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Donato Tramuto

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by TimothyPorter (talk | contribs) at 22:39, 10 February 2018 (Changed residence to Nashville. He stays in Nashville the majority of the year and is a Tennessee citizen.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Donato J. Tramuto
BornJuly 1956 (age 68)
Dunkirk, New York
Education
Occupations
  • Top executive
  • Municipal officer
Years active1982–present
Title
  • CEO of Tivity Health
  • Chairman of Ogunquit Board of Selectmen
Term2006–2012
Board member ofHealth eVillages
AwardsRFK Ripple of Hope award
WebsiteTivity Health biography
TramutoFoundation.com/donato-j-tramuto

Donato J. Tramuto (born 1956) is an American healthcare executive and global health activist.[1] In 2008, he founded an online service for drug detailing and sampling, Physicians Interactive, which by 2015 had a membership of 3 million healthcare practitioners.[2][3] He also founded a nonprofit program, Health eVillages, to provide curated medical information to clinicians in remote areas.[4]

In 2013 he was elected to the board of healthcare firm Healthways Inc. after an activist shareholder threatened a proxy fight over its performance;[5] two years later he was appointed president and CEO.[6] He restructured the company and rebranded it as Tivity Health.[7][8]

Tramuto was elected to the Town of Ogunquit Board of Selectmen in 2006 and served two terms as chairman.[9]

Early life and education

At age 7 a middle-ear infection left Tramuto unable to hear or speak clearly. Ten years later a surgical operation restored some but not all of his hearing and fluency.[10][11]

Tramuto attended Wadhams Hall Seminary-College from 1975 to 1979, graduating with a B.A. degree in philosophy. He then studied healthcare marketing at the State University of New York–Buffalo for two years.[12][13]

Business career

Tramuto taught for a semester at Gannon, a Roman Catholic diocesan university, before making a career change to pharmaceutical marketing at Marion Laboratories.[14]

From 1982 to 1990 Tramuto worked at Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, becoming district manager. He then was hired by Caremark as its vice president for Disease Management Marketing and general manager of its Home Healthcare business unit.[15] He spent four years advocating and directing the development of the company's first AIDS management program.[16]

In 1998 Tramuto co-founded Protocare, Inc., a drug development firm with a healthcare-services consulting division.[15] In 2002 he sold one part to Radiant Research and the other to Constella Health Strategies, which was integrated into UnitedHealth Group a year later.[13][17]

In 2008 Tramuto left UnitedHealth Group and founded Physicians Interactive Holdings, which provided mobile and Web-based medical reference tools, electronic drug sampling, and interactive education to the healthcare industry. Venture capital was supplied by Perseus, a private equity firm.[18] The company's proprietary technology could be used to transmit a patient's medical data to a physician through a handheld device. After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, physicians there used it to communicate with medical experts in the U.S.[19]

In 2013 Perseus sold the company to Merck, with Tramuto remaining in place as CEO.[18]

In May 2013 Tramuto was elected to serve as an outside director of health-and-wellness company Healthways Inc.; its shareholders had voted to declassify its staggered board of directors after the New York State Common Retirement Fund claimed that the directors had entrenched themselves.[20] He was appointed chairman a year later.[21] In 2015 the company announced his appointment as president and CEO,[6][15] passing over a corporate officer who had applied for the job.[22]

In July 2016 Tramuto sold Healthways' unprofitable population-health business, along with its brand name, to allow the company to focus on its fitness and rehabilitation programs, under a new name ("Tivity Health").[7][8]

Philanthropy

In 2011, Tramuto established a nonprofit, Health eVillages, to distribute handheld devices loaded with medical reference materials to healthcare workers in remote regions of the world.[23] In 2014 the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights gave him an RFK Ripple of Hope award for his charitable work in the global healthcare field.[1][4]

In 2016 Tramuto wrote a memoir about obstacles he had encountered in early life and traumatic events that had caused him to feel survivor guilt; he said that these experiences ("life's bulldozer moments") motivated him to succeed in business and do charitable work.[24]

Political activities

Tramuto was elected to the Town of Ogunquit's Board of Selectmen in 2006 on a write-in campaign. He served two three-year terms. While chairman (2007–12), he represented the town to the governor of Maine on issues related to education and health.[14][25] In 2010 the governor appointed him to the State of Maine Economic Growth Council, which develops and evaluates the state's long-term economic growth plan.[19][26]

Books

  • Tramuto, Donato (2016). Life's Bulldozer Moments: How Adversity Leads to Success in Life and Business. With Chris Black. Hamilton Books. ISBN 978-0-7618-6855-2.

References

  1. ^ a b Chozick, Amy (18 December 2014). "Political Dynasties, Past and Present". New York Times. p. E14. Archived from the original on 2015-01-06. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) Glassberg, Julie (18 December 2014). A Crowd Only the Kennedys Could Draw (slide 17). New York Times. Seated nearby were Tony Bennett and the global health activist Donato Tramuto, who both also accepted R.F.K. honors... Donato Tramuto received the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope award from Ethel Kennedy.
  2. ^ "ELITE Transformational Leader Donato Tramuto of Physicians Interactive". Feature. PM360. Queens, N.Y. 19 May 2005. At Caremark ... in the 1980s he championed the development of the first national disease management program for HIV/AIDS... Physicians Interactive has registered more than three million healthcare professionals worldwide in its user network...
  3. ^ "Physicians Interactive". CrunchBase (Profile). TechCrunch. 1 December 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
  4. ^ a b Gallagher, Noel (17 December 2014). "Former Ogunquit Selectman Gets Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award". Portland Press Herald. p. 2. Tramuto ... is chief executive officer and chairman of Physicians Interactive... The site is used by 3.5 million physicians... The Tramuto Foundation ... has a goal of giving away $1 million by 2015... Tramuto created Health eVillages in 2011 in partnership with the Robert F. Kennedy Center...
  5. ^ Kennedy, Eleanor (7 August 2015). "New CEO Not a Big Shakeup for Healthways". Nashville Business Journal. Healthways ... named Donato Tramuto its new president and CEO... Tramuto has served on the board of Healthways for two years and as board chairman for one. He got the latter position as part of a compromise with ... a Boston-based fund that had pushed for [CEO] Leedle's ouster.  See generally Solomon, Steven (26 November 2014). "A Defense against Hostile Takeover Attempts Develops a Downside". New York Times. p. B5. Healthways ... entered into a 'dead hand' poison put... Shareholders sued the Healthways directors and their bank ... claiming it chilled shareholders' ability to replace directors. A Delaware court agreed... With a bank potentially liable, poison puts linked to any director changes are likely to fade away.
  6. ^ a b Kennedy, Eleanor (30 October 2015). "New Healthways CEO: Performance Has Been 'Unacceptable', Company 'Suffered from a Lack of Focus'". Nashville Business Journal. Tramuto ... briefed analysts on the beleaguered company's plans to restructure, cut costs and turn the well-being giant around. Healthways ... has spent the better part of three years ... coping with the rough financial performance noted by Tramuto.
  7. ^ a b Fletcher, Holly (28 July 2016). "Healthways to Sell Division, Brand to Sharecare in Major Corporate Shake-Up". Tennessean. Healthways has reached an agreement to sell a key division — as well as its name and brand — to Atlanta-based digital health company Sharecare... Tramuto ... will be CEO of the smaller company and will join Sharecare's board.
  8. ^ a b Fletcher, Holly (10 January 2017). "Healthways Rebrands as Tivity Health". Tennessean.
  9. ^ Murphy, Edward (2 October 2011). "Work Inspired by 9/11 Recognized". Portland Press Herald. Archived from the original on 2014-09-16. Tramuto ... is chairman of the Board of Selectmen... His company announced the Health eVillages initiative, which will work with the Kennedy Center to donate iPhones and iPads to doctors and nurses working in remote areas... The devices will be loaded with medical reference materials, he said... {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Grom, Tara (July–August 2014). "Red Jacket Awards". PharmaVOICE. Tramuto ... experienc[ed] severe hearing loss as a child... 'I lost my hearing at age 7... Even today, wearing hearing aids, ... every conversation is challenging.'
  11. ^ Pepin, Carl (17 December 2014). "Tramuto Receives Ripple of Hope Award". Seacoastonline. Portsmouth, N.H. Donato Tramuto suffered an infection at the age of 8 that resulted in profound hearing loss and a speech impediment... A medical procedure allowed Tramuto to regain most of his hearing by the age of 18...
  12. ^ Kennedy, Eleanor (14 August 2015). "Healthways: The Next Chapter". Nashville Business Journal. Board chairman Donato Tramuto would become president and CEO of beleaguered Franklin-based Healthways... Bachelor of arts, philosophy/psychology, Wadham's Hall Seminary College, 1979...
  13. ^ a b Bartlett, Jessica (19 September 2014). "Executive Profile: Donato Tramuto of Physicians Interactive". Boston Business Journal. At the age of 7, Donato Tramuto ... found that the world was suddenly muffled... His speech slipped into that of a 2-year-old. It took 10 years and seven surgeries before he could finally hear again... After a brief time in the seminary profession ... he dedicated himself to health care.
  14. ^ a b Grom, Taren, ed. (July–August 2009). "The Commanders & Chiefs: Donato Tramuto" (PDF). PharmaVOICE. pp. 3–4. Grom, Taren, ed. (July–August 2012). "The Commanders & Chiefs". PharmaVOICE.
  15. ^ a b c Healthways, Inc. (7 August 2015). "Form 8–K" (Filing). Securities & Exchange Comm’n.
  16. ^ "LeVar Burton to Receive Honorary Degree at UMass Lowell Commencement; Head of Physicians Interactive Also Added to Those Being Recognized Next Week" (Press release). UMass Lowell. May 8, 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-09-27. Tramuto was also previously with Caremark, where he championed the development of the company's national disease management program for HIV/AIDS... {{cite press release}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ Alaris Medical Systems, Inc. (28 May 2004). "Schedule 14D-9" (Filing). Securities & Exchange Comm’n.
  18. ^ a b Wursthorn, Michael (7 August 2013). "Perseus Sells Physicians Interactive to Merck Fund". Dow Jones. LBO Wire. Archived from the original on 2015-09-27. The Reading, Mass., company said ... it will remain a stand-alone business with founding Chief Executive Donato Tramuto staying on board. 'Not much will change,' said Mr. Tramuto... 'We'll still have our own independence...' {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ a b Sullivan, Casey (23 December 2010). "Ogunquit's Donato Tramuto Appointed to the Robert F. Kennedy Leadership Council". Seacoastonline. Portsmouth, N.H. Archived from the original on 2016-01-16. Tramuto ... was appointed ... to serve on the Robert F. Kennedy Leadership Council... A former chairman of the council ... said the cutting-edge technology behind Tramuto's company has helped doctors quickly treat earthquake victims in Haiti by creating digital communication between on-scene physicians and medical professionals in the United States. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ De Lombaerde, Geert (19 April 2013). "Longtime Healthways Director Retiring; Boss of Health Info Provider Nominated". Nashville Post. Archived from the original on 23 July 2014. Nominated to take O'Neil's place is Donato Tramuto, co-founder and CEO of ... Physicians Interactive Holdings, a marketer of online health care information and software and medication samples... Healthways' ... plan means each director candidate will after the spring of 2015 stand for re-election each year. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)  See generally De Lombaerde, Geert (19 November 2012). "Healthways to Declassify Board: Move Follows Shareholders' Overwhelming May Vote". Nashville Post. The New York State Common Retirement Fund's proposal ... said, 'A staggered board has been found to be one of six entrenching mechanisms that are associated with lower firm valuation.'
  21. ^ Kennedy, Eleanor (28 February 2014). "Activist Investor Seeks Board Spots at Healthways". Nashville Business Journal. Healthways has taken the first step of its compromise with activist investor North Tide Capital, naming board member Donato Tramuto board chairman to replace resigning chair John Ballantine.
  22. ^ De Lombaerde, Geert (25 August 2015). "Former Healthways COO Wants $3M+ over Firing". Nashville Post. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Things started going south on Aug. 4, when then-Chairman Donato Tramuto called Michela to tell him he would not be CEO and that Tramuto himself would take the top spot come Nov. 1. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  23. ^ Keene, Cindy (20 May 2012). "Digital Lifeline for Developing Nations". Boston Globe. p. 16. Archived from the original on 2015-04-05. Tramuto … began in Haiti after an earthquake two years ago. A dozen mobile devices were brought there. Physicians who previously guessed about drug dosing had an automated guide... Tramuto founded the nonprofit Health eVillages to carry the mission around the world. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ Watson, Stephen (23 December 2016). "Toothache Saved Dunkirk Native on 9/11; He's Spent Years Giving Back". Buffalo News. Archived from the original on 2016-12-24. He says in the book that the obstacles he's encountered, and the tragedies endured by those close to him, have motivated him to do well and to do good. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  25. ^ Kanak, Jim (8 January 2009). "Movers and Shakers '08: Ogunquit's Donato Tramuto a 'Multi-Tasker Extraordinaire'". Seacoastonline. Portsmouth, N.H. He also ... oversees a charitable foundation and serves as chairman of the town's Board of Selectmen...
  26. ^ Kmack, Mike (3 January 2011). "Ogunquit Businessman Lends Expertise to State, Global Challenges". WCSH6.com. Portland, Me. Gov. John Baldacci appointed Tramuto to the Maine Economic Growth Council in December.
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