Leadership

Founded, owned, and governed by physicians we set MIEC apart with our commitment to our doctors. Our leadership is no different, with an elected Board of up to 15 physicians representing a broad spectrum of specialties & territories; they oversee and approve all operational issues. Including but not limited to rates and underwriting rules. Our committees meet regularly to review and decide on operational matters, as well as the latest matters in our industry.

  • Andrew Firth – President
  • Dan Belbusti – Chief Financial Officer, Secretary & Treasurer
  • Janice Ginley – Vice President of Claims & Patient Safety Risk Management
  • Wesley Butler, ARM, RPLU – Vice President of Underwriting
  • Blair Tomlinson – Vice President, Marketing, Sales & Member Services
  • Lakshmi Lakshminarasimhan – Director, IS/IT and Innovation
  • Anne Wilde, JD – Director of People Operations & Facilities

Board of Governors - Officers

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Ronald Dorn, MD
Chairman
Business Location:
Boise, ID
Medical Specialty:
Radiation Oncology
2024 Committees:
Executive (Chair) / MIEC PAC ID Advisory (Chair)

Doctor Dorn has been a member of the MIEC Board of Governors since 2005. He serves as Chairman of the Board, and has since December 2018.  He chairs the Executive Committee and MIEC PAC ID Advisory Committee. Doctor Dorn is a practicing radiation oncologist at the Mountain States Tumor Institute in Boise and has served as the medical director of that Institute. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Radiology, a Fellow of the American College of Radiology, and a Fellow of the American Society of Radiation Oncology. Memberships include the Idaho Medical Association (IMA) and the Ada County Medical Society for which he has been a delegate to the IMA House of Delegates. Other memberships include the American Radium Society, American Society of Radiation Oncology, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a founding member and member of the Medical Advisory Committee of the Expedition Inspiration Fund for Breast Cancer Research. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Discovery Center of Idaho since 1995 and has served three terms as President of the Board.

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Lamont Paxton, MD
Vice Chairman
Business Location:
San Leandro, CA
Medical Specialty:
Vascular Surgery
2024 Committees:
Executive (Vice-Chair) / Claims (Chair) / Government Affairs

Doctor Paxton has been a member of the MIEC Board of Governors since 2005. He has served as Vice Chairman of the MIEC Board of Governors since 2009. He was President of the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association (ACCMA) in 2005. He serves as the Chairman of the Professional Liability Committee B of the ACCMA. Doctor Paxton is Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Eden Medical Center. He is Chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery at Eden Hospital Medical Center. He has served as President of the Northern California Vascular Society, the East Bay Surgical Society and the San Francisco Surgical Society. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and Chairman of the Committee on Applicants for the American College of Surgeons.

Professional memberships include the International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, the American Association of Vascular Surgery, the San Francisco Surgical Society, the Pacific Coast Surgical Society, the Northern California Vascular Society, the Peripheral Vascular Surgical Society and the Western Vascular Society.

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Toni Brayer, MD, FACP
Secretary & Treasurer
Business Location:
San Francisco
Medical Specialty:
Internal Medicine
2024 Committees:
Audit (Chair) / Compensation / Executive (Secretary & Treasurer) / Finance & Investment (Chair) / Government Affairs / MIEC PAC CA Advisory

Doctor Toni Brayer has been a member of the Board of governors of MIEC since 2007, an advisor since 2002, and the Secretary & Treasurer since December 2018.  She is the immediate past CEO of Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation and practices Comprehensive Internal Medicine at California Pacific Medical Center Institute for Health and Healing.

Dr. Brayer graduated cum laude from Arizona State University and received her Medical Degree from the University of Arizona. After residency training in San Francisco, she led a group practice and has practiced Internal Medicine for over 33 years. She was named a national “Best Doctor” annually from 1997-2006 and again in 2010-2015. She has been named “Top Doctor” by Castle-Connolly repeatedly including 2018. In 2005 she became Sutter Bay Chief Medical Officer.

Before assuming her position at Sutter, Dr. Brayer served as Chief of Staff at California Pacific Medical Center and President of the San Francisco Medical Society. She was a delegate to the California Medical Association and served as vice-chair of the Board for the Institute for Medical Quality until 2003. She is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians and served on the governor’s council of ACP. She is an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine and Dr. Brayer also served as clinical faculty at California Pacific Medical Center where she designed an ambulatory elective for Internal Medicine residents. She is a graduate of the California Health Care Foundation health leaders fellowship.

In 2010 she received the American College of Physicians, Northern California Chapter award for volunteerism and community service for her medical work at Katrina, Honduras and the Haiti earthquake. She was named a “Health Care Hero” for her work by the San Francisco Business Times in 2012. The San Francisco Business Times has named Dr. Brayer to its list of “The Bay Area’s 100 Most Influential Women in Business”, from 2005-2012. In 2013 she was named to the San Francisco Business Times “Forever Influential Honor Role”. She was the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Northern California Chapter of Make-a-Wish Foundation and has served on numerous non-profit, hospital and medical boards.  She currently serves as a Global Advisor for Women Leaders for the World.

Toni Brayer is the mother of two and enjoys tennis, gardening and writing. She is on the editorial boards of The Internist and San Francisco Medicine.

Other Members of the Board of Governors

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Scott A. Hoffinger, MD
Director
Business Location:
Moraga, CA
Medical Specialty:
Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery
2024 Committees:
Audit / Claims / Executive / Finance & Investment

Doctor Hoffinger has been a member of the MIEC Board of Governors since 2006, and has been an advisor to the MIEC Board since 2002. He is a member of the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association (ACCMA), for which he currently serves on the Professional Liability Committee. He was also the ACCMA representative for District 10. In the past, Doctor Hoffinger served as President of Children’s Hospital Medical Staff.

From 2012 until 2019 Dr. Hoffinger was a Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Doctor Hoffinger has been active as a Board Member for the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy, for which he held the offices of Treasurer and President. Professional memberships include the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America.

Currently Dr. Hoffinger is pursuing a Masters degree at the London School of Economics.

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Robert Margolin, MD
Director
Business Location:
San Francisco, CA
Medical Specialty:
Internal Medicine
2024 Committees:
Underwriting (Chair) / Executive / Government Affairs / MIEC PAC CA Advisory

Doctor Margolin has been a member of the MIEC Board of Governors since 2007, and was an advisor to the MIEC Board since 2002. He is a Board Certified Internist, practicing in San Francisco for the past twenty-six years. He is an Associated Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and has won numerous teaching awards from the residency programs at Mount Zion Hospital, Moffitt Hospital, and CPMC. Dr. Margolin has served as President of San Francisco Medical Society and is currently a Trustee of the California Medical Association. He is Chairman of the Division of Internal Medicine at the California Pacific Medical Center and has served on the Medical Executive Committees of Mount Zion Hospital, the UCSF Clinical Practice Organization, and the UC-Stanford Medical Group,. He currently serves on the Medical Executive Committee of California Pacific Medical Center, and serves as treasurer of CALPAC.

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Vin Sawhney, MD
Director
Business Location:
San Leandro, CA
Medical Specialties:
Internist and Specialist in Gastroenterology
2024 Committees:
Claims / Compensation / Government Affairs / Patient Safety and Risk Management / MIEC PAC CA Advisory

Doctor Sawhney has been a member to the MIEC Board of Governors since 2008 and was an Advisor to the Board for two years prior to that. He was President of the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association (ACCMA) in 2004, and has served in numerous other medical leadership positions including: Chief of the Medical Staff at Physicians Community Hospital in San Leandro; member and Chair of the Board of Trustees of San Leandro Hospital; President of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPIO), representing 26,000 physicians of Indian heritage; President of AAPIO’s Northern California chapter; member of the House of Delegates of both the California Medical Association and the American Medical Association; and a member of the Governing Council for the International Medical Graduate Section at the AMA. Doctor Sawhney served as President of the Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation, helped to organize local health fairs, and spearheaded fundraising efforts for victims of the Loma Prieta earthquake and the Bhopal gas disaster.

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Cheryl Tanasovich, MD
Director
Business Location:
Greenbrae, CA
Medical Specialty:
Dermatology
2024 Committees:
Claims / Compensation (Chair) / Pension Plan & 401(k)

Doctor Tanasovich has been a member of the MIEC Board of Governors since 2007, and has served MIEC as an advisor to its Claims Committee since 2004, and she has been in practice in Dermatology in Marin County since 1990. She is also Assistant Clinical Professor of Dermatology at UCSF. She completed her residency in Dermatology at UCSF in 1990 after serving as a Melanoma Fellow at the same institution. Prior to that, she completed residency in Internal Medicine as well as an Internship in General Surgery at St. Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco. She is Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Dermatology.

She was a Regents Scholar at UC Davis after graduating Summa cum Laude in Biochemistry from California Polytechnic State University.

She served as student representative from UC Davis to the Medical Student Section of the California Medical Association and the UCD representative to the AMA Medical student Section. She sat on the reference committee on Federal Legislation for the 1982 CMA annual session and was the student delegate to the CMA Commission on Federal Legislation.

During internship and residency she was active in the California House Officer Medical Society as Region I councilor and served as vice-president in 1985-6. She was a member of the CMA committee on Pharmacy and Therapeutics from 1987 to 1990. She was the CHOMS delegate to the AMA Resident Physician Section 1984-1987 and Alternate Delegate for the California Delegation to the AMA house of Delegates in 1986.

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Ann Vercoutere, MD
Director
Business Location:
Greenbrae, CA
Medical Specialty:
General, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery
2024 Committees:
Claims / Patient Safety and Risk Management (Chair) / Underwriting

Doctor Vercoutere has been a member of the MIEC Board of Governors since 2006, and has served MIEC as an advisor to its Claims Committee since 2002. Dr. Vercoutere is a board certified general surgeon who has practiced in Marin for thirty years. She is a member and a past President of the Marin County Medical Society and served as Chief of General and Thoracic Surgery from 2003-2009, and Chief of Surgery from 2009-2013 at Marin General Hospital. She worked as a surgical hospitalist in Albuquerque from March, 2013 to December 2014. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Marin Individual Practice Association for more than fifteen years. Memberships include the California Medical Association and the American Medical Association.

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J. Ross Tanner, DO
Director
Business Location:
Anchorage, Alaska
Medical Specialty:
Internal Medicine
2024 Committees:
Audit / Finance and Investment / Patient Safety and Risk Management / Underwriting

Dr. Tanner has served as a member of the MIEC Board of Governors since 2017 and serves as a member of the Patient Safety and Risk Management Committee, as well as the Finance and Investment Committee. He has also served the Alaska State Medical Association in various capacities including President-Elect in 2006 and 2011, and as President in 2007 and 2012. Dr. Tanner is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, as well as the American College of Clinical Lipidology. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and was the first Alaskan physician advanced to Fellowship status with the American College of Clinical Lipidology in 2012. Dr. Tanner currently practices in Anchorage, AK at the Diabetes and Lipid Clinic of Alaska.

Dr. Tanner graduated cum laude from Texas A&M University and received his medical degree with honors from the University of North Texas Health Science Center, College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his residency at Texas A&M College of Medicine, Scott & White Memorial hospital, where he served as Chief Resident and received an award for Resident of the Year, before furthering his post-graduate education at the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. Dr. Tanner is an active member of Anchorage Medical Society, Alaska State Medical Association, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, American College of Physicians, and the National Lipid Association.

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George “Rick” Bruno, MD
Director
Business Location:
Honolulu, HI
Medical Specialty:
Emergency Medicine
2024 Committees:
Audit / Compensation / Finance and Investment / Underwriting

Dr. Rick Bruno joined the MIEC Board of Governors in December 2022 as a Director and serves on the Finance and Investment, and Underwriting, committees.

Dr. George “Rick” Bruno is the President, Queen’s Medical Center, and President of the Queen’s University Medical Group (QUMG). In this role he oversees 450 employed physicians covering 17 sub-specialties and manages the professional service agreements that QHS has with its community physicians.

As an emergency room physician, Dr. Bruno continues to work in the emergency department at QMC’s Punchbowl and West Oahu campuses. Dr. Bruno is active in the state EMS community and serves as Oahu’s District EMS Medical Director for the State of Hawaii Department of Health. In that role, he oversees the quality programs and offline medical control for Honolulu’s EMS. He also serves as a liaison to the medical community, such as the John A. Burns School of Medicine, community physicians, payers and medical societies, to establish positive and collaborative relationships.

Dr. Bruno received his Doctor of Medicine from Yale University School of Medicine and completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at New York University and Bellevue Hospital. He is certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine.

In his spare time, Dr. Bruno enjoys watching college football, yoga, hiking the Aiea loop trail, and walking his dog Biscuit.

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Dr. Katherine Gregory, MD, MPH
Director
Business Location:
San Francisco, CA
Medical Specialty:
Gynecology
2024 Committees:
Underwriting / Patient Safety and Risk Management

Dr. Katherine Gregory joined the MIEC Board of Governors in January 2023 as an Advisor, from San Francisco, CA. She has been a practicing in San Francisco since 1994 and opened her gynecological practice in 2007. Dr. Gregory continues to serve patients in and around San Francisco as a leading gynecologist.

Dr. Gregory graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in Physiology, and subsequently received her Medical Degree from UC Davis. She completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Harvard Medical School Beth Israel Hospital in 1994. Dr. Gregory also obtained a master’s degree in public health quantitative methods from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Gregory has a passion for integrating technology to improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare delivery. Throughout her career she has served in various board governance positions for organizations including Physician Reimbursement Fund, and Brown and Toland. She has also served on quality improvement committees at both California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) and Brown and Toland, and taught medical students and residents at UC San Francisco and Stanford.

Dr. Gregory is known by her patients for her compassion and dedication to women’s health.

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Gene Quinn, MD
Director
Business Location:
Anchorage, AK
Medical Specialty:
Cardiology
2024 Commitees:
Finance and Investment / Patient Safety and Risk Management

Dr. Gene Quinn joined the MIEC Board of Governors in January 2023 as an Advisor, from Anchorage, AK. Currently, he is a practicing cardiologist, Medical Director of Quality and Population Health at Alaska Heart and Vascular Institute, and the Chief Medical Officer of Envoy Integrated Health – a clinically integrated network of independent Alaskan physicians.

Dr. Quinn received his medical degree from the University of Washington, completed internal medicine residency at the University of California, San Francisco, then completed fellowships in Cardiovascular Disease, Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging, and Patient Safety and Quality at Harvard Medical School and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  He also holds a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health with a concentration in Public Health Leadership.

Dr. Quinn also currently serves as a board member for healtheConnect, Alaska’s statewide health information exchange, and a Board member for Anchorage Project Access, a nonprofit safety net helping uninsured Alaskans with their medical needs.

Dr. Quinn enjoys fishing, camping, skiing, foraging, and exploring Alaska with his family.

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Darin Weyhrich, MD
MIEC Board Advisor
Business Location:
Boise, ID
Medical Specialty:
OB/GYN

Dr. Weyhrich is an OB/GYN in the Boise area.  He has been in private medical practice with a focus on women’s primary health care since September of 2002.  He has also been employed by St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center as an OB Hospitalist for more than a decade.  He has been active in the regional medical community, serving as the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology State Vice Chairman and Chairman for the state of Idaho as well as St. Luke’s OB/GYN Chair in addition to more than a decade on the St. Luke’s Peer Review Committee.  He has been active in family medicine residency education as part of his OB hospitalist duties.

Dr. Weyhrich received his Doctor of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, completing a year of internal medicine internship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital followed by OB/GYN residency at the University of Washington in Seattle.  He is board-certified by the American Board of OB/GYN (ABOG).

He is an active father in the lives of his teenage/young adult children and with his nearly negligible free time he enjoys Peloton, skiing, river kayaking and rafting, and hiking the Sawtooths with his very patient life partner.

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Ted Shen, MD
MIEC Board Advisor
Business Location:
Pasadena, CA
Medical Specialty:
Otolaryngology

Dr. Ted Shen, MD joined the MIEC Board of Governors as an Advisor, from Pasadena, CA. He previously served on the board of directors for Select MD, a risk retention group, as well as a consultant for Sequoia Insurance. Dr. Shen is board-certified by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, as well as a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy.

Dr. Shen graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College, and as a Southern California native, returned to attend the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. He received NIH funding to pursue a 5th year research option studying the genetics of hearing loss at the House Ear Institute, and subsequently completed residency training at USC in Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. Currently, Dr. Shen practices in Pasadena and Altadena, California, where he serves in various leadership roles at local hospitals including Chief of Head & Neck Surgery at Huntington Memorial Hospital – An Affiliate of Cedars Sinai Hospital, and USC Arcadia Hospital.

In his spare time, Dr. Shen enjoys training for triathlons, marathon distance running, and helping his wife corral their three children in all their daily adventures.

Chairman Emeritus

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James Gemmer, MD
Chairman Emeritus
Business Location:
Solano County, CA
Medical Specialty:
Orthopedic Surgery
2024 Committees:

Doctor Gemmer served as an active member of the MIEC Board of Governors from 1989 to December 2019.  He has served MIEC in a number of leadership roles including Chairman of the Board from 2008 to 2018.  He has also served as Chairman of the MIEC PAC CA Advisory Committee, and still serves MIEC as Chairman Emeritus, and Chairman of the Government Affairs Committee.

He is Past President of the Solano County Medical Society where he also served on and chaired the MRAC Committee. He also received the Emeritus Professor Award from Solano County Medical Society. Dr. Gemmer served as Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sutter Solano Medical Center where he served on the board for 21 years; and he served as Secretary-Treasurer, Vice Chairman, and Chief of Surgery for Sutter Solano Medical Staff. He also served as Vice Chairman of the Vallejo General Hospital Foundation. Additional memberships include the California Medical Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

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Gary Okamoto, MD
Board Emeriti
Business Location:
Honolulu, Hawaii
Medical Specialty:
Physiatry

Dr. Okamoto served as a member of the MIEC Board of Governors from December 2011 – December 2022. He is a member of the AMA and former President of the Hawaii Medical Association and Honolulu County Medical Society. As a board certified physiatrist, he is a Fellow in the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Currently, he is the Chief Medical Officer of AlohaCare, a Hawaii-based health plan serving Medicaid and dual-eligible Medicare members. In this role, he collaborates with physicians and other providers at community health centers and in private practice, ensuring access to care. His CMO activities include quality, pharmacy, credentialing, utilization management, care coordination, and strategic planning. Dr. Okamoto holds a BA, University of Hawaii; MD, Washington University in St. Louis; and MPH, University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle.