Board of Directors

Leslie Sandberg is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of experience in for- and non-profit sectors. Her career has focused on managing large and complex organizations, building integrated scientific and research teams, mentorship, philanthropy, and ensuring quality and integrity in clinical research.

She currently serves as Board Chair for the California Health Collaborative and has been a Board member since 1995. She has held numerous leadership roles in most notably the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, AT&T, and the University of California Davis. She spearheaded a joint venture between the University and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and helped secure funding for a National Science Foundation (NSF) designated Center of Excellence, The Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology (CBST).

Leslie has a long history serving on multiple boards, including the External Advisory Board, Medical Technology Program and Biology and Biotechnology Research Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She served as CEO and Executive Director for the Institute for Telemedicine at the Center for the New West.  During her tenure, she chaired the Health Care Working Group of the National Information Infrastructure Testbed (NIIT), the nation’s first and largest member consortium of corporations, federal agencies, national laboratories and universities. This coalition collaborated in building the first nationwide telemedicine demonstration, held live before Congress in September 1994. She also testified before state and federal legislative bodies regarding the benefits of telemedicine and its practical applications. These efforts, combined with many others, ultimately helped transform the way in which healthcare and related services can be delivered and has proved essential COVID and to this day. 

Leslie holds an MBA from St. Mary’s College and a BA from the University of Arkansas.

Joan Werblun started her career in Pennsylvania then moved to UC Davis Medical Center in 1970 where she worked until her recent retirement. During her time with UC Davis, Joan was a diabetes specialist, developing patient education and care programs. She advanced diabetes management education for staff, medical students, and nursing students. Joan also developed education for Internal Medicine Residents to assist them in management of diabetes in the hospital setting, writing, and implementing policies and procedures, best practices in managing diabetes in the hospital setting, developing standards of care and developed community outreach programs in diabetes.

In 1995, Joan was appointed by Governor Wilson to lead an interdisciplinary team in creating Guidelines for the management for the State of California, which became the Diabetes Coalition of California. She has gone to Africa with a medical team to teach Diabetes Management to physicians and their patients in Nigeria and Ghana. Currently, Joan serves as the Board Chair of California Chronic Care and Board Vice Chair of California Health Collaborative.

She continues to serve as advisor to Valley Hi Health Tech, and other community organizations.

Eric Gold, now retired, was a California attorney, specializing in healthcare law. Over the years, he represented managed care organizations, physician groups, hospitals, as well as nonprofit organizations. Prior to establishing his law practice, he was appointed by the California Senate to serve on the California Medical Assistance Commission. This Commission determined which hospitals would serve Medi-Cal recipients and negotiated the terms and conditions of the contracts.

Dr. Jeannine S. McCune, PhD, PharmD has been a Professor at the Beckman Research Institute within City of Hope in Los Angeles, CA since 2017.  She is also an Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington and Affiliate Investigator at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, where she served upon their faculty since 1998.  Dr. McCune has received several major National Institutes of Health grants for her research on the clinical pharmacokinetics of anticancer agents, with the goal of improving survival rates by identifying biomarkers predictive of treatment response.  She has over 130 publications and she has also served as a member of multiple NIH study sections and is a member of Children’s Oncology Group. In her personal time, she also volunteers with nonprofits focusing upon social justice and dyslexia.

Dr. Eckroth-Bernard is double board certified in general and vascular surgery. Dr. Eckroth-Bernard has been in practice for eight years as a vascular surgeon and is an alum of the UCSF Fresno Surgery Residency Program. Dr. Eckroth-Bernard’s clinical interests reside in the realm of complex endovascular and open arterial reconstruction. He is dedicated to his patients and realizes the importance of increasing underrepresented minority physicians will greatly improve patient care in the Central Valley. The UCSF Pre-Medical Surgical Internship provides an opportunity to partner with our local universities to help introduce, mentor and guide the future physicians in the Central Valley.

Leslie is a Senior Business Program Manager at Microsoft, where she leads artificial intelligence enablement, executive engagement, and large-scale program operations across the company’s Bay Area region. She works with senior leadership to turn emerging technology into practical, measurable adoption, designing programs that connect frontline innovation to enterprise strategy, and bringing operational discipline to complex, cross-organizational initiatives.

Earlier in her Microsoft tenure, Leslie led executive briefings, technical conferences, and customer engagements at the company’s Silicon Valley campus for organizations across healthcare, public sector, manufacturing, and energy, as well as international delegations. This work shaped her understanding of how mission-driven and regulated institutions adopt technology within real budget, privacy, and workforce constraints, and reinforced her commitment to inclusive leadership. She co-leads women in technology forums, partners with employee resource groups, mentors early-career professionals, and advocates for young women of color from underserved communities pursuing education and careers in technology.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Leslie served 18 years as a technical subject matter expert for the State of California, working across information technology infrastructure for state government, education, and military programs. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from Rogers State University. She is a native Californian and enjoys spending time with her husband, and two teenage daughters. 

Patricia Tanquary has more than 45 years of healthcare leadership of hospitals, health plans and third-party administrator (TPA) experience with significant involvement in health advocacy, planning, policy development, implementation and operations administration.

A former social worker, she has developed a strong, collaborative style in multiple settings and worked with community agencies, federally qualified health centers (FQHC) and county clinics to improve collaboration, integration and continuity of healthcare primarily in California.

Most recently, she was CEO of Contra Costa Health Plan in the ninth largest county in California with the oldest government sponsored federally qualified health plan in the state. In supporting the Affordable Care Act both in Medi-Cal and in Covered CA, the plan doubled in size in less than two years. 

Under her leadership, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) (Tapestry) electronic health records systems were implemented with the county health department to improve information technology linkage of patient information.

Her other achievements include developing a special needs plan for dual-eligible enrollees, providing commercial insurance for county employees and Children’s Health Insurance Program, and working with Applied Information Management and in-home supportive services workers. She also co-developed a primary care program for the uninsured with community FQHC partners and served as the TPA for that program. She in-sourced the low-moderate mental health benefit into the county mental health department and operated this benefit with other county intra-divisional management teams under the county board of supervisors.

Patricia supported the development of the Whole Person Care Waiver and the Drug Medi-Cal Waiver in Contra Costa County to maintain linkages with the health plan membership as well as transitioned the Medi-Cal Autism benefit from the regional centers into the health plan and contracted with 136 Applied Behavior Analysis providers to provide care.

Patricia previously spent 18 years in management with Kaiser Permanente both in California and nationally. She served as hospital and health plan administrator for Kaiser hospital in San Rafael with clinics in Novato and Petaluma. She also served as director of member services and as continuing care leader where she initiated case management teams for high-risk populations including geriatric nurse practitioners in contracted skilled nursing facilities. Her national experience includes serving as director of national provider contracting for Kaiser Regions where she implemented national contracts which could also meet local needs.

Patricia has also served as the associate administrator for French Hospital and Health Plan helping them to implement one of the first four CMS Medicare Risk Demonstration Projects. Earlier in her career, she taught social work and health courses and managed the undergraduate social work internship program at San Diego State University. She worked as a social worker in hospital, home health and skilled nursing settings where she developed the first rape emergency assistance hotline in San Diego as well as co-led a cancer support group for patients and family members.

Patricia earned a Ph.D. in social welfare and Master of Public Health from the University of California Berkeley as well as a Master of Social Work and bachelor’s degree in social welfare from San Diego State University.

Dr. Rob Oldham currently serves as director of Placer County Health and Human Services as well as serving as the county’s interim health officer and chief psychiatrist. Rob previously served as Placer’s health officer, medical director, and director of Public Health from 2014-2019, and was called to return to the county during the COVID-19 pandemic after serving as chief medical executive for Sutter Center for Psychiatry in Sacramento and as medical director of acute psychiatric services across the Sutter Health system in California and Hawaii. He also previously served as health officer and medical director for Fresno County. Rob received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia, a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and a Master of Science in health administration from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he also completed his residencies in general psychiatry and preventive medicine/public health. He is board-certified in general psychiatry, general preventive medicine/public health, consultation-liaison psychiatry, and medical quality. He is also a past president of the California Conference of Local Health Officers and the California Academy of Preventive Medicine, past chair of the California Medical Association’s Council on Science and Public Health and the California Behavioral Health Directors Association’s Medical Services System of Care, and currently serves on the board of the California Medical Association, the California Health Collaborative, Healthy Rural California, Western Sierra Medical Clinic, the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierra, the Health Officers’ Association of California, and the Placer Nevada County Medical Society. Rob lives in Roseville with his wife and their four daughters.

Tom brings more than four decades of leadership and service in healthcare, spanning both the private and nonprofit sectors. He has served as CEO of three different Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans, and has founded multiple innovative healthcare companies, including of the first physician service quality management organizations, a pharmacy benefit management company, and an early interoperable healthcare management platform. Throughout his career, Tom has focused on expanding patient access to high-quality, affordable care , and advancing systems that improve outcomes for patients and healthcare professionals.

His commitment to community health and equity began early and has remained a constant throughout his life. As an undergraduate at the University of Alabama, Tom received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award in recognition of his work in helping to launch Head Start programs, starting and managing high school mentoring programs across multiracial barriers, and participating in voter registration programs in rural Alabama. He has since supported and partnered with numerous nonprofit programs addressing public education, public health, workplace inequities, developmental disabilities, and consumer health education.

Tom earned a BA in American Studies from the University of Alabama and a JD from the University of North Carolina where he focused on healthcare law. He has contributed nationally to health policy and reform efforts as an analyst for Common Cause in Washington,DC, as a member of the Jackson Hole Group, and as a cofounder of the Center for the New West in Denver, Colorado. Early in his career , he served in the U.S. Army as a strategic intelligence officer, working on advanced communications and cybersecurity technologies to enhance soldier safety and effectiveness in combat. Tom, and his wife Cynthia, are proud Californians and reside in Los Angeles.