Ivo D. Nelson

Ivo Nelson, a 28 year veteran in the healthcare industry, is the founder of Encore Health Resources, and the Chief Executive Officer of startup investment advisory firm, Encore Connect. 

Ivo’s many accomplishments include building some of the largest outsourcing and consulting firms in the healthcare IT industry, as well as developing global business in Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East.  This broad global experience gives Ivo a deep understanding of each unique market and an appreciation for the common threads of healthcare solutions and skills across the world. 

Prior to founding Encore and Encore Connect, Ivo was the leader of IBM's Global Healthcare Provider business where he provided sales leadership, created healthcare strategies, and conducted Healthcare Summits in India, Singapore, Australia, China, Brazil, Dubai, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Netherlands, and the UK.  Before joining IBM, he cofounded Houston-based Insource Management Group, later renamed Healthlink, the largest privately-held, provider-focused healthcare information systems consulting firm.  While leading Healthlink, Ivo engineered six acquisitions and mergers making Healthlink one of the fastest growing companies in Houston and the healthcare industry.  Prior to Healthlink, he served with corporations such as EDS and Perot Systems.  While at Perot Systems, he developed the Healthcare Division and grew it to be one of the largest outsourcing firms in the healthcare industry.

Ivo has been recognized for his many and varied accomplishments both within the HIT industry and by larger, national organizations.  In 2005, he was the recipient of the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Houston and Gulf Coast Region in the IT category.  In 2009, he was the recipient of the CHIME Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, given by healthcare CIO’s to one individual per year who most contributed to healthcare IT over a twenty-year period.  Most recently, Ivo was recognized in 2011 as one of “HIMSS 50 in 50: Memorable Contributors in HIMSS 50-Year History” for lasting and influential contributions to the theory, adoption, and use of healthcare information systems.

Ivo continues to devote service time to the healthcare IT industry and to mentor tomorrow’s leaders through his involvement in many of the industry's leading organizations, associations, and his alma mater.  He currently serves on the MedSynergies advisory board, is a Director on the Board for Health Care DataWorks, and is on the Advisory Board of Cetrea, a healthcare technology firm based in Denmark.  He is a former Vice Chair of the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the largest association in the healthcare information systems industry, representing more than 20,000 professionals from provider, payer, and life sciences organizations.  He is also former Chairman of the Texas Institute for Health Policy Research, one of the few policy research institutes dedicated to healthcare.  Ivo is also an active member of the Baylor Angel Network, and serves as a regular guest lecturer for Baylor College of Business teaching case studies.