WoW Woman in FemTech I Arielle Bogorad, SVP of Employer Market Strategy at Progyny
Arielle Bogorad is the SVP of Employer Market Strategy at Progyny.
As Progyny’s SVP of Employer Market Strategy, Arielle spearheads building and optimizing relationships with clients, strategic partners, and industry leaders. Prior to joining Progyny, she was at Cerner Corporation for 13 years where she focused on improving the health of populations – both internally on Cerner’s own population as Senior Director of Worldwide Benefits and Well-being, and externally with other employers as a Senior Director & General Manager in Cerner’s Workforce Health Services division.
Arielle served as the Pre-Board Chair of Global Business Group on Health (Business Group on Health) from 2015 - 2020 and served on the Corporate Board of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans from 2017 - 2019. She has also advocated on Capitol Hill (2019 – 2022) with RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, a 501(c)3 national patient advocacy organization, for legislation to support healthcare coverage for infertility, medical research funding, and adoption equality.
Arielle received her bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Michigan and her Master of Business Administration with a healthcare specialization from Vanderbilt University. Today, Arielle resides in Kansas City, MO with her husband, 2.5-year-old daughter, and rescue cat.
Progyny is a leading fertility and family planning benefits management company. Their benefits solution empowers patients with education and guidance from a dedicated Patient Care Advocate, provides access to a premier network of fertility specialists, reduces healthcare costs for the nation’s leading employers, and drives optimal clinical outcomes. Headquartered in New York City, Progyny has been recognized for its leadership and growth by CNBC Disruptor 50, Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work in Healthcare, Financial Times, INC. 5000, and Crain’s Fast 50 for NYC.
Tell us a bit about your background and your projects so far.
At Progyny, I have been working with a team to develop content that will serve to help HR, Benefits Leaders, and Plan Sponsors make better-informed decisions about the benefits they’re offering to their organizations. This will, in turn, have an insurmountable impact on those employees looking to start on their family-building journey.
Another project I was proud to spearhead was while leading Worldwide Benefits and Well-being at Cerner Corporation, I had the opportunity to push the boundaries of progressive benefit design across 25 countries around the world. Most importantly, I aided in putting in programs that improved the health + care of our population and allowed us to control spending and reinvest in new proactive programs. We were progressive in direct contracting with the highest quality medical providers who were aligned in providing exceptional experiences to our members. We did this in both maternity and bariatric care, and we created value-based payments to the physicians tied to the members’ satisfaction, all paid for by money already in the system. We wrapped this with education and a concierge experience.
How did you get into this industry? Has it been an easy industry to get into or have you had many challenges?
I got into the fertility and family planning benefits space because I’m passionate about improving access to coverage for all families and individuals looking to have a child. In 2016, I learned about Progyny and added it as a covered benefit in my previous employer’s benefits package in January 2017. Progyny really aligned to Cerner’s benefit principles – emphasis on the highest quality and member experience, removing friction and waste, and putting the physician and patient at the center of decision-making.
Much to my surprise, I was diagnosed with unexplained infertility in the fall of 2017. Over the course of the next 15 months, I learned that I was considered a “poor responder” to IVF drugs and that I also had a hard time achieving chromosomally normal embryos. During that time, I had a polyp removed, completed 4 egg retrievals, and had 2 stimulation cycles canceled, as I was not responding to the medications. Out of the 4 egg retrievals, I obtained 1 chromosomally normal embryo and 1 inconclusive embryo. Upon retesting, the inconclusive embryo was astonishingly normal! I transferred that embryo on January 11, 2019, and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on September 25, 2019. Through this experience, I deeply understand how overwhelming the journey of starting a family can be for someone. My own journey took a serious toll on my emotional and physical well-being, and without Progyny, it would’ve impacted our family financially. For me, it felt like the most natural transition to begin working somewhere that allowed me to pursue my passion and mission to help others have access to this life-changing benefit.
How long did it take you to be where you are now? What was the biggest obstacle? What are the challenges of being in the industry you are in?
In my 20+ years in the healthcare workforce, I’ve been lucky to experience and influence the industry from several different angles. In healthcare, timing is one of the biggest obstacles. Some ideas have great vision and they don’t pan out because, unfortunately, the timing is just not right.
A challenge in the fertility and family building industry is that infertility has not typically been covered by insurance because it hasn’t broadly been considered “medically necessary”. This caused the market to commercialize and became a cash-pay (very expensive!) out-of-pocket healthcare service. Over time, some insurance carriers began offering infertility coverage, but through their “gate approach” designs, which can discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals and couples, and single parents by choice by requiring (usually in the fine print) a pre-certification (such as trying to conceive for 6 to 12 months) or a diagnosis of infertility. That sort of language automatically eliminates same-sex couples from accessing any sort of benefit and these couples require assisted reproductive technologies in order to conceive.
The reality is that the path to parenthood can be difficult and complex for many people who are trying to build a family, and the lack of coverage and the discrimination inherent in the coverage that does exist proved fertile ground to innovate and create a truly equitable family building benefit company, which is what Progyny did back in 2016.
What are your biggest achievements to date?
My biggest achievements have been the impacts of the programs and services that my teams brought to life and how they changed the lives of so many people around the world. By adding fertility coverage through Progyny, we are able to offer our members the chance to build a family through a very flexible, comprehensive, and evidence-based benefit, normalize the spending year over year on our medical plan, and enable hundreds of people to achieve their dreams of building a family (who might otherwise have not been able to!). Talk about a win-win. I view this as a giant achievement.
What are the projects you are currently working on?
At Progyny, a critical role I play is an advocate - I educate HR and benefits leaders on how critical it is to offer fertility and family planning benefits, the impact it has on DEI initiatives, and the cultural message it sends to employees. Through this work, I am able to help people make their dreams of having a child come true, and there’s nothing more rewarding than that.
Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why?
Yes. As a woman who has worked in the tech industry for 20 years, I strongly believe all companies in the sector (big and small) should be working to close the gender gap. I truly feel that the more representation (of genders, races, socio-economic backgrounds, cultures, etc.) any industry has, the more successful it will be.
What will be the key trends in your industry in the next five years and where do you see them heading?
As the fertility industry gains more awareness, I believe we are going to see more technological innovation in the space, but also more understanding and adoption of fertility benefits as a part of employers’ standard packages.
What is the most important piece of advice you could give to anyone who wants to start a career in this industry?
I would tell people to keep an open mind. When I graduated from undergrad with an interest in population health, I would never have thought that nine years later I would be responsible for a $250M health plan at a health IT company, and the path that would lead me on. Remain open to new experiences. Be a consummate learner. Work hard and have fun!
Who are three inspirational women in your respective industry you admire?
1. Julie Wilson is an inspirational HR leader. Julie was Chief People Officer at Cerner Corporation for 25 years (today she is the Chief People Officer at Clarivate) and was my boss, mentor, and advocate while at the company. Julie has always been authentic and approachable. She listens, provides great perspectives, and is always willing to roll up her sleeves to help brainstorm new ideas. Julie models hard work, has fun, and celebrates successes. Julie believed in me and gave me opportunities to grow and shine. She cares about me professionally and personally and that has really resonated with me in terms of the type of leader I want to be, and the type of organization that I like to be a part of. She has been a true mentor and friend.
2. Renee Albert, Senior Director of Life@ (Benefits) at Facebook is an inspirational benefits leader. Renee and I met through our mutual involvement with the Business Group on Health. She is an innovator and disruptor of “status quo” benefits. Renee pushes the boundaries of traditional benefit designs and raises the bar for all other companies to be progressive and do more for the health and well-being of their employees and their families.
3. Barb Collura, CEO of RESOLVE: the National Infertility Association, is an inspirational advocate for all those struggling to build their families. Through her work at RESOLVE, Barb works tirelessly to create programming and content across the following pillars: access to care, advocacy, support & community, education, and awareness for the 1 in 8 people dealing with infertility. Barb is passionate and a true “patriot” for changing the story around coverage and access to care for fertility and family-building services in this country.
Find out more about Progyny on their website.
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Connect with Arielle on LinkedIn.
This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder, and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship, and diversity. Follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic and read her stories for Forbes here.