The 2026 OPEN MINDS CEO Tech & AI Summit

Brian Koll is the Operations Technology Manager at LifeScape, where he leads the organization’s Virtual Support Services (VSS) and oversees the implementation and advancement of technology that enhances care, independence, and safety for people receiving services.

With more than 20 years of experience supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Brian has served in a variety of leadership roles within residential services before transitioning into technology operations. His extensive background in direct support and residential leadership provides a unique perspective on how technology can be integrated into everyday care without losing the human connection.

Brian has helped implement innovative solutions across LifeScape, including remote support services, camera and sensor technology, smart home safety devices, wearable health monitoring, communication systems, electronic reminders, NFC technology, and data-driven operational tools. His work focuses on using technology to increase independence for individuals served, improve staff accountability, strengthen safety, and provide real-time support to residential teams.

Brian will share how LifeScape has embraced technology as a partner in person-centered care, discussing practical applications, lessons learned, and the impact these innovations have had on individuals, staff, and organizational operations.

Gwen Koenig brings over 30 years of experience as the Chief Strategic Growth Officer for the Omni Family of Services, a national leader of child and family services in behavioral health, child welfare, and juvenile justice. She is responsible for business procurement, strategic planning, grants management, merger and acquisition integration, and technology innovation. Throughout her career, Gwen has supported foster care, family preservation, and community mental health programs across seventeen states.

Gwen is also an adjunct faculty at Colorado State University where she teaches macro social work and nonprofit management courses. Gwen resides in Fort Collins, Colorado where she enjoys the beautiful outdoors with her three sons, volunteers in her community, and keeps active with her rescue animals.

Jeremy S. Brown, LPC, is Vice President of Technology and Impact at Talbert House, a multi-program nonprofit behavioral health provider in Cincinnati, Ohio that serves mental health, addiction treatment, and child and family populations. He brings more than two decades of behavioral health experience to the role, with a career that has progressed from direct clinical and case management work to residential program leadership and hospital administration, including service as Assistant Chief Executive Officer at Summit Behavioral Health. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology from Miami University and a master’s degree in clinical counseling from Xavier University.

In his current role, Jeremy leads Talbert House’s work to turn everyday technology into operational capacity without adding headcount, pairing tools already inside the agency’s Microsoft 365 license with AI built in Microsoft Copilot Studio. At the 2026 Technology and Analytics Institute, he presents “AI That Pays Off: Where CEOs Are Seeing Real ROI and Where They’re Not.”

Melissa Fox is a nationally recognized healthcare executive and systems strategist leading the transformation of community-based health systems through innovation, data, and emerging technologies. As Chief Operating Officer of Acenda Integrated Health, she oversees enterprise-wide operations spanning more than 150 programs across the state of New Jersey, including child welfare, behavioral health, substance use disorder treatment, crisis services, supportive housing, and population health initiatives designed to address the social drivers of health.

Fox is widely recognized for building nimble leadership structures that align operational strategy with value-based care, health equity, and financial sustainability. Throughout her career, she has led complex organizational redesigns across various healthcare disciplines, launched integrated care models to expand services for vulnerable populations, and implemented data-driven performance systems to improve outcomes while strengthening organizational resilience.

A recognized national voice on healthcare transformation, Fox has advised and presented for organizations including Open Minds, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the American Public Health Association, and the USDA among others. She has contributed to initiatives addressing the opioid epidemic as a public health crisis, and advanced conversations on telehealth equity and violence prevention, including framing gun violence as a public health issue through science-driven community engagement. She serves on multiple advisory and academic boards, including the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy External Advisory Committee and the Peirce College Human Services Advisory Board. Additionally, she serves as the Chair for the Healthy NJ 2030 Access to Quality Care action team, and the Chair of the Board for the Center for Health Equity & Wellbeing, New Jersey’s first public health institute.

Her work focuses on helping healthcare organizations redesign care delivery through operational innovation, advanced analytics, and emerging technologies that improve access, strengthen financial sustainability, and produce measurable outcomes. She is a leading advocate for viewing artificial intelligence as organizational infrastructure rather than simply another technology investment, helping healthcare leaders build AI-enabled systems that augment workforce and processes while preserving the human relationships at the center of care.

Mike joined Little Friends, Inc in January 2016 as a Board member and in March 2017, was asked to come out of retirement and serve as the President/CEO. He has been doing this for nearly the past six years.

Prior to joining Little Friends, Mike spent his career in the for-profit sector. Graduating from Millikin University in 1979, Mike started his career with IBM Data Processing in sales. He left IBM to join a family business in 1984 and within 3 months was running a $40 MM company. Over the next 30 years, Mike ran four different manufacturing businesses as President/COO, three privately owned companies and one owned by private equity. Two of the four businesses grew to be in excess of $100MM in revenues, and one just shy of $90MM.

Throughout his career, he has been involved with multiple boards of organizations, including being an Emeritus Trustee of Millikin University that includes having served two years as Chairman of their Board. Currently, besides being CEO of Little Friends, he serves as Chairman of the Board for a global company headquartered in Australia, President of his Country Club, and Chairs the City of Naperville Advisory Commission on Disabilities. In total, he is active with nine organizations as a board member today. Mike’s background until joining Little Friends has not been in social service. Rather, his story today comes from his experiences running different organizations and how these lessons apply to social service.