William Cross is a manager in the Business Valuation & Transaction Advisory Division at VMG Health in the Nashville office. He primarily works to assist both not-for-profit and for-profit clients with transaction-related valuation, financial, and consulting services. Specifically, Mr. Cross has extensive experience working with physician practices, ambulatory surgery centers, acute care hospitals and diagnostic imaging centers, Additionally, he has broad experience providing valuation and consulting services for most other types of businesses in the healthcare industry.
Mr. Cross graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He is also candidate for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Greg Koonsman founded VMG Health and has acted as a trusted advisor to healthcare system and healthcare services executives and boards since 1990. He founded VMG Health in 1995 to create the first healthcare services-focused valuation and transaction advisory firms in the United States. He has been responsible for directing and implementing the overall strategy and focus of the firm since 1995. He has gained a deep level of expertise working with hundreds of healthcare organizations on over three thousand engagements throughout the United States, UK, South Africa, and Western Europe. Over the last 26 years, VMG has achieved a compound annual growth rate of over 16% and the company has grown to over 200 employees. Koonsman continues to advise clients in their transaction and joint venture strategies.
Koonsman has led the company as it has expanded its service offerings into strategic consulting, financial due diligence, coding and compliance, and interim management. Between January 2017 and October 2018, he acted as interim Chief Development Officer of Envision Healthcare. During that period, Envision made over $1 billion in acquisitions and divested a $2.6 billion medical transportation business. Envision was taken private by KKR in October of 2018.
Koonsman was a co-founder and Director of Practice Performance, Inc., a physician practice management services business that was sold to Med Synergies in 2006.
B.S. Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M 1986 M.B.A. Finance Concentration, University of Dallas 1990 Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), 1995
Bell Helicopter 1987-1989
Ernst & Young 1990-1995
VMG Health 1995-Current
Otis Hendershott serves as Chief Data and Technology Officer for VMG Health and is accountable for overall technology/data strategy and execution for the enterprise. This role encompasses InfoSec, enterprise/data architecture, digital properties, vendor and partner management, tech product, I&O and technology support functions.
Otis came to VMG Health from United Health Group’s Optum Technology division. His expertise encompasses a wide spectrum of healthcare domains, including payor services, care delivery, pharmacy benefit management, complex conditions management, value-based care, electronic medical record implementations, and utilization management. During his tenure at Optum, Otis played pivotal roles in shaping the organization’s technological landscape. Notably, he led the establishment of a global software engineering organization, instrumental in developing an industry-leading clinical support tool tailored for oncologists. Additionally, Otis provided strategic direction and oversaw technology execution for OptumCare’s Northeast/Midwest Region, contributing significantly to the company’s operational excellence and market positioning.
Jen Johnson currently serves as the Chief Commercial Officer for VMG Health which includes the oversight of branding, thought leadership, and affinity groups. This role includes service line integration initiatives, and the firm’s go-to-market strategy.
As a Managing Director with VMG Health, Jen Johnson has overseen the Compensation Arrangements division which requires a deep understanding of the fair market value challenges, market data, and regulatory guidelines associated with valuing professional service arrangements within the healthcare industry. She has been published and presented on these topics over 50 times nationally through organizations such as the American Health Lawyers Association, the American Bar Association, the Health Care Compliance Association, Becker’s Hospital Review, and the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
Jen’s role serving clients included developing internal compensation tools and solutions for some of the largest health systems in the country. Her experience includes providing full FMV opinions for any type of compensation arrangement including clinical services, administrative services, call coverage, co-management agreements, and pay for performance arrangements (shared savings and quality incentives). She has also served as an expert witness on several occasions in matters of Fair Market Value.
Jen’s valuation career began with KPMG, LLP in the Forensic and Litigation Services Department where she worked directly under experts in the field of finance, accounting, and economics. She has also worked at the University of North Texas as a finance professor. Prior to that, Jen earned a BBA and MBA in Finance as well as the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, while working for several companies in a consulting capacity. Her consulting work included business valuation, financial projections, and operational systematizations.
Vincent M. Kickirillo is the leader of Valuation and Transaction Advisory Services at VMG Health and is based in the Dallas office. He has over 30 years of experience providing financial, valuation, and transaction advisory services and solutions to clients in the healthcare industry. His clients include corporations, boards of directors, “C-level” executives, and legal counsels for entities such as hospitals, health systems, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, radiation therapy centers, physician practices, risk bearing entities, and other healthcare entities. He also has extensive experience serving Private Equity backed healthcare entities.
Prior to joining VMG Health in 2005, Kickirillo has held director roles at FTI Consulting, Inc. and at KPMG’s valuation and litigation practices. He has also worked in the financial advisory services practice at Ernst & Young.
Kickirillo has provided professional services for the purposes of merger, acquisition, divestiture, management planning, restructuring, tax planning, bankruptcy, and litigation. Kickirillo has provided testimony regarding valuation and other financial issues. He has extensive experience in valuation of businesses; financial securities, including common stock, preferred stock, and derivatives; intellectual property, such as patents, trademarks, and trade names; and other specific assets.
He received a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin, and a Master of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA).
Matthew Stensland serves as the Senior Director of Human Resources for VMG Health and is based in our Dallas office. In his role, he elevates the firm’s talent function and steers HR strategy towards greater success.
Stensland has a distinguished 15-year career in the healthcare industry, and most recently served as the Head of HR Service Delivery at Tenet Health. In that role, his leadership played a pivotal role in streamlining and implementing centralized HR services on a global scale. Prior to Tenet Health, he served in critical roles at Mercy Health, including the System Director of Compensation.
He has an MBA in Health Services Management from the University of Dallas and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of New Mexico.
Katy Avila serves as the Chief People Officer of VMG Health. In this role, she is responsible for the development and deployment of the talent vision and strategy, aligned to the firm’s strategy. Her responsibilities include championing culture and engagement, strategic planning, talent acquisition, leadership development, HRIS, talent management, and total rewards programs. Avila brings to the firm deep expertise in mergers and acquisitions and driving transformational change.
Avila has served as Chief Human Resource Officer and other Head of Human Resource roles, within a variety of industries and successful organizations, ranging from 200 to 50,000 employees. In these roles, she has led the build and transformation of the HR function through phases of hypergrowth and expansion. Under her leadership, all functional aspects of HR were developed to fully support the organization, enabling continued rapid growth. As a result of the business-relevant programs, and cultivation of culture, these organizations have been recognized as the best places to work and Avila has been recognized as a top HR executive. Her diverse experience, along with her operations management background, where she launched her career, has been one of the keys to her success in business.
Avila earned her BS from Syracuse University and her MBA from the University of North Texas, both degrees in HR Management/Organizational Behavior. She currently holds both the SPHR and SHRM-SCP credentials.
Cyndy Carr, Ph.D. serves as the President and Chief Operating Officer of VMG Health. She provides strategic leadership and oversight for the firm’s growth strategy and operations. Her responsibilities include providing strategic direction for market expansions, new service lines, and oversight of human resources, IT, and other internal functions.
Carr has served as Chief Operating Officer and other senior organizational leadership roles for multiple professional service firms. She started her career in management consulting and has extensive experience in process and performance improvement, sales and marketing, talent management, and strategy. Carr’s experience also includes executive leadership roles within the industry where she had similar responsibilities for strategy and growth, sales, marketing, and product development.
Carr earned her bachelor’s degree from Texas Christian University. She earned her master’s degree and doctorate from Rice University.
Aaron Murski serves as a Managing Director at VMG Health and is based in the Dallas office. He has developed expertise in providing valuation opinions, transaction consulting, and market research across many verticals within healthcare services. In addition to the extensive valuation experience in support of regulatory compliance, transaction planning, and financial reporting purposes, he has consulted on numerous development, feasibility, and recapitalization analyses for joint venture, restructuring, and denovo business development purposes. Clients include for-profit and not-for-profit health systems, providers, development companies, and their advisors across the United States.
Murski is also the lead research associate and collaborator in the development and publication of the Intellimarker™ Multi-Specialty ASC Benchmarking Study published annually by VMG Health. The Intellimarker™ presents hundreds of operating and financial benchmarking statistics using data from approximately 200 ambulatory surgery centers from around the country.
Murski received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University and a Master of Science in Jurisprudence, Health & Hospital Law Concentration, from Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark, NJ. He is designated as a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA).
Ben Ulrich is a Managing Director in the Compensation Division at VMG Health and is based in the Dallas office. His focus is providing valuation and consulting services for contractual service arrangements within the healthcare services industry. He has particular expertise in valuations relating to provider employment, on-call coverage, physician administrative and executive services, telemedicine, hospital-based coverage, management / billing, and quality initiatives. Ulrich also developed and manages VMG Health’s FMV Tools service line providing expedited, cost-effective valuation solutions to clients nationwide.
Prior to joining the Compensation Division, Ulrich worked in VMG Health’s Business Valuation division where he provided valuation services related to hospitals, specialty/surgical hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, diagnostic imaging centers, and single and multi-specialty physician practices.
Ulrich graduated summa cum laude and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Financial Consulting from the Edwin L. Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. He is currently designated as a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) and is a member of the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts.