Meet Our Executive Team and Board of Directors

Jim Beermann, CPA is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Mass Advantage. With a strong background in executive leadership and finance, Jim brings a unique blend of strategic vision and financial expertise to his position. He drives the company’s growth in a competitive marketplace while also holding executive responsibility for all financial operations. Jim guides fiscal policies and ensures that all related activities and partnerships support our business goals effectively.

With over three decades of healthcare experience, Jim’s primary career focus has been within the Medicare, Medicaid and Commercial health insurance plan area of business and services. Prior to joining Mass Advantage, he has held numerous executive leadership roles in Finance, Operations, Network Operations and Contracting, and the Sales and Marketing arenas. Previously as president of a hospital-based Medicare Advantage plan, Jim skillfully guided the startup forward to achieving market-leading sales and three-year NCQA Accreditation.

Jim’s strategic leadership experience also includes regional executive roles at two Fortune 100 Health Plans. Under his watch--with responsibilities including network contracting and operations--both companies experienced significant, sustained profitability and growth.

Jim and Jackie--his wife of over 30 years--have two grown sons.

Gayatri Natarajan serves as the Chief Financial Officer at Mass Advantage, overseeing the company’s financial operations and leading the IT and Product teams. In her role she emphasizes fostering cross-departmental collaboration to drive strategic growth and innovation.

With extensive experience in financial management, accounting, and operations, Gayatri has a proven track record of enhancing organizational efficiencies and driving profitability. Prior to her tenure at Mass Advantage, she held key leadership positions in various industries, including health care, heavy equipment, and cannabis testing. In these roles, she successfully implemented new systems, optimized financial processes, and collaborated closely with senior leadership to enhance profitability.

Gayatri holds an MBA in Finance and Marketing and has successfully completed her CPA examinations. Her unique combination of technical expertise, strategic vision, and leadership ensures that Mass Advantage continues to deliver exceptional value to its members while upholding strong financial discipline.
 

As Chief Medical Officer, Mike Cantor, MD, JD, oversees medical management operations at Mass Advantage. He has extensive experience as a CMO and medical director for health plans (Bright Health, UnitedHealth Group), private equity-backed home health services companies (Matrix Medical, Connect America, CareCentrix), physician networks (Tufts/New England Quality Care Alliance), and innovative digital health companies (Uber Health, Stellar Health, Switchboard Health, Intuition Robotics). 

Throughout his career, Mike has been a trusted advisor and successful leader across many domains; Geriatrics, Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial medical management operations, product strategy/design, and business development.  As a thought leader in care coordination, social determinants and clinical transformation, Mike has driven the development of technology-enabled clinical models that support value-based care success. He is a Board-certified Geriatrician who completed his fellowship and internal medicine training at Harvard Medical School, and his degrees in medicine and law are from the University of Illinois.

Melissa Whitley leads the Medicare operations overseeing critical areas such as Enrollment/Eligibility, Medical Claims Adjudication, Utilization Management, Pharmacy Program Management, Call Center, and Supplemental Benefits.

With over 35 years of extensive industry experience, Melissa has worked across various segments, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Commercial lines of business. Over the past 15 years, she has focused her expertise on Medicare Advantage operations, holding leadership positions at two of the largest national Health Plans. In addition, Melissa’s leadership extends to her role as an executive at a start-up Medicare Consulting firm leading operational teams, client services and business development efforts.

During her tenure, Melissa led operational and performance enhancements while successfully securing $20M in business development and overseeing relationships with over 120 clients. Her expertise extends to merger and acquisition activities, capital investment budget management, IT business ownership, a business plan development, compliance risks identification and remediation, leading large scale transformation projects, effectively managing delegates and vendors. Melissa is also recognized as a thought leader and spoken at many industry conferences on a variety of Medicare compliance topics.

Melissa holds an MBA in Business Administration with a concentration on Executive Leadership from Strayer University. She is also certified in Health Care Compliance (CHC).

Margaret (“Maggie”) Mood brings over 25 years of Medicare-focused success to her role as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. She’s experienced in all aspects of Medicare product sales and market growth: launching Medicare products, expanding regional access, leading sales teams to top performance, and cultivating warm, productive relationships among our community and business partners.  

Maggie’s broad experience includes a deep knowledge of product design, evolving marketing strategies and sales channels—the full spectrum for Medicare Marketing. A Worcester resident since 1985, she was a key player in Mass Advantage’s successful debut to Worcester County. Her talents remain critical to our rapid growth as we work to extend our plan’s reach and convenient access to high quality care for our friends and neighbors in Central Massachusetts.

Prior to joining Mass Advantage, Maggie orchestrated and oversaw all Medicare marketing strategy and sales channels at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. She also understands the realm of physician partnerships and recruitment as well, having coordinated managed care contracts for hospital-based medical groups early in her career. 

Besides leading numerous sales teams to top performance year after year, Maggie is deeply committed to mentorship and supports fellow professionals along their own career paths. She is also an active Board Member of RISE Health.

Maggie holds an MBA in Business Administration with a concentration in health care from Anna Maria College and a BA in Management from Worcester’s own Assumption University. 

Chandni Sud-Thavakumar serves as the SVP, Performance Operations. Chandni oversees provider network, quality, risk adjustment, and analytics.

Bringing over a decade of leadership experience in a diverse landscape of healthcare organizations including health plans, specialty & primary care entities, independent physician associations (IPAs), and accountable care organizations (ACOs). Chandni’s experience lies in operations and data analytics to drive insights and improve performance especially in various risk arrangements. Her expertise enables her to engage the network and focus on value-based care strategies to achieve mutual goals. Chandni held roles overseeing performance operations at organizations such as Acardia.io, Evolve Practice Partners, and Independent Health. Chandni holds a Doctorate in Healthcare Administration from D’Youville University and a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Rochester.