Officers and Senior Management

John P. Ryan
President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Ryan has 27 years’ experience in health insurance. He has served as President and CEO for Centene Arkansas Health Plans, which includes QualChoice, since July 2010. His past experience includes St. Vincent Health System, Healthsource and Southeast Medical Alliance. He serves on the Arkansas All Payer Claims Board as an appointee of the Governor, and on the Board of Directors for the CARTI Foundation and the Arkansas Chapter of the American Heart Association and on the Leadership Board for the Arkansas Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He earned his from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri and an MBA from Webster University in St. Louis.

Chris Perry
Chief Financial
Officer

Mr. Perry has 12 years of healthcare industry experience. He has been with Arkansas Health & Wellness since January 2014, serving first as Senior Director, Finance and later becoming Vice President of Finance in 2016. He was promoted to CFO in January 2020. He has previous experience with Radiology Associates, P.A. and JPMS Cox, a public accounting firm. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. Chris serves as Treasurer and Deacon of Finance for Levy Church of Christ, where he is an active member. He is also a member of the Central Arkansas Christian Schools Development Council.

Jeff Brinsfield

Jeff Brinsfield
Vice President of
Information Systems

In 2012, Mr. Brinsfield joined QualChoice as Vice President of Information Systems. His background is in banking software where he has 14 years of experience. Mr. Brinsfield has managed projects in processing centers in Europe as well as individual banking institutions across the globe. Additionally, he has held key roles in implementation, technical sales support and product management.

Melisa Chesney

Melisa Chesney
Vice President of
Operations

Ms. Chesney joined QualChoice in 1995 and has worked in records management, claims, customer service and enrollment. In 2009, she became Supervisor over Customer Service and Enrollment and was promoted to Enrollment Manager in 2010. She most recently served as Sr. Manager of HICS and Escalations at Centene and was named VP of Operations at QualChoice in July 2018. She has experience in many aspects of health insurance, including the Federally Funded Marketplace, individual health plans and CMS regulations.

Barry Fielder

Barry Fielder, PharmD
Vice President of Pharmacy

Dr. Fielder joined QualChoice in April 2010. He previously served as Vice President of Clinical Support Services for informedRx in Little Rock. He held similar positions with National Medical Health Card where he worked in various leadership roles from 1998 to 2008, including Vice President of Clinical Support Services and Vice President of Clinical Operations. He completed his undergraduate work at Harding University, and received his B.S. in Pharmacy and Pharm. D. from the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy.

Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson 
Vice President of
Network Development

Mr. Johnson joined QualChoice in 2011 as Manager of Network Services. He was promoted to Director of Provider Services in June 2012 and to his current position in April 2014. His 14 years of experience include contracting and provider relations management positions with NovaSys Health and Mercy Health Plans. Mr. Johnson is a graduate of the University of Arkansas with a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a Masters in Health Services Administration.

Liz Hubbard

Liz Hubbard 
Director of Compliance

In Ms. Hubbard’s 13 years of experience, her focus has included contract and insurance policy development and updates, ACA and HIPAA compliance, and filing for Arkansas Insurance Department approval. Before joining QualChoice in 2012, she served as Counsel II for Alltel Corporation and Windstream Communications. She is a Juris Doctor graduate of the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law. She is a past volunteer at the Center for Arkansas Legal Services.

Billy White

Billy White 
Director of Development

Mr. White joined QualChoice in 2015 to lead the web, data warehouse and Pega software development teams in creating high quality productivity and member engagement services for use in our growing health insurance business. His prior experience includes 18 years with AOL, where he led development teams in delivering a wide variety of solutions. He is a graduate of Emory University with a Masters in Mathematics/Computer Science.

Chris O'Dwyer

Chris O'Dwyer
Director of Sales

Mr. O’Dwyer joined QualChoice in 2020. He spent nearly 25 years with two top mid-south regional brokerages before moving to the carrier side to build broker and provider relationships. He has experience in large and small group employee benefits, both insured and self-funded. He is a 1992 graduate of Hendrix College in Conway and is an active member in that community, volunteering with organizations such as St. Joseph Schools, Church and Endowment.