 Associate Dean of Carlson Global Institute
 Professor, Minnesota Insurance Industry Chair Of Health Finance
 BA, Health and Society, University of Rochester-New Yorks
 MS, Public Policy Analysis, University of Rochester-New York
 MPH, Health Economics, University of Rochester-New York
 PhD, Health Finance and Organization, Johns Hopkins University
Stephen T. Parente, PhD, MPH, MS is a Professor in the Department of Finance and the Minnesota Insurance Industry Chair of Health Finance in Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. From 2014-2017, he served as Associate Dean of MBA and MS programs. Dr. Parente is the longest serving Director of the Medical Industry Leadership Institute (2006-2017). As a Professor in the Finance Department, he specializes in health economics, information technology, and health insurance. Dr. Parente has been the principal investigator on large funded-studies regarding consumer directed health plans, health information technology and health policy micro-simulation. In Washington DC, he served as the Governing Chair of the Health Care Cost Institute from 2013 to 2017. He is the Founding Director of the Medical Valuation Laboratory, a nine college interdisciplinary effort to accelerate medical innovation from scientists, clinicians and entrepreneurs. Dr. Parente was a health policy advisor for the McCain 2008 Presidential Campaign and served as Legislative Fellow in the office of Senator John D. Rockefeller IV (D‑WV) in 1992/93. He has a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.

Archana Desai is a seasoned strategic management expert in the medical technology sector, holding an MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota with concentrations in Finance, Marketing, and the Healthcare Industry. Currently serving as Strategic Director of Image-Guided Therapy Devices at Philips, she spearheads strategic planning, drives cross-functional team collaboration, optimizes business strategies, and establishes strategic communication frameworks. Previously, she held multiple senior management roles at Medtronic, overseeing strategic planning, market development, and portfolio management, amassing extensive industry expertise. Her career also includes pivotal positions at Intel and GE Healthcare, where she focused on market analysis, financial planning, and strategic execution. Recognized for her exceptional leadership, innovative thinking, strategic vision, and cross-cultural team collaboration capabilities, Archana has delivered substantial business growth and strategic breakthroughs for her organizations.

Currently serving as Executive Director at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Kamath's research portfolio encompasses healthcare system optimization, patient safety, interdisciplinary care coordination, and healthcare policy innovation. Kamath has shaped industry benchmarks through transformative clinical pathway redesigns and quality enhancement initiatives, having led the development of 12 nationally adopted care standardization protocols.

As a prolific researcher with 30+ publications in journals including NEJM and JAMA, her seminal work Ethical Frameworks for AI-Driven Clinical Decision Support Systems has been formally recognized by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a paradigm-setting study.
Kamath holds dual leadership roles as Senior Academic Advisor to the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) and Clinical Professorship at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, where she architects executive development programs for emerging healthcare administrators. Her thought leadership bridges operational excellence with ethical AI implementation in modern care delivery systems.