Board of Directors
Mountain Pacific’s board of directors are fiduciaries for the organization and act in accordance with the fiduciary duties of care, loyalty and obedience. The board is responsible for hiring the CEO; providing strategic direction for Mountain Pacific and creating a policy-based governance system.
The board is composed of directors from Alaska, Hawaii, Montana and Wyoming. Directors serve two three-year terms. Board terms are staggered so not all of the directors’ terms expire in the same year. Board membership represents academia, business, health care facilities, health care information, law, medicine, Medicare beneficiaries and rural health.
Dick Brown
Retired
Helena, MT
Rural Health and Consumer Representative
Term: January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2024
Reimbursement received in FY 2021-2022:
Board-Related Professional Fees: N/A
Travel Reimbursement: N/A
Garet Azama
Chief Operating Officer, Zephyr Insurance Company, Inc.
Honolulu, HI
Health Care Systems
Term: January 1, 2023 – December 31, 2025
Reimbursement received in FY 2021-2022:
Board-Related Professional Fees: N/A
Travel Reimbursement: N/A
Garet Azama is the chief operating officer at Zephyr Insurance Company. In his current role, Mr. Azama is responsible for the overall internal operations, including marketing, sales and underwriting functions, policies and practices, finance and all management control systems. Prior to his role at Zephyr, he spent over 25 years in the health care insurance industry with Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA). During his tenure at HMSA, Mr. Azama oversaw areas such as corporate budgeting, data analytics, building facilities and administrative services. In recent years he was responsible for sales and account servicing for commercial and Medicare product lines, product strategy and development and compliance efforts related to commercial products. Mr. Azama is a graduate of the University of Hawaii, where he received his bachelor’s degree in accounting. He is a past board member of the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Hawaii and a current board member of the Oahu Region of the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.
Robert Janicek
Chief Information Officer, Riverstone Health
Billings, MT
Rural Health
Term: January 1, 2023 – December 31, 2025
Reimbursement received in FY 2021-2022:
Board-Related Professional Fees: N/A
Travel Reimbursement: N/A
Bob Janicek previously served as chief financial officer for Mountain Pacific before becoming the chief information officer for RiverStone Health in Billings, Montana. Mr. Janicek has more than 25 years of experience in company management, with 20 of those years spent in the health care industry. A seasoned executive with a proven record of delivering results, he finds success by intersecting new operating models with innovation, process and technology. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administration/information systems from Montana State University Billings.
Shanda Lohse, MD
Medical Director, Eastern Aleutian Tribes
Anchorage, AK
Physician Representative
Term: January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2024
Reimbursement received in FY 2021-2022:
Board-Related Professional Fees: N/A
Travel Reimbursement: N/A
Shanda Lohse joined Eastern Aleutian Tribes in June 2018 and has served as their medical director since May 2019. She is a member of the Standing Rock Lakota Tribe and has worked in the Alaska Tribal Health System since 2005. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and her medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School. Ms. Lohse did her family medicine residency at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a member of the American Medical Association, the Association of American Indian Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians. Ms. Lohse has presented nationally and internationally on integrated primary care teams and systems.
Karen Smith-Hagman
Retired
Middletown, NJ
Health Care Systems
Term: January 1, 2024 – December 31, 2026
Reimbursement received in FY 2021-2022:
Board-Related Professional Fees: N/A
Travel Reimbursement: N/A
Karen Smith-Hagman is a registered nurse with a clinical background in behavioral health and more than 35 years of experience in managed care with extensive experience in health plan clinical operations, health policy planning, programming, implementation and product development. Ms. Smith-Hagman has served in various senior-level capacities at the New Jersey State Psychiatric Hospital System, CentraState Medical Center, EmblemHealth, Magellan Health Services, HealthNet, Integra and Managed Health Network. Prior to her retirement in 2024 she served as vice president at Blue Cross of Idaho, where she worked with national and select client groups to help find opportunities to improve both clinical outcomes and the health status of group members as well as impacting the health and access to services of rural and frontier populations.
Mariko Selle
Maritime Director, Alaska Safety Alliance
Anchorage, AK
Community Health
Term: January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2024
Reimbursement received in FY 2021-2022:
Board-Related Professional Fees: N/A
Travel Reimbursement: N/A
Mariko Selle is the director of health equity and workforce development at Alaska Primary Care Association and has more than 20 years of experience in quality improvement, including nonprofit and rural hospital executive leadership roles. She serves on several boards that focus on improving the lives of Alaskan residents and is the chair of the Alaska Workforce Investment Board. Ms. Selle splits her time between the communities of Anchorage and Unalaska/Dutch Harbor as the maritime director for the Alaska Safety Alliance. She enjoys examining interconnections between the economic and social wellness of communities. Ms. Selle earned her bachelor’s degree in general sciences from the University of Oregon and her master’s degree in public health from the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Michael Tracy, MD
307 Health – Direct Primary Care
Powell, WY
Physician Representative
Term: January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2022; January 1, 2023 – December 31, 2025
Reimbursement received in FY 2021-2022:
Board-Related Professional Fees: N/A
Travel Reimbursement: N/A