Management Team
Our Team consists of innovative leaders with decades of experience leading large healthcare systems and innovative care models, including C-Suite Executives and top physicians. We coupled this experience with the brightest minds in technology, supply chain, and business strategy to Deliver the Future of PPI Management, today.
Joe Bütz
President/CEO Joe brings 20+ years of leadership experience in Hospital and Ambulatory operations. He is also the author of 5 articles on healthcare strategy and operations. After securing his M.B.A. from Northwestern University and his Law Degree while in Chicago, Joe has designed, lead and operated several innovative care delivery models to improve operational efficiency. From joint venture cath labs to progressive under-arrangements agreements to cutting edge co-management contracts, Joe is steeped in strategically aligning physician performance and hospital operations to drive lower costs. As the Senior Vice President for Sentara Healthcare, for example, Joe lowered cardiac medical device implant spend by 27% while improving physician choice with an “all play” vendor model. And, as the Chief Operating Officer for Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic States, Joe achieved double digit expense reductions setting the Region up to achieve its largest margin growth in the history of the program. Joe understands deeply that healthcare cost management requires strong physician engagement partnered with progressive healthcare leadership, and has consistently leveraged technology to achieve such alignment.
Joe Douglas
Chief Revenue Officer Joe has 20+ years of experience leveraging technology to create efficiencies, secure savings, and drive revenue. Most recently, Joe was the Chief Executive Officer of Genoa Healthcare, a division of Optum, where he propelled the leading Pharmacy provider in the Behavioral Health space. Under his leadership, Genoa opened 185 new pharmacies and 275 CMC locations; increasing revenue 75% from $2.48B to $5.4B. Prior to Genoa, he was with Walgreens, Shields Health Solutions and Kaiser Permanente. During his tenure at Walgreens in various leadership roles, Joe accomplished several significant initiatives including a $4.62 billion, five-year store remodeling project, streamlining the pharmacy computer system, and reducing prescription fill times; saving $400 million. At Shields, he led operations of multiple client partners in running, integrating, and driving 340B Specialty pharmacy as well as all aspects of outpatient pharmacy. At Kaiser Permanente, as the Vice President of National Outpatient Pharmacy he maintained oversight of 420 outpatient centers, dispensing 84 million prescriptions and $9.5B in expenses. There he Instituted national contracts for automation vendors and negotiated 250% reduction in costs for the program. Joe brings LIBERTAS a proven record of success in competitive industries and fast-paced markets. With extensive experience in team leadership, strategic planning, and business development. Joe excels at identifying and addressing business opportunities to increase revenues.
Ken Armstrong
Chief Technology Officer Ken Armstrong, MBA has 37+ years of career experience. His executive experience has been focused on healthcare system operations, hospital operations, physician practice operations, healthcare technology, healthcare construction oversight, cardiac / orthopedic / cancer service line development, and in software applications and solutions development. Ken served as the COO overseeing the construction / operational transition of a 70M dollar / 285,000 s.f. new hospital and a new 50,000 s.f. medical office building. In addition, he served as the CIO of a 6B dollar integrated health system overseeing over 400+ technology staff members. And he served as COO of a software development company with software and billing solutions in organizations across all of Ohio and Indiana. This experience was gained while serving two large health systems (headquartered in Ohio and Virginia) and in a software company (headquartered in Ohio) where Mr. Armstrong was instrumental in developing key strategies and bringing operational execution to the excellence level.
Tom Klevan, MD
Chief Clinical Officer Tom brings 20+ years of experience in all aspects of clinical quality, strategic planning, prioritization, physician alignment, compensation and governance, and practice management as well as vendor relationships and contracting. Tom graduated from Yale cum laude with a degree in Biophysics and Biochemistry. After receiving his medical degree, Tom secured an internship and residency in Internal Medicine and then was selected as the first Interventional Cardiology Fellow at Yale. Tom has unparalleled experience in launching and managing programs implanting physician preference items (PPI) ranging from electrophysiology to heart transplantation to mechanical circulatory support to structural heart. As the Chief Medical Director for a 12 Hospital U.S News & World Report Top 50 Cardiac Program, Tom designed and perfected critical physician performance models to drive efficiency and quality, including a comprehensive co-management agreement as well as tiered performance bonus incentives. Tom brings know-how and hands-on experience in driving operational efficiency and improved clinical outcomes through aligning physician care models and hospital operations. Tom is responsible for ensuring that LIBERTAS service lines and client engagement appropriately involve and serve physician practitioners in their efforts to deliver high-value care to their individual patients and the populations they serve.
Irfan Merrani
Irfan graduated magna cum laude with a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Keller Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His dedication to academic excellence and focus on finance have equipped him with a strong foundation that has made him successful in guiding organizational budgeting, long-term fiscal forecasting, and strategic planning within Healthcare and other industries. Most recently at Adler University as the CFO/Vice President of Finance and Operations, Irfan oversaw various aspects of the institution's financial and operational functions. He was responsible for increasing liquidity by 90% and he redesigned the organization's finance and planning division by modernizing processes, eliminating non-value add functions, and implementing new technologies leading to a 25% reduction in overhead costs. Before Adler, he spent over a dozen years across various parts of the healthcare ecosystem including, provider (multi-hospital systems), payor, and consumer retail healthcare. At Rush University System for Health, he was the Director of Finance and Business Operations. There he combined objective analytics and persuasive communication to establish a cost-reduction program yielding $12M in annual savings. Additionally, he expanded the 340B portfolio of the System by creating a new network of contract pharmacies and increasing access to payor networks generating $50M of incremental income annually. At Loyola University Health, he developed new business intelligence & FP&A capabilities used to inform resource allocation decisions yielding $15.5M in annual savings. Irfan has consistently demonstrated a commitment to enhancing financial performance, implementing strategic initiatives, and fostering employee engagement. He is a key member of the LIBERTAS leadership team to grow revenues and building a financial roadmap.
Advisory Board
John Onufer, MD
Electrophysiology Medical Director John is highly experienced in all aspects of electrophysiology and has been a principal investigator in numerous clinical research trials over 20+ years. John secured his Bachelor of Science degree from Notre Dame and earned his medical degree from and completed his residency, cardiology and electrophysiology, at Washington University, School of Medicine. John has insight and experience in launching and managing cardiac rhythm management (CRM) device implant programs across the nation. As the Electrophysiology Medical Director for a 12 Hospital U.S News & World Report Top 50 Cardiac Program, John was instrumental in designing one of the first Electrophysiology Training Program to train and certify staff as electrophysiology technicians. John brings know-how and hands-on experience to LIBERTAS to align electrophysiology physicians to achieve operational efficiency and improved clinical outcomes.
Joan Gelrud
Board Member Joan brings more than 30 years of healthcare expertise and holds a a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the University of Maryland, and a master’s in nursing from The Catholic University of America. She was recently appointed to the Maryland Health Care Commission, which has a singular focus on delivering quality and cost-effective care. Prior to joining MHC, Joan was responsible for the care, treatment, and services of 12.4 million Kaiser Permanente members as the Senior Vice President of Kaiser Foundation’s Health Plan and Hospital Quality, Co-Executive Director of Kaiser Permanente’s Care Management Institute, and the Executive Director of the Improvement Institute. She also spent 15 years in leadership at MedStar with responsibility for nurse standards, assuring compliance with regulatory requirements for 20 clinical, professional, corporate, and support departments. Recently she also acted as Luminis Health’s Chief Quality and Population Health Officer, responsible for quality, safety, accreditation, population health, value-based programs, and progressive payment models for all entities of Luminis Health. With such an accomplished background, Joan brings to LIBERTAS experience leveraging progressive payment models to drive cost-effective care.
Howard Kern
Hospital Executive Board Member Howard is a highly accomplished and innovative healthcare executive with 43 years in hospital/healthcare management. With his Masters in Health Administration from the Medical College of Virginia he also completed the CEO Program for Health Care Leadership at the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. He is the retired President & CEO of Sentara Health, a 134-year-old, not-for-profit integrated health care delivery system headquartered in Virginia with revenues exceeding 6 billion. The health system employs over 33,000 team members, including 1,400 physicians, operates 12 hospitals, and serves 1.3 million health plan members in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida. Sentara is recognized nationally for clinical quality and safety and is strategically focused on innovation and creating an extraordinary health care experience for its patients and members. In his current capacity, Kern serves as an advisor to the CEO and Board of Directors and works on selected strategic projects and programs. During Kern’s CEO tenure, Sentara was twice named to IBM Watson Health’s “Top 15 Health Systems”. Sentara was ranked by Forbes as one of “America’s Best Employers”, recognized as a “Best Employer for Women” and included on its list of “Best Employers for New Graduates”. Sentara has continually ranked as one of the most integrated health care networks in the United States by Modern Healthcare magazine and is the only health care system in the nation continuously named to the top 10 since the survey began. Howard serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including the American Hospital Association Health Systems Council, Becker’s Healthcare Advisory Board, and more. He has also accepted roles with institutions like British Columbia Investment Management Corp and Virginia Commonwealth University.