Staff
Brad Tritle
Executive Director
Brad Tritle was selected as Arizona Health-e Connection's first executive director in August of 2007. Mr. Tritle most recently served as project manager for Arizona Health-e Connection, and administrator of the Rural Health Information Technology Adoption (RHITA) program, while in the position of Strategic Initiatives Manager at Arizona's Government Information Technology Agency (GITA). Tritle's career has been a unique blend of international trade and investment, and strategic leadership at the nexus of technology and community/economic development.
For the past ten years, Mr. Tritle has been a leader in the electronic display (e.g., LCD) industry in Arizona, founding and chairing the Southwest Chapter of The Society for Information Display (SID.org), consulting on technology development projects, and working for both U.S. and Japanese firms on marketing and manufacturing projects --often coordinating activities in four countries simultaneously for a single project.
After the Arizona Partnership for the New Economy completed its study in 2000, indicating telecommunications infrastructure was a primary building block for Arizona's future, the State CIO / GITA Director asked Tritle to initiate the position of Telecommunications Development Manager. In this position, Tritle shared the vision of a networked state with public and private sector leaders around Arizona, while also identifying the status of Arizona's existing network infrastructure and working across agencies and jurisdictions to launch community telecom assessments. Tritle was the primary author of a document entitled Connecting Arizona: Ensuring Broadband Access for All, which still serves as a primary background document for continuing broadband discussions and initiatives, especially where rural Arizona is concerned.
Mr. Tritle holds a B.A. with Honors in Asian Languages, and an Asian Studies Certificate from Arizona State University.
Melissa Rutala
Associate Director
Melissa Rutala joined Arizona Health-e Connection as Associate Director in November 2007, after having served as both a Consultant and Health Policy Analyst at the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and Deloitte Consulting, LLP in Washington, D.C. While at Deloitte, Ms. Rutala worked extensively on several Medicaid, price transparency and cost-saving initiatives with organizations to include the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Governor's Association, and the Wisconsin Medicaid Program. She was a contributor and interviewer for the Deloitte Center for Health Solution's publication Health Care Price Transparency: A Strategic Perspective for State Government Leaders.
Prior to her work with Deloitte, Ms. Rutala was Associate Director of Programs - Medicine Programs - at Envision EMI. At Envision, Ms. Rutala organized forums on Medicine and Nursing for 8500 students. Her activities included managing sixteen faculty advisors, recruiting 250 temporary staff, researching and developing curriculum, and organizing and managing expenditures.
Ms. Rutala gained additional experience in both training and curriculum development while at Envision, as well as coordination of the review of medical residency training programs for UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Ms. Rutala holds a Masters in Public Health from George Washington University with a concentration in health policy, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Joni Bowers
Administrative Coordinator
Joni Bowers joined Arizona Health-e Connection in November of 2007. At AzHeC, she manages and coordinates meetings, conducts background research for various initiatives and provides overall administrative support for the AzHeC committees and projects. Joni works part time with AzHeC, and spends the rest of her time with the Arizona Medical Association as an administrator for the specialty societies of the Phoenix Society of Gastroenterology and the Arizona Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.
Prior to joining the Arizona Medical Association, Joni was the office manager for a commercial painting contractor doing business with and across the state of Arizona.
