Meet Our Leadership
Colleen Nicewicz
Chief Executive Officer
“I was motivated to join Groups Recover Together because I believe in the idea of providing access to those who need it most.”
Prior to joining Groups Recover Together, Colleen was Vice President, Transformation and Business Operations at athenahealth where she was responsible for a number of corporate initiatives including the sale of athenahealth in 2018. She began her career covering the healthcare sector in public accounting and M&A Advisory Services at PwC. She holds an MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.S. from Babson College. Colleen has been named the winner of a Gold Stevie® Award in the Achievement of Growth category in the 18th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business.
Cooper Zelnick
President
“When anyone, anywhere reaches out for help with addiction, help should be there. I joined Groups to bring that help to those who need it most.”
Cooper has spent nearly a decade at Groups, wearing many hats along the way. In addition to his most recent role as President, Cooper has served as Chief Revenue Officer, leading the Contracting, Partnership Development, and Marketing teams. Before that, he was SVP of Corporate Development and Strategy, responsible for negotiating and executing value-based contracts with health plans. Before joining Groups, Cooper was an investor at RRE Ventures in New York, where he focused on behavioral health and healthcare services. He holds a BA in English and History from Williams College, where he graduated magna cum laude.
Dr. Jacob “Gus” Crothers, MD
Chief Outcomes and National Medical Director
“I came to Groups Recover Together because I loved the mission and the model of care delivery. The treatment model is high quality, cost effective, and reaches individuals who have historically been shut out of the medical system. At its core, our mission is one of social justice, and that really speaks to me. This is a rapidly evolving field of medicine and I love that Groups is at the forefront of innovation.”
Dr. Crothers completed medical school at Tufts University School of Medicine and residency training at Tufts University Family Residency at Cambridge Health Alliance. While there he designed and implemented a resident-led group visit model for treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD). The program continues to serve as a national model for integrating addiction medicine education into residency training. Following residency, he pursued his Addiction Medicine board certification at the APT Foundation in New Haven Connecticut, a Yale-affiliated organization where many of the original studies of Suboxone were completed. While continuing to practice part-time addiction medicine, Dr. Crothers served as Medical Director of Grand Rounds, where he scaled their clinical products to over 5 million covered lives in his 5 years of tenure.
April Boss
Chief Financial Officer
“The Groups members I’ve met are incredible people who have often lost everything to opioids. Yet they find the strength to recover. You can’t help but be inspired and want to fight for them.”
April is an experienced finance executive who has focused much of her career on healthcare, specifically on outcome-based models. April has held leadership positions at Iora Health (now One Medical), Fresenius, Care.com, and Amazon. She began her career in public accounting at KPMG. She holds an MSA and B.S. from Babson College and is a CPA licensed in Massachusetts.
Emily Alexanderson
Chief Operating Officer
“I came to Groups because I love what the company stands for – increasing affordable access to high-quality addiction services, reducing bias, and transforming the lives of our members. I am grateful every day to work with such a mission-driven team that is working tirelessly to get life-saving treatment to those who need it most.”
Emily comes to Groups with a diverse background in banking, healthcare, and corporate finance. Prior to joining Groups, Emily most recently served as the Head of Specialized Banking at Santander Bank, building a team responsible for serving non-profit and healthcare clients. In previous roles, she led efforts focused on strategic planning, operations, and finance at athenahealth, a provider of network-enabled services for medical groups and health systems. She began her career at the Royal Bank of Scotland where she completed the Investment Banking Analyst program and joined the Global Markets team thereafter. Emily holds a B.A. from Boston College, where she earned a degree in international studies, political science, and economics.
Keith Kocho
Chief Product Officer
“Addiction has had a huge impact on my family. I am honored to be of service to our members and the team at Groups Recover Together.”
Prior to joining Groups Recover Together, Keith was Chief Product Officer at Mightier, a behavioral technology company that develops biofeedback enabled video games as a digital therapeutic for children struggling with emotional regulation. Keith has founded several startups, held leadership positions at Amazon, Bose, Cisco and Spotify, been awarded several patents and served on the boards of multiple companies, government agencies and NGOs.
Earl L. Della Barca
Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Counsel
“Groups Recover Together’s focus is on its members. I am excited to help Groups navigate various federal and state requirements so that it can continue to provide high-quality services to those who need it most.”
Earl is an experienced healthcare attorney and compliance officer and has spent much of his career focused on Medicaid and behavioral health. He started his career at a national law firm representing pharmaceutical companies in numerous lawsuits and government investigations. He then served as the Director of Compliance and Regulatory Affairs for a national Medicaid MCO. After that, he was the Compliance Director, Privacy Officer, and General Counsel for a regional Medicaid MCO. He comes to Groups after serving as an Associate General Counsel at a national hospital management system. Earl received his J.D. from Drexel University.
Ari Rosner, LCSW
Chief Clinical Officer
Ari is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who leads the Care Design and Innovation team at Groups. In her role, she’s focused on building and improving the care model while ensuring clinical excellence. Before Groups, Ari led behavioral health and social care strategy at Cityblock Health, where she was part of the founding team. Both roles have been opportunities for her to help build truly integrated, team-based care models for a population she cares about deeply. Previously, she directed the Mount Sinai Health Home, comprising of contracted community-based agencies that provide comprehensive care management services to New York State Medicaid recipients with chronic illness and social care needs. Prior to this position, she worked at Mount Sinai Hospital as a Renal Transplant Social Worker, evaluating patients for transplant from a psychosocial perspective and supporting them through the process. Ari has a B.A. from Brandeis University, received her M.S.W. from Columbia, and was faculty at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She lives in Brooklyn with her family, loves to travel, eat, and has yet to meet a beach she didn’t like.
Our Investors
