Speaker's Profile

Melissa Reilly is a transformation-focused behavioral healthcare executive with more than a dozen years of leadership experience building and scaling healthcare technology companies. Since 2021, she has served Evernorth Behavioral Health as their Chief Growth Officer, leading strategy and business development. Melissa is passionate about reducing behavioral health stigma, generating awareness regarding the importance of prioritizing behavioral health, and developing scalable solutions for mental health and substance use that maximize access to care. Melissa previously served as Vice-President of Strategy and Partnerships at Digital Diagnostics, an AI-based, venture-backed startup, from 2020 to 2021 focused on introducing and commercializing novel technology. Melissa cultivated growth, operational and change agent experience at Optum, working closely with many Optum Venture portfolio companies as its Vice-President of Business Development and Commercialization from 2018 to 2020. There, she helped coach and mentor portfolio companies, championed the development of integrated offerings within the organization, and supported innovation for enterprise partners across multiple lines of business.

Melissa spent most of her career in the behavioral health and growth roles at Optum. As the Vice-President of Strategic Initiatives for Behavioral Health, she was responsible for lead product development, driving growth through innovative partnerships and introducing a new technology delivery process. From 2012 to 2016, she also served as Senior Director for Strategic Growth Initiatives at UnitedHealth Group establishing and then leading several partnerships with Fortune 50 clients and national sponsorship partners. In addition, Melissa leveraged her analytic mindset in several enterprise consulting and compliance positions prior to her directorship.

Melissa received a B.B.A. in Finance from James Madison University, and holds both an M.B.A. in Healthcare Management and a J.D. with Health Law concentration from Quinnipiac University. Melissa resides in Connecticut, with her husband and three children.