Ms. Eftekhari is the CEO and principal architect of HealthEZ and founder of The Araz Group, the first Preferred Provider Organization in the country. In fact, the term PPO was coined to describe her innovation. Her other innovations include the first medical management services, the first consolidated insurance and consumer payments to doctors and hospitals, the first healthcare consumer statement, and the first paperless statement. http://www.healthez.com She is a graduate of the London School of Economics and she attended the University of Southern California (UK) Graduate Program in International Relations and the University of Minnesota, MHA. She serves on the Board of Visitors of the University of Minnesota Medical School, the Board of Overseers of the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, the Speaker’s Cabinet Leadership Circle (DCCC), and the boards of the Nonviolent Initiative for Democracy (NID) and the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA). Often honored and recognized for her leadership in business and service to the community, Ms. Eftekhari most recently received the 2011 International Immigrant Achievement Award from The International Leadership Institute. In 1991 she established The Foundation for the Children of Iran, dedicated to enabling indigent Iranian children to receive life-saving health care services in the United States that are not available to them in Iran. http://www.childrenofiran.org Ms. Eftekhari has a son, Sahm McGlynn, and a daughter, Raz McGlynn, who are unabashedly her pride and joy.