iA Appoints Tom Utech, PharmD as President

INDIANAPOLIS & JOHNSON CITY, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–iA, a provider of software-enabled pharmacy fulfillment and automation solutions, announced today several executive leadership team changes. These changes will enable iA to continue to innovate, scale and expand capabilities with its pharmacy fulfillment solutions as demand increases across multiple market segments. 

iA provides software led pharmacy fulfillment solutions focused on enhancing the pharmacist-patient relationship by providing pharmacies of varying sizes the ability to shift their workload off front-line pharmacy to a central fulfillment center. NEXiA, the foundational software platform of iA’s automated fulfillment solutions, enables a flexible on-time, omnichannel prescription delivery solution, that can help customers to lower cost-to-fill by consolidating inventory and removing time consuming fulfillment tasks from the store. This can also help provide front line pharmacy staff the time they need to spend with patients. As market and patient demands increase, pharmacy providers can consider deploying more flexible fulfillment models within pharmacy to meet those demands.

“As the industry continues to evolve, and market demand continues to grow for pharmacy solutions we must make a commitment to strengthen our leadership team as well,” said Marvin Richardson, CEO, iA. “The enhancements we have made will enable iA to continue to be a leader in pharmacy fulfillment solutions, allowing us to continue to innovate and build solutions that help meet our pharmacy partners’ goals, while improving patient care.”

Effective immediately, Tom Utech, PharmD, has been appointed President and Chief Operating Officer. In his new role, he will be responsible for and oversee the development and execution of iA’s growth strategy, portfolio, technology development, sales, operations, and customer success. Previously holding the position of Group President, Software and Product, Utech oversaw the advancement and development of iA’s portfolio of solutions, including the launch and expansion of NEXiA, and the launch of SmartPod, iA’s next-generation robot that delivers innovative scale in a central fill pharmacy environment. Utech is a pharmacist who has worked across a range of pharmacy environments, previously leading the Integrated Solutions business within BD and overseeing pharmacy operations at large medical centers. Across his career, Utech has focused on transforming medication management and is committed to working with pharmacy providers to take advantage of iA’s suite of pharmacy automation solutions to inform meaningful outcomes that benefit their patients.

“Tom has been pivotal in driving our product and software direction since joining iA, and his experience in pharmacy helps him understand the needs of our customers. I am excited for Tom to become an officer of our company, as Chief Operating Officer, in this position he will continue to help drive iA towards our company mission and goals to empower our customers to transform pharmacy and improve patient choice,” said Richardson.

Dave Ristow, Chief Financial Officer and Jessica Baer, Chief Legal Officer will continue in their roles with expanded responsibilities and Tom will join Jessica and Dave as Corporate Officers of iA reporting directly to Marvin Richardson, Chief Executive Officer.

Ryan Bingham will expand his current role of Group President, Solutions and Operations, where he has been focused on upleveling customer experience through onsite system builds, and field service support. Ryan will take on the additional responsibilities of company-wide procurement as iA continues to scale with multiple large providers. Ryan will report to Tom Utech.

Don Austin will be joining iA and serve as Chief Revenue Officer, reporting to Tom Utech, as the company focuses on meeting the accelerated market demand for pharmacy fulfillment solutions and scaling with new providers. Austin is an experienced healthcare technology executive, with twenty years’ experience driving sales and value creation, and has built a reputation as a disruptor and transformer within the healthcare technology space. Austin has experience in sales at BD, AwarePoint, and McKesson.

Alecia Lashier, Chief Automation Officer and Executive Vice President, reporting to Tom Utech, will take on additional responsibilities at iA. In her expanded role, Lashier will utilize her experience to oversee Systems Design, Sales Engineering, and Product Management. Lashier has over 25 years of experience in the pharmacy software and automation space and is recognized as the leading expert in high volume pharmacy automation.

Guy Eldredge is being promoted to Chief Technology Officer reporting to Tom Utech. Guy will lead iA’s initiative to expand and build upon the NEXiA software portfolio to deliver customer solutions via the cloud. Eldredge joined iA in February of 2021 focused on scaling the NEXiA Platform’s capabilities. Eldredge has over 20 years of experience in product management and software holding a variety of roles in medical device and software companies including Amazon, NextGen and BD.

“We are building on our past success to drive future growth, and I am excited to continue to build our team at multiple levels of the company and congratulate our current iA team members being promoted or taking on additional responsibilities to continue to innovate and bring the value of iA to our global customer base,” said Richardson. “We are always focused on our mission of Unleashing the Full Potential of Pharmacy.”

For a career in pharmaceutical automation technology at iA, visit https://iarx.com/careers/.

About iA

iA is a leading-edge provider of software-enabled pharmacy fulfillment solutions. With over 25 years in pharmacy fulfillment, iA has invented and developed a suite of software-driven pharmacy automation solutions. From NEXiA software to automated modular hardware and sophisticated counting and collation devices, iA pharmacy automation solutions and technology empower pharmacists to provide front line care. iA can run the prescription fulfillment process from end-to-end, helping pharmacies manage fulfillment and inventory to help lower costs, improve efficiency, and provide comprehensive Rx tracking and real-time support. For high volume centralized fulfillment or pharmacy operations — iA can help customers transform their pharmacy.