An Interview with Will Akers, Switchboard, MD’s New Chief Strategy Officer
To welcome our new Chief Strategy Officer, Will Akers, we conducted an interview to learn more about his journey and vision for our future.
Will brings extensive global experience, having aligned organizations through strategic initiatives for market entry, international expansion, and risk management at global SaaS technology companies. As a former fintech COO who spent most of his career as an expat in Asia driving digital transformation with Asian financial institutions, Will brings a nuanced and differentiated perspective to the Switchboard, MD executive team.
Will’s global background and experience align well with Switchboard, MD’s goals. In the short term, he will help grow and improve our strategy, embed our company values within everything we do, scale our operations, and identify & mitigate enterprise risks to the organization or our clients. In the long term, his global expertise will support the company's ambition to positively impact the lives of patients and clinicians in over ten countries worldwide.
What inspired you to transition industries to healthcare?
“I have actively followed the evolution of the healthcare industry as an investor for a decade. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the industry’s weakest areas, which, I believe, has created an inflection point in accelerating the shift towards digital transformation. Throughout my professional career, I've had the opportunity to experience healthcare in a variety of settings—kids born in Hong Kong and the US, ER visit in Australia, and family healthcare in Atlanta growing up. Every organization has unique challenges when serving the patients in their geography, and my goal is to bring the best technologies and options forward as we seek to improve the lives of patients and clinicians.”
Why Switchboard, MD?
“The origin story, the team, and the momentum. Being founded by a physician who is also a data scientist, who coded his own natural language processing algorithm to solve the problem he was having with patient messages is inspiring. Furthermore, co-founders Brad & Ankit and other healthcare professionals like Munaf, Ashley, and Kelly make for an extremely impactful group of individuals marching towards a common goal: to restore the human connection to medicine using the latest technological advances.
Additionally, the momentum. I’ve watched Switchboard, MD from the sidelines as an angel investor and advisor for nearly two years. After spending time with the team at an offsite earlier this year and seeing landmark health systems like Emory Healthcare adopt their NLP patient message routing service, combined with a swelling pipeline of interest, I concluded that this is an investment that I not only will put more money into, but if granted the opportunity, this is one that I’m prepared to commit all my energy to going forward.”
What are some of your near-term focus areas with the company?
“In the near-term, my focus will primarily be on building our marketing channels to enhance lead generation, with a particular emphasis on strategic partnerships. I will also be pressure-checking our foundational capabilities to ensure that we are ready to scale as efficiently as possible. Another key area of focus will be collaborating with our leadership team to identify and select the right capital partner that best aligns with our long-term vision and values. By addressing these priorities, we can lay down a strong foundation for sustainable growth and success.”
Learn more about Will and the rest of the Switchboard, MD team:
