HR Notices From February 21
Altarum Welcomes New Board Chair, Vice Chair to Board Leadership Team: Altarum Institute, a nonprofit health systems research and consulting organization, has announced Mary K. Ousley as the new chair of the board of trustees. Dr. Maxine Hayes has been elected vice-chair. Ousley is president of Ousley & Associates, which assists health care providers in strategic planning, management problem solving, regulatory and compliance issues, operational analysis and implementation of quality management programs. Ousley has been a member of Altarum Institute's Board since 2006. Hayes is the state health officer for the Washington State Department of Health. As the state's top public health doctor, her role includes advising the governor and the secretary of health on issues ranging from health promotion and chronic disease prevention, to emergency response, including pandemic influenza preparedness. Hayes has also served on the Altarum Board since 2006. Ousley replaces Dr. Robert P. Kelch, who is retiring from the board after nine years of service. Kelch will retain the title of Emeritus Trustee. Altarum (www.altarum.org) provides research and consulting to the health care industry. Its 400 employees work at its Ann Arbor headquarers and offices in the Washington, D.C., area; Atlanta, Ga.; Portland, Maine; and San Antonio, Texas.
Billhighway Expands Development Team with New Hire and Internal Promotions: Troy-based Billhighway, the provider of cloud-based financial management for nonprofits, announced an expansion of its product development team with the hiring of Ramesh Kandukuri and the promotion of team members Joe Koppin and Scott Walmer. In his role as Senior Solutions Architect, Kandukuri acts as a leader and mentor on the product development team. He has 15 years' experience in IT strategy and operational planning. Prior to joining Billhighway, Kandukuri held the position of enterprise software and data architect at Quicken Loans, where he helped gorw the software engineering team from six to 95 employees. Kandukuri holds a bahchelor of technology degree in chemical engineering from the National Institute of Technology Warangal in India and a master's degree in information systems from Eastern Michigan University. Koppin was promoted from the product support team to associate developer. He is responsible for building new product features and system enhancements including Web-based and database development. Prior to joining Billhighway in April 2011, Koppin worked as an R&D and field service technician for Adco Products, an industrial sealant and adhesive manufacturer. He has a bachelor of science in mathematics from Michigan State University and is currently working on a master's degree in industrial applied mathematics at Oakland University. As quality assurance analyst, Walmer implements and executes the quality practices within Billhighway's product development team. His responsibilities include design, implementation, execution and issue resolution to help assure high quality and on-time deliveries of applications. Walmer previously held positions in client care, client rlations and most recently as client accounting specialist at Billhighway prior to his promotion in December 2012. Walmer earned his bachelor's degree in accountancy from Walsh College. More at www.billhighway.co.
