Clairvia Executive Team

Knowledge, leadership, deep experience, technical savvy and a commitment to transformational innovation empower Clairvia’s executive team to deliver Care Value Management solutions that can help your organization achieve optimal outcomes in patient care and financial performance.

• Michael Warner, MHA, Ph.D.
  Chairman and Chief Science Officer
  Michael Warner, MHA, Ph.D., began developing IT solutions for the healthcare industry in the early 1980s, when he wrote the first nurse staffing system. Throughout his 30-plus year career in healthcare, he has concentrated on creating systems that embed best-practice management concepts for improving quality of care and maximizing operational efficiency. As co-founder and Chief Science Officer at Clairvia, his responsibilities include strategies, design, and technology for all new Clairvia innovations.
  
   
  Prior to Clairvia, Michael was co-founder and president of Atwork Corporation, the premier provider of staff management and patient scheduling software, with more than 2,000 successful installations throughout the world. Serving as president of Atwork from its incorporation in 1983, he initiated and managed the company’s rapid growth, until it was sold to Medaphis Corporation, now a part of McKesson, in 1995. Michael entered the business world after 15 years on the faculties of the University of Michigan and Duke University, where he taught and researched applications of mathematical and predictive modeling on computers for health care management. He received a BA in Mathematics and an MHA from Duke University, and earned his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and Computers at Tulane University.
• Beth Pickard
  President and Chief Executive Officer

  Beth’s more than 15 years of senior management experience in healthcare staff scheduling provides her with an insider’s expertise in the challenges, solutions and opportunities that arise out the staff scheduling function – and of the transformative benefits of comprehensive, patient-centric, outcomes-driven Care Value Management. Well-versed in the implementation of enterprise-wide solutions, she has held key management positions in product development, customer support and sales at Clairvia, Per-Se Technologies, and MSI Software.

  As president and CEO of Clairvia, she guides the company in the achievement of its strategic vision and works to ensure that its clients realize the greatest possible benefit from their Clairvia solutions. Beth received a BS degree in Nursing at Duke University. Today, she is recognized as a leading expert in healthcare management and is a sought-after speaker on a variety of healthcare staff issues at many national venues, including the annual HIMSS conference and nursing conferences.

• Laura Caffrey
  Chief Financial Officer

  With two decades of successful experience in finance for healthcare IT companies, Laura ensures that Clairvia keeps its own operations running at maximum efficiency. She began her career in finance with Coastal Physician Group, a company with multiple healthcare operating units, including emergency physician outsourcing, billing management, and a health maintenance organization, experience which gives her a detailed understanding of our clients’ financial challenges and objectives.

  In addition to her work in finance, Laura has also led the human resources and strategic planning functions for the technology firms Best Doctors, Inc. and Per-se Technologies. She holds a BA in Business Administration from Furman University, a master’s degree in International Business from the University of South Carolina, and has earned her Certified Management Accountant accreditation.

• Sharon Eck Birmingham, DNSc, RN
  Chief Nursing Executive

  Dr. Sharon Eck Birmingham brings twenty-four years of nursing leadership experience to her role as Chief Nursing Executive at Clairvia, giving the company deep insight into how our products affect positive patient outcomes. Her primary clinical and administrative expertises are in maternal child health in both acute and ambulatory settings with a passion for access to and care for underserved women and their families.

  Sharon has served on the Steering Committee for Magnet Designation in two academic medical centers, and has held positions as a nurse manager, director, chief nurse and adjunct faculty throughout her career in academic medical centers. Her consultation experience includes: staffing and scheduling, clinical quality and fiscal outcomes, unit-based research implementation, magnet consultation, and maternal child health projects.

  Dr. Birmingham obtained her bachelor’s degree in Nursing and master’s degree in Nursing Administration from the University of Iowa. She earned her doctoral degree from Yale University with an emphasis on uses of data in health care decision-making. Her doctoral dissertation on “The Effect of Nurse Staffing on Clinical, Organizational and Financial Outcomes” won the Yale School of Nursing Dissertation Prize. In addition to her work with Clairvia, she is currently adjunct assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, School of Nursing. Her professional memberships include: The American Organization of Nurse Executives, American Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society, Council on Graduate Education in Nursing, and the American Academy of Ambulatory Nursing.

• Karen Dockrell-Mellin
  Vice President, Sales

  Focused on helping her clients achieve their patient care and financial performance objectives, Karen has enjoyed a successful 15 year career in sales management and product distribution for a range of healthcare technologies, including software, robotics, and automation. This experience gives her an in-depth knowledge of how the right solution can deliver transformative benefits to healthcare providers. She joined Clairvia in July 2009, taking leadership responsibility for all of the company’s sales activities.

• Phillip Madden
  Vice President, Client Services

  With more than 15 years of experience leading implementation, support and project management activities for healthcare IT operations in both the ambulatory and acute care sectors, Phillip devotes his professional life to ensuring effective, on-time installation of Clairvia solutions and the continuous delivery of world-class customer support.

  As the head of the company’s Client Services team, he takes responsibility for building strong customer relationships through expert implementation services, effective training programs, consulting, account management, application integration, and application support. Phillip holds a BSBA degree in Computer Information Systems and Operations Management from Appalachian State University in North Carolina.

• Kraig McKinley
  Vice President, Operations

  Kraig brings extensive executive management experience in project and program management, process and business analysis, software evaluation and design, and financial and market analysis to his role as leader of Clairvia’s day-to-day operations. Rising through the company’s application consulting and technical support organizations, where he worked closely with clients to ensure their satisfaction with all aspects of Clairvia’s products and services, he takes a customer-focused approach to product development, installation and support.

  With a background that also includes strategic planning, business process engineering, change management and turnaround management, Kraig has a wide-ranging knowledge and deep understanding of the disciplines required to achieve transformational change. He earned a Master’s of Business Administration from Campbell University and a bachelor of arts degree in Economics, Communications, Law and Government from American University in Washington, DC, and has written numerous articles on the topics of technology, management and corporate turnarounds for national journals and periodicals.

• Kate Nell, RN, M.A.
  Vice President, Product Management

  Early in her healthcare career, Kate served as manager of staffing operations for nursing at Overlook Hospital in Summit, New Jersey, where she was responsible for the selection and successful implementation of software developed by Atwork, a software development company led by Clairvia founder, Michael Warner. That experience convinced her of Michael’s ability to deliver solutions of unparalleled value to healthcare providers. Today, as leader of product management for Clairvia, she ensures that the company’s solutions deliver the greatest possible benefit to its clients.

  Kate holds a BS in Nursing from Rutgers University and a MA from New York University in the Delivery of Nursing Services.

• Mark Burgess
  Managing Director, Physician Scheduler

  Mark Burgess leads the Physician Scheduler division of Clairvia, Inc.

  Burgess, who joined Clairvia, Inc., in 2004, possesses more than 10 years of senior-level sales experience within the software, e-commerce and financial markets.Prior to coming to Clairvia, he served as a senior sales executive for Span Systems, which markets outsourced IT development, consulting and testing to Fortune 1000 organizations. At Span Systems, Burgess focused on banking, insurance, and healthcare organizations faced with integrating legacy systems, upgrading antiquated networks, and customizing applications to meet operational needs.

  Before joining Span Systems, Burgess held the position of Director of Sales & Marketing at I-Sun Networks, a software company specializing in the creation, marketing and management of online communities. His responsibilities at I-Sun included managing the sale of software systems and interactive advertising campaigns.

  Burgess began his career in the financial industry, where he spent the majority of that time with the investment bank Carolina Securities. At Carolina Securities, he assisted portfolio managers in market research, portfolio analysis and due diligence on prospective portfolio organizations.

  Burgess earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from North Carolina State University.