Ben Slocum Chief Executive Officer

Ben Slocum is CEO of Wellpath Group Holdings, LLC and various affiliates thereof. His role is to ensure operational excellence and to drive the organization’s strategic focus. He is an experienced healthcare executive who brings nearly four decades of vast knowledge to the Company’s comprehensive, patient-centered medical and behavioral offering. In his previous role as Chief Operating Officer, he worked closely with our Division Presidents to ensure that we meet our commitments to our people and partners, achieve our operational goals, and of course, never waiver from our mission to provide quality care to every patient with compassion, collaboration and innovation.

Cindy Watson Chief Operating Officer

Cindy Watson serves as Wellpath’s Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Cindy’s primary focus is to oversee the operations of the company and ensure we achieve our operational goals. In her previous role as President of the Eastern Region of the Local Government Healthcare division at Wellpath, she coordinated the start-up of all new contracts, oversaw accreditation processes for both adult and juvenile correctional health care programs, directed the development of all personnel and operational policies and procedures, and oversaw nursing quality management and training, recruitment and contract liaison. She received her master’s degree in communication disorders from Syracuse University after earning her bachelor’s degree in the same discipline from The College of Saint Rose.

Dr. Thomas Pangburn Chief Clinical Officer

Dr. Thomas Pangburn is Wellpath’s Chief Clinical Officer. His primary responsibility is ensuring the organization provides its patients with quality healthcare. He also works as a liaison between medical staff and administration to support positive channels of communication while ensuring appropriate care to all patients. Dr. Pangburn, a board certified emergency medicine physician, was previously the Chief Innovation Officer for MedExpress and served more than a decade as the Director of Emergency Services at Heritage Valley Health Systems. In addition, he has led clinical initiatives for UnitedHealth Group and Optum that addressed quality and total cost of care. Dr. Pangburn is an advocate for correctional reentry programs that factor in social determinants of health. He and the Wellpath team are developing clinical programs that will factor in social determinants of health to be addressed for patients while incarcerated and upon reentry with the hope to affect recidivism for justice served people. Dr. Pangburn’s previous work tackled some of the toughest challenges facing healthcare today including chronic disease management, value-based payment innovation for providers and hospital systems, and community-based programs that focused on the consumer centric experience, affordability, and valued based medicine.

Carla Wallace Chief Compliance Officer

Carla Wallace joined Wellpath as Chief Compliance Officer in December 2019, with nearly 30 years of experience in the healthcare and compliance space. As Chief Compliance Officer, she has established a compliance reporting framework for monitoring and reporting on compliance issues. She reports directly to the CEO with a dotted line to the Board of Managers to ensure that the company follows all federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Before joining Wellpath, Carla held a similar role for naviHealth in Brentwood, Tennessee, and was the Principal, Compliance Consulting for Quorum Health Resources. She received a master’s degree in Health Care Administration from Independence University and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE). Carla is also certified through the Health Care Compliance Association’s (HCCA) compliance certification board (CCB) in the areas of general compliance (CHC), privacy compliance (CHPC) and research compliance (CHRC) and is a member of multiple healthcare councils.

Joel Jensen Chief Information Officer

Joel Jensen began his journey at Wellpath in 2010 as Vice President of Information Technology. Over the years, Joel has been instrumental in numerous contract start-ups and every DOC start up. His work has taken him to more than 100 of our partner locations where he has led integration planning with our clients and the transition of site IT services. Joel is known for bringing keen insights matched with a calm, cool and collected demeanor, as well as a skillful commitment to consistently deliver value.

Zela Guirola Chief Development Officer

Zela Guirola serves as Wellpath’s Chief Development Officer. As an experienced business development executive with over 15 years in correctional healthcare, Zela is responsible for leading the organization’s Partnership Development, Partner Services, Proposals, and Mental Health Innovation teams and activities. She brings her successful mix of industry insights and strategic thinking to this role, and she is a Certified Correctional Health Care Professional (CCHP) as well. In her previous role as Senior Vice President of Partnership Development, Zela was responsible for providing numerous facilities with successful medical, mental, behavioral, and dental solutions. Always focusing on the details, she is passionate about helping partners create solutions to their healthcare challenges.

David Waltzer Chief Financial Officer

David Waltzer has over 20 years of experience as a Chief Financial Officer with senior leadership positions in both public and private companies in a variety of industries including, healthcare services, manufacturing, distribution, and consumer services. He is an innovative and strategic leader of Finance and Operations with a record of transforming mid and large-sized companies into industry leaders through his expertise in implementing back-office technologies that allow scalable cost-efficient operations.  Additionally, he has expertise in the areas of financial accounting, decision support forecasting models, investor relations, and team building and management. David holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland and a graduate degree from the University of Baltimore.  He and his wife of 30 years have 2 children and live in Boca Raton, Florida.

Casey McCluskey Parker Chief Human Resources Officer

Casey Parker serves as Wellpath’s Chief Human Resources Officer. In this role, Casey is responsible for leading the development and implementation of Wellpath’s people strategies to support the company’s business and Wellpath’s team members across the country. Before joining Wellpath, Casey was a labor and employment attorney with the Nashville law firm of Ogletree Deakins, where she represented clients and provided guidance on a variety of employment and human resources matters. She received her bachelor’s degree, with distinction, from Duke University, and her law degree from William & Mary.

Marc Goldstone Chief Legal Officer

Marc Goldstone is Wellpath’s Chief Legal Officer, overseeing all aspects of the Company’s legal operations, including managing the Legal, Compliance, Risk Management, Insurance and Worker’s Compensation/Employee Safety functions. He brings more than 25 years of health law experience to Wellpath. Prior to joining Wellpath, Marc served in senior leadership roles in non-profit and investor owned health systems (both privately owned and publicly traded). Marc was also appointed to consecutive terms on the United States Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council by the Secretary of Labor, where he advised the U.S. Government agencies on matters of critical importance to the provision of EMS throughout the country. Marc is an honors graduate of the Rutgers School of Law, and a Fellow of the American Health Law Association. Prior to entering the practice of law, Marc was a certified Mobile Intensive Care Unit paramedic for many years, and his legal practice and leadership are informed by the thousands of patients he cared for during that time.

Justin Searle Division President, Local Government 

Justin Searle leads the Local Government division at Wellpath. He is responsible for the administrative and operational elements of all local government teams and contracts in the United States. A former Naval officer, Justin transitioned to the private sector, has been in various healthcare environments since 2010, and joined Wellpath in 2019, moved by the mission to bring hope and healing to underserved populations. Justin received his Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy and his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Chicago.

Jeremy Barr Division President, Recovery Solutions

Jeremy Barr joined Wellpath in 2011 and is responsible for leading the administrative, operational, and development efforts of Wellpath Recovery Solutions. Prior to assuming his current role, Jeremy served as Senior Vice President for Partnership Development and was responsible for identifying opportunities and developing strategies to align client’s needs with Wellpath’s capabilities, managing governmental affairs, and building strategic partnerships to support the continued growth of the organization. Jeremy received his Master’s degree in Communications Studies from Florida Atlantic University and his Bachelor’s degree in Communications Studies from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He also serves as a board member for East Nashville Wellness Center, a non-profit mental health and substance use clinic committed to restoring the wellness of Nashvillians through improving mental health, curbing addiction, and helping find the music again.

Sam Britton Division President, State and Federal

Sam Britton joined Wellpath in 2021 and is responsible for leading strategic operations of all State and Federal business units in the United States. Sam brings a diverse skillset across industry and subject matter expertise including, finance, strategy, enterprise design, process excellence, and corporate development. Before joining Wellpath, Sam worked in the automotive industry in the US, and Europe and was responsible for designing Volkswagen and Porsche’s electric vehicle worldwide go-to-market strategy. He received his Bachelor of Science and MBA from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.