, and social services in a patient-centered manner in California.

Sokkim serves as the lead for the portfolio of state and local interventions under the California Department of Health Care Service’s California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative, which seeks to transform and strengthen Medicaid in the state.

Prior to joining Intrepid Ascent, Sokkim played key roles supporting the implementation of Meaningful Use and California’s Medi-Cal EHR Incentive Program and developing innovative approaches to improving care coordination in the medication and pharmacy practice areas. She received her PharmD from the University of California San Francisco.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Sokkim’s personal intrepid ascent is spending quality time with her family and introducing her two young and very active children to new foods and places. Every day is an adventure!

Denise is passionate about collaborating with community partners to leverage data, solve inefficiencies, and push toward transformative health care delivery. With more than 20 years of experience in relationship management, Denise has cemented her keen communications skills, supported by diplomacy and tact when navigating complex business partnerships. She’s highly skilled in community collaboration with varied stakeholder groups, including executive leaders at partnering organizations, community stakeholders, and technology vendors. Before joining Intrepid Ascent, Denise served nearly a decade as the director of community service and then as chief engagement officer for the Rochester RHIO, one of New York State’s most successful regional health information exchanges (HIEs); in that role, she was responsible for executing RHIO’s mission and vision. Grounded in the world of data exchange is where she began her journey toward community change in support of health equity.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Living in Upstate New York, Denise soaks in the benefits of experiencing all four seasons, finding the most joy in autumn, hiking nature trails on brisk days, or unwinding with a good book and a cup of chamomile tea. No matter the season, Denise values quality time creating memories with family and friends. When she’s not working or spending time with loved ones, she’s on a quest for the next great record to add to her extensive vinyl collection.

Samuel is a self-described policy wonk with nearly a decade of experience in policy research and consulting. He currently serves as the firm’s lead behavioral health policy subject matter expert. Samuel is currently leading the implementation of California’s Medicaid behavioral health delivery system redesign in Santa Cruz, Merced, and Stanislaus counties through the Behavioral Health Quality Improvement Program (BHQIP). He also supports various firm-wide projects as a subject matter expert on information privacy laws/regulations, telehealth policy, data governance, and state and federal Medicaid policy. He brings to Intrepid Ascent a deep understanding of the safety net and a history of working closely with Medicaid and public sector stakeholders, having previously worked with the Center for Evidence-based Policy in Portland, Oregon, and the Center for Connected Health Policy in Sacramento, California. Samuel holds a Master of Social Work (MSW) with a concentration in policy and research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Samuel took up DJing as a passion project in March 2022. He spends most of his spare time and weekends spinning at San Francisco venues and clubs. His next ascent? Music production. Samuel is currently working on producing his own music.

Brian is a senior consultant with Intrepid Ascent specializing in systems architecture design and health data interoperability. He enjoys meeting with teams trying to solve complex problems that span beyond traditional health care delivery models and service organizations. Several of these projects seek to establish or expand community information exchanges (CIE), which have core goals of improving health outcomes, equity, and access to health care needs. Brian finds meaningful opportunities helping ensure health IT vendors provide software solutions relevant and efficient to community organizations with little resources and knowledge of implementation projects.

Previously, Brian served as a general manager in the U.S. Clinical Division of Eurofins Scientific, a global life science company. He managed and led the company’s largest clinical lab in California and third-largest in the United States. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he and his team rapidly built a COVID-19 PCR facility that quickly became one of the largest commercial testing facilities in the state with result delivery directly to a client’s cell phone in less than 24 hours. Before joining Eurofins, Brian served in the U.S. Marine Corps. During this time, he led units in several international locations, planning logistics, communications, and operations within harsh and remote environments. Brian received a B.A. in information technology from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and an MBA from Northeastern University with a double concentration in finance and high technology.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Brian has a proclivity for the challenging and untraveled paths in life and an affinity for observing other cultures. He has lived in 11 states in the United States and traveled to several countries across four continents. He hopes to continue the journey with seafaring and navigating a sailboat across the open ocean, often called bluewater sailing.

Lauren is a person-centered systems strategist whose mission is to create lasting change in communities while operationalizing ‘nothing about me without me.’ With a multidimensional focus on the many systems impacting health, Lauren focuses on the intersection of social drivers of health and healthcare to advance racial health equity. Lauren believes the people we seek to serve best understand how to transform the care they receive. She leverages tools from Human-Centered Design, Systems Thinking, and Quality Improvement to pursue a more just and impactful design in ecosystems serving the social safety net. Her greatest joy has been bringing together different organizations — in healthcare, public health, community-based organizations, advocacy agencies, and philanthropy — to collaborate on the advancement of equitable approaches to care.

Before joining Intrepid, Lauren worked over a decade at Health Leads, a non-profit that helped to inspire and support market adoption of addressing the social drivers of health as a standard part of healthcare in the U.S. While at Health Leads, Lauren advanced strategic responses to multiple state and federal 1115 waivers such as Accountable Health Communities, Comprehensive Primary Care Plus, New York State DSRIP, California Whole Person Care, CalAIM, and MassHealth ACO. She’s founded and helped design a multi-organization collaborative focused on homelessness prevention, and applied research methodology and learning-forward frameworks to evaluate and discover more just, efficient, and impactful approaches and practices to health equity and community health efforts. A vision-forward pragmatist, Lauren also focused on the financial elements of care delivery and transformation in recognition that ‘effort goes where money flows’ with a deep belief that those providing services can and must be equitably compensated. Lauren’s relentless focus on systems and the many details that make up those systems stems from her degrees in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience and Biology from Johns Hopkins University and her lived experience as a first-generation college graduate.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Lauren is using her positional privilege these days to pursue activities she didn’t have resources to growing up in rural Pennsylvania and Brooklyn, New York: music and fitness. She dreams of getting those saxophone lessons she always wanted and, after more than a decade of practice, is pursuing multiple fitness certifications in the hopes of making physical exercise accessible, fun, and impactful for everyone.

Katelyn equips our team with the data necessary to make informed decisions and the IT infrastructure to collaborate effectively in a remote environment. She combines a mix of creativity, curiosity, resourcefulness, and an excessive love of spreadsheets to engineer solutions and ongoing improvements to Intrepid’s information systems, tools, and processes. Her contributions include the development and management of a suite of dashboards summarizing financial, project, and resource utilization metrics and KPIs sourced from multiple data systems; a comprehensive review and consolidation of company IT systems; and the development of a complex model forecasting performance to inform strategic planning.

Passionate about health and social supports for the LGBTQIA+ community (see here) and the de-stigmatization of mental health, Katelyn has worked in operations roles supporting social justice and healthcare for over a decade. Her previousrole as a Consultant with Intrepid Ascentgives her a unique perspective on how best to support our consultants and clients. Katelyn received her BA in Political Science and History from the University of California, Berkeley.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: An avid baker, Katelyn challenged herself during the pandemic by opening a home-based bakery business in her spare time. After a very busy year fulfilling orders, she is now reclaiming the joy of baking, as an amateur. 

Alexandra has a passion for improving the health care delivery system in the United States. With more than eight years of experience in health care consulting, primarily working with safety-net organizations, she understands the impact that strategic health improvement initiatives can have on vulnerable populations. Alexandra joined Intrepid Ascent in August 2020 and leads strategic business development initiatives as business development manager. Previously, in her role as a consultant with Intrepid Ascent, Alexandra led several technology adoption engagements and provided technical assistance to local and state health departments in California for the prevention and management of chronic diseases.

Previously, she was a senior consultant at Los Angeles–based COPE Health Solutions, where she provided both project and account management and supported clients in strategic planning, transforming business models from fee-for-service to services that complement coordinated care risk models such as capitation or bundled payments. In that role, Alexandra developed assessments and evaluations for service line redesign and innovations and identification of opportunities for performance improvement. She’s a graduate of the University of Southern California, where she received her Master of Health Administration and a certificate in Management of Ambulatory Care Systems. She also received her B.S. in public health from San Diego State University. Alexandra hopes to be an active participant in our country’s health care reform and strives to create efficient structures to address social determinants of health.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Alexandra is a first-generation Croatian who loves to practice yoga daily, especially after a long day of work. In her free time, she’s usually plotting her next trip and has a bucket list of countries she plans to visit.

Lauren sought the public health sector to balance her optimism about practical health improvements with a desire to impact the people around her. As a consultant, she enjoys working with stakeholders to understand and better serve their unique needs regarding user onboarding and change management. She keeps processes in motion with a keen sense of project management and is focused on streamlining efforts the next time around. Whether she’s engaged with external or internal best practices, Lauren seeks to bring out the best of any organization. Before joining the Intrepid Ascent team, Lauren interned at the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency. Lauren earned her MPH at Johns Hopkins and B.A. in integrative biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Lauren recently attempted to hike California’s Mt. Tallac near Lake Tahoe, and the night before an unusual summer storm brought a few feet of snow to the whole mountain. Not wanting to miss out on the stunning views, Lauren and her friends hiked the mountain with no visible trail, turning a relatively easy summit into a full-day affair! She says it was 100% worth it.

As a consultant, Rachel translates and applies complex policies at the community level. She also advises on data governance and helps craft innovative ways of enabling data exchange to promote cross-sector collaboration. As a subject matter expert on California’s Data Exchange Framework (DxF), Rachel walks clients through what this initiative means for their organization and the state’s data sharing landscape as a whole. Beyond policy, Rachel also guides programs through integrating new technologies into their workflows and provides project management support across client engagements. After finishing her B.A. in behavioral neuroscience from Colgate University, Rachel conducted mixed methods research focused on tobacco control and lung cancer stigma at University of California, San Francisco. She then completed her Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in behavioral health from the University of San Francisco.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Rachel loves to challenge herself with baking and cooking. She has been using more physical cookbooks lately (both functional and good home decoration), and she loves to make meals with friends.

Jenny is a consultant passionate about health care data, public health, system design, and project management. She uses her experience in analytics, problem-solving, and communication to become a trusted advisor to both clinical and community partners. Jenny is committed to improving workflow processes, interoperability, and data sharing to better assist organizations in meeting the needs of their clients.

Prior to joining Intrepid Ascent, Jenny was a supervisor at the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) Center for Data Science Office. She led a team that improved operational efficiency, identified new workflows, and resolved technical issues. In that role, she also supported the maintenance, operations, and enhancement of DOH surveillance systems to support COVID-19 response operations. She’s a Registered Health Information Administrator and received her Master of Health Informatics and Health Information Management from the University of Washington.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Jenny is a Washington native who enjoys yoga and bouldering. She’s also a food enthusiast who loves to try new restaurants and boba (tapioca pearl tea) shops with her friends and family. In her spare time, she’s planning her next adventure. Jenny has visited nine countries and loves to learn about different cultures.

Ryan is passionate about collaborating with community stakeholders and building relationships across service sectors to collectively facilitate change and solve complex social issues. As a Consultant, he leverages human-centered design to foster innovation and provides alternative perspectives to system-level challenges, especially elevating the voices of community-based organizations. He develops and monitors user feedback loops in a way that amplifies the voice of the customer and aligns his expertise with a broader understanding of health care and social service environments to generate insights that support innovations in the field.

Ryan understands the importance of providing quality, person-centered services to communities facing barriers, and he brings more than 15 years of experience in human services where his roles have included facilitating enrollment in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, overseeing elementary school-based mentoring programs, and managing a transitional housing program for families with children. Most recently, Ryan was a Senior Consultant at Coordinated Care Services, Inc. (CCSI) in Rochester, NY where he supported projects across CCSI’s areas of practice and was responsible for the development and implementation of a Coordinated Entry system that helped streamline access to permanent housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Ryan received his B.A. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and his M.A. in Community Social Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Outside of work, Ryan and his wife take on the daily adventures of raising two very active kids. Ryan also enjoys running, hiking, and almost anything outdoors. He aspires to one day complete a triathlon and dreams of running in the Boston Marathon.

LaRandi has a fervent commitment to making a positive impact on communities through her expertise in health policy and a profound understanding of the social determinants of health. Equipped with a strong educational foundation, a passion for collaboration, and a dedication to direct service work, LaRandi recognizes the critical importance of actively engaging communities to bridge information gaps and foster enhanced collaboration across various sectors.

Before joining Intrepid Ascent, LaRandi also spent several years as a direct service worker providing health education to high school students in the Bronx, and an additional two years serving as an AmeriCorps National member. In her spare time, LaRandi is also a full-spectrum Doula, offering emotional and physical support to parents and families in New York City. LaRandi holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Syracuse University and a Master of Public Health with a concentration in health policy from New York University.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: LaRandi’s passion for reproductive rights is also present in her personal time as she volunteers on the Leadership Circle for The Doula Project in New York City, helping to operationalize their medication abortion support hotline. LaRandi also enjoys being active through Pilates and “hot girl walks” around Brooklyn and spending lots of quality time with her cat Rico.

Kate Thomas is a seasoned health policy reformist with a passion for creating positive change in healthcare systems. With extensive experience in policy analysis, stakeholder engagement, and coalition building, Kate has dedicated her career to advancing policies that improve access to quality health care for all. Kate currently works as a Consultant for Intrepid Ascent’s Community Change Group, where she helps clients implement innovative quality improvement methods. Her expertise in project management, stakeholder engagement strategies, and change management is instrumental in driving impactful reforms in healthcare.

Prior to her role at Intrepid Ascent, Kate worked as a Consultant at Aurrera Health Group, where she played a key role in supporting California’s Department of Health Care Services’ roll-out of their Medicaid behavioral health redesign initiative, CalAIM. In this capacity, Kate conducted analyses on the potential impact of CalAIM policies on industry stakeholders, facilitated quarterly CalAIM workgroup meetings, and provided extensive technical assistance to educate stakeholders about the evolving policies. Kate also previously worked with McDermott + Consulting and served on Senator Jeff Merkley’s health policy team in Washington D.C. Kate holds a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Kate is a jack of all trades and frequently runs out of time to complete all her hobbies. She is currently teaching herself how to roller skate and use her new sewing machine. Kate also spends extensive time hiking, painting, and playing with her spunky Dalmatian and hyper Aussiedoodle.

Desa brings with her a background driving community health transformation for underserved communities and has experience spanning local government and the health care sector. As an Analyst, Desa carries on this momentum through supporting community needs assessments and project management efforts on diverse client engagements. Her joy in collaborative work captures her interest in addressing social determinants of health through a collective impact approach.

Desa previously was a community worker for the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, where she engaged in policy, systems, and environmental interventions for chronic disease and injury prevention grant–funded projects. She also completed an internship at Health Net where she worked on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and trauma–informed care initiatives focused on Medi–Cal beneficiaries within a robust cultural competency framework. Desa earned her MPH with a specialization in Community Health Sciences from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and a B.S. in Health Science from California State University, Long Beach.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Currently splitting her time between Southern California and Northern Nevada, Desa enjoys visiting local coffee shops and most recently kayaking (beginner fun!) while enjoying the beautiful views of Donner Lake near Lake Tahoe, CA.

After nearly seven years at a New York-based health information exchange (HIE), Emily comes to Intrepid with an extensive understanding of data exchange’s impact on community collaboration. During her tenure there, she documented and developed process improvements of workflows, built and facilitated training for community participants, hosted external and internal employee HIPAA compliance training, and identified and developed new content for training during platform migrations. She understands the needs of a dynamic audience both in developing and facilitating community education events. Emily has worked extensively in the areas of customer support services, account management, and privacy and compliance where she’s built and monitored robust auditing portfolios. Emily holds a Masters of Science in Education from Nazareth College and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the State University of New York, Geneseo.

With an advanced degree in education, Emily uses her passion for educating others while working as an Analyst. Emily supports content development and analysis along with project coordination across project activities and deliverables.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Emily spends most of her time outside of work chasing around her two- and three-year old children. When not toddler-wrangling, Emily enjoys reading, playing board games, and silence. Her current ambition is to hand feed the birds who frequent her backyard feeders.

Shelby serves as an Analyst, bringing with her 4 years of health program coordination, data-centered evaluation, and customer service experience. With a background in health policy, healthcare data analytics, and quality improvement, she is excited to support Intrepid’s clients navigating the complex health information technology policy landscape. 

Prior to joining Intrepid Ascent, Shelby worked for the global health nonprofit Orbis International and then transitioned to a role in the Bureau of Equitable Health Systems at the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. While working at the Department of Health, she coordinated several primary care value-based care transformation initiatives and COVID-19 pandemic relief programs for BIPOC communities living in New York City’s outer boroughs.

Shelby received her Master of Public Health degree in Health Policy & Management with two graduate certificates in Applied Data Science and Health Management from the University of California, Berkeley. She also holds a BA in Political Science from New York University. 

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Shelby aspires to visit all 50 states and 100 countries (next up: state #34 and country #25)! When not out and about exploring new places, Shelby loves to take care of her ever-growing collection of houseplants.

Saadia is an analyst with 4 years of experience in local & federal government, non-profit, and consulting. She has experience in program evaluation, project management, quality improvement, and a passion for innovating and improving the current healthcare data landscape. She loves building relationships with external partners as well as designing and implementing workflows. After completing her master’s in Health Economics from Johns Hopkins University, Saadia worked for the National Institutes of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases where she was a project manager for a team that was developing an electronic care plan for patients with multiple chronic conditions.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: Saadia is a part-time reformer pilates instructor at a local East Bay Pilates studio. She also loves traveling, coffee, and spending time with her active Bengal cat.

As the people and culture coordinator, Allie helps with all aspects of Intrepid Ascent’s business and people operations from invoicing to talent recruitment and new employee onboarding. With a passion for helping others, her favorite part about being a member of the operations group is knowing she is directly impacting the growth of our team, projects, and clients. Allie earned her B.A. in communications from California State University, East Bay and has a strong background in process improvement, project management, operations, and administration.

Personal Intrepid Ascents: As an outdoor enthusiast, Allie enjoys exploring local trails with her dog, Winston, and finding new camping spots. When she’s not exploring the outdoors, she enjoys trying new restaurants, traveling with friends, and immersing herself in a good book.

Erick brings a passion to his work as a finance and operations analyst for intrepid ascent. Erick is responsible for the financial aspect of intrepid ascent from the day-to-day operating procedures to financial presentations and budgeting for future forecasting. He looks to enhance our strategy with his ability to simplify and interpret the complex issues that may arise. With over 5 years of administrative experience, his analytical skills, and his drive to help others, Erick looks to succeed in his role in any way possible and always puts his best foot forward at Intrepid Ascent when it comes to assisting and creating solutions.

Erick received his B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in finance from California State University, Sacramento and previously worked as an office manager for a storage facility in his hometown of Fairfield, CA. Erick prides himself in being able to solve any problems he may come across and creating new ideas to address any future obstacles. He takes pride in being that person anyone can count on no matter the circumstances.

Personal Intrepid Ascent: Erick is an avid outdoorsman who looks to explore all that nature provides. He loves to fish, hike, camp, and spend time with his family. Erick is hoping to explore the many hiking trails that Northern California has to offer.