Meet the Team
We're driven by a shared passion for transforming the lives of healthcare leaders and improving our healthcare system. Our team's collective expertise supports large-scale change within health systems, and their dedication fuels our mission. Discover some of the faces behind the innovation at Laudio below.
Laudio Leadership
Russ Richmond, MD Chief Executive Officer
Russ Richmond, MD
Russ Richmond, MD is CEO and Co-Founder of Laudio, where he is also Chairman of the Board. He is a physician entrepreneur with experience building digital health companies such as Laudio, Advanced Practice Strategies, Objective Health, Verisk Health, and D2Hawkeye, as well as counseling large payers and health systems while with McKinsey & Company. In addition to his role as CEO at Laudio, Russ also serves on the Mass General Brigham AI Fund investment committee. He completed his internship in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Michigan, and earned his MD from the University of Cincinnati and a BS in Biology from the University of Michigan. He lives in Newton, MA with his wife and three children.
CJ Floros COO
CJ Floros
CJ Floros is Chief Operating Officer and a Board member at Laudio. He has spent more than a decade focused on operationalizing the delivery of solutions that result in long-term, sustainable outcomes in healthcare. Prior to Laudio, he was Chief Development Officer at APS, a platform used by more than 30% of healthcare executives to identify potential clinical risk. CJ has over 20 years in leadership roles covering business/corporate development and finance. He is a recognized thought leader speaking frequently at industry conferences and associations, as well as webinars. He has successfully provided leadership to early stage and middle market companies, resulting in top and bottom-line growth from inception to exit. He started his career as an Audit and Assurance Accountant at Deloitte. CJ has a BS in Accounting and Finance from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.
Mridul Ganesh Chief Product Officer
Mridul Ganesh
Mridul Ganesh is the Head of Product and Engineering at Laudio, responsible for designing and building the Laudio platform. Mridul has over a decade of experience creating digital healthcare products in different contexts, helping health systems make better strategic decisions, enabling businesses to provide high-quality healthcare benefits to their employees, improving healthcare quality through better education, and now at Laudio, empowering healthcare leaders to drive organizational outcomes. He thrives on the creative process of finding simple solutions to complex problems. Mridul started his career as a consultant at McKinsey and Company. He has an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Tim Darling President, Laudio Insights
Tim Darling
Tim Darling is a co-founder and President, Laudio Insights. With over 20 years of experience in healthcare technology, Tim has a real passion for using data and analytics to serve the challenges facing healthcare organizations. Prior to Laudio, Tim was on the leadership team of a healthcare education analytics company and he spent seven years as a consultant at McKinsey & Company. He has an MBA from Carnegie Mellon and BS degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Emma Smith Chief Marketing Officer
Emma Smith
Emma Smith is Chief Marketing Officer at Laudio, where she is responsible for all aspects of the company’s marketing and communications. Emma brings more than 15 years of experience in healthcare marketing to her role, with the last decade spent building and leading marketing teams for rapidly-growing, VC-backed SaaS startups in the digital health space, including Linus Health, Kyruus, and CareCloud. She began her career as a strategy consultant to the life sciences industry. Emma earned a BA at Middlebury College and MBA at Harvard Business School.
Mike Vipond EVP, Sales
Mike Vipond
Mike Vipond is Executive Vice President of Sales at Laudio, where he is responsible for establishing partnerships with health systems seeking to leverage Laudio's innovative leader operations solution to empower their frontline leaders. Before joining Laudio, Mike served as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of symplr's Workforce Management business, leading product and go-to-market strategy for a software portfolio spanning talent management, time and attendance, scheduling and clinical communications. He brings over 15 years of experience from symplr, Cerner and GE having served in leadership roles spanning product, consulting, business development, strategy, M&A and finance. Mike holds a BA in Economics from Georgetown University and Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management. Mike lives in the Detroit area with his wife and two kids.
Tom Hills EVP, Client Engagement
Tom Hills
Tom Hills is Executive Vice President of client delivery, engagement, strategy, and expansion sales for Laudio. Tom is Laudio’s senior executive responsible for aligning the company's overall strategic direction with the needs and expectations of Laudio clients. Tom’s organization enhances client satisfaction, deepens relationships, and drives and expands client value by ensuring that Laudio helps its clients drive meaningful changes in outcomes. Tom previously was Laudio’s Chief Growth Officer where he was responsible for achieving and exceeding the revenue growth targets for the company. Tom has more than 20 years of experience as a key leader of SaaS healthcare tech companies, including PerfectServe, purchased by K1 Venture Capital in 2018, and CarePages, purchased by Revolution Health in 2008. Tom has an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University.
Michelle McGee EVP, Client Success
Michelle McGee
Michelle McGee is Executive Vice President of Client Success at Laudio, where she leads the strategic alignment of the company's services with client needs. In her role, Michelle oversees initiatives that enhance client satisfaction, deepen partnerships, and maximize client value by helping organizations achieve impactful outcomes through Laudio's solutions. Before joining Laudio, Michelle was an Operating Partner and Executive-in-Residence at Cranemere, LLC, a private equity firm with operations in New York, London, and Washington, DC. Prior to her time at Cranemere, Michelle was at The Advisory Board Company for 24 years (later acquired by Optum) where she served in a variety of capacities including, Senior Vice President, Strategic Accounts, driving growth and client strategy for their largest health system accounts and leading the Client Success team for the $250M business intelligence division. Michelle holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Vanderbilt University.
Joel Ray COL, USAF, NC, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Chief Clinical Advisor
Joel Ray
Joel Ray is Chief Clinical Advisor at Laudio, where he brings a CNO perspective to a wide range of cross-functional initiatives and is a key contributor to Laudio Insights. With 42 years in healthcare and over 23 years in executive leadership roles, including Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Joel brings a wealth of operational leadership experience to Laudio. He understands the needs of executives and frontline leaders. He is passionate and pragmatic about empowering frontline leaders to focus on what matters most: building meaningful connections with their teams to enhance engagement and secure the delivery of high quality, safe care and an excellent patient experience. Previously the Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer at UNC Rex Healthcare under his guidance, the hospital obtained its 4th Magnet designation, CMS 5 Star, and Leapfrog A ratings. He served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps, retiring with the rank of Colonel. He earned a BSN from Arkansas State University and MSN from Arizona State University.