Our Leadership
We are dedicated at every level.
Leading The Doctors Company is a distinguished group of board members who are passionate about advancing, protecting, and rewarding the practice of good medicine.
Richard E. Anderson, MD, FACP, is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Doctors Company, the nation’s largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer. Dr. Anderson also leads the TDC Group of companies and is a Director of The Doctors Company Foundation. He was a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and is Past Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Scripps Memorial Hospital, where he served as senior oncologist for 18 years.
Dr. Anderson is the editor of a book, Medical Malpractice: A Physician’s Sourcebook, and the author of a number of peer-reviewed publications on medical malpractice, the Harvard Medical Practice Study, and the impact of defensive medicine.
He has been invited to address numerous medical and legal forums, including the American Medical Association, the American College of Surgeons, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons, the College of American Pathologists, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons®, a number of medical school faculties, including the medical centers of Stanford, UCLA, UCSD, Case Western, and the Cleveland Clinic, and the law schools of Columbia, Stanford, and Northwestern.
Industry presentations include the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the former Physician Insurers Association of America (PIAA), which is now MPL Association, the Professional Liability Underwriters Society (PLUS), Lloyd’s of London, Crittenden, the American Association of Health Plans, and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Dr. Anderson currently serves on the Board of Advisors of the RAND Institute for Civil Justice, several committees within the MPL Association, as well as an honorary faculty member for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).
Dr. Anderson is the former Chair of the MPL Association and served on its Board for 10 years. He is a recipient of the Peter Sweetland Award of Excellence for his contributions to the MPL Association, the insurance community, and the healthcare professions.
He is also the first recipient of the PLUS Foundation’s Award for Outstanding Leadership in Healthcare Professional Liability.
After graduating from Stanford Medical School, Dr. Anderson completed his internship and residency at Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Hospital, followed by his postdoctoral fellowship in medical oncology at Stanford. He received his bachelor of arts degree magna cum laude from Yale College.
James P. Bagian, MD, is the founding Director of the Center for Risk Analysis Informed Decision Engineering, the Center for Healthcare Engineering and Patient Safety, and a Professor in the Medical School and the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. Dr. Bagian is also a Diplomate of the American Board of Preventive Medicine and an elected Member of both the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine. Previously, Dr. Bagian served as a Member of the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, Chairman of the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) first Patient Safety meeting in 2002, and a Member of the WHO Steering Committee of the Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety. He was a charter member and served as Chairman of The Joint Commission’s Patient Safety Advisory Group. He was also the first and founding Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Center for Patient Safety and the VA’s first Chief Patient Safety Officer, a role in which he developed numerous patient safety–related tools and programs that have been adopted nationally and internationally. Prior to his work at the VA, Dr. Bagian was a NASA Astronaut for over 15 years; he is a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions. Dr. Bagian holds a bachelor of science of mechanical engineering from Drexel University and a doctorate in medicine from Thomas Jefferson University. He is a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, was a registered Professional Engineer, and has received numerous awards for his work in the fields of patient safety and aerospace medicine. He is the Chair of the Technology and Cybersecurity Committee and a Member of the Finance and Risk, Nominating and Governance, and Patient Safety Committees at The Doctors Company. Dr. Bagian is also a Director of The Doctors Company Foundation.
Steven J. Bensinger, CPA, is a Partner and Senior Advisor at Howden Tiger. Mr. Bensinger has over 40 years of management and executive experience in the insurance industry. Over the course of his career, he has served in numerous executive roles, including CEO, COO, and CFO, with companies that include AIG, The Hanover Insurance Group, Chartwell Re Corporation, and Skandia America Group. Mr. Bensinger began his professional career with Coopers & Lybrand, a predecessor firm to PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he became a partner. He earned a bachelor of science degree in accounting and computer applications/information systems from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Mr. Bensinger currently serves on the Board of Directors of Ariel Re, Clearcover Insurance, and Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. He is Chair Emeritus of the Board of Ronald McDonald House New York. Mr. Bensinger is the Chair of the Finance and Risk Committee and a Member of the Audit, Compensation and Benefits, Investment, Nominating and Governance, and Technology and Cybersecurity Committees at The Doctors Company.
Eugene M. Bullis, CPA, is the former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG). Mr. Bullis has more than 40 years of financial leadership experience, including as Chief Financial Officer of Conseco (now CNO Financial, Inc. NYSE:CNO) and Wang Laboratories, Inc. He began his career with a predecessor firm of Ernst & Young, where he was an Audit Partner and Member of the Insurance Industry Practice Committee. Mr. Bullis also serves on the Board of Directors of Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMBC). Mr. Bullis received his bachelor of arts degree in business administration from Colby College and is a certified public accountant. He is Lead Governor of the Board of Governors, Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee, and a Member of the Audit, Compensation and Benefits, Finance and Risk, and Investment Committees at The Doctors Company.
Daniel Kent Cassavar, MD, MBA, a practicing cardiologist, is Medical Director of TDC Group. Dr. Cassavar most recently served as the President and Chief Medical Officer of ProMedica Physicians, a healthcare network of specialized hospitals, facilities, researchers, physicians, and advanced practice providers. Prior to joining ProMedica Physicians, Dr. Cassavar was an interventional cardiologist with Heart Specialist of Northwest Ohio, a Founding Member of Cardiocare Consultants, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Medical College of Ohio. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine (1992) and certified in Interventional Cardiology (2000) and Cardiovascular Diseases (1994). He is also a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Cardiology. After graduating from the Medical College of Ohio, Dr. Cassavar completed his residency at St. Mary Medical Center of UCLA, was Chief Fellow of Cardiovascular Medicine at Providence Hospital and Medical Centers in Michigan, and earned an MBA from the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business. Dr. Cassavar has published extensively and been the Principal Investigator on numerous clinical trials. He serves as a Member of the Board of Governors at The Doctors Company, a Member of the Patient Safety Committee, and as a Director of The Doctors Company Foundation.
Charles R. Kossman, MD, PhD, has more than 30 years of experience in the fields of hematology and medical oncology in Southern California. Now retired from private practice, Dr. Kossman is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California at San Diego. He is a Diplomate of the American Boards of Internal Medicine (1976 to 2016) and Medical Oncology (1979 to 2016) and a former Member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Kossman is a Member of the San Diego County Medical Society. He previously served as Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Alvarado Hospital and as the President of the San Diego Foundation for Medical Care. Dr. Kossman is Chair of the Investment Committee and serves as a Member of the Audit, Compensation and Benefits, Patient Safety, and Technology and Cybersecurity Committees at The Doctors Company. He is also a Director of The Doctors Company Foundation.
Megan Mahoney, MD, MBA, is Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Prior to joining UCSF, Dr. Mahoney was the Chief of Staff of Stanford Health Care and Professor in the Department of Medicine at Stanford University. She provided oversight of quality, safety, and professionalism activities for the 3,000 physicians within Stanford Health Care and previously served as Stanford Health Care’s Chief of Primary Care. Dr. Mahoney has expertise in precision health, practice transformation, and care model redesign in large academic healthcare systems. She has served in senior-level positions at academic medical centers in the U.S. and internationally, developing innovative and transformative approaches to proactive and personalized team-based primary care that empowers patients, healthcare providers, and communities. Before joining Stanford, Dr. Mahoney was a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco, serving in several leadership capacities in clinic operations, medical education, and research. She was a Visiting Professor at Aga Khan Medical College of East Africa and served on the Family Medicine Committee of the Kenya Ministry of Health. Dr. Mahoney earned her BA in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley; her MD at the University of California, San Francisco; and her MBA at Brandeis University. She serves as a Member of the Finance and Risk and Patient Safety Committees at The Doctors Company and as a Director of The Doctors Company Foundation.
Ellen H. Masterson, MBA, CPA, served as a Senior Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), where she held both U.S. and global leadership roles and worked with business leaders throughout the PwC network of firms in 144 countries. Ms. Masterson also served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of American General Corporation, a Fortune 200 financial services company. She earned a BA in mathematics from Emory University and an MBA from the Edwin L. Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University. Ms. Masterson serves on the boards of Westwood Holdings Group, Westwood Trust, and Insperity, Inc. She is Chair of the Audit Committee and a Member of the Finance and Risk Committee at The Doctors Company.
Howard Mills is a retired Deloitte Managing Director and Global Insurance Regulatory Leader and a Former Superintendent of the New York Insurance Department. He is a Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company, where he advises C-suite leaders and boards in the areas of regulatory and reputational risk, executive positioning, strategy, environmental, social, and governance, financial communications, crisis management, M&A, and public policy. Mr. Mills is currently Executive Vice President of Business Development and External Affairs of beeXact, an engineering technology company that designs and permits fiber optic networks. During his career at Deloitte (2007 through 2019), he served Deloitte’s largest U.S. and global insurance clients. Prior to his management consulting career, Mr. Mills was the Superintendent of the New York State Insurance Department (2005 through 2006). During his tenure as Superintendent, he led the department’s transition to conducting risk-based examinations, was a leader at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners on issues such as principles-based reserving for life insurance companies, terrorism risk insurance, and disaster preparedness. He was active at the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, was a Member of the Presidential Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee, served as Co-Chair of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, and testified before Congress on matters impacting the insurance industry. Mr. Mills was elected to three terms in the New York State Assembly (1999 through 2004), where he rose to the office of Deputy Minority Leader and was a member of the National Council of Insurance Legislators. He is a director of Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) and previously served on the Board of Directors of Ensight, a cloud-based insurance sales platform. He is a member of the Board of the Insurance Federation of New York, currently serving as Board President, and is a Trustee of The Institutes Griffith Insurance Education Foundation. Mr. Mills received a BA in political science from Marist College and his MA in public administration from The American University. He is a National Association of Corporate Directors Governance Fellow. Mr. Mills is a Member of the Audit, Finance and Risk, and Technology and Cybersecurity Committees at The Doctors Company.
William C. Rupp, MD, is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Mayo Clinic in Florida and a board certified physician with 32 years of experience in the fields of hematology and medical oncology. His previous leadership positions within the Mayo Health System include President and Chief Executive Officer of Immanuel St. Joseph’s in Mankato, Minnesota, and President and Chief Executive Officer of Luther Hospital/Midelfort Clinic in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Dr. Rupp also served as Medical Director of Midelfort Health Plan and as Chief of Staff at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire. After graduating from the University of Minnesota Medical School, he completed his residency and fellowship at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Dr. Rupp also served on the Board of Directors of Jacksonville University and recently completed a term as Chair of the Board of the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce. He serves as a Member of the Compensation and Benefits, Finance and Risk, and Patient Safety Committees at The Doctors Company. Dr. Rupp is also Chair of The Doctors Company Foundation Board of Directors.
Christa Steele, MBA, is a financial and governance executive with decades of corporate leadership experience across a wide range of industries. Ms. Steele currently serves on the board of Tanimura & Antle and is Vice Chair of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), Northern California Chapter. She is the former CEO of Balco Holdings, Inc., and previously served as President, CEO, and Board Director of the Mechanics Bank. Ms. Steele is a nationally recognized speaker and thought leader on digital technologies and environmental, social, and governance strategies. She earned an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California and holds a bachelor of arts degree from California State University, Sacramento. Ms. Steele is an NACD Board Leadership Fellow with Governance Certification. Ms. Steele is a Member of the Audit and the Finance and Risk Committees at The Doctors Company.
Mary Ann Thode, JD, MPH, RN, is a healthcare executive with decades of experience leading top healthcare systems. Ms. Thode is the former President and CEO of the Northern California Region of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals. Prior to her 10 years with Kaiser, Ms. Thode served as a Senior Vice President of Operations for the Catholic Healthcare West System (CHW). Ms. Thode was previously the President and CEO of St. Mary’s Medical Center, San Francisco, a division of CHW. Prior to joining The Doctors Company Board of Governors, Ms. Thode served on the Board of Directors of the California Hospital Association, the Bay Area Council, the American Cancer Society, the California State Chamber of Commerce, Mercy Housing Corporation, and Larkin Street Youth Services. Ms. Thode was also a Member of the Advisory Board for the joint MPH/MBA program at the University of California, Berkeley. She serves as a Member of the Compensation and Benefits, Investment, Nominating and Governance, and Patient Safety Committees at The Doctors Company. Ms. Thode is also a Director of The Doctors Company Foundation.
Grace Vandecruze, MBA, CPA, is the Founder and Managing Director at Grace Global Capital LLC, a consulting firm providing M&A financial advisory, restructuring, and valuation services to the insurance industry and financial regulators since 2006. Ms. Vandecruze was a Managing Director at Swiss Re and was responsible for the firm’s regulatory advisory practice in the insurance and financial services industries. She has extensive expertise in mergers and acquisitions and capital raisings. Most notably, she provided expert testimony on the valuation of Conseco during the largest bankruptcy in the insurance industry. Prior to joining Swiss Re, Ms. Vandecruze was a Vice President at a private equity firm specializing in the insurance industry and an Associate in the Financial Institutions Group at Merrill Lynch. She earned an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BBA in Accounting from Pace University. Before attending the Wharton School, she was an auditor for six years in the financial services industry at Ernst & Young and Grant Thornton. Ms. Vandecruze is a certified public accountant. She is a Board Member of M Financial Group and was appointed to the Wharton Graduate Executive Board. She recently authored a book, Homeless to Millionaire: 6 Keys to UPLIFT Your Financial Abundance. Ms. Vandecruze is a Member of the Audit and Investment Committees at The Doctors Company.
Robert M. Wachter, MD, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and a thought leader in organization of care, quality, patient safety, and digital health. Dr. Wachter, who has published more than 250 articles and six books, is the best-selling author of The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age. He coined the term “hospitalist” in a 1996 New England Journal of Medicine article and is generally regarded as the academic leader of the hospitalist movement. Dr. Wachter is Past President of the Society of Hospital Medicine. He is Chair of the Patient Safety Committee and a Member of the Technology and Cybersecurity Committee at The Doctors Company. Dr. Wachter also serves as Vice Chair of The Doctors Company Foundation Board of Directors.
Ronald H. Wender, MD, FACA, is a Los Angeles–based anesthesiologist. Dr. Wender is Chairman Emeritus and Professor of Anesthesiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he also served as Academic Chair of the Cedars-Sinai Anesthesia Residency Program and Director of Anesthesia Training Programs. Dr. Wender is a Diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology, a Fellow of the Federation of State Medical Boards, and former President of the Medical Board of California. He is a Member of the National Association of Corporate Directors with fellowships in Governance and Leadership. Dr. Wender serves as Chair of the Compensation and Benefits Committee and as a Member of the Finance and Risk, Nominating and Governance, and Patient Safety Committees at The Doctors Company.
Bryan Lawton, PhD,* is Chief Governance Officer and Secretary to the Board of Governors and Chief of Corporate Development for The Doctors Company. Dr. Lawton has over 40 years of experience improving organizational effectiveness, including board governance, strategic planning, leadership and management development, culture change, and creating high-performance teams. Dr. Lawton is a Governance Fellow at the National Association of Corporate Directors and is a Member of the Society for Corporate Governance. Prior to joining The Doctors Company, he was the Principal at Lawton Consulting for 12 years as a corporate psychologist and executive advisor. He also spent 14 years as a Vice President and Manager at Wells Fargo Bank as an internal management consultant. Dr. Lawton has served as Chairman on the Board of California State Psychological Association, Industrial/Organizational Psychology Division, as well as on many public and private boards. A licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Lawton earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees from Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland, and his PhD from the California School of Professional Psychology in Berkeley, California.
*Not a Board Member.