Michelle Carlton

Michelle Carlton is a seasoned business professional with over 30 years of experience. Her skill sets include strategic planning, financial management, accounting, and business development. This career journey, through many diverse business sectors, has equipped her with a unique blend of business acumen and leadership capabilities.

Over the past decade, Michelle has been a fractional CFO for companies in industries as varied as agriculture, marketing, technology, real estate, construction, manufacturing, and pharmacy. In these roles, she led initiatives including financial operations management, financial modeling, equity valuation, planning and analysis, international and domestic M&A, software implementations including international integrations, and financial reporting.

Prior to consulting, Michelle was CFO for a marketing firm, a franchise owner, and CFO for a wholesale and retail distributor. Her ability to significantly enhance and streamline financial processes, reduce closing cycles, and improve overall efficiency through strategic planning proved invaluable to these companies. Managing complex financial operations, developing effective business strategies, M&A rollups, and leading diverse teams has been a cornerstone of her career.

Complementing Michelle’s professional background is her academic achievement of earning an MBA with the University of Phoenix and B.S. degree in both Accounting and Managerial Finance from Florida Southern College. Additionally, she served as an Adjunct Faculty Instructor in Finance for undergraduate studies for the University of Phoenix.

Rhonda Willingham

As a Partner at TechCXO, Rhonda Willingham serves healthcare technology and diagnostics companies as a Fractional CMO, CRO, and Chief Commercial Officer. With nearly 30 years of healthcare executive leadership — and a clinical foundation as a Registered Nurse — she brings a rare combination of commercial rigor and firsthand understanding of how healthcare actually works.

Growth-stage healthcare companies stall not because their solution is wrong, but because their go-to-market strategy isn’t aligned with what their target market is actually trying to solve. Rhonda works with healthcare tech and diagnostics vendors to close this gap — building GTM strategies, sharpening messaging for health plan, provider, and employer buyers, and developing the commercial infrastructure that drives sustainable revenue growth. A distinctive element of her practice is pressure-testing messaging and pitch decks with relevant industry contacts before they reach the market — catching what buyers will push back on before it costs a deal. Critically, the work doesn’t stop at strategy. Rhonda partners with leadership teams to drive execution — and when implementation resources are needed, TechCXO’s bench of experienced director-level practitioners across marketing, sales, revenue operations, and technology provides hands-on support without the overhead of full-time hires.

Areas of Expertise

  • Health Plan Market Access Strategy — all lines of business, including Commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare Advantage
  • Go-to-Market Strategy & Execution for Healthcare Tech and Diagnostics
  • Revenue Operations & Pipeline Infrastructure
  • ICP Definition & Buyer Segmentation
  • Omnichannel Marketing & Brand Positioning
  • Pitch Deck Development & Messaging Pressure-Testing
  • Fractional CMO, CRO & Chief Commercial Officer Engagements
  • AI-Powered Diagnostics Commercialization
  • SaaS Revenue Turnaround & Commercial Transformation
  • Value-Based Care & Risk Model Market Entry

Recent Engagements

Interlace Health – Engaged as Fractional Chief Commercial Officer to assess and reset the company’s revenue engine during a critical transition from legacy software to SaaS. Defined ICP, rebuilt sales and marketing alignment, introduced structured pipeline and forecast discipline, and built the foundation for a scalable RevOps function — including recruiting a dedicated RevOps leader. Advised executive leadership on organizational design and talent alignment.

Nox Health – Serving as Fractional CMO for this telehealth-based sleep health company targeting large self-insured employers. Spearheaded market-facing messaging and value proposition development, optimized marketing team structure and roles, and streamlined omnichannel marketing operations to drive growth and enhance brand impact. Hired full-time CMO.

Biodesix (Nasdaq: BDSX) – Built health plan market access strategy for this AI-driven liquid biopsy and lung cancer diagnostics company — translating clinical evidence into the financial and outcomes language that drives payer coverage decisions.

DermTech – Developed health plan market access messaging strategy for this AI-powered dermatology diagnostics company, aligning clinical value with payer priorities to accelerate coverage conversations.

Orbita – Developed GTM strategy targeting health plans as a net-new buyer segment for this conversational AI patient engagement platform used by Mayo Clinic and Mass General — from value proposition development through sales process design.

Roche Diagnostics – GTM strategy and market viability assessment for new AI-powered digital diagnostic algorithms targeting appropriate care through data and analytics. New market penetration into health plan and provider segments.

Career Highlights

Prior to TechCXO, Rhonda held senior executive roles spanning healthcare technology, diagnostics, and services.

As EVP of Marketing and Product Development at Avalon Healthcare Solutions, Rhonda led the industry’s first initiative to digitize near-real-time lab results and apply proprietary analytics to deliver actionable insights to health plans and providers. Successfully drove a 50%+ increase in sales close rate and created a $50M+ pipeline in year one through a full company rebranding and repositioning.

As VP of Business Development at New Century Health, she developed fully capitated financial risk partnerships with regional and national health plans for this oncology and cardiology specialty care platform — expanding the pipeline by 200%. NCH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Evolent Health.

As VP of Digital Health and Innovation at Medecision — the largest independent SaaS care management platform in the US supporting 50M+ lives across nearly 100 health plans — she led the company’s digital health strategy and drove Triple-Aim outcome partnerships integrating the platform with workflow and analytics applications for at-risk health plan clients.

As SVP of Sales & Marketing at VRI, she drove the industry’s first remote fall detection at-risk contract with a national Medicare Advantage plan — 25,000 members, predictive analytics, ROI greater than 8:1 — while building GTM strategy across four simultaneous market channels: health plans, integrated channel partners, referral sources, and dealers.

Additional roles include EVP of National Sales at Alere Health (now Optum), where she exceeded revenue targets four consecutive years by 12–15%, generated $25M in annualized new revenue, and opened a $40M Managed Medicaid pipeline as an early mover; SVP of Sales & Marketing at Gordian Health Solutions (now Onlife Health); and VP of Sales at CorSolutions Medical (now Optum), where she grew new revenue from $7.2M to $51.6M in 24 months. Career began as a Registered Nurse at Emory University Hospital on the hematology-oncology and bone marrow transplant unit.

Education

Bachelor of Science in Nursing, University of Florida — High Honors, Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society

Professional Affiliations

Women Business Leaders of the US Health Care Industry Foundation (WBL); Break into the Boardroom; Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS); Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO); Advanced Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech (ATDC), where Rhonda served as a mentor to early-stage health tech founders.

Speaking Engagements & Publications

  • “Digitized Lab Results Accelerate the Success of Value-Based Care,” Today’s Clinical Lab, April 2022
  • “The Best is Yet to Come: Ecosystem Members Share their Success Models,” Qualcomm Life Connected Health Ecosystem Conference, August 2015
  • “Enabling Connected Health to Meet the Needs of Vulnerable Populations at the State Level,” Medicaid Health Plans of America, Washington, D.C., October 2013
  • “Communicating Value: A Strategic Business Imperative,” Care Continuum Alliance, Phoenix, AZ, October 2013
  • “Workplace Wellness and the Use of Financial Incentives,” American Cancer Society Corporate Impact Conference, Denver, CO, June 2013
  • “Next Generation Incentive Design: Are Outcomes the Measurement of the Future?” Keynote, World Congress, Employee Health and Human Capital Strategy Congress, Orlando, FL, February 2013
  • “Guidance for a Reasonably Designed, Employer-Sponsored Wellness Program Using Outcomes-Based Incentives,” JOEM, July 2012

Cristian G. Valbuena

Cristian William Valbuena is a finance and operations leader with over 20 years of experience working with venture-backed startups, middle-market companies, and public organizations. His executive background includes roles as CFO, VP of Finance, Controller, and FP&A leader across a range of industries.

Cristian specializes in building scalable financial operations, strengthening reporting and forecasting discipline, and guiding leadership teams through periods of growth, restructuring, and strategic transformation. His expertise includes strategic planning, financial modeling, cash flow management, KPI development, fundraising support, financial reporting, process design, and the implementation of modern finance systems.

Cristian holds a BBA in Accounting and an MS in Finance (Beta Gamma Sigma) from Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business and is a licensed CPA. He brings an entrepreneurial mindset, a passion for building companies, and is fluent in Spanish.

Kari Tesenair

Kari Tesenair is a highly skilled project and program management professional with over 20 years of experience in technical project management, IT security, organizational development, compliance, and governance. Beginning her career as a software developer, Kari has successfully built and led Project Management Offices (PMOs) and helped organizations optimize their project management teams, governance processes, and compliance frameworks to achieve operational excellence and security.

Throughout her career, Kari has demonstrated an exceptional ability to assess the impact of business processes while maintaining a strong focus on enhancing the end-user experience. As a trusted client advisor, she is known for building trusted relationships with stakeholders and effectively facilitating communication between business and information technology teams. Kari’s experience in IT security and compliance ensures that all projects align with the highest security standards and meet industry regulatory requirements. She has also successfully led organizations in developing the information security foundations required to obtain and maintain Information Security certifications.

Kari’s leadership experience spans senior roles, including Senior Director of Enterprise Project Management, Senior Director of Program Management, and Senior IT Project Manager, primarily within large healthcare institutions and nonprofit organizations.
Her expertise encompasses a broad range of areas, including project and program management, vendor management, requirements management, portfolio governance, organizational development, and IT security/compliance program development and maintenance. Additionally, she has experience in technical documentation, training, and process improvement.
Kari holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, a Bachelor of Science in Management of Information Systems from the University of Central Florida, and an MBA from Webster University.

Stephanie Rose Belcher

Stephanie Rose-Belcher is a senior strategic and operations leader in the healthcare sector. She has more than 30 years of executive leadership experience, managing production operations, product development, market planning, customer relationships, administrative operations, compliance, and technology teams. As a TechCXO Executive Operations partner, she serves new, mid-stage and publicly traded SaaS and tech-enabled services healthcare companies. Read her blog.

Her transformational work for clients resides at the intersection of customer success, operations, and product development, where innovation leads to growth and operating success. Stephanie is known for identifying, defining, and executing transformative strategic initiatives that shape the future of a company. She works closely with the CEO, Executive Leadership Team and colleagues across the company, bringing depth and breadth of thought, excellent critical thinking skills, and a passion for leading change to the company’s most promising opportunities and challenging business problems. She ensures that value on key initiatives is ultimately delivered, but also architects the specific, innovative designs and plans employed across major operating units and functions of a company that enable their realization.

Her focus is to drive operational excellence to enhance and build corporate value through process design, automation, innovation, and data management. Her leadership approach is to motivate and inspire others to higher levels of performance, allowing them to learn and grow. Common client engagements include:

  • Healthcare & Data Transformation Innovation
  • Product Strategy & Execution
  • Organizational Effectiveness and Design
  • Optimizing Operations & Customer Support
  • Governance & Compliance
  • Customer Success & Growth

Her results-charged career spans major Health Insurers and Healthcare IT organizations, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, Horizon BCBSNJ, Cigna Healthcare, LexisNexis, and Change Healthcare.  The following are among her key responsibilities and accomplishments:

Chief Executive Director, Argentum Business Strategies – Stephanie provided strategic advising and interim leadership for healthcare organizations, including development of strategic vision and dashboards for startups and post-Series A healthcare organizations. She also established roadmaps for new growth and operational scaling.

SVP, Client Services, Change Healthcare – Change Healthcare (NASDAQ: CHNG) ) is the largest independent Healthcare Technology company in the United States, with over $3.5 billion in annual revenues, serving Payer, Provider and Channel markets. Stephanie was responsible for client support, account management, and shared services across major product lines. Covering over $1B in annual revenue with retention/growth accountability.  She managed an annualized budget of $37-45M and staffing complement of 500+ across onshore and offshore operations.  Accomplishments included:

  • Delivered year-over-year operational efficiencies of $30M.
  • Achieved year-over-year improvements in service metrics, NPS, and CSAT scores.
  • Revamped Account Management models. Driving improved retention and new model for small clients, resulting in $10-20M per year in improved retention since 2016.
  • Key leader on integration planning with McKesson Technology Services and Pokitdok.
  • Developed entirely new protocols and teams for QA, Training, Vendor Management, Customer Experience, Program & Performance Management, Workflow Management, and Automation.

Market Planning Leader, LEXISNEXIS Risk Solutions, Healthcare Division – Stephanie served as Market Planning Leader for Provider and Member Data solutions, Healthcare segment, which is a growing, $75M business. She was responsible for P&L and General Manager activity for the Identity solution line.  She established and met new revenue goals of $10M + and retention revenue of $25M+.

Vice President Product Strategy & Compliance, Enclarity, Inc. – Stephanie was a P&L owner, spokesperson and Corporate Compliance Officer. She led end-to-end product and sales strategy, go-to-market plan and messaging. She also engaged the market as a knowledge expert with numerous publications, white papers, op-eds, webinars and speaking engagements and participation in various industry & governmental workgroups.

Vice President, Site Leader – GM, Cigna Health Care – Stephanie managed Cigna’s Southern Region Claim and Call Operations center, for large national clients. This operation covers 1.2 million members, over 1,000 team members, a $38 to $50M operating budget and 250,000 sq. ft. facility.

Vice President, Group Operations – Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina – Stephanie led claim, call, and enrollment and billing operations, exceeding performance guarantees and all performance metrics, including Member Touch Point Metrics (MTM) measures. She also oversaw up to 450 employees handling 900,000 members, with budgets of more than $30M.

Stephanie serves as a business mentor with the Entrepreneurial Center and Launch Nashville groups. She also advises several small businesses and volunteers with the Nashville Rescue Mission and Girl Scouts, USA. Stephanie will be starting her Doctor of Business Administration this fall. She earned her Master’s in Management Leadership from Western Governors University and an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Delaware.

Stephanie was recently named to George Washington University’s Customer Experience Advisory Council. Read more.

Adam Bryan

Adam Bryan is an Operations and Finance Executive who is committed to taking small and mid-size businesses to their next growth phase. He has successfully led senior management teams in the USA, Australia, and Hong Kong and grown businesses in various market environments. He has spent his career working with major financial data information, software and publishing companies, and was responsible for taking on the most challenging global executive assignments.

Among his career accomplishments, Adam served as Managing Director and General Manager of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation. He was President, CEO and Board Member for Omego, a $300M trade processing business, and COO of Broker/Fund Management Group for Thomson Financial. He also served as CFO for Thomson Financial, based in Sydney, Australia. Earlier in his career, he gained experience in auditing, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs and litigation support for Coopers and Lybrand/PWC.

Most recently, he served as an interim CEO/COO/CFO for Worth Group. He also serves as an advisor to USAM Group, a Financial Consulting Company and a Cybersecurity Software Business in Boston. Adam qualified as a a Retirement Management Analyst with RIIA and is an expert witness in financial markets matters.

In addition, his career is marked with creating new internal start-up businesses that created significant new income streams and enterprise value. He has been selected for the most difficult turnaround efforts. In all situations, Adam has been able to fully analyze the situation, make the corrective changes and created a business trajectory that led to sustainable and aggressive growth. His passion is to work with smaller businesses, and helping them become major players.

He received his Business Degree at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia and is an Australian Chartered Accountant.

Matt Oess

Matt Oess leads TechCXO’s Executive Coaching Practice and also serves our Clients as a Strategy, Sales, and Marketing consultant or interim CRO.

*Strategy, Sales, and Marketing Consulting*
Matt has extensive experience in the adoption of practical AI technologies to help clients manage strategic and enterprise-level sales, marketing, demand-generation, and business-development initiatives in high technology markets. His client engagement and experience includes achieving cross-functional alignment between Sales and Marketing, sales process and methodology modernization, effective proposition development and positioning, and creation of global infrastructure to support customers.

Matt’s consulting practice specialty is establishing or modernizing Sales and Marketing methodologies and processes that help clients leverage:

1) be more relevant to customers,
2) create demand,
3) more effectively create and manage pipelines,
4) better onboard new and up-skill existing sales team members, and
5) fix issues with forecasting and revenue governance.

Among Matt’s client work and support as an interim executive are the following:

GE Digital, GE Transportation, GE Oil and Gas, GE Power – Outcome Selling Sales Methodology
Co-design, develop and deploy global “Outcome Selling” account and opportunity planning and coaching methodologies. Enabling GE’s Digital and IoT strategies and to transform the selling culture and competence to be more relevant to customers at a strategic level.

ZVerse, Inc – Consulting Interim Chief Sales Officer
Client enjoying 200% top-line growth (more)