Availity Senior Leadership Team

Russ Thomas

Chief Executive Officer

Russ Thomas is the Chief Executive Officer of Availity. He has served in this role since March 2012, prior to which he was Availity's President and Chief Operating Officer since joining the company in 2008. Availity is the industry leader in optimizing the automated delivery of critical business and clinical information among healthcare stakeholders.

In his prior role, Thomas oversaw the 2010 acquisition of RealMed, an award-winning provider of revenue cycle management services. The acquisition positioned the combined enterprise to deliver advanced health information solutions to a nationally growing network of more than 200,000 physicians and allied care providers, 1,000 hospitals, 1,300 health plans and 500 industry partners.

Russ brings to Availity a career in clinical information products and services. Prior to joining Availity, Russ was the Chief Executive Officer of Gold Standard, an industry leader in drug information databases and clinical knowledge solutions. Russ grew Gold Standard from a small start-up business to a leader in clinical information, serving all sectors of the health care market before selling the business to Reed Elsevier in 2006.

In addition to his professional responsibilities, Russ has been active in industry and philanthropic organizations. He was a founding board member of the Tampa Bay Regional Health Information Organization. He was also a founding board member and past chairman of Hillsborough Kids, Inc., which provides oversight and resources for more than 4,000 disadvantaged children in Hillsborough County, Florida. He is active with United Way of Northeast Florida.

Russ earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Virginia Tech and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia. He resides in Jacksonville, Florida with his wife Claudia and their two children.

Charlie Burwell

Senior Vice President, Strategy, Business, and Corporate Development

Charlie Burwell joined Availity in October 2009 as the company’s Senior Vice President, Strategy, Business and Corporate Development. He is a member of the Senior Leadership Team and reports directly to the company's Chief Executive Officer, Russ Thomas.

Prior to joining Availity, Charlie served in executive capacities at industry-leading firms. Most recently, he led the health care information businesses for a division of Cardinal Health, where he was responsible for Acquisitions, Partnerships, and Strategy. Charlie’s previous executive assignments include Solucient, where he performed similar functional responsibilities and was the General Manager of the Provider Division, and VHA, where he served as Senior Vice President, managing two significant divisions and leading information mergers and partnerships. Other relevant assignments include senior level work at Harris Methodist Health System and IBM.

Charlie has 25 years of health care experience and is a graduate of Northeastern Oklahoma University, majoring in Speech and Education. He recently relocated from San Diego and now resides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

Jeff Chester

Senior Vice President of Sales

Jeff Chester is Senior Vice President of Sales for Availity. He is a member of the Senior Leadership Team and reports directly to the company's Chief Executive Officer, Russ Thomas.

Jeff joined Availity in 2010 from General Electric, where he served as a Vice President and General Manager of Sales for GE Healthcare IT, a $1.4 billion segment of that enterprise.

Jeff began his health care career in 1993 with WebMD where he was part of the original management team that merged WebMD with Healtheon, ENVOY and Medical Manager. After leaving WebMD, Jeff spent two years as the Vice President of Business Development at Next Ventures LLC, a venture capital accelerator for upstart health care technology companies.

In 2002, Jeff joined IDX Systems Corporation as the Regional Sales Director for IDX Groupcast and was promoted to Groupcast’s Vice President of Strategic Account Development in 2005. He was then assigned to lead the IDX/GE integration for sales, which led to his role as a Vice President and General Manager of Sales at General Electric.

Jeff graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor of Science in Economics. He resides in Jacksonville, Fla., with his wife and two daughters.

Laura L. Ferrante, Esq.

Corporate Secretary and Vice President, Legal Affairs and Compliance

Laura Ferrante manages the legal, contractual, compliance and audit functions for Availity. She joined Availity in 2009 and reports directly to the company's Chief Executive Officer, Russ Thomas.

Laura has more than 25 years experience in insurance defense and insurance contract litigation, workers compensation and employment law. She is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating conferred for legal ability and ethical standards of conduct.

Prior to joining Availity, Laura practiced law in large and small firms; served as in house counsel for a mutual property and casualty insurance company, and was general counsel to a commercial construction design/build firm, handling all legal and compliance matters. She received her B.A. from the University of Florida and her Juris Doctorate from Florida State University. She has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1985 and is a member of the Jacksonville Bar Association's Health Law and Workers Compensation sections. Laura is board certified in workers' compensation and is a Florida Supreme Court-certified circuit civil mediator.

Laura is a founding member and past president of the CHILD Cancer Fund, Inc., a 501c(3) non-profit organization that provides educational, financial and support services for Jacksonville families dealing with a child's cancer diagnosis and treatment. Laura was a member of the Institutional Review Board for research projects conducted nationwide in the Hematology/Oncology Department of Nemours Children's Clinics. She evaluated and maintained ethical and compliant research standards and disclosures for research protocols conducted by Nemours physicians.

Trent Gavazzi

Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer

Trent Gavazzi is Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Availity, managing all aspects and components of the company's technology platform. He is a member of the Senior Leadership Team and reports directly to the company's Chief Executive Officer, Russ Thomas.

Trent joined Availity in July 2009 after serving as the CEO of QuickWaters Software, a software company providing risk alert and data analytic software for C-level executives in financial services organizations. Trent's 19 years of experience include managing large IT organizations, management consulting, and leadership roles in startup software firms.

Trent started his career at Price Waterhouse where he consulted with the RTC savings and loan bailout. Prior to his first CIO role, Trent was a founding partner with Madison Consulting where he led major technology initiatives for several investment banking firms. Trent began his career on Wall Street at Nomura Securities where he supported the equity trading, operations, and financial controllers. Trent held several CIO roles for the Capital Markets Division of the Bank of Montreal, including the Harris Direct Online trading platform which he helped migrate to E*TRADE. He was a Wall Street and Technology Gold Book Profiles in Excellence recipient in 2005 and 2006.

Trent is a graduate of Buffalo State University where he completed his degree in Computer Information Systems. He and his family relocated from the New York City area and now reside in Jacksonville, Florida.

Scott Herbst

Senior Vice President, Provider Support Services and Channel & Business Development

Scott Herbst is Senior Vice President, Provider Support Services and Channel & Business Development. Scott currently leads RealMed's provider services groups and the partnership/vendor programs for both Availity and RealMed. Scott also is part of the leadership committee overseeing the integration of RealMed and Availity.

Scott joined RealMed in 1999 and has held various leadership roles at RealMed, including General Counsel and Senior Vice President of RealMed's National Sales and Support Team.

Prior to joining RealMed, Scott was employed by The CIT Group, Inc., and its predecessor, Newcourt Credit Group Inc., as the Chief Counsel of the Specialty Finance and Strategic Development units. While at Newcourt, he had the primary responsibility of drafting and negotiating the company's major vendor partnership agreements with the company's largest customers. He also was responsible for developing Newcourt's programs related to financing of software, insurance compliance, and corporate governance and licensing activities.

Scott has also been an attorney practicing in the Merger and Acquisition area with Indianapolis-based Sommer & Barnard, PC, and Lord Bissell and Brook in Chicago.

Scott earned a B.S. in Finance from Indiana University and his Juris Doctorate, magna cum laude, from Indiana University School of Law, where he was a member of the Indiana University Law Journal.

Kathleen Hertzog

Vice President, Marketing and Communications

Kathleen Hertzog joined Availity in 2007 and leads the enterprise-wide product management, business planning, and market intelligence functions. Having more than 20 years of experience in marketing, business development, and sales, prior to joining Availity, she was Director of Business Development for MEDai, an Orlando, Florida-based health care predictive modeling company. Kathleen facilitated the company’s partnership efforts to establish MEDai as one of the country’s premier analytical applications.

Prior to MEDai, Kathleen was a Senior Director with Specialized Care Services, a business unit of UnitedHealth Group, focused on clinical applications and services. Kathleen was also Vice President of Business Development for National Processing Company (NPC), helping to create the company’s health care financial services division and garnering national attention for its paperless remittance and payment solution. Before joining NPC, Kathleen held leadership positions at both Phycom, a case-management and utilization-management solutions vendor, and ENVOY, now Emdeon.

Kathleen began her career with the real estate management firm of JMB Properties Company. She graduated cum laude from Jacksonville University with a degree in communications.

Jon McBride

Chief Innovation Officer

Jon McBride leads Availity’s innovation function, overseeing the process of cultivating and managing new ideas focused on solving complex problems in health care. Jon brings more than 15 years of health care technology expertise to his role, including significant work in developing mission critical applications and systems.

Prior to joining Availity, Jon was the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President for CorMed/MedBiquitous Services, a global provider collaboration initiative founded by companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, and Johns Hopkins. Previously, he managed software development for the high technology business unit of Motive Communications. There, he was responsible for global software delivery to clients among the Fortune 100 companies.

Jon was Vice President of Technology at CyberPlus Corporation/EmSTAT, now a part of AllScripts, where he was part of a team that designed, deployed, and supported health care software for emergency medicine practices, as well as tools for retrospective analysis of medical data and global standardization of medical concepts. He launched and managed many international initiatives for CyberPlus Corporation in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. He also developed software for Lockheed-Martin to support NASA’s manned exploration of space.

Jon holds a Bachelor's degree in computer science with emphasis in mathematics and electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and has his Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Mary Anne Orenchuk

Vice President, Professional Services

Mary Anne Orenchuk is Vice President of Professional Services for Availity, managing the corporate-wide project and release services, implementation services, client services, quality assurance, and alliance/account management services.

Having more than 15 years of experience in information technology and operations in both the health care and the financial industries, she joined Availity in 2003 as Director of Development. Mary Anne was an original member of the project team that launched Availity in 2001 as an employee of Florida Blue. She also served as executive sponsor for the Availity/THIN joint venture migration.

Prior to joining Availity, Mary Anne was a leader in the Project Management Center of Excellence at Florida Blue. She also served in multiple technology leadership roles to deliver retail banking office automation at Bank of America. As Vice President in Information Management, she led and consulted on organization-wide process engineering improvements and total quality management efforts.

Mary Anne holds a degree in business administration from the University of Florida.

Kelly Parsons

Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President

Kelly Heape Parsons is Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President for Availity. In addition to more than 20 years' experience in finance and leadership, Kelly has extensive experience with international and high-growth companies. Her career hallmark has been in developing and driving operational, organizational and financial strategies to lead the transformation of businesses during significant inflection points in their life cycle.

Kelly joined Availity in August 2011, after serving as CFO for Mosaic Sales Solutions, a privately held marketing and merchandising company based in Dallas, Texas. Prior to that, she was CFO for Accenture HR Services, and previously had held finance leadership roles with Perot Systems. She began her career at Arthur Andersen & Co. and after attaining her CPA certification, Kelly spent 10 years with PepsiCo in various financial roles in both domestic and international locations.

Kelly earned a Masters of Business Administration at Bellarmine College, a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting at Texas A&M University, and is a Certified Public Accountant. She has completed Directorate training at the Northwestern University Kellogg Center for Executive Women.

Outside of work, Kelly supports children's education and animal rescue organizations. She has served as the Executive Director for Dallas' St. Anthony School and Community Center, an inner-city school serving at-risk youth, where she and her husband established St. Anthony's first instrumental music program. She works with the Dachshund Lovers of Texas Dachshund Rescue and is on the Board of Directors for the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas. Kelly and her husband Philip, also a CFO, and their three dachshunds reside in Dallas, Texas.

Thirumalai "Raj" Rajagopal

General Manager, Senior Vice President, Business Solutions

Raj Rajagopal leads the Business Solutions Group comprising administrative and financial experts, and reports directly to the company's Chief Executive Officer, Russ Thomas.

Before taking on this role, Raj served as Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer for RealMed prior to Availity's acquisition of the company in September 2010. In that role, Raj directed all internal software architecture and development, research and development, all aspects of application delivery and data center operations, as well as centralized services and support for RealMed. It was during his leadership that RealMed achieved its 2009 Best in KLAS ranking for Claims and Clearinghouse Services. Raj joined RealMed in November 1999 as Director of Software Development.

Prior to RealMed, Raj was involved in software development efforts at Paws Inc., the Garfield cartoon company, where he managed the software used by the company's licensees worldwide. His previous work also includes automating the Indian Railways Passenger Reservation System during his tenure with CMC Ltd. (now part of Tata Consultancy Services), one of India's leading IT solution providers.

Raj holds a master's degree in Engineering Mechanics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, India. Raj resides in Indianapolis.

Jon Zimmerman

Senior Vice President, General Manager of Clinical Solutions

Jon Zimmerman joined Availity in February 2011 as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of clinical solutions. He is responsible for the development, planning and delivery of clinical information exchange via the Availity Health Information Network.

Before joining Availity, Jon served as Senior Vice President, Enterprise Solutions for CareFusion, Cardinal Health's Clinical and Medical Products division, where he defined and executed global go-to-market strategies supporting their medical device and system portfolio. Prior to that, Jon was Senior Vice President, Research and Development for IT at Cardinal Health.

Jon began his career with IBM, earning numerous awards for innovation and engineering, and qualifying for the top sales honors at the company. Later, at Siemens SMS, he was instrumental in developing and operating HDX, an early leader in health care electronic data interchange. In addition, Jon played a key leadership role in the delivery of ambulatory systems with Allscripts.

Additionally, Jon has participated on many boards in the health information network industry, including: the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI); North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance (NCHICA); eHealth Initiative; National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT); and GHX.

Jon earned a B.A. in Literature from West Chester University in Pennsylvania. He is based in Jacksonville, FL, at Availity's corporate headquarters.