Leadership Profiles

Karen S. Kyle, RN :: Founder and President

Karen is a registered nurse who has spent much of her career building and supporting managed care operations in clinical and insurance organizations. She was an early inventor of return-to-work programs in a hospital setting and subsequently managed large scale utilization review and case management operations. She has vast experience in managing dynamic teams, constructing compliant processes and cultivating outstanding customer satisfaction. Karen formed UniMed Direct because she knew she could do utilization review better. Better than what she had seen during her years at other companies, better than what customers expected and better than what was required by law. Karen is based in Dallas and oversees all new product initiatives and sales.

Lisa G. Hannusch :: CEO

Lisa knew her calling early on and had a single focus to dedicate her career to health care.  While working her way through college in various clinical roles including EMT, pharmacy and physical therapy services, she was driven to find a path to improving the health care economic delivery system.  She has spent the last 25 years serving the industry in various capacities, from health care reformer to managed care entrepreneur, with a special passion for developing technology solutions that drive health care efficiency and quality.  Lisa’s health care dedication created an environment for her to direct large scale insurance medical operations and the strategy behind a billion dollar corporation’s entry into workers’ compensation. She utilized her extensive experience while building her own managed care companies where she helped clients achieve a competitive edge through better operations. Ultimately, Lisa’s vast knowledge of the industry and her passion for leadership led her to join UniMed Direct in 2005 where she currently serves as CEO in charge of strategy and operations for rapidly growing services and a national client base.

Karen Atkins :: VP, Operations

Karen has spent her career managing large multi-state operations using her extensive knowledge of strategic planning, business policies, systems implementation and marketing. She has exceptional expertise in improving processes through a Six Sigma style approach and a broad knowledge of technology in operational settings.  Prior to joining the UniMed Direct executive team, Karen managed national multi-million dollar workers’ comp operations in bill review, peer review, utilization review and PPO networks for Fortune 500 companies.  Her passion for finding solutions to rising health care costs and her focus on service delivery has brought her numerous accolades from clients, including circle of excellence awards. Karen’s passion for operations and in-depth knowledge of integrating medical cost containment services and technology ensures client satisfaction and impeccable customer service.  Karen is based in Dallas and oversees our national managed care operations.

Jaelene Fayhee :: VP, Strategy and Client Services

Jaelene has spent her career in the insurance industry working with associations, agencies and carriers.  She has amassed tremendous expertise in multiple insurance markets and complex regulatory frameworks. For the last 20 years, Jaelene has been a leader for reform, especially in workers’ compensation, identifying stakeholder concerns and developing solutions for cost containment. In key executive positions at a large insurance company and state agency, Jaelene worked tirelessly to help build a system to better serve injured workers as well as employers. She has provided invaluable education to groups of employers, health care providers and legislators and has built key industry relationships. Jaelene’s passion for cost containment led her to UniMed Direct, where her expertise and dedication form a cornerstone of UniMed Direct’s ability to carry out its vision for a better healthcare economic system.  Jaelene is based in Austin and oversees regulatory functions including national licenses for UniMed Direct.

Stacey Jefferson :: VP, Information Technology

Stacey has spent her career in the information technology field where she has managed multi-million dollar IT departments and project budgets.  With an extensive background in improving business processes through application development initiatives, Stacey has overseen the implementation of leading-edge technologies to support workers’ compensation and other insurance processes.   Having worked at a large insurance company and a state regulatory agency, Stacey has developed expertise in designing, implementing, supporting and securing complex IT networks and development architectures and applications.  Stacey’s enthusiasm for implementing IT solutions that improve business communications and processes led her to UniMed Direct, where her skills and devotion to continuous improvement are valued and encouraged.  Stacey is based in Austin and oversees all information technology operations for UniMed Direct.

Laure L. Lamy :: VP, Sales and Marketing

Laure began her career as a social worker providing services to youth in Florida.  After graduate school, she moved into the health care policy arena and worked within the Florida Legislature and the US Congress.  Her commitment to helping others was the focus of her work in health care policy, and she found her true passion in creating unique solutions to client problems. Laure has since focused her career on business development, supplying services and technology in the property and casualty insurance market for over 10 years.  She has developed expertise in supplying medical bill review and enterprise claim support software and services to insurance companies, third party administrators and employers throughout the country. Her successful sales and management experience has landed her many awards within Fortune 500 companies for sales and client satisfaction.  Laure is based in Salt Lake City and oversees the strategic sales growth of UniMed Direct.

Avrom Simon, MD, MPH, CPE :: VP, Medical Director

Dr. Simon is Board Certified in Occupational Medicine, completing his residency work at Sinai Samaritan Medical Center in Milwaukee and University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago where he has also served in faculty positions. Dr. Simon served as a practicing physician and clinic director for over 10 years before transitioning into medical director roles achieving his Certified Physician Executive and American Board of Quality Assurance accreditations. As the medical director of a large international property and casualty insurer, Dr. Simon oversaw physician advisor credentialing, peer review performance and quality initiatives, including URAC accreditation.  In addition, Dr. Simon has processed hundreds of file reviews on short- and long-term disability, workers’ compensation and group health patients for multiple national carriers; experience that he brings to UniMed Direct to help ensure medical integrity for our clients.  Dr. Simon is based in Chicago and oversees all of our physician reviewers and quality programs.

Partnership

Karen and Lisa's visions for better medical management came together to build UniMed Direct into an excellent choice for insurance carriers and employers who want top tier medical review services.

“When you start with sound values and principles, it’s a lot easier to make the important decisions you have to make,” Lisa offers, “Whenever we face a tough situation, we go back to the passion that drives us, and we find our answer.”