Insurance
10 UnitedHealth Group operations leaders
These ten leaders hold or have held director-level or higher operations roles at UnitedHealth Group, including claims, clinical, service and OptumCare operations. A reader can learn from them how UnitedHealth Group runs claims, provider service and care operations at scale.
Professionals to explore
01—10Abhidatta Rajadhyaksha
LinkedInExperience: VP Claims Operations · UnitedHealth Group
VP Claims Operations at UnitedHealth Group since March 2026, leading claims operations with a focus on transformation, operational excellence and practical use of AI, automation and data; the profile headline places the role at Optum Global Solutions. Other UnitedHealth Group roles include Senior Director of Operations (2023–2026) and Director Operations (2019–2023).
Ashish Madan
LinkedInExperience: Senior Vice President Global Capability Leader for Claims and Provider Operations · UnitedHealth Group
Senior Vice President Global Capability Leader for Claims and Provider Operations at UnitedHealth Group since September 2025. His other UnitedHealth Group roles include Senior Director - Head of Transitions, Technology Enablement Group (2014–2017) and Director - Head of Transitions (2012–2014). His profile describes managing global operations, business transformation and change management.
Christy Ross
LinkedInExperience: Chief Operating Officer, Care Delivery · UnitedHealth Group
Former Chief Operating Officer, Care Delivery at UnitedHealth Group (2025–2026). Her other UnitedHealth Group roles include Senior Vice President Enterprise Clinical Services and Optum Health Risk Operations (2023–2025), Senior Vice President Operations- OptumCare (2019–2023) and Senior Vice President Operations- Medicaid (2017–2019).
Darla Denne
LinkedInExperience: Sr. Director Service Operations · UnitedHealth Group
Sr. Director Service Operations at UnitedHealth Group since December 2014. Her other UnitedHealth Group roles include Director Project Management Process Improvement (2013–2014) and Sr. Director of Alliance Case Installation and West Sales Region (2008–2013). Her profile describes business operations and project management work across commercial, Medicaid and Medicare health insurance operations.
Denise Strait
LinkedInExperience: Vice President, Behavioral Health Claim and Appeal Operations · UnitedHealth Group
Vice President, Behavioral Health Claim and Appeal Operations at UnitedHealth Group since October 2013, leading a global organization of nearly 900 claim and appeal team members. She was also Vice President, Public Sector Provider Loading Operations at UnitedHealthcare (2012–2013) and Director, Government Network Operations at UnitedHealth Group (2008–2012).
Dirk McMahon
LinkedInExperience: President and Chief Operating Officer · UnitedHealth Group
Former President and Chief Operating Officer of UnitedHealth Group (2021–2024), a role in which his profile says he focused on strategy and the workplace for the 350,000 teammates at Optum and UnitedHealthcare. His other roles include Executive Vice President Operations at UnitedHealth Group (2014–2017), President and Chief Operating Officer at Optum (2017–2019) and Chief Executive Officer at UnitedHealthcare (2019–2021).
Ryan Fulton
LinkedInExperience: Senior Vice President, Claims Operations and Benefit Installation - UnitedHealthcare · UnitedHealth Group
Senior Vice President, Claims Operations and Benefit Installation - UnitedHealthcare at UnitedHealth Group since July 2020; his profile headline describes him as COO, UnitedHealthcare Core Operations. His other UnitedHealth Group roles include Senior Vice President, Customer Performance Management - Optum (2020) and Vice President, Customer Performance Management - Optum (2018–2020).
Stephanie Henry
LinkedInExperience: Vice President, Operations at Optum Financial · UnitedHealth Group
Vice President, Operations at Optum Financial (UnitedHealth Group) since April 2024; her profile describes leading operations and transformation at Optum Financial by applying AI, automation and data-driven practices to scale performance and improve consumer experiences. Her other UnitedHealth Group roles include Sr. Director, Fintech & Payment Capabilities at Optum Financial (2022–2024) and Sr. Director, Technology and Transformation at Optum (2020–2022).
Trent Simpson
LinkedInExperience: Vice President, OptumCare Operations · UnitedHealth Group
Vice President, OptumCare Operations at UnitedHealth Group since May 2016. His other UnitedHealth Group roles include Vice President, Medicare Operations (2011–2016), Vice President Clinical Service Partnerships - Medicare & Retirement (2007–2011) and Senior Director, Network Pricing & Strategy - Evercare (2006–2007).
Trisha Everett-Karjalainen
LinkedInExperience: Vice President of Operations Provider Issue Resolution and Prevention · UnitedHealth Group
Vice President of Operations Provider Issue Resolution and Prevention at UnitedHealth Group since May 2015, working across business partners and lines of business to identify and remove provider pain points. She was Executive Director of Claim Operations and Technology (2011–2015) and Senior Director Provider Solution Teams and Technology (2008–2011) at Aetna, a CVS Health Company.
Choose the right perspective
Match the person's business line, such as UnitedHealthcare claims, Optum care delivery or Optum Financial, to the operation you are trying to improve. Also check whether the person's role is current or past and how recently they held it.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01How do you organize claims and appeals operations to keep accuracy high as volume grows?
- 02Which automation or AI tools actually reduced cost or turnaround time in health plan operations?
- 03How do you find and fix provider and member pain points that cut across business lines?
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot and may describe past or present roles. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.
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