Former Fortune 3 Chief Data Scientist

Jason A. Haupt

Enterprise Healthcare AI Strategy & Governance

Former Fortune 3 Chief Data Scientist · $1B+ Startup Exit · Executive Advisory

Minneapolis, MNjason@haupt.aiLinkedInDownload CV

About

Healthcare AI strategy at enterprise scale is not a technology problem. It's a fiduciary problem, a governance problem, and a capacity problem. I've operated at every layer of that stack — from board-level narrative to production infrastructure — inside the largest payer in the country.

As Chief Data Scientist at Optum Technology, I helped govern a $2.4B+ AI agenda spanning payer, pharmacy, and provider — overseeing 170+ practitioners, architecting the GenAI Center of Excellence, and scaling responsible AI governance across one of the most complex regulated enterprises in healthcare. I partnered directly with the C-suite to translate ambition into governed, measurable production outcomes.

Today, I work directly with Boards, CEOs, and executive leadership teams inside healthcare systems, payers, and regulated enterprises — converting AI ambition into governed, measurable outcomes that strengthen institutional capacity, not create new liability.

Case Study

From Zero to $1B: The Financial Lifecycle of Healthcare AI

Surest began as a hypothesis: that health insurance could be redesigned from first principles using data, AI, and transparent incentive structures. I built the data science organization from scratch — 400+ employees, 1M+ members, and the operating model to match. That organization was acquired by UnitedHealthcare for over $1 billion.

What that experience gave me — and what most healthcare AI advisors don't have — is an operator's understanding of how AI investments move through the full financial lifecycle. From the proof-of-concept that justifies seed capital, to the governance framework that satisfies an enterprise acquirer's due diligence, to the production infrastructure that sustains value post-acquisition.

When I assess your AI portfolio, I'm not reading a framework. I'm reading the signals I've seen at every stage of that journey — and I know which ones separate organizations that capture value from those that don't.

How I Architect Value

Fractional Chief AI Strategy

Embedded executive leadership that stabilizes workforce strategy, expands system capacity, and builds the institutional infrastructure for competitive advantage.

Enterprise AI Business Re-Architecture

Redesign revenue-critical workflows around AI — building durable competitive moats that compound over time, not pilots that expire at the next board cycle.

Governance & Fiduciary Risk Management

Board-defensible governance that satisfies fiduciary duty and regulatory scrutiny — enabling delivery speed without creating institutional liability.

Production-Grade Delivery Frameworks

Independent oversight and delivery architecture to move AI out of pilot purgatory and into governed, measurable production at healthcare-regulated scale.

Selected Results

$2.4B+

AI agenda overseen at Optum/UHG — spanning payer, pharmacy, and provider.

$1B+

Startup exit — scaled Surest, acquired by UnitedHealthcare.

35,000

Contact Center Advocates deployed with AI call summarization across Optum payer operations.

10,000s

Employees operating on AI assistants scaled through the GenAI Center of Excellence.

Experience

AI Strategic Advisor & Founder

haupt.ai · Minneapolis, MN

Nov 2025 — Present

Strategic Advisor to C-Suite leaders in Healthcare and highly regulated industries to define AI roadmaps and 90-day "Fast-Path" delivery plans with measurable outcomes.
Advise startups and growth-stage teams on AI and healthcare product direction and execution patterns that ship.
Fractional CAIO/CDO Services for organizations standing up their first AI Centers of Excellence (CoE), focusing on governance, talent acquisition, and vendor selection.

Chief Data Scientist, Optum Technology

Optum (UnitedHealth Group) · Minneapolis, MN

Jan 2022 — Oct 2025

Lead within Optum AI; external face for customers, providers, and brokers.
Drive an AI agenda over $1B (2024) and $2.4B+ (2025).
Lead the Generative AI Center of Excellence; shepherd Responsible Use of AI governance from policy to monitoring.
Manage a global span of 170+ across LLMs, deep learning, clinical innovations, and AI/ML product.
Implemented and scaled Generative AI solutions to 10,000s of employees across multiple personas.

Chief Data Scientist / Data Science Lead

Surest (Bind Benefits, acquired by UHC 2021) · Minneapolis, MN

Oct 2017 — Jan 2022

Built the Data Science org and ML IP; scaled company from 40 → 400+ employees with 12×/7× YoY member growth.
Represented the company at AI & healthcare conferences, podcasts, and webinars.
Built tools on tens of billions of claims across hundreds of millions of members.

Director, Healthcare Analytics Technology

UnitedHealthcare · Minnetonka, MN

Nov 2014 — Oct 2017

Led a global analytics technology team; saved >$100M year-over-year.
Key decision maker for Hadoop, ML, and NLP platforms.
Directed capability builds in Data Engineering, Infra, Software Dev, and Research.

Manager of Clinical Analytics

Allina Health · Minneapolis, MN

Feb 2011 — Nov 2014

Developed predictive modeling framework for >1M patients.
Led clinical variation waste-reduction initiatives (e.g., spine procedure cost variation, readmission variation).
Managed a staff of 13; re-engineered operating model to raise satisfaction, engagement, and innovation.

Graduate Research Assistant (PhD)

University of Minnesota · Minneapolis, MN

Aug 2003 — Feb 2011

Linux sysadmin for a 32-core, 54 TB Hadoop system; cut data feedback cycles from weeks to hours.
Owned sub-nanosecond detector time alignment and performance on a complex, high-reliability system.
Analyzed petabytes of LHC data and simulations; leveraged worldwide Grid computing.

Scroll

Latest Writings

View all →

Summit Evidence AIsummit.haupt.ai ↗

Weekly audio briefings on responsible AI in healthcare

Strategy, governance, and evidence-based delivery — signal over hype. Free and premium tiers.

2025

Education

Ph.D., High Energy Particle Physics
University of Minnesota · 2011
Thesis: “Measurement of the differential Z/γ* → e+e− cross-section shape as a function of the Z rapidity at the CMS experiment at the LHC”.
B.S. Physics, B.S. Astrophysics
University of Minnesota · 2003

Talks