U.S. RENAL CARE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer - Value - Based Care
- Chief Operating Officer of Value - Based Care for U.S. Renal Care
Alex Portet is the Chief Operating Officer of Value-Based Care for U.S. Renal Care. Before joining USRC, Alex Portet most recently served as Optum's Senior Vice President Operations for the metro Los Angeles area where he oversaw value-based care programs for their 120,000 patients. He also led growth for the entire Optum California market, including organic growth (e.g., member retention, de novo clinic strategy), acquisitions, as well as entry into new geographies.
Before joining Optum, he spent five years with the Gates Foundation, overseeing strategy for the Global Health Division, and leading several multi-disciplinary programs in vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, and nutrition. Earlier in his career, Alex was a Principal for Bain & Company in Chicago and Sao Paulo, and an investment banker for Societe Generale. Alex earned his MBA with high honors from the University of Chicago. He also has a Bachelor's degree in finance and economics from ESSEC (France).
Before joining U.S. Renal Care, Mandy spent 20 years at DaVita, ultimately serving as their Chief Nursing Officer, and earlier holding numerous roles in centers including Patient Care Technician, Charge Nurse, and Facility Administrator. Most recently, Mandy was the Chief Nursing Officer for BAYADA Home Health Care.
Mandy is also very involved in the kidney community. She has served as chairwoman of the Nurses & Technician Council for the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois and currently serves on their Board of Directors. She has delivered multiple clinical and operational presentations to groups in the kidney care industry and has been published in several nursing publications. Mandy received her Doctorate in Nursing Practice from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois and her Master's in Business Administration, Master's in Nursing, and Bachelor's in Nursing from Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois where she currently serves as adjunct faculty for the University. She also holds a certificate in Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. She is a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS).
Job Titles:
- President
- Divisional President, Operations
Ana Silveira is Division President, Operational Excellence at U.S. Renal Care.
Ana brings over 25 years' experience in the dialysis industry, with a strong clinical background and a proven track record of driving results focused on operational excellence, including culture and retention. Prior to joining USRC she was General Manager of the Western Group at Fresenius Kidney Care with oversight of 320 facilities including Standalone Home Programs and Inpatient Services.
Job Titles:
- Divisional President, Operations
Dave Richardson joined U.S. Renal Care in 2020 and brought with him 20 years of healthcare experience.
Prior to joining U.S. Renal Care, Dave was a Senior Vice President for Air Methods Corporation where he lead operations for approximately 330 air medical bases with a fleet of around 450 aircrafts. Prior to his time with Air Methods, Dave accumulated 13 years of kidney care experience. His background ranges from working in a dialysis facility as a Patient Care Technician to serving as the Divisional Vice President at DaVita with responsibility for operations of 95 dialysis facilities, 10 home programs, and 25 hospital contracts.
Dave holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Master of Business Administration Degree.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Gopa Green is the Associate Chief Medical Officer at U.S. Renal Care.
Before joining USRC, she most recently served as Chief Medical Officer of In-Center Dialysis Services and Vice President of Quality and Clinical Programs at Satellite Healthcare, amongst other roles. She provided collaborative oversight of the corporate quality program, developed the organization's quality strategy with the data analytics teams, and steered clinical improvement programs that improve the lives of those living with kidney disease. Dr. Green also co-managed pharmacy and therapeutics utilization, medical policy, oversight of high acuity admissions, and a broad range of medical-clinical affairs. She now continues many of these activities as part of U.S. Renal Care's Medical Office. She is a strong advocate for quality and patient-centered care with a focus on physician and patient education.
Dr. Green received her undergraduate education at the Johns Hopkins University and her medical degree at Harvard Medical School. After completing residency and nephrology fellowship training at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in 2003, she stayed on as Chief Resident, was an editor of the 31st edition of The Washington Manual of Medicine, and served as Clinical Instructor in the Medical Education and Renal Divisions for two years.
Dr. Green joined Nephrology Associates in Santa Rosa, California in 2005 and has honed her skills as an astute and compassionate physician in busy inpatient and outpatient settings during sixteen years of clinical private practice prior to joining Satellite Healthcare in 2021 and U.S. Renal Care in 2024. She also currently holds an appointment as an Adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine Renal Division, serves on the Board of Directors of the California Kidney Care Alliance, and serves as a steering committee co-chair of the American Society of Nephrology Emergency Preparedness Initiative.
Job Titles:
- Chief
- Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer and Senior Vice President, Operations
Dr. Sarrah Johnson is Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer and Senior Vice President, Operations at U.S. Renal Care. Sarrah is a Registered Nurse and a Clinical Operations Executive with nearly 20 years of experience in healthcare. Most recently, she served as the Chief Operating Officer for Urgent Care Group. Prior to that she held the role of Regional Vice President of Operations in the Mid-Atlantic for PhyMed Healthcare Group where she partnered with physicians and hospitals to implement an operating strategy for multisite anesthetizing locations supported by 35 physicians and more than 70 CRNAs.
Prior to joining PhyMed, she was Regional Vice President for Fresenius Medical Care in the Capitol Region, following the Fresenius acquisition of Renal Advantage Inc. (RAI). At RAI, she served as Regional Director, then Division Vice President responsible for operations of more than 65 dialysis clinics in 13 states.
Sarrah also served as a Registered Nurse and Regional Director for Gambro Healthcare, working in outpatient dialysis and acute dialysis settings. She has also volunteered for the District of Columbia College Access Program where she worked with teenagers preparing for college.
Sarrah earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) in Executive Leadership from American Sentinel University, a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Trinity Washington University, and a Bachelor's of Science degree in Nursing (BSN) from Trinity Washington University. Sarrah recently completed a certification program through HarvardX in Improving Global Health: Focusing on Quality & Safety and held certification in Nephrology Nursing for eight years.
Job Titles:
- Associate Chief Medical Officer & Senior Vice President, Clinical Research & Medical Affairs
- FASN Is the Associate Chief Medical Director and Senior Vice President of Clinical Research and Medical Affairs at U.S. Renal Care
- Principal or Co - Investigator
Geoffrey A. Block, MD, FASN is the Associate Chief Medical Director and Senior Vice President of Clinical Research and Medical Affairs at U.S. Renal Care.
Before joining U.S. Renal Care, Dr. Block served as the Vice President of Nephrology for Reata Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies to improve outcomes for patients with chronic kidney disease and other life-threatening conditions. Earlier, Dr. Block served as Director of Clinical Research and Partner at Denver Nephrology.
Over the last 20 years, Dr. Block has served as the principal or co-investigator for numerous clinical trials, and his work has been widely published in medical and nephrology research journals. Since 2000, he has been a manuscript reviewer for the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology and American Journal of Kidney Disease, among several other journals.
Dr. Block received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University of Ohio before earning his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Cincinnati, Ohio. He completed his residency and chief residency at the University of Cincinnati and his fellowship at the University of Michigan. He has most recently taught at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Executive Vice President
- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at U.S. Renal Care
Jim Hilger is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at U.S. Renal Care. Jim has extensive financial experience in the kidney industry. Before joining U.S. Renal Care, he held various senior financial roles at DaVita Inc. over the course of 15 years, primarily as its Chief Accounting Officer and interim Chief Financial Officer.
Prior to his career in healthcare, Jim was the Vice President of Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer of Pyramid Breweries, a brewer of specialty beverages, and Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of WorldCatch, Inc., a seafood industry company.
Jim earned his MBA from Pacific Lutheran University and is a graduate of Gonzaga University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President
- Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations
Kathleen Belmonte is the Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations for U.S. Renal Care.
Prior to joining U.S. Renal Care, Kathleen was the CEO and Co-Founder of Hopewell Health, a startup focused on kidney transplantation. Earlier, Kathleen spent seven years at Fresenius Kidney Care as Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Vice President of Nursing & Clinical Services.
Kathleen holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Babson College, a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) from the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions (MGHIHP), and a Bachelor of Science from the University of New Hampshire. She is board-certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner and completed her clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Chief Executive Officer
- Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Renal Care
Mark Caputo is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Renal Care.
Mark has spent the majority of his career building dialysis organizations focused on partnerships. Before joining U.S. Renal Care, Mark founded Liberty Dialysis in 2002 and served as its Chief Executive Officer, growing the business from a single clinic to the third largest dialysis provider in the world, with 260 dialysis clinics serving 20,000 patients.
In 2012, Liberty Dialysis merged with Fresenius Medical Care. Following the merger, Mark served as Managing Partner of Joint Ventures for Fresenius Medical Care, and then Chairman of the Board of Sound Physicians until June 2018. During his tenure as Chairman, Sound Physicians employed more than 3,500 hospital medicine physicians in 200 hospitals around the country.
From 2014, Mark has also served as Vice Chairman of Remedy Partners, a national provider of value-based care, until its merger with Signify Health in 2019. He continues to serve as a Member of the Board of Signify Health.
Mark received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Economics from Princeton University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Medical Officer
- Executive Vice President
- Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for Liberty Dialysis, Inc
Dr. Dittrich is Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of U.S. Renal Care as well as Co-Founder and Partner of Boise Kidney & Hypertension Institute.
Dr. Dittrich has served as the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for Liberty Dialysis, Inc., an organization which partnered with nephrologists to own and operate dialysis facilities. She co-founded numerous dialysis clinics in the states of Idaho and Alaska, where she served as a Medical Director. She has also served as the Senior Medical Director of Remedy Partners, the largest Awardee Convener under Medicare's bundled payment program.
Dr. Dittrich earned her medical degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, Colorado. Following, she served a residency in Internal Medicine followed by a chief residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Washington Hospital. She went on to complete fellowship training in Nephrology at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, where she also worked in the area of transplantation.
Dr. Dittrich received a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Creighton University where she received the Spirit of Creighton Award, the highest student award presented by the University.
Job Titles:
- Associate Chief Medical Officer, Value Based Care
Dr. Rocklin is Associate Chief Medical Officer, Value Based Care for U.S. Renal Care. He is also a Co-Founder and Partner of Rocky Mountain Kidney Care in Denver, Colorado.
Dr. Rocklin has practiced nephrology in the Denver metro since 2000 and served as a Medical Director for several dialysis clinics for more than 20 years. He is passionate about patient education, patient empowerment and leveraging analytics to continually improve quality practice processes to drive better patient care. Dr. Rocklin developed a population health CKD Care Model while serving as the Director of Quality and later the Chief Medical Officer at Colorado Kidney Care. He also served as the Chairman of the CKD Workgroup for the Renal Physician Association and co-authored the recently released guideline titled, "Guidance on Delivery of Optimal Advanced CKD Care."
Dr. Rocklin received a Bachelor of Science degree from Stanford University, graduating with distinction in 1990. He earned his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and completed his residency in Internal Medicine and Fellowship in Renal Disease and Hypertension at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
Nelson Imaña joined U.S. Renal Care in September 2020 as Chief Information Officer, bringing over 20 years of experience leading global, high-performing teams in healthcare and financial services corporations.
Prior to joining U.S. Renal Care, Nelson served as Divisional Technology Officer at HCSC - Blue Cross Blue Shield, where he was responsible for overseeing IT for their largest line of business. Before HCSC, Nelson spent 15 years at Aon Corporation, a global professional services and risk management company, where he held leadership positions in various divisions across the company including Corporate Systems, Retail and Affinity, eventually serving as Head of Global IT Operations. Nelson received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the DePaul University.
Paul Peoples - Chief Compliance Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Human Resources Officer
- Chief Human Resources Officer of U.S. Renal Care
Sharon Brunecz is Chief Human Resources Officer of U.S. Renal Care. Prior to joining U.S. Renal Care, Sharon served as Chief Human Resources Officer for Amedisys, Inc. a leading healthcare at home company delivering personalized home health, hospice and personal care, with over 22,000 employees in 39 states and the District of Columbia, making over 12.3 million patient visits per year.
Sharon also served as the CHRO at US Acute Care Solutions (USACS), the nation's leading physician-owned provider of integrated acute care services providing care to 9 million patients annually at over 500 programs. Previously, Sharon held several HR leadership positions with PNC Financial Services Group. Sharon holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Mathematics from The Pennsylvania State University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer - Dialysis Operations
- Chief Operating Officer of Dialysis Operations for U.S. Renal Care
Steve Nottingham is Chief Operating Officer of Dialysis Operations for U.S. Renal Care. Prior to USRC, Steve was the General Manager of the Western Group with Fresenius Kidney Care where, during his tenure, his efforts led the division to being ranked #1 in overall quality. Before his time in healthcare, Steve was with Iron Mountain Corporation for 25 years where his last position was as the Executive Vice President for Emerging Business and Customer Experience. Steve received his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Job Titles:
- Associate Chief Medical Officer at U.S. Renal Care
- Associate Chief Medical Officer, Home Therapies & Value Based Care
Dr. Pascual is the Associate Chief Medical Officer at U.S. Renal Care. Dr. Pascual brings of 20 years' healthcare experience and is board-certified in both internal medicine and nephrology. Before joining U.S. Renal Care she has served in multiple leadership roles within her prior organization, including founder, department chair and facilities medical director. Most recently she served as Chief Medical Officer of Nephrology Practice Solutions, a subsidiary of DaVita Kidney Care.
Her professional memberships include the Renal Physicians Association, American Society of Nephrology, and Women in Nephrology.
She earned her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed her internal medicine residency, fellowship in nephrology and chief fellowship in Nephrology at the University of Washington Affiliated Hospitals.
Tom Weinberg - Chief Legal Officer, EVP
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President
- General Counsel
Tom Weinberg is the Executive Vice President, General Counsel at U.S. Renal Care.
Tom joined U.S. Renal Care in September 2006. Since then, he has helped build the Company from approximately 30 clinics in two states to over 400 clinics in 32 states and Guam, treating over 27,000 patients and employing nearly 7,500 people. From 2011 to 2013, Tom served as Chair of the Kidney Care Council trade association, which advances public policy on behalf of dialysis patients, providers, and caregivers.
Prior to joining U.S. Renal Care, Tom served as Vice President, Public Policy, with DaVita Inc., in Washington, D.C., and as that company's Assistant General Counsel in Tacoma, Washington. Tom was a member of the Board of Directors of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce from 2002-2005. From 1990 to 1998, he practiced law in Seattle with the law firms of Bennett Bigelow & Leedom and Foster Pepper & Shefelman, including commercial litigation and health care-focused regulatory and transactional representation.
Tom's education includes: Bachelor of Arts, University of Washington, 1983; Juris Doctor, University of Washington School of Law, 1990 (where he served as the Articles Editor for the Washington Law Review); Advanced Management Program, Harvard Business School, 2004. He is a member of the state bars of Washington and Texas.