Leadership

Christopher Godfrey
Founder & Ceo

As the founder and CEO of Bloodbuy, Chris is responsible for the overall strategic direction and growth of the company, its technology solutions, and its people.  Prior to founding Bloodbuy, he focused on a variety of entrepreneurial and institutional investment activities within healthcare; spanning the entire continuum of care.

Over the course of his career, he has played a principal role in the underwriting, structuring, and execution of numerous healthcare sector, commercial real estate, and technology control investments with an aggregate investment basis in excess of $1.2B USD.

Previously, Chris served as Senior Vice President and Director of Finance for The Cirrus Group, where he chaired its Investment Committee. Prior to Cirrus, he held positions with Hillwood Capital, Macfarlan Capital Partners, and J.P. Morgan.

He has been included on the Dallas Business Journal's list of Who's Who in Healthcare, PharmaExec’s Emerging Pharma Leaders, recognized by the Harvard Forum on Healthcare Innovation as the winner of the Harvard Health Acceleration Challenge, and serves as the protagonist of a Harvard Business School Case Study that focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Chris is the inventor of Bloodbuy’s three flagship software patents, which leverage a series of novel computer algorithms and proprietary digital workflows to optimize outcomes related to biological product requisition, management, and distribution.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with concentrations in finance and real estate from the Edwin L. Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University, which he earned while attending SMU as a full scholarship student-athlete. He also holds a Master of Science in Healthcare Leadership from Brown University, where he was the recipient of the Brown University Graduate School Master's Award for Professional Excellence.

RYAN deutschendorf, esq.
legal & ops director

As the Legal & Operations Director at Bloodbuy, Ryan is responsible for general legal and due diligence requirements relating to the establishment and maintenance of contractual and/or strategic relationships with healthcare provider organizations, blood centers, group purchasing organizations (GPOs), distributors, and other technology companies. He also interfaces with clients to provide product support and technical assistance relating to the implementation and general use of Bloodbuy's cloud-based technology solutions.

Prior to joining Bloodbuy, Ryan served as an attorney for a healthcare law firm where his practice focused on health law and healthcare regulatory compliance, as well as administrative law and civil litigation. In his previous roles, Ryan used his business background to help clients achieve cost effective solutions to legal, compliance, and operational issues being faced.

Ryan holds Master of Business Administration and Juris Doctorate degrees from Texas Tech University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wittenberg University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He is member of the State Bar of Texas and Dallas Bar Association.

Poornima Ozarkar
Lead UX Designer

Poornima is the Lead UX Designer at Bloodbuy. As the UX lead, Poornima is responsible for defining and detailing the user experience, UI, and visual design of the Bloodbuy platform. Before Bloodbuy, Poornima was the UX Designer for Qualvu in Colorado where she was responsible for the design of Qualvu's cloud-based qualitative research platform and mobile application. During her time at Qualvu, her work focused on conducting user research, usability tests, defining interaction models and UI specifications, creating low and high fidelity prototypes and maintaining all visual assets of Qualvu’s platform.

Poornima holds a Master's Degree in Interaction Design from Savannah College of Art and Design, and a Master's Degree in Product Design from National Institute of Design in India.

Ashton Paul
principal engineer

As the Principal Engineer at Bloodbuy, Ashton is responsible for development, operational maintenance, and feature enhancement of the Bloodbuy platform. Previously, Ashton was the Programmer Analyst for the Wichita Falls Independent School District and a freelance web applications developer.  Ashton specializes in full-stack, highly scalable, real-time applications and web APIs.  

Ashton holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Minor in Mathematics from Midwestern State University.

Brian danforth
senior customer engagement executive

As Senior Customer Engagement Executive, Brian is responsible for supporting sales and marketing to enhance Bloodbuy's growth.   He also provides leadership on meeting the inventory needs of hospitals and blood centers across the country. 

Brian brings 40 years of experience in managing inventory and customer relations in the blood bank industry.  Before joining Bloodbuy, Brian spent his entire career at Bloodworks Northwest in Seattle, WA, which is one of the largest independent blood centers in the country.   During his time at Bloodworks, he served for over 20 years as the Manager/Director of Hospital Services.  In this role he oversaw hospital inventory needs and managed customer relations for over 60 facilities. 

Brian later became the Senior Customer Engagement and Business Development Executive at Bloodworks.  In this position he facilitated the growth of new clients and contracts throughout the Pacific Northwest as well as multiple national hospital contracts around the country.  

Brian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the University of Washington.

Lorie Perez
director, customer success

As the Director for Customer Success, Lorie is tasked with working closely with hospitals and blood centers by deeply understanding their primary goals and challenges. Lorie is also responsible for sales growth by developing proactive customer expansion and retention strategies.

Lorie also brings 14 years of blood banking experience from South Texas Blood & Tissue Center. While working as an inventory management supervisor at STBTC, her tasks included customer service, resourcesharing national and international, and daily blood product management. Lorie also worked in other departments within the organization including donor recruitment and liaison for hospital contracts.

Lorie also holds a Bachelor’s of Arts & Science from Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas. She also holds an Associates in Science from Laredo Community College.

joey abascal
customer success manager

As the Customer Success Manager at Bloodbuy, Joey is tasked with supporting blood centers and hospitals throughout the country to fulfill their daily blood product inventory needs.

Joey brings 8 years of blood center experience in managing inventory, distribution, and sales. Prior to Bloodbuy, Joey worked at South Texas Blood & Tissue Center (STBTC) where his responsibilities included inventory management, local product distribution, customer communication, and STBTC’s resource-sharing efforts nationwide.

Joey holds a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Health Care Administration from the University of Arizona, and an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice from The University of Phoenix.

Arturo Ducasse
Software Engineer

As a Software Engineer at Bloodbuy, Arturo is responsible for fine tuning the user experience and front-end development. His development expertise focuses on increasing the functionality and feature sets of Bloodbuy, while building and maintaining a dynamic front-end.

Previously, Arturo was a freelance Software Developer. Arturo is proficient in testing, functionality, full-stack development, and code reliability.

Directors

durral gilbert
Director

As the former President of Premier Supply Chain Improvement, Inc., a consolidated subsidiary of Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), Mr. Gilbert led Premier's core supply chain business.  His administrative purview included sourcing, contract management, operations and business analytics. Mr. Gilbert also oversaw Premier's integrated pharmacy offerings, including specialty pharmacy and pharmacy benefit management, and direct sourcing.

Joining Premier in 2006, Mr. Gilbert previously served as Senior Vice President of supply chain emerging services, where he led the development of Premier's pharmacy offerings while identifying emerging supply chain and clinical opportunities. 

Mr. Gilbert has more than 25 years of experience in business operations, procurement, and risk management with a resume that includes leadership positions at BDS Management, Marsh, Learning Station, and Wachovia Securities.  He is involved in many industry organizations including Healthcare Supply Chain Association (HSCA), where he currently serves as secretary and on the Board of Directors; SVS, LLC where he serves on the Board of Directors and Commcare Pharmacy, where he serves as Chairman and a member of the Board of Directors.

A native of North Carolina, Mr. Gilbert earned his Master of Business Administration in Finance and International Business from Duke University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was inducted into the UNC-CH's Order of the Golden Fleece.

matt murawski
Director

Mr. Murawski is Vice President of Business Development at Grifols, S.A. (NASDAQ: GRFS), where he is responsible for acquiring new growth platforms and divesting non-strategic assets.  He led the negotiations for the March 2022 deal with Endpoint Health, Inc. where the two companies will combine Endpoint Health’s precision medicine diagnostic solution with Grifols’ Anti-Thrombin product to treat severe sepsis patients.  Mr. Murawski was also responsible for the divestiture of Grifols’ Hemostasis diagnostic platform in late 2021.

Prior to joining Grifols S.A., Mr. Murawski served as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for Hologic, Inc. where he led the daily operations of the $250MM blood screening business, and where he ultimately negotiated a $1.9B sale of this business to Grifols in early 2017.  Mr. Murawski also led the integration of Hologic’s $1.6B acquisition of Cynosure Inc.

From 1995 to early 2006, Mr. Murawski served in various capacities with increasing responsibility in finance, strategic account management and business development & strategy with Johnson & Johnson across the Consumer, Diabetes Care, and Cardiovascular franchises.

Mr. Murawski earned a Bachelor of Science in Business and Master of Business Administration in Finance from DePaul University in Chicago.  He holds CPA, CMA, and CFA professional designations.

W. L. Hutchison, Jr.
Director

As Co-Founder and CEO of The Cirrus Group, Mr. Hutchison has focused on healthcare-related developments since 1996.  Prior to forming Cirrus, Mr. Hutchison worked for Southland Real Estate Resources at its Las Colinas development where he served as project manager for the 400 rooms, 24-story Mandalay Four Seasons Hotel (now the Omni Mandalay). Later, Mr. Hutchison formed Trans Texas Investment Properties with which he developed over 1,000,000 sf of commercial office and retail space across the DFW Metroplex. Notable during this time was Mr. Hutchison’s landmark 500,000 sf, 24-story Trans Texas Tower (now Occidental Tower) in Dallas.

During his leadership at Cirrus, Mr. Hutchison guided approximately 100 healthcare development projects in 15 states, including ambulatory surgery centers, multi-specialty surgical hospitals, general acute care hospitals, post-acute facilities, acute rehab facilities, long-term care facilities, medical office buildings, primary care clinics and other complex medical facility ventures. Included in this list are notable projects Park Cities Medical Plaza in University Park, Texas; Trophy Club Medical Center in Trophy Club, Texas; North Texas Medical Center in Denton, Texas; North Central Medical Center in Dallas, Texas; and several hospital and MOB projects in Southern California.

Mr. Hutchison earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Texas in Austin and a Master of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University's Edwin L. Cox School of Business.

brent depperschmidt
DIRECTOR

Mr. Depperschmidt is the Director of Joint Ventures Operations at Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC), where he currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Texas Health Supply Chain Services, LLC a joint venture between Texas Health Resources and Premier formed in 2019.

Mr. Depperschmidt joined Premier in 2019 in his current role.  Prior to joining Premier, he held various leadership positions in healthcare and private equity.  He received his Master of Business Administration from the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University and his Bachelor of Science from Kansas State University.

dan galles
DIRECTOR

Mr. Galles is a Partner at Providence Ventures in the San Francisco bay area, where he focuses on investments in the healthcare information technology, healthcare services, and medical device sectors.

He has been investing in and partnering with management teams of early and growth stage companies in the healthcare industry for over 20 years.  Prior to joining Providence, Mr. Galles was a Partner at HLM Venture Partners where he led or co-led investments in 14 companies including: Redbrick Health, ClearData, Confluent Surgical, Change Healthcare, and CBR Systems. Prior to HLM, He was an Associate at venture capital firm J.H. Whitney and Company and an Analyst in the healthcare investment banking group at Alex. Brown & Sons.

Mr. Galles has a master’s in business administration from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

jason dodd
DIRECTOR

Mr. Dodd is currently the managing partner of Fairlane Funds, a Dallas Texas investment firm specializing in early stage growth capital, equity placements, and fixed income debt solutions for lower and micro-market companies.  Fairlane manages a diversified portfolio of investments, real estate and capital deployment through a series of private funds. 

Mr. Dodd has a broad investment, private equity and financial background and was formerly Managing Partner and owner of the boutique investment firm HealthCap from 2012 to 2015, following its merger with The Cirrus Group, where he served as President from 2005 to 2012.  In addition to having served on several corporate boards for portfolio companies, he had primary transactional responsibility for over $850 million of partnerships and managed the structured capital for the firm’s investments.  Prior to joining The Cirrus Group in 2000, Mr. Dodd was a Vice President for LaSalle Partners, the predecessor company to Jones Lang LaSalle.

Mr. Dodd holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (BBA) from Texas A&M University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. 

Advisors

Boone Powell, Jr.
Advisor

Mr. Powell is the former President and Chief Executive Officer at Baylor Healthcare System, where he served in such a capacity from 1980 to 2000, and then as Chairman until 2001. He received a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1960. After completing a year of residency in hospital administration in Memphis, Tennessee, he went to Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene, Texas, rising at age 33 to president and CEO of that medical center. In 1980, at age 43, he became president and CEO of the Baylor Health Care System, which he created by expanding Baylor from a single facility into a network of facilities.

Mr. Powell has received a number of honors for his work and a leader and pioneer within healthcare. He was recognized by Business Week in 1990 as one of the 5 best health care executives in the U.S. He holds honorary doctorate degrees from Abilene Christian University, Dallas Baptist University, Hardin-Simmons University, and the University of Manila and an honorary doctor of law degree from Baylor University. He was a recipient of Baylor University's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1991.

Mr. Powell is the past chairman of the board of trustees of the national Young Life organization, a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, a past member of the board of directors of Abbott Laboratories and United Surgical Partners, and past chairman of the Healthcare Leadership Council. In 1999, Mr. Powell was appointed by Governor George Bush to the Blue Ribbon Task Force on the uninsured. He was named chairman of the Health Industry Council, Dallas/Fort Worth region, in February 2000.

Betty Sapinsky
Advisor

Ms. Sapinsky is a Manager at Texas Children’s Hospital and is responsible for the technical and administrative operations of three transfusion services in Houston, Texas. Ms. Sapinsky is an expert in her field and brings over 40 years of hands-on experience in the field of Blood Bank management, with over 30 years in the specialty of pediatric transfusion medicine.

With respect to blood banking and transfusion medicine, Ms. Sapinsky has worked as an adviser in computer software development, educator in the field of medical technology, and lecturer.

Ms. Sapinsky received her BS in medical technology from the Pennsylvania State University, graduating with honors. She works with hospitals across the country, advising on advanced technical and administrative procedures within the field of transfusion medicine and blood banking.

Bob Linke
advisor

Mr. Linke is President and Chief Executive Officer of Embera NeuroTherapeutics, a clinical stage specialty pharma company developing novel treatments for smoking cessation and cocaine dependence. Mr. Linke’s 28 years in the healthcare industry has been focused on developing and commercializing new products primarily in pharma and biotech.  After 12 years Baxter International, in their pharmaceutical & drug delivery systems division and the healthcare services spinout from Baxter, Caremark,  Mr. Linke became an entrepreneur, building and leading a biotech company, Periodontix, a diagnostic company, Rapid MicroBiosystems, and now directs Embera as they prepare for a Phase 1 study in 2014.  Mr. Linke has raised over $40 million in private equity to fund these companies.

Mr. Linke holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics and Mathematics from Albion College and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. Mr. Linke also serves on the Board of IonSense, Inc., a manufacturer of rapid, open-air mass spectrometry solutions to the food safety, forensics, drug development, and chemical analysis markets and as Adjunct Lecturer of Health Care Leadership for Brown University’s Master of Healthcare Leadership Program.

nathaniel welch
ADVISOR

Mr. Welch is founder and Principal of Welch Consulting.  He works with executives and teams to improve performance, collaboration and organizational engagement.  Mr. Welch is a member of the Harvard Business School Healthcare Initiative Advisory Board, advising two healthcare startups.  He also is an advisor to two stealth startups in cybertechnology and life sciences.  He sits on the board of the HBS Association of Boston and the HBS Healthcare Alumni Association.

Mr. Welch was a senior manager in the healthcare and life sciences practice at CFAR (The Center for Applied Research) a boutique consulting firm that draws on its academic roots in business and the social sciences to help clients transform their organizations and implement strategic and organizational change. His clients included large academic medical centers, healthcare providers, universities, national associations, and non-profits.

For the first 18 years of his career, Mr. Welch helped build and lead two small, high-performing technology startups where he was responsible for managing sales, marketing, client management, and business development. 

Mr. Welch has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Rochester and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He lives in Concord, MA with his wife, 3 dogs and occasionally up to four children (including a US Marine).