Neal Sofian, MSPH
Chief Executive Officer
neal@newsof.com

Neal is recognized nationally for more than 20 years of innovation in population-based health promotion and disease management.

Prior to starting The NewSof Group in 1998, Neal was the founder and original Vice President of Program Development for Lexant, a technology-centered population health services company developed by Monsanto Company to deliver behaviorally based disease- and lifestyle-management interventions. Lexant focused its services primarily on Fortune 500 corporations and large health care delivery systems.

Before launching Lexant, Neal developed, managed, and marketed a broad range of health promotion, preventive care, and disease-management programs for Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, one of the nation’s largest and most respected health maintenance organizations.

During his 14-year tenure at Group Health, Neal served as Manager of Innovation and General Manager of Health At Work, providing work site and community health programs for employers, insurers, and health care organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada. His achievements include development of the Free & Clear smoking cessation program, a pioneer in telephone-based behavioral interventions. His success in the development and implementation of smoke-free environments in the mid-1980s paved the way for a revolution in healthy workplace policies nationwide. In addition, Neal developed disease management and prevention services for patients with diabetes, asthma, and a variety of other behavior-related conditions. He also designed benefits packages for employer groups that incorporated health promotion, health management, time loss, and financial incentives to encourage improvements in population health, while increasing market share and reducing total costs.

Neal’s clients have included Procter & Gamble, Fruit of the Loom, GTE, Sears, Texas Instruments, Ameritech, Eli Lilly, Glaxo Wellcome, and Marion Merrell Dow. He also has extensive experience working with voluntary and public organizations including the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and the United States Air Force. Currently, Neal serves as the Vice President of Finance and Secretary for the Association for Worksite Health Promotion.

Neal served a health educator with the Bureau of Community Health Education in the Missouri State Division of Health, and a clinical instructor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Missouri School of Medicine. He holds a master's degree in public health from the University of Missouri.

Neal is a nationally known speaker and author on topics ranging from integrating technologies into behavioral interventions, to population-based tobacco cessation strategies, to the role of humor as an organizational development tool.

©2006 NewSof Group Inc