Leadership

Michael Weinstein is the president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization. Before becoming involved in HIV/AIDS-related issues in the 1980s, he was a businessman and graphic designer. Since 1986, Mr. Weinstein has been a leader in the fight against HIV and AIDS. As president and co-founder of AHF, he oversees a multi-billion dollar organization whose mission is to provide “cutting-edge medicine and advocacy regardless of ability to pay.” AHF currently serves over 1.5 million clients in the United States, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific region, and Eastern Europe.

Under Weinstein’s leadership, AHF has grown from a group of friends dedicated to the creation of dignified care for people in the last stages of AIDS to the largest AIDS organization in the United States. The Foundation now operates in over 730 treatment clinics in more than 45 countries globally: over 68 outpatient AHF Healthcare Centers in over 16 states as well as in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. AHF also operates more than 60 pharmacies in over 17 states and also operates a clinical research unit. Under its Positive Healthcare brand, AHF operates managed care programs for people living with HIV and/or AIDS in California, Florida, and Georgia.

Peter Reis is integrally involved in leading management and growth strategies for all of AHF’s core businesses, including US-based clinics specializing in HIV care, Medicaid and Medicare managed care contracts in California and Florida, a growing pharmacy division, a research program, and a retail chain of thrift stores. Originally hired as a financial analyst in 1995, he moved up to become the health plan administrator in 1996, the director of business development in 1998, and the vice president and chief financial officer in 2000.

As an analyst, Reis developed a financial plan to launch the nation’s first capitated managed care plan specializing in HIV. He was also responsible for managing and monitoring fiscal performance. Reis led AHF’s expansion beyond California by negotiating with the State of Florida for a disease management contract for Medicaid beneficiaries with HIV and supervising the program’s implementation. As VP and CFO, Reis led a transformation of internal systems, including installing an organization-wide electronic medical record, implementing new pharmacy and managed care claims processing systems, and enhancing existing purchasing and accounting systems.

Before joining AHF, Reis worked as a financial analyst for the Jeffrey Goodman Clinic, an LA-based HIV medical and testing program. Prior to that, he was an analyst for a Boston-based investment bank. Reis holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Scott Carruthers, Pharm. D. chairs AHF’s Pharmacy Executive Committee and serves on several others, in addition to his role as the Chief of Pharmacy. Carruthers has over 25 years of management experience in supervision, budget development, profit and loss, strategic planning, marketing, operations, and new business development. He previously owned and operated two pharmacies.

Carruthers’s experience spans retail pharmacy, acute care hospital, long-term care pharmacy, home infusion, durable medical equipment, and other specialty pharmacy operations. Moreover, he’s had direct responsibility for over 500 employees in a multi-state for-profit organization.

Carruthers was also involved in developing a patient medication compliance packaging system that led the U.S. Pharmacopeia to adopt standards for multiple-dose packaging. The National Boards of Pharmacy then also implemented standards for dispensing in a multiple-dose adherence package.

Carruthers has served two terms on the California State Board of Pharmacy, by appointment of Governor Deukmejian. He is a past president of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists and has a California Community College teaching credential.

The American Society of Consultant Pharmacists has honored Carruthers with their highest award, the George F. Archambault Award, for outstanding achievement in pharmacy practice.

Dr. Michael Wohlfeiler is a native of Tucson, AZ, and a graduate of Rush Medical College. Prior to becoming a physician, he attended law school and was hired after graduation as an associate in a law firm that practiced primarily corporate and business litigation. Wohlfeiler began his work in the field of internal medicine during his postgraduate residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida before entering private practice in 1990. Since 1990, Wohlfeiler has practiced in the private sector with an emphasis on HIV disease. In 1996, he joined with Dr. Joseph Piperato to form the practice that became Wohlfeiler, Piperato & Associates (WPA). In September 2011, WPA joined AHF and changed its name to AHF-WPA. Wohlfeiler served as AHF’s Medical Director of Research and Patient Protocols during that time.

Wohlfeiler spent 10 years as the Medical Director for Special Immunology Services (SIS) at Mercy Hospital. Mercy’s SIS department was Miami-Dade County’s largest safety-net provider of services to Ryan White, Medicaid, and other underserved HIV+ patients. He has been a member of the Miami-Dade County HIV/AIDS Partnership’s Medical Care Subcommittee for 10 years and has been elected chair twice.

In August 2012, Wohlfeiler was appointed as AHF Southern Bureau Medical Director, where he oversaw medical operations and expansions in Haiti, Florida, Georgia, Atlanta, Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina, as well as the development of services in Mississippi. About a dozen new clinics specializing in sexual health screenings and treatment were opened during Wohlfeiler’s tenure in the Southern Bureau, offering an abundance of new medical opportunities in a region that is hard-hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

As an esteemed leader in the field of HIV medicine, Wohlfeiler has been awarded a multitude of awards and accolades over the past three decades. He received a Red Ribbon Hero Award from the Communities Advocating Emergency AIDS Relief (CAEAR) Coalition in January 2012, and has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Doctors in America guide every year since 1996. In 2013, Wohlfeiler was selected by the International Association of Internists as one of “The Leading Physicians in the World.”

In August 2013, AHF proudly announced Wohlfeiler’s appointment as the AHF Chief of Medicine. He will now lead the AHF Department of Medicine, which oversees and sets the standards for specialized HIV/AIDS treatment and care in over 36 countries worldwide.

During her 30-plus years as a passionate HIV/AIDS and public health activist, Terri Ford became AHF’s “go-to” person for new initiatives and large projects. While protesting in the streets with ACT UP, she served in early AIDS hospice care in Los Angeles in the 1990s – moving on to oversee the design and construction of AHF’s award-winning and state-of-the-art in-patient hospice facility, Linn House. At the advent of the new HIV “cocktail” in 1996, Terri went on to serve as its Administrative Director, transforming it into one of the first in-patient antiretroviral treatment facilities in the U.S. and globally.

Following Linn House, she designed and launched AHF’s innovative HIV testing and prevention program in the U.S. – and later globally – helping to revolutionize access to convenient and lifesaving testing and treatment. Utilizing AHF’s unique “model advocacy,” Terri led high-level policy change internationally at the World Health Organization and the country level. She was instrumental in rejuvenating condom demand across the globe with the design and production of AHF’s “LOVE” condom and continues those efforts today by leading and inspiring skilled and dedicated teams.

Terri has organized massive International AIDS Conference Treatment Marches in cities worldwide, including Barcelona, Toronto, Bangkok, Mexico City, Washington D.C., and Durban – fighting for AIDS Treatment Now and overcoming many challenges – following her team motto of “Keep Calm and Carry On.”

In 2002, she was deployed to South Africa to start AHF’s global programs and open its first clinic outside the United States. Today, she travels extensively to all of AHF’s 45 countries and believes in on-the-ground, hands-on leadership and support.

Currently, Terri and her team utilize AHF’s significant influence and her 30 years of experience to advocate for the millions still in need of HIV/AIDS treatment, equitable vaccine access, a renewed focus on the growing sexually transmitted infections crisis, and a new Global Public Health Convention.

Lyle Honig Mojica is responsible for the day-to-day management of AHF’s finance and accounting functions, including reporting, planning, and analysis.

Lyle was formerly employed as a senior business consultant with Arthur Andersen in Los Angeles. Major clients included Hyperion Solutions, a financial software company; Montgomery Watson Harza, a $500 million engineering service firm; and the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest school district.

He received his bachelor’s degree in business with a concentration in accounting from Kansas State University in 1992.

As Vice President, Human Resources, Anita Castille oversees both Global and Domestic HR activities for AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF).

Castille joined AHF in 2012. Passionate about her work with AHF, Anita continues to focus on getting the very best out of people while ensuring that organizational culture and practices are in no way disparate. She touts a strong emphasis on employee and labor relations, organizational development, talent acquisition, change management, policies and procedures, compensation/benefits administration, and affirmative action.

Prior to joining AHF, Anita was Managing Partner with Executive Focus, an HR Consulting Firm. She has also held leadership positions with Bank of America, Universal Music group, and Primedia Publishing.

Ms. Castille holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the California State University at Long Beach and a Master’s in Business from Northrop University. She is an Advisory Board Member for the Brotherhood Crusade, Board Member Inglewood Educational Foundation, Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Associate Member of Jack and Jill of America Inc., and a member of the Inglewood Pacific Chapter of the LINKS Incorporated.

Donna Tempesta serves as AHF’s Northern Bureau Chief & VP of Finance. Donna is a Certified Public Accountant and manages the operations and expansion of AHF’s Northern Region.  Ms. Tempesta also oversees the national financial performance of AHF Pharmacy.

During her tenure, AHF has expanded its operations in the North by over 5,000 patients, including agency affiliates (AHF Federation) and provider practice acquisitions, and has helped drive growth in the Pharmacy Division, which is expected to exceed $1.5 billion in revenues in 2017.

Prior to joining AHF, Donna was the VP of Finance for Allion Healthcare – which was acquired by AHF in 2012.  Prior to Allion Healthcare, Donna was a Senior Manager at KPMG where she spent 10 years of her career in public accounting serving a combination of publicly held corporations and healthcare institutions. Donna received her Bachelor’s Degree from Hofstra University.

Penninah Iutung Amor, MD is responsible for the management and strategic leadership of AHF’s programs in nine African countries. Before becoming bureau chief, her efforts as country program director for AHF-Uganda Cares helped build the largest testing and treatment program of its kind in the world. Iutung works daily to develop similar programs in South Africa, Zambia, Swaziland, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and other African countries.

Prior to her appointment as country program director, she acted as national medical director for AHF-Uganda Cares and the medical officer in charge for AHF-Uganda Cares Masaka Healthcare Center. Iutung served as a medical officer at Virika Mission Hospital in Fort Portal, Uganda before joining AHF. Iutung is also a member of the National Policy Committee on HIV/AIDS and Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), the Consortium of ART Treatment Providers, Partnership for AIDS Treatment Providers, and was a committee member for the Masaka District HIV/AIDS Committee from 2004 to 2005.

She is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and attended the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City in 2008, where she gave a presentation about streamlining HIV testing models in resource-constrained settings. She has also presented at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria, the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada, the 2005 ICASA Conference in Abuja, Nigeria, and the Uganda Medical Association Conference in 2004. Iutung will receive a Master of Science in Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London in 2012. She received a bachelor’s degree in human medicine and surgery from the Mbarara University of Science and Technology.

Michael Kahane is responsible for AHF’s daily business operations and business development in the Southern United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. He joined AHF in 2007 after a successful legal career.

Prior to joining AHF, Kahane was the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for American Media, Inc., the third-largest publishing company in North America. Before that, he was the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Globe Communications Corp. He was also a partner at Deutsch, Levy and Engel, Chartered, a Chicago law firm specializing in First Amendment practice.

Kahane received his LL.M degree in intellectual property law from the John Marshall Law Center, his J.D. degree from Northwestern University, and his undergraduate degree from Purdue University.

Under Kahane’s leadership, AHF has expanded domestic operations in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. Kahane has also overseen AHF’s significant expansion throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.

Kahane has been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including On The Rise – the Top 40 Young Lawyers in the United States presented by the American Bar Association, the Illustrious Luminary Award presented by Pride Ft. Lauderdale, the Gift of Life Award presented by the Haiti Ministry of Health and the Margaret Roach Humanitarian Award presented by the Urban League of Broward County.

In addition to his commitment to expanding services and resources for people living with or impacted by HIV, Kahane is also proud of his bureau’s work in providing emergency relief from natural disasters occurring in geographies under his supervision, including emergency relief work in Haiti after Hurricane Matthew ravaged the island and emergency relief work in Puerto Rico after the destruction caused by Hurricane Irma.

Laura Boudreau’s role as Chief of Operations/Risk Management and Quality Improvement is to unite the various and complex functions and operations of the organization. She ensures that all of the gears mesh as smoothly as possible in order to accomplish AHF’s mission.  Laura also has an overarching responsibility to assess risk on a global and programmatic basis with a specific eye to bringing departments together to divide up functions efficiently, eliminate bureaucratic roadblocks, and diminish risk. In the quality improvement area, she contributes to developing, reviewing, and overseeing the establishment of quality standards that can be monitored routinely.

Before becoming Chief of Operations/Risk Management and Quality Improvement, Laura was an attorney for ten years in AHF’s Legal Department, starting as a staff attorney and rising to Chief Counsel for Operations.

From 2016 to 2018, Laura acted as General Counsel for International Medical Corps before returning to AHF to assume her current role.

Tom Myers has been with AHF since 1998, during which time the organization has more than quintupled in size and spread from its base in California to other states and to over 20 countries. His major responsibilities include handling transactional and contract work, contract maintenance, and compliance with third-party payors, including Medicaid, Medicare, and state, local and federal governments. He handles litigation of commercial, labor, employment, government contracts, trademarks, and trade secrets issues. He supervises both in-house legal staff and counsel provided by outside law firms worldwide.

Myers’s advocacy duties include government lobbying as well as media relations regarding AIDS drug pricing issues and governmental AIDS law and policy. Myers also gives presentations at seminars and conferences and has served as AHF’s HIPAA compliance and security officer.

Before coming to AHF, Myers worked as an associate at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, Curiale Dellaverson Hirshfeld Kelly & Kraemer, and McKenna & Cuneo, all in Los Angeles. He was an intern at the Senate Committee on Labor & Human Resources in Washington, D.C. and previously served as a paralegal in the civil division of the Legal Aid Society and a union representative for the Hospital and Health Care Workers Local 1199, both in New York City.

Myers earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School, graduating cum laude in 1994. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Amherst College in 1987.

Tracy Jones began her career in Human Resources, working for Kay Jewelers Inc. as a Benefits Administrator in Alexandria, VA. She returned to Cleveland and continued to forge a career in Human Resource Management with Midial U.S. Retail Group, Fanny Farmer Company in benefits administration.  Upon the sale of the company, she began her search for a meaningful change in her career.  Her search led to a position with Case Western Reserve & Akron University through a joint partnership to examine the messages of HIV/AIDS prevention education for African American women.  This was a career-defining decision and the beginning of her true life’s work.  During the next 5 years, she worked to educate women and inner-city teens on the importance of HIV/STI prevention. After this engagement, Tracy moved on to work in the funding world at the City of Cleveland Department of Public Health HIV/AIDS Unit as the office’s Program Director. During her post, she directed 14 HIV Prevention Programs for women, men who have sex with men, at-risk teens, and chemically dependent adults.  After several years as a funding provider, she had a strong desire to return to direct service and did so through her post at the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.

In October 1999, Tracy joined the AIDS Taskforce as Director of Education. During her tenure, she has also performed in the capacity of Assistant Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Executive Officer.

In 2012, Tracy helped to shepherd the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland into a new era of service provision by embarking on a search for an organizational partner. The Taskforce settled on a partnership with the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), a non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, a global organization providing cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 100,000,000 patients in 37 countries and 16 cities in the US.

The AIDS Taskforce formally became a proud affiliate of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in May 2013, and soon after, Tracy assumed the role of Midwest Regional Director. Most recently, Tracy added to that role the title Senior Director & National Director of Mobilization Campaigns for AHF.

Tracy has more than 26 years of experience in non-profit management and HIV/STI Prevention Education.  She holds a master’s degree in the Management of Non-Profit Organizations from Case Western Reserve University and a BA from Kent State University. She is the Co-founder of the Beyond Identities Community Center for youth and is published in the Health Issues Confronting Minority Men Who Have Sex Men text, printed 2007.

She is also the proud mother of an extremely active (13) year old named Aiden.

AJ Alegria serves as AHF’s Vice President of Healthcare Center Operations. In this role, he is responsible for the non-clinical operations of AHF’s domestic Healthcare Centers. Before this role, AJ joined AHF in 2015 as the Senior Director of Client Experience, where he was responsible for creating the organization’s Client Experience program.

AJ also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Impulse Group, a global AHF affinity group. Since joining Impulse Group in 2014 as the founding President of the South Florida chapter, AJ has served this group by developing and leading its global financial and operational functions.

Before joining AHF, AJ spent the last 20 years working in various leadership roles in the retail banking segment at Wells Fargo Bank, including the VP, Regional Affluent Segment Leader for the South Florida region. AJ holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration.

Donna Stidham, RN has been involved in the care of people with HIV disease since the beginning of the epidemic. She began working with what is now known as HIV/AIDS as a nurse epidemiologist when the first cases of immune deficiency were reported to the Centers for Disease Control.

In 1984, Stidham was instrumental in the opening of the first AIDS inpatient unit in a for-profit community hospital in the U.S. She has continually focused her efforts on developing systems of care that support the expertise necessary to treat people with HIV. Stidham joined AHF in 1994 to lend her expertise in health systems and managed care to the development and implementation of Positive Healthcare, the first capitated managed care program for people with HIV.

In overseeing Positive Healthcare, Stidham has brought current, specialized HIV/AIDS and internal medicine to clients in California and Florida under a chronic care model. The program integrates the provider, patient, and medical system into a team to reach successful health outcomes. It also provides educational opportunities for medical staff, patients, patients’ families, and partners, and the HIV community.

Stidham consults with multiple state Medicaid programs to promote the concept of specialty design for chronic conditions such as HIV/AIDS. She is working with AHF’s global leadership to bring managed care health system concepts to resource-poor countries.

Whitney Engeran-Cordova has worked in the HIV field for 20 years and oversees the Public Health Division, and is involved in advocacy, policy, and legislative efforts for AHF. Having been Executive Director of a small non-profit AIDS Service Organization, Being Alive Long Beach and Housing, for 11 years, Engeran-Cordova joined AHF in 2006 as Director of the Prevention and Testing Department. Since 2006, the Prevention and Testing Department has been transformed into the Public Health Division, becoming over 10 times larger than it was in 2006 and is now in 10 states providing over 150,000 HIV tests in 2014. Under his leadership, the Public Health Division is designing new technological approaches to HIV through a touch screen registration process, projecting mobile HIV testing on an unprecedented scale, developing models for linkage to care, and researching new methods for reducing STD incidence in our most affected communities.

Engeran-Cordova was appointed to the LA County Commission on HIV by County Supervisor Don Knabe to represent the 4th Supervisorial District and served from 2001-2012. The Commission serves as the Ryan White Planning Council for the Los Angeles EMA. Engeran-Cordova was also elected to chair the Public Policy Committee of the Commission from 2002-2011, serving 9 terms.

Engeran-Cordova has helped to craft and pass over 10 pieces of legislation, as well as Ordinances and Ballot measures related to AHF’s advocacy work. He was honored as the Community Grand Marshall of the Long Beach Gay Pride parade and named the Lambda Democratic Club’s Man of the Year in 2006 for contributions to the gay community.