byline: Donna C. Gregory

Urban hospitals, like the VCU Medical Center in downtown Richmond, face distinct challenges in the health-care industry, serving a large number of patients who are uninsured or underinsured and can’t afford medical care.
About 50 percent of VCU’s patients fall into one of these two categories, making it the largest single care provider for the uninsured and underinsured in the commonwealth.

While some health systems nationwide have moved their facilities to the suburbs to attract more insured patients, VCU Health System — with the help of CFO Dominic Puleo — has held steadfast in its mission to serve as a safety net health-care provider for patients in need.

During the 1990s, the VCU Health System was struggling to find a way to serve the community while remaining financially viable. But under Puleo’s leadership, VCU Health System has been transformed from an organization that was barely breaking even in 1999 to an integrated health system with more than $1 billion in annual revenue and a $100 million surplus last year.

Puleo, a Certified Public Accountant, helped turn around the VCU Health System by focusing on three areas: improving patient care, lowering treatment costs and increasing reimbursements from government-run Medicaid and Medicare programs.

“It’s a completely different organization than it was 10 years ago,” Puleo says. “The quality of our patient care and safety is some of the best in Virginia, even nationwide.”

VCU’s per-patient cost is well below the median of most academic medical centers in the country, officials say. One way VCU has brought down costs is by reducing unnecessary emergency-room visits. Through the Virginia Coordinated Care for the Uninsured program, emergency-room patients with routine conditions are referred to primary-care physicians in the region for follow-up care. VCU reimburses participating physicians for the care they provide, thereby limiting repeat ER visits and the higher costs associated with them.

“Dom has been absolutely brilliant in terms of sustaining a safety-net institution in the face of enormous challenges in a marketplace that’s highly competitive and resource intensive,” says Dr. Sheldon M. Retchin, the health system’s CEO. “He has helped us to fund the care of uninsured patients to ensure that the costs are not prohibitive, so we can sustain that mission.”

The health system’s improved financial condition has led to several major capital upgrades, including the addition of a $184 million critical-care hospital in 2008 and a $168 million Children’s Pavilion now under construction on East Broad Street. Once complete, the pavilion will be the largest outpatient children’s facility in the region.

Puleo managed the bond sales for both projects.

“I have worked closely with Dom Puleo on both financial and investment priorities,” says John Sherman, chair of the VCU Health System’s Finance Committee. “His knowledge, vision and work ethic continue to keep [the health system] on solid footing, helping lead to its No. 1 ranking [among Virginia hospitals on U.S. World and News Report’s Best Hospital list] recently.” 

 

 

It’s doubtful that many college freshmen know Gary Ometer, but without his financial acumen, some of them might not have been able to afford higher education.

As CFO of the Virginia College Savings Plan (also known as Virginia529), Ometer is responsible for the financial operations of the largest 529 plan in the country, with more than 2.2 million accounts and $42.5 billion in assets under management as of last year. Authorized by Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code, a 529 plan is a tax-advantaged way to prepay or save for future college expenses.

“The nice thing about coming into work every day is that I’m not trying to make quarterly numbers to satisfy stockholders,” Ometer says. “I’m trying to provide a diverse set of savings options for parents to help them save for college. That, to me, is a pretty good mission. We take it very seriously.”

Since 2008, when Ometer joined the Virginia529 team, the growth of new accounts and assets under management have surpassed the national average. Virginia529’s assets rose by nearly $6 billion last year — an increase of about 18 percent.

Ometer, a Certified Public Accountant, came to the Virginia College Savings Plan when the nation was in a financial crisis. One of his first projects was to undertake an 18-month asset liability study of the organization’s prepaid program, which allows families to pay tuition and fees at Virginia public colleges and universities in advance of a student’s enrollment.

“[When] someone buys a prepaid contract, they expect the money to be there [when it’s time for their child to attend college],” Ometer explains.

Because of the volatility of the stock market, Ometer developed an asset reallocation strategy, putting more focus on international and emerging markets.

“We manage our portfolio [for the prepaid program] very conservatively,” he says. “We had a good portfolio, and we knew that portfolio would carry us through the storm if we could weather it.”

During his tenure, Ometer has participated in several other 529 program changes and enhancements, including redesigning and re-launching the CollegeWealth program with banking partner BB&T and improving investment portfolio options for the Virginia529 inVEST program. CollegeWealth provides an FDIC-insured savings option while Virginia529 inVEST offers portfolios of stocks and bonds.

Another focus for Ometer has been increasing public transparency and enhancing Virginia529’s financial reporting. In 2009, the agency added a Web-based system, which allows program participants to view account activity online. Online quarterly statements will be available within the next year.

“[Gary] exemplifies what it takes to be an excellent CFO in any organization of any size,” says CEO Mary Morris. “I depend on his judgment and counsel on a daily basis. We are a rapidly growing organization with a big public trust, and Gary is up to the challenge of the position. The citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia are lucky to have Gary Ometer on their team.” 

 

TECHNOLOGY:
Kore Federal, Falls Church
www.korefederal.com

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks changed the way the United States strategized fighting a war. It was no longer enough to drop bombs within a certain country’s borders. This time, the enemy was everywhere — hiding in the deserts of Afghanistan, strolling through London’s busy shopping districts, riding the subways of New York City.

The Al-Qaeda terrorist organization is nimble, but IT contractor Kore Federal is helping the U.S. government close in on its formidable enemy.

It’s easy to get bogged down in the technical jargon of what Kore Federal does: application integration, enterprise architecture and advanced technology validation, just to name a few areas of expertise.

But co-founder and CEO Andrea Stygar likes to distill Kore Federal’s mission down to the basics: “We’re a government IT consulting firm, and we provide services to help protect the homeland and our soldiers.”

Since its founding in 2004, Kore Federal has racked up an impressive list of customers within the federal government, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and others.

From 2008 to 2011, the Falls Church-based contractor’s annual revenue grew nearly 733 percent, and its employee roster increased from seven to 65.

In March, Kore Federal was named to Inc. magazine’s annual list of America’s 500 fastest-growing companies for the second year in a row. Last year’s revenues topped $20 million, up from $12.2 million in 2011. Most of that comes from landing federal contracts related to national security.

“They are mission critical systems for our security,” Stygar explains. “Some of it is very exciting and very top secret, and some of it is very mundane, but necessary, [like human resources functions], so we have a good mix of projects.”

One of the company’s most exciting ongoing contracts entails helping to develop risk-assessment data analytics software for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Kore Federal employees are part of a 300-member team that’s creating an automated system to identify high-risk people and cargo attempting to enter the United States.

“The risks never go away,” says Brian Stygar, chief technology officer. “They’re always changing, so we’re always having to keep up and stay ahead. You can’t just finish what you’re doing and walk away. You’re always assessing new risks.”

Another Kore Federal contract involves modernizing the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ application process for citizenship.

“USCIS … wants to move from paper-based processes to electronic filing and electronic records systems,” explains Mike Woods, co-founder and chief financial officer. “USCIS has also had issues with projects being over budget, overly complex and not completed on schedule. Kore Federal is developing a new software development approach and software architecture that will make these development efforts faster, less expensive and completed on time.”

It’s this customer-centered approach with an emphasis on efficiency that’s helped Kore Federal thrive in the world of government contracting.

“Three years ago, we started to mature as a business and crossed a chasm,” Brian Stygar says. “There’s that zone a lot of small businesses fall into between $7 million and $25 million [in annual revenues] that I consider the sweet spot because you’re still qualified as a small business, but you’re credible, and you’ve got past performance, [so the federal government agencies] consider it less risky to work with you.”
Kore Federal continues to mine its past and current federal customers for new revenue streams and is looking to do more contracting work within the intelligence community.