Speaker's Profile

As a clinical psychologist, Brett’s career began in direct practice in hospital settings, splitting his time between inpatient psychiatric units and supporting medical and transplant teams. Because of a strong interest in scaling behavioral health at a population level, and an interest in healthcare operations, Brett transitioned to the payer environment. He spent nearly 20 years at Optum leading behavioral health operations, followed by Centene Corporation where he held the roles of Chief Behavioral Health Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Medical Strategy. Brett is currently Vice President, Behavioral Health & Mental Health Parity at Blue Cross Blue Shield Minnesota, the first “Blue” plan in the nation. Brett cares deeply about advancing psychology as a science through teaching, research, and speaking. He has authored or co-authored multiple published studies, published op-eds for Modern Healthcare, been interviewed by Forbes magazine, and has appeared as a White House panelist.