Laudio, an innovator in frontline leader solutions that drive efficiency and engagement for health systems, today announced the appointment of Emma Smith as Chief Marketing Officer. The company also recently hired Michael Vipond as Executive Vice President of Sales. These critical hires come on the heels of Laudio raising a $13 million Series B round led by Define Ventures. Laudio also recently deployed its AI-driven workflow platform at Northwell Health and Nebraska Medicine, placing the company on track to support almost 20 health systems in achieving their goals across four key operating pillars, including people, operations, quality and safety, and patient experience.
“The backbreaking workload that many frontline healthcare leaders carry places undue strain on both employees and health systems as a whole. Laudio is playing an essential part in reshaping how they work, easing the burden on leaders and helping health systems improve both operations and care,” said Russ Richmond, MD, CEO and Co-Founder of Laudio. “As we continue to become the go-to solution for health systems looking to automate frontline leader work and reduce burnout, I’m thrilled to partner with Emma and Mike, who both have a proven track record of helping health tech companies scale across marketing, business development, and sales.”
Emma Smith joins Laudio as the company’s first Chief Marketing Officer. She brings more than 15 years of marketing experience in the healthcare industry, including a decade leading marketing teams for rapidly-growing, VC-backed companies. Most recently, she served as Chief Communications Officer, and previously SVP of Marketing, at Linus Health. Prior to that, she was SVP of Marketing at Kyruus, where she helped establish the company as the market leader in patient access and drive a 6x expansion in its customer base – to more than 75 health systems and 325,000 providers – during her tenure. In this newly created role at Laudio, Smith is tasked with expanding the company’s marketing function, growing brand awareness, and developing innovative, integrated marketing strategies to engage health system leaders.
“When considering new opportunities, I always look for companies that are well-positioned to make a major impact in healthcare with the technology they’re bringing to market – those solving significant challenges in a way that benefits all stakeholders. Laudio’s focus on helping health systems better engage and empower frontline leaders, who play such a critical role in healthcare delivery, was inspiring,” said Smith. “I’m excited to work with the incredible team at Laudio to drive our next phase of growth and shape this emerging category.”
In addition to Smith, Mike Vipond recently joined Laudio to lead the company’s sales functions. Vipond brings a wealth of expertise in building workforce platforms, most recently as SVP & Managing Director of Workforce Management at symplr. Prior to symplr, he held a variety of executive roles at Cerner spanning advisory services, business development, and strategy. As EVP of Sales at Laudio, he will work closely with the rest of the executive leadership team to scale the business, overseeing business development.
Laudio is the first and only single platform that integrates core frontline leader workflows, automating burdensome daily processes and freeing up time for meaningful human interactions. Through the use of AI, Laudio also proactively provides managers with real-time recommendations for personalized, timely team engagement, supporting frontline leaders as they triage innumerable tasks and reducing costly turnover.
