Ellen Severoni is co-founder and president of California Health Decisions, an independent, nonprofit organization devoted to bringing health care consumers and providers together to improve health care systems. In 1997 she was appointed to California's Managed Health Care Improvement Task Force. In 1995-96, she was chairperson for American Health Decisions, a national organization modeled after CHD, and is now a member of its executive committee. She lives in Laguna Beach, California, with her husband and daughter.