Leadership
BJ Schaknowski is a seasoned software industry executive, with over 20 years of experience in leadership roles across a wide variety of operating functions. Before joining symplr, BJ served as the Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Vertafore, the world's leading provider of insurance technology. Prior to that, BJ spent four years at LexisNexis Software Solutions in progressively ascending roles, culminating as its SVP Marketing, Sales & Services. He held numerous senior and global leadership roles earlier in his career at CA Technologies, Intuit, and Sage Software.
BJ brings his dedication to creating balanced value and outcomes for employees, customers, and shareholders to the symplr community. Deeply committed to philanthropic efforts, BJ was recently appointed to the Susan G. Komen Board of Directors, joining an elite group of nearly two dozen executives from various industries who help govern and advise Komen, which is the world’s leading non-profit breast cancer organization. BJ earned a BA in Communications from the State University of New York at Geneseo and his MBA at the University of Georgia – Terry College of Business. Schaknowski also served in the United States Marine Corps infantry as an enlisted reservist for 8 years. He lives in Denver with his wife, Heather, and two children.
BJ Schaknowski
Chief Executive Officer
As Chief Financial Officer, Jordan Copland brings three decades of finance and operations experience to symplr. Most recently he served as EVP Finance and Operations - CFO at Quorum Software, provider of an industry-leading portfolio of finance, operations and accounting software for the energy industry. At Quorum he helped lead the company through several mergers and acquisitions as well as the successful sale of the business in 2018.
Copland brings to symplr CFO and business development experience in software, technology, and consumer products across a host of private equity-owned, venture-backed and public companies. He has run multinational business operations in Europe and has successfully completed a number of international M&A transactions. Copland holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from the Wharton School.
Jordan Copland
Chief Financial Officer
David Arnold brings 23 years of legal experience to the symplr team. As the head of symplr’s legal department, Mr. Arnold works with symplr’s executive team and its team of contracts professionals to provide strategic legal advice and to help symplr scale its contracting practices. Prior to joining symplr, Mr. Arnold was the Chief Legal Officer at Omnitracs, LLC, where he managed the Omnitracs legal and contracts teams after the sale of the business by Qualcomm Incorporated to Vista Equity Partners.
Before Omnitracs, Mr. Arnold held leadership roles within the legal department of Qualcomm Enterprise Services, a division of Qualcomm Incorporated. Mr. Arnold holds a B.S.B.A in General Business from the University of Denver and a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law. He is a member of the California Bar Association, the San Diego County Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel, and the Transportation Lawyers Association.
David Arnold
Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel
Heath Foist brings 25 years of experience to symplr. Most recently, Mr. Foist served as Chief People Officer at Field Service Holdings and, prior to that, was Chief People Officer at Omnitracs.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Foist served in HR leadership roles at Bank of America, SAP and Sabre, as well as a HR Strategy and Management consulting leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Foist earned a BBA from The McCombs Business School at the University of Texas Austin.
Heath Foist
Chief Human Resources Officer
As Chief Product Officer, Brian Fugere leads all product management and user experience (UX) design efforts in the company. During the past two years, he also served as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and led the engineering organization. Bringing almost 30 years of go-to-market experience in software companies of all sizes, Fugere was most recently the CMO of Virence Health, a carve out from GE Healthcare. Prior roles include President of The Estimating Edge, Chief Operating Officer and CMO of RemitDATA, and leadership positions at Belo Interactive, Stryker, and America Online.
Fugere has deep experience in executive leadership, marketing, product, sales, and operations across public, private equity, and venture-backed companies. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, an MBA from George Mason University, and has completed a leadership and business program at Harvard Business School.
Brian Fugere
Chief Product Officer
Jeffrey Peterson is responsible for developing and executing the company’s technology strategy as well as for managing software development and cloud system operations. He brings 27 years of innovation and engineering operations experience to symplr.
Prior to joining symplr, Jeffrey was a Sr Director of Engineering at GE Healthcare and, before that, led all engineering efforts for API Healthcare. He holds a BBA in Information Systems from The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee - Lubar School of Business.
Jeffrey Peterson
Chief Technology Officer
Joe Remington is symplr’s Chief of Staff where he provides strategic guidance to the CEO and executive leadership team to accomplish the company accomplish its goals by maximizing resources, expanding capabilities, and improving operations.
Joe brings to symplr extensive experience in the software industry across multiple private equity-owned companies. Previously, Joe was VP of Finance, Corporate Development and IT at Aspect Software. Before to that, he was Chief of Staff and oversaw product operations at Vertafore. Prior to that, he led operations innovation at Davita, one of the largest providers of kidney care health services. He holds a degree in Finance from The University of Colorado-Boulder.
Joe Remington
Chief of Staff
As President, Nicole Rogas is responsible for driving symplr’s revenue growth strategy and overall customer experience providing oversight and vision for the Sales, Client Success, Support and Services teams.
A recognized healthcare IT and revenue cycle management leader, Nicole is focused on fostering a high-energy, high-performing culture putting the employee and the client at the center. Prior to symplr, Nicole spent 19 years at Experian Health, formerly Passport Health, where she successfully held numerous leadership positions, most recently as its Chief Commercial Officer. In this role, she oversaw the National Sales Team, among other cross-functional teams that focused on customer health and driving growth throughout all healthcare channels.
Nicole also is a recipient of the 2019 Women in Sales Awards - North America and has been an advocate for women and working parents through her career. Nicole earned her Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Marketing from Marquette University and her Master’s in Business Administration from Benedictine University. She lives in Elmhurst, Illinois with her two children. For more on Nicole, please visit her LinkedIn profile.
Nicole Rogas
President
As Chief Marketing Officer, Kristin Russel drives the development and execution of symplr’s comprehensive marketing strategy, overseeing all branding, digital and product marketing, sales enablement, public relations, community outreach programs, channel partnerships, and business development.
Recently named one of Becker’s top 100 women in healthcare, Russel is a tenured leader and a visionary in the healthcare technology industry. Before joining symplr, she led marketing at Quest Analytics and Carrot Inc. and drove revenue and new growth initiatives through strategic partnerships and marketing at Humana, Cerner, and Omnicell. She is also a successful entrepreneur, having founded fin-tech company Anachron, which was ultimately sold to ING Bank. Russel has a bachelor’s degree from McMaster University in Canada, an MBA from École Supérieure de Commerce in France, and a Master of Public Administration degree from Carleton University in Canada.
Kristin Russel
Chief Marketing Officer
With over 20 years' experience working with providers and payers to improve outcomes and make healthcare safer and more efficient, Todd shares his passion for healthcare innovation by leading cross-functional teams in the creation and delivery of technology enabled services, analytics, and applications.
Prior to symplr, Todd held market strategy and product leadership roles at Cotiviti, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, and Change Healthcare and began his career as a Field Artillery officer in the US Army. Todd earned a BS in Engineering Management from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a MBA from Georgia Southern University. Todd lives in Nashville with his wife, Kori, and their four children.
Todd Bennett
Managing Director of Compliance, Quality, and Safety
As Executive Vice President of Credentialing Operations, Patrick Birmingham leads all Credentialing Operations including Access Management Background Screening, symplrCVO - Credentials Verification Organization, Payer Enrollment and State Medical Licensure Services.
Patrick is a healthcare industry veteran, with approximately 30 years of experience in management and executive roles. He has a wide range of experience in hospital, managed care, payer and physician practice operations. Prior to joining symplr, Patrick was Chief Operating Officer at MedKinetics, a leading SaaS provider credentialing, privileging, quality and performance improvement company, and the founder of Payor Enrollment Services, the industry’s leading solution for accelerated and accurate payor enrollment. Patrick previously served in roles as the National Director for Credentialing and Enrollment Services at HCA Inc., Director of Managed Care at HCA Physician Services as well as held senior roles within hospital administration, national PPO and HMO organizations.
He holds MBA from the Millsaps College Else School of Management. Patrick lives in Franklin TN with his wife and daughter.
Patrick Birmingham
Executive Vice President, Credentialing Operations
Bill Christy is the Senior Vice President and Managing Director of symplr’s Provider Data Management Solutions. In this role, Bill oversees the product vision, development, and go-to-market strategy to deliver solutions that help payers and providers improve healthcare outcomes. A seasoned healthcare operations leader, Bill previously was Chief Customer Officer at symplr, and he continues to be a strong champion for the customer experience. Bill began his career as a biomed technician in the U.S. Air Force. After a successful career serving his country, Bill moved on to GE Healthcare, where he spent nearly 19 years holding vital leadership roles, such as Customer Operations Manager and Enterprise Services Director.
Bill received a BS in Business Administration degree from University of Maryland Global Campus and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Maryland University College. He lives in Rochester, New York with his wife Cathy and four children.
William Christy
Managing Director of Provider Data Management
Austin Dirks is a Managing Director, Senior Vice President within symplr’s Contract and Supplier Management Pillar. Austin is the former CEO and Founder of GreenLight Medical leading the company from inception to acquisition by symplr in March 2022. Before founding GreenLight Medical, Austin worked as a cardiac medical device sales representative for St. Jude Medical (acquired by Abbott), as well as for Thoratec Corporation, working on merger and acquisition opportunities within the Business Development team.
Austin holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University. At Vanderbilt, Austin was a member of the Track and Field team as a pole vaulter. Austin resides in Nashville, TN but is originally from Lincoln, NE. He patiently awaits the next Nebraska football national championship.
Austin Dirks
Managing Director of Contract and Supply Management
As Chief Information Officer, Dion Gee leads symplr’s information technology, infrastructure, and security efforts across our corporate platforms. A highly skilled leader in emerging technologies and integrations, Dion has spent his 20-year career focused on achieving the top priorities of his internal and external customers with IT solutions. Before joining symplr, Dion served as the Director of IT Infrastructure and Technical Services, and the HIPPA Privacy Officer for Alere’s toxicology division. His expertise in acquisition change management has proven invaluable as symplr continues to grow its portfolio. Dion earned his Bachelor’s degree in Computer and Information Sciences from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and he is also an INROADS alum.
Dion Gee
Chief Information Officer
Mike Vipond leads symplr’s Workforce Solutions, including strategy, product development, and go-to-market. A versatile and collaborative healthcare technology leader, Mike enables symplr’s teams to build and deliver innovations that solve our customers’ biggest workforce management challenges.
Before joining symplr, Mike served as the Director of Analytics and Performance Improvement at Cerner, leading teams that delivered advisory services to customers, including multiple top 10 health systems in the U.S. He brings over 15 years of experience from Cerner and GE having served in leadership roles spanning consulting, business development, strategy, M&A and finance. Mike holds a BA in Economics from Georgetown University, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Kellogg School of Management. Mike lives in the Detroit area with his wife and two kids.
Mike Vipond
Managing Director of Workforce Management
