Telehealth Startup Ro Taps Ex-HHS Deputy Gia Lee as Top Lawyer

Ro, a privately held telehealth company that saw its valuation rise to $7 billion this year, has recruited a new legal chief in veteran health care lawyer Gia Lee.

Lee, a former deputy general counsel at the US Department of Health and Human Services, most recently spent more than three years as general counsel for health insurer Clover Health Investments Corp., which went public last year after being backed by Google parent Alphabet Inc.

Lee started in November at New York-based Ro, according to a spokesman for the company, officially named Roman Health Ventures Inc. She succeeds Ro’s former general counsel Adam Greenberg, who left in June to take the same role at Blank Street Inc., a venture capital-backed coffee startup.

Founded in 2017, Ro initially was known for its advertisements about erectile dysfunction, although it has since expanded its offerings to treat a range of other health issues, such as weight management and women’s health. Ro’s technology platform combines in-home care, diagnostics, labs, and pharmacy services.

Ro said it handled in-house its most recent $150 million fundraising from existing investors in February, which saw the company’s valuation rise to $7 billion as it looked to bridge online and in-person health care. Ro appointed Tony West, the top lawyer at ridesharing giant Uber Technologies Inc., to its board in 2020.

Lee is based in Washington and oversees legal and public policy for the company. She reports to Ro’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Zachariah Reitano.

The former Sidley Austin senior associate spent nearly eight years as a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, prior to joining HHS in 2011. She spent almost six years at the agency, having previously worked at consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

At Clover Health, Lee wasn’t one of the six highest-paid executives in fiscal 2021, according to a proxy statement filed in August. The document noted that the company paid about $258,500 to attorney and former HHS principal associate deputy secretary Demetrios Kouzoukas, who joined Clover Health’s board last year.

The company paid Lee more than $1.4 million in total compensation during 2020 and roughly $678,200 after she came aboard in 2019, per a financial statement.

Lee left Clover Health in January, according to a securities filing. As part of a separation agreement disclosed between her and the company, she received more than $1.3 million in payments to offset a year of her base salary and bonuses she was due. Clover Health agreed to pay Lee $10,000 per month for consulting work.

Clover Health, which has been coping with scrutiny over Trump administration-era health care programs, hired Joseph Martin as its new general counsel in March.