Staff
Melissa Rutala, MPH
Acting Executive Director
Director, Regional Extension Center
Melissa Rutala joined Arizona Health-e Connection as Associate Director in November 2007, and now serves as the Acting Executive Director and the Director of the Arizona Regional Extension Center. Prior to Arizona Health-e Connection, Ms. Rutala served as both a Consultant and Health Policy Analyst at the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and Deloitte Consulting, LLP in Washington, D.C. While at Deloitte, she worked extensively on several Medicaid, price transparency and cost-saving initiatives with organizations to include the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Governor's Association, and the Wisconsin Medicaid Program. She was a contributor and interviewer for the Deloitte Center for Health Solution's publication Health Care Price Transparency: A Strategic Perspective for State Government Leaders.
Prior to her work with Deloitte, Ms. Rutala was Associate Director of Programs - Medicine Programs - at Envision EMI. At Envision, Ms. Rutala organized forums on Medicine and Nursing for 8500 students. Her activities included managing sixteen faculty advisors, recruiting 250 temporary staff, researching and developing curriculum, and organizing and managing expenditures.
Ms. Rutala gained additional experience in both training and curriculum development while at Envision, as well as coordination of the review of medical residency training programs for UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Ms. Rutala holds a Masters in Public Health from George Washington University with a concentration in health policy, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Communications & Marketing Manager
Ms. Bryan has well over 10 years experience in communications, including seven years in the health arena. Prior to joining AzHeC, Ms. Bryan served as a communications consultant to the North American Quitline Consortium, a membership-based organization comprised of publicly-funded tobacco cessation quitlines in North America. Prior positions include communications director, Diversity Wellness; director, Coalition for a Tobacco Free Arizona; and communications director, Valley of the Sun United Way. Ms. Bryan is also a certified yoga instructor and has taught yoga throughout the Valley of the Sun for 10 years.
Ms. Bryan holds a bachelor's degree in mass communication from Anderson University and a master's degree in administration with a health sciences concentration from Northern Arizona University.
