Our Team

Senior Partner. He is a part time faculty member of Schools of Public Engagement - The New School University and a principle designer of UNSTUCK, a social storytelling/sharing platform to create measurable social change.

Sal Rasa works in the areas of strategic communication and change management for business and technology.  He is founder of the company Generating Community-Driven Solutions, dedicated to the belief, that the overall health of an organization or a community is a direct reflection of that organization’s ability to communicate.

He has consulted to companies in a variety of industries, including Merck, Schering-Plough, Schlumberger, Abbott Labs, Lancaster General Hospital, BMW, GM, Ford, Nabisco, IBM, Symantec, Omnicom, American Scandia, Citigroup, UBS, BAM (The Brooklyn Academy of Music), The Walker Arts Institute and Théâtre du Châtelet.

Sal was a senior communication consultant at Watson Wyatt and served as Vice President of Global Communication and Business Transformation for Maritz Performance Improvement Company. Recently, he facilitated a change management-learning event for the global electronic markets group of one of the world’s largest banks.

Sal was chosen to contribute a chapter to a collaborative book on the business value of social knowledge, recently published by IGI and Minot University, called Social Knowledge: Using Social Media to Know What You Know.  

http://www.igi-global.com/bookstore/titledetails.aspx?titleid=46988

While at Maritz, Sal worked with global teams facing constantly changing business models. He was the lead consultant to IBM and co-authored the baseline cultural change documents for IBM’s first hybrid marketing channel, developed global CRM learning methodologies for several years, and led the IBM/Maritz team’s company-wide business transformation communication strategy.

Public Television is presenting Where Words Prevail, a documentary he directed and produced about the work of Cicely Berry C.B.E., and Voice Director of The Royal Shakespeare Company, including her work in Russia. The film offers an intensive look at the power language has to bridge differences. The film reached over 90 million households in four weeks. https:www.//vimeo.com/12449244

In 1992, Neil Smith co-founded SmithOBrien, a management consulting firm, whose pioneering

work in corporate social responsibility/sustainability strategy, risk assessment and financial measurement and values-based systemic change, has transformed the behavior, practices and

financial performance of some of the country’s largest and oldest companies. Neil led the

firm’s corporate responsibility strategy development and measurement services and the Social Network Analysis practice, before retiring in 2016. SmithOBrien clients have included Calvert,

Chiquita, Gillette, Starbucks, Symantec, Aon Hewitt, Colonial Pipeline, Duke Energy, and USAID,

among others.

Neil brings a unique combination of skills and experience. Earlier in his career, he directed

nonprofit organizations for urban and rural low-income and working-class communities. He

later published weekly suburban newspapers. As a management consultant and sometimes

executive coach, he has helped corporate leaders recognize the business value of seeding and

sustaining an organizational culture of respect, inclusion, ethics and accountability, while

integrating progressive ESG practices that go beyond regulatory compliance with the external

social impacts of the company’s products or services on customers and communities

throughout the world.

With input from leaders in social impact investing and racial-equity and workplace inclusion,

Neil has developed and is making plans to field test Impact Invest In Place, a new 10-year

initiative that seeks to increase the wealth of Black and Latino employees in urban low-wealth

neighborhoods. The framework enables community foundations and large-scale workforce

development organizations to engage and assess, respectively, a cross-sector of their mature

nonprofit grantees and for-profit employer partners at collaborating to increase the income

and assets of their own employees of color.

Neil is a Social Innovation Fellow at the Babson College Lewis Institute. He was a part-time

faculty member at The New School University’s Milano School of Policy, Management and

Environment and previously, an adjunct professor at “Leadership for Change,” a graduate

certificate program at the Boston College Carroll School of Management that prepared MBA

students to become effective and responsible local and global change agents. 

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Terry Bequette is a consultant offering expertise in health information technology planning and strategy.  He is most familiar with the health reform context of state governments as they apply health information technology and exchange to new models of care delivery and payment reform with their Medicaid and multi-payer programs.  

Terry has been engaged with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), as a Subject Matter Expert in the Resource Center supporting state innovation models.  While contracted to ONC he wrote and contributed to resource documents on topics of Provider Directory, Identity Management, and eCQMs. A prior engagement was with the Oregon Health Authority / Office of Health Information Technology, where Terry provided consulting and implementation management services for a portfolio of Health IT projects (Provider Directory, Clinical Quality Metrics Registry, Common Credentialing, and Systems Integration).

Previously, Terry was Vermont’s State HIT Coordinator, where he managed the State’s relationship with ONC including grant management for the Cooperative Agreement Grant, and coordinated the State’s efforts for Health Information Exchange expansion, interoperability, and Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology.  Terry has career experience as a CIO, a Director of Technology, operations and line management, and R&D in a variety of industries. Terry has a BS in Engineering from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), and a MS in Operations Research from Columbia University in New York City.

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Barbara Kivowitz, who wrote Love in the Time of Chronic Illness  as a guide for couples living at the intersection of illness, love, and obligation. Barbara’s work as a psychotherapist, social worker, and teacher offers a compelling personal story that gives voice to the realities and power of social engagement.

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Love in the Time of Chronic Illness

Richard has bachelor's and master's degrees in applied math and computer science from MIT, and an MBA from the MiT Sloan school, where he studied finance, teamwork, and organization development (organizational psychology). 

His work has been largely at the intersection of technology, process, and teamwork. He has worked as a rocket scientist, IT director, marketing and sales director, technology management consultant, and partner in his own consulting firm. He understands technology, and understands at a deep level how to help business and organizations get work done.

Health consultant with particular interests in transitions of care, longitudinal coordination of care and the exchange of standardized health information.

Dr. O'Malley is an internist/geriatrician with an active nursing home practice at the Massachusetts General Hospital where he provides daily clinical care, supervises trainees, and conducts research on improving transitions of care and the exchange of clinical information at transitions. Until 2014 he served as the Medical Director of Partners HealthCare at Home and as the Medical Director for Non-Acute Care Services within the Partners HealthCare System. He currently sits on the Partners network level steering committees for Palliative Care, Readmissions, Quality Measurement, and co-chairs the Transitions of Care Committee.

At the State level Dr. O'Malley is the co-principle investigator and evaluation lead of a project funded by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), IMPACT- Improving Massachusetts Post Acute Care Transfers, which measures the effect of the electronic exchange of essential clinical data the time of care transitions and its impact on the utilization of healthcare services. He also co-Chairs the MA Health Data Consortium Transitions and Care Coordination IT workgroup and sits on the state-wide Care Transitions Steering Committee.

At the National level,, he co-chaired the Long Term and Post Acute Care Workgroup within the ONC Standards and Interoperability (S&I) Framework and was one of several Leads on the Longitudinal Coordination of Care (LCC) and the LCC Pilot Work Groups. These groups created the standardized data sets required to exchange a home health plan of care between the agencies and the certifying clinician, as well as the components required for safe transitions of care and the exchange of a longitudinal care plan between all acute and post acute care providers. He is one of the leads on the newly established eLTSS ONC S&I Framework Work group which will define the exchange standards with long term service and support providers. 

He is a member of the National Quality Forum's (NQF's) Care Coordination Steering Committee for the Care Coordination Measure Endorsement Maintenance project, is on the Board of Directors of the Long Term Quality Alliance, and is a member of federal Health Information Technology Policy Committee Advance Care Models and MU Workgroup.

Robert Harper Jr, is a NYC-based award-winning filmmaker and producer from Germany. He’s a passionate environmentalist and 2019 Guinness World Record holder for organizing the “Largest Underwater Clean Up in the History of the World” in Florida. He appears regularly on MSNBC, CNN, NBC, TeIeMundo and Dateline NBC. He will share insights and experiences on how to achieve outcomes that matter. Learn more at Harper - Hudson Reporter Article (Pages 14-16). 

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Dan McSweeney has founded, led, and promoted a broad range of initiatives in the government, nonprofit, business, and academic sectors since completing service in the Marine Corps.  This includes enhancing outreach and management for the SS United States Conservancy (historic preservation), NYC 20230 District (sustainability), Montauk Distilling Co., the Morningside Heights Community Coalition, and FDNY. Learn more at: www.intersectllc.net

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Cliff Kennedy has been creating high-impact audience experiences for over 30 years. His background as a creative director, writer, and executive producer of large-scale corporate events gives him unique insight into what engages, empowers, and energizes an audience.

Cliff believes that every time a speaker stands before an audience, great things are possible. Whether you’re on a big stage, in a conference room or connecting via a screen, the potential of every communication opportunity is limitless.

Coaching is all about delivering results. 

Cliff quickly determines the salient issues in a situation and then provides relevant and actionable solutions. His personable, collaborative style allows him to challenge his clients, while still making them feel comfortable and safe. They trust his opinions and they trust him.

Cliff particularly enjoys—and has had a great deal of success—working with non-native English speakers and speakers with scientific and technical backgrounds who need to better connect with and engage non-technical audiences.

Cliff’s current and recent clients include AbbVie, Acura, Amazon, BMC Software, Gartner, Illumina, Juniper Networks, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Poly, Smartsheet, Typeform, and Zoom Video Communications.

In addition, since 2017, Cliff has been the lead speech coach for TEDxPaloAlto (www.tedxpaloalto.com), where he has helped over 35 speakers develop and deliver their talks. Cliff has also conducted workshops and seminars for the NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco, the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, and the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

Cliff has been a coach throughout his life: beginning as a lifeguard in high school and college, where he taught hundreds of children and adults to swim, to coaching youth athletics for over 14 years. He also is a semi-professional musician specializing in drums and world percussion.

Cliff holds a BA in Speech Communications from Eastern Illinois University. 

Learn more at www.kennedyspeech.com.

Marybeth McCaffrey, JD, Principal, Health Law and Policy, at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. She is an attorney with three decades of prior experience in both the private and public sectors. Her work focuses on Medicaid, long term services and supports, health integration and health technology. She brings technical expertise in Medicaid eligibility, coverage, and operations.  Prior to joining UMass, Ms. McCaffrey served for 18 years in Vermont’s Agency of Human Services in three departments:  Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (DAIL); Children and Families (DCF), and Developmental and Mental Health Services (DDMHS).  

At DAIL, she led health reform and oversaw Vermont’s nationally distinguished comprehensive systems for people who need long term services and supports, managing the budget, program policy, operations, and quality oversight with a large professional and technical staff. At DCF, she conducted the implementation of dozens of major national and local initiatives, as well as interdepartmental teams tasked with coordination of programs across multiple agencies.  One of these initiatives supported offender re-entry and access to Medicaid.  

She also served on the National Eligibility Technical Advisory Group (E-TAG) of the National Association of Medicaid Directors from 2004-2009, serving as the Chair from 2006-2009.  At DDMHS, she served as Special Assistant Attorney General, following 6 years of private litigation practice and a judicial clerkship with the Vermont Supreme Court.