Bill Bunker. (Navigating Cancer Photos)

Navigating Cancer has hired longtime technology executive Bill Bunker as CEO to help the Seattle-based company “realize the vision” for its oncology patient management software platform.

Bunker takes over for co-founder Gena Cook, who told GeekWire that she will remain at the company as president and spend more time on strategy and “cultivating stronger partnerships throughout the oncology ecosystem to help us realize the vision of Navigating Cancer.”

Bunker was previously CEO at EagleView and ClarityHealth. Prior to that, he spent more than 15 years in a variety of senior leadership positions with particular expertise in operations, product management and marketing at Vertafore, MesageGate, Onyx Software and GeoWorks Corporation.

Founded in 2008, Navigating Cancer develops patient relationship management software for 2,500 healthcare professionals across the U.S. who manage care for 1.5 million cancer patients. The company has 50 employees and expects to double its headcount next year.

“Navigating Cancer is improving the lives of millions of cancer patients while simultaneously growing into a strong business that is creating career opportunities for our team and improved performance for our oncology customers,” Bunker said. “I found this overall combination very unique and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to become part of the team here.”

Gena Cook.

The healthcare industry and its financial systems are shifting toward value-based medicine, which focuses on quality of care versus volume. Navigating Cancer sells technology that supports this change, including collection of patient data, secure messaging, and scheduling.

“With the acceleration of these new payment models in oncology plus the breadth and depth of our technology platform and installed base, Navigating Cancer is poised for growth,” said Cook, who co-founded the company with Michael Graff.

Bunker noted that “our main competition is sticky notes, clipboards and spreadsheets.”

Navigating Cancer also recently hired veteran healthcare technology executive Bobby Thomas to be its chief technology officer and added Peter Neupert, a former Microsoft executive and board member at companies such as LabCorp and Adaptive Biotechnologies, to its board.

The company has raised $18 million to date from investors including Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, ORIX Healthcare Capital and Rustic Canyon Partners.

Like what you're reading? Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headline

Job Listings on GeekWork

Find more jobs on GeekWork. Employers, post a job here.