Healthgrades Announces Appointment of Jovan Willford as Chief Executive Officer to Lead New Phase of Growth
Denver, Colo. – (March 30, 2021) – Healthgrades today announced the appointment of Jovan Willford as its Chief Executive Officer and a member of its Board of Directors, effective immediately. Mr. Willford brings more than 20 years’ experience in healthcare technology and advanced analytics as a dynamic leader known for growth, transformation and strong operational focus. Rob Draughon, who has served as Healthgrades CEO since 2018 and its President and/or CFO since 2012, will assume the role of CEO of Healthgrades Marketplace division, reporting directly to Mr. Willford.
“The addition of Jovan to our leadership team comes at a critical juncture in Healthgrades growth as we evolve our strategy and solutions to meet the changing needs of consumers, physicians, health systems and life sciences companies we serve. Given Jovan’s track record, breadth of healthcare experience and deep understanding of software, data and analytics, we are confident that Jovan will further accelerate the company’s existing growth trajectory,” said Roger Holstein, Board Member, Healthgrades and Managing Director, Vestar Capital Partners.
Recently, Healthgrades has evolved and organized into two distinct divisions: Platform and Marketplace. With the launch of the Hg Mercury platform, the Company has become a leading enterprise software and data-as-a-service platform, employed by more than 1,500 hospitals to drive patient engagement and physician alignment. With healthgrades.com audience growth at 20% annually, the Company continues to be the leading patient and provider marketplace, where America comes to find the right doctor, the right hospital and the right care.
Said Jovan Willford, CEO, Healthgrades: “The breadth and depth of Healthgrades’ offerings is unmatched in the industry. With our consumer reach and insights, plus our patient and provider engagement platform designed to help health systems accelerate growth, Healthgrades sits at the center of the healthcare ecosystem. I look forward to working with Rob and the rest of the leadership team to build on our success and deliver Healthgrades’ next wave of growth and transformation.”
“Under Rob’s leadership, we expanded and evolved our business. He led the acquisition and integration of Influence Health and Evariant, which have been essential to creating the enterprise software and data platform, Hg Mercury. Now, in this new role, Rob will focus his efforts on realizing the full potential of Healthgrades.com and the Marketplace division, placing renewed emphasis on differentiating providers on the basis of satisfaction, experience and outcomes, and soon cost — in order to guide consumers to the right doctor, right hospital and right care,” said Norm Alpert, Chairman of the Board, Healthgrades and Co-President and Founding Partner, Vestar Capital Partners.
Most recently, Mr. Willford served as SVP and GM of U.S. Commercial Solutions at IQVIA, delivering technology and advanced analytic solutions to enable commercial capabilities of life sciences organizations. Throughout his tenure at IQVIA, Jovan served in a variety of key leadership positions focused on analytics and technology innovation, including Senior Vice President & Global Head of Clinical Functional Service Provider (FSP) across 72 countries, global head of the industry-defining Quintiles-IMS merger and launching of innovative real-world evidence business units in North America and Asia. Previously, Mr. Willford served as a consultant at Booz & Company, Katzenbach Partners, and Accenture.
About Healthgrades:
At Healthgrades, we help millions of consumers find and connect with the right doctor, right hospital, and right care. Healthgrades.com is the leading marketplace connecting patients and providers. We make healthcare more accessible and transparent for consumers by differentiating providers on the basis of patient satisfaction, physician experience and hospital outcomes. Our Healthgrades Platform division works with the nation’s leading health systems to improve patient engagement and strengthen physician alignment, driving measurable financial outcomes. Hg Mercury is a comprehensive data and software as a services platform that delivers insights and communications solutions which drive patient engagement and physician alignment and integrate seamlessly with the health system’s broader MarTech stack and enterprise ecosystem. At Healthgrades, better health gets a head start.