Practice Fusion's Executive Team
Ryan Howard – Founder and CEO
Ryan founded Practice Fusion in 2005 and is the heart and soul of our organization. Using his background in technology, health IT and business, Ryan created a completely new approach to Electronic Health Records. He envisioned a free, web-based EHR system that would serve the needs of small medical practices around the US. Practice Fusion is the fastest growing EHR in the country and Ryan exemplifies a new breed of health IT leaders revolutionizing the doctor’s office. Ryan has spoken about health IT at HIMSS, SDForum and Health 2.0 conferences and has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Wired as an innovative leader in the sector. Young, energetic and all about changing the status quo, Ryan continues to lead Practice Fusion as CEO and Chairman.
Outside of the office: Riding his Ducati, Shaolin-Kempo, entrepreneurship and volunteering for non-profits
Passionate about: Saving lives directly from Practice Fusion being used by every patient in the US
More about Ryan
Ryan Howard on LinkedIn
Ryan Howard on Facebook
Paul Willard – Chief Marketing Officer
A seasoned expert in online marketing strategy, Paul leads the Practice Fusion marketing and communication teams. Prior to joining Practice Fusion, he served as Vice President of Marketing at Coupons.com, a top 50 US website (Nielsen), and as First Vice President of eCommerce Solutions Delivery at Washington Mutual. Paul brings a diversity of experience in search marketing, web design, usability and advertising along with a uniquely technical perspective from his previous career as a Senior Aerodynamics Engineer with Boeing. He holds a Master's Degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Stanford University.
Outside of the office: Working with my startup friends on new ventures, playing tennis, cooking, and traveling both to interact with people from other cultures and also to practice my photography hobby
Passionate about: Reaching medical practices to make the Practice Fusion community the largest and most enriching medical community anywhere
Jonathan Malek – Senior Vice President of Technology
Jonathan leads Practice Fusion’s technology strategy, ensuring IT architecture remains scalable and reliable while pursuing new directions in areas such as mobile connectivity and API integration. Before joining Practice Fusion, Jonathan oversaw IT architecture as Chief Architect and Director of Research of the Associated Press, which handles billions of transactions monthly, and assisted its move towards a greater digital presence. Jonathan is a graduate of the University of California, Davis.
Outside the office: Spending time with my wife and two daughters, reading, history and travel
Passionate about: building fast, secure and resilient health technology systems that help doctors save lives every day.
Matthew Douglass – Vice President of Engineering
Matthew joined Practice Fusion in 2007 and oversaw the development of the underlying SaaS technology framework that enables rapid development within Practice Fusion. With extensive experience in developing secure, mission-critical internet applications, he established Practice Fusion's Adobe Flex infrastructure, three nines uptime guarantee and API platform. Prior to Practice Fusion, he created and expanded scalable applications for large businesses in the energy and financial investment sectors including Fisher Investments, Suez Energy North America, Dacott Consulting and CMS Energy. Matthew has spoken on healthcare technology at SDForum, Health 2.0, MIT and Microsoft events.
Outside of the office: Running marathons, playing softball and rooting for the Texas Rangers
Passionate about: Unlocking health data from paper charts in an effort to streamline health communication and give patients direct access to their information
Zachariah Gursky - Vice President of Sales
Zach leads Practice Fusion’s advertising strategy. A key function in the company’s innovative free business model, advertising allows Practice Fusion to deliver EMR technology for free to any doctor in the US. Zach previously served as Vice President of Media Sales at Coupons.com, where he tripled advertising revenue, and as Sales Director at Yahoo!, where he oversaw $100 million in annual revenue. He also brings extensive online and offline advertising sales experience to the team from past work at Claria, Doubleclick and Infinity Broadcasting. Zach is a graduate of Hamilton College.
Outside the office: Spending time with my wife, son and our pet mastiff. Sailing and trail running.
Passionate about: Coming from a family of medical providers, I’m excited to be working with a team that improves the quality of medical care and eases administrative burdens on physicians.
John Hluboky – Vice President of Technical Operations
John is responsible for Practice Fusion’s Technical Operations team, including datacenter and infrastructure support of Practice Fusion’s EHR and corporate IT functions. John draws on over fourteen years in technology and leadership experience, most recently from the Consumer division of security company McAfee, where his team supported a billion dollar ecommerce engine servicing 40 million customers. He holds an MBA with focus on strategic leadership from Norwich University.
Outside the office: Triathlons with Team in Training, supporting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Passionate about: Providing a secure technology platform enabling the availability of patient information anytime, anywhere
Liz Meyerdirk – Vice President of Business Development
Liz leads Practice Fusion’s business strategy and corporate and business development, with a focus on teaming with the best healthcare and technology companies in the sector. Prior to joining Practice Fusion, Liz served in a similar role at MedeAnalytics, where she created and managed product and channel partnerships, pursued M&A opportunities and helped launch new business lines. Previously, Liz was an investment professional at TCV, a $7.7bn venture capital firm. Liz started her career at Morgan Stanley in healthcare investment banking.
Outside of the office: Travel, Michigan Football, skiing, playing softball, cooking and baking
Passionate about: Changing the world one patient at a time
Adam Grant – Associate Vice President of Customer Engagement
Adam is responsible for usage of Practice Fusion’s EHR product. Prior to joining Practice Fusion, he worked with Alliance Consulting Group and Deloitte Consulting LLP to lead adoption efforts for Customer Relationship Management and Electronic Medical Records systems. His clients included Gilead Sciences, Hewlett-Packard, Kaiser Permanente, Novartis, PacifiCare, Providence Health & Services and Symantec Corporation. He also led a corporate entrepreneurship workshop in Stanford School of Engineering’s Executive Education program. Adam holds a master’s degree in organizational behavior from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Dartmouth College.
Outside the office: Soccer, Michael Lewis and Nick Hornby books, entrepreneurship of all types, mentoring students
Passionate about: Making the Practice Fusion EHR as absolutely easy as possible for medical practices to adopt and use
Paula Billington – Senior Director of Operations
Paula leads Practice Fusion’s support, training and operations teams. With the largest team at the company, Paula relies on her 10 years of experience in client services and operations management to ensure Practice Fusion is delivering the highest quality support to our users. She oversees phone, email, live chat, online webinars and other elements of our Phenomenal Support®. Before joining Practice Fusion, Paula led a large customer service team in Australia awarded for its outstanding levels of service to clients.
Outside the office: Snowboarding, hiking with her dog Trax, and cheering on the San Francisco Giants
Passionate about: Providing physicians with helpful support and tools so they can stay focused on saving lives
Kellie (Charlton) Menendez – Senior Director of Marketing
Kellie heads up email outreach, SEO, advertising, and design strategies at Practice Fusion. She’s the creator of Practice Fusion’s “plus” logo and memorable characters such as SuperBill and the e-prescribing penguins. Kellie has over a decade of experience in online marketing with top technology companies such as BEA and with the agency Red Bricks Media, overseeing creative development for clients including Adobe, Peet's and IBD. Prior to Practice Fusion, she worked at Levi Strauss developing online marketing programs with retailers Kmart, Walmart and Target.
Outside the office: Painting, running, dancing, swimming - her dog Chardo and husband Alex
Passionate about: Designing health IT systems for optimal usability and a dash of fun
Kellie (Charlton) Menendez on LinkedIn
kmenendez@practicefusion.com
Emily Peters – Senior Director of Communications
Emily leads Practice Fusion’s media relations and social media strategy. She spends her time connecting with Practice Fusion’s community and the healthcare sector to advance health IT, explore compelling stories and spread the word about our free EHR. From her previous career in the personal finance sector, Emily brings an in-depth understanding of data privacy, regulatory action and online security. A former journalist, she has been quoted by USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, CBS News, FOX news and the Wall Street Journal.
Outside the office: At the San Francisco Opera, kayaking in the bay and riding a tandem bike
Passionate about: Helping doctors, nurses, practice staff and patients share their health IT stories
Emily Peters on LinkedIn
practicefusion.com/facebook
epeters@practicefusion.com
Robert Rowley, MD – Medical Director
A very busy doctor, Robert divides his time between his family practice office and Practice Fusion. He knows first-hand the technology needs and challenges faced by healthcare practitioners from his 30-year career in medicine and current role as Medical Director with Hayward Family Care. As Medical Director of Practice Fusion, Dr. Rowley guides the development of the EHR and ensures that the system always progresses in the best interest of our users. Dr. Rowley also writes for EHR Bloggers on the topics of health IT and health policy. He has spoken at the Health Data Initiative Forum, Fourth National HIPAA Summit West, and Health 2.0 in the Doctor's Office. His family practice has functioned without paper charts since 2002.
Outside of the office: Listening to jazz
Passionate about: Improving the primary care system for doctors and patients in the US
More about Dr. Robert Rowley
Dr. Robert Rowley on LinkedIn
EHRBloggers.com