Leadership
Executive Team | Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Kevin Brown Chief Executive Officer
Prior to Casenet, Mr. Brown founded AMISYS Managed Care Systems, a health insurance information systems provider, where he was president, CEO and chairman of the board. While at AMISYS, he managed and grew the company over 10 years to become the market leader in core claims systems, licensing the AMISYS product to 105 health plans. He later drove the acquisition of Synertech forming ASI, a company of 1,000 employees serving 85 health plans. Upon the acquisition of ASI by DST Systems (NYSE: DST) in November 2006, Mr. Brown served as Chairman of DST’s health industry subsidiary, DST Health Solutions, which serves over 165 payor customers. He currently serves on the board of CareSource Management Company, one of the country’s largest independent Medicaid HMOs. Mr. Brown earned his Bachelor’s degree from City College of New York.
Carl J. Ascenzo Chairman of the Board
Mr. Ascenzo has over twenty years experience as a senior leader in information technology (IT). He has led software and professional services companies, and managed large IT departments. As an expert in health insurance, he has managed some of the largest and most complex technology organizations in the industry. Mr. Ascenzo is the founder and principal consultant at Ascention Consulting, which specializes in providing fast, expert assistance to IT leaders. Most recently, Mr. Ascenzo was senior vice president and chief information officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) where he was responsible for all aspects of information technology. During Mr. Ascenzo’s tenure, BCBSMA received several awards in recognition of its technology leadership including the Massachusetts Interactive Media Council’s best healthcare and overall website, two silver WWW Health Awards, and e-Healthcare Leadership and eHealthcare Strategy & Trends’ best internet site. Prior to BCBSMA, Mr. Ascenzo held leadership roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Aetna. Mr. Ascenzo has been widely recognized for his industry leadership with awards from Insurance & Technology Magazine, the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium, and the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council.
Peter Grua HLM Venture Partners, Partner
Mr. Grua is a Partner of HLM Venture Partners. His venture investment activity has been focused on health care services and health care information technologies. Prior to joining HLM in 1992, Mr. Grua was a Managing Director of Alex. Brown & Sons, where he directed research in health care services and managed care. Previously, he was a research analyst at William Blair & Company and a strategy consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. Mr. Grua has served as director of several companies including: Atria Communities (NASDAQ), Actamed (aka WebMD), BenefitPoint, Channelpoint, HealthVision and Renal Care Group (NYSE). He is currently a director of GTESS, Health Care REIT (NYSE), MedVentive, Sanovia, Silverlink Communications, Socios Mayores en Salud and The Advisory Board Company (NASDAQ). Mr. Grua received an AB from Bowdoin College and an MBA from Columbia University.
Richard Dale Sigma Partners, Principal
Mr. Dale joined Sigma Partners in 2000 with 16 years of prior experience in software and high technology. Before Sigma, Richard co-founded Phase Forward Incorporated, a provider of service and software infrastructure for managing pharmaceutical clinical trials over the Internet, where he was Vice President of Services and then Vice President of Strategic Development. Previously, he was Vice President of Operations for Vermeer Technologies, creators of FrontPage and acquired by Microsoft in 1996. Richard also held professional service, senior product management and IS management roles at Sybase, Epoch Systems (a subsidiary of EMC) and MicroTouch Systems. Mr. Dale received a B.A. in mathematics from the University of Durham in England. He shares responsibility for Sigma’s investment in ExaGrid, Instill, Reflectent, Savantis, Silverlink and Visual Mining. He has also been an advisor to many startup companies, including Vignette, OnDisplay, FirstSense, OnExchange and QXL.com.
John Mandile Sigma Partners, Managing Director
Mr. Mandile joined Sigma in 1996. He has 20 years of experience in the high technology industry. Most recently he was the President & CEO of Vermeer Technologies, Inc., the developers of FrontPage, the leading Web authoring tool. Vermeer was acquired by Microsoft, providing Sigma and the other venture investors a very successful return. Previously, he was an early principal at SQL Solutions, where he created and led an engineering organization chartered to build heterogeneous database tools. Following an acquisition of SQL Solutions by Sybase, he took responsibility for the new Systems Management Product unit, which he grew to $55 million in sales in 30 months. Prior to SQL Solutions he was a member of the Advanced Engineering program at Honeywell where he worked in communications, operating systems and co-processor design. Mr. Mandile is a graduate of Tufts (BSE in Engineering Science) and Worcester Polytechnic State University (MS in Computer Science). He has been responsible for Sigma’s investments in Blue Agave Software, Datasage, Digital Music Network, EasyAsk, Novera Software, Oberon Software, Onexchange, OpenPages, Reflectent Software, and Silverlink Communications.
Bret Siarkowski Founder
Mr. Siarkowski is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience initiating and leading technology companies in the design and application of innovative market-demanded solutions. His extensive experience spans the healthcare, semiconductor and electronics industries. Mr. Siarkowski is a Limited Partner at Kodiak Venture Partners and serves on the Board of Advisors for several technology companies. He has held visionary roles at industry leading corporations including Cadence Design, Digital Equipment Corporation and General Electric as well as new entrants such as Chrysalis Symbolic Design and Verplex Systems. Mr. Siarkowski holds a BSEE from Northeastern University and an MSEE from the University of Southern California.