Lifestyle

“You Don’t Need a Degree to Make it Big,” says Social Influencer Ryan Sprance

Published

6 years ago

October 11, 2019

It’s a familiar refrain: you need a college degree to reach the highest echelons of success. The worlds of business and profitable creativity are closed off to you without it. The ceiling is more or less set. Ryan Sprance thinks differently, though.

He has good reason to. Sprance didn’t graduate from college. In 2013 he was a manager at an Apple store, albeit the largest one in the world. Now, six years later, he is emerging as one of the most dynamic and talked about names in digital media and marketing.

His Kaihatsu Media, founded in 2016, has gone from around USD 1,000 in sales each month in the spring of 2018, to over USD 70,000 by the spring of 2019, and is on track to rake in over a million dollars in monthly sales by the end of the year. Also, in 2019, he was invited to join the Forbes Agency Council -a collective of invitation-only communities of exceptional business owners and leaders -run by Forbes magazine.

Given the speed with which he has achieved his success, it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that Sprance has an Ivy League degree attached to his name. But, as mentioned before, it was all done without a college degree. Which is not to say the journey from one end to the next has not been challenging, or that Sprance did not need to know what he was talking about. And he certainly sees nothing wrong with going to college. It would appear that Sprance’s training came primarily through his willingness to teach himself.

“I’ve worked hard to educate myself by studying every aspect of digital media,” says Sprance. “Working at an Apple store as a manager, I needed to know a lot about tech and the uses of the web. But with computers and the internet, things are changing so quickly. You always need to be learning new skills, discovering new ways of looking at business.”

Indeed, the rapid changes in how people learn and find information, brought on by the advent of the internet and social media, has revolutionized both business and education. Exactly how isn’t clear, partly because these changes happen so fast. Sprance’s story, however, provides something of an answer.”

I think if my story shows anything, it is that a lot of the old rules have been tossed out regarding one’s path to making it big. Personally, I think if you are willing to learn, then you don’t need an institution to give her permission regarding how to use your own knowledge.”

Lifestyle

Kat Marie Alvarez: Where Innovation Meets Regulation

Published

2 days ago

January 23, 2026

Michelle Langton

Regulation is often thought of as a limitation, yet in healthcare, it also serves as a foundation for building models that endure. For Kat Marie Alvarez, Founder and CEO of KATALYST & CO, the framework of rules established by agencies like CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid) and the OIG ( office of the Inspector General) create opportunities to design systems that are compliant, ethical, and transformative. Her approach demonstrates that regulation can be a platform for innovation when it is interpreted with both technical rigor and vision.

Kat’s 25-year career reflects this philosophy. A former nurse who advanced into executive leadership and strategy, she has led $2.7B+ P&L operations, advised on over $5B in healthcare transactions, and guided value based organizations including Innovacare, Cano Health, WellMed, Centene, and Humana through periods of exponential scaling. Her perspective combines clinical, financial, and regulatory experience, giving her a unique ability to design structures that support integrity and accountability while driving measurable outcomes.

Turning Statutes into Strategy

For Kat, regulation serves as a framework for building smarter and more ethical models. She interprets CMS guidance and OIG rules as levers for innovation, using them to advance integrity and accountability. With the CMS V28 risk adjustment model, Alvarez refined coding practices, strengthened clinical documentation, and structured risk frameworks that reward accuracy and elevate standards of care. In addressing RADV audits, she crafted strategies that protect stakeholders while keeping patient outcomes at the forefront. She aligns compliance, cost, and care in equal measure. Her current work as a contributor to the CMS IDea Challenge, an initiative focused on strengthening the foundation of trust in our system, further echoes her commitment to advancing regulations in ways that unlock innovation while safeguarding the integrity of care.

Her interpretive approach brings discipline and vision to every challenge. She engages stakeholders to redesign workflows that meet regulatory requirements and enhance the patient experience. Each policy becomes a mechanism to strengthen accountability and operational precision, shaping a system that is both compliant and humane.

Innovation Built Within Boundaries

At KATALYST & CO, this interpretive approach is carried into every project. Kat has integrated predictive analytics and AI-driven tools into care models, with safeguards that ensure interventions remain clinician-led and ethically sound. For example, AI flags in chronic disease management are connected to human-led actions that improve patient care. The result is a model that benefits from technology while preserving accountability and clinical integrity.

Staffing and infrastructure provide another example of her philosophy in action. By leveraging offshore BPO operations in Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe, KATALYST & CO extends capacity for health plans and providers. These expansions are carefully designed to meet data security, licensure, and jurisdictional requirements, ensuring that global reach is paired with local compliance. It is a system that balances scale with responsibility.

The Art of Influence Through Alignment

Kat often describes her role as translating complexity into clarity. Whether she is working with payers, providers, or investors, she builds consensus by grounding ambitious strategies in the language of statute. Value-based care models, utilization management programs, and clinical frameworks are designed to prove compliant ROI for stakeholders while maintaining patient focus.

Her approach begins with people. In integrations, partnerships, and platform builds, she respects legacy strengths, listens to frontline voices, and creates systems that are not only efficient but also trusted. This ensures that compliance does not feel like restriction, but like a structure that supports innovation and adoption.

Redefining the Future of Compliance and Care

KATALYST & CO is scaling with $10M in initial funding, expanded international operations, and a growing advisory portfolio. Under Kat’s leadership, the firm is showing how regulation can be a foundation for both innovation and durability. She demonstrates that lasting progress in healthcare is achieved by leaders who know how to design systems that are bold, ethical, and deeply human.

By approaching regulation as a guide rather than a limitation, Kat Alvarez is building models that prove compliance and innovation can move forward together. Her formula ensures that the future of healthcare is shaped not only by ambition, but also by trust and responsibility.