RESEARCH EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Jeff Ricketts | Co-Chair
Jeff Ricketts had a nearly 40-year tenure with Anthem and served as the Virginia Plan President for the last five years until he retired in September 2022. Mr. Ricketts has been involved in many professional, community and charitable activities. He currently serves as Chair of the Virginia Center for Health Innovation Board of Directors and was previously co-chair of the Virginia Task Force on Primary Care. He also serves on the Board of the Virginia Healthcare Foundation and Virginia Learns. He has previously served on the boards of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Chamber RVA, Venture Richmond, and the Virginia Association of Health Plans. He was a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates, Virginia Chamber Blueprint VA 2030 Committee, the Virginia Business Council, and the Management Roundtable. He is also past chair of the Virginia March of Dimes State Board and was chair for the 2015 March for Babies. Mr. Ricketts is a native of Richmond and graduate of James Madison University.
Delegate Rodney Willett | Co-Chair
Delegate Rodney Willett was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2019, representing the 58th House District in western Henrico County, and re-elected in 2021 and 2023. He chairs the Compensation and Retirement Subcommittee, the Behavioral Health Subcommittee, and the Joint Commission on Health Care. Rodney also leads the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority and the House Select Committee on Advancing Rural and Small Town Health Care. His committee memberships include the Agriculture, Chesapeake Bay, and Natural Resources Committee. Rodney has been instrumental in passing legislation on healthcare access, early childhood education, mental health, environmental protection, voting rights, and gun violence prevention.
Aneesh Chopra, MPP | Council Member
Aneesh Chopra is the Chief Strategy Officer at Arcadia, a healthcare data platform that in 2024 acquired CareJourney, the company Chopra co-founded a decade prior. In his role at Arcadia, Chopra advocates for interoperability and data-driven approaches that help providers, payers, and employers make smarter decisions to succeed in the shift to value-based care. Chopra helps the industry better manage costs and improve care quality with a winning combination of precise insights derived from more than 300 million beneficiaries and over 2 million providers nationwide and a fast, scalable, and interoperable platform with operational tools to act on opportunities.
Chopra’s influence and leadership in technology includes extensive experience in the public sector. He served as the first U.S. Chief Technology Officer under the Obama Administration, where he spearheaded initiatives to modernize the nation’s healthcare system using electronic health records and health information exchanges. These efforts strengthened the data infrastructure used in healthcare delivery reform, ultimately helping the industry progress toward a more connected and efficient healthcare ecosystem.
Chopra also served as Virginia’s Secretary of Technology under Governor Tim Kaine, where he championed the growth of the state’s technology sector, enhanced educational opportunities through technology, and drove innovation in government operations. As a public servant, Aneesh fostered better public-private collaboration, a theme central to his 2014 book, “Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government.”
Chopra’s significant contributions to the fields of technology and healthcare have cemented his reputation as a forward-thinking leader committed to leveraging technology for the public good. He’s been recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare and one of the top 25 “Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers” by Government Technology magazine.
He also serves on the boards of Trimedx, IntegraConnect, and the George Mason Innovation Advisory Council. He earned his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School and holds a bachelor’s degree in health policy from Johns Hopkins University.
Jeff Dobro, MD | Council Member
Dr. Jeff Dobro has had leadership roles in some of the most innovative and impactful organizations in health care. He is currently the CEO of Eudaimonia Concepts, dedicated to bringing creative solutions to organizations empowering them to flourish and thrive. He has recently served as Chief Innovation Officer at Transcarent, leading the organizations’ efforts to create the One Place to Go for all of a consumer’s health and care needs, developing novel products and partnerships that drive value for consumers, fiduciaries and providers. Prior to joining Transcarent, Jeff was a Partner and the Health Strategy and Innovation Leader at Mercer Consulting. He was the Chief Medical Officer at One Medical Group, Chief Medical Officer at RedBrick Health and a Partner at Willis Towers Watson. He has operated a national group of 58 primary care medical practices, was Chief Medical Officer of an early ACO management firm and was an analyst at a hedge fund. Jeff is a board-certified internist and rheumatologist and was an Assistant Professor at NYU School of Medicine. Jeff is passionate about transforming the US health care system and achieving the quadruple aim of bringing accessible, high quality, positive experience health care to all Americans and clinicians at an affordable cost.
Christopher Koller | Council Member
Christopher Koller is president of the Milbank Memorial Fund, a 120-year-old operating foundation that improves population health and health equity by connecting leaders with evidence and sound experience. Before joining the Fund, he served the State of Rhode Island as the country’s first health insurance commissioner, an appointment he held between 2005 and 2013. Under Mr. Koller’s leadership, the Rhode Island Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner was nationally recognized for its rate review process and its efforts to use insurance regulation to promote payment reform, primary care revitalization, and delivery system transformation. The office was also one of the lead agencies in implementing the Affordable Care Act in Rhode Island. Prior to serving as health insurance commissioner, Mr. Koller was the CEO of Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island for nine years. In this role, he was the founding chair of the Association of Community Affiliated Plans. Mr. Koller has a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Dartmouth College and master’s degrees in social ethics and public/private management from Yale University. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. He has also served in numerous national and state health policy advisory capacities and was the recipient of the Primary Care Collaborative’s Starfield Award in 2019. Mr. Koller is a professor of the practice in the department of health services, policy and practice in the School of Public Health at Brown University.
Shelly Smith, DNP, PhD | Council Member
Dr. Shelly Smith is a distinguished Professor of Nursing and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. With a robust academic background, Dr. Smith holds a PhD in Public Policy from Virginia Commonwealth University, a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the University of Virginia, an MS with a concentration in Adult Primary Care from VCU, and a BSN in Nursing from the UVA.
Dr. Smith's professional journey is marked by significant leadership roles and contributions to nursing education and public policy. Currently, she serves as the Associate Dean for Graduate Nursing Programs at the University of Virginia.
She also co-directs the newly formed Synergy Center, which addresses Virginia's nursing workforce challenges by aligning individual goals with organizational needs through purposeful interaction. Her academic career also includes roles as a Clinical Associate Professor and Program Director at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she directed Graduate Practice Programs. Dr. Smith continues to maintain an active clinical practice in addition to her academic roles.
Dr. Smith is actively involved in public health and policy. She is an appointed member of the Virginia Board of Nursing and the Joint Board of Nursing and Medicine, where she serves as the APRN representative. Prior to her board of nursing appointment, Dr. Smith was appointed to the Virginia Healthcare Workforce Development Authority. She is an active member of the Region 9’s Virginia Partnerships for Health Science Careers workgroup. Her work focuses on creating sustainable collaborations across public education, industry, and policy.
Her contributions to nursing and public policy are further evidenced by her numerous publications and presentations at national and international conferences. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the National Academy of Practice and has received several awards, including the NP State Excellence Award from the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.