Culina Health Expands its Leadership Team, Appoints Jane Mentz as Chief Operating Officer

Mentz Joins as Culina Health’s First C-Suite Hire Since Founding, Marking a Key Milestone For the Virtual Nutrition Care Company

HOBOKEN, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Culina Health, the digital platform that makes clinical nutrition care inclusive and accessible for everyone, appointed Jane Mentz as Chief Operating Officer following 117 percent year-over-year growth and exceptional patient engagement and clinical outcomes. Culina Health looks to accelerate this growth and plans to enter new markets through strategic partnerships, further broadening access to care while continuing to yield strong patient engagement, disease prevention, and cost savings. Mentz joins as the company’s first C-suite hire since its inception. She will oversee care delivery and key operations and technology functions, reporting directly to company co-founder and CEO, Vanessa Rissetto.

“Culina Health has filled a critical gap for patients and payers, becoming the first to offer health-plan covered nutrition services nationwide,” said Vanessa Rissetto, co-founder and CEO, Culina Health. “Bringing Jane into the fold, we’ll leverage her years of experience in strategy and her passion for true, clinician-driven healthcare. As we welcome a new leader at this pivotal stage in the company’s journey, we look forward to further optimizing operations and technology, improving the experience for our patients and creating lasting health outcomes.”

Mentz, who spent six years scaling mental healthcare company Quartet from Series A to D, brings invaluable experience working with health tech startups at various growth stages. She later held leadership roles at metabolic health company Calibrate, overseeing clinical, operations, and strategy teams. Mentz began her career in healthcare consulting at The Advisory Board Company. She holds a BA from Duke University and an MBA from the Wharton School.

“Mission alignment has always been a critical criteria in guiding my career choices,” said Jane Mentz. “I am eager to join Culina Health, which is deeply rooted in evidence-based, clinician-led behavioral health and nutrition interventions, at this point in the company’s history. It’s an exciting time for Culina as nutrition is finally emerging at the forefront of healthcare, amidst a backdrop of rising popularity of GLP-1s, and payers, employers, and patients themselves seeking cost-effective solutions that truly create sustained results.”

This news comes on the heels of Culina Health securing $7.9 million in Series A funding, bringing the company’s total capital to $20 million. The investment underscored Culina Health’s success as the first and only digital nutrition company to be backed by a strategic payer. In addition to enhancing its leadership with key hires, such as Mentz, this new capital will fuel the company's expansion of its offerings to support dietitians and patients and implement new AI platforms to improve care efficiency.

To learn more, visit culinahealth.com.

About Culina Health:

Culina Health believes everyone deserves quality nutrition advice from a credentialed expert. We’re on a mission to make clinical nutrition accessible and sustainable for all so that nobody has to turn to chatGPT, search engines, and social media influencers for important information about their health. We pair patients with registered dietitians for personalized, one-on-one virtual nutrition care that is science-based, inclusive, and culturally competent while coordinating care with referring providers to benefit patients. We offer non-judgmental, sustainable, and multilingual support that honors all patient body sizes and backgrounds.

The Culina Health Method™ has demonstrated improved health outcomes for patients with chronic conditions, enhancing quality of life and decreasing overall healthcare costs in the long term, proving that dietitian-led Food as Medicine interventions save lives and reduce the total cost of care. To date, our team of registered dietitians has delivered over 80,000 telehealth clinical nutrition sessions. We accept all major insurance plans and see patients in all 50 states.

For more, visit https://culinahealth.com/.