Meet Your Team

Stewart Gandolf, MBA, is Chief Executive Officer of Healthcare Success, one of the nation’s leading healthcare and digital marketing agencies. Stewart began his career with leading advertising agencies, including J. Walter Thompson, where he marketed Fortune 500 clients such as Wells Fargo and Bally’s Total Fitness. Over the past 20 years, Stewart has marketed and consulted for over 1,000 healthcare clients, ranging from practices and hospitals to multi-billion dollar corporations.

A frequent speaker, Stewart has shared his expertise at over 200 venues nationwide. Stewart has also written for many leading industry publications as an author and expert resource, including the 21,000 subscriber Healthcare Success Insight blog. Stewart also co-authored “Cash-Pay Healthcare: Start, Grow & Perfect Your Cash-Pay Healthcare Business.”

Read articles by Stewart Gandolf, MBA »

Catherine brings over 20 years of experience in the advertising industry, specializing in client service, account management, and operations. She’s worked at major ad agencies in NY and LA on multiple Fortune 500 clients and ran her consulting practice, CCS101s.

Catherine spent over ten years at Ogilvy & Mather in both the NY and LA offices:

At Ogilvy LA, she led the integrated Ogilvy & Mather 360 team efforts for creative branding and strategy for the newly formed California Health Benefit Exchange called Covered California. She worked on Cisco, Sony LATAM, ampm/ARCO, and TravelNevada.
At Ogilvy NY, Catherine worked on the Goldman Sachs account for seven years, both with the Events group and the Corporate Communications team when she led the account for the agency. She then transitioned to the newly won UPS account, where she set up and led Global RedWorks’ training and operations.
Before her tenure at Ogilvy, Catherine worked at several NY agencies, including J. Walter Thompson, FCB, and Grey Direct. Her client experience ran the gamut of industries, including USPS, Kodak, Volvo, and DuPont.

She holds an AB in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University and has completed multiple post-graduate business education courses at NYU. In December 2019, she completed a year-long organizational leadership and communication certificate at UC Irvine.

In her free time, Catherine enjoys all that life in California has to offer, whether spending time at the beach or in the mountains hiking, biking, running, or paddling. She is on the SoCal Duke Women’s Forum and Gold Rush Adventure Racing boards and volunteers as a floor educator at the La Brea Tar Pits.

For more than 30 years, Darlene has worked with healthcare clients across nearly every therapeutic category and has launched an impressive roster of brands in the pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostic and device spaces. She has held executive positions at some of the top global healthcare agencies in the pharma industry, including Ogilvy and McCann. She has received the SmartCEO Brava Award, Medical Marketing & Media Hall of Femme Award, Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Rising Star Award and the prestigious PharmaVoice 100 award, which celebrates the top 100 most inspiring people in the life-sciences industry.

Jeff brings more than 20 years experience as a CFO to Healthcare Success in his role as strategic partner and trusted advisor to the CEO. Jeff is a process expert, a proven leader in performance management and has extensive experience in financial reporting & modeling, audit & compliance and M&A. Jeff’s previous career stops include National Medical Enterprises (Tenet Healthcare), Centex Homes (Pulte Group) and Birtcher Real Estate Ltd. (Mitsui & Co. Ltd.). He is adept at identifying cost drivers and substantial areas of savings, overcoming obstacles to company growth and is able to gain a long-range outlook of business through solid financial planning and strategy. Jeff earned his undergraduate accounting degree from California State University, Long Beach and did his graduate work at Golden Gate University. Along with his wife and daughter, Jeff is an ardent supporter of people with special needs and together they regularly donate time and money to a variety of organizations.

In her career, Kathy has helped over 4,000 clients all over North America achieve their growth goals. As an award-winning strategic marketing planner, Kathy has been involved in both the high-level strategies required for long-term sustainability, plus the tactical execution used to accomplish the day-to-day successes. In addition, Kathy is an accomplished speaker, appearing at countless national, local and state healthcare associations. Kathy is a member of the American Marketing Association and The Direct Marketing Association.

For the past 20-plus years, Tim has focused on client relationships and account management in advertising. He has amassed a repertoire in direct response, database marketing, brand identity and source integration while working in the New York offices of J.Walter Thompson, Bates, Bozell, FCB and Merkle. His client experiences include the United States Marine Corps, Ford Motors, Warner-Lambert, Pfizer, FEMA – National Flood Insurance Program, Wolters Kluwer, Fresh Direct, Oriental Trading and Gulf States Toyota.

Tim has a degree in Communication Arts from Cornell University. As a native New Yorker, he wanted to be a farmer but then became an advertising aficionado. He loves critiquing television commercials and tracking the origins of the latest ads appearing on his computer. He is also involved in diversity and inclusion activities for The Dalton School and the Boy Scouts of America. From regular trips to Mexico, his favorite food has become Mexican. Thankfully, Mexican cuisine has improved tremendously in New York. And he does, in fact, have flood insurance and drive a Toyota.

Fionn is an innovative senior digital marketing professional with a proven history of leadership, managing teams, partnering with C-level executives, and overseeing enterprise digital marketing projects.

She’s developed and executed several multi-channel digital marketing plans designed to meet overall global and local business growth objectives. Through extensive experience, she’s become a significant driving force in the success and profitability of her client’s business.

She successfully oversees projects, partners with clients to outline goals, manages and mentors staff to help them reach strategic objectives, and consistently serves clients as a key marketing partner.

Fionn is an accomplished industry speaker and thought leader and an experienced educator in the field of digital. She is a subject matter expert on organic search with over 20 years of experience in the space. She’s worked with clients in various industries, including Dale Carnegie Global, Dictionary.com, Banner Health, Snell & Wilmer, Storage West, Golflink.com, Atmel, Whichfranchise.com, and Hawaii.com.

Fionn is an Irish native and proud naturalized US citizen. She loves to cook, entertain, and restore furniture. Her greatest passion after her family is traveling, and she proves that by having visited multiple international cities around the world.

With more than 17 years of experience in digital technology, Josh has dedicated the last eight years to digital marketing. He’s managed large online campaigns for Fortune 500 companies, produced print and radio media for non-profit groups, and developed and edited creative content for various projects.

Josh is certified in all Google Ads competencies and Google Analytics and won the title of “Digital Breakfast Champion” while executing over 100 morning Google webinars with businesses all over the country. While working as the company’s first “Digital Ambassador” for Google AdWords, he was a featured Google speaker at more than 60 in-person business conferences around the US and abroad.

For five years, Josh held the Director of Paid Search Media position at Dreamscape Marketing. He helped develop and manage several high-performing PPC and digital accounts while maintaining several public speaking engagements at conferences and private events for senior living, dentistry, and addiction treatment. When he’s not helping healthcare companies transition to more cost-efficient digital media, you can probably find Josh rooting on his Phoenix Suns, playing acoustic guitar, or searching online for the nearest disc golf course.

Gabby Villegas is an account manager at Healthcare Success. Gabby has over three years of digital marketing experience, particularly in the areas of paid search, social, and email marketing in an agency setting. She has worked with many clients to generate successful campaigns, increase website visitors and overall revenue while helping guide and teach clients in all aspects of digital marketing. Gabby graduated with a B.A. in Communication, with an emphasis on Societal Communication from Point Loma Nazarene University. When she is not working, she is reading one of the hundreds of books on her shelves or perusing TikTok to find the next food hotspot.

Aurora Michelle is an account coordinator at Healthcare Success with more than five years of digital healthcare marketing experience. She began her career as a Marketing Data Analyst in 2018, giving her detailed insights into client success, but was quickly drawn to account management. She is skilled at distilling complex client goals and objectives into concise, actionable steps for executives, internal staff, and independent contractors.

Aurora is dedicated to client satisfaction and works tirelessly to ensure her clients achieve success.

Mark J Tager, MD is Chief Enhancement Officer (CEO) of ChangeWell, Inc., a San Diego organization that trains and coaches healthcare practitioners to enhance their presence in person, on camera and online. A veteran of more than 1,000 presentations, Mark shares his skills and passion to empower those who attend his trainings. As a physician, he is well grounded in aesthetic, lifestyle, regenerative and integrative medicine. A highly sought-after speaker and consultant, he has lectured and trained extensively in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Mark is active with many of the functional, integrative, and anti-aging medical associations. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Duke University and trained in Family Practice at the University of Oregon Helath Sciences Center. He has authored or co-authored ten books on disease prevention, health promotion and practice management, as well as produced more than 100 educational videos.

Barbara has over 25 years of experience in interactive project management, software development and marketing. She earned her degree in Computer Science at the University of California at Irvine where she also received the Distinguished Student Scholar award for her research in Natural Language Processing.

With more than 18 years of brand and marketing experience, Brett is an award-winning multidisciplinary designer with a proven track record in helping companies (B2B + B2C) to realize the full potential of their brands and communications.

Combining a passion for measurement innovation and performance-based marketing with his deep experience in corporate identity, Brett has contributed to the success of brands including Align Technology, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Aston Martin, Cornerstone OnDemand, Dodge, Invisalign, iTero, Keck Medicine of USC, Life Technologies, Merck, Schering-Plough, Sharp Healthcare, Tandem, and Time Warner.

Brett provides a unique perspective, having worked as an integral part of global design teams both in-house and agency-side, providing informed and beautiful design solutions spanning print, digital, environmental, and visual design to over 175 companies of every size and maturity.

Brett received his BFA in Graphic Design from The Rhode Island School of Design in 2004 and is an active member of the AIGA, the Professional Association for Design.

Garrick is a SEM specialist with over 10 years of agency and enterprise level experience managing paid search campaigns on Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Helping clients at Healthcare Success acquire new patients through paid search and other various digital marketing initiatives is what fuels him.
A positive, persistent, and fun attitude is what he brings on a daily basis along with detailed optimization skills. He has a passion for travel, playing tennis with his dad weekly, eating Vietnamese food, and keeping up with his rescue dog Bear.

Since graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design and Pre-Health Studies, Alex has been honing her craft both agency-side and in the freelance jungle. With a keen eye for branding, she brings a versatile skill set to the team spanning the identity, digital, and print disciplines. Alex enjoys art and design particularly because of its effectiveness in communicating without words. Her other creative interests include photography, illustration, and visual storytelling.

Most of her friends describe her as bubbly and energetic, but she largely prefers alone time to make pillow forts and read comics late into the night. During her off-hours, she likes trying out new eateries, traveling with family, playing video games, and hiking with her two pit bull rescues.

Ashley is a paid search and paid social expert with over 8 years of agency and in-house experience in managing enterprise-level spends across several verticals. Seeing her campaign builds and optimizations make an immediate impact on accounts is what really drives her.

She has a passion for cooking (more importantly eating), traveling, soccer, working out, reality tv, hanging out with family & friends, and doing everything she can to be the best mom she can be to her baby girl.

Ryan has spent nearly a decade as an SEO specialist in a wide range of industries in addition to healthcare including legal, travel, and e-commerce. He spent 3 years doing doctoral work in History at UC Santa Barbara before working for multiple high-profile digital marketing agencies.

When not at work he enjoys reading, playing music, and spending time with his wife.

Naghmeh is the SEO Manager at HS, responsible for technical search engine optimization (SEO) and developing ongoing content strategies to improve our clients’ organic traffic and presence. She has over ten years of experience working with national and international clients across various industries, including enterprise-level healthcare businesses, multilocation practices, real estate, retail, publishing, and e-commerce. She always strives to deliver excellent in-depth, thorough work and meets the highest standards.

Before joining Healthcare Success LLC, Naghmeh worked for two of the nation’s leading SEO firms: first as SEO Analyst for the venerable Bruce Clay, Inc, and then as SEO Architect Manager for ForwardPMX (AKA The Search Agency). She has performed effective SEO strategy on many nationally known brands such as eBay, Century 21, Realtor, Weather Channel, Redbull, Grammy’s, CapitalOne, Pacific Dental, Investor’s Business Daily, etc.

Melanie comes to Healthcare Success with 15 years of professional experience in content production and marketing. With a strong organic search and SEO background, her specialty lies in producing quality content that aligns search, brand, and performance objectives across all consumer touchpoints.

Among various in-house positions, she’s worked as Senior Content Writer for two major digital marketing agencies, including Submit Express, where she wrote for small to medium-sized businesses, and Bruce Clay, Inc., considered the “father of SEO.” At Bruce Clay, she honed her SEO copywriting skills and had the opportunity to write for larger, enterprise brands.

As Director of Content at HS, Melanie leads a strong team of senior copywriters who write for the Healthcare Success blog, website, and the agency’s health and wellness clients. She holds a B.A. in journalism from California State University Northridge.

Sara has more than 15 years digital and content marketing experience. She specializes in writing engaging, educational, and on-brand content for healthcare clients across the nation. Sara enjoys distilling complex topics into relatable, readable content whether she’s taking a new product to market, promoting emerging technologies, or explaining complex medical concepts.

Sara is also a wife, mother of 5 (3 human, 2 furry), gardener, author of the children’s book, “Banana Island,” and volunteer VP of Communications for her children’s elementary school PTA, where she manages all inbound marketing.

Nina brings more than twenty years of specialized expertise in healthcare agency leadership to Healthcare Success. She has extensive experience working with hundreds of practices throughout the country, overseeing their strategic marketing plan creation and execution. 

Additionally, she's spoken at numerous physician conferences about staff and provider communications and has been quoted in the media for her knowledge of business development for today's healthcare practices. Nina focuses on comprehensive practice development, helping her clients ensure all growth strategies are optimized, including case acceptance, staff communications, referral development, and niche/service line additions to add revenue.

When not working, she escapes to the outdoors in Southern California, biking, hiking, and beach time in San Clemente and surrounding areas. With four adult kids, cooking and entertaining at home have become cherished activities.

Netania is a graduate of Chapman University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Sciences and a minor in Psychology. Her health sciences capstone investigated health disparities, building on well-established research concerned with the unequal distribution of health and disease. Netania gained a passion for healthcare marketing through her academic, internship, volunteer, and work experiences.

Netania is invested in promoting health and wellness and influencing successful patient engagement. Before joining Healthcare Success, she worked in various healthcare organizations, including being a part of the marketing department at Pacific Dental Services. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, exercising, and traveling.

A healthcare digital marketer for more than six years, Jacob began his career as a Strategist on the Internet Brands/WebMD team. Jacob later transitioned into the digital agency world, and today he leads relationships for many of Healthcare Success’ new clients. Jacob helps all sizes of organizations, and his most recent clients range from a single location addiction treatment center to a 65 location senior living community. Jacob prides himself on his ability to assess his clients’ needs, and then guide them to the optimal digital marketing strategy for their business.

Doug brings our team over three decades of strategic marketing experience, with an expertise in both Medicare and Medicaid. A man of many talents, Doug’s core competencies include strategy, marketing research, direct response, content management, member retention and loyalty programs, and creating and executing fully integrated marketing campaigns.

As Healthcare Success’ Senior Media Buyer, Charlie DeNatale has overseen and executed traditional media plans for over 75 healthcare clients. With over 35 years of experience, Charlie has purchased advertising in virtually every city and town in the US (200 DMAs). Charlie prides himself on his adept media strategy, research, planning, buying, and implementation of both direct response and branded media campaigns.

Originally from New York City, Charlie joined the Healthcare Success team in 2010. Before Healthcare Success, Charlie served as VP/Advertising for several in-house media corporations and worked as Media Director for New York-based advertising agencies Christopher Thomas Associates and Lobo & Petrocine. Beyond healthcare, Charlie has led hundreds of media campaigns for higher education, finance, and sports.

A graduate of Upsala College, his career has also included public speaking, radio broadcasting, and sports reporting for national sports networks and news outlets. Charlie currently resides in San Diego, California.

Paul brings over 20 years of experience in creative agency leadership and account management, with a strong passion for brand strategy, creative, web, SEO, and digital advertising. He has delivered solutions for global consumer brands, foundations, universities, medical research centers, nonprofits, and advocacy organizations.

As a systems-level thinker, Paul has led the development of over a dozen web and digital programs for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He has orchestrated marketing initiatives in mental health and regenerative medicine for the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center. In this work, he has become dedicated to supporting innovation and improving healthcare and public health outcomes.

As an active backcountry skier and cyclist, Paul has also balanced his professional expertise with a deep personal love of the outdoors and the environment. In his home state of Colorado, he has spearheaded integrated climate change, sustainability, and resource conservation campaigns for Keystone Policy Center, Rocky Mountain Institute, City of Boulder, and Town of Vail.

Paul is a visual artist and painter, a collector of guitars, an aficionado of history, and a proud Dad of two teenagers. Throughout the year, you can find him hiking in the mountains near Boulder with his three dogs, Hazel, Desmond, and Zoe.