WI Watchlist: DotCom Therapy, Nordic, UWM, Epic

It’s time to catch up on recent happenings in Wisconsin’s innovation community:

—Madison-based telemedicine startup DotCom Therapy named Sanaz Cordes as its chief executive and said it raised an undisclosed amount of funding from HealthX Ventures, a local venture firm that backs healthtech companies. Cordes is a physician and former chief operations officer of another Madison-based healthtech startup, Healthfinch.

DotCom Therapy develops software to connect patients with remotely located therapists who provide speech, occupational, and mental health services. The company was founded in 2015 by certified speech language pathologists Emily Purdom and Rachel Robinson. The startup was originally based in Springfield, MO, but later moved to Wisconsin.

—In other executive news, Madison-based healthcare consulting firm Nordic named Jim Costanzo as its new CEO, starting July 1. Previously an EY executive focused on healthcare clients, Costanzo will succeed Bruce Cerullo, who is shifting to board chair. Nordic, which is best known for its expertise in helping hospitals and clinics install and configure healthcare software products from Epic Systems and other vendors, has expanded through a pair of acquisitions since early 2018.

—The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Continuing Education created a six-month, online program to teach web development and programming skills that will ideally land students a job. UWM is running the program in partnership with New York-based coding bootcamp operator Thinkful. Read more in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

—Lastly, I’ll leave you with a pair of reading recommendations. This piece from The Cap Times provides a good overview of the growth of the venture capital scene in Madison and around Wisconsin. And the Wisconsin State Journal took a fun look at the history of Epic Systems, as the electronic health records software giant recently celebrated its 40th birthday.

Author: Jeff Bauter Engel

Jeff, a former Xconomy editor, joined Xconomy from The Milwaukee Business Journal, where he covered manufacturing and technology and wrote about companies including Johnson Controls, Harley-Davidson and MillerCoors. He previously worked as the business and healthcare reporter for the Marshfield News-Herald in central Wisconsin. He graduated from Marquette University with a bachelor degree in journalism and Spanish. At Marquette he was an award-winning reporter and editor with The Marquette Tribune, the student newspaper. During college he also was a reporter intern for the Muskegon Chronicle and Grand Rapids Press in west Michigan.