One of Silicon Valley's favorite health startups just hired a board member with experience taking companies public

Restoration Hardware

Karen Boone, former CFO of RH.

• Collective Health, a startup that works with self-insured employers, just added the former chief financial officer of Restoration Hardware as a board member.
• At Restoration Hardware, Karen Boone implemented Collective Health to its employees.
• Boone also has experience taking companies public - she oversaw RH's initial public offering and is a board member at Sonos, which went public in August.

A healthcare startup that's gained attention from Silicon Valley employers and investors just added a board member with IPO experience.

Karen Boone, the former chief financial officer at RH, started late last month. She switched RH's own employees to Collective Health while at the retailer, which used to be called Restoration Hardware.

Collective Health helps companies manage their healthcare benefits, replacing traditional health insurers. It offers online tools for executives to monitor healthcare spending and an app for workers to find a doctor or check their coverage. The goal is to help companies reduce costs and provide a better experience for their workers.

"Employers are starting to wake up to the fact that this has been largely ignored," Boone said in an interview. "More and more companies are starting to understand that they control the spend and they need to start thinking about it in a more innovative way."

Boone also has experience taking companies public - she oversaw Restoration Hardware's initial public offering and was a board member at Sonos when it went public in August. That experience could come in handy if Collective Health decides to IPO. Boone declined to discuss the company's plans.

To date, Collective Health has raised about $230 million from investors including Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, NEA, and GV. Bloomberg reported the company was raising funds at a $1 billion valuation.

Boone will serve on the board alongside Mohamad Makhzoumi of NEA, Scott Nolan of Founders Fund, and Jeff Immelt, who led GE.

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So far, Collective Health covers about 125,000 members, consisting of employees and their dependents from companies like Zendesk, Palantir, eBay, and Pinterest.