Seasoned healthcare executive brings deep payer strategy, value-based care expertise, and proven scaling experience to rapidly growing mental health company
Vanna Health, the technology-enabled behavioral healthcare company transforming outcomes for individuals with Medicaid living with serious mental illness (SMI), today announced the appointment of Kathy Rowerdink as Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. Kathy brings more than two decades of experience at the intersection of clinical strategy, enterprise growth, and payer-focused value-based healthcare, joining Vanna at a pivotal moment in the company’s expansion across new markets and deepening payer partnerships.
Scaling a mission-driven community mental health model is not a conventional operational challenge. It requires a leader who can navigate the complexity of payer contracting, build the infrastructure of a high-performance organization, and maintain a relentless focus on the human beings at the center of the work.
“The COO role at Vanna is genuinely unconventional, as we need someone who can hold the full complexity of a rapidly scaling, payer-driven community mental health model in one hand and the operational infrastructure of a durable, high-performance business in the other,” said Dr. Liz Kwo, CEO of Vanna Health. “Kathy does both — and she has the track record to prove it. She builds systems that create accountability without sacrificing the humanity at the center of this work. I could not be more excited for her to join as we scale.”
Kathy joins Vanna following a career defined by connecting the clinical and commercial dimensions of healthcare in ways that drive measurable outcomes for patients and sustainable value for health plans. Most recently, she served as Executive Vice President of Enterprise Sales and Growth, where she held full business performance accountability across three core verticals in the remote diagnostics and healthcare sector. Under her leadership, the health plan pipeline more than doubled, and more than half of existing clients expanded into additional lines of business.
Her experience spans building go-to-market strategies for new health programs, integrating EMR systems to enhance claims processing efficiency, and pioneering a test-to-treat model that connected patients with abnormal diagnostic results to immediate care pathways. Across each of these initiatives, Kathy has consistently built systems that create accountability and operational clarity while preserving a strong member-centered focus.
Most directly relevant to Vanna’s trajectory is Kathy’s experience at Elevance Health. During her tenure, she scaled a national advocacy program and led the company’s enterprise-wide social determinants of health strategy. In parallel, she developed clinical strategies spanning behavioral health, diabetes, maternal health, and oncology, building a deep understanding of how large payers evaluate value, measure outcomes, and invest in programs that can deliver sustained impact at scale.
That experience aligns directly with Vanna’s next phase of growth. As the company expands into new markets, scales its community-based care model, and deepens partnerships with health plans, Kathy brings rare operational and strategic expertise in total cost of care management, HEDIS performance, value-based contracting, unit economics, and multidisciplinary workforce strategy — capabilities that are increasingly critical as Vanna continues to grow nationally.
“Vanna Health was built on the conviction that people living with serious mental illness deserve care that takes both their clinical needs and their human dignity seriously. Delivering on that promise at scale requires partners who understand how health systems actually work — the incentives, the metrics, the relationships that determine whether a program survives or thrives,” said Giovanni Colella, Founder and Executive Chairman, Vanna Health. “Kathy has spent her career building exactly that kind of credibility. Her experience with large national payers, her fluency in value-based care, and her commitment to programs that actually reach the people who need them most make her exactly the kind of leader this mission needs at this moment.”
Vanna Health is a technology-enabled healthcare company dedicated to transforming the lives of individuals living with serious mental illness. Through an integrated, community-centered care model, Vanna partners with health plans and health systems to deliver evidence-based care that supports stability, recovery, and lasting well-being. Vanna believes that healing happens through connection, dignity, and belonging — and that with the right support, people with serious mental illness can live fuller, healthier, and more purposeful lives.
Vanna Health is backed by AlleyCorp, Health Velocity Capital, and a nationwide health insurance payer.
