Jamie Lagarde

About Jamie Lagarde

Healthcare is often one of the largest expenses on an organization’s balance sheet, yet it is rarely engineered or governed with the rigor applied to other strategic investments.Many plans evolve through vendor layering and annual negotiations rather than intentional structural design.I have operated on both sides of that equation.For more than 25 years, I have led organizations through complex operational and governance challenges, including co-founding and building a highly innovative health plan and serving as CEO of a large nonprofit employer.My background began in software engineering and systems design, shaping how I approach complexity: structurally, analytically, and with long-term durability in mind. That systems perspective has proven especially valuable in healthcare, where financial flows, incentives, and plan mechanics are deeply interconnected.As President and later CEO of the health plan, I was responsible for membership experience, financial discipline, and long-term viability. As an executive plan sponsor, I governed one of the largest and least transparent expenses on an organization’s balance sheet: healthcare.That gap led me to found Masonry Health, a strategic healthcare architecture firm serving employers.At Masonry, we design health plans built to endure, grounded in transparency, disciplined governance, and rigorous analysis. We leverage AI in targeted ways to accelerate feedback loops and surface performance insights that traditional reporting often misses. The objective is structural clarity and long-term cost sustainability.My work is grounded in operator experience and systems thinking. I have built a health plan, governed healthcare performance at the executive level, and now help employers redesign and optimize their healthcare architecture with precision and accountability.

Experience

1. Founder

   Masonry Health

   Jan 2025 — Present

   Masonry Health is a strategic healthcare architecture firm built to redesign how employers govern healthcare.We work directly with executive teams and plan sponsors to engineer health plans as durable financial structures rather than annual renewals.Our work centers on:• Employer health plan strategy and structural redesign• Pharmacy cost governance and executive-level oversight• Full-plan performance transparency• Financial discipline across vendors and funding models• Targeted application of AI to accelerate insight and tighten performance feedback loopsMasonry challenges the conventional renewal-driven model of employer healthcare. We bring architectural thinking, operational discipline, and data-driven clarity to one of the largest expenses on an organization’s balance sheet.Founded following executive leadership experience on both the health plan and employer sponsor sides of healthcare, providing perspective from both operator and governor.

Education

• University of Mississippi

  Bachelor of Science, Computer Science

  1989 — 1995

• University of Mississippi

  Bacehlor of Science, Engineering - General

  1989 — 1995

Skills

• Sales Operations
• Customer Service
• Training
• New Business Development
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Marketing
• Marketing Strategy
• Software Development
• Business Development
• Project Management
• Strategic Planning
• Enterprise Software
• Program Management
• Requirements Analysis
• Cloud Computing
• Contract Negotiation
• Start-Ups
• Integration
• Agile Methodologies
• Team Building
• Management
• Saas
• Public Speaking
• Strategy
• E-Commerce
• Team Leadership
• Analytics
• Business Strategy
• Product Development
• Social Media
• Product Management
• Process Improvement
• Software Project Management
• Crm
• Leadership
• Product Marketing
• Project Planning
• Business Intelligence
• Entrepreneurship