(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is appointing Kimberly R. Martone to serve as acting executive director of the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy, the state agency that is responsible for implementing data-driven strategies that promote equal access to healthcare, improve the value of healthcare, contain costs, and ensure better healthcare systems for Connecticut residents.
In filling the position, Martone will assume the role that was most recently held by Victoria Veltri, who stepped down from her service with the state at the beginning of this month to pursue a new professional opportunity in the private nonprofit sector.
Martone is currently the deputy director and chief of staff for the Office of Health Strategy, where she has worked under the leadership of Veltri since the state agency was created in 2018. In these dual roles, she has been responsible for overseeing the agency’s 40 staff members, as well as its business and legal functions.
“Kim has more than 25 years of experience in the health care functions of state government, which is why selecting her to lead the Office of Health Strategy is a natural fit,” Governor Lamont said. “This is an important state office because it plays a crucial role in ensuring that the health care needs of the residents of our state are met, particularly when it comes to issues such as cost equity, access, affordability, and closing race and gender gaps in care. I appreciate Kim for accepting this opportunity and I look forward to having her continue her work with this state agency.”
“I am honored to step into this new role and I appreciate Governor Lamont’s confidence in me,” Martone said. “I am committed to continuing the excellent work presently underway to achieve affordable, accessible, and equitable healthcare for the residents in the State of Connecticut.”
Prior to joining the Office of Health Strategy, Martone worked from 2009 to 2018 for the Connecticut Department of Public Health as the director of operations in the Office of Health Care Access – an office that was merged into the Office of Health Strategy upon its creation in 2018 as part of a consolidation effort to bring several existing resources from various state agencies into one centralized location so that these efforts could function more cohesively and efficiently. From 2004 to 2009, she was a certificate of need supervisor in the Office of Health Care Access, and from 1994 to 2004 she worked as an associate health care analyst in that same office.
Martone earned a bachelor’s degree in health care administration business from Providence College, and a master’s degree in health care management from Quinnipiac College.
She will begin serving in the role effective immediately.