MJHS Foundation Board Members

Steven Topal – Chair

Steven Topal has an extensive background in accounting and law, along with a personal commitment to philanthropy.

Topal is partner and chief collaboration officer of Prager Metis CPAs, LLC, a Top 100 U.S. accounting firm. He is also president of Prager Metis Charitable Foundation. He was a partner at Rothschild, Topal, Miller & Kraft PC prior to merging his successful practice with Prager Metis in January 2010. In addition, he is a partner in the law firm of Topal & Topal. He is considered an expert in the hospitality industry and frequently speaks on relevant topics to industry groups.

Topal received his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Albany and has a juris doctor from Brooklyn Law School. His professional affiliations include American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Burton J. Esrig

An executive with more than 50 years of experience, Esrig has spent his career specializing in product and technology innovation in the financial and technology arenas. He is currently an independent product and technology consultant to several early-stage companies and was previously a managing director at ACA Group and UBS, where he created various financial, regulatory and compliance products.

His charitable involvement has ranged from the boards of the Wall Street Division of UJA-Federation of New York, Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation-NJ, Schnurmacher Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing-Beth Israel Medical Center to the advisory board of the Garden State Film Festival.

Esrig has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from State University of New York at Stony Brook and has completed additional coursework in accounting, marketing and finance at New York University.

Brad Fluegel

Brad Fluegel has significant health care expertise, corporate vision, advisory and joint venture leadership. He is an advisor to health care organizations, entrepreneurs and other participants in health care. Previously, he was SVP and Chief Health Care Commercial Market Development Officer for Walgreens.

Before joining Walgreens, Fluegel served as Executive in Residence at Health Evolution Partners. Previously, he spent three years as Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and External Affairs Officer for WellPoint, where he oversaw long-term strategic planning, government affairs and corporate communications. Fluegel was also the Senior Vice President, National Accounts and Vice President, Enterprise Strategy for Aetna. Earlier in his career, Fluegel was CEO for Reden & Anders (Ingenix Consulting) and a principal at Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, where he led the health sector consulting practice.

Fluegel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the University of Washington and a master’s in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Fluegel also serves as a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Alexander Balko

Alexander S. Balko is immediate past president and CEO of MJHS Health System, a not-for-profit organization serving frail, elderly and at-risk members of the community across Greater New York. Balko joined MJHS in 1999 as senior vice president and CFO. During the subsequent 14 years, he was promoted to COO and later president. In 2014, he was named president and CEO of the health system.

Prior to joining MJHS, Balko served as senior vice president and CFO of Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center. Earlier in his career, Balko served as executive vice president for Administration at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center and vice president of finance at Cabrini Medical Center, both now part of the Mount Sinai System.

Balko is a former member of the HANYS board of directors, the Healthcare Financial Management Association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.

A certified public accountant, Balko earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Manhattan College and a master’s degree in health services from The New School for Social Research.

Danielle Rollmann

Danielle Rollmann has extensive business experience and knowledge of health care. She is currently vice president, Market Access Policy at J&J Innovative Medicine. Previously she was a commercial strategist consultant for Next Wave Consulting. Prior to that, Rollmann was the head of access priorities at Pfizer, Inc., where she led initiatives to advance patient access to medicines and cross-functional teams in analyzing and developing Pfizer’s positions on health care issues. Her work guided Pfizer’s external messaging on public policy matters and contributed to internal capability development for effective external engagement. She was promoted to that position after serving as Pfizer’s head of international policy and head of international policy, developed markets (Europe and Asia.)

Earlier in her career, Rollmann held various positions at a leading general management consulting firm, Booz & Company, where she rose through the ranks to become a Partner. As a consultant, she served as an advisor on commercial innovation, growth strategy, marketing strategy and business transformation for clients from startups to Fortune 50 corporations.

Rollmann earned a Master of Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University, where she graduated summa cum laude.

David Wagner

David Wagner is President and CEO of MJHS Health System and President of MJHS Health Plans. He was hired as director of Budget and Reimbursement for the not-for-profit organization in 1999 and steadily rose through the ranks. In 2014, he was named CFO of Elderplan, Inc. which includes Elderplan, a health plan with Medicare and Medicaid contracts, and HomeFirst, a Managed Long-Term Care plan. By the end of 2015, he was appointed COO in addition to CFO of the health plans. During this time, Wagner solidified his internal leadership team and drove improvements in quality, sales, financial reporting and revenue. Wagner was also credited with demonstrating that Elderplan/HomeFirst can maintain a commitment to providing members with quality, compassionate care while putting more emphasis on the bottom line.

Eli Feldman

A unique success story, Eli Feldman began his career as an executive assistant and rose through the ranks to become president and Chief Executive Officer of MJHS, a position he held for 36 years. Under his vision and extraordinary leadership, MJHS grew into a billion-dollar pioneering health system that provides innovative and compassionate services to frail, at risk, and chronically ill populations. Feldman was named CEO emeritus in January 2015.

As a recognized expert on chronic and long-term care issues, he was a member of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s highly influential Medicaid Redesign Team—now known as the Value-Based Payment Work Group, Co-Chair of the Managed Long Term Care Implementation and Waiver Redesign Work Group, and a critical player in the New York State’s Medicaid reform movement.

Feldman graduated cum laude with a B.S. in business administration from C.W. Post College of Long Island University. He holds an M.B.A. in hospital administration from Wagner College. He is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Feldman is also on the board of VNA Health Group and the Parker Advanced Care Institute. At the VNA Health Group, Feldman is vice chair of the Compensation Committee, and a member of a number of key strategic committees. Dozens of groups have recognized Feldman for his enormous contributions to the health care sector, including LeadingAge, LeadingAge New York, Home Care Association of New York State, Inc., Agudah Women of America, and his own alma mater—C. W. Post College of Long Island University.

Ronald Milch

Ronald Milch has more than 50 years of leadership experience in health care management. Prior to retirement, he served as president and CEO of Combined Coordinating Council, Inc. (CCC) in New York and was a consultant to the Robert Wood Johnson Health Network in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Throughout his career, Milch has held senior leadership roles at hospitals across the Greater New York area.

A life Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Milch has served on various professional and community boards, including as Oversight Board chairman for Bergen Regional Medical Center in Paramus, NJ and vice chairman of the board of directors at the Jersey City Medical Center in Jersey City, New Jersey Hospital Association and the American Hospital Association. He also formerly sat on the Healthcare Trustees of New York State and Trustee of Health Care Association of New York State (HANYS) boards.

Milch holds master’s degrees in business administration from New York University’s (NYU) Graduate School of Business and in public administration from NYU’s Graduate School of Public Administration.

Jay Talbot

Jay’s more than 40-year career in public service began as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in Thailand. After returning to this country, he worked in New Haven’s nationally recognized anti-poverty program where he was responsible for securing federal and state funding to finance its city-wide operations. His knowledge of community and grantmaking resulted in institutional reform and innovative programs. This led to his being recruited for that city’s police department as its first high ranking civilian; there he was in charge of program and financial planning. The experience he had in law enforcement was a steppingstone to further work in criminal justice change, culminating in the creation of a not-for-profit reform organization in Cincinnati which served both the city and county governments. His last position before retirement was as a senior program director at the Cleveland Foundation: his responsibilities focused on neighborhood revitalization, early childhood development, community engagement and other urban issues.

He has continued to be engaged in civic activities since moving to New York. He served as strategic planning consultant for the Greenwich House pottery as well as several not-for-profit organizations. The New York Community Trust introduced him to the United Neighborhood Houses’ program to engage older adults in Washington Heights community affairs.

Arthur Goshin

Arthur Goshin, MD, MPH, has had a successful career as a leader in health care for more than 50 years. He began by leading the development and management of a network of five community health centers in neighborhoods of poverty in upstate New York. Next, he was the founder/president/CEO of a large, well-regarded, New York State, not-for-profit health plan, that he grew to over 500,000 members. He was also the founder of a large upstate foundation that was established by using resources from his health plan, and that serves the frail elderly and vulnerable children in communities of poverty.

 

Goshin is a clinical professor at the University at Buffalo where he also received the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award. He was actively engaged in creating its School of Public Health and Health Professions, chairing its Dean’s Council. In addition, Goshin has served as an adjunct professor at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and as visiting faculty at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health.

 

Since 2006, Goshin has had his own foundation. providing support for 40 health care projects mostly in remote rural areas of extreme poverty in India and Uganda. He has also been a founder and board chair of national health care organizations interested in advancing the quality of care and effectiveness of not-for-profit entities. In addition, Goshin has been a long-time board member of a global organization involved in health care as well as using technology and learning to advance agriculture and livelihood. He has authored several books of poetry and photography.