Founders
Vita Advisors, LLC was formed by Michael Kessler and Kevin Roche in 2008 to provide the market intelligence and strategic insight that owners and sponsors of healthcare companies demand when they seek strategic alternatives for their businesses. Mr. Kessler and Mr. Roche, individually and collectively, have a wealth of experience in the health care mergers & acquisitions arena.
Mr. Kessler has worked in mergers and acquisitions since joining Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Company in New York in 1985. In 1992 he joined the firm of Wessels, Arnold & Henderson, LLC in Minneapolis, MN as a partner responsible for its healthcare banking group serving the medical device, pharmaceutical outsourcing and healthcare services industries. In 1997, Wessels, Arnold & Henderson was acquired by Dain Rauscher and the firm merged the banking operations under the Dain Rauscher Wessels name. Mr. Kessler continued in his responsibilities at the combined firms and additionally was a member of its merger and acquistion advisory committee. In 2001, Dain Rauscher was acquired by Royal Bank of Canada and, in 2002, Mr. Kessler initiated an independent consulting practice to service a variety of emerging growth healthcare companies across the country. Most recently, before forming Vita Advisors, LLC, Mr. Kessler was a Managing Partner at Triple Tree, LLC of Minneapolis. Over the course of his career, Mr. Kessler has been involved in hundreds of transactions as both sell-side and buy-side advisor.
Mr. Kessler served in the USMC from 1977 through 1980, graduated from St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD in 1984, and received his MBA at Columbia University in the Spring of 1985.
Mr. Roche was general counsel from United Health Group from 1989 to 1996, at which time he founded and operated as the Chief Executive Officer of the Ingenix division of United Health where he served until 2001. During his tenure as General Counsel and CEO of Ingenix, Mr. Roche participated in more than 70 acquisitions of businesses ranging from a few million to over $2 billion in value. These acquisition and merger transactions included health plans, health information and decision support businesses, pharmaceutical services companies, and behavioral health, utilization management, prescription drug management, wellness and insurance businesses. Following his retirement from UnitedHealth, Mr. Roche has spent several years assisting emerging growth companies as an investor, advisor and board member. He also worked as a Senior Advisor for Triple Tree, LLC.
He currently serves as a Director for Virtual Radiology Corporation, Genoa HealthCare, LLC, Medication Management Systems, Inc. and Tactile Systems, Inc. Mr. Roche received his law degree and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota.