News /
2
min read /
April 2, 2024

Running the Next Leg

by
Arun Gupta

Big Health has appointed a new CEO, Yael Berman, to lead us through our next phase of growth.

As we begin Q2, I am pleased to share that 2024 has started with strong momentum for Big Health. We have seen very favorable market traction following our acquisition and expansion of Spark - Big Health’s digital program for adolescents and now adults living with depression - as well as the recently announced launch of our comprehensive mental health solution in partnership with Grow Therapy. I’m proud of our team’s tenacity, creativity, and agility to win despite a challenging economic environment, with more business milestones to come. 

When I joined Big Health’s Board of Directors in 2019, and then became Executive Chairman in 2021, our business was on a path of significant growth based on the vision and drive of our founders Peter Hames and Colin Espie. I agreed to step in as CEO in 2022 at a time of emerging turbulence in the market. We navigated this period with boldness, making significant improvements to our products, executing our first acquisition, broadening our markets, and dramatically improving our profitability. With the company on a solid pathway, I initiated a search for the right next leader and am pleased to announce on behalf of our Board of Directors that we have appointed Yael Berman to serve as Big Health’s Chief Executive Officer, effective April 2, 2024. I will continue to serve as Executive Chairman of our Board, supporting Yael and the company’s leadership team.

Yael is an exceptional executive and leader. She brings deep experience scaling one of the most successful mental health companies, AbleTo, where she held various roles through their scale-up and eventual exit to Optum, most recently as Chief Growth Officer. I have known and respected many of the AbleTo leaders for years. Like Big Health, they pioneered evidence-based models of mental health care, proving that improving access at scale can ultimately also improve total health and cost of care outcomes. There is no health without mental health; and there is no scalable mental health model without technology.

Our organization is fortunate to have an executive of Yael’s caliber and character to lead it forward. Please join me in welcoming Yael and stay tuned for several upcoming announcements from Big Health.

During the COVID-19 public health emergency, Sleepio and Daylight are being made available as treatments for insomnia disorder and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), respectively, without a prescription. Sleepio and Daylight have not been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of insomnia disorder and GAD, respectively.

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