The Axial team has brought disruptive innovation to financial services and enterprise software. Health care is next.

Leadership Team

Joanne Rohde,

CEO, brings 30 years of relevant experience growing companies using disruptive business models. Former COO and Director of Health IT Strategy of Red Hat, Ms. Rohde supervised revenue growth from $100 to $500 million. As CIO of UBS Investment Banking IT, she managed a $1 billion annual budget and 1,500 mission-critical systems. jrohde (at) axialexchange.com

John Casey,

VP Operations and Finance, brings 15 years of experience in Corporate Finance and in the leadership of service and implementation businesses. Mr. Casey is a former Executive Vice President of UBS Investment Banking IT and Vice President of Equity Capital Markets, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corporation. He holds an MBA from Wharton Business School, majoring in Finance with emphasis on Healthcare. jcasey (at) axialexchange.com

Matt Mattox,

VP Products and Marketing, formerly led the global ISV group for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and drove partnerships with SAP, IBM, HP and other global software partners. Mr. Mattox led the creation of Red Hat's open source ecosystem initiative, Red Hat Exchange, from concept to revenue. As Director of Product Management at Red Hat, Mr. Mattox was named co-inventor on 13 patent applications related to software. Formerly with MIT, idealab!, and CitySearch, Mr. Mattox holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. mmattox (at) axialexchange.com

Mark Ragusa,

VP Business Development, has over 25 years in technology and has held senior leadership roles in strategic planning, product and corporate marketing, and business development at Nortel, Fujitsu and Sumitomo. He has held key executive positions at start-ups Videoserver (IPO) & Aegis Technologies (sold to New York Life) and has over 15 years of exposure in many standards-setting bodies including the ITU, IETF, ATM forum, DAVIC, DSL Forum, and the IEEE. Mr. Ragusa holds a BS from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and an ME from Western Carolina University. mragusa (at) axialexchange.com

Jon Kern,

VP Engineering, is a premiere software architect and product team leader that keeps the customer and business in sharp focus. Aerospace engineer-turned software expert, co-author of Agile Manifesto for Software Development and Java Design, Jon brings decades of innovative solution development to the team. As part of TogetherSoft's executive team, Jon was a key part of product development and created the professional services group, achieving ~$56M in revenue in just a few years, before being sold to Borland. Jon is a co-inventor on at least one software patent. Jon also owned his own successful "boutique" software engineering services firm. When he's not developing software, look for Jon on the ski slopes or out rock/mountain climbing. jkern (at) axialexchange.com

Robert Mulfinger,

VP Sales, most recently served as Vice President of Sales for Smiths Medical, a leading global provider of medical devices for the hospital, emergency, and specialist environments. Smiths' business comprised over $700M in annual sales in critical care, patient safety, and medical delivery solutions into domestic and international markets. Previously with Siemens Medical for over 9 years, he filled many sales and marketing leadership responsibilities culminating in the role of VP, Sales. Mr. Mulfinger holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. rmulfinger (at) axialexchange.com

Board of Directors

Stephen Bloch, M.D.,

General Partner, Canaan Partners, having been an entrepreneur and practicing physician, Dr. Stephen Bloch knows firsthand how to navigate the opportunities and challenges of building successful healthcare companies. He draws on his experience in medicine, government and business to invest in areas of healthcare that promise to change how medicine is practiced.  Stephen received his medical training at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School (radiology) and Lenox Hill Hospital/Cornell Medical School (internal medicine). He earned his medical degree from the University of Rochester, a MA in the history of science and public policy from Harvard University and an AB degree from Dartmouth College.  Stephen was honored as a Ewing Marion Kauffman Fellow in 2002, an educational program that develops future leaders of the global venture capital industry.

John Cambier,

General Partner, IDEA Fund Partners, holds responsibilities for finance and investor relations functions, in addition to serving as a key member of the investment team and advisor to portfolio companies. John also serves as the Chief Financial Officer of NC IDEA and an advisor to its grants program, playing a key role in the company selection and mentoring process. Working in the technology sector since 1994, John has held various operational roles and was involved in the spin-off of four companies from MCNC, including the formation and ultimate sale of Cronos Integrated Microsystems to JDS Uniphase for $665 million in 2000. John received a B.A. in International Relations from Michigan State University and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

David Carney,

Wilmington Investor Network, a healthcare information technology executive for nearly three decades, most recently served as AVP for McKesson’s Advanced Diagnostic Management business unit.  In 1984, he founded MegaSource, a pharmacy information system for hospitals.  After selling MegaSource to Cerner in 1993, he became Cerner’s Vice President & Pharmacy Product Line Executive, a position he held until 1995.  In 1996, he co-founded CareInsite (CareAgents), serving as Senior Vice President responsible for PBM and Physician Connectivity.  From 2002 until 2005, he joined Eclipsys as regional president where he created a new business intelligence product line. From 2003 until the sale of the company to LabCorp in 2010, he served as Senior Vice President of Correlagen Diagnostics.  Mr. Carney received his degree in mechanical engineering and his MBA from the University of Michigan.

Joanne Rohde

CEO, Axial Exchange

Advisory Board

Leslie Alexandre,

Dr.P.H., Health Care & Bioscience Strategic Advisor and Adjunct Professor, NCSU College of Management, has served in executive leadership positions in health care and the life sciences for nearly three decades, most recently as President and CEO of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Previously, she helped create the Office of Technology and Industrial Relations in the National Cancer Institute where she facilitated collaborations between institute and industry scientists to accelerate cancer treatment research, development and commercialization. After serving in senior health policy positions for two U.S. senators, Dr. Alexandre represented EDS with the White House, Congress and the entire health policy community on issues of strategic importance to the company and its customers.

Karen Evans,

Retired CIO of the Office of Management and Budget, oversaw the implementation of Information Technology throughout the Federal government, including advising the Director on the performance of the approximately $65 billion dollars spent annually on federal IT investments.

Fred Goldwater,

Former Senior Vice President of Operations and Business Development of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has more than 30 years of executive management experience and an extensive background in information systems, business development, finance, marketing and operations.  Mr. Goldwater earned an MBA from Pace University in New York and an undergraduate degree from Babson College in Massachusetts.

José-Marie Griffiths,

Former Dean of the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was appointed by the President to the United States National Board for a term of six years and has held two previous Presidential appointments, one to the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee and the other to the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. Dr. Griffiths is the recipient of numerous awards for her contributions to information science and technology for higher education, the development of IT industry in Michigan, and community networking in Tennessee. Dr. Griffiths received a B.Sc. in Physics and a Ph.D. in Information Science from University College in London.

Nadine Rubin,

Managing Partner and Founder of Adam-Bryce, LLC, brings over 30 years of experience growing the leadership teams of high-growth, global enterprises. She is a recognized recruiting expert and understands how technology and business marry to accomplish the end goal across a variety of industries: finance, manufacturing, professional services, and healthcare. With a focus on healthcare for the past five years, Ms. Rubin has established herself as one of a network of leaders who are driving the healthcare industry forward.

Joe Velk,

Principal, Contender Capital has significant experience in early-stage investment and company building. He was previously a partner with The North Carolina Enterprise Fund and Intersouth Partners. Mr. Velk is currently advising several information technology startups that are positioned to become market leaders.

Mark H. Webbink,

Visiting Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Center for Patent Innovations at New York Law School is the former General Counsel, Senior Vice President and Secretary of Red Hat, Inc. During Mr. Webbink's tenure with Red Hat, he developed a number of groundbreaking intellectual property practices, including Red Hat's "Patent Promise" and the legal foundations for Red Hat's subscription model. Mr. Webbink continues to serve Red Hat as special counsel for intellectual property matters.