Power Moves: Meet University City Science Center’s first chief medical affairs officer

Baumlin spent three decades in the healthcare field, mostly as a clinician and a professor. His new goal is to help the Science Center’s startups learn about the United States’ healthcare system. He began working with the Science Center a few months back as a consultant after he ran in the 2022 race for US Senate.

“I have a thorough understanding of how decisions are made, ” he told Tecnical.ly. “It surprises me that not many Americans know about the system. It’s confusing to outsiders and insiders.”

Baumlin called 2023 an “exciting time for healthcare innovation,” and hopes to bring his patient-facing expertise to the startups aiming to create healthcare solutions. Two weeks into the role, he said he’s interested in companies that are innovating on new ways to do the things already done in healthcare using AI, methods that reach solutions faster, and platforms that can help patients and providers.

He noted work in the telehealth and hospital-at-home space as being two sectors that are likely to see a lot of new business opportunities. And there’s a lot of work to be done around the older adult space, he said, as a wave of aging adults navigate the healthcare system.

Senior Director of Marketing Kristen Fitch said the Science Center has sharpened its focus in the healthcare tech space, but found the challenges its startups were facing were are less about the technology, and more about commercial adoption.

“Dr. Baumlin’s expertise and network will be a critical in bolstering the Science Center support of healthcare and life sciences startups, strengthening commercialization and market access success, and providing expert opinion and due diligence support on new investment opportunities,” said the org’s president and CEO, Tiffany Wilson, in a statement.

Steven Wray heads to Pittsburgh

Steve Wray. (Courtesy photo)

From policy director for a Pennsylvania lieutenant governor back in the ’90s to SVP and principal of Philly business consulting agency Econsult Solutions, Steven Wray has worn a lot of different hats. As of this month, he has yet another title to add to his resume: executive director of the Block Center for Technology and Society at Carnegie Mellon University.

After over 20 years in Philadelphia, Wray is venturing back to his hometown to lead the center, which focuses on how emerging technologies, specifically artificial intelligence, will change the future of work and contribute to the social good. Although he’ll miss Southeastern Pennsylvania for the scenery and the relationships he’s cultivated, Wray told Technical.ly he welcomes the opportunity to enter a space where so many new kinds of technology are being developed. And because Wray attended CMU while completing his master’s degree, he appreciates the opportunity to get back to his roots.

“I’m excited for the opportunity to be at a place like Carnegie Mellon, where they are on the cutting edge of new technologies,” Wray said, as well as “the opportunity to work with some of the smartest people in the world on these issues, and help to translate them, for policymakers, for business leaders, for civic leaders in a way that we can really make an impact.”

He believes that his background in policy and his skills as both a strategist and convener put him in a good position to lead the center. From Wray’s perspective, much of his job will entail communicating information about complicated technologies with the public while creating opportunities for people to leverage them.

Looking back, Wray feels his years in Philly were time well spent. But he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make an impact not only locally, but on a national stage.

“We’re trying to take [things] national and international,” Wray said of the Block Center. “We’re trying to take the information that we’re building here, the knowledge that we’re building here and really applying it across the country. I think it’s a good launching pad for that.”

Next steps for Andrew Hoagland

Andrew Hoagland. (Courtesy photo)

At the start of 2023, Nextmv cofounder Andrew Hoagland was welcoming his family’s newest addition and closing a chapter at the analytics startup. It was a hard decision, he said at the time: As a cofounder, “you really do feel like the company is tied to you in special and unique ways,” Hoagland told Technical.ly.

After a few months off, the Philly technologist announced on LinkedIn that he was joining quality control platform Factored Quality as its head of revenue. The NYC-based company helps consumer goods brands run quality control, audits, testing and compliance.

“The team is incredible, the product is amazing, and the market is massive,” Hoagland wrote. “What more could you ask for?”

Jake Wallace is coming ‘back to where it all began’

More than a decade since technologist Jake Wallace started his career at Conshohocken-based food ordering solution maker Zuppler, he returns.

Wallace first joined the then-startup in 2012 as business development manager, and went on to hold a handful of roles in partnerships at the company. After another six and a half years working at AWeber, SignEasy, Trustpilot and Recharge, Wallace returned to Zuppler this month as VP of business development and partnerships — “back to where it all began,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

In the time away, Wallace has learned a lot, he said.

“I’ve always thought about getting back into the hospitality tech space and now I have that chance,” he wrote. “I’m looking forward to getting back at it, building a rock solid program that helps shape our future!

Exyn Technologies has a new head of marketing

Drone robotics company Exyn Technologies brought on a new head of marketing in February: Vanessa Varian. Her role will oversee Exyn’s marketing strategies for its products as it grows in its existing and new markets, the company said.

She comes to the role from SVP of marketing at fintech company Alacriti, and also held roles at Sidecar, Tivo and IBM. She’ll be overseeing Exyn’s go-to-market strategy, its sales development, and product marketing for Exyn’s AI technology.

“I look forward to helping Exyn’s already successful marketing team expand their focus and reach, and continue to build on Exyn’s ability to connect and inspire our prospects and customers to advance our mission,” Varian said in a statement.