Our Leadership Team
Zach is a healthcare executive with two decades of experience in post-acute respiratory care services and outcome-based care models. He grew up in the home care/respiratory industry, as well as a family of successful Respiratory Therapists & entrepreneurs. After becoming a Respiratory Therapist himself, he worked in Acute Care for 3 years before transitioning back into Post Acute Care. He served as Special Projects Manager & National Clinical Educator for Linde-RSS and served as VP of Health Management & Chief Clinical Officer at Alana Healthcare developing the CROM program that transitioned the company from a Durable Medical Equipment provider in TN into a national Disease Management organization. Zach started Encore with the vision of radically improving post-acute respiratory care delivery through clinical excellence, innovative technologies, and the Nexus software.
Zach Gantt, RRT, FAARC
President & Chief Executive Officer
Dan has a background in developing respiratory & medical devices while serving in various Executive/Presidential roles with Baxter Healthcare, Sunrise Medical/DeVilbiss, & Sunrise Medical/Quickie. Dan founded Inspired Technologies, a VC funded startup where he developed & patented multiple devices including the SmartDose oxygen delivery conserving device. Dan then joined Klingensmith Healthcare & developed the most widely known home COPD management program, DASH, which was published 40+ times in almost every notable pulmonary journal in the US. Dan guided the Klingensmith DME/HHA business through an acquisition by Highmark BCBS in 2015 and joined Encore in 2016 as Chief Strategy officer.
Dan Easley
Chief Strategy Officer
As the co-founder and COO of Encore, Keisha is responsible for operations, building employee alignment with company goals, and meeting key targets of the organization. Keisha started her 17 year career as a Respiratory Therapist where she advanced to Director within the first year. Over the next 3 years she went on to become the top account executive at the global respiratory provider Linde Healthcare, where she worked with other regions to develop respiratory solution-oriented programs for skilled nursing facilities, expanding the programs into 5 additional states. Keisha served at Alana Healthcare as Director of LTC Business Development and VP of Facility Contracting, where she developed the Transitional Care Unit (TCU) model and expanded the companies SNF Respiratory programs throughout the United States.
Keisha Harper, RT
Chief Operations Officer
Dr. Frederic Seifer presently serves as Medical Director of Population Health, St. Lawrence Health System, Potsdam, NY. Prior to assuming this role, he served as Medical Advisor for Pulmonary Health Innovation for Community Health Systems, Nashville, TN. Dr. Seifer’s research interests & experience include smoking cessation, pulmonary rehabilitation, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. After receiving his medical degree from Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, Dr. Seifer completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He was a recipient of a NIH supported research pulmonary fellowship at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC.
Frederic Seifer, MD, FCCP
Medical Advisor, Population Health
Carrie is a proactive leader with strengths in communication, clinical excellence and team collaboration.She is a results-focused senior executive that client customers count on for critical thinking, workflow design and implementing operational and clinical solutions. Carrie started her career as a Respiratory Therapist in acute care, then expanding into post-acute care where rapidly advanced into various management roles until eventually becoming the National Clinical Operations Manager for The Linde Group. Her awards include recipient of AARC- LTC Practitioner of the Year, Linde’s Ability to Execute and Global Clinical Excellence award and the American College of Chest Physicians – Center of Excellence Award for Sub-Acute Care. Carrie serves as Encore’s VP of Operations and oversees all clinical segments of the business.
Carrie Hylton-Proffitt, RRT,
ACHC Certified Consultant
Senior Vice President of Operations
Vice President of Sales & Business Development
Ray has 20+ years of experience in respiratory care, including the HME, sleep lab & medical device industries. He began his career as a clinician & manager in the HME & hospital-based, sleep lab space before embarking on a nearly nine-year career at ResMed. While at ResMed, he served as clinical specialist, territory manager, and area clinical manager, and helped to launch a variety of products. He then spent over 3 years at Breathe Technologies, as Sr. Director of Sales & Clinical Education and served as part of the corporate management team that helped to develop and launch the Life2000® Ventilation System, followed shortly by Breathe’s acquisition by Hillrom. While there, Ray served as Director, International & New Business Development for the Respiratory Health business unit and was focused on the identification & development of organic and inorganic future growth opportunities. He believes that quality, clinical care combined with connectivity & analytics can help to drive measurable & meaningful outcome improvements for patients, providers, and payers. He brings that passion to his role as Encore’s VP of Sales & Business Development.
Ray Gregg, BS, CRT, RPSGT
Matthew Connerton
Senior Director of Engineering
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Katie Pennington, RRT
Director of Clinical Operations
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With almost two decades of experience in leadership and respiratory care, Katie is a highly driven professional focused on patient outcomes. She began her career in the acute care setting at a level 1 trauma center in East Tennessee. In 2012, Katie made the transition into the SNF industry working in a ventilator unit for six years. In late 2018, Katie joined Encore and began managing a ventilator unit in East TN. Katie advanced the facility’s ventilator weaning rate by over 50% and moved the facility to the top of the state ERC program rankings. Katie currently serves as the Director of Clinical Operations, overseeing two ventilator units, assisting in the clinical software development and leading software implementation.
Jason has worked in the healthcare industry intermittently at both the University of Michigan Health System (Ann Arbor, MI) and Cookeville Regional Medical Center (Cookeville, TN) since 2000. He earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in Business Management from Ohio Christian University (Circleville, OH). Jason is responsible for all digital marketing and communications at Encore Healthcare.
Jason Lands, BA
Director of Marketing & IT Assets
Wendy Triplett, RRT
Director of TeleRespiratory Care Services
Wendy has over 30 years of respiratory care experience, with 20+ years in leadership positions. She began her career at Forsyth Memorial Hospital (Winston Salem, NC) where she served as Respiratory Team Leader. She then moved to Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital (Elkin, NC) for 26 years, including responsibilities as Assistant Respiratory Department Director and the last fifteen years as the Director of Cardiopulmonary & Cardiac-Pulmonary Rehab. Wendy led CLIA & JACHO Compliance teams, implemented VAP/HAP protocols that saw seven years with no VAP infections. She has received the Hugh Chatham Hospital Champion Award and the Legend Award. Wendy now oversees an outstanding team of respiratory navigators implementing patient remote care and telemonitoring services for Encore’s TeleRespiratory Services group.
As the Senior Accountant, Danette has extensive background working with small and mid-sized companies. A graduate of Metropolitan State College of Denver with a BS in Accounting. She also received her MS in Business Administration from Colorado State University. She has worked as the Accounts Manager for Macleod Pharmaceuticals (veterinary medicine) and Living Fire Arts Network (non-profit). She has consulted for multiple small start-ups. In addition to her role as Controller & Human Resources Manager at Encore, she also volunteers accounting support for a local church. She is dedicated, detail-oriented, and committed to seeing Encore Healthcare thrive.
Danette Bosveld, CPA
Controller & Human Resources Manager