Leadership Team

Steve Priest

Steve Priest

Chief Executive Officer and President

Steve serves as the CEO and President of Spero Health with almost 30 years of experience in leading healthcare organizations. He has a diverse background in operations, business development, accounting & finance and leadership development in both large multi-national, multi-site companies and small entrepreneurial organizations. Prior to Spero Health, Steve served as Senior Vice President & Chief Wisdom Officer at DaVita HealthCare Partners. During his tenure at DaVita, he led the operations of more than 400 individual treatment centers across the United States. In addition, he had responsibilities in leadership development, training & education and culture for more than 65,000 teammates at DaVita. Steve also proudly serves as a board member for two non-profit, mission-driven organizations – Bridge of Life Medical Missions and the Sean Karl Foundation. Steve and his wife Sheila live in Brentwood, Tenn. and enjoy spending time with their four children, traveling and time at the lake.

Rick Adams

Rick Adams

Chief Financial Officer

Rick Adams joined Spero Health in August 2017, with over 25 years of experience in multi-site healthcare financial operations, planning and administration. Prior to joining Spero, he spent 10 years with DaVita, Inc., the largest provider of kidney dialysis services in the U.S., serving as Senior Director, Finance, overseeing financial operations and planning for over 350 southeastern clinics. Before DaVita, Rick served in financial leadership roles with several leading healthcare companies, with special focus on physician practice management, diagnostic and ambulatory healthcare services. He began his career in public accounting with KPMG, following graduation from the University of Tennessee. Rick lives in Franklin, Tenn., and enjoys spending time with his wife and teenage children.

Clint Cromwell

Clint Cromwell

Chief Legal Officer

Clint serves as Chief Legal Officer of Spero Health and brings more than 10 years of practice in healthcare, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance. Prior to joining Spero Health, Clint served as Enterprise M&A Counsel for Envision Healthcare where he led the M&A legal function for Envision and was instrumental in executing a robust strategy of partnering with leading physician organizations and healthcare facilities across multiple sectors. Previously, he served as General Counsel of the Ambulatory Services Division at AmSurg, which consisted of a network of over 250 ambulatory surgery centers located in 35 states with over 3,000 affiliated physicians and other healthcare providers. Clint holds a J.D. from Emory University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee. Clint enjoys all forms of outdoor activities and spending time with his wife and their four children.

Dena Levine

Dena Levine

Chief People Officer

Dena came to Spero Health from Healogics, where she was the Vice President of Human Resources. There she developed a people-services strategy around performance management, teammate engagement and talent acquisition to support more than 3,000 teammates in 800 centers. Prior to that, she spent 12 years as the Group People Services Director for DaVita Healthcare Partners where she managed People Services operations for two operating groups and several business units (including Corporate Development, Wisdom, Mergers & Acquisitions and Payor Contracting) across 500 dialysis centers with 15,000 teammates in 12 states. Dena holds a Master’s in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University in New York and a B.S. in Business Administration from The Ohio State University. Dena enjoys travel, cooking and fitness classes.

Ed Littlejohn

Edward Littlejohn

Chief Operating Officer

Ed comes to Spero Health as former COO of Meridian Behavioral Health Systems in Nashville. In that role, he had responsibility over 9 facilities in 6 states and made significant contributions to the business through the establishment of continuous improvement and operational quality practices throughout the organization. Previously in his career, Ed served as a COO of hospitals owned by Tenet Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente and HCA. Ed holds an MPH degree in Healthcare Policy and Management from Columbia University in New York and a Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration from California State University, Northridge. Ed and his wife have two children and he enjoys traveling, playing golf and spending time with his family and friends.

Mark Rappé

Mark Rappé

Senior Vice President, Development

Mark has over 25 years of healthcare experience specializing in mergers and acquisitions, physician practice management, dialysis services, home health, urgent care, multi-site development and financial management. Prior to joining Spero Health, Mark led business development for Med First and served as a Vice President of Corporate Development in roles with QualDerm Partners and DaVita Dialysis. Mark also served as Vice President of Operations for HCA Physician Services, CFO for Sona MedSpa, Vice President of Financial Operations for PhyCor and CFO/COO for Southeast Healthcare. Mark graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in Accounting, and enjoys traveling with his family, scuba diving and sailing in his spare time.

Jim Andrews

Jim Andrews

Vice President, Revenue Operations

Jim has more than 20 years of leadership experience in revenue cycle operations. Most recently at Fresenius, he spent five years leading the overall revenue cycle performance for 225 dialysis clinics in seven states with more than $750 million in annual revenue. He was successful in driving performance metrics that consistently exceeded corporate standards. Prior to that, Jim held revenue cycle leadership roles in home health, DME/oxygen and hospital companies. He holds MBA and MHA degrees from Georgia State University and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. Jim enjoys hiking, sailing, live music and traveling with his wife and family.

David Hayden

David Hayden

MA, LCADC; Senior Vice President, Clinical Services

David has more than 25 years of experience in behavioral healthcare. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Kentucky and a Master’s Degree in Counseling from Eastern Kentucky University. He is also a Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor with experience in treatment, clinical supervision and training. Before coming to Spero Health, David was Director of Substance Abuse Services for a non-profit community mental health agency. He has experience in residential, non-medical detoxification, outpatient and medication-assisted treatment. David has led training programs in motivational interviewing, trauma-informed care and treatment for co-occurring disorders. He has served as a consultant and peer reviewer with knowledge in Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care, as well as program management and development. David is a Certified NIATx (Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment) Change Leader. David is committed to helping people overcome challenges to live a life of meaning and purpose as they define it, and developing systems that support this.

Dave Hoerman

Vice President, Spero University

Dave joined the Spero Health Community in September of 2020 to serve as Vice President of Spero University.  He has been expanding his capabilities in leadership development, coaching, training and organizational development for almost 30 years.  Dave has extensive experience in leading training both within the U.S. as well as internationally, in the technology, banking and healthcare industries with organizations such as Citigroup, Salomon Smith Barney, Deutsche Bank, Gambro Healthcare, and most recently, Dave served as Chief Wisdom Officer at DaVita Inc.  Dave served on the Board of Directors at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver, and is currently on the Board of Bridge of Life Medical Missions.  Dave and his wife, Anita, are originally from Philadelphia.  They have lived in Delaware, Tennessee, and Colorado, and are currently enjoying a return to the Nashville TN area.  Dave loves spending time with Anita, playing drums and piano, visiting their three daughters at college, as well as spending as much time as possible enjoying outdoor sports and recreation.

Ginger Jackson

Ginger Jackson

Vice President, Marketing and Communications

Ginger is a graduate of Morehead State University in Kentucky with a B.A. in Business Administration and Marketing. Her career started at Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company where she managed key accounts, and was recognized both nationally and regionally with multiple awards. After Pfizer, Ginger served in a healthcare consulting capacity, collaborating with hospitals nationwide. She integrated processes and marketing plans to meet organizational goals and to improve department initiatives, which achieved cost savings by strengthening outcome measures in core areas. Her client list ranged from major academic medical centers to critical access hospitals coast to coast. Ginger lives in central Kentucky and is passionate about raising awareness and public perception of addiction – working diligently with local communities to support change-based efforts. In her pastime, she and her husband can be found on a cross country course, track, football field or basketball court cheering on their three kids.

Matt Sirasky

Matt Sirasky

Vice President, Finance

Prior to joining Spero Health, Matt served and led a variety of teams in public accounting and industry finance. His most recent role, as controller of a multi-state, multi-site healthcare entity, included leading the accounting and finance functions. Matt is a CPA and earned a Master of Accountancy from the University of Cincinnati and a B.S. in Business Administration from Samford University. He and his wife especially enjoy the fall weather in central Kentucky, where they reside and are raising their two daughters and son. Weekends are busy for their family with sports teams, dance recitals, church activities and a few annual camping trips.

Chris Rathermel

Vice President, Technology

Chris joined Spero Health with rich knowledge in designing, developing, and globally scaling IT solutions. Responsible for leading software teams, security and infrastructure, Chris has experience working for a diverse portfolio of industry sectors. He has expertise in security and scalable distributed systems in high-performing teams, with a special focus on bettering lives with tech solutions. Prior to Spero Health, Chris served as VP of Technology at Bridge Connector and AVP of Technology at Work Institute, improving security and policy practices, organizational sizing for international growth with leading defense contractors and large health care systems. He co-founded MEDarchon, where he created and patented the technology for a web and smartphone app-based system, Quarc, that improves the clinical communication process.

Chris is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a B.A. in management information systems. He loves a good hackathon or tech meetup serving local nonprofits and aspiring Nashville tech talent. He enjoys spending time with his family and relaxing anywhere he can around the water.