AVIA Expands Leadership Team to Support Industry Demand for Digital Advancement, Commitment to Operational Excellence

October 28, 2021 at 09:03 AM EDT

Leading Digital Transformation Organization Names Three New Executives

AVIA, the nation’s leading digital transformation partner for healthcare organizations, announced today the expansion of its leadership team to support the substantial growth of the company in 2021. Rusty Taylor will serve as the company’s chief financial officer (CFO), providing strategic operational and business oversight to support AVIA’s continued growth. Anjani Shah steps into the role of senior vice president, Transformation where she will lead the expansion of AVIA’s consulting services and digital transformation initiatives. Dhiraj Patkar joins AVIA as senior vice president of product for AVIA Connect, responsible for setting the vision and strategy for AVIA’s digital health marketplace. These additions to AVIA’s leadership team come at a time of significant growth for the organization in each of its services to health systems, digital health companies and more.

“The addition of these experienced innovators, operators, and leaders to the AVIA team speaks to our ongoing mission of supporting our Members by providing resources to accelerate digital transformation,” said Linda Finkel, AVIA CEO. “As our organization continues growing, Rusty, Anjani, and Dhiraj’s expertise will be critical to maintaining this momentum and allowing us to broaden our support to organizations as they seek to realize the potential value of digital. Dhiraj’s background building technology products across the healthcare ecosystem significantly enhances our ability to scale the development of AVIA Connect as a vibrant digital health marketplace. Rusty’s depth of financial and operational knowledge will be a valuable asset for maximizing the AVIA business model, while Anjani’s transformation expertise will better position us to bridge the gap between digital strategy and execution for our Members.”

Taylor is an accomplished financial and operational leader with more than 10 years of experience leading the financial operations of a variety of healthcare companies. Most recently he served as the CFO for Constellation Behavioral Health where he was responsible for overseeing finance, revenue cycle, legal and information technology; he also acted as the operational lead for the business and facilities, including growth. He's also been the CFO for Smart Choice MRI, Group CFO for Surgical Care Affiliates, and head of client success and finance of Zynx, serving as an operational head in each of these roles. He holds a B.S. in Management from Pepperdine University and an MBA from University of Southern California.

Shah joins AVIA after 13 years at McKinsey & Company where as an Associate Partner, she served global, national and regional health systems and payers on topics across growth, digital, transformation, and operational efficiency. Shah led transformation efforts for more than 15 large-scale providers in clinical settings including inpatient, ambulatory, surgical, and retail clinics, as well as adult and pediatric care. In addition to consulting, she spent over 5 years helping McKinsey transform their internal strategy and operations to further scale the business. Shah earned a B.S. in Computer Science at Michigan State University and her MBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Patkar joins AVIA with nearly 20 years of healthcare experience blending product development, strategy, technology and management working with payors, providers, pharmacy benefits managers and health tech startups. He co-founded two health tech startups and spent over a decade developing and refining products at Health Care Service Corporation. Most recently, Patkar led product strategy and management at HRGi Holdings. Patkar holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Mumbai, India and M.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin.

“AVIA sets health systems and digital health companies up for success through its unique, industry-leading digital health expertise across the full care continuum,” said Shah. “In terms of approach and strategy, the AVIA model stands out in an industry that is often associated with time constraints and short-term projects. I am so pleased to join an organization that prioritizes the client experience by creating a workflow that is centered around true partnership.”

About AVIA

AVIA is the nation’s leading digital transformation partner for healthcare organizations. AVIA provides unique market intelligence, proven collaborative tools, and results-based consulting to help solve healthcare’s biggest strategic challenges. Learn more about AVIA and AVIA Connect, the industry’s premier knowledge sharing and collaboration platform for up-to-the-minute digital insights and best practices, at aviahealthinnovation.com. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.