George M. Rapier III, MD, serves as chairman and CEO of WellMed Medical Management, Inc. Dr. Rapier founded WellMed in 1990 with just two clinics in San Antonio. He is a Dallas native who earned his medical degree from University of Florida College of Medicine and completed residency at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio where he also served as assistant professor. Over the years, Dr. Rapier developed a successful internal medicine practice, where he made senior care and improving delivery of health care services a priority.

Dr. Rapier has chaired several committees specific to medical group expansion and gained significant knowledge relevant to today’s health care landscape. He led development of Clinical Health Protocol Screening software, which accesses and evaluates clinical, lab and medication data, providing preventive health and screening recommendations to physicians. He also developed and continues to work with specialty medicine physicians to implement disease management programs to enhance quality of life for patients.

He has received numerous honors as a business leader, medical professional and philanthropist. In 2009, he was named Physician Entrepreneur of the Year by Modern Physician and inducted into the Mexican American/Hispanic Physicians Hall of Fame. In 2010, the Mexican American Unity Council awarded him its Community Spirit Award for his philanthropic work and La Prensa Foundation named him a Hispanic Heritage Award winner. In 2021, he was named Florida Council on Aging President’s Award honoree.

In addition to health care efforts, Dr. Rapier established Rapier Family Foundation. This nonprofit donates more than $1.5 million annually to causes benefiting at-risk youth, homeless animals and the environment. He also co-founded the nonprofit WellMed Charitable Foundation, which supports seniors and caregivers with a special emphasis on wellness, prevention and living well with chronic illness. WellMed Charitable Foundation operates senior centers across Texas and Florida and offers free membership to adults over age 60.

In 2011, Dr. Rapier spearheaded WellMed’s partnership with Optum, one of the nation’s largest health care companies, to further expand its health care delivery system.

Bryan Grundhoefer joined the organization in 1998 as chief financial officer and was promoted to president shortly thereafter. He is responsible for all operations at WellMed including risk management functions, clinic operations, acquisitions and new market development. When combined with prior work experience, he has held leadership roles with health insurance and medical group management businesses for more than three decades. He also co-founded the nonprofit WellMed Charitable Foundation, which supports seniors and caregivers with a special emphasis on wellness, prevention and living well with chronic illness. WellMed Charitable Foundation operates senior centers across Texas and Florida.

Prior to joining WellMed, Grundhoefer worked at Anthem (now Elevance), where he initially was head of mergers and acquisitions. Subsequently, he became the COO/CFO for a joint venture Anthem formed with multi-specialty medical groups that managed full capitation risk for Medicare patients. The joint venture partnered with Disney University to create a state-of-the-art customer service experience for those patients. He also previously held leadership positions with Ernst & Young and Deloitte in their management consulting divisions. Grundhoefer earned his MBA in accounting and finance from University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s in industrial management with a minor in Industrial engineering from Purdue University.

Carlos Hernandez, MD, is a Laredo native and has been a physician leader at WellMed since 2001. He was named president of WellMed Medical Group in 2009. During his tenure, Dr. Hernandez has served in multiple roles, including chief of medical affairs, medical director and lead physician. Today he supervises more than 1,000 WellMed physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners across Texas and Florida.

Dr. Hernandez earned his medical degree from University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston, where he also completed his residency in internal medicine. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and a fellow with the American College of Physicians. He serves on the Board of Directors for America’s Physician Group (APG), which represents approximately 360 physician groups in the U.S. APG is committed to clinically integrated, coordinated, value-based health care. He also serves on Optum’s physician executive committee.

Furthermore, Dr. Hernandez serves as lead physician of WellMed’s Physician Leadership Development Initiative and on the board of directors for the nonprofit WellMed Charitable Foundation. In addition to his leadership duties, he remains active as a practicing physician, caring for patients at WellMed at Northwest 410 clinic in San Antonio.

Barbara Allen, MD, leads the office of clinician experience and partners with regional medical leadership to optimize clinical performance from a quadruple aim perspective. She is a board-certified family physician who also serves as co-chair of Optum’s physician executive council.

Dr. Allen most recently served as chief medical officer for Optum Florida and WellMed Florida employed clinics. Prior to joining Optum Care in 2015, she served as vice president of medical affairs and system chief quality officer for Christus Trinity Mother Frances Hospital and Healthcare System in Tyler, Texas.

She has also served on multiple medical group and system governance boards, as chief of primary care for Trinity Clinic and held leadership positions of increasing responsibility at Mayo Clinic Health System, including president and CEO of Mayo Clinic Health-Fairmont.

She is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and served in the USAF as an aerospace physiologist prior to attending medical school at University of South Carolina

Bio Coming Soon

John Lovelady serves as executive vice president of strategic business operations for Optum Health South region, which includes the WellMed and Optum brands. In his role, John oversees regional and functional business teams who focus on enterprise administration, at home patient care programs, payor and partner relationships, development of growth strategies and innovation. A core focus of South region is the continuous improvement of full-risk Medicare Advantage population management, which includes more than one million members across Texas and Florida.

Prior to this role, John served as a regional CEO at UnitedHealthcare Community & State, where he had oversight of the Southeast region, serving millions of Medicaid and dual special needs members. During his time at UnitedHealthcare, his responsibilities grew to include national network strategy for UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement. John joined UnitedHealthcare from PacifiCare where he led network teams across multiple states.

John holds a master’s degree in health care delivery science from Dartmouth College, an MBA from Texas State University and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Texas Tech University.

Joe Zimmerman joined WellMed as vice president of finance in 2006 after spending nearly 10 years in senior accounting and operational positions with PacifiCare, Inc. In his role, Zimmerman is responsible for financial and fiscal management of the company and for providing leadership and coordination in the administrative, business planning, accounting and budgeting efforts.

Prior to joining WellMed, his work at PacifiCare included oversight of membership accounting operations. During his tenure he also had oversight of internal control review, external audit coordination and management. Additionally, he provided the company with information and tools for strategic decision making and planning and developed processes to improve overall effectiveness and efficiency.

He earned a Master of Business Administration from University of Texas at San Antonio and an undergraduate degree in business administration from Texas A&M University. He is a CPA, certified by the State of Texas.