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
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.
Todd Martin – Senior Vice President of Business Development
Todd is responsible for Practice Fusion’s business and corporate development, seeking out new business opportunities using his expertise bringing together technology, standards and people in a rapidly evolving marketplace. A seasoned business development executive, Todd brings over 17 years of experience from both startups and large public companies, including the Associated Press. His background ranges across sales, product management, software development, consulting and product enablement. Todd holds a degree in Engineering from the University of California, Davis.
Outside the office: Jogging, camping, backpacking and spending time with his wife and three sons.
Passionate about: Improving care and saving lives with a complete healthcare application and service network for physicians and patients alike.
Riyad Omar – General Counsel
Riyad oversees legal operations at Practice Fusion. Riyad has over a decade’s experience managing legal affairs and advising senior executives on strategic and operational objectives. Prior to Practice Fusion, Riyad was VP/Principal Legal Officer for NewsRight, where he oversaw legal operations, and Associate General Counsel of Business Governance for the Associated Press, where he counseled on sales, technology, corporate, privacy, IP, strategic transactions and product matters, including the launch and maintenance of large-scale web platforms. Riyad holds a JD from Stanford Law School and a BA from the University of Southern California.
Outside the office: Spending time with his wife and daughter, great food, travel and high-octane college football.
Passionate about: Putting sophisticated and secure health information tools in the hands of practitioners, patients and researchers.
Matthew Douglass – Co-Founder and Vice President of Platform
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
Emily Peters – Vice President of Marketing Communications
Emily leads Practice Fusion’s marketing and communications strategy. She spends her time building Practice Fusion’s community and working with 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
Sheila Ryan – Vice President of People and Culture
Sheila leads human resources at Practice Fusion. While advancing the company’s rapid hiring goals, Sheila works to support and enhance the company’s mission-driven culture. Prior to joining Practice Fusion, Sheila spent over 20 years in HR leadership positions in both emerging and Fortune 500 companies where she honed her skills in leadership development and building relationships and business partnerships. Most recently, she was the Vice President of Human Resources at CBS Interactive, leading several major human capital initiatives throughout the organization.
Outside the office: Skiing (whenever possible and wherever there’s great snow), cycling, most outdoor activities, travel and adventures.
Passionate about: Developing a unique and dynamic company culture dedicated to supporting the mission of helping doctors save lives.
Patrick Dugan - Associate Vice President of Corporate Development
Patrick leads corporate development at Practice Fusion, where he pursues strategic partnerships with both startups and established companies in the health tech space. Coming from his own mobile app startup venture, Patrick is acutely aware of the challenges facing smaller companies and the resources necessary to build great products and businesses from scratch. His background draws on years of finance and business development experience including successful Silicon Valley startups such as Palantir Technologies and NetSuite.
Outside the office: Enjoying life in San Francisco, flying airplanes, sailing and traveling.
Passionate about: Empowering disruptive startups that provide meaningful value and unparalleled efficiencies.
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
Eric Weis – Senior Director of Finance
Eric oversees financial operations for Practice Fusion. In addition to working with investors and the executive team to plan long-term strategy, Eric manages business development to drive revenue growth. His over ten years of experience in the field began with Ernst & Young as an auditor in assurance and advisory business services, followed by a career as an Accounting Manager in the Bay Area with a number of IT and financial companies. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and is a certified public accountant.
Outside the office: Traveling and exploring new beaches, cheering on my favorite sports teams (49ers, Yankees and Warriors), playing basketball and, of course, business and finance
Passionate about: Positioning Practice Fusion so we can continue to give physicians a free, world class EHR
Shanit Gupta - Director of Information Security
Shanit manages Practice Fusion’s information security, overseeing the safety of sensitive information and the security of the software platform while ensuring adherence to federal and state policies. He is expert in developing and scaling robust security frameworks for growing companies, and has extensive experience counseling and speaking at security conferences on the management of software security. Previously, Shanit worked for McAfee and VMware, where he guided the implementation of security requirements from product design to code reviews and security testing.
Outside the office: Spending time with my family and friends and supporting environmental causes.
Passionate about: Protecting sensitive and personal information to ensure that life-saving clinical data doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
Lauren Burris – Associate Director of Human Resources
Lauren leads the human relations department with the aim of supporting Practice Fusion’s unique company culture and attracting talented, scrappy candidates to join the company’s booming ranks. She seeks to make Practice Fusion feel like a home away from home, where everyone is family. Prior to Practice Fusion, Lauren worked for Sotheby’s in London while completing her Master’s in Art Business. Her skill at managing a little bit of everything, honed in jobs at contemporary art galleries and consulting companies, keeps the office running smoothly.
Outside the office: Playing tennis and learning new sports (currently snowboarding), baking and playing with her rescued Maltipoo dog, Maddie
Passionate about: Creating a fun, supportive and exciting team environment that enables members to be productive and happy while inventing an outstanding EHR system