Leadership team.
Guiding our mission in the local community.
Meet the Allina Health | Aetna executive leadership team
Robert Wieland, MD
CEO & Chief Medical Officer
Robert Wieland, MD joined Allina Health | Aetna as the company’s chief medical officer in May 2018. In his role, Dr. Wieland is responsible for the strategic direction of care and medical management as well as planning, organizing, and directing the health plan in formulating standards of care. Furthermore, he is responsible for facilitating communication between customers, physicians and administration and evaluating customer utilization outcomes.
Prior to joining Allina Health | Aetna, Wieland served as Allina Health’s chief strategy officer, where he oversaw strategic business development, marketing and communications, and technology integration. During his tenure at Allina Health, Wieland also led the Allina Integrated Medical Network and affiliate strategy and served on the finance committee of the Allina Health Board of Directors and Advocate Physician Partners Board. Additionally, he was the executive leader for Allina’s Home Care Services and Care Management and was executive vice president of the Clinic and Community Division, overseeing 56 clinic sites and 863 physicians and advanced care practitioners.
Dr. Wieland completed his medical degree at the University of Minnesota where he also earned his BA in mechanical engineering.
Monica Nierengarten
Chief Operations Officer
Monica Nierengarten joined Allina Health | Aetna as the chief operations officer in June 2021. In her role, Nierengarten leads the operations function of Allina Health | Aetna managing relationships across people, segments and multiple functional areas of the joint venture’s parent companies. She is dedicated to providing differentiated service to the local community and creating and executing strategies to deliver exceptional experiences to Allina Health | Aetna members.
Nierengarten has extensive experience in the health care industry, most recently as senior director of transformation for HealthHUBs at Aetna®, a CVS Health® company. Prior to her work with Aetna, in 2017, Nierengarten helped launch the new Allina Health | Aetna health plan as the organization’s director. Subsequently, she moved on to become the senior director of joint ventures for Aetna, providing strategic leadership and operational direction across five joint ventures. She has also held positions at Prime Therapeutics and Humana.
Nierengarten received her B.A in political science and history from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Jeffrey D. Jacobsen
Chief Financial Officer
Jeffrey D. Jacobsen joined Allina Health | Aetna as chief financial officer in May 2018. In his role, Jacobsen leads the creation, analysis and reporting of financial information to management, internal and external stakeholders and regulatory constituents. He is also responsible for establishing and maintaining accounting and internal control related policies for the joint venture.
Prior to joining Allina Health | Aetna, Jacobsen served in a variety of executive positions in finance and operations within the health care industry, most recently as senior director of finance for the commercial market division of Medica. His experience also includes leadership roles with Fairview Health Services, UnitedHealth Group, McKesson Medication Management and CIGNA.
Jacobsen received his BA from Moorhead State University.
Britta Orr
Chief Medicare Officer
Britta Orr joined Allina Health | Aetna as the company’s Medicare general manager in June 2018. In her role, Orr is responsible for driving the joint venture’s Medicare strategy and directing functional areas across the joint venture. Additionally, Orr manages all departments in the development, implementation and maintenance of policies and procedures to ensure compliance with State and Federal regulatory requirements.
With a strong focus on prevention, Orr is passionate about making high quality health care both affordable and accessible. Prior to joining the joint venture, she was a senior policy consultant for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, serving as the principal policy advisor to both Medicare and Medicaid lines of business. Orr also served as the executive director of the Local Public Health Association of Minnesota, where she was responsible for day-to-day operations and budgeting, government relations and strategic planning.
Dedicated to her community, Orr is vice chair of the Allina Health Hospice Foundation, which provides peace, dignity and comfort to patients and their families at the end of life. She also chairs her local community health commission.
Orr attended Northwestern University for her undergraduate studies and earned both a law degree and a master of public health from the University of Minnesota.
Andrea Kao
Vice President of Innovation
Andrea Kao joined Allina Health|Aetna as vice president of innovation in January 2022. In her role, Kao identifies and leads initiatives that will deliver a differentiated and exceptional experience for members and plan stakeholders.
Kao has more than 20 years of experience in the health care industry, holding multiple roles in payer, provider, and government organizations. At Allina Health, Kao’s roles included Payer Contracting, Finance Director, and Director of the Joint Venture Health Plan, where she represented Allina Health’s perspective during its formation and launch. Kao has also held positions at Livio Health, St. Joseph Health System-Sonoma County, Fairview Health Services, Medica Health Plans and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
Kao also has experience in health care from a government perspective, working for the Minnesota Department of Health and Massachusetts Rate Setting Division.
Kao received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and her MBA from Boston University.
Mike Lenz
Vice President, Network Management
Mike Lenz joined Allina Health | Aetna as vice president of network management in January 2023. In his role, Lenz is responsible for network management, network design, access arrangements and more for our commercial and Medicare business.
Lenz has more than 30 years of network management experience in the health insurance industry. Prior to joining Allina Health | Aetna, Lenz spent three years in network management at a Minneapolis-based health benefits company. His other extensive experience includes executive vice president of network strategy and innovation at CVS/Aetna, where he led provider network functions for Allina Health | Aetna amongst other Aetna joint ventures. He has also held a variety of roles during a 22-year career at Medica, including vice president and director-level roles in strategic initiatives, health management finance, network management, and provider strategy and contracting.
Lenz received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Andy Minnich
Vice President, Commercial Sales
Andy Minnich joined Allina Health | Aetna as vice president of commercial sales in 2018. In his role, Minnich is responsible for sales growth, strategy, and account retention for our Commercial business.
Minnich has more than 20 years of sales leadership experience in the health insurance and employee benefits industry. Before joining Allina Health | Aetna, Minnich spent four years in sales at a Minneapolis-based benefits and technology start-up company. His other extensive experience includes nine years of commercial insurance sales, including self-funded medical, dental, vision, life, and disability, with a large national insurance carrier. Minnich also started his career as a stop loss underwriter, responsible for analyzing risk and pricing business.
Minnich received his bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota.
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