ABOUT US
The Power of Connection
Strategic Healthcare Connections LLC (SHC) was founded in 2018 by healthcare industry veterans Jack Walker and Phil Sanger, MD to leverage their vast healthcare industry experience and collective network for the purpose of helping innovative companies accelerate their growth and market penetration.
Today, with an expanded team of proven industry experts and a focus on strategic partnerships that span advisory, marketing, and transaction services, SHC is positioned to add significant value to your executive management team and accelerated growth to your organization.
THE TEAM
PHILIP SANGER, MD (Co-Founder / Board Member)
As an active investor and the founder of multiple ventures, including a publicly traded Medicare-Advantage Health Plan, Dr. Sanger understands what it takes to build a successful healthcare company. After working for more than 25 years as a pulmonary and critical care specialist, he also understands firsthand the complexities and challenges of the healthcare system. He now leverages this knowledge to provide both capital and collaboration as a Managing Partner of TEXO Ventures.
Dr. Sanger has dedicated his career to patients and the entrepreneurial endeavors that would better serve them. In the early 1980s, he served as the Chief of Pulmonary Medicine at the Texas Tech School of Medicine in Lubbock, Texas. By 1990, he had founded and sold a home health durable medical equipment company, launched and grew a profitable Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) to over 50K subscribers, and built a 54K square-foot multi-specialty surgical center, imaging facility, and laboratory that was acquired by a publicly traded company. In 1996, he founded Intercede Health and developed it from a 3-person hospitalist company into a leader in comprehensive medical management impacting care for over 1 million patients. He went on to help launch and serve on the Board of HealthSpring through a successful IPO in 2006.
While Dr. Sanger’s vision for hospitalist medicine and medical management strategies can be found in national publications like Managed Healthcare Executive, Health Insurance Underwriters, The Hospitalist Magazine, and Disease Management Advisor, he is most proud of his work with entrepreneurs. Many healthcare startups fail because they don’t understand the regulatory process or they lack the network of industry professionals who will not only validate their product or service, but also drive market traction. Dr. Sanger currently serves on the Board of Intercede Health, Televero Health and Wenzel Spine. He is also an advisor to Santé Ventures.
JACK WALKER (Co-Founder / Board Chair)
As a Marine Corps veteran, Jack Walker began his career in healthcare information technology in the 1960s with various IT/data management firms. He participated in landmark hospital system work with the Texas Hospital Assoc., AMS, and American Medical International involving multiple hospitals. He served as VP of Information Systems at Hyatt Medical Management. Jack has done IT consulting and management work for a variety of large healthcare clients including Cook County Hospital in Chicago, the University Hospital of Louisville, where he oversaw the IT system for their new $383 million facility, and University Hospital in Las Vegas.
As the medical care IT market continued its significant growth, Jack founded his own company, EHC, in 2000. EHC quickly emerged as the small, nimble, highly competent organization that could rapidly respond to IT concerns of a client. Jack later merged EHC with maxIT Healthcare. As a result of the merger, maxIT experienced explosive growth and became the largest and fastest growing hospital consulting firm in the country. In 2012, Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE:SAIC) acquired maxIT for $520M and quickly spun off a new company, Leidos Health (NYSE:LDOS), which had an IPO valued at $4 billion. Jack’s abilities quickly distinguished him as a leader in the commercial healthcare IT field as he focused on growing Leidos Health to bring about transformation of the healthcare industry and significantly impact people’s lives.
In March 2017, Jack retired as Vice President of Leidos (Commercial Health) and in 2018, co-founded Strategic Healthcare Connections, LLC where he leverages his vast experience and deep network to connect select companies which possess exceptional products and services with entities who need them.
DONALD KOSIAK, MD (Strategic Advisor / Board Member)
Donald Kosiak, MD, MBA, FACHE, CPE is a proven physician leader in change management and implementation of current and future healthcare trends. He is an accomplished medical thought leader connecting patients and medical providers in unique and innovative ways, and has a diverse background with international experience. He possesses expertise in strategic market penetration, deployment of technology in medicine, and staff development with more than a decade of clinical and administrative experience directing medical facilities, teams and staff. He continues to actively practice emergency medicine. Overall, he is a smart-working, visionary physician executive with strong leadership skills and a keen ability to persuade, motivate, and influence others.
Currently, as the Chief Medical Officer for Leidos, he is responsible for providing clinical subject matter expertise and perspective, knowledge, leadership and direction to ensure collaboration and alignment to business strategy across the entire Leidos organization.
Prior to joining Leidos he served as the Vice President for Medical Development and Executive Medical Director for Avera Health, a 32-hospital integrated medical system based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In that role, he served as the chief medical officer of one of the top telemedicine programs in the United States. In addition, he has served as the elected Chief of Staff of the Avera McKennan Hospital, a 545-bed tertiary medical center located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Dr. Kosiak serves in the United States Army National Guard as an emergency physician. He is currently holds the rank of Colonel and is assigned as State Surgeon, JFHQ, South Dakota Army National Guard. He is a decorated officer having served multiple tours of duty in support of Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.
Dr. Kosiak attended medical school at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, ND. He completed his emergency medicine residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. In 2010, he completed his Masters of Business Administration from the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. He is board-certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine and the Certifying Commission in Medical Management.
FRANK FORTNER (CEO / Board Member)
Frank Fortner is a solutions-driven senior executive with a proven history and passion for leading high performing teams that deliver award-winning products and services. After beginning his career in 1991 with MEDITECH, Frank joined iatricSystems in 1995 where he created and grew the Software Solutions Division to help the company broaden its service-based portfolio. By the mid-2000’s, software-driven sales represented 90% of company revenue. In January of 2013, Frank became president of the organization, and for the next 6.5 years, he held P&L responsibility for all of iatricSystems products and services. In 2018, Frank led the company through an acquisition by Harris Computer Corporation, a division of Constellation Software Inc. (CSU.TO).
For nearly 25 years, working with more than 1,300 hospitals in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. Frank led the efforts to solve many of healthcare’s most pressing challenges, including integrating enterprise and departmental solutions as well as medical devices to EHRs and other software systems. The portfolio built under Frank’s guidance consists of data analytics, privacy and security, interoperability, and EHR Optimization solutions. These efforts led to more than 10 best-in-industry awards.
In May 2019, Frank stepped down from Harris Computer Corporation to join forces with long-time colleagues Jack Walker and Dr. Phil Sanger at Strategic Healthcare Connections, LLC. The company mission is leveraging the power of connections to continue affecting positive change for healthcare and other industries.
JUDY VOLKER (VP, Marketing Services)
Judy Volker is an accomplished marketer whose experience spans from single-owner start-ups to Fortune 500 and Fortune 50 companies. From healthcare IT; to the world’s largest office furniture manufacturer; to retail superstore; to the global leader in color measurement and management, Judy has helped companies build the trust necessary to propel prospective and existing clients to buying action.
Utilizing the proprietary TrustBuilder Framework™, Judy works with clients to assess, evaluate, and provide marketing strategy and implementation plans that prompt awareness, increase understanding, and build belief in their company. This unique method ensures a holistic approach to marketing that is the thread that binds organizational, product, and sales goals. Judy is known for her ‘so what?’ approach to marketing that ensures companies think like their audiences and that value propositions are meaningful, and client centered.
While Judy helps companies develop their all-important marketing strategy, it is the book Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, (Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan), that sits dog-eared on her desk and is now digitally bookmarked as a constant reminder of, and roadmap for, understanding that execution is, itself, a strategy. It is the art and challenge of execution that propels Judy’s willingness to roll up her sleeves and provide not only marketing advisory counsel, but implementation support.
Judy joined Strategic Healthcare Connections, LLC in 2020 after more than 12 years leading iatricSystems, Inc. marketing efforts.
FRANK REEVES (VP, Transaction Services / Board Member)
A managing partner at TEXO Ventures II, Frank Reeves has more than 30 years of experience as a performance driven chief executive officer, chief financial officer, hedge fund executive, investment banker, and tax accountant. He is an expert in creating shareholder value, top quartile returns for LP's, and providing tax advice on complex acquisition and divestiture transactions.
After working his way up to Partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, where as a partner he oversaw $2B in M&A activity over three years, Frank went on to become the Executive VP and CFO at Luminex Corporation in 2002, and later the CEO of Expresiv Technologies, which eventually sold to Softmed Systems Inc., the leading market share provider in electronic back end transcription and medical documentation systems.
Moving to First Q Capital LLC in 2005 as COO, Investment Committee Member, and Partner, Frank served as the firm's principal external liaison with respect to performance and other communications to both prospective and current investors. He worked in conjunction with the CEO and Portfolio Manager to develop the firm's marketing strategy and was an integral member in raising the firm's investment capital. Frank currently serves as Partner at Reeves Snyder LLP, which assists clients in Healthcare, Technology and Manufacturing verticals by raising multimillion-dollar venture and private equity financing rounds and advises clients on licensing, acquisition, and divestiture transactions.
Additionally, he is CEO of SPEC Pharma LLC, where he manages joint venture relationships with partners in the development of generic pharmaceuticals.