Our Team

Staff

Javier Valdez, Executive Director
For the past 25 years, Javier has served as a corporate and nonprofit leader. As a director, he mentors his team to develop their potential to contribute fully to the organization’s growth. He has led several local and national nonprofits, including Breakthrough Central TX, Con Mi Madre, Economic Growth Business Incubator (EGBI), and is also an alum of Leadership Austin Essentials and a McBee Fellow. Javier will build on his demonstrated technology and sales experience to grow HealthStart’s impact.

As a leader, Javier has a talent for building strong relationships, facilitating communications between stakeholders, encouraging a collaborative team-centered culture, and managing organizational operations.

His professional resume includes executive and senior leadership roles at Oracle, Electronic Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Cisco Systems, Inc., to name a few.

When Javier is not working, he loves participating in various fitness activities, honing his foodie skills, traveling, and enjoying live music.

Sharon Burley, Program & Communications Manager
Sharon started as a volunteer with HealthStart and now uses her many skills to spread HealthStart’s mission and purpose to the community. As a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner she brings a nutritional expertise and passion for health education.

Sharon’s interest for this work stems from her own struggles with health growing up. She had no knowledge of why nutrient-dense food was important for our bodies and minds, nor an understanding of the science behind it. In her training with the Nutritional Therapy Association she gained knowledge around how different body systems function and how best to take care of them primarily using food as medicine. She believes a basic understanding of these concepts is essential information for kids to develop the tools needed for a healthy lifestyle as adults.

Outside of her role with HealthStart, Sharon frequently performs around Austin singing with various groups.

Jeremy Follin, Curriculum Coordinator
Jeremy is a talented visual and graphic artist in charge of developing most of the visual graphics associated with HealthStart's HEY! Curriculum, What are YOU Feeding! Nutrition Awareness Program, Monstralia mobile app, and all of our fundraising/marketing campaigns. He enjoys working with HealthStart because it brings new challenges that help him grow in design as well as the ability to help a local nonprofit organization. In his free time he likes to listen to music, play board games, and go hiking.

Board of Directors

Katherine (Kate) Norton, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Chair
Kate has spent more than 12 years working in positions with companies that work to improve the health of the community so HealthStart’s Board seemed like a perfect fit for her. She worked as the Director of Marketing and Communications for a fortune 66 company before recently taking a position as a Communications Strategy Consultant at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas.

William Rodriguez, Press Ganey, Vice-Chair
William is a healthcare business development executive who works with HMO/ACOs, clinics, and other healthcare organizations to address their most pressing business and clinical challenges.

William’s professional experience varies from his individual pursuits as an entrepreneur in the tech space, federal healthcare legislative work on Capitol Hill, business development work for a Fortune 100 healthcare company, and as an executive for a health tech organization focused on the application of disruptive technologies to improve the quality of care.

William holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Texas Tech/Texas State and a Master of Public Administration in Finance and Fiscal Policy from the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs at Cornell University. When he’s not working, William can be found hunting, fishing, and kayaking. He also loves live music, particularly jazz and the blues as well as painting in his free time.

Laura Sankey, Centene Corporation, Secretary
Laura Sankey has more than twenty-five years’ experience in the managed care industry specializing in government sponsored programs. As Vice President of Product Strategy and Social Determinants of Health for Centene, she collaborates with health plans, community benefit organizations (CBOs) and cross-sector partners to identify and address the social needs of Centene’s Medicare, Medicaid and Marketplace members. Laura also serves as co-founder and CEO of Social Health Bridge, a subsidiary of Centene, where she works to standardize process and measurement and create sustainable revenue streams for CBOs by improving health outcomes for health entities.

Jenny Halley, ViviHealth, Member
Jenny is a general manager and digital health strategist with 15+ years of experience building and scaling teams and processes, structuring and executing on complex strategic initiatives and partnering cross-functionally to achieve company results. She is a people-first leader with a bias towards action. She can roll up her sleeves, think creatively and problem solve systematically. A pragmatic, data-influenced team player, Jenny is drawn to businesses leveraging technology to solve healthcare’s toughest challenges.

Robin Herskowitz, Member
Robin brings business know-how and 25 years experience in public health and public health finance to her role with HealthStart. Previously Robin worked as a legislative aide, policy analyst, and director of governmental affairs for a company serving persons with disabilities, and as the Executive Director of a Texas nonprofit.

Robin's experience working as a legislative aide and a policy analyst taught her that big changes begin in communities, not in the states' legislatures. Robin attended the University of Texas School of Public Health. There she examined pressing public health issues including access to mental health services and state and federal statutes relating to mental health.

In addition to her role with HealthStart, Robin owns and directs the operations of RH2 Consulting, Inc. which specializes in healthcare and public education studies and evaluation and performance reviews.

Tatiana Jitkoff, L’Aiglon Foundation, Member
Tatiana has deep roots in Texas. She and her family have a long history of charitable giving to Texas communities. In addition to her board service with HealthStart Foundation, she is a Social Venture Partner with Mission Capital. Beyond her experience guiding charitable organizations, Tatiana brings expertise in business and product development which she is pleased to use to help HealthStart grow and expand its impact.

When she is not working with L’Aiglon or her real estate company, you can find Tatiana doing improv theater around town.

Jason McBride, Superior Healthplan, Member
Jason is currently Superior HealthPlan’s Senior Vice President for Medicare. He’s worked in the healthcare field serving underserved populations for the past 15 years. Jason’s experience has taught him how important nutrition, fitness and a child’s environment are to a child’s wellbeing. He knows that HealthStart is helping Central Texas kids build a foundation for good health. This is Jason’s second time to serve on HealthStart’s Board. He returned to HealthStart’s Board after spending in Britain, as the Vice President for Population Health with Superior’s parent company Centene Corporation.

When he’s not at work or volunteering with HealthStart, Jason can be found with his furry companions, Walter and Bert, and his two-legged companion (aka wife) Kelly Sullivan.