Tony West, welcome to the Ro Family

Today, I’m proud to announce that Tony West is joining Ro’s board. 

When Tony and I first discussed the possibility of his joining Ro’s board, I asked him what was important to him. He said he only had two requirements:

1. That Ro had the potential to positively impact millions lives by helping more people easily access quality, affordable healthcare; and
2. That his experience and skill set could genuinely help the company deliver on this potential.

That’s it. 

Tony has spent his entire life fighting for the right side of history — from civil and constitutional rights to healthcare fraud prevention to immigration reform to marriage equality to diversity, equality, and inclusion. There are not very many people in the world who have been as singular a leader in both the public and private sectors, often bringing the two together to tackle society’s most important problems. And that’s something the healthcare industry desperately needs right now. 

When I was first introduced to Tony, it was supposed to be a 30-minute phone call simply to get to know one another. That phone call turned into another. And then another. Phone calls became video chats with my co-founders Rob and Saman. Before I knew it, I was sitting on the opposite corner of a bench (at least six feet apart), getting to know Tony and sharing more about Ro’s mission, the team, and what we’re looking for in a board member. 

We talked for seven hours. We talked about putting patients in control of their healthcare, empowering providers with technology, and relentlessly building towards a world where everyone has access to high quality affordable care. We also talked about what motivated us as individuals and why we choose to work on certain problems. 

Just like our other board members, Tony didn’t ask about the numbers until the very end, until he was convinced we are building Ro the right way; that we are building toward a shared first-principled vision of how healthcare should work. He wanted to know how we are taking cost out of the system, how we are decreasing the geographic and racial inequality that is rampant in America’s healthcare system, and that we as a team weren’t going to give up at the first sign of hardship. 

With each question Tony asked, I became more and more certain of our decision. Tony’s rare expertise, unwavering integrity, and desire to help people is what makes him the perfect person to join Ro’s board. Even though we’ve only been working together for a few short weeks, Tony has already made a positive impact on Ro (our outside counsel has already filled out surveys in response to ABA Resolution 113). 

We are beyond excited to learn from Tony and to work with him to make Ro every patient’s first call.