Leadership Team
LINDA BENEZE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
With over 35 years of experience in healthcare, Beneze is well-versed in strategic planning and execution, building high performance teams, product innovation, and market leadership. Prior to her tenure as CEO of Medical Technology Products, she was the President & General Manager of the Specialty Business Unit at Teleflex, Inc. Before joining Teleflex, Inc., she was involved with three start-up companies in the Clinical Trial Software space, which sold Software as a Service into Pharma, Medical Device, and Biotech. All three companies had successful exits and one resulted in an IPO. Her most recent role in that space, was serving as CEO for KIKA Clinical Solutions in Boston, Massachusetts. In that position, she was responsible for the turnaround of the company, restructuring, rebranding, raising capital, and growing sales at a rate to which enabled an exit for the investors. Her early career included 15 years in positions of increasing responsibility in Sales & Marketing management at C.R. Bard. Ms. Beneze has her B.S. in Business Management from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.
SHARAI LAVOIE
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
In addition to her 14 years of experience working with healthcare focused organizations, Sharai has managed the nuances of companies with annual revenues ranging from $12 to $170 million. A graduate of Johnson C. Smith University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, Lavoie later earned her MBA from Wingate University and served as Director of Financial Services for a network of health care-related companies (CHMG Solutions). In 2017, Sharai received the “Top 25 Outstanding Businesswomen” award by the Charlotte Business Journal for her significant contributions to her profession and community.
DR. PATRICK BURGESS
MD, PhD, FOUNDER & INVENTOR, ENDOTOOL
Founding the technology in 2003, Dr. Patrick Burgess remains an active contributor to the development and advancement of EndoTool. Beginning his healthcare career at Carolinas Medical Center, Dr. Burgess founded EndoTool with the goal to improve glucose management for all patients in hospitalized care. After receiving his Bachelors in Chemical Engineering, Dr. Burgess then earned his Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Miami and his PhD from Princeton University.
Laurel Fuqua, RN, MSN
Executive Vice President & Chief Clinical Officer
Laurel Fuqua joined Monarch Medical Technologies in 2017 as Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer. As an accomplished executive and diabetes industry leader, Laurel draws from more than three decades of healthcare experience to lead the clinical vision and guide the product strategy at Monarch. She has held executive-level positions across a wide range of healthcare settings including, hospitals, health plans, care management, and diabetes technology firms. Prior to joining the company, Laurel served as the Senior Vice President of Clinical and Operations at Canary Health, a provider of digital health self-management programs. Previously, she was the Senior Vice President of Population Health, Clinical Affairs & Care Innovations for InSpark Technologies. She also has held executive positions with Glytec, Alere, Inspiris, Kindred Healthcare, and Healthways, among others. Laurel is frequently invited to speak on improving the safety of glucose management and regularly authors industry articles. She has received several accolades for her work, including the AADE Diabetes Educator of the Year Award early in her career. Laurel received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Evansville.
JOE KILLINGSWORTH
VP OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
With 27 years of experience in Healthcare, Joe is versatile from holding positions in support, development, project management, sales, and engineering. During his role in sales, Joe achieved the eWebCoding Top Producer Award, as well as the eWebCoding Account Representative of the Year. Prior to Monarch, Joe was the Senior HIE Engineer for Medicity. Joe has also worked for Fuji lm Medical, eWebCoding, IMNET Systems, and HBOC.
JOHN THORNLEY
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT OPERATIONS
Co-inventor of 2 patents associated with glycemic control, John has been the Director of Research and Development at Monarch for over 8 years. With more than 25 years specializing in software development, he has dedicated 11 of those years to focus on Healthcare IT. Prior to his role at Monarch, he held the position of Senior Technical Consultant at Interplat Solutions. In addition, he has developed software for Election Systems and Software, as well as the American Kennel Club.
BILL DORNER
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
With nearly 20 years of expertise in product strategy, product marketing, and health information technology, Bill is a well-equipped leader with strong technical experience and executive management skills. Bill has spent most of his career managing numerous products generating over $10M annually. Prior to joining the Monarch team, Bill developed enterprise data warehouse product roadmaps that doubled product features and increased sales from 3M to 10M in two years. His background, primarily in data management, includes tenures with Premier, Inc., Slalom Consulting, Information Builders, and Initiate Systems.