Meet the Akos Team

Dr. Swaraj Singh is a vascular neurologist and Akos co-founder.

Dr. Singh garnered extensive administrative experience serving as medical director for neurology and stroke programs at Banner Thunderbird Medical Center, Banner Estrella Medical Center, and Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center where he played a key role in developing and implementing multidisciplinary approaches to optimize fast, high-quality care for stroke patients while managing resources and containing cost.

Dr. Singh’s entrepreneurial experience includes being a founding and managing partner for NRI Family Health, an app-based healthcare service provider.  NRI Family Health promotes preventive and ongoing care by connecting patients with a team of physicians from a network of healthcare institutions across India.  He self-funded the venture with three partners, which further broadened his understanding of fiscal accountability.  He assisted in the development of a customized electronic health records (EHR) system and worked closely with IT teams to coordinate workflows and manage servers and database structures.  He oversaw a full operations team in India via remote calls while making business processes and patient care and communication more efficient and effective.

Dr. Singh is the founding and managing partner of the Center for Neurology and Spine in Phoenix, Arizona, a multispecialty practice covering neurology, neuropsychology, spine surgery, and pain medicine.  Prior to this role, he was in private practice for several years at the Arizona Neurological Institute.

Dr. Singh remains committed to continuous improvement of his field and throughout the years has written and contributed to numerous publications including a textbook chapter, peer-reviewed articles, poster presentations, and grand rounds.

Dr. Singh earned his medical degree at Government Medical College, Patiala and completed a neurology internship and residency at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where he served as chief resident.  He also completed a vascular neurology fellowship at University of Massachusetts and performed post-graduate research in experimental medicine at the University of British Columbia.  He is a member of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Heart Association.

Dr. Robb Leigh is an emergency physician and has been with Akos since the company’s inception.

Dr. Leigh has 25 years of experience in the medical field and garnered extensive administrative experience serving as Chief Medical Officer for MedAire in Arizona and Medical Director for Diabetic & Neuropathy Treatment Centers in Arizona and California.  As the former Chief Medical Officer for MedAire, he managed a medical team that delivered medical assistance to the travel industry via telemedicine to passengers and crew members of commercial flights, business jets, yachts, and commercial shipping company crews all over the world, and personally managed several thousands of cases.

Dr. Leigh is an experienced emergency physician having worked in that capacity for 15 years.  He has written numerous articles on general health for the population published in various consumer and trade magazines, and co-authored scientific papers.  He brings an extensive experience in teaching medical students, residents, and physicians, and in development and implementation of training modules.  He also brings extensive experience as a reviewer and editor of educational modules and client-facing materials, and has worked closely with marketing departments for years in previous roles.  He was also part of a team that developed and continuously updated comprehensive medical kits that clients carried in their aircrafts, yachts and commercial shipping vessels, some of which spent months at the sea.

Dr. Leigh earned his medical degree at the University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine, Brazil, and completed his residency at the University of Nevada.  Dr. Leigh holds a master’s degree in business administration from Arizona State University.

Shawn Smith is a seasoned marketing strategist and has been with Akos since the company’s inception.

Shawn brings nearly 25 years of brand strategy and integrated marketing experience to Akos.  With a skillset that includes partnering with core business operations to increase company performance, expand market share and generate sustainable revenue and profit, Shawn has worked for both Fortune 500 companies and innovative startups, marketing everything from emergency medicine to consumer packaged goods.

Prior to joining Akos, Shawn served as the Director of Marketing at Emerus Hospitals, a startup organization in emergency medicine that pioneered an innovative business model in the way emergency medicine is delivered.  Shawn was brought to the executive management team to build and lead the brand vision.  She launched corporate and joint venture brand identities and marketing campaigns.  Shawn also built and managed a patient relations team designed to elevate the overall patient experience.

Shawn began her career serving as Director of Marketing at Frito-Lay where she built a strong foundation marketing some of the world’s most valuable brands.  She spent her first few years leading and managing multimillion dollar field sales divisions and later in brand management.

Shawn holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin.

Anand Kumar has been a technology professional for 16 years and has extensive experience in designing, architecting, and guiding geographically diverse teams to develop modern computer applications while planning and meeting short and long term goals.  His expertise in the design and development of restful web services prepared him to execute complex tasks at Akos managing multiple intricate platforms.  He is responsible for the technological leadership and direction of the IT team, and for maintaining high technology standards for the organization.

Anand oversees the IT development team focusing on quality, performance and delivery, and is responsible for implementation of all new programs and updates.  He interfaces with all departments ensuring smooth integration of the IT platform and addresses IT issues bringing prompt solutions preventing breaches in service.

Anand graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, India in 2001.

Rahula Kochar is an accomplished and results focused technology leader with 15 years of broad based IT experience specializing in driving complex mission critical application software development for large-scale ecommerce, healthcare, business to business (B2B), and business to consumer (B2C) channels.

Rahula is responsible for technology strategy, innovation and management of global IT organization, architecture and infrastructure. His transformational expertise in Integration Services, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will enable Akos to leverage advancements in these fields to build the next cutting-edge iteration of the Akos platform.

Rahula has had an extensive career as a Technology Entrepreneur, Angel Investor and Philanthropist whose pioneering work includes starting and growing businesses, investing in healthcare and education startups and more recently, mainstream film production. Rahula has held various IT leadership roles at iCelerate, AZPro Group, American Express, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Health Realizations, Mercola.com and University of Illinois.

Rahula’s entrepreneurial experience includes being the chairman of Icelerate Films, a film production company, whose productions have been released theatrically and on Netflix. He is also the founding member of West Valley Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Center in West Phoenix. His charity work includes serving as a member of West Valley Mavericks foundation, a charity assisting children and families and improving the quality of life in Phoenix’s West Valley communities. He also serves on the Advisory Board of Team Steam Nation, a national community and forum for everything STEAM related.

Rahula holds a Bachelor and Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University.

Adam Drake has been a leader in the insurance market with 21 years of experience working closely in the workers’ compensation, cost containment, liability, health and insurance industries. He gained valuable experience at several large and well known leaders of the workers’ compensation industry, such as Kemper Insurance, Specialty Risk Services, Concentra, Coventry Healthcare, Medical Consultants and Alaris.

During these years, Adam has had the opportunity to manage and lead employees, ranging from administrators, sales teams and claims adjustors while working hand in hand with managed care experts. His experience and skills include a broad range of services including all aspects of healthcare, workers’ compensation, employee benefits, injury prevention and cost containment solutions. Adam has worked closely with insurance carriers, employers, third party administrators, brokers, PPO networks, cost containment providers and physicians throughout his career.

Adam Drake is a graduate of Lycoming College of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. in Business and Economics and is a member of the Society for Claims Law Associates. He is a licensed insurance broker in the states of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware.

Sean Walker brings 20 years of healthcare experience in nursing and management operations. He began his medical career at Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital in Ohio where he gained valuable experience in Emergency, ICU and Medical-Surgical medicine and procedures. He later became State Clinical Director with Urgent Care Extra in Arizona growing the business to 32 urgent care clinics.  He transitioned to Banner Urgent Care as Director of Operations facilitating operational expansion to 44 urgent care clinics and 3 Quick Care clinics statewide. In 2017, Banner Health honored him with the “Most Effective Leader” award, a prestigious achievement award given to less than 3% of U.S. hospital executives.

Sean received his nursing degree form Stark State School of Nursing and went on to The University of Akron for Business Management.

David Slepak brings over 20 years of business development experience spanning early-stage and growth organizations. David has been instrumental in scaling organizations by seeking opportunities, developing solutions, building distribution and driving sales.

David’s most recent leadership experience at Redirect Health led to rapid expansion from a local Arizona-based startup to a national healthcare organization resulting in over 400% membership growth. David’s work at Redirect Health was recognized by The World Health Congress and Health Value Awards.

Other notable healthcare organizations in which David lead business development and growth include SingleCare, a pharmacy discount/pharmacy benefits manager, where he built their broker channel distribution from the ground up, and Westone Laboratories, a hearing healthcare manufacture, where he delivered exponential revenue growth.

David holds Life & Health Licenses in 50 states and is a member of the National Association of Health Underwriters. David has taken on many leadership roles in his local Phoenix chapter and currently serves as the Past Chapter President. With several CE approved classes focused on scaling the fixes to the healthcare industry, David is a published writer and speaks at healthcare and health insurance conferences and leadership education programs nationally.

Sue Ellen Valle brings 20 years of medical experience with an intensive focus in nursing. She began her medical career as a Navy Hospital Corpsman joining the service right after high school. She was stationed at Naval Ambulatory Care Clinic in Newport, Rhode Island and Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia where she was trained to work in Family Practice, Women’s Health OB/GYN, Urgent Care, and Preventive Medicine. Working as honorary Preventive Medicine Tech she was the military liaison working with the Virginia Department of Health Services.

In 2006 after her time in the military, Sue Ellen returned to Arizona where she began working with Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) STD Division. Sue Ellen performed testing, counseling, and education to members of the community. In 2008, she was promoted and became the Community Outreach Liaison and was a part of the Statewide Syphilis Taskforce working with the Arizona Department of Health Services. She worked with organizations to facilitate testing and educate the community, and assisted in the development of the state and county’s first social media pages. Sue Ellen left MCDPH in 2011 to begin her nursing career. Throughout nursing school she worked at the Arizona Department of Health Services working with the Environmental Health Divisions Lead Program. She investigated positive cases, provided education and testing to the communities of Arizona.

Sue Ellen graduated from Phoenix College Bilingual Nursing Program in 2013. She began working as an RN Case Manager for a Southland Home Health caring and managing care for homebound patients all over the valley. In 2014, she left Southland Home Health to work with another startup Lora Primary Care as their first Nurse Health Coach. Sue Ellen was involved in the grassroots of the operation recruiting patients and establishing their office locations. She was an essential part of the development and management of the Chronic Disease Management programs and employee training. It was during this time Sue Ellen earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Grand Canyon University. She worked at Banner Health as a bedside nurse for their Medical/Surgical & Oncology Unit. She later returned to her nursing roots as a Clinical Supervisor and Case Manager for Southland Home Health. Her career path led her to Akos, where she started as an Occupational Telehealth Nurse then later advanced to Medical Trainer and IT Liaison, to her current position as Nurse Manager. She enjoys being involved with an organization that is making healthcare more accessible using technology.

Throughout her career, Sue Ellen was involved in the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN), Phoenix Chapter, where she served on the board as the Community Outreach Leader. That opportunity allowed her to become involved in other organizations such as Latina Strong and American Heart Association’s Stroke Committee.

Maria A Shah is an experienced healthcare administrator with proven success in managing clinical operations to drive strong and sustained growth. Maria is a champion for evidence-based and cost-effective medical case management in the delivery of patient care. She has extensive background in pharmaceutical research in patient-centered clinical trials in diabetes and obesity, as well as depression and anxiety.

Dean Hoffman is a senior executive with over 25 years of diverse executive leadership. His financial, operational, and entrepreneurial expertise has been the foundation of his working with both private and publicly traded companies throughout his career. He has extensive experience in the healthcare and technology sectors and has been a business consultant to companies in a wide range of industries. Dean is a strategic thinker, a problem solver, and an outstanding leader and team builder.

Dean was the CFO and COO of IdLink Systems, a multi-modal biometric identity management platform. He has held auditing and consulting roles at Arthur Andersen, LLP and RSM McGladrey. He was Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer at Rural/Metro Corporation, a publicly-traded ambulance service provider. He was CFO of ARUSH Entertainment, a start-up video game publishing company, which was sold to a publicly-traded game publisher and distributor. He was also CEO of Phoenix Medical Group, a multi-specialty physician practice with several locations throughout the Phoenix area.

Dean lends his business expertise to various not for profit organizations primarily in the healthcare, social service, and education arenas by serving on their respective boards of directors. He has also been a guest lecturer in the business schools at both Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.

Dean holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Business Administration, cum laude, from Illinois State University and a Master of Business Administration from Arizona State University.