Meet the Team
We are a healthcare technology company that's different than the rest.
We're passionate about what we do, alchemizing business and technology challenges into efficiencies across the healthcare space that lower costs and increase the quality of care. We are a technology think tank delivering innovative, cutting edge solutions...ahead of their time.
We don't stop until our clients get the results they came for and we use our years of expertise to get them there.
Innovation. Communication. Collaboration. Trust.
That's how we get it done.
LEADERSHIP
Ken Ramirez
Co-Founder & CEO
Ken has been driving startups and technical innovation since the internet explosion of late 1990’s and is responsible for the corporate roadmap, product vision and technical innovations at Virtual First. Ken takes a vision and makes it reality through sound strategy development. He intuitively sees the threads of opportunity that wind through an organization, brings them together into a coherent whole, helps others extend their thinking, and drives material business advantage.
He is an inspirational leader who tells stories that inspire action while at the same time is grounded in financial information that levers the business. Respected as a credible voice in decision making, connecting strategic partners, and establishing governance boundaries, Ken earns a seat at the table wherever he serves.
John Jordan
Co-Founder & CSE
John is a co-founder and Chief Sales Executive at Virtual First with the responsibility for commercial distribution and keeping the company on top of the ever-changing medical device landscape. With over 27 years of sales experience in the medical device industry and an ability to think outside the box, John brings the creative and highly competitive elements needed in this venture. In addition to running his own distribution company, John’s numerous awards from more than one Fortune 100 company demonstrate the entrepreneurial spirit that inspired the Virtual Vendor project.
John received his Bachelors from Villanova University and shortly thereafter began a career in sales in the medical field. In 2008, John founded his own distributorship, Spine Vision Surgical which sells spinal implants to orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons.
Kurt Yockey
General Counsel
Kurt has been a member of the State Bar of Michigan since 1981 and has worked extensively with physicians, hospitals, medical product manufacturers and other healthcare professionals and entities in the defense of claims and serves as general counsel to several Michigan Corporations. He is often selected as preferred counsel in complex litigation involving: employment matters, orthopedic surgery, emergency medicine, obstetrics and cardiology defense matters.
In addition to his specialty of medical malpractice defense, Kurt is involved in other areas of concern for health care entities and doctors including: products liability; medical device biologics and drug legal issues; non-compete issues, governance and compliance.
Kurt is member of the State Bar of Michigan’s Health Law Section. In 2005, Kurt Yockey was named a Michigan “Lawyer of the Year” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly for his role in finding the problem in a medical device, leading to a design change which avoided patient injuries. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubble.
Stephen Howard
CTO
Stephen holds the position of Chief Technology Officer and has spent the last 20 years leading technology teams, driving innovation and delivering value as an IT consultant. Whether at a small startup or a Fortune 100 company, Stephen has demonstrated success in delivering high-quality and innovative solutions architecture and software implementations.
He brings to Virtual First vast experience in a wide range of industries, giving him unique perspective when apprehending the needs of the business and its end-users where technology is concerned.
Gifted with being able to mentor and coordinate teams of different experiences and abilities, Stephen brings a team-based, single-minded solution mentality where everyone can provide value and strength, and where every team member can be proud of the delivered product. He prides himself on expecting and achieving excellence from project inception all the way through supporting end users with the final product.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
David Sherwood
Chairman of the Board
Dave Sherwood is an experienced deal-maker, advisor and currently holds the position of Chairman of the Virtual First Inc Board of Directors. Dave brings nearly 30 years of private equity and investment banking experience with a focus on financial services and healthcare services companies.
Dave has served on the boards of many companies including McBee Associates, Precision Lender, Client First, Digital Risk and Jones Deslauriers Insurance Management. In addition, he’s held senior roles at Century Equity Partners, Fortress Information security, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch
KEN RAMIREZ
Marty Brutscher
Board Member
Marty Brutscher is an experienced healthcare executive with a demonstrated history of working in the Hospital & Healthcare industry. Skilled in Medicaid, Healthcare Management, and Managed Care, Marty was previously CEO of McBee Associates and over 27 years, grew the company from a small regional firm with 20 people to a national firm with more than 500 clients and 350 employees. In 4 years as CEO, Marty grew revenue by 50% and EBITDA by more than 400%.
As a Virtual First Inc board member, Marty provides valuable insight and guidance to the entire executive team.
JOHN JORDAN
BOARD OF ADVISORS
Benjamin Domb, MD
Advisory Board
Scott Price, MD
Advisory Board
Benjamin Domb is a nationally recognized orthopaedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine and arthroscopic surgery of the hip, shoulder and knee. A noted pioneer in advanced new techniques in hip arthroscopy, he delivers innovative treatments for patients with hip injuries such as impingement and labral tears. He appears on national TV and has been selected as a Top Doctor for Hip Arthroscopy by the New York Times and U.S. News and has been quoted in Time Magazine.
Dr. Domb is the founder and chair of the American Hip Institute Research Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating, innovating and improving the minimally invasive treatment of hip injuries.
Dr. Domb has treated numerous professional, Olympic, and elite level athletes, including NFL, NBA, and NHL players. He has cared for the Los Angeles Lakers, Dodgers, Kings and Galaxy, and served as Head Team Physician for the WNBA Chicago Sky. Dr. Domb is amongst the most experienced Hip Arthroscopy surgeons in the world, and was the first surgeon in the United States to perform outpatient Robotic Hip Replacement. He is the inventor of cutting-edge techniques in hip arthroscopy to repair injuries such as a torn labrum, impingement, and gluteus medius tears. Dr. Domb treats patients from across the country who travel to Chicago for their surgery, and he takes pride in caring for every patient like a professional athlete.
Scott Price is a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon with specialized training in sports medicine and adult joint reconstruction. Dr. Price was born and raised in New York City and attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, where he received fellowship awards for Biological and Medical Studies. He received his MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, followed by an Orthopaedic Surgery residency at the Montefiore Medical Center. Dr. Price completed a year of chief residency before moving to Cincinnati for a year of fellowship training in sports medicine and adult joint reconstruction at the prestigious Cincinnati Sports Medicine Institute under the tutelage of Dr. Frank Noyes.
From 1988 until 2003, Dr. Price served as one of the team physicians for the Chicago White Sox, and he was the head physician for the Major League Baseball All-Star game in 2003. He also has been the tournament physician for the women’s professional tennis events in Chicago, including the Virginia Slims and Ameritech Cup tournaments sponsored by the WTA. Today, Dr. Price continues to care for athletes on many levels. He currently serves as the team physician for Amos Alonzo Stagg High School and treats many young athletes in the community.
Dr. Price is also experienced in providing care for those under Workers’ Compensation claims. He knows that early diagnosis and treatment are keys to returning an injured worker to the job as quickly as possible—minimizing medical costs and time lost from work.
Roy W. Sanders, MD
Advisory Board
Roy Sanders specializes in acute trauma and posttraumatic reconstruction, as well as Foot and Ankle Surgery. He is the President of Florida Orthopaedic Institute, a group he helped found, and the Director of the Orthopaedic Trauma Service. He is currently the Chairman of USF’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Dr. Sanders attended medical school at the New York University School of Medicine in New York City, and performed his residency at the Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Institute, also in New York City, graduating in 1985.
Dr. Sanders received fellowship training in musculoskeletal trauma at Vanderbilt University Medical School, and then went on to obtain the AO/ASIF Jack McDaniels Memorial Trauma Fellowship, which he completed under the tutelage of Thomas Ruedi, M.D., in Chur, Switzerland. Upon his return, he spent several months with Sigvard T. Hansen, Jr., M.D., as a foot and ankle fellow at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Sanders is highly respected both nationally and internationally for his work in orthopaedic trauma, and foot and ankle surgery. He has designed a comprehensive plating system for articular fractures of the upper and lower extremities (A.L.P.S.©, DePuy Orthopedics), as well as developing a complete intramedullary nailing system for long bones (Trigen©, Smith & Nephew) in conjunction with Dr. Toney Russell, M.D., of Memphis, Tennessee.
Dr. Sanders is the Past President of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (2004-2005) and is currently serving as Director of the Orthopaedic Trauma Service, and the Chief of the Department of Orthopedics at Tampa General Hospital. He has been involved in resident and fellowship training for over twenty (20) years. He has been a past Chairman of the Committee on Trauma for both the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and for the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society.
Dr. Sanders has authored over 100 articles and abstracts on orthopaedic trauma, published several textbooks on orthopaedic trauma, and is presently the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma, the leading international journal in the field. He has served as faculty for over 150 courses, has given over 230 lectures, and served as course Chairman for 39 courses to train other orthopaedic surgeons, including originating the AO/ASIF Course in Foot and Ankle Trauma with Sigvard Hansen, and the Current Solutions in Orthopaedic Trauma Course, now in its 8th year.
He has been an investigator in over 20 research studies including a landmark National Institutes of Health investigation on limb salvage, for which he was a recipient of the AAOS prestigious Kappa Delta Ann Doner Vaughan Award for Outstanding Orthopaedic Research in February of 2003. His special area of expertise is reconstructive surgery of the lower extremity (complex fractures, mal/nonunions, deformity correction, post-traumatic arthritis, and bone infections).25 years.
Nate Sand
Advisory Board
Nate Sand has been a leading distributor of medical devices and supplies on the west coast for over 2 decades. Mr. Sand brings a wide breadth of medical device experience and deep knowledge of the medical device supply chain. Early in his career Nate worked with Stryker Endoscopy and also served as a DePuy Synthes Spine Rep. Nate jumped into the spine world when the Charite Artificial Disc came to the market with Johnson and Johnson so he joined the LA DePuy Spine team in 2002, trained over 23 surgeons on the Charite Disc in 2 years. DePuy Spine was Nate’s work home for 4 1/2 years until he founded his own successful distributorship, Sand Medical Inc. Sand Medical focused on ADR technology with LDR, product development and team building with Pioneer Surgical Inc (now RTI Surgical), Coflex technology, and Aesculap’s Activ lumbar ADR. Multiple times Sand Medical and Nate were named “distributor of the year” with Pioneer Surgical.
Nate’s customers are nationally known like John Regan, MD, Richard Nussbaum, M.D., Robert Watkins, M.D. (Sr and Jr), Erik Spayde, M.D. and most recently, Nate has developed artificial intelligence algorithms to facilitate the pickup and delivery of medical device implants and supplies.
Nate holds a BS in business marketing and internet business from the University of Nevada.
Randy F. Davis, MD
Advisory Board
Randy Davis received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed his residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is an Associate Professor of Orthopedics and Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University and an Associate Professor of Orthopedics at The University of Maryland.
Dr. Davis is an orthopedic and spine surgeon with 35 years of experience, devoted to his patients by providing comprehensive care with a variety of modalities. He performs all aspects of spinal surgery involving the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine. Dr. Davis has performed over 6,000 surgeries during his career, along with pain management and injections to keep patients out of the hospital.
His research interests include the development of multiple spine implants, and minimally invasive lateral lumbar fusions. He also has interest and expertise in performing total joint replacement procedures of the knee and hip, procedures which he has performed for over 25 years.
PRODUCT ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
Mike Whitlaw
Back-end Engineering
Dahn Maier
Front-end Engineering
Mike bio...here
Dahn is passionate about making beautiful and insightful software using the latest cutting edge technology. His focus is on scalable data driven cloud applications. Dahn has a long history of graphic design leadership and software architecture that brings the perfect mix of skills to Virtual First and provides the ergonomics and usability to the Virtual Vendor Platform front end.
Sandy Pflugfelder
Director, Professional Services
Zoltan Sandor
Infrastructure / Devops
Sandy’s extensive career has focused on all aspects of learning and development; her contributions have played an invaluable role in empowering employees and facilitating product success. She has been responsible for leading learning strategies, creating detailed learning plans, designing and delivering effective instructor-led training, and developing engaging eLearning content for a number of fortune 500 companies. In addition, she has served as the Product Owner of an online learning platform startup, led training development teams for a major social media platform, and managed major software rollouts for prominent financial firms.
Sandy also brings healthcare experience, successfully implementing software systems for hospitals, and developing and facilitating software training for surgeons and other medical personnel.
As the Director of Professional Services, Sandy leads the company’s training and rollout strategy through analysis, design, and delivery of all learning modalities, from pilot through production.
Zoltan bio...here