Kitwood Leadership

Steve Wardle

President

Steve Wardle is a healthcare entrepreneur and operator with deep experience building innovative, technology-enabled solutions for healthcare practices and value-based care organizations. He was the co-founder and CEO of Iris Healthcare, which has provided virtual advance care planning services to over 50,000 patients and family members dealing with serious illness across 48 states. Iris Healthcare was acquired by Aledade, Inc., the nation’s largest network of independent primary care.

Following Iris Healthcare's acquisition by Aledade, Inc., Steve served as Senior Vice President of Practice Health, where he led the development of innovative solutions to help primary care practices grow and succeed in value-based care.

Steve began his career in investment banking and has held multiple C-suite leadership positions, leading global teams across the financial services and healthcare industries.

Steve earned his MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

Stephen Bekanich, MD

Chief Medical Officer

Stephen Bekanich, M.D., is a palliative medicine physician and healthcare executive with deep experience in value-based care and care delivery innovation. He is the co-founder of Iris Healthcare, the nation’s only disease-specific advance care planning company, which was acquired by Aledade. Following the acquisition, Dr. Bekanich served as National Vice President of Growth at Aledade, leading strategic expansion initiatives.

Prior to founding Iris, he led an accountable care organization (ACO) with over 3,000 physicians in the clinically integrated network that consistently performed as one of the best in the country. 

Dr. Bekanich has created multiple palliative care programs nationwide and has held academic appointments at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and the University of Utah’s Medical Center. He currently serves on the faculty at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas in Austin.

Dr. Bekanich earned his medical degree from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo and completed his residency at University of Utah Health.

Aaron Greenstein, MD

Medical Director

Aaron Greenstein, M.D., is a Harvard-trained, dual board-certified psychiatrist and geriatric psychiatrist. He serves as Medical Director at Kitwood Health and as an attending psychiatrist at Mass General Hospital through the MGH Visiting Program.

Dr. Greenstein earned his BA from Yeshiva University and his MD from New York Medical College. He completed his fellowship in geriatric psychiatry at Harvard Medical School’s Mass General Brigham training program, and prior to that, completed general psychiatry at the Harvard South Shore Psychiatry Residency Training Program. During his final year of residency, he served as the Chief Resident of Geriatric Psychiatry at US News and World Report 2023 #1 Psychiatric Hospital in America Mclean Hospital and a John A. Hartford Foundation Health and Aging Policy Fellow for the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Greenstein grew up in Denver, Colorado, and returned to his hometown after completing all of his education and training in the Northeast.

Elaine Cannizzaro

Vice President of Clinical Operations

Elaine Cannizzaroto is a seasoned healthcare operations executive with more than 25 years of experience driving innovation and growth for early- and mid-stage companies. With deep expertise across tech-enabled health services, patient engagement, and clinical sales, she is known for building and scaling operational teams and programs that improve patient outcomes while increasing efficiency.

Prior to Kitwood, Elaine served as Vice President of Clinical Operations at Iris Healthcare, where she oversaw a nationwide, large-scale telehealth advance care planning program for older adults with complex medical needs. Before Iris, she spent 10 years at Vital Decisions, joining early and helping build the organization as it scaled. Over that time, she led and expanded teams, developed training and onboarding programs, managed quality, and supported growth to more than 200 employees across four offices. Across her career, Elaine has successfully led large, distributed teams of clinical and non-clinical staff in telehealth settings.

Elaine holds a B.A. in Communication from William Paterson University and an M.A. in Psychology and Counseling from Goddard College.

Molly Penna

Vice President of Customer Success

Molly Penna is a dynamic leader with over 10 years of experience in healthcare, strategy, and technology. Previously at BrainCheck, she led the company's expansion into national and regional healthcare systems, transforming how cognitive health solutions were implemented across fee-for-service and value-based-care medical institutions. She spearheaded key initiatives including the first EHR integration with Epic, and engaged hospital executive leaders and clinicians to drive successful adoption. Her work streamlining customer success processes and retention strategies gave her deep experience aligning solutions with go-to-market and business development goals.

Before her time at Kitwood Health, Molly led healthcare strategy projects, development of custom technology platforms, and advised local nonprofits through pro bono engagements at Deloitte. Molly holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering with minors in Mathematics & Military Science from the University of Miami, graduating magna cum laude and serving as President of Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society.