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Fullscript promotes CFO Ashley Koch to president in bid to accelerate growth

October 21, 2024

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Fullscript has promoted one of its top executives to the newly created role of president to help steer the company toward its goal of cracking US$1 billion in annual revenues. The Ottawa-based health-care platform announced Monday that Ashley Koch, who joined the firm as chief financial and strategy officer in early 2023, will now also serve as president. The company said in a news release that Koch will work in “close partnership” with CEO Kyle Braatz to “drive Fullscript’s growth and solidify its position as a household name at the forefront of health, technology, and whole-person care.” The move comes about 18 months after Koch was hired as CFO and chief strategy officer, with Braatz telling Techopia last spring that part of her role would be to pursue potential acquisitions and “strategic investments that change the business into something more dynamic than it is today.” Fullscript closed a deal two weeks ago to acquire Rupa Health, a 190-person startup headquartered in San Francisco that helps medical practitioners order, track and manage thousands of laboratory tests in a single interface. It’s the first M&A transaction the Ottawa firm has made since Koch joined its C-suite and comes about two and a half years after Fullscript’s acquisition of New Hampshire-based Emerson Ecologics – a transaction that effectively doubled the company’s revenues to US$600 million. “I am honoured to take on this new role, working alongside Kyle and the rest of the leadership team in driving Fullscript’s strategic direction,” Koch said in a statement. “The company has experienced impressive growth during my tenure – from the Emerson integration to the acquisition of Rupa – and I look forward to continuing to lead Fullscript on our growth trajectory.” A graduate of Boston College, Koch brings more than a decade of senior management experience in the U.S. health-care industry. Before joining Fullscript, Koch served as CFO at Boston-based Shields Health Solutions, which provides specialty pharmacy services such as refrigeration and packaging to about 1,000 hospitals in the U.S. via a network of 80 health system partners. Drugstore giant Walgreens Boots Alliance, which already owned a majority stake in the company, acquired Shields outright in 2022 for US$1.37 billion. Koch was previously CFO at Steward Medical Group, the largest private equity-backed integrated health system in the U.S. At Steward, she spearheaded a national expansion strategy that saw the company make multiple acquisitions and triple its revenues in a three-year span. In a statement on Monday, Braatz said Koch’s “track record of success and deep relationships in the sector will be critical as she builds upon her existing role within our leadership team.”

Biotech veteran added to board

Also on Monday, Fullscript said it has appointed Dr. Stephen Kahane to its board of directors. The Boston-based biotech veteran now serves as an executive adviser at several venture capital and private-equity firms. His previous experience includes stints as executive vice-president and president of client organization at athenahealth as well as chairman and CEO of several other publicly traded companies in the U.S., including biotech firm VitalWorks and medical imaging technology provider Amicas. “Fullscript has demonstrated incredible growth and momentum – and is poised to drive fundamental change in the way we approach health,” Kahane said in a statement. “With health-care costs continuing to skyrocket and Americans getting sicker in tandem, it’s clear that a conventional approach to health alone can’t address these rising challenges. Fullscript is a true innovator in incorporating whole-person care to traditional workflows and stands to make a great change to the delivery of care as we know it today.” Braatz said Kahane will bring constructive insights to Fullscript’s board. “With decades of experience as an adviser to high-growth healthcare technology companies, Dr. Kahane’s perspective will be invaluable to our strategic direction and continued growth,” he said. “One of the keys to our growth at Fullscript has always been bringing in key talent at the right time. With the recent acquisition of Rupa Health, now is the time to make these strategic shifts to our leadership bench and board.” It’s the second time Fullscript has shaken up its executive suite in 2024 in a bid to add more experience to its upper-management team. In June, the company announced it had hired three new senior executives: chief people officer Dennis Richter, whose background includes senior roles at Meta and Google; chief commercial officer Christopher Catallo, who has extensive experience working in the U.S. digital health industry; and general counsel Steven Eisenberg, who spent more than a decade doing similar work for prominent health-care providers in Ohio. In addition, Heather Tyrie, who had been Fullcript’s chief talent officer since 2021, was shifted to a new role as vice-president of talent engagement. More than 100,000 physicians, nurses and other wellness professionals now use Fullscript’s technology to prescribe supplements and create personalized nutritional regimens and other treatment plans for 10 million patients across Canada and the United States. Earlier this month, Braatz told Techopia the acquisition of Rupa Health will help push the company “really close” to US$1 billion in annual revenues. “We will hit that number in 2025,” he added. “This definitely gets us a little bit closer to that.”