About TrueCare

Michelle Gonzalez’ roots at TrueCare™ run deep. Starting out as a Program Coordinator nearly 20 years ago, she went on to hold several senior management positions, including Chief Strategy and Development Officer and VP of Strategic Initiatives, before being appointed to President and CEO in April of 2020. Her diverse responsibilities instilled a deep understanding of the unique challenges facing nonprofit healthcare organizations and the communities they serve.

Michelle’s time with TrueCare also fostered a deep and abiding commitment to the organization’s mission of providing affordable, quality care to anyone in need. Under her leadership, TrueCare has expanded access to its services while improving the patient care experience. This includes establishing the patient call center, opening new clinic locations, and transitioning to the best in class, OCHIN-Epic (Electronic Health Records technology). Michelle also spearheaded a comprehensive re-brand and name change to TrueCare (formerly North County Health Services) to elevate brand awareness.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, under Michelle’s leadership, TrueCare launched a number of strategic initiatives to ensure care providers and staff had the resources to protect themselves while providing quality care. These included deploying strict safety protocols, rapid deployment of telehealth services, and the expansion of COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites at TrueCare locations.

To attract highly skilled healthcare professionals who share her passion for TrueCare’s mission, Michelle works hard to build a culture of caring and compassion. Her inclusive leadership style is driven by clear communication to all employees, rewarding excellence, inspiring greatness and instilling shared values that celebrate diversity. Her ability to foster crisp alignment between the Board of Directors, Executive Team and Staff Leadership keeps TrueCare on the cutting-edge of healthcare innovation.

Michelle holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, as well as a certificate in the Not-For-Profit Management Development Program through the Harvard Business School, San Diego Chapter, and a Green Belt Certification in Lean Six Sigma. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children; keeping them closely connected to their roots with family from Mexico and Guam.

Dr. Russell serves as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Operations Officer, bringing extensive knowledge in providing quality health care to underserved populations. Dr. Russell has twenty years of experience serving in clinical leadership roles with progressive responsibility and accountability within the Indian Health Service, and recently retired from United States Public Health Services at the rank of Captain. Her passion for ensuring access to quality healthcare for all and her belief in the TrueCare mission to care for the underserved in the community reflect her commitment to improving the health of the local communities.

Dr. Russell received her Bachelor of Arts in International Relations, from the College of William and Mary, and received her Doctor of Medicine from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. She is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and received her Master’s of Public Health from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She completed the Institute of Healthcare Improvement’s Improvement Advisor Training and is a certified Six Sigma Yellow Belt. In her free time, Dr. Russell enjoys running, hiking, traveling, and spending time with her family.

Kathy’s 17-year history at TrueCare began as a Staff Accountant. After holding different positions in the oil, agriculture management, and public accounting industries, she discovered her passion for the nonprofit world and the challenges of accounting for a Federally-Qualified Health Center. During her tenure as CFO, TrueCare has earned a stellar financial reputation industry-wide. Kathy has also earned her CPCA CFO training certificate and is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. When she’s not crunching the numbers, Kathy enjoys spending time with family and friends, relaxing on the beach with a good book, and doing ceramic arts and crafts.

With over 20 years of Human Resource experience, Chris McLauchlin’s career has included top HR Executive positions at publically traded companies. Serving as TrueCare’s VP of Human Resources, Chris brings with him an understanding and passion for providing tools and resources to empower employees and drive successful outcomes for the organization.

Just a few of his accolades include a Senior Professional Human Resources (SPHR) certificate from HRCI and an SCP designation from the Society of Human Resources Management. Additionally, Chris holds a Strategic Human Resources Leadership certificate from Cornell School of Industry and Labor Relations. Chris is currently attending school at Penn State University’s World Campus, continuing his education in Human Resources.

In his free time, Chris enjoys spending quality time with his family and friends, as well as his furry four-legged kids; Sailor, Cole, and Sunny.

As Executive Vice President of Human Resources, Andrea oversees employee relations and engagement, talent acquisition, benefits and compensation, and credentialing. She began her career in human resources while working part-time as a human resources representative at a hospital in El Centro, CA. While there, she discovered her passion for human resources and the underserved community. Andrea believes that every TrueCare employee has a story that resonates with our mission and is honored to support and advocate for such caring and dedicated staff.

Andrea received her bachelor’s degree in communication and media management from SDSU and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management. When she is not helping TrueCare employees grow within the organization, she enjoys spending time with her family outdoors.

As CIO, Tracy strives to continue improving care for patients through coordinated efforts between the TrueCare Business Intelligence and Information Technology departments.

Her vast experience in health information technology (HIT) and serving as a local leader of Health Informatics makes her ideally suited for this role.

Very active in volunteer work, Tracy has served as past President of the California Health Information Association (CHIA) and Chair of the National Advocacy & Public Policy Council for the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).

Tracy received her Bachelor of Science in Health Information Administration from Loma Linda University, and her Master of Science in Health Care Informatics from University of San Diego. She is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. Tracy enjoys spending free time with family and friends, cooking, traveling, watching movies, and cheering on her son at his ice hockey games and martial arts practices.

As a member of TrueCare’s Corporate Executive Team, Briana plays a key role in executing strategic and emerging business initiatives. Briana began her career at TrueCare as a grant writer, and now oversees multiple branches of the organization, including grant writing and management, enrollment services, project planning and development, and patient engagement and retention. She secured a $5,000,000 capital grant, which led to the construction of the TrueCare Mission Mesa Pediatrics Health Center.

Briana holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health, with a concentration in Community Health, from UCLA. She is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and received the 2012 TrueCare Chief of the Year award for her advocacy on behalf of the Outreach and Enrollment teams. In her spare time, Briana enjoys activities with her husband and three young boys.

Deidre (Dee) began her journey with TrueCare as an accounting manager, and rapidly rose to her current position through her hard work and dedication to our mission. Prior to calling TrueCare home, she enjoyed a remarkable 31-year career in public accounting for the public, private, and non-private sectors.

Dee received her Bachelor’s Degree in business administration management and accounting from California State University Long Beach, and is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. As part of the TrueCare team, Dee takes pride in making a difference in our communities. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music, camping, and participating in community service.

Amy Ventetuolo is proud to serve as the Vice President of Marketing & Development at TrueCare. With over 17 years of experience creating award-winning communications and marketing campaigns, as well as uniting philanthropic passions with organizational missions, Amy serves as a key facilitator to create lasting relationships by fostering community and trust, with donors, patients, community partners and businesses.

With experience in non-profit, healthcare and local government sectors, she has created and implemented strategies to propel key areas of business including designing new media and digital experience programs, advancing donor engagement and recognition programs, and federal legislation communications. As a North County native, Amy holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication from California State University, San Marcos with graduate studies in Strategic Communication from Liberty Baptist University. She also is a graduate of Leadership North County and holds multiple certifications in crisis communication Incident Command Structure training.

In her free time, she loves soaking up the sun and sea breeze in coastal North County or exploring new hiking or biking trails with her husband, two children and three dogs.

Cathy began her career in Women’s Health, where she acquired the experience and education that prepared her for the challenges of today’s healthcare industry. Her commitment and sense of responsibility to patient care is reflected in TrueCare’s high-performing clinical outcomes and her mentoring of others in pursuit of excellence and innovation.

In her current role, Cathy focuses on sustaining NCQA’s recognition of TrueCare as a Patient Centered Medical Home. This includes working to maintain continuity and cohesiveness with population health performance, overseeing prevention and mitigation efforts in patient and staff clinical practice risk management, and monitoring clinical and operational patient satisfaction/experience.

Cathy received her Registered Nursing degree from William Rainey Harper College, her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Chamberlain University, and is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. In 2018, she was recognized by the TrueCare Executive Team with a Leadership Award. Cathy’s desire to lead a balanced life includes spending time with family and friends, attending concerts, hiking, and other outdoor activities.

Originally trained as a pharmacist at the University of California San Francisco School of Pharmacy, Denise volunteered many hours working in Senior Centers and delivering food to homebound AIDS patients. Seeing the need for primary care providers to improve access to quality care in the community, she returned to school and attained her Medical Degree from University of California, Irvine College of Medicine.

Consistent with the TrueCare mission, Dr. Gomez focuses on providing high-quality patient care, assisting providers in attaining high performance goals, and maintaining high patient satisfaction. She has spearheaded the expansion of pharmacy services to improve patients’ understanding of medications, improve compliance, reduce side effects, and help patients attain clinical goals. She is proud to work for a mission-driven organization that aligns with her own life mission. In her free time, Dr. Gomez enjoys traveling with her husband, and is an avid reader.