Where are they now: CEO of Maternal Health Company guides growth — and becomes a mother herself

Melissa Hanna, J.D., MBA, first caught the eye of Managed Healthcare Executive as an Emerging Leader in Healthcare in 2021 for her role as the co-founder and CEO of Mahmee, a company developed in 2014 with the aim of closing gaps in maternal and infant health. Four years later, she remains in the driver’s seat, but her journey has taken on new meaning with the addition of one very important passenger.

“That's absolutely changed my life for the better,” Hanna, 38, said of the birth of her son Eri, now 2. “A lot of people jokingly said early on, ‘Oh, now you've had the second baby,’ and that the company was my first baby. You realize that when you actually have a baby.”

At the same time that her personal life was evolving, Hanna was navigating the rapidly shifting landscape of maternal health and digital care, where the challenges of growth and investment mirrored the unpredictability mothers can experience becoming a new parent.

For example, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for online prenatal and postpartum care surged as access to in-person care was limited or patients were fearful of using it. Her Los Angeles, California-based company was well positioned to meet that demand, offering wraparound support in between in-person visits. However, by late 2021, the influx of venture capital that had fueled digital health growth began to slow.

Hanna recalled her team was “caught up in that phase where there was much less capital available for companies like ours to grow, even if we were showing signs and signals that the market wanted what we had to offer. We went from early pandemic days, where there was a lot of capital flowing, to late days in the pandemic, where people were saying, ‘Well, we already spent a bunch of money, and now we're just going to wait and see how all those bets are going to play out.’”

Mahmee responded by restructuring and expanding its focus on payer-covered care, making its services more widely accessible. Hanna said that this shift has created a massive opportunity: Over 60 million people now have Mahmee covered by insurance somewhere in the country. The challenge, she said, is scaling the supply side: hiring staff, expanding clinics, and maintaining a hybrid model that blends virtual and in-person care.

Hanna has also invested in her own growth as a leader. She described herself as “an operations wonk” who loves diving into the details of daily work. At the same time, she has focused on learning board-level leadership and governance to balance hands-on execution with long-term strategy.

“I've learned a lot about how to function both as the day-to-day operator of the company and also be effective from a governance and oversight standpoint,” she said. “I love being in the details and the day-to-day, living through building the company, facing challenges, sort of barreling through them with the team.”

She also digests advice carefully from a number of different eyes. “I will seek out a lot of advice and mentorship,” she said. “I still am going to make a decision that I feel is right for the company and I feel is right for my vision for the business and my vision for myself as a CEO.”

The role of AI

Even as the company grows, Hanna is aware of the persistent challenges in maternal healthcare. With far more people needing care than there are providers to serve them, she pointed out that one-third of U.S. counties are maternity care deserts, and even in areas that aren’t, entering the field is costly and challenging, with high rates of burnout among providers.

To meet these gaps, Mahmee is experimenting with technology, but Hanna stressed that artificial intelligence should support staff, not replace human interaction.

“I’m not really interested in building chatbots for moms,” she said. “Moms want to talk to people who understand what's going on, have been there before, and know their medical record and can bring compassion to it, not just the right answer. We want to make sure our staff are continuing to be able to interface directly with new and expecting parents as much as possible but superpower them with the knowledge they need to have, with the context they need to have, and also make sure that we are again, overall, tending to the needs of the broader population we're serving.”
Family has become an even more central part of Hanna’s professional life. At Mahmee, it’s a family affair. Hanna works alongside her mother and co-founder of the company, Linda Hanna, M.S.N. Ed., RNC, IBCLC, who is the chief nursing officer and director of care at Mahmee and the company’s mobile breastfeeding center, My Nursing Coach. Melissa’s husband, Ryan, joined Mahmee in 2020 as director of product and marketing.

“Ryan brings to the table a really strong background in technology and a lot of years of experience in start-ups. So it’s been really wonderful to be able to have him at the table with me as a thought partner and as a trusted adviser,” Hanna said. But she is quick to note that Mahmee is a venture-backed company with outside shareholders and fiduciary responsibilities, not a traditional family business.

A ‘healthy shift’

Becoming a mother has also allowed Hanna to reclaim aspects of her personal life.

“I'm really proud that since becoming a mom, I've been able to get back to doing some of the things I love outside of work. And I really, really am grateful for that, because before becoming a mom, I was pretty much 100% working all the time. I don't do that anymore, and that's been a really healthy shift.”

She added that she rediscovered hobbies including road trips with her family, crossword puzzles, bird-watching, snorkeling and boxing.

For Hanna, the past four years have been about navigating the challenges, scaling a business and embracing personal growth.

“All my hopes and dreams about why I entered into maternal healthcare and why I co-founded Mahmee — they’re all still there,” she said. “Now they’re rooted in creating a sustainable foundation strong enough to last.”