Leadership
Comprised of seasoned PBM executives and licensed pharmacists who specialize in thoroughly understanding your needs.
Ken Dowell
Executive Vice President, Chairman of the Pharmacy Analytics Board
Since 1986, Kenneth Dowell has continuously been a pioneer in the healthcare industry; helping organizations maximize their overall pharmacy objectives. Ken made strong contributions to several of today’s leading PBM’s around the country.
Melissa Kuznik, Pharm.D
Vice President
Melissa has 18 years of expertise in pharmacy benefit management and consulting. She provides strategic drug cost solutions through careful reporting examination and data analytics. Melissa works closely with the client, pharmacy and hospital staff to control pharmacy spend and help improve client margins.
Shealynn Buck, MD
Vice President
As a multifaceted physician leader with operational, technical and consulting experience in the biopharmaceutical, hospital and insurance industries, Dr. Buck brings real world, applied knowledge to help employers navigate the dynamic, complex employee health landscape with confidence.
Christine Hale, MD
Vice President
Christine joined Lockton Dunning Benefits as Vice President in 2017 and serves as the medical director and lead strategist for the clinical consulting team. Christine is known as an innovator, collaborator and change agent, and is particularly passionate about utilizing data and creative solutions to reduce waste improve cost effectiveness in health care.
Greg Bigwood
Senior Vice President
Greg Bigwood possesses more than 15 years of diverse healthcare experience. Having spent several years in PBM finance and underwriting, his deep understanding of PBM financials and operations ensures that his clients receive and maintain significant financial savings.
Bob Kordella, RPh
Senior Vice President, Chief Clinical Officer
Robert Kordella has more than 37 years of diverse experience in the pharmacy industry. Bob previously practiced in retail pharmacy in a large academic medical center setting, and, for more than 16 years, has been an effective and well-respected leader in the PBM industry.
Sarah Martin
Senior Vice President
Sarah is a pharmacy actuary with 13 years of experience in employee benefits. She is responsible for pharmacy benefit financial client deliverables and strategy. Her primary areas of expertise include PBM procurement and contracting, cost forecasting, data analysis, specialty drug predictive modeling and emerging pharmacy benefit strategies.
Julayna Meyer, RPh
Senior Vice President
As a pharmacist with over 20 years of experience, Julayna brings real-world expertise to clients on managing their pharmacy benefit. She has over 20 years of experience in pharmacy benefit management to help clients develop pharmacy strategies for improving health outcomes and lower costs.
Scott Nilsen
Senior Vice President
Scott joined the Excelsior leadership team in 2015. With more than 25 years of experience in the PBM, carrier, and consulting industries, he provides strategic consulting experience to our client service teams.
Jonalan Smith, Pharm.D
Senior Vice President
Jonalan is a pharmacist and former Vice President of Pharmacy for a Medicaid Managed Care Organization. Jonalan also served as a Managed Care Organization Chief Operating Officer, which allows him to bring broad health plan and government program operational experience in addition to his pharmacy knowledge. Along with Medicaid, Jonalan’s areas of expertise also include Medicare and Health Insurance Marketplace (Exchange).
Caroline Atwood, Pharm D.
Vice President
Caroline is a Vice President, Team Lead at Lockton Dunning Series where she works with employers and health plans to develop solutions to effectively manage their pharmacy benefits and deliver the highest quality of healthcare. She has a proven track record for building and maintaining solid executive level relationships with key decision makers in healthcare and payer communities.
Heather Hambrick
Vice President
With more than 15 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Heather Hambrick has been active in the Medicare field since 2005. She previously oversaw various operational functions in Medicare, pharmacy benefit management (PBM), benefit integrity and government contract work.
Darian Hurst
Vice President
Darian joined Lockton in 2013. For the past 10 years, he has built and maintained strong industry relationships and ensures that Lockton and its clients are informed of current and emerging issues within the industry.
Joe Petersen
Vice President
Joe has over a decade of experience in prescription drug benefit consulting. He has extensive experience assisting plan sponsors select, manage and audit PBM partners. Joe has overseen vendor selection, pricing evaluation, benefit design, specialty pharmacy strategy and various other client engagements supporting clients across a variety of industries.
Joe Schmidt
Vice President
Joseph (Joe) Schmidt joined Lockton Dunning Benefits in July of 2020 as a member of the Excelsior Solutions team. Joe has over 25 years’ experience in the healthcare industry, including pharmacy benefit management, managed care, retail pharmacy and healthcare provider. As a Vice President, Team Lead, Joe guides clients through the PBM lifecycle, from PBM procurement and contract negotiation through managing an ongoing relationship to contract renewal and/or RFP, enabling clients to maximize savings, improve internal and member satisfaction, and deliver a more effective pharmacy benefit solution.
DeeDee Tillitt
Vice President
DeeDee Tillitt has more than 10 years of pharmacy consulting experience serving clients across the country including commercial, Medicaid Managed Care and Medicare Part D health plans, PDPs, employer groups and Taft-Hartley funds.
