Claire Brockbank leads the 32BJ Health Fund’s efforts to drive down hospital prices, including a multistakeholder campaign to draw attention to the central role that hospital prices play in healthcare costs and to drive action to lower those prices through public policy, operational innovation, and direct interaction with hospitals.

Prior to joining 32BJ Health Fund, Claire served as CEO of Peak Health Alliance, a healthcare purchasing cooperative in Colorado. As the lead architect of the development and launch of Peak, she leveraged data and community organizing to lower premiums by approximately 35 percent in its first two years of operation. Peak also pioneered innovative benefit designs to channel access to more value-driven services. She earned a master’s degree in health policy and management from Harvard University.

Zack Cooper is an Associate Professor of Public Health and Associate Professor of Economics at Yale University. He also serves as Director of Health Policy at Yale's Institution for Social and Policy Studies. Professor Cooper is a health economist whose work is focused on producing data-driven scholarship that can inform public policy. In his academic work, he has analyzed the impact of competition in hospital and insurance markets, studied the influence of price transparency on consumer behavior, investigated the causes of surprise out-of-network bills, and examined the influence of electoral politics on health care spending growth. Cooper has published his research in leading economics and medical journals including the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the New England Journal of Medicine. He has also presented his research at the White House, the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

In a 2024 National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, "Who Pays for Rising Health Care Prices? Evidence from Hospital Mergers," Cooper and colleagues demonstrate how healthcare price increases lead to reduced employment, lower incomes, and broader societal impacts.

Cooper received his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and his PhD from the London School of Economics, where he received the Richard Titmuss prize for Best PhD thesis. He was an Economic and Social Science Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow in economics at the LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance where he remains a Faculty Associate. Cooper is a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a 2019 winner of and Andrew Carnegie Fellowship from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

His research on health care spending on the privately insured can be found at: healthcarepricingproject.org.

Ryan Danks is the Director of Civil Enforcement and formerly the chief of the Washington Criminal I Section of the Antitrust Division. Previously Ryan served as an assistant chief, counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, and as a trial attorney responsible for prosecuting cartels and official corruption, and litigating merger and non-merger civil enforcement actions

Erin C. Fuse Brown, with a magna cum laude J.D. from Georgetown Law and an MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, brings a unique blend of legal and public health expertise to Brown University. Her work has influenced health policy at both state and national levels. She has presented to the Federal Trade Commission and consulted with the National Academy for State Health Policy on legal and policy approaches to address issues such as health care consolidation, surprise medical bills, health care price transparency and private equity investment in health care. Her work has earned her the 2017 Patricia T. Morgan Award for Outstanding Scholarship and the American Antitrust Institute’s Best Antitrust and Mergers Article in 2018, among many others.

Known for his wide-ranging policy expertise, and government relations experience, Shawn Gremminger brings to the National Alliance a successful record of working with coalitions, employers and other healthcare purchasers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders toward the mission of achieving high-quality, affordable, equitable healthcare.

Shawn was most recently senior vice president at Reservoir Communications Group where he led communications and public affairs strategy and execution on a range of relevant issues, including 340B and the drug supply chain, employer-sponsored insurance regulations, and Medicare payment. He has a strong history of healthcare advocacy and public affairs with employers, plans, hospitals, and consumer organizations. Shawn was previously director of health policy for the Purchaser Business Group on Health, a member of the National Alliance, where he ran efforts to improve quality and affordability for consumers and healthcare purchasers through federal policy. He has held senior leadership roles at Families USA, and America’s Essential Hospitals. Shawn began his career as a lobbyist for the Children’s Hospital Association. He achieved a Master of Public Policy from George Washington University in Washington and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA.

Peter V. Lee is currently a Senior Scholar with Stanford University’s Clinical Excellence Research Center (CERC) and a Strategic Consultant to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s (CalPERS) health program.  With CERC, Peter works with Stanford and other CERC-affiliated academic and health care organizations across the nation distill and disseminate innovations that lower the cost of clinically excellent care.  His focus is on translating research findings by CERC and other sources into public and private sector actions that improve the value of health care in the United States.  As Strategic Consultant to CalPERS, Peter assists the health program serve the 1.5 million active and retired CalPERS member and beneficiaries receiving coverage. In particular, he works to support the health programs’ efforts to transform health care purchasing and delivery, while ensuring CalPERS member have access to high-quality health care that is equitable, affordable, and available for all when and where it’s needed.  

Peter is the immediate past and founding Executive Director of Covered California, where he oversaw all aspects of the largest state-run individual marketplace in the nation from its inception in 2011 to 2022.  Before joining the Covered California, Peter served in the Obama Administration at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where he helped establish the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) and was the Director of Delivery System Reform for the Office of Health Reform for the Health and Human Services agency, where he coordinated delivery reform efforts for Secretary Sebelius including preparing of the National Quality Strategy.  

Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Peter led the Pacific (now Purchaser) Business Group on Health (PBGH), served as the Executive Director of the Center for Health Care Rights, a consumer advocacy organization based in Los Angeles where he established the Health Rights Hotline, and was the Director of Programs for the National AIDS Network.

Peter received his law degree from the University of Southern California and his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Rosa Novo is the Administrative Benefits Director of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Florida, where for 38 years she has been creating strategic health solutions, negotiating, contracting and creation, plus implementation of the District’s Wellness Program “Well Way” for the 3rd largest School Board in the nation.

Mrs. Novo received her Bachelor of Science in Health Service Administration from Barry University. Mrs. Novo has been a member of the Florida Alliance for Health Care Value since 2008 and today is the proud Board Chair of the coalition. Additionally, Mrs. Novo serves has served as an Advisory Board Member of the Florida School Retiree Benefits Consortium, serves in the District’s Wellness Committee, is a member of the Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Committee & Consortium for a Healthier Miami-Dade, member of Cigna’s Health Disparity Advisory Council and a member of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalition, plus other Employer Council Member in several companies, associations, and consortiums.

Mrs. Novo is responsible for the administration of the district’s self-insured healthcare plan which is the second largest expenditure in the district. The annual cost of offering healthcare coverage to 46,000 covered lives (32,000 employees plus dependents and 9,241 retirees plus dependents) is $441 million.

Mrs. Novo is enthusiastic about providing the best services to the members she represents while assuring financial stability. Her approach to wellbeing includes emphasize on sustainable programs, improving stress management, and educating employees on how minor changes result in huge accomplishments.

Additionally, Mrs. Novo continuous to dedicate her passion to increasing awareness on Mental Health and her personal goal is to change the delivery of these services assuring better outcomes at lower costs, while improving employee’s overall wellbeing.

Mrs. Novo is also involved in in discussions at the Federal Level becoming a voice in Washington and throughout the State of Florida, in improving the healthcare delivery model, healthcare cost and transparency justifying the cost, plus the quality of care.

Mrs. Novo continuous work both within MDCPS, and through the above-mentioned relationship, with the goal of improving the current healthcare model.

Cora Opsahl is the director of the 32BJ Health Fund, a self-insured Taft-Hartley benefit fund that sets comprehensive design parameters to ensure the 200,000 members and families of SEIU 32BJ have easy and sustained access to affordable, high-quality healthcare. Since becoming Health Fund director in 2021, Opsahl has prioritized a data-driven approach to healthcare, focusing on reducing trend; solving the affordability challenge on behalf of union members; and most important, keeping members at the center of every decision. 

Under her leadership, the 32BJ Health Fund has saved more than $35 million annually—which it has reinvested in new and better benefits, including the first fertility benefit for members—by removing NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals and physicians from its network, transitioning to a new pharmacy vendor and pharmacy group purchasing coalition, and establishing an expanded Centers of Excellence program. Most recently, Opsahl conducted an innovative medical RFP, stipulating that all finalists must have a signature-ready contract drafted by the Health Fund prior to award. By including the Health Fund-drafted contract in the RFP process, the Fund was able to negotiate an agreement that brought unprecedented visibility and increased accountability to the 32BJ Health Fund benefit.

Cora Opsahl is regarded as an expert in pharmacy benefit management and previously worked at Express Scripts, where she held a variety of roles, ranging from Medicare Part D to operations to strategy and acquisitions. She earned an MBA from Saint Louis University. 

Before becoming President, Manny Pastreich was 32BJ’s Director of Bargaining and Secretary Treasurer. In this role, as number two to former President Kyle Bragg, he participated in bargaining every major agreement within the union, helping to win wage increases, shoring up members’ benefits, and expanding protections for the 175,000 SEIU 32BJ members from New York City, Washington, DC; Boston, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Florida, and beyond.

Manny cut his teeth helping to bring thousands of members into SEIU and 32BJ, including leading research (1992-1996) for the Justice for Janitors campaign in DC—with demonstrations by janitors and allies blocking bridges and major arteries—and as an executive supporting 32BJ’s successful new organizing of tens of thousands of security officers and airport workers in the 2000s. He combines an understanding of organizing with a reputation as a strong hand at the bargaining table.

Growing up, he attended demonstrations, bargaining sessions, and building visits alongside his father who helped launch two SEIU healthcare locals in Massachusetts. He had the opportunity to see firsthand the difference unions made in workers’ lives, from pay and benefits to the opportunity to have a voice on the job.

At 32BJ, Manny has taken up the cause of fast-food workers, deliveristas, and gig workers, helping to drive policy change to raise standards and working conditions in those industries—and to keep organized labor on the offensive, as technology and modern working conditions change. He has driven innovative strategies, like the 32BJ Campaign for Affordable Hospitals, that help the union stay one step ahead politically and economically.

“Our union has a special history and opportunity to make change. We are one of the largest local unions in the country with 175,000 members—bigger than many international unions—with the resources and talent to win contracts, organize, and make politics happen for working people. We represent essential workers in key industries and can use our leverage to advance transformative change for all workers,” said Manny.

 “I’m excited to build with our new and diverse leadership team, to continue our political advocacy for racial justice, economic justice for all, immigrant justice, climate justice, and to continue the momentum we have generated on campaigns like our fast-food worker, airports campaigns and fight to address hospital overpricing.”

Manny has been involved in every state where 32BJ operates, bargaining contracts, strengthening the foundation of the union’s funds, and gaining a truly comprehensive understanding of what it takes to build momentum across the union’s jurisdiction.

In the 1990s, he also worked as a researcher supporting SEIU’s organizing and bargaining across the country before doing a three-year stint as a research director for the AFL-CIO on the United Farm Workers’ strawberry-worker organizing campaign. He then completed another three years with the AFL-CIO, coordinating multiunion campaigns in the airline and airport sectors.

Manny joined SEIU 32BJ as a Research Director from 2002 to 2004, after which he became Director of Collective Bargaining Benefits Fund and a Taft-Hartley Benefit Fund Trustee covering pension, health, training, and legal benefit funds. Manny previously served as a Board Member at the Latin American Youth Center and his son’s Little League Board.

For more than three decades, Howard Rothschild has represented the real estate industry in labor negotiations, participated in thousands of arbitrations, and represented employers in matters before federal, state, and New York City courts and administrative agencies. Notably, he was counsel of record for one of the employers in Pyett v. 14 Penn Plaza before the Supreme Court of the United States, a seminal labor case that cemented arbitration’s place as a foundation of organized labor relations. Howard also serves as an officer and a trustee on the Boards and Committees of SEIU, Local 32BJ Funds, Local 94, and IUOE Funds, and is active in the funds’ governance. In 2010, the International Foundation awarded Howard the designation of Master Trustee.

A regular speaker to industry and legal professional groups, Howard volunteers extensively to further the interests of the community. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of several service organizations, including The 34th Street Partnership in 2021; The Outreach Project, which provides treatment for adolescents struggling with alcohol and drug abuse, in 2013; The Bridge, which provides services for adults with mental illness, in 2012, and its Executive Committee in 2017; and Children-At-Play, a preschool program for children with disabilities, in 2010. He previously served on the Board of Trustees of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley (SSDSRV) for 10 years and its Executive Committee for five years. Howard has been honored by Project Outreach, The Bridge, and SSDSRV for his commitment and devotion to these organizations.

A graduate of Hofstra Law School, he is admitted to practice law in New York State, the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Howard is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Real Estate Board of New York.

Misha Sharp has provided the policy expertise necessary to launch the 32BJ Campaign for Affordable Hospitals. This campaign is focused on lowering hospital prices as a primary driver of rising healthcare costs that place pressure on union members’ health benefits and total compensation.

As a part of this campaign, Misha worked with the Lown Institute to publish a fair-share spending analysis about New York City hospitals. Their report created pressure for legislators in New York City to hold hospitals more accountable and set the stage for establishing the nation’s first-ever municipal Office of Healthcare Accountability. Misha was an integral part of getting this legislation passed and ensuring the Office of Healthcare Accountability will be an asset to all New Yorkers.

Misha has worked across 32BJ Health Fund operations and analytics teams: leading implementation of regulatory opportunities resulting from the No Surprises Act and Transparency in Coverage, managing vendor relationships, and developing cost and savings models to assess potential benefit changes.

Previously, Misha worked with the United Hospital Fund to provide strategic guidance and research for the New York State Medicaid program. She holds an MPH from Emory University.

Reed Showalter is a Senior Policy Advisor on the White House National Economic Council, where he has served since March 2024. Reed previously served at the U.S. Department of Justice as Counsel for Legislative Affairs and as an Attorney Advisor for Competition Policy & Advocacy. Prior to that he worked at the Federal Trade Commission as an attorney in the Bureau of Competition and in private antitrust practice. His experience also includes a work with the Antitrust Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, contributing to the Digital Markets Investigation and Report. He holds a JD from Columbia Law and a BA from New York University.

Sophia Tripoli is a strategic and innovative health policy thought leader and oversees and leads Families USA’s strategic development and framework on all aspect of its health policy priorities including guidance on federal and state health policy that will improve health care and health for all families and individuals in America. Prior to this role, Tripoli lead Families USA’s work on value initiatives that focus on re-orienting the health care system to deliver health, lowering health care costs, and on forwarding consumer-focused policy agendas to improve health care delivery and payment systems. Tripoli represents Families USA on the Board of Directors for the Health Care Transformation Task Force and serves on the Accountable Care Action Collaborative for the Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network. Tripoli previously worked at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), State Innovation, and at the National Governors Association. Tripoli holds an MPH and a Bachelor of Arts in international affairs with a concentration in global public health, both from The George Washington University.
 

Lindsey Vigoda directs Small Business Majority’s outreach, policy and fundraising efforts in New York. Using her social work skills, Lindsey builds and maintains strong relationships with small business communities throughout the state, focusing on key policy issues. In addition to her New York Director role, Lindsey serves as Small Business Majority’s National Quality Jobs Policy Director to promote policies such as paid family leave and childcare that support access to quality jobs. Previously, she served as Colorado Director, leading the organization's advocacy, education and small business outreach across the state.

She also served on Denver Mayor-elect Mike Johnston's transition team as a volunteer to inform policies related to social equity and innovation. Recently, Lindsey joined the Board Advisory Group (C4HCO) for Connect for Health Colorado to advise the governing board on healthcare plan design, value, benefits, cost, outreach and marketing. Lindsey is a 2023 40 Under 40 awardee for the Colorado LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce.

Prior to joining Small Business Majority, Lindsey worked on Colorado’s successful Proposition 111 campaign, which capped the interest rates of predatory payday loans in the state. While working toward her Master of Social Work at the University of Denver, Lindsey conducted policy research for a statewide policy tank that focused on economic justice.