peregrine3 doesn’t work with a bench of a hundred advisors. This is a small, deliberately chosen team of clinical executives, health system operators, and technologists who’ve each spent their careers inside the systems we now help transform. Every person on this page was chosen for a distinct area of expertise, not to pad a roster.
This team is small by design. Every advisor brings deep, proven competency in a specific corner of healthcare, built over years of hands-on operating experience. When peregrine3 brings an advisor into your engagement, you’re working directly with that expertise.
Krischa serves as the CEO of peregrine3, the first Silicon Valley-backed pure Health AI advisory firm focused on the precision capture of healthcare AI economic value. She and her firm specialize in rapidly deploying emerging health AI solutions effectively and efficiently to ensure high impact. She has expansive experience over three decades in healthcare across payers and providers and holds an MBA in Healthcare Administration and a BS in Mathematics & Technology. As a proven President of Medicare Advantage in a large-scale hyper-competitive market, she has executive-level expertise in driving membership growth, improving Star Ratings, enhancing risk adjustment accuracy, and managing P&L performance in stiff headwinds. Krischa is also a proven leader in technology and innovation, having served as Chief Information Officer at Priority Health and SVP of Information Technology at Spectrum Health (now Corewell Health) and has earned lifelong innovation accolades.
Krischa brings positive, creative energy to partnerships with health plans, health systems, provider organizations, government entities, healthcare investment firms, and PE/VC firms to inform and impact market outcomes. Her actuarial science background and her ability to confidently navigate the human and system drivers of complexity in healthcare have been key to unlocking value in complex markets. She is fluent in pairing solutions with problems while identifying and informing financial and operational models that work.
A lifelong Michigan resident, Krischa is happily married and is the mother of three children and grandmother to two. She and her husband, Jeff, are involved in marriage mentoring through Designed to Thrive, and she serves in women’s ministry through their church. Described as an “overcomer” by those who know her best, Krischa channels her passion and experience into her faith-based ministries and into facing – and solving – some of the most intractable problems in healthcare.
“The most elegant solutions in healthcare are those that make complexity fade to the background - or remove it entirely - so that you can appreciate the human experience”.
Jim VanderMey, a co-founder of Open Systems Technologies (OST), now known as Vervint, provided the technical leadership and strategic vision for the Grand Rapids-based information technology reseller and services company since its founding in 1997. Vervint’s approach emphasizes simultaneously addressing both the human and technological aspects of client engagements. Jim led the strategy of integrating Human-Centered Design with core technology services, which resulted in the strategic acquisitions of Visualhero (Grand Rapids, MI) in 2016 and Azul Seven (Minneapolis, MN) in 2020. Though he retired in 2025, Jim remains active with Vervint as an Executive Advisor, supporting the leadership transition, consulting with clients, and helping resolve complex organizational technology issues.
Jim’s experience predates his time at OST, with a strong background in enterprise architecture and healthcare, encompassing both payer and provider sectors. Jim represented Health IT as a Commissioner for the State of Michigan (2018-2023) and contributed to the development of the Michigan Health IT Roadmap (“Bridge to Better Health”). Jim also served on the Advisory Council for the Center for Digital Civil Society at the University of San Diego, and has advised and supported a variety of colleges, universities and startups as they navigate the complexity and ethics of creating value with technology. As a consultant and conference speaker, Jim has provided expertise to global companies and diverse clients in key areas, including product strategy, business alignment and IT transformation, system performance and architecture, CIO-level peer consulting, advanced analytics and technology in healthcare, medical device development and IoT program leadership.
Jim is a father of four children and grandfather to ten, and has been married for 40+ years to his wife Ann. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoys solo wilderness adventures, camping, off roading, paddle boarding, kayaking, and hiking. Ann and Jim are active in mentoring younger couples at their church, where Jim also leads a Faith and Tech initiative and a leadership development program.
Whitney brings the care delivery perspective to peregrine3, grounding AI transformation in the realities of hospitals, medical groups, access centers, and clinical operations. With more than 18 years of experience across integrated delivery systems, she has led enterprise redesigns in patient access, scheduling, referral management, contact centers, revenue cycle, physician practice referral networks and operational integration.
Her work helps health systems translate AI strategy into executable operating models across the points where care actually moves: referrals, intake, scheduling, transitions, fax-dependent workflows, and cross-organization handoffs. She centralizes fragmented processes, standardizes decision logic, aligns teams around governance, and creates the operational conditions required for automation to deliver measurable value.
"AI only creates value when the operating model is ready to receive it. This is an exciting era in which we have new tools to solve old problems that many of us in operations have dreamed of solving for patients."
Whitney’s advisory role strengthens peregrine3’s ability to serve health systems from the inside out, ensuring transformation is not just built, but adopted, measured, and sustained.
Justin is the creator of an influential Software Factory as the co-founder and CaTO of StrongDM. Justin has recently founded Diffusion AI to accelerate the adoption of these practices across the global economy.
Marnie Byers, RN, BSN, MSA, is a healthcare executive with more than 30 years of experience leading clinical operations across population health, utilization management, and care management. Recognized for turning strategy into action, she has successfully led high-performing teams in both payer and provider settings, consistently achieving measurable clinical and financial outcomes. Her work centers on designing patient-focused approaches that elevate care quality, strengthen the patient experience, and lower overall costs.
Most recently, as Vice President of Medicare Clinical Management at Emergent Holdings, Marnie led innovative programs for Medicare Advantage populations, improving quality performance while generating significant cost savings. She has also held executive leadership roles at Spectrum Health and Priority Health, where she drove the implementation of enterprise-wide care models and supported the advancement of value-based care.
Marnie is deeply committed to fostering strong, collaborative teams and developing forward-thinking solutions that connect clinical excellence with operational effectiveness and financial sustainability.
Sarah Klepzig, RN, BSN is a Care Management Expert at peregrine3 with over 30 years of clinical and operational nursing experience spanning telemedicine, acute care, clinics, and quality management. A former Nurse Manager—including leading HEDIS Transitions of Care operations at Elevance Health—and proven TRC superuser, Sarah specializes in driving change management, business strategy, and clinical quality for large-scale health plan implementations. She brings deep expertise in care coordination, AI workflow integration, multi-EHR systems (Epic, Cerner, Athenahealth), and health plan optimization, backed by a BSN from the University of North Florida (Summa Cum Laude).
Michelle Potter is a results-oriented Revenue Cycle Supervisor based in Sebring, Florida, with over 20 years of expertise in healthcare billing and follow-up. With 14 years in leadership roles across multi-state hospital systems, she specializes in optimizing complex workflows, strengthening internal controls, and driving measurable improvements in productivity, cash flow, and reimbursement outcomes.
Most recently, as the ISC Medicare/Medicare Advantage Supervisor at Trinity Health, Michelle provided operational leadership for revenue cycle operations supporting 74 hospitals, 26 therapy clinics, and three reference labs. In this capacity, she directed 20 offshore vendor partners, standardized processes through comprehensive training aids, and utilized EPIC and Cerner dashboards to analyze A/R volume and reduce aging inventory. Throughout her tenure at Trinity Health, she also managed regional teams of up to 16 members across acute care, rehabilitation, psychiatric, and critical access facilities.
Michelle launched her career at The Center for Physical Rehabilitation, where she advanced from front-office operations to Billing Specialist. Her comprehensive expertise spans the full claims lifecycle—including UB-04 and CMS-1500 forms—vendor management, and team coaching. This technical foundation is complemented by professional development in high-stakes leadership and crucial conversations.
Outside of her professional life, Michelle has been happily married to her husband, Todd, for 39 years. She is a dedicated mother of two and a proud “Mimi” to two grandchildren who keep her inspired. An avid traveler and passionate Disney enthusiast, she enjoys exploring new destinations in her free time.
Melissa Smith is a nationally recognized Medicare Advantage and Star Ratings expert with deep experience spanning health plan operations, consulting, finance and healthcare strategy.
She is the principal of Newton Smith Group, and previously served as a Senior Vice President at Gorman Health Group and Chief Consulting Officer in a technology company after having led enterprise Star Ratings operations at Cigna-HealthSpring, providing leadership on quality strategy and performance improvement initiatives across multiple markets in an array of roles. Melissa is a Certified Public Accountant, and has also served in key roles at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and KPMG LLP.
Melissa’s advisory work includes a broad array of services for health plans, providers, vendors, and investors on strategy, regulatory navigation, performance improvement, and organizational transformation.
Dr. Jay LaBine is an executive physician leader who has a passion for innovative payer-provider solutions that improve health and healthcare. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a patient centered population health approach to care delivery transformation. His business acumen, clinical insights, executive leadership and collaboration skills have helped health plans, value-based provider organizations and private equity-backed healthcare companies achieve successful financial and health improvement outcomes.
Dr. LaBine is an accomplished surgeon who specialized in general surgery, trauma surgery and renal transplantation for approximately 20 years. He transitioned from full time surgical practice to full time Chief Medical Officer and is fully dedicated to impacting health care system improvement.
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