Experts Driving Clinical Excellence You Can Trust

Brian Sauer is founder and CEO of GEM SLEEP, where he leads the company’s mission to modernize sleep apnea care through a fully virtual, end-to-end model. Prior to launching GEM SLEEP, he served as CEO of Sanvello Health and held leadership roles at Optum, where he helped scale national care programs serving millions of patients. He holds an MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and brings deep expertise in digital health, healthcare operations, and virtual care transformation.

Sherri Walsh is Chief Operating Officer at GEM SLEEP, where she brings more than 30 years of healthcare leadership experience across the provider, payer, and PBM markets. A seasoned operator, she has led large, complex teams with responsibility for strategy, operations, client delivery, and performance. She is also the founder of VitalFlame Consulting, a Registered Nurse with an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and a committed community leader who has served as a volunteer firefighter, nonprofit co-founder, and mentor to women in leadership.

Mark Sylvester is Fractional Chief Financial Officer at GEM SLEEP,  where he leads financial strategy and operations. Prior to GEM SLEEP, he served as COO/CFO at Genome Medical, where he led capital raises through Series C and D, cut monthly burn by 95%, and drove a multi-year turnaround. He also spent five years at Invenshure, serving as President and CFO across the portfolio. Earlier in his career, he helped scale The Emily Program/Accanto Health from $20M to $100M in revenue as CFO. Mark holds a J.D. from St. Thomas School of Law and a B.A. from Saint John’s University, and brings deep expertise in healthcare finance, capital markets, and company building.

Sarah Chiapetta is Head of Product and Strategy at GEM SLEEP, where she leads product innovation and strategic growth initiatives. Prior to GEM, she served as Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Level2, a virtual care model for individuals with Type 2 diabetes. She also worked as a Principal at UnitedHealth Group Ventures, where she developed new business models and supported portfolio growth strategy and execution. She earned her MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and brings deep expertise in digital health, product strategy, and care transformation.

Kellie Jax is Head of Growth at GEM SLEEP, where she leads growth, brand, and patient acquisition initiatives to expand access to virtual sleep care. Prior to GEM, she held senior growth roles across healthcare and consumer technology organizations, including Magellan Healthcare and Optum International, where she led integrated campaigns, brand development, and digital transformation efforts. She holds a BS degree in Dietetics and Food & Nutrition from Minnesota State University, Mankato, and brings deep expertise in growth strategy, patient engagement, and digital health marketing.

Dr. Michael Howell is Chief Medical Officer at GEM SLEEP leading clinical strategy. He is a professor of neurology at the University of Minnesota, authoring more than 80 scientific publications and delivering over 200 invited lectures. Dr. Howell has held numerous leadership roles within the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).  After earning his medical degree he completed his residency in neurology at the University of Minnesota and a sleep medicine fellowship at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center.

Dr. Jon Parker is GEM SLEEP’s Chief Dental Officer, an adjunct clinical professor at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, and past president of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine and the American Board of Orofacial Pain with more than 38 years of experience treating snoring, sleep apnea, and TMJ/orofacial pain. Dr. Parker is co-founder of the Sleep Performance Institute™ and a widely respected educator and speaker who has delivered more than 200 lectures on sleep health and dental sleep medicine worldwide.

Nicole Norder is Vice President of Product Operations at GEM SLEEP, where she leads product strategy, development, and execution, while also overseeing the company’s coaching program. With more than 16 years of experience across the healthcare industry, she brings a strong track record of operational leadership, strategic growth, and cross-functional execution. Nicole is passionate about building innovative solutions that create meaningful impact for clients, care teams, and organizations. She holds a BS in Communications and HR from the University of Minnesota and thrives in fast-paced environments focused on transformation and scale.

James Lim is Vice President of Operations at GEM SLEEP, where he leads clinical operations, patient support, order management, and reporting. Prior to GEM, he was at Sanvello Health, where he built a high-performing clinical quality and reporting framework that helped support the company’s successful acquisition by Optum. He also spent more than a decade at Optum, where he oversaw enterprise quality management systems and led major ISO 9001 certification initiatives. He earned his MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and brings deep expertise in healthcare operations and scaling care delivery.

Melissa Hanson is Senior Director of Marketing, where she leads brand strategy, patient acquisition, and partnership marketing initiatives to support organizational growth. She has held senior marketing leadership roles across healthcare, renewable energy, consumer packaged goods, and nonprofit organizations. She earned her MBA from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management and her BS in Marketing from Bradley University, and brings deep expertise in brand development, consumer insights, marketing research, and strategic planning.

Brandon R. Peters, M.D., FAASM, FAAN, is a double board‑certified neurologist and sleep medicine specialist who serves as section head of sleep medicine at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in Seattle. He trained in neurology at the University of Minnesota and completed his sleep fellowship at Stanford, where he also trained in cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. Dr. Peters is the author of two books, creator of the Insomnia Solved CBT‑I program, and a prolific writer with more than 1,000 published sleep‑related articles. His research spans circadian rhythm disorders, parasomnias, comorbid insomnia and sleep apnea, and sleep ethics, and he is widely recognized as a leading voice in sleep medicine.

Dr. Jessica Bartfield is a Clinical Associate Professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and an obesity medicine specialist at Advocate Health’s Comprehensive Weight Management Center. Board certified in internal medicine and obesity medicine, she leads training at Wake Forest and works closely with the American Diabetes Association Obesity Advisory Group and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics as a subject matter expert. She brings deep expertise in clinical care, education, and long-term weight management.

Dr. Virend K. Somers, MBChB, DPhil, is a cardiologist and Mayo Distinguished Clinical Investigator who holds the Alice Sheets Marriott Professorship at Mayo Clinic. His research centers on cardiometabolic regulation and the biology of sleep, adiposity, and vascular control, supported by multiple NIH R01 grants and AHA funding. He trained at the University of Natal, Oxford University as an Oxford Nuffield Medical Fellow, and the University of Iowa. Dr. Somers has more than 70,000 citations. He has received numerous national and international honors and is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the American Association of Physicians, and the Association of University Cardiologists.

Dr. Joyce Lee‑Iannotti is Professor of Neurology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Phoenix and Division Chief of the Barrow Comprehensive Sleep Medicine Center, where she also serves as Interim Division Chief of the Petznick Comprehensive Stroke Center. Her clinical expertise spans the full spectrum of sleep disorders, with a focus on REM sleep behavior disorder and sleep‑wake disturbances in long COVID. Her research includes RBD, narcolepsy, neuro‑COVID syndromes, and sleep apnea–stroke interactions. She also holds multiple national leadership roles within the AASM and AAN.