AKASA leadership
Our executives, board members, and advisors are industry experts in Silicon Valley engineering, healthcare, and beyond.
Malinka Walaliyadde
CEO, Co-founder, and Board Member
Malinka Walaliyadde
Prior to AKASA, Walaliyadde was a partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a $16.5B venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley. While there, he helped start and build their healthcare investment team, which focused on investments at the intersection of software and healthcare. He worked on almost 20 investments totaling over $250M in deal value. Walaliyadde previously worked at Corning Life Sciences, Counsyl, and on the healthcare team at Deloitte. He has previously been named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list and holds a bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering, graduating cum laude with honors from Cornell University.
Varun Ganapathi, Ph.D.
Chief Technology Officer, Co-founder, and Board Member
Varun Ganapathi, Ph.D.
Ganapathi has a bachelor’s in physics and an M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. During his time at Stanford, he focused on machine learning and computer vision. His doctoral thesis was the basis of his first company, Numovis, which was acquired by Google. After his time at Google as a research scientist, Ganapathi went on to create Terminal.com, which was acquired by Udacity.
Ben Beadle-Ryby
SVP, Commercial, and Co-founder
Ben Beadle-Ryby
Beadle-Ryby has nearly 15 years of experience as a healthcare economist, specializing in technology and consulting solutions to address financial challenges for hospitals and health systems. Prior to AKASA, Beadle-Ryby was a partner at the Advisory Board Company and at Optum, leading revenue cycle consulting growth and delivery. During his career, he has worked with more than 200 provider organizations across the country, delivering long-term operational improvements. Beadle-Ryby has a degree in mathematical economics from Colorado College.
Andy Atwal
VP of Engineering and Co-founder
Andy Atwal
Prior to AKASA, Atwal served in senior product management and operations roles and was the founding software engineer at Counsyl, a health technology company that offers DNA screening for diseases that can impact women, men, and their children. He has a degree in computer science from UC Berkeley.
Ryan Roland
Chief Financial Officer
Ryan Roland
Roland has more than 20 years of experience in financial operations and management of high-tech companies. Prior to AKASA, he served as CFO at Honor Technology where he helped guide the company through $210M in equity financing, $300 million in debt financing, and four acquisitions, including Home Instead, creating a combined organization representing over $2 billion in home care services revenue. Prior to Honor, Roland was CEO of Teespring, a commerce platform for building brands, which sold more than $800M of products during his tenure there. He also held senior finance roles at Jive Software and SuccessFactors.
Phil Walsh
Chief Marketing Officer
Phil Walsh
Walsh has more than two decades of healthcare sales and marketing experience. Most recently, he worked at Cognizant, a Fortune 200 technology and services company, as the global head of field marketing, overseeing a team of 200+ marketers and reporting directly to Cognizant’s CMO. At Cognizant, Walsh led marketing efforts across multiple industries, with a primary focus on healthcare technology offerings, including directly overseeing all marketing efforts at TriZetto, a Cognizant company. Prior to Cognizant, he worked in medical device, pharmaceutical, and healthcare software in a variety of sales and marketing leadership roles. Walsh has a bachelor's degree from Clemson University and an MBA from Wingate University.
Cory Costley
Chief Product Officer
Cory Costley
Costley has led multiple teams to build products and businesses in the healthcare space. He cofounded Avizia, an enterprise telemedicine company that was acquired by Amwell. At Amwell he became SVP of hospital products, overseeing a multi-million dollar product portfolio comprised of enterprise software, devices, and services to more than 70 of the largest health systems. Costley started his career as a software engineer and spent time developing business frameworks at McKinsey and driving product development for Cisco. He is also an advisor for several investment firms and companies in the healthcare technology and solutions space. Costley holds a bachelor’s degree in management information systems from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Michigan.
Dan Cook
General Counsel
Dan Cook
Cook has been an attorney in Silicon Valley for more than twenty-five years. Most recently, he was the vice president and deputy general counsel for Dropbox, leading the commercial, legal operations, risk and compliance, and intellectual property teams. Cook has also provided legal support for Google, where he helped launch Google Enterprise and Google Cloud Platform, along with previous roles at Symantec and CWIS. He started his legal career as an associate with Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich’s IP and technology group. Cook holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Santa Clara University and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Amy Raymond
VP of Deployment and Revenue Cycle Operations
Amy Raymond
Raymond maintains operational responsibility for the production and performance of the firm’s AI-driven automation platform. Across her 25-year career in revenue cycle, she has held several leadership, consulting, and implementation roles. Her industry experience includes tenures at national and regional health systems, as well as numerous care settings and specialties. Most recently, Raymond served as a senior leader in the revenue cycle technology vertical at Advisory Board. Her extensive professional expertise includes: end-to-end revenue cycle operations, process redesign/optimization, patient financial experience improvement, technology deployment/adoption, change management, and employee engagement. As a military spouse, Raymond is a passionate advocate for mil-spouse hiring and community support.
Zach Barrett
VP of Strategy and Operations
Zach Barrett
Barrett has spent his career in various strategy and operations leadership roles at early-stage technology companies. Most recently, he worked as an "operator-in-residence" at Juxtapose, a NYC-based venture fund, supporting the launch of new consumer tech businesses. Prior to that, Barrett led the finance, operations, and analytics functions at SaaS companies Updater and Splash. He started his career at Deloitte Consulting, in the healthcare strategy practice and subsequently as a member of the CEO's strategy office. Barrett holds a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Catherine Afarian
VP of Corporate Communications
Catherine Afarian
Afarian has more than 20 years of experience in corporate communications and media relations. Afarian started her career with consumer tech companies including Netflix and eBay. She fell in love with healthcare when she joined 23andMe as their first PR person and continued to work in the industry by serving as head of global communications for Watson Health at IBM prior to joining AKASA. She holds a journalism degree from California State University, Chico, and has previously been named to Business Insiders’ list of the 50 Best Public Relations People in Tech.
Julie Yoo
General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and Board Member
Julie Yoo
Yoo leads investments in healthcare technology at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Prior to joining a16z, she was the co-founder, chief product officer, and board director at Kyruus, a healthcare technology company that serves one in five U.S. healthcare providers.
Noah Knauf
General Partner at Bond and Board Member
Noah Knauf
At Bond, Knauf focuses on investments in high-growth technology companies, with a particular emphasis on healthcare, fintech, gaming, and frontier technology.
Toby Cosgrove, M.D.
Executive Advisor at Cleveland Clinic and Advisor
Toby Cosgrove, M.D.
Dr. Cosgrove is the former president and CEO of Cleveland Clinic and is currently an executive advisor for the health system. He is also an executive advisor to Google’s Strategic Advisory Board and sits on the board of AmWell and Hims&Hers. Dr. Cosgrove was a cardiac surgeon for nearly 30 years, performing 22,000 operations.
Senator Bill Frist, M.D.
Special Partner at Cressey & Company and Advisor
Senator Bill Frist, M.D.
Senator Frist is a nationally-acclaimed heart and lung transplant surgeon, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, founding partner of Frist Cressey Ventures, and special partner at the health service investment firm Cressey & Company. Consistently recognized among the most influential leaders in American healthcare, he currently serves on the boards of Teladoc Health, Accolade, Select Medical, SmileDirect Club, GSAH-N (NYSE), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Nature Conservancy (global).
Rebecca Harrington
Co-Founder and CEO at the Leadership Institute and Advisor
Rebecca Harrington
Harrington was responsible for the original 1992 planning and launch of the Leadership Institute, an organization for CEOs and senior executive teams at the most preeminent health systems in the country. She oversees strategy, product development, growth, and executive management of all operations. Prior to launching the Institute, she was vice president of operations for Diabetes Treatment Centers of America, assistant director of operations at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and special assistant to the executive director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. As a health tech startup mentor, board advisor, and investor, Harrington is passionate about supporting and advising founders who are creating the future of health care. She is currently a member of the Business Leadership Council of Wellesley College and a board member of the United Irish Cultural Center of San Francisco.
Jim Momtazee
Managing Partner at Patient Square Capital and Advisor
Jim Momtazee
Momtazee has 26 years of investment and acquisition experience, the vast majority of which was focused on the healthcare sector. Prior to Patient Square, he spent more than twenty-one years at KKR. He currently serves on the boards of Alladapt Immunotherapeutics, Apollo Therapeutics, BridgeBio Pharma, Enavate Sciences, Kriya Therapeutics, the Medical Device Manufacturers Association, and Roivant Sciences.
Frank Williams
Co-Founder at Evolent Health and Advisor
Frank Williams
The former chairman and CEO at Evolent Health, Williams currently serves on the Board of Directors. Prior to Evolent, he was chairman and CEO of the Advisory Board Company, president of MedAmerica OnCall, president of Vivra Orthopedics, and a consultant for Bain & Co. He also serves on the boards of Syapse, Foodsmart, Nayya, Helix, Trusted Health, and Peer Health Exchange.
Our experience
Our investors
Andreessen Horowitz is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm with over $10B in assets under management.
BOND is a global technology investment firm that supports visionary founders throughout their entire life cycle of innovation and growth.
Costanoa Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm which invests in enterprise-focused seed and Series A technology companies.