Our Team

Our common mission: simplify everyone’s pursuit of peace of mind by our advice, guidance, and support in the process of enrolling in and ultimately utilizing the right health plan.

Matt Herman

Chief Executive Officer

Gary Jenkins

Chief Financial Officer

Shawn Holt

Shawn holt

Chief Operating Officer

Michael Lagalante

Michael Lagalante

Chief Strategy Officer

Jeff Tang

Chief Information Officer

Keith Nelsen

Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel

Larry Cassar

Chief Sales Officer

George Lyford

Chief Compliance Officer & Deputy General Counsel

Richard J Gross Jr.

SVP Member Services​

Pat Manser

Pat Manser

Chief Marketing Officer

Denise Spencer

VP of Human Resources

Chris_Nicolopoulos

Chris Nicolopoulos

VP of Government Relations

Matt Herman

Chief Executive Officer

Matt is a serial entrepreneur who has founded, operated, and scaled multiple health distribution agencies over the past 15 years.

Most recently, he was founder and CEO of Health Benefits Group, a premier wholesaler of supplemental health insurance products nationwide.

Starting out as a retail health insurance agent, Matt has successfully scaled agencies from 60 to 700 agents over a 24-month period and has built a reputation in the space for innovative marketing, field operations and product design.

Matt, a native Floridian, is a lifelong Miami Heat and Miami Dolphin fan and lives in South Florida with his wife and two children.

Gary Jenkins

Chief Financial Officer

Gary has spent more than 30+ years in public accounting and in C-level financial roles in the life and health insurance space, particularly with multiple sponsor backed businesses.

Prior to Enhance Health, Gary served as President & Chief Financial Officer of AmeriLife, helping to scale one of the largest IMOs in the US.

Shawn Holt

Shawn Holt

Chief Operations Officer

Shawn Holt is a seasoned healthcare executive with over 20+ years’ experience, Shawn’s extensive knowledge ranged from Sales, Marketing, Health Plan Operations and Profit and Loss Responsibilities within Government Program Health Plans. Shawn is currently the Chief Operations Officer at Enhance Health, Shawn oversees Sales, Client Services, Carrier Relations among other responsibilities. Shawn has been highly successful, at growing and transforming companies from start-ups to Fortune 25 HealthCare leading Carriers.

Prior to joining Enhance Health, Shawn worked at Centene for nearly 15 years of combined service in various executive roles, his last role was the Chief Sales Officer for Centene (Wellcare & Ambetter), Shawn was responsible for all growth while in the CSO role. Shawn and his team were able to achieve at least a 50% CAGR in both lines of business during his time at Centene. 

Michael Lagalante

Chief Strategy Officer

Michael brings his strategic mindset to Enhance Health after spending his entire career in the insurance industry, designing niche products and driving business development and growth for both carriers and agencies.

Prior to Enhance Health, Michael started his career leading sales and product initiatives at American Financial Security Life, a bootstrapped insurance carrier that experienced rapid expansion in the ancillary health space. Most recently, Michael was brought on by Federal Life Insurance Company, a Bain Capital Insurance portfolio company, to drive new product lines and distribution channels. In this role, he partnered the company with national digital agency distribution partners and launched new verticals.

Michael received a BBA in Financial Markets from Iona University.

Jeff Tang

Chief Information Officer

Jeff has 20+ years of experience in the technology industry, with a focus on operations, data and systems. As the CIO of Enhance Health, Jeff oversees data, analytics and information technology. 

Before joining Enhance Health, Jeff was the Head of Support Experience at Riot Games, where he helped scale their support operations to serve their customer base of over 100 million monthly users and overhauled Riot support’s data strategy and architecture. 

Jeff graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in computer science.

Keith Nelsen

Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel

Keith has over thirty years of legal experience and over twenty years of high-level, General Counsel experience.  Keith was most recently the General Counsel at Bright Health, Inc., a provider of value-based health insurance products and services.  Prior to that, he spent nearly nine years as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Best Buy Co. Inc., a Fortune 50 provider of consumer electronics and services.  Keith brings a wide range of experience to Enhance, having also had international P&L experience and direct responsibility for human resources, risk management, compliance, real estate and other administrative functions in his prior roles.

Keith graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School and has an undergraduate degree in Finance.

 

Larry Cassar

SVP Sales

Larry brings his industry expertise of 30+ years to Enhance Health to lead the Sales strategy and operations teams.

Prior to joining Enhance Health Larry spent 10 years at Centene (Ambetter Wellcare) his last role was the Chief Agency Sales Officer. His prior roles included leadership positions at EmblemHealth, Empire Blue Cross, Unum and Arthur J. Gallagher.

In all his roles he has been charged with driving growth and profitability. Throughout his career his had led distribution for the following product lines: Group Health, Ancillary Benefits, Medicare, PDP, Medicare Supplemental and ACA.

A New York native, Larry found the fountain of youth in Florida six years ago. He is married with two children and three grandchildren. When he can find time, he golfs and likes to travel.

George Lyford

Chief Compliance Officer & Deputy General Counsel

George Lyford is a seasoned health care legal counsel and compliance officer with over 14 years of experience, specializing in earlier stage startup companies. Currently, George holds the position of Chief Compliance Officer and Deputy General Counsel at Enhance Health, where he oversees the company’s compliance, quality assurance, and licensing departments.

Prior to joining Enhance Health, George worked at Bright Health for over six years, serving as Chief Legal Officer and Chief Compliance Officer over the company’s health plan business segment. Passionate about advancing health care policy issues, particularly for underserved communities, George was appointed by Governor Jared Polis in 2020 to serve on the Colorado Healthcare Affordability and Sustainability Enterprise Board.

George holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Nebraska and undergraduate degrees in music and psychology.

Richard J Gross Jr.

Senior Vice President Member Services

Richard has more than 20 years’ experience in corporate sales and customer service. Focusing on member satisfaction and member retention. As the SVP of Member Services for Enhance Health, Richard oversees inbound and outbound member services and retention strategies as the company expands into new markets.

Before joining Enhance Health, Richard spent 10+ years with UnitedHealthCare, where he led UnitedHealth Group’s member services organization for the Affordable Care Act, servicing over 300,000 ACA members. Prior to leading the ACA membership, Rick also spent over eight years leading UnitedHealth Care’s OptumRx Specialty Pharmacy customer service teams.

A past PGA Golf Club Professional of over 10 years, Richard’s members service strategy aligns with the white glove Country Club approach. Richard was honored to receive the 2018 Gold Stevie Award for Contact Center Leader of the Year.

Pat Manser

Pat Manser

Chief Marketing Officer

Pat joined Enhance Health in March of 2023, bringing over a decade of experience in the insurance and digital marketing fields. As Chief Marketing Officer, he oversees ACA member acquisition, member exeperience and branding initiatives.

Prior to Enhance, Pat served as Vice President of Marketing at GoHealth, a digital health company headquartered in Chicago. Pat led both performance marketing and strategic partnership teams over his time at GoHealth,

Prior to GoHealth, Pat led digital and D2C initiatives at an international manufacturing company .  He graduated from Augustana College with degrees in journalism and marketing. 

 

Denise Spencer

Vice President, Human Resources

Denise brings more than 23 years of extensive global experience encompassing North America, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. With experience in diverse geographies and industries, she is adept in designing and implementing successful HR strategies that enable organizations to achieve their unique potential.

Before joining Enhance Health, Denise was the Vice President, Human Capital for AAR Corp, she oversaw all aspects of HR, including Talent Acquisition, Diversity & Inclusion, Total Rewards, Learning and Development and Performance Management. She executed all of this while supporting the achievement of business goals and objectives. As a Culture Change Champion, she led large-scale employee engagement by changing the function, culture, and impact of HR across companies worldwide.

Denise holds an MBA Global Business Management from the University of Phoenix. She holds the SPHRi Certification (HRCI) and a Lean Six-Sigma Certification from Florida Atlantic University.

Chris_Nicolopoulos

Chris Nicolopoulos

VP of Government Affairs

Chris Nicolopoulos brings nearly 20 years of experience in government affairs and the insurance industry to his role as Vice President of Government Affairs at Enhance Health, where he will spearhead the company’s government relations strategy to enhance healthcare accessibility across the country.

Prior to joining Enhance Health, Chris was Commissioner of the New Hampshire Insurance Department, a position for which he was nominated by Governor Chris Sununu in 2020. He had previously served as President and CEO of the largest trade association of independent insurance agents in New Hampshire. He has also worked as an associate at Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau & Pachios PLLP, and as Government Affairs Director at the New Hampshire Association of Realtors.

Chris holds a Juris Doctorate from New England School of Law and an undergraduate degree in History from the University of New Hampshire. Since 2022, he has been licensed to practice law in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.