Tamar Rudnick is a healthcare executive who has spent 10+ years in leadership roles across early-stage, public company, and PE-backed businesses. She is currently an Operating Partner at Define Ventures, one of the largest early-stage digital health VCs with ~$800M under management and $22B in exited value.

At Define Ventures, Tamar leads strategic growth initiatives. Based in Silicon Valley, Define invests in early-stage companies from Seed stage to Series B, and has backed and built some of the category-leading companies such as Livongo, HIMS, and Evolent. Define differentiates itself by providing unparalleled expertise in go-to-market and commercialization. Tamar leads this work—developing relationships with a coalition of industry-leading Payers, Health Systems, and Life Sciences companies. To date, Define has delivered customer contracts for over 50% of their portfolio companies.

Prior to Define Ventures, Tamar was the SVP of Growth at apree health, where she was responsible for leading Sales, Enablement, Marketing, and Customer teams across Employer and Health Plan segments. apree health is a leader in tech-enabled primary care delivery for commercial organizations, including Fortune 500 Employers and National Health Plans with Elevance as a key strategic partner. apree health was formed as a combination of Castlight Health and Vera Whole Health. At apree, Tamar led the commercial team, delivering 30% revenue growth for the combined business while integrating two commercial organizations and developing the combined go-to- market strategy.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• The current state of the health tech venture capital space
• Trends within the health tech space, including
  • Regulatory trends and shifts that are both positively and negatively impacting the startup space
  • Generative AI’s ability and potential to drive efficiency and reduce operational costs
  • GLP-1s and how they are driving the consumerization of healthcare
• Where AI is having an impact in the healthcare space and how to discern the signal from the noise
• The key findings from Define Ventures' recent study of the health tech space, including a deep dive into funding trends and exits
• The importance of go-to-market and brand strategies in the startup environment

Additional resources: 

• Tamar Rudnick on LinkedIn
• Define Ventures website
• Define Ventures Health Tech Report
• Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
• Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
• A Brave New’s website

Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based branding agency that crafts bold & memorable healthcare brands. They have specific expertise in healthcare technology, employee health & wellness programs, and hospitals & providers. Josh has 15 years experience building new brands from scratch, refreshing existing brands and building  strategies to bring those brands to life in the market. What you’ll learn about in this episode:

1. What brand architecture is and is not
2. Why brand architecture is an essential part of your brand strategy
3. The four most common brand architecture frameworks
   • Branded house
   • Sub-brands
   • Endorsed brand
   • House of brands
4. For each framework Josh dives into
   • Real world examples from the healthcare space
   • Strengths
   • Weaknesses
5. When you should take time to evaluate your brand architecture
6. Why it's essential to keep a constant eye on the interrelation and interactions between your brands and/or products

Additional resources: 

• Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
• Information about Josh's keynote, The Memory Curators
• Branding Fundamentals eBook
• Brand Portfolio Strategy by David Aaker
• A Brave New’s Website

Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based branding agency that crafts bold & memorable healthcare brands. They have specific expertise in healthcare technology, employee health & wellness programs, and hospitals & providers. Josh has 15 years experience building new brands from scratch, refreshing existing brands and building  strategies to bring those brands to life in the market. What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• The basics about brand drivers
• We’ll do a deep dive into three specific brand drivers
  • Personality
  • Benefit ladder
  • Brand filter
• For each of these brand drivers Josh explores
  • What the brand driver is
  • Why the brand driver is important
  • How it looks in a real-world example
  • How to get started creating the brand drivers for your organization

 Additional resources: 

• Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
• Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
• Branding Fundamentals Part I (podcast episode)
• Branding Fundamentals: Personality (blog post)
• Branding Fundamentals: Benefit Ladder (blog post)
• Branding Fundamentals: Brand Filter (blog post)
• Branding Fundamentals eBook
• A Brave New’s Website

Product Management and innovation enthusiast, Hank Lander, currently serves as a Group Product Manager at HubSpot, focusing on Customer Data Protections. Hank's expertise lies in launching new products and building product pipelines. Prior to his current role, he was the Director of Product at ZoomInfo and worked at multiple early-stage startups. Hank holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship from MIT Sloan School of Management and a BS in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology.

In this episode Josh and Hank have a conversation about HubSpot’s Sensitive Data Management functionality and how it enables healthcare organizations to store and leverage protected health information (PHI) in marketing while staying compliant with HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).  You’ll want to listen whether you want to understand the functionality from a high level or if you’re interested in the nuts and bolts of how it works. Josh and Hank cover both.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• How HubSpot’s Sensitive Data Functionality works
• How it enables healthcare companies to leverage new marketing functionality while protecting PHI
• How it enables healthcare organizations to securely store and handle PHI
• How this data can then be leveraged to personalize marketing to whole new levels
• How sensitive data like PHI is segregated from the rest of the database
• How access control is managed
• What audit trail capabilities exist within the functionality
• What encryption methods are leveraged
• What resources HubSpot and its partners offer to help healthcare companies implement the functionality
• What new product rollouts are upcoming for the Sensitive Data Management product

Legal Disclaimer: None of the information shared in this episode should be construed as legal advice or counsel. Josh and Hank are not legal experts and any claims made regarding PHI or HIPAA are purely opinion and should be verified by legal counsel.

Additional resources: 

• HubSpot’s Sensitive Data Management product page
• Hubspot's Knowledge Center page on how to Store Sensitive Data in HubSpot
• HubSpot Trust Center
• Hank Lander on LinkedIn
• Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
• Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
• A Brave New’s Website

Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based branding agency that crafts bold & memorable healthcare brands. They have specific expertise in healthcare technology, employee health & wellness programs, and hospitals & providers. Josh has 15 years experience building new brands from scratch, refreshing existing brands and building  strategies to bring those brands to life in the market.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

In this episode we take a deep dive into the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer. Specifically, Josh spends time:

• Highlighting some of the most salient insights from the Trust Barometer, so that you’re equipped with a solid understanding of what’s happening in the market (I’ll argue even in the B2B market) including:
  • Trust is a minority position
  • Lies are the assumed default for ⅔ of the population
  • Hostile activism is more and more acceptable
  • Optimism deficit & zero sum games are the norm
  • Suspicions of AI are on the rise
  • Businesses remain most trusted entities, except among respondents with high grievance
• Identifying some of the unique challenges that flow out of the crisis of grievance for healthcare companies (especially in the areas of healthcare tech, employee health & wellness, and hospitals and healthcare providers where we primarily work), including:
  • Trust can no longer be assumed
  • Healthcare providers have significant work to do to build trust with patients
  • We must do work to ensure that healthtech driven by AI clearly articulates its values and the guardrails that exist
  • An authentic brand is a must, not just a flashy marketing game
  • If they can show up with authenticity, healthcare brands have an opportunity to build trust
• Discussing actions healthcare brands can take to build trust with customers, buyers, and patients in the midst of this environment, including:
  • Showcase and champion shared values with your customers and with patients
  • Create opportunities for optimism backed by real data
  • Act boldly on behalf of patients…and show your work
  • Look for opportunities to work together with others
  • Focus on authenticity in your brand above all else

Additional resources: 

• Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
• Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
• 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer
• You Have A Trust Problem - Blog Post
• A Brave New’s Website

Intelerad recently completed a rebrand in May 2024. In this episode Josh and Jordan spend time unpacking the reasons Intelerad decided to pursue a rebrand, the process they followed to get there, as well as the outcomes in terms of brand essence and strategy, visual identity, and market impact.

Here’s a little more about Jordan.

As CEO of Intelerad, Jordan Bazinsky is committed to improving global human health through advanced imaging technologies. He is entrusted with ensuring that Intelerad’s vision aligns with their clients, and ultimately patients, in supporting their unique healthcare journeys.

Jordan has spent over two decades applying technology and design thinking to drive positive change in healthcare– expanding access, improving outcomes, and lowering costs. He most recently served as Executive Vice President at Cotiviti, delivering billions of dollars in measurable value for some of the largest stakeholders in the healthcare community. He has proven leadership experience in understanding the market, developing growth strategies, and scaling transformational healthcare companies, including: Cotiviti, Verscend, Verisk Health, and The Advisory Board.

Jordan earned an MBA from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree from Duke University, where he previously served on the Board of Trustees.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Who Intelerad is and what they are trying to accomplish in the advanced imaging technology space
• Why Intelerad decided to pursue a rebrand
• The reasons why Jordan believes branding should be viewed as a ROI generating activity by companies
• The concepts and ideas that inform Intelerad’s new brand essence
• The impact that the brand has had with customers and patients so far
• The ways that that essence informed the new visual identity of the brand Jordan and Intelerad’s vision for the next five years

Additional resources:

• Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
• Jordan Bazinsky on LinkedIn
• Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
• Intelerad’s Website
• A Brave New’s Website

Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based agency that builds bold & memorable healthcare brands. Over the last 15 years, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth using human-centered strategies and smart execution.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• The basics about brand drivers

• We’ll do a deep dive into four specific brand drivers

  • Essence

  • Promise

  • Core attributes

  • Brand positioning statement

• For each of these brand drivers Josh explores:

  • What the brand driver is

  • Why the brand driver is important

  • How it looks in a real-world example

  • How to get started creating the brand driver for your organization

Additional resources: 

• Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn

• Josh Dougherty’s speaking site

• A Brave New Blog: 

• Branding Fundamentals: essence and promise

• Branding Fundamentals: core attributes

• Branding Fundamentals: positioning statement

• A Brave New’s Website

Rachael Radford has supported organizations in software strategy, selection and implementation across North America. Rachael and her team sit alongside their clients as they evaluate software needs and options to ensure they make the best choice for their business. Rachael is passionate about knowledge transfer and ensures that clients walk away not only with a successful project, but with the tools and methodologies they need to make informed strategic decisions. 

Her organization, Meira Consulting, is an independent software advisory firm. Clients work with Meira to evaluate systems and processes, build requirements, choose the right software, and manage the project to ensure technology goes live and meets the business need.  

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Why companies struggle to choose the right software
• The downstream consequences of choosing the wrong software
• The intimate relationship between smart software selection, process design, and change management
• The fundamentals of a good software selection process
• How Meira Consulting helps companies large and small manage the software selection and implementation process
• Real life examples of the impact of a strategic software selection process
• The first thing that someone should do when they start the software evaluation process

Additional resources: 

• Rachael Radford on LinkedIn
• Meira Consulting’s Website
• Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
• A Brave New’s Website
• Book Josh to Speak At Your Next Event

Josh Dougherty is a brand strategist, speaker, and the founder and CEO of A Brave New, a Seattle-based B2B branding, content strategy, and design agency specializing in helping tech and healthcare brave, bold, and memorable brands. Over the last decade plus, he’s worked with clients to develop unique brands and accelerate business growth.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

In this episode Josh discusses the importance of a well-managed brand rollout and eight mistakes to avoid during that rollout. The mistakes he discusses include:

1. Rolling out your brand with legal issues unresolved
2. Rolling out with key parts of your brand in wet cement
3. Moving forward without having your messaging fully defined and dialed in
4. Losing interest in the brand rollout before 18 months to 3 years has passed
5. Allowing short-term pressures, like quarterly sales goals, dictate strategic direction
6. Letting ease dictate decisions
7. Forgetting the customer in your brand rollout decisions
8. Committing less than 100% to the brand direction

As Josh discusses each of the mistakes, he shares stories about past branding projects and explains how to avoid each mistake.

Additional resources: 

• Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
• Josh Dougherty’s speaking site
• A Brave New’s website

Creative Strategist & Growth Accelerator Karley Cunningham develops brand leaders by taking businesses from overcrowded, competitive spaces into blue ocean territory, where they can confidently stand out and thrive.

Her international client base benefits from accelerated growth, profit and stability as her innovative Surefire Method™ provides them with an infallible business strategy and brand toolkit to stand out in the sea of sameness, attract the people their business needs to thrive, and become a brand leader in their industry. Karley’s entrepreneurial success story is featured in the awarded book The Widest Net by Pam Slim. Believing deeply in the practice of ‘givers gain,’ she’s developed a global network and rarely goes a day without making a referral or connection. When not focusing on the business or expanding her network, she can be found somewhere in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest with her wife and dog in their 4x4. What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Trends in the branding space, what business owners, marketers, and others should be thinking about
• Why branding is not marketing, and the implications this has for how you build your brand
• Karley’s Surefire Strategy that she uses to help companies refine their strategic direction and craft winning brands
• How to evaluate a branding firm if you’re about to start a branding effort
• Why it’s essential to have the C-Suite involved in any branding process
• How to use your values to create a truly differentiated organization

Additional resources: 

• Josh Dougherty on LinkedIn
• Karley Cunningham on LinkedIn
• Big Bold Brand Website
• Cary Weston’s ChatGPT Experiment Podcast
• A Brave New’s Website
• Book Josh Dougherty To Speak At Your Next Event