Leadership Team
The leadership team of meridianEMR has many years of experience in various
areas of Health Information Technology, including physician practice, software development, EMR, practice management, implementation,
and financial management. Collectively, the team's goal has always been to provide Urologists with the best Urology-specific
EHR on the market --- one with functionality driven by the particular needs of the Urology specialty.
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Michael J. Custode, CEO
Larry G. Drappi, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing
Herschel S. Jackson, M.D., Chief Medical Officer
William Bartlett, Chief Technology Officer
Barbara D'Italia, Director of Customer Support and Training
G. Ralph Kuntz, M.D., M.S., Chief Software Architect
Lisa C. Grills, National Sales Director
Michael J. Custode is currently the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. He is responsible for guiding
the company in its growth and development of cutting edge EMR software as well as day to day business activities. He has over
thirty years of experience in Health Information Technology.
Formerly, he co-founded Execu-Flow Systems a provider of practice management systems to the healthcare market. This
company grew to $10 million in sales, 1,000 practices, and 90 employees. Inc Magazine recognized Execu-Flow Systems for three
consecutive years by naming it to the Inc List of 500 Fastest Growing Companies in the country. The company merged with Medic
Computer Systems in 1993 and Mr. Custode served as Executive Vice President of Research and Development as well as Executive
Vice President of Strategic Product Development.
Mr. Custode
was the primary designer and architect of the Medic "Vision" system - the world’s first relational data base
practice management system for larger practices. Misys purchased Medic Computer Systems in 1993 and the Misys “Vision”
system remains to this day a flagship product in the Misys portfolio. He holds a patent for Internet Searching techniques.
Mr. Custode received a BS degree in Computer Science from St. Peter’s College.
Lawrence G. Drappi is the Executive Vice President of Sales
and Marketing as well as a Member of the Board. He is responsible for leading the company’s sales growth as well as
day to day business activities. He has over thirty years of experience in Health Information Technology.
Mr. Drappi is a successful entrepreneur who co-founded Execu-Flow Systems with
Michael Custode and was primarily responsible for sales and marketing. After the merger of EFS and Medic Computer Systems
in 1993, Mr. Drappi served as the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Regional Sales Vice President.
Mr. Drappi received a BS degree in Accounting from The University of Dayton.
Herschel S. Jackson M.D., is the Chief Medical Officer and
a Member of the Board. Dr. Jackson is a practicing Urologist with over thirty years in clinical practice and is the leader
of the Urology Clinical Content Board.
As a pioneer
in the development of template based content for Electronic Medical Records, Dr. Jackson started developing medical informational
products in 1987 with the founding of Medical Information Manager.
In
1992 he developed ScriptLetter, a Windows based prescription writing system which simultaneously wrote prescriptions, produced
a letter to the patient describing the various effects of the medications, checked for allergies, and produced a computerized
log of prescriptions.
Dr. Jackson is a graduate of the University
of Tennessee Medical School.
William Bartlett is the Chief Technology Officer. He is responsible
for the development of the EMR software platform and the mEMRxChange network. Mr. Bartlett supervises the development staff
and works closely with Mr. Custode and Dr. Kuntz in the design and development of the system architecture.
Prior to joining the meridianEMR team, Mr. Bartlett held senior project leadership
positions at Prudential Insurance Company, Bankers Trust, and Instinet. He has also consulted for Verizon, MovieFone, and
LEGO. His expertise covers client/server application design, development and project management (with an emphasis on large
or complex database structures), and the management of commercial internet applications.
Mr. Bartlett is qualified by the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants as a Certified Ethical Hacker. He
is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
Barbara D’Italia is the Director of Customer Support
and Training. She supervises all aspects of the Support Team and is responsible for training and support of the clients.
Ms. D’Italia began her career as a Medical Laboratory
Technician at Overlook Hospital in Summit, NJ. After working for a seven physician multi-specialty medical practice, initially
as a Medical Laboratory Technician and then as Office Manager, she joined Execu-Flow Systems as an Account Manager responsible
for customer training.
She became the Execu-Flow Systems Customer
Service Manager, overseeing a staff of 36 people, including help desk personnel, trainers, department supervisors and
administrative assistants working from two regional offices. Following the acquisition of Execu-Flow Systems, she served as
Director of Operations for both the Script and Excal divisions of Misys. The Excal and Script teams serviced 1300 customers.
Ms. D’Italia graduated from Union County College and Overlook Hospital with
an AS Degree in Medical Technology.
G. Ralph Kuntz, M.D., M.S., is the Chief Software Architect.
Dr. Kuntz, is responsible for the development of the meridianEMR application and the mEMRxChange network technology. Dr. Kuntz’s
particular areas of expertise include security and cryptology.
Formerly, Dr. Kuntz was a co-founder, Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer and Director of Hamilton
Scientific Ltd. Dr. Kuntz has also held various programming positions at AT&T Bell Labs. While at AT&T, Bell Labs
he authored the link-editor and dynamic linker for the UNIX C-Compiler.
Dr. Kuntz, an honors graduate of UMDNJ- Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, also has extensive experience in computer
science. He holds a B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science from the University of Florida.
Lisa C. Grills is the National Sales Director for meridianEMR and is responsible for the development of successful
sales strategies and business development. Ms. Grills has over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and business development
in both the healthcare and information technology markets.
Prior to joining meridianEMR, she worked for Belden, Inc as the Regional Director of Sales and Marketing for the Network
Cable and Fiber Optics Group. Lisa joined meridianEMR in January 2003 as the East Regional Sales Manager.
In this position, Lisa was responsible for tremendous growth in her territory. She has been recognized as the meridianEMR
Sales Person of the Year for the last eight years.
Ms. Grills has a BS degree in Political Science and History and is a member of the National Association of Sales Professionals.
