WDBX Interview with Berardino Baratta | Potentia Analytics Inc.

Alex Stephens has nearly a decade of experience in software engineering with a focus on web application development. He started at Potentia Analytics as a programmer on a physician staffing system for emergency departments. While he still serves as team lead for that project, he also directs the software engineering team, constantly seeking to improve product quality and reliability through better development processes. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Southern Illinois University.

Dr. Charles Foell III is the Director of Project Management at Potentia Analytics, a role that is natural progression of Charles’ experience managing a variety of highly technical B2B and B2C projects in web, mobile, machine learning, and data science. In Charles’ aggregate work as a project manager, he has led dozens of developers, facilitated B2B contracts, led client interactions, translated business requirements into technical specifications, developed and directed strategic planning, and oversaw coordination of personnel and resources.

Charles also brings a depth and breadth of technical experience to Potentia, having previously held roles including Principal Data Scientist, Computer Vision Engineer, and Technical Lead. Charles is an inventor with patents in recommender systems and computer vision, and has a strong quantitative background arising from peer-reviewed, published research in theoretical and experimental physics and years of experience as a software developer and data scientist.

Tavia Vasicek is an insightful brand and marketing strategist who partners with progressive companies to showcase and grow their corporate brands and solutions. She came to Potentia Analytics in 2017 to support the growth and development of their compelling, cutting-edge resolutions for some of today’s biggest issues in healthcare operations.

Tavia’s specialties include brand strategy and development, marketing analytics and planning, account management and development, lead and content generation, cross functional team leadership, website and social media management, grant and proposal writing, public speaking and event planning. She holds a B.A. in Communications from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale with a specialty in public relations/marketing.

After spending nearly three decades in business, product, and human development, Tavia believes that each entity has a specific niche market where human connection plays a key role in joining the two. She strives to empower organizations and thought leaders to differentiate themselves and drive measurable results through targeted content and outreach.

Passionate, energetic, and driven coupled with the continuing effort of listening closely are all a part of what makes Jerry Cardwell who he is today. From his 35 years of business negotiations and courtroom deliberations, Jerry has developed persuasive presentation and sales skills with effective research and writing abilities. He is committed to excellence and strategic planning to economically serve his clients’ best interest with an empathetic heart towards finding an amicable resolution in an expeditious manner.

Jerry’s business acumen has been acquired from both the successful ownership and operation of a boutique nine (9) person law firm, as well as technology businesses. More importantly, however, was his time spent traveling for six and a half (6 ½) years throughout North, Central and South America. Such travels allowed him to experience and acquire the wealth of knowledge found in diverse cultures and social backgrounds.

Jerry has experienced much in the way of success and failure, which aids him in empathizing with the struggles of all entrepreneurs. He views his work as one of personal commitment and service towards those with whom he works and takes pride in his part in producing an end result that goes beyond the expectations of all involved.

Direct entrepreneurial experience: In addition to his transactional/litigation legal practice and varied business clientele, Jerry has participated in the startup, product development and sales, as well as part ownership and management of three (3) technology-based companies offering services in the Medical, Real Estate and Fast-Food industries. In addition, he has valued mid-market size companies as a broker for mergers and acquisitions with financial reviews and strategies for maximizing value.

Education: Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO

BA-Technical Writing and Audio-Visual Script writing with a minor in Macro Biology

Drake University Law School, Des Moines, IA

Graduate Degree-Juris Doctorate (JD)

Jerry is dedicated to a strong work ethic with an even stronger commitment to his wife and two (2) children. Away from work, Jerry enjoys his time as a pilot, avid motorcyclist, horseman, skier/snowboarder, and snowmobiler, with a passion for racecars. He is also a voracious reader who is dedicated to continuous improvement in his business and personal life. Jerry attempts to balance his life with a strong spiritual commitment and service to friends and community. His favorite quote that sums up his attitude toward struggles is “Never, never, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.” (Sir Winston Churchill)

Kirk Jensen has spent over 25 years in Emergency Medicine management and clinical care. Board-certified in Emergency Medicine, he has served as medical director for several emergency departments. Dr. Jensen is President and CEO of Healthcare Management Strategies and formerly Chief Innovation Officer for Envision Healthcare and the Innovation Group. Originally from the Chicago area, Dr. Jensen began his career in Emergency Department management in Los Angeles, building a physician group focused on the special needs of the disadvantaged urban patient population. He worked with the Governor and the Health Department to maintain a healthcare safety net for the city of Los Angeles.

In 1990 his clinical and management career transitioned to North Carolina and the formation of Southeastern Acute Care Specialists, providing emergency physician services for two hospitals seeing 90K visits annually. He served as Medical Director and Chairman of the Emergency Department (ED), leading both hospitals to national benchmark standards in ED operations and efficiency. He implemented procedures that achieved national recognition for Nash General Hospital as a “Best Practice Clinical Site” by the Emergency Nurses Association (1999). In addition, Dr. Jensen implemented crew resource management training at both hospitals, focusing on team performance, safety, and human error management. He is a certified MedTeams instructor.

Since 1998 Dr. Jensen has been on the faculty of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), focusing on improving patient flow, quality enhancement and patient satisfaction. He has coached over 300 emergency departments through the process of improving operations and clinical services. He chaired and served as faculty for over a dozen IHI collaboratives: Operational and Clinical Improvement in the Emergency Department and Improving Flow Through the Acute Care Setting. And for years led the innovative seminars Cracking the Code to Hospital-wide Patient Flow and Perfecting Emergency Department Operations. He was on the expert panel and site examination team for Urgent Matters, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative and was a Medical Director for the Studer Group. Dr Jensen is co-author of the 2008 Hamilton Award winning book Leadership for Smooth Patient Flow. He is also co-author of Hardwiring Flow and The Hospital Executive’s Guide to Emergency Department Management.

Dr. Jensen teaches at the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Directors Academy, leading ED directors through process and operational improvements, as well as patient safety activities. He has been honored as the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Speaker of the Year. Dr. Jensen holds Bachelor and Medical Degrees from the University of Illinois. He interned in Internal Medicine at the University of Hawaii and completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Chicago. Dr. Jensen earned an MBA at the University of Tennessee.

Dr. Shahram Rahimi is currently the Department Head and Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Mississippi State University. Prior to that, he was Professor and Chair at the Department of Computer Science at Southern Illinois University (SIU) for six years. Dr. Rahimi has extensive background in both academia and industry. He is a recognized leader in artificial intelligence with over 190 peer-reviewed publications and several patents or pending patents in this area. He has served as the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Computational Intelligence and sits on the editorial board of many other journals. He is also an integral part of the IEEE’s Committee for New Standards.

Shahram has organized over 15 conferences on Artificial Intelligence and multi-agent systems over the past decade and has served as Principal Investigator for several federally funded and industry-funded research projects. Shahram has been contributing to advancements in AI and Computational Intelligence over the past 20 years.

Norman Carver is a distinguished technology research scientist specializing in the area of Multi-agent systems, distributed problem solving, sensor interpretation, knowledge-intensive control of AI systems distributed problem solving (DPS), machine learning, multi-agent learning, architectures for knowledge-intensive control of AI systems. As a research scientist with numerous publications and two grants by the National Science Foundation, much of Dr. Carver’s theoretical work has been based on the use of Decentralized Markov Decision Processes (DEC-MDPs) for modeling MAS problems and producing minimum communication coordination strategies. Dr. Carver is the Chief Technology Officer at Potentia Analytics and a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale with a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts.

Bonnie Kucharski is a dynamic operations leader with over 20 years of experience in the technology sector. She comes to Potentia Analytics from Liaison (OpenText), a leading provider of cloud-based enterprise application integration and data management solutions with a large footprint in healthcare data translation and harmonization. For nearly a decade she grew and led the technical integrations team responsible for the translation and architecture of data between two companies therefore optimizing interoperability.

Bonnie has held strategic positions within the technology sector at organizations including 3Com Corporation (formerly US Robotics) and Blackboard (formerly SchoolCenter). She has a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Management from Ashford University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Management from DePaul University. She is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Amb. Michael Gfoeller (ret.) is an independent consultant on international politics and security matters.

He served for 26 years (1984 to 2010) as a US Foreign Service Officer. His career included service in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Manama, Bahrain; Iraq; Moscow, Russia; Yerevan, Armenia; Chisinau, Moldova; Warsaw, Poland; and Brussels, Belgium. From 2004 to 2008, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge’ d’Affaires at the US Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

He served for two years (2008-2010) as the Senior Political Advisor to General David Petraeus, then Commander, US Central Command. He retired from the State Department with the rank of Ambassador. His foreign languages include Arabic, Russian, French, and German.

Amb. Gfoeller is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Cosmos Club, the Union League Club of New York and a Board Member of Potentia Analytics. He is also a Founding Partner of Arabia Analytica, LLC.

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Dr. Shivji is the Founder of 123Dentist, the 2nd largest DSO in Canada in terms of the number of practices. He is responsible for providing overall strategic direction and leadership to his Executive Team and highly respected in the Canadian dental industry. Dr. Shivji has decades of clinical experience and many of successful partnerships with practitioners. He has a proven track record in deal making and managing a broad network of dental practices. Dr. Shivji graduated from University of British Columbia Dental School in 1993 with a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree.

Dr. Iscovich has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Qualitas Group of Envision Healthcare, focused on developing the healthcare workforce. Through acquisition of Vista Staffing Solutions, the merger of Qualitas Staffing and telemedicine, Dr. Iscovich created viable solutions for today’s staffing issues.

Dr. Iscovich also served as the Chief Executive Officer of EmCare’s largest division, extending from Missouri to Hawaii. He has broad experience in physician management, healthcare finance, healthcare technology, organizational development, and mergers & acquisitions.

Dr. Iscovich currently serves as the Board Chair of Direct Relief, recognized as one of the top charities in the world. Direct Relief provides billions of dollars in global humanitarian relief partnering with pharmaceutical and healthcare companies throughout the United States and the world.

Dr. Iscovich is a member of the board of directors of Office Works, a staffing company, and board chair of Potentia Analytics, a startup company providing healthcare, political, and financial analytics. He also served as an advisor to InTouch Health, a robotics and telemedicine company, and was the CEO and founder of First Medical Group.

Dr. Iscovich currently serves on the Investment Committees of Envision Healthcare and Cottage Health System. He has been a past member of the Board of Directors for Cottage Health and served as Chair of the Audit/Compliance Committee. He has also served on the Catholic Healthcare West Central Coast Board of Directors (now Dignity Health), president of the St. Francis Hospital of Santa Barbara Foundation, as State of California EMS Commissioner, assistant clinical professor at the Keck USC School of Medicine, and on the American Heart Association National Faculty.

Dr. Iscovich received his medical degree from the University of California at San Francisco and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and Chemistry (summa cum laude) at the University of Puget Sound. He lives with his wife Lisa in Santa Barbara, California.

Bill is a seasoned investment professional with over 40 years of experience in the global financial industry. He serves as an Independent Board Director and and/or Senior advisor to a range of organizations, both in the not-for-profit and for-profit arenas. His Wall Street career began in 1973 at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette. He has a long-history of involvement within the hedge fund community, which began in 1983 when he met Julian H Robertson Jr. of Tiger Management. Bill has been investing in hedge funds ever since. He has lectured at the University of Virginia, Yale University, Harvard University and I.E. University in Madrid, Spain.

Bill serves on the board of the Jamestown Foundation which is widely considered one of the best resources on Terrorism and Russia. Bill was a U.S. Army Infantry Lieutenant in Vietnam and spoke Vietnamese. He is Chairman of the Governors Council of the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation in NYC. He has a long history of involvement in causes related to Cerebral Palsy. He is an “Honorary Angel” of 100 Women in Hedge Funds. He is a Trustee of the Episcopal Academy, founded in 1785, in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. Bill is also a Board Member of Potentia Analytics, a software company and is a Founding Partner of Arabia Analytica, LLC. He is on the Board of Rhymella, a children’s book company.

Dr. Sean Bozorgzad operates at the nexus of computer science and Healthcare. He is a practicing emergency room physician with a passion for software and information technology. Sean is currently the Chief of Medicine and the Emergency Department Medical Director at Peace Health United General Medical Center in Sedro Woolley, Washington, as well as, an adjunct faculty at the University of Southern Illinois Department of Computer Science.

For over ten years, Sean has helped create some of the most innovative software solutions to optimize emergency medicine staffing and logistics. He is also passionate about education and routinely participates in international educational trips as a way of giving back to the world community. He received a Bachelor of Science in Genetics from the University of South Florida and a Doctorate of Medicine from the University of British Columbia.

Mr. Berardino Baratta has been involved with Potentia Analytics since 2015 working initially as a consultant before joining in 2017 as CEO. Previously, he was General Manager of the Multimedia Applications Division for Freescale Semiconductor where he turned the business around, achieving profitability and sustained growth with major design wins at Microsoft, Ford, Amazon, Sony, and Logitech.

Prior to this, he led Strategy, Marketing and Business Development for the $2B Wireless Mobile and Systems Group at Freescale. He began his career with Metrowerks Corporation, a leading provider of Software Development tools, where he led engineering through its growth from startup to public corporation through acquisition by Motorola Corporation. Mr. Baratta co-founded Specialized Equine Services, a 501(c)3 corporation focused on using horses to help children, adults and veterans with disabilities. He received his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Honours) degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.