The work of the HPC is overseen by an 11-member Board of Commissioners. 

As of July 1, 2025, Chapter 343 of the Acts of 2024 amended the composition of the HPC Board and the appointment terms for members. Nine members are appointed as individual experts by the Governor and the Attorney General, and two members serve due to their official roles in state government. 

As designated under the law, each appointed Board member has demonstrated expertise in a particular aspect of health care policy, including health care management, delivery, finance, workforce, innovation, behavioral health, economics, or consumer advocacy. serve as special state employees and are precluded by law from being employed by, a consultant to, a member of the board of directors of, affiliated with, have a financial stake in or otherwise be a representative of a health care entity while serving on the Board.

HPC staff and Board members work collaboratively and transparently to advance the mission of the HPC. Representing a range of perspectives and backgrounds, the HPC Board meets regularly in meetings that are open to the public.

The HPC's Board meeting schedule and materials are available here.

Members Appointed by the Governor

Chair Deborah Devaux

Statutory Role: Chairperson with demonstrated expertise in health care administration, finance and management at a senior level. Appointed by the Governor.

Appointment Term: July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2029

Deborah Devaux has served as Chair of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission’s Board of Commissioners since July 2022, following 40 years of health care management experience with health insurers and providers in Massachusetts. Most recently, she served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Population Health Officer at Beth Israel Lahey Health where she was responsible for payor relationships and the system’s unified performance network of physicians and hospitals to advance new models of care. Previously, she was the Chief Operating Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts, the largest insurer in the state and one of the largest non-for-profit Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in the county. In this role, she was responsible for divisions such as Performance and Improvement Management, IT, and Member Services. In addition to holding various leadership roles during her 18-year tenure, she served on many committees including the Mass Collaborative steering committee and the Commonwealth’s Special Commission on Provider Price and Variation in 2017. She has taught at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health as an Adjunct Faculty Member in health payment systems and strategy and as a guest lecturer at Suffolk University, Boston University Graduate School of Management, and Harvard Business School. She earned an MHA from the University of Michigan and her undergraduate degree from Western Michigan University.

Sandra Cotterell

Statutory Role: A registered nurse with expertise in the delivery of care and development and utilization of innovative treatments in the practice of patient care. Appointed by the Governor.

Term: July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2028

Sandra Cotterell retired as CEO in 2024 after nearly 30 years at Codman Square Health Center. A lifelong Boston resident, Cotterell started her career as a cardiothoracic nurse. She first came to work at Codman as the chief operations officer in 1994 and stepped into the CEO role in 2011. Sandra has been a steady force at the helm since then, and she has been recognized by many organizations for her leadership. Those honors include Codman landing on the Boston Globe’s Top 100 Women-Led Businesses for 11 consecutive years. The Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers presented her with the CEO award in 2019. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Simmons College. She currently serves on the Boston Medical Center Board of Directors, Massachusetts League of Community Health Center Board of Directors, Healthworks Community Fitness Board of Directors, Daily Table Community Advisory Board, Greater Four Corners Action Coalition Board of Directors, Neighborhood Health Plan Advisory Committee, BMC HealthNet Board, the Codman Academy Charter School Board of Directors, and is the President of the Boston Accountable Care Organization Board of Directors. She also serves as a Contributing Faculty member at the Kraft Center for Community Health and is a guest lecturer at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brandeis University Heller School for Social Policy and Management. 

Umesh Kurpad

Statutory Role: Demonstrated expertise in health plan administration and finance. Appointed by the Governor.

Term: July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2029

Umesh Kurpad served as the Chief Financial Officer of Point32Health, a company that was formed in 2021 from the combination of Harvard Pilgrim and Tufts Health until his retirement in June 2023.  He was instrumental in the work leading to combination and post-combination integration. Prior to that, he guided Tufts Health Plan through a period where it doubled in size while maintaining its financial strength.  Two of the most high-profile events in the company’s history were the acquisitions of Network Health and Integra Partners.  Mr. Kurpad has a proven track record of outstanding leadership, with a reputation for strategic vision, risk-based decision making, integrity, innovation and results through collaboration. Mr. Kurpad served on several boards ranging from early stage to mid-sized companies. Kurpad’s experience on board roles has included serving as the Audit Chair, serving on the Compensation Committee and in formulating exits.  He is skilled at organizational transformation and passionate about technology enabled services.  As a CFO, he has worked with his company’s board and committees for 15 years. Kurpad is a 1981 graduate of the University of Florida where he received his M.B.A. and has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from University of Delhi, India, in 1979.

Chris Leibman

Statutory Role: Demonstrated expertise in health care innovation, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology or medical devices. Appointed by the Governor from a shortlist provided by the Speaker of the House.

Term: July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2028

Chris Leibman is Senior Vice President, Chief Access Head at Biogen, where he leads the global value demonstration, patient access and pricing strategy development and execution across the Biogen portfolio, as well as oversees the Public Policy and Government Affairs organization. Prior to this role, Chris lived in Zug, Switzerland where he led market Access and pricing at Biogen for Europe and Canada. 

Mr. Leibman joined Biogen in 2014 from Janssen Pharmaceuticals (J&J), where he served as head of Market Access and Policy: Neuroscience and led the team responsible for the development and execution of market access strategies and value evidence generation across the Neuroscience franchise. Prior to this, first with Élan Pharmaceuticals and then with Janssen AI following their program acquisition, Chris led the market access launch readiness activities across the Alzheimer Immunotherapy Program in partnership with Pfizer. Mr. Leibman has published and presented extensively on the benefits and costs of innovation in treating disease, value frameworks in healthcare, and sustainable pricing in drug development. He brings two and half decades of diverse experiences in biopharmaceutical development, value demonstration, access, and working across public-private partnerships. 

Mr. Leibman holds a B.S. degree in Biology, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Following his pharmacy degree, he completed a post-doc fellowship in health economics with GlaxoWellcome and earned an M.S. degree with focus in Pharmacoeconomics and Health Policy from the Ohio State University. 

Steve Walsh

Statutory Role: Demonstrated expertise in representing hospitals or hospital health systems. Appointed by the Governor.

Term: July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2027

As President and CEO of the American Hospital Association (AHA), Steve Walsh represents the united mission of U.S. hospitals and health systems. He connects a national network of healthcare partners around their vision for better patient care, a thriving workforce and stronger communities.

Steve’s more than two decades advancing American healthcare span from public service to coalition-centric advocacy. As a six-term state representative, he oversaw passage of landmark access and quality reforms that created a blueprint for states across the country. As an association leader, he is nationally recognized for breaking boundaries between providers, policymakers and other partners to innovate patient care delivery — all while helping them navigate generational challenges.

Steve’s leadership is grounded in the belief that meaningful change relies on building trust and uplifting the people at the heart of our healthcare system.

He has overseen breakthrough efforts to quantify patient access challenges, close care gaps, and expand care from traditional settings to homes and communities. Steve’s focus on supporting and growing the healthcare workforce has provided hospitals with new ways to invest in healthy work environments and strategies for developing the next generation of leaders. Steve has also created novel partnerships that open doors for better provider-payer collaboration, rallied hospital and labor leaders around major violence prevention reforms, and ensured more seamless coordination between acute and non-acute organizations.

Through AHA, Steve supports America’s hospitals and health systems as they build a more innovative, sustainable future for patients. AHA’s work is informed by the voices of more than 270,000 affiliated physicians, 2 million nurses and other caregivers, and 43,000 healthcare leaders. The association connects members, policymakers, and allied stakeholders to create change from the bedside to Capitol Hill, while ensuring the sector can continue to thrive as a pillar of the nation’s economy.

Steve is the former president and CEO of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association (MHA), which represents more than 100 hospitals, health systems, and healthcare partners throughout the commonwealth. Prior to MHA, he served as President of the Massachusetts Council of Community Hospitals and as a state representative for the commonwealth’s 11th Essex District.

Steve is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University, the New England School of Law, and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. 

James Willmuth

Statutory Role: Demonstrated expertise in representing the health care workforce as a leader in a labor organization. Appointed by the Governor from a shortlist provided by the Senate President.

Term: July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2027

Jamie Willmuth is the Senior Policy Analyst for the Massachusetts Division of 1199 SEIU. With over 450,000 members throughout Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida and Washington, D.C., 1199SEIU is the largest healthcare union in the nation. Since January 2008, Jamie has led on policy creation and development of the union’s legislative/state budget agenda related to health care reform, provider reimbursement and other areas of importance to the 1199SEIU membership.  He works closely with both the union's research and political departments providing research, lobbying, legislative drafting and other support to the union's new organizing campaigns, contract bargaining, and political advocacy. Prior to his work with 1199SEIU, Jamie has held several other research and policy positions in both Washington D.C. and Massachusetts.  His experience includes serving as Chief of Staff for Boston City Councilor Felix D. Arroyo (2003-2007) and as the Issues Director for the 2002 Warren Tolman for Governor campaign. In Washington D.C., Jamie was Research Director for the Public Citizen non-profit organization before becoming the Deputy Research Director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in the 2000 election cycle. Jamie holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Bowdoin College and a Juris Doctorate degree from Cornell University.

Members Appointed by the Attorney General 

Vice Chair Martin Cohen

Statutory Role: Expertise in behavioral health, substance use disorder, mental health services and mental health reimbursement systems. Appointed by the Attorney General.

Appointment Term: July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2028

Martin D. Cohen recently retired as the President and CEO of the MetroWest Health Foundation, a community health philanthropy serving the MetroWest area of Massachusetts. He has more than 30 years of experience working with federal and state policymakers to plan and implement comprehensive strategies for improving public mental health services. Prior to joining the foundation, he served as the executive director of the Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc., a national health and human services consulting firm. He previously served as a deputy program director and senior program consultant for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and was a deputy assistant secretary in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health & Human Services. 

Commissioner Cohen was first appointed to the HPC Board in 2015, and was elected Vice Chair by his fellow commissioners in 2019.

He holds both a BA and MSW from Boston University. 

Keith Marzilli Ericson, PhD

Statutory Role: A health economist.

Appointment Term: August 13, 2025 – June 30, 2027

Keith M. Marzilli Ericson is Professor of Markets, Public Policy, and Law at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, where he serves as Department Chair. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and Co-Editor of the Journal of Public Economics.

Professor Ericson’s research explores the organization and financing of healthcare markets and how to improve them, with a focus on how public policy, individual decision making, and imperfect competition interact to shape healthcare outcomes. His work has shown how the boundaries of the firm and team structures shape healthcare productivity, how price negotiations between insurers and providers affect the cost of care, and how interventions can help consumers make better choices in complex insurance markets.  A central theme in his work is how markets interact with human decision-making, and his research has provided insights on the role of limited memory, the endowment effect, intertemporal choice, risk preferences, and privacy. 

His research has been published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Review, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Management Science, Psychological Science, and others. Various media outlets have featured his work, including Harvard Business Review, Slate, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Time, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post.

Vacant

Statutory Role: Demonstrated expertise in health care consumer advocacy. Appointed by the Attorney General.

Ex Officio Members

Commissioner Michael Caljouw

Statutory Role: Commissioner of the Division of Insurance, or a designee 

Appointment Term: Ex Officio

Michael T. Caljouw is the Commissioner of Insurance for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, appointed by Governor Maura Healey in October of 2024. As Commissioner, he oversees the Massachusetts insurance market, an approximately $70 billion industry that historically ranks near the top ten largest markets in the country and 27th globally.

Commissioner Caljouw is deeply committed to ensuring stable, affordable, and transparent insurance markets and safeguarding consumer interests. He has over three decades of public and private experience. Prior to this role, he directed Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts’ regulatory and policy portfolio, supervising their contracts division and the implementation of laws and regulations. He previously spent a decade in leadership positions in Massachusetts government at the Massachusetts Division of Insurance and the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation and led on emerging regulatory and policy issues, including comprehensive Massachusetts insolvency and cost containment laws. He was senior counsel at a national law firm and Chief of Staff and Legal Counsel to the Massachusetts Senate Minority Leader.

Raised in Boston, Commissioner Caljouw graduated from Boston Latin School, Williams College and Suffolk University Law School, serving on the Law Review and earning his Juris Doctorate cum laude. He has taught at Boston University School of Law and is a frequent lecturer on critical regulatory and policy issues. He chairs the Board of Advisors of the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy and is an active mentor to emerging leaders in public policy and insurance regulation. Commissioner Caljouw has received the Better Government Award, Suffolk University Law School’s Outstanding Alumni Service Award and the Arthritis Foundation’s Community Warrior Award.

Secretary Kiame Mahaniah, MD

Statutory Role: Secretary of Health and Human Services, or a designee

Appointment Term: Ex Officio

Dr. Kiame Mahaniah was appointed Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) in July of 2025. He was appointed Undersecretary of Health for EOHHS in April 2023. In that role, he co-chaired the administration’s Advancing Health Equity in Massachusetts (AHEM) initiative, co-chaired the Primary Care Access, Delivery, and Payment Task Force, and chaired the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund (ORRF) Advisory Council on behalf of Secretary Kate Walsh. Dr. Mahaniah is a practicing physician in the field of addiction and primary care, who continues to see patients. He was previously CEO of Lynn Community Health Center, where he led the transition into value-based care. An avid teacher and committed mentor, he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. 

He holds an MBA from UMass Amherst, a medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University, and a BA from Haverford College.