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. He is a Fellow of the American College of Health Data Management. 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.

Hugo Doetsch is a seasoned financial executive with over 20 years of operational, investment banking, and strategic finance leadership experience and has been instrumental in helping software companies grow and scale. Before joining symplr, Hugo served as the Chief Financial Officer at NetDocuments, a leading provider of cloud-based document and content management software for legal professionals, where during his tenure, he was named 2022 CFO of the Year in Utah. Previously, Hugo led Finance, Strategy and Corporate Development, and Investors Relations at Ping Identity where he led the Company’s 2019 IPO. He also spent considerable time in New York City working for organizations such as Citigroup and Citadel Securities.  

 Hugo earned a BS in Business and a BA in Economics, as well as a minor in Biochemistry, from the University of Colorado. He lives in Park City, Utah with his wife and three children, and enjoys skiing and mountain biking.  

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.

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 is a Fellow of the American College of Health Data Management. 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.

As the Chief HR Officer, Kirstie Gentile leads symplr’s HR people strategy. Kirstie drives the company’s HR strategy around talent management, organizational design, workforce planning and employee development in alignment with symplr’s overall business plan.

Kirstie brings over 15 years of experience working in human resources at dynamic transformative companies to symplr, with 2.5 of those years with symplr building the HR Business Partner team and Employee Relations team. Prior to symplr, Kirstie held HR leadership roles at FieldRoutes Software and Omnitracs. While much of her career in HR has been in private equity and software, she is well versed in employment law and holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and a BA in Communications from the University of California at San Diego. She is based in the Dallas area with her husband, and their two boys. 

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.

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.

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. She also is a Fellow of the American College of Health Data Management. 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.

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. She also is a Fellow of the American College of Health Data Management. 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.