Ventegra Announces Launch of Ventegra Foundation, Appointment of Chief Contracting Officer Mariana Ritchie, MPH, CPhT, and ‘Fair’ Compensation Policy
July 16 2024 - 6:00AM
Business Wire
Ventegra Foundation’s compensation policy
enforces a salary cap for C-suite officers and high earners,
seeking to ensure equitable pay practices
Ventegra, a Medical Benefit Manager (MBM) that delivers
innovative, cost-efficient pharmaceutical and healthcare solutions
to payors, providers, and eligible individuals, today announced the
formal launch of Ventegra Foundation, a California Nonprofit Public
Benefit Corporation.
The Foundation is governed and controlled solely by its Board of
Directors. The majority of the Board’s Directorships is comprised
of independent members who have significant experience within a
community to be served by the Foundation, including experience in
employment or service to nonprofit organizations that provide
health, educational, or charitable services.
The Foundation’s officers are President/CEO Robert T. Taketomo,
Pharm.D., MBA, and Chief Contracting Officer (CCO) Mariana Ritchie,
MPH, CPhT. Ritchie will also serve as Treasurer and Secretary for
Ventegra Foundation.
The formal launch of the Foundation jumpstarts a multi-year
process to migrate the MBM business operations of Ventegra, Inc. to
the Foundation. During this process, Ventegra, Inc. will offer
services to support a smooth and orderly migration that minimizes
any disruption to the MBM business’ stakeholders.
Robert T. Taketomo, Pharm.D., MBA, President/CEO, says, “The
core purpose of this migration is to ensure the continuity and
sustainability of Ventegra’s business model within a nonprofit
vehicle to better serve our community of clients, employees, and
other stakeholders that have underpinned Ventegra’s success over
the past 20 years.”
Ventegra, Inc. is the only B-Lab Certified California Benefit
Corporation administering both pharmacy and medical benefit
programs, and it does so on a pass-through basis, and in a
transparent manner.
Ventegra, Inc. also remains one of the few independent pharmacy
benefit entities in the market that directly contracts with
manufacturers and passes on such discounts directly to clients in a
transparent manner.
Explains Dr. Taketomo, “With the formal launch of Ventegra
Foundation and the appointment of Mariana Ritchie as an officer of
the Foundation in the role of Chief Contracting Officer (CCO), we
have taken a key step to ensure the continuity of the Ventegra
business model well into the future. We are pleased to have
initiated this process after many months of careful planning and
preparation.”
He adds, “Going forward, the Foundation’s compensation policy
for employees will be a keen differentiator for us in the
marketplace.”
Dr. Taketomo explains that the Foundation has committed to
strive for fair and equitable compensation for all employees
through its comprehensive compensation policy, which includes:
- Limiting the annual salary of the highest-paid employee (which
may or may not be the Executive Director/CEO), including any
bonuses or other direct monetary incentives, to 25 times the annual
salary equivalent, including bonuses or other direct monetary
incentives, of the lowest-paid employee, consultant or contracted
individual.
- Covered employees shall be offered the same retirement, life
and disability, health insurance, vision and dental insurance
benefits as all other full-time employees of the organization.
- Covered employees shall not receive a pay increase in any given
year if less than 60 percent of employees are not receiving a pay
increase that year.
Mariana Ritchie, MPH, CPhT, Chief Contracting Officer, says,
“The compensation policy for Ventegra Foundation has been crafted
in such a way as to help ensure a fair and equitable wage for all
who work at Ventegra.”
Further clarifying this policy, Ritchie explains, “Inequality of
wages is a serious challenge for our society today. With national
executive salaries for many major corporations exceeding 400-600
times that of their workers, Ventegra Foundation is committed to
implementing a compensation policy that provides an incentive to
continuously increase the wages of all our employees.”
About Ventegra, Inc.
Ventegra, Inc., founded in 2004, has evolved its mission as the
prototypical Medical Benefit Manager (MBM) that delivers
innovative, cost-efficient pharmaceutical and healthcare solutions
to payors, providers, and eligible individuals. A complex
transition process has begun, and over time, Ventegra, Inc.’s
mission will be fully assumed by the nonprofit Ventegra Foundation.
www.ventegra.org
About Ventegra Foundation
Ventegra Foundation is a California Nonprofit Public Benefit
Corporation. Its mission is to establish new channels for
delivering better efficiencies and more cost-effective healthcare
for the community that is served. www.ventegra.org
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Peggy C. Frank, MBA Director, Marketing and Public Relations
peggy@ventegra.org 818-642-6804