DAVID HERBERT, MD
Dr. Herbert is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and Health Care Quality and Management. He has practiced Medicine in Texas for over 30 years, served as a Hospital Medical Staff President and Board member and as a Professional Consultant for the Texas Medical board. As a physician, Dr. Herbert understands the concerns of medical providers. He brings a wealth of experience into hospital negotiations, assuring that GM&A’s clients’ direct contracts have rates that are well below national network rates. He holds an active Texas Medical License and long-term memberships in the American Medical and Texas Associations. Dr. Herbert is licensed as a General Lines Insurance Agent and has been a principal in GM&A, Inc since 2001.

PAMELA M. PERKINS
Pam is an investigator/program specialist in the Consumer Protection Division of the Texas Attorney General’s Office where she has worked since 1988. Pam graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University and completed graduate work at Southwest Texas State University. Pam has investigated and worked on numerous bid rigging, price fixing, and related antitrust cases involving public procurement issues, and teaches classes throughout the state on issues and concerns with public entity purchasing.

CARLOS CASCOS, CPA
Carlos is the elected Cameron County Judge, and is a partner at Patillo, Brown, & Hill, CPA’s an accounting firm with eight (8) offices located in Texas and New Mexico. A Certified Financial Manager and a member of the American College of Forensic Examiners. Carlos is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.

MARK J. BARTA
Mark is a consultant with CareHere. Mark has a BBA in Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin and MBA in Management from Angelo State University at San Angelo Texas. Mark has been a hospital administrator at Shannon Medical Center in San Angelo. Mark developed a risk management program at Tom Green County and was also a risk manager and assistant city manager for the City of San Angelo, before he joined CareHere. While at the city of San Angelo Mark started and implemented one of the first employee health clinics and pharmacy’s in the public sector.

PRESTON POMYKAL
Preston is Vice President with Holmes Murphy & Associates, a benefits consulting firm in Dallas. He graduated from North Texas University with an MBA in marketing. Preston has 17 years experience with benefits and has worked with more than 50 different public entities across the state. Preston holds a Group 1 Insurance License and a Life and Health Insurance Counselor License.

WILLIAM (BILL) RUSTEBERG
Bill is an independent insurance agent; he is currently the Employee Benefits Consultant for numerous governmental entities. He has over 34 years of experience in the insurance industry. Bill also holds a license in Risk Management (among others) issued by the Texas Department of Insurance with reciprocal licenses in Illinois, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

MIGUEL (MIKE) A. SALDANA, JD
Mike is currently the General Counsel for the Brownsville Independent School District, serving in that capacity for the last five years. Additionally, he currently serves in the same capacity for the Point Isabel Independent School District. He recently joined the law firm Walsh, Anderson, Brown, Schulze & Aldridge, P.C. Mike practices school litigation, litigates management and business issues, and school employment issues. Mike graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1975 with a Bachelors of Business Administration with Honors. He graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1988.

LAURA S. FOWLER
Laura has been a licensed Texas Attorney for the last 28 years. After graduating from Baylor Law School in 1979, and after a three-year tour as a commissioned officer in the US Naval Reserve, Laura returned to Texas where she has concentrated her practice in construction and real estate. Henslee, Fowler, Hepworth, & Schwartz, L.L.P. the four lawyers Laura joined in 1985, has grown to a fifty-seven lawyer firm serving six Texas cities.

NARITA HOLMES, CPA
A CPA. in the State of Texas since 1971, Narita served as Ector County Purchasing Agent from 1987 until she retired in 2004. Previous employment includes three years with a big-eight accounting firm, and fifteen years as chief financial officer for financial institutions. She has been an accounting instructor for Odessa College and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin and also taught a variety of management courses including Purchasing Management. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA in Accounting, she earned an MBA in Management at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. Narita is a Board Member of the new Texas Public Purchasing Association.

ANTONIO (TONY) GRACIA, CPM
Tony is currently the Director of purchasing for the Harlingen CISD. He graduated from UT Pan American with a BA-Management. Tony has been in the purchasing and materials management profession for 35 years; 17 in the private sector and 18 in the public sector. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the TASB BuyBoard’s Purchasing Cooperative.

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ANNE WHEELER, CPM
Anne is the Purchasing Agent for Leander ISD. Anne has over 25 years of purchasing and contract management experience, leading purchasing teams for the City of Natchitoches LA, Texas Commission for the Blind, Austin Community College, and Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation. She is a graduate of business school at the University of Texas at Austin and has earned her CPM and CPPB. Anne currently serves on the Board for CTPA-Central Texas Purchasing Association.

RAY LUEDKE
Ray serves as the Director of TPA Programs for The Littleton Group located in Austin, Texas. He has over 20 years of claims adjusting experience specializing in Workers’ Compensation. Ray has extensive experience in the management of self-funded Workers’ Compensation programs for political subdivisions. That experience includes the areas of; loss prevention, claims investigation and management, managed care services, medical bill audit and payment, excess insurance and financial reporting. He is licensed through the Texas Department of Insurance as an “All Lines Adjuster” and as a “Risk Manager”.

STEPHEN KELLY
Steve is the President and CEO of ELAP, Inc., a consulting firm that advises employers on health plan design and reimbursement of medical providers. ELAP has offices in Chester Springs, PA and suburban Atlanta, GA and serves clients across the nation with a particular focus on the state of Texas. He has managed national programs on behalf of insurers including Hartford Insurance Group, Munich RE and Lloyds of London. The last 15 years of his career have been spent almost exclusively in the design and management of self-insured health plans for groups of 100 to 5,000 employees.

DODD NOLAN
Dodd graduated from Texas Tech University in 1988 and has worked in the pharmacy industry for the past 19 years. The first 10 years of his career he worked for a pharmaceutical manufacturer. For the past nine years he has worked for Maxor National Pharmacy Services. Within Maxor, he has worked in the home infusion division, the specialty pharmacy division, and the PBM division. He has also helped numerous clients maximize savings by utilizing in-house pharmacies and/or clinics.

SHANNON MORGAN
Shannon, Senior Account Executive, Holmes Murphy & Associates, has over twenty years of experience with benefits and insurance. Shannon spent fifteen years as a Risk and Insurance Director with public entity before moving to the consulting side four years ago. She graduated from Lamar University with a BA in business. She holds a Group 1 Insurance License, a Life and Health Insurance Counselor License and has an ARM designation.

DAVID CATES
David grew up in San Diego, California and received his Master’s Degree from San Diego State University in 1973. In 1974 he was given an opportunity to open an Insurance Brokerage Operation in San Antonio and began his career in the insurance business.

JOE L. LOPEZ
Joe has a BBA degree from UT-Pan American University. He currently serves as a school board member with South Texas ISD. He is a past board member with Brownsville ISD, Valley Appraisal District, the Boys/Girls Club, and Legislative Board of Region One. He is a financial consultant and is involved in his family-owned grocery store chain.

MELITON MOYA, Ph.D
Meliton received his PhD from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Major in Clinical Psychology, Minor; Social Psychology, BA from Pan American University. Dr. Moya has extensive experience in working with psychological arrangements, teaching psychology at the University level both undergraduate and graduate courses. He is the founder of “The Process Manager” specializing in educational management solutions.

JOSEPH BLASI ARM, CPCU
Joseph is a Sr. Vice President with McGriff, Seibels, & Williams. Via the ESC Region 2 & ESC Region 4 Risk Management Services programs, he has assisted school districts address Risk Management topics since 1992. Joe graduated from the University of St. Thomas (Summa Cum Laude) and began his career training in Chicago with the C.N.A. Insurance Company in 1994. He holds the Associate In Risk Management and Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter designation from the Insurance Institute of America.

DANIEL D. VELA
Daniel is a licensed pharmacist and owner of Lee’s Pharmacy and Medical Equipment in McAllen, Texas. Mr. Vela is the Vice-President for the McAllen Independent School District Board of Trustees. Daniel will be presenting on how to save on pharmaceutical benefits. 

TOM GIEB
Tom graduated with a BA from Baylor University. He has been in the insurance industry since 1974 and has worked exclusively in the Medicare Group Market since 1991. He introduced the Group Retiree Medical plan to the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Employee Benefits Pool, then to the Texas Associated Counties and to the Public Employee Benefits Alliance.

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