Healthcare is complex. Sesame is simple.

Through his writing and advocacy, David is a leading national voice for market-based health care reform. Prior to founding Sesame, David served as President and CEO of the Game Show Network, President of TV at Universal Studios, Founder and CEO of INTH, and CFO of Act III Communications. He is the author of the Atlantic cover story "How American Healthcare Killed My Father" and the follow-up book, “Catastrophic Care: Why Everything We Think We Know about Health Care Is Wrong.” David is chair of The Leapfrog Group, the nation’s leading advocate for health care transparency.

Michael oversees all sales, partnerships, and clinician relationships at Sesame. Prior to co-founding Sesame, Michael spent 5 years at McKinsey & Co., working to find solutions to healthcare’s biggest problems including health care prices, quality measurement, and competition in the US and abroad. Michael received his PhD in Health Economics and Policy from Harvard and has advised The White House Office of Management and Budget, Brookings Institution, and the State of Massachusetts on health reform legislation and implementation.

John oversees operations at Sesame. Prior to co-founding Sesame, John held VP and GM roles at GoEuro where he helped scale revenue from 0 to $100M+. John previously founded and sold his music production company, Relabel, and began his career at Goldman Sachs.

Dr. Makary is a surgeon and professor of health policy at Johns Hopkins. Named one of the most influential people in healthcare by HealthLeaders Magazine, Dr. Makary regularly appears on Fox News and NBC and has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, TIME, Newsweek, CNN, and more. He is also a New York Times best-selling author whose latest book, “The Price We Pay,” ignited a national dialogue around America’s broken healthcare system.

Poppy is a strategic storyteller who has spent her career scaling creative businesses and leading brand strategy at some of the world’s most disruptive companies, including Netflix, Twitter, Pepsi, and Samsung. Poppy was most recently the Head of Brand Marketing and Strategy at Glossier. In August 2018, she became a board member of Snap, Inc.

Gerard is a progressive leader with a proven record of entrepreneurial success. Prior to Sesame, Gerard led the Tripadvisor Restaurants B2B and B2C product and design teams which was used by hundreds of millions of hungry diners a month. He helped build a restaurant's B2B business from zero to millions of dollars in monthly revenue. Before Tripadvisor, Gerard was the co-founder and CEO of a popular photo management mobile app and cloud storage service.

Dr. Edwards is Sesame’s Regional Physician Advisor and founder of Kansas City Direct Primary Care, a primary care facility that aims to build stronger relationships between doctors and patients and make healthcare easier for all involved.

Alice Shepard is a clinical psychologist and Director of Mirielle Therapy Practice, PLLC, a group practice that focuses on the success of women. Alice holds a BA from Brown University and a Ph.D. from the CUNY Graduate Center. She completed additional training at Barnard, Columbia University, and Columbia Medical Center.