Management/Board of Directors

Executive Management

PatientKeeper's management team represents over a century of experience in healthcare and information technology and has made the company's software the leader in physician information systems.

• Paul W. Brient, President and Chief Executive Officer

  Mr. Brient brings more than 20 years of experience in healthcare information technology including physician workflow automation, physician practice automation, payor-based medical management, pharmaceutical-based disease management and medical devices.

  Prior to joining PatientKeeper in 2002, Brient held senior executive-level positions at leading healthcare and consulting firms including McKesson Corporation, HPR, and The Boston Consulting Group. Brient began his healthcare IT career as the founder and president of BCS, an early physician office management software company.

  Brient earned his master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration with High Distinction (Baker Scholar). He also holds a bachelor of science in electrical engineering and computer science summa cum laude from Princeton University.

• Donald Burt, MD, Chief Medical Officer

  Donald Burt joined PatientKeeper in 2007, bringing 24 years of clinical, medical management and medical information technology experience to PatientKeeper.

  Previously, Burt served as President of Berkshire Faculty Services, the multispecialty physician practice group affiliated with Berkshire Health Systems, Vice President, McKesson Corporation and Vice President and Medical Director of Health New England, a provider-owner HMO.

  Burt received a bachelors degree from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and his medical degree from UMDNJ. Burt is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Massachusetts Medical School and holds board certifications in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics.

• Jim Melanson, Chief Financial Officer

  Jim Melanson joined PatientKeeper in 2003, bringing 20 years of operating experience in corporate finance and extensive expertise in negotiating and closing venture financing and R&D collaborations.

  Previously, Melanson served as chief financial officer and vice president of finance and administration for a number of technology and health science companies including Cetek Corporation, GPC Biotech and Mitotix, where he was responsible for negotiating and closing $65 million in venture financing and R&D collaborations.

  Melanson received a master's degree in business administration from Boston University, and holds a bachelor of science in accounting from Northeastern University.

• Mike Bertrand, Vice President, Development

  Mike Bertrand leads PatientKeeper’s product development organization. He has played a key role in all significant PatientKeeper product development initiatives over the past seven years, beginning with the Physician Portal, and including most recently PatientKeeper CPOE and Medication Reconciliation.

  Mr. Bertrand has 25 years of software development experience in the healthcare sector. Prior to joining PatientKeeper, he served as director of product development at healthcare IT vendor McKesson. Earlier in his career, Bertrand held software engineering positions at healthcare provider organizations, including Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Community Health Plan.

  Bertrand earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Westfield State College.

• Cathy Donohue, Vice President, Product Management

  Cathy Donohue has more than 15 years of experience managing healthcare technology products and projects for healthcare providers and technology vendors.

  Prior to joining PatientKeeper, Donohue held product and program leadership roles at AMICAS Inc. (now Merge Healthcare), where she oversaw 10 product lines, drove more than 35 product releases annually, and provided quality management representation across four facilities. Previously, Donohue worked in product and project management capacities at HealthGate Data Corp., Partners Healthcare, and HealthCare Microsystems. At Partners, she led the inaugural rollout of the Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) application to Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and four other member institutions.

  Donohue earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MBA with a concentration in Health Care Administration from Boston University.

• Phil Gaudette, Vice President, Servces

  Mr. Gaudette brings 15 years of delivering successful and innovative results in implementing enterprise software for the healthcare industry. He has extensive experience building multi-disciplinary teams and creating successful methodologies for efficient and predictable software implementations. With a passionate focus on customer satisfaction he is leading the strategic and tactical development of the PatientKeeper Services organization.

  Prior to joining PatientKeeper, Gaudette was vice president of client services at Medventive, Inc, a leading-edge technology solutions company that enables physician groups, integrated delivery systems, health plans and self-insured employers to effect meaningful and measurable change in the quality and cost of the care they deliver to patients. Gaudette has also served as vice president of professional services at ChartOne, Inc., a premier provider of medical record workflow solutions.

  Gaudette holds a bachelor's degree in physical therapy from Boston University.

• Peter Henderson, Vice President, Marketing

  Henderson brings over 20 years of successful operating experience in Healthcare IT to PatientKeeper. As a seasoned executive, he has an accomplished record of new product and market development resulting in significant revenue growth for healthcare technology and service companies serving the needs of hospitals, payers and providers. Henderson provides extensive execution skills in marketing and product management to the PatientKeeper team.

  Previously, Henderson served as executive vice president of product operations (which included marketing, product management, engineering, implementation and customer support) at ChartOne, where he was responsible for managing the growth of the company’s on-demand medical record business. Prior to ChartOne, Henderson served as both vice president of marketing and vice president of product management while at working at McKesson Corporation’s Payer Solutions Division. Before that he was vice president of marketing at Codman Research, a healthcare information software company.

  Henderson earned his master’s degree in business administration from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College.

• Robert T. Leonard, Vice President, Sales

  Leonard brings an outstanding recording of accomplishments and exceptional senior-level sales experience to PatientKeeper. He has spent the majority of his career in entrepreneurial and startup environments, managing both large and small sales organizations. His 17 years of healthcare experience includes the services and information technology segments - involving medical devices and clinical software, with particular emphasis on point-of-care solutions.

  Leonard was formerly vice president of clinical systems sales for national accounts at McKesson Information Solutions and prior to that was vice president of sales and marketing for FluidSense Corporation, a pioneer in point-of-care technologies. Before that, he served as executive vice president of sales and marketing of Chartwell, a leading provider of alternate site services founded by New England Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital.

  Leonard received his bachelor's degree in liberal arts from Colby College.

• Michael Southern, Vice President, Human Resources

  Mike Southern brings over 20 years of human resource management experience to PatientKeeper. He has worked for a broad spectrum of organizations from professional partnerships to Fortune 100 companies, including Philips Medical Systems and McKesson. He has extensive experience building effective teams and implementing human resources programs, systems, and processes in rapid growth climates and pre-IPO environments. Southern has served as Vice President of the Human Resources Leadership Roundtable and is a long-standing member of the Society for Human Resource Management. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management and Economics from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, and earned his Masters degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources from the College of St. Rose.

Board of Directors

PatientKeeper's distinguished board of directors helps the company fulfill its mission and manage its continued growth.

• Paul W. Brient

  As president and CEO, Brient brings to PatientKeeper 15 years of senior management experience in healthcare information technology including physician practice automation, payor-based medical management, pharmaceutical-based disease management and medical devices.

• Ryan Drant

  Drant is a general partner at New Enterprise Associates, which he joined in August 1996. He specializes in healthcare investments in the specialty pharmaceutical, medical device and healthcare services sectors. His tremendous success has landed him on Forbes.com's Midas List as one of the technology industry's top 100 investors and the fourth-highest-ranked life sciences investor.

• Chip Hazard

  Chip is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners whose investment interests and experience broadly cover companies and technologies in the information technology sector. He currently represents the firm on the boards of 1-800-FREE411 (Jingle Networks), 10gen, First Best Systems, Infobright, PatientKeeper, Placemark, Reveal Imaging, and Sciformix and was previously a director at Bowstreet (acquired by IBM), mValent (acquired by Oracle) and SupplyScape (acquired by TraceLink).

  Chip’s blog, Hazard Lights, can be found at www.hazardlights.net.

  Before joining the firm in May 2002, Chip was a General Partner with Greylock Partners, a leading venture capital firm he joined in 1994. While at Greylock, Chip led or participated in numerous successful investments in the enterprise information technology field including Narrative Communications (acquired by @Home), Idiom Technologies (acquired by SDL), iPhrase Technologies (acquired by IBM), IBA (acquired by ServiceSoft/Kana), Storage Networks (IPO), Totality (acquired by MCI) and the Vincam Group (IPO in 1996, acquired by ADP). Prior to Greylock, he was with Company Assistance Limited, an investment and consulting firm in Warsaw Poland; and Bain and Company, an international management consulting firm.

  Chip received a BA with honors from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar and a Ford Scholar.

• Michael R. Merson

  Michael R. Merson was named to the CareFirst, Inc. Board of Directors in January 2004, and elected Chairman of the Board effective in July 2004. He also serves as Chairman of the Nominating Committee. Merson is also the founder and consultant for Michael Merson, LLC, working with various start-up companies in a variety of areas.

  Merson has a 30-year record of growth and development in the health care industry, including as President and CEO of Franklin Square Hospital (1982-1987), various positions including President and CEO with Helix Health, Inc. (1987-1988), and President of MedStar Health (1998-1999).

  He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Franklin Square Hospital and as Chairman of the Franklin Square Foundation Board. Merson received his MBA in Health Care Administration from the George Washington University.

  Merson also has worked extensively with the Maryland Hospital Association, chairing the Health Systems Redesign Task Force as well as serving on such MHA health policy committees as the Council on Rate Regulation (which he also chaired), the Strategic Planning Steering Committee, the Graduate Medical Education Task Force, the Uncompensated Care Task Force and MHA's Executive Council.

• Larry Miller, MD

  Dr. Miller currently is president and chief executive officer of Activate Networks, Inc. (formerly MedNetworks). Previously, he founded Mediphase Venture Partners (formerly the e-Health Technology Fund, a first-round investor in PatientKeeper), and served as senior vice president at Hambrecht and Quist Capital Management, Inc., an investment management firm specializing in private and public healthcare companies. In addition to founding PharMetrics, ImpactRx, and Optio Research, Dr. Miller played key roles in companies such as HPR and Avicenna Systems. He is also a physician and clinical pharmacologist.

• Robert More

  More is a General Partner at Frazier Healthcare -- one of the leading providers of growth equity and venture capital to high growth and emerging healthcare service, biopharma and medical device companies. He is a member of the firm’s biopharma investment team. He serves as an advisory board member for Montague Newhall Associates, Okapi Ventures, The Medical Industry Group of the NVCA and The Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center.

• Daniel O’Brien

  O’Brien has been a general partner at J. H. Whitney & Co., LLC for more than 20 years. Over that time, he has been a board member of several of the firm’s portfolio companies in the healthcare services, computer software, and pharmaceutical sectors. Prior to his career at Whitney, O’Brien was a senior partner and the national chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Emerging Business Services practice, which serves entrepreneurial and growing businesses.

• Ralph Sabin

  Sabin is a founder and Managing Director of Pacific Venture Group, a venture capital firm specializing in early stage investments in all segments of the healthcare industry. He has initiated several successful investments in the Healthcare Investment Technology sector, including Visicu (Nasdaq eICU), which was recently acquired by Phillips Medical Systems. He was included on the Forbes.com Midas List of the top 100 technology industry investors in 2007.