Speaker's Profile

Suzanne Kunis is President and Chief Executive Officer of NovaWell, an affiliate of Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. She also serves as Vice President of Behavioral Health Solutions for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. She brings over 30 years of experience in the health care industry with a significant focus on behavioral health. Suzanne is a registered nurse and moved from care delivery to health care management early in her career.

Suzanne is a nationally recognized industry expert and leads NovaWell, an organization born out of her success at Horizon. She was recruited to Horizon in March 2017 to develop and lead Horizon’s first ever internal Behavioral Health strategy and team. Suzanne is responsible for all behavioral health strategic development and execution including the organization’s commitment to the integration of physical and behavioral health. Suzanne led the successful insourcing of behavioral health and a cultural and philosophical shift and commitment of integration within Horizon. NovaWell will be helping other health plans to achieve similar results. Suzanne is the ultimate behavioral health champion – the opioid crisis and continued battle to eliminate mental health stigma are priority items on her agenda and she works tirelessly to drive the message that “mental health is health” nationwide.

Prior to joining Horizon BCBSNJ, Suzanne served for 22 years as Senior Vice President of Behavioral Health Services for Magellan Health Services. She was the business owner for Magellan’s health plan (Commercial, Medicare and Medicaid) and employer client relationships. She was responsible for oversight and management of nationwide service delivery including member services, clinical operations, network development and management, quality, sales, EAP and finance. During her tenure with Magellan, Suzanne developed a deep understanding of the behavioral health care issues facing our country and the long overdue recognition of the impact of behavioral health issues on co-morbid medical conditions.

Suzanne also served as Senior Vice President of Account Management and Implementations for ComplexCare Solutions (CCS). CCS provided in-home risk adjustment assessments and care management services for its health plan clients.

After graduating from Thomas Jefferson University, College of Allied Health Sciences in Philadelphia, Suzanne began her nursing career at the East Orange Veterans Administration Hospital. She then began a 12-year career journey with which was then Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey where she served many roles including Vice President of the Individual Market segment.