Maulik is based out of AArete’s Chicago office and leads AArete’s Innovation and Advisory services. He is also responsible for driving AArete’s international growth strategy. Overall, Maulik comes with nearly 20 years of experience in Operational and Management Consulting across multiple industries working with Ernst & Young, Protiviti Consulting and Huron Consulting. He has experience leading advising Fortune 1000 clients on driving operational efficiencies and creating enterprise value. He has led large consulting engagements for clients delivering operational transformation, bottom line improvement, digitally enabled process efficiencies and organizational change, through fact-based data intensive analysis combined with domain expertise. Maulik holds a Master of Business Administration degree from S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), a bachelor’s in accounting and Finance from Mumbai University, and is a Certified Information Systems Auditor and a Six Sigma Green Belt. He was recognized by Consulting Magazine’s for their “35 under 35 – Rising Star of the Profession” award and was selected to the list of Top 50 Healthcare Consultants of 2021 by The Consulting Report. He is a published author and quoted industry expert in Managed Healthcare Executive, Chain Drug Review, ThinkAdvisor, American Pharmacists Association and Chain Store Age.

Kevin specializes in data analytics and mining, business process improvement, strategic sourcing solutions and leading strategic profitability improvement initiatives. His broad range of healthcare experience, including both the Provider and Payer side, makes him an integral member of AArete’s analytics team. Kevin has worked with large managed care organizations (MCOs) and hospitals to deliver cost savings results and operational and strategic business insight. Kevin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and was recognized as a Consulting Magazine “2019 Rising Stars of the Profession – Consulting’s 35 under the age of 35” award winner.

Paul has an extensive track record of developing new and innovative approaches to complex clinical, IT, operational and market opportunities as a leader of AArete’s healthcare strategy and operations service lines. He has served in various roles as a business developer, senior executive, CTO and industry thought leader. He has extensive experience in and broad knowledge of clinical and business informatics and technology enablers and provides proven and successful approaches to clients in the healthcare provider and payer sectors. His recent focus has been on sustainable reduction of cost-of-care and advising health systems on the enablers required for bearing risk and improving outcomes on populations. Paul has Bachelors and Masters degrees from The University of Texas.

Prior to joining AArete, Jackie worked in Commercial Banking and Investment Banking spaces. She has consulted across a wide range of industries including Health: Payer, Financial Services, Retail and Consumer and Education and leads AArete’s strategy & operations. Her focus in the healthcare space is strategic advisory work, specifically with our Medicaid and Medicare clients. Jackie specializes in providing strategic profitability improvement solutions by conducting detailed spend analyses, market intelligence benchmarking, organizational assessments, developing process improvement plans and providing support in complex incumbent vendor negotiations. Jackie holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Saint Mary’s College and has an Executive MBA degree from the University of Notre Dame. She is an active member of Women Business Leaders in the US Healthcare Industry (WBL) and is an Executive Sponsor of AArete’s Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) to further support the talent acquisition, development and retention of future female leaders at AArete.

Duane brings more than 25 years of consulting experience helping organizations in various stages of maturity and stability spanning from fast growth expansion to distressed environments. He leads AArete’s Health: Payer industry practice line by advising health plans, MCOs, administrators and other healthcare services organizations on a variety of performance improvement and operational initiatives. Duane holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from The Ohio State University.

Leslie Lotano-Saba has more than 35 years of pharmacy experience, primarily in government programs with payers and PBMs. She is recognized for developing innovative and practical strategies that decrease costs and improve margin without compromising quality. Leslie established her own consulting firm, Saba and Associates, LLC, and has applied her extensive industry knowledge and expertise to assist health plans, PBMs, technology and clinical care organizations address strategic and operational issues, improving their performance.

Leslie’s previous experience includes Chief Operating Officer of Clinical Support Services, a medication therapy management company responsible for operational efficiency improvements and revenue growth; Senior Vice President for Amerigroup (acquired by Anthem), where she led the pharmacy program for one of the nation’s largest Medicaid managed care plans, managing state carve-ins, designing and implementing innovative cost savings solutions; Vice President of Pharmacy for Horizon NJ Health, the largest Medicaid managed care plan in New Jersey where she successfully insourced pharmacy benefits management, designed a Community Pharmacist Diabetes Initiative and a regionally and nationally recognized Asthma disease management program. Leslie also led operational improvement initiatives at NCS Healthcare (long term care), PSCNY (PBM) and Medco mail service pharmacy in New York.

Leslie serves as a member of the AMCP Public Policy committee and a member of the AMCP Medication Therapy Management Advisory Group. Leslie earned a Bachelor’s of Pharmacy degree from Albany College of Pharmacy and a MS in Healthcare Administration from Union College (Clarkson University) and attended the Wharton School Executive Management Program for Pharmacy Leaders. She is also a member of Women Business Leaders, AMCP and the American College of Healthcare Executives. 

John has over 30+ years of cross–industry consulting and operations improvement experience. His continues to provide profit improvement services to a range of companies including healthcare providers, healthcare payers, technology, retail, and other. His work includes strategic profitability improvement, revenue cycle improvements, gross margin improvements, process redesign, and technology implementation services. John has a particular focus on organizational change management supporting his clients in developing strategies for advancing their business to meet new business and regulatory challenges. He is a known innovator and driver of change that produces results by communicating to all levels of the organization. John has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management Information Systems from Pace University, is a member of HFMA and is a published author in Managed Healthcare Executive, CFO and Financial Executives.

Katie brings more than 12 years of consulting experience specific to strategic profitability improvement efforts and procurement and operational improvement services including vendor management, SLA creation, procurement process redesign, organizational review and contract management. Katie holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Notre Dame, a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Saint Mary’s College and is also a Certified Public Accountant. Katie sits on the Board of Directors of Amandla Charter School in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood and is an Executive Sponsor of AArete’s Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) to further support talent acquisition, development and retention of future female leaders.

With extensive expertise in data analytics and spend management, including strategic sourcing, vendor relationship management and demand management, Mark brings with him a broad toolset of strategic profitability improvement capabilities and is responsible for day-to-day project execution and client management. Mark holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Cornell University, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis, and is a published author in CFO Magazine.

Prior to joining AArete, Paul began his career at Huron Consulting Group where he worked on corporate disputes and fraud investigations. With nearly 10 years of consulting experience across a variety of industries including extensive experience with healthcare payers, working with several large national payers, regional payers, and integrated health systems. He specializes in using data analytics to drive strategic decisions and operational improvements that result in significant bottom line improvement with minimal disruption to an organization. Paul directed and oversaw five engagements with state Medicaid Health Plans of 20M+ member payer that resulted in over $200M of savings and led an engagement with 4M+ member national Medicaid payer that achieved $25M of annual recurring savings through identification and implementation of unit cost, utilization management, and configuration opportunities. Paul holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business with concentrations in Business Economics & Public Policy and Finance and is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

Prior to joining AArete, Maria began her career at Arthur Andersen where she provided audit and consulting services to privately-held companies in a variety of industries including the transportation, professional services and non-profit sectors. She subsequently served as the CFO for a provider of global brand management solutions. With nearly twenty years of consulting experience, Maria is a leader in AArete’s Healthcare Payment Intelligence™ practice with a focus on configuration and overpayment analytics, including Healthcare Fraud, Waste and Abuse (FWA) and other payment integrity issues. She works closely with leading insurance payers to design and implement comprehensive solutions that are customized to align with each client’s unique business requirements resulting in the early detection, recovery and prevention of overpayments in healthcare claims. She couples her depth of business knowledge with her expertise in healthcare to create innovative solutions that are tailored to meet the challenges healthcare payers currently face. Maria holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from The University of Iowa, is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and belongs to the Illinois CPA Society. Additionally, Maria serves as President Elect of the University of Iowa Professional Accounting Council, is an Executive Sponsor of AArete’s Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) and is also a member of the Women Business Leaders (WBL) of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation.