Alera Health Appoints Deb Aldridge as Chief Network Officer & Jose Castillo as Chief Information Officer Amid Continued National Growth
Wilmington, NC. (July 20, 2025) — Alera Health today announced the promotion of Deb Aldridge, formerly Senior Vice President of Network Operations, to Chief Network Officer (CNO), and Jose Castillo, formerly Senior Vice President of Analytics, to Chief Information Officer (CIO), both effective immediately. These promotions reflect Alera Health’s continued national expansion and its commitment to advancing high-performance, clinically integrated networks for individuals with primary and secondary behavioral health conditions.
For over six years, Deb Aldridge has been a driving force behind Alera’s growth—championing innovative technologies, quality improvement strategies, and operational excellence that empower the organization’s ONEcare Networks, partners, and the broader healthcare ecosystem.
“For the six remarkable years I’ve been with Alera Health, the entire team has embodied growth, innovation, and an enduring commitment to excellence,” said Aldridge. “Through the transformative work of our ONEcare Networks, we’ve turned ‘too hard’ challenges into opportunities, improving lives nationwide. I’m thrilled to step into this new leadership role—empowering our operations and quality teams to harness our collective wisdom, drive groundbreaking innovation, and achieve new heights of success with our ONEcare and Affiliated Network partners.”
In her new role, Aldridge will lead the continued development of ONEcare’s national quality improvement framework. Her focus includes strengthening provider relationships, scaling evidence-based care models, and fostering continuous quality improvement. Guided by three core tenets—meeting providers where they are, building meaningful collaboration, and driving shared goals—Aldridge and the Network Operations team will enhance care delivery and efficiency through teamwork and best practices.
A registered nurse with a master’s degree in nursing administration and education, Aldridge brings a unique blend of clinical and operational expertise. Since joining Alera Health in 2019, she has drawn on her decade of managed care experience to build and lead NC ONEcare, LLC and Children First of NC—two of the largest behavioral health and pediatric networks in North Carolina.
“Deb has led practice transformation and quality initiatives to create the highest-performing networks in the state, saving over 90,000 inpatient bed days in 2023,” said Mike Rhoades, Chief Executive Officer of Alera Health. “She brings an educator’s mindset to her work and is deeply passionate about coaching and training. She is currently pursuing national certification as a nurse coach, and her strong background in informatics positions her to lead data-driven innovation across Alera Health and our ONEcare Networks.”
In addition, Alera Health has promoted Jose Castillo to Chief Information Officer (CIO), overseeing the Analytics and Information Technology divisions. Since joining Alera in 2019, Castillo has been instrumental in shaping the company’s technology and data infrastructure. He spearheaded the development of Alera’s Care Optimization Suite (COS), a platform that delivers population health insights and integrated care coordination tools.
“I’m excited to step into this new role and continue to enhance our tech and data integration,” said Castillo. “As we simplify how insights show up for providers across our ONEcare Networks, they’ll be able to make faster, smarter decisions—and that leads to better care. That’s what it’s all about.”
In his new role, Castillo will lead the alignment of the Information Technology and Data & Analytics teams, advancing Alera’s mission to deliver scalable, interoperable, and user-centered technology solutions. His efforts will ensure every provider within a ONEcare Network has timely, actionable data at the point of care—maximizing opportunities for prevention and proactive intervention.
“With a strong foundation in engineering, Jose brings over 17 years of experience leading complex, multi-billion-dollar global projects,” added Rhoades. “His expertise in leveraging technology to solve complex challenges has been instrumental in driving our progress.”
Castillo holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s in project management from Andrés Bello Catholic University in Venezuela, along with an MBA from North Carolina State University with concentrations in Finance, Operations & Supply Chain, and Data Analytics. He has also been a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) since 2015.
About Alera Health
Alera Health, a national leader in population health management and integrated care, works closely with healthcare payers, providers, and community partners to operationalize and manage high-performance ONEcare networks delivering comprehensive, inclusive, and informed whole-person care designed to improve health outcomes and reduce costs. Alera Health has extensive operational expertise in developing clinically integrated networks, population health analytics, care coordination technologies, and clinical quality improvement programs. Each ONEcare network is augmented by the Care Optimization Suite, which allows for real-time communication, referrals, and mobile patient engagement. With over 4 million managed lives across the US, ONEcare networks share resources and evidence-based practices to divert over 300,000 inpatient bed days annually while lowering 30-day readmission rates by over 50%. Learn more at www.alerahealth.com
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SOURCE Alera Health