Rich Johnson is the CEO and founder of ViaQuest. He spends most of his time setting the strategic vision for the organization and cultivating the fanatical passion for company culture. ViaQuest is all about people, so Rich feels his most important contribution is creating an organization based on sound values where the best people in the field come to work. He often refers to himself as the weakest link on the Executive team and is personally known for his sense of humor, unbridled energy, and passion for the company.
Prior to founding ViaQuest, Rich spent the early years of his career with a Regional CPA firm consulting in the health care industry and later joined a multi-state health care organization where he held various positions including Vice President of Development, Chief Financial Officer and President. Rich received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting from Capital University and is a veteran of the United States Air Force.
Emily Stickley is the Chief Operating Officer for ViaQuest. She is responsible for the day to day operations of the company and ensuring that all of the systems, resources, and people are in place to achieve the goals of the company. Emily is a focused leader with 13+ years of experience at ViaQuest. She has a history of success and is a visionary with a track record for finding innovative ways to grow the business lines here at ViaQuest.
Emily is also responsible for human resources with the oversight of all benefits and compensation functions, as well as policy development and employee relations for all ViaQuest divisions. Emily recognizes how essential the components of hiring qualified employees, training, employee recognition and retention are to providing excellent services to consumers. She feels that human resources is critical in the development of a healthy employee culture — few departments come in contact with so many employees on such a regular basis.
Emily received her Bachelor of Science in Business with dual majors in Human Resources Management and Business Management from Indiana University.
Michael Bell is the Chief Financial Officer at ViaQuest. He works closely with the financial team and business line executives analyzing performance data to identify opportunities to improve operational efficiencies. He also oversees all major company initiatives as the project manager to ensure timely completion, facilitate communication, evaluate outcomes, and adjust processes as needed. In the ever changing landscape of healthcare, Michael understands the importance of making data-driven decisions to produce the best business, clinical, and service outcomes for all of the individuals ViaQuest serves.
Michael earned his Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering from The Ohio State University, Masters of Science in Structural Engineering from Stanford University, and his Doctorate in Structural Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa.
Sameer works closely with ViaQuest’s senior leadership team to facilitate an alignment of the company’s strategic roadmap by objectively laying out key pathways and levers to success. He is also responsible for incorporating decision-making frameworks that aid in shaping key choices, and in identifying long-term and short-term initiatives that support that roadmap.
Sameer is also responsible for ensuring that these strategic initiatives progress forward despite all the pushes and pulls of the day-to-day running of a growing organization. Sameer is also entrusted with ensuring that ViaQuest’s data analytics capabilities are amongst the best in the industry. This starts with ensuring that the quality of our data is good and leads to empowering operational and functional leaders with lagging, leading, and predictive indicators of success and failure. A solid data and analytics foundation leads to many opportunities for automating manual tasks thereby improving the quality of services.
Sameer has 20+ years of senior-level leadership experience in strategic planning, M&A integration, software product development, analytics, automation, and scaling IT capabilities. Prior to ViaQuest, Sameer has worked in leadership capacities at leading healthcare organizations. He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Lucknow, India.
Drew Heminger is the Director of Program Development at ViaQuest. His team is responsible for the communication, presentation, and follow-through for families/guardians, who may benefit from the services offered by the ViaQuest family of companies. He oversees the development and implementation of a statewide plan to ensure ViaQuest’s services are meeting the needs of Ohio Families.
He and his team represent ViaQuest during special events including Provider Fairs, Transition Fairs, County Board Meetings, Work Groups, and Committees throughout state. Drew also works closely with County Board Executives to create unique partnerships to ensure the services offered at ViaQuest match the needs of those who need them most.
Drew attended Ohio Wesleyan University and Urbana University majoring in Secondary Education.
Beth is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Viaquest Residential Services Division which includes all Supported Living and Licensed homes statewide, and the ViaQuest Healthcare division which includes the Intermediate Care Facilities (ICF) that ViaQuest operates in Ohio.
Beth began her career as a Direct Support Professional working with dually diagnosed youth. Over the last 30 years she has been leading agencies that have worked with an array of unique challenges including adults and youth that are Dually diagnosed, on the Autism Spectrum, Chemically Dependent, and Adjudicated Offenders. Beth believes in supporting all individuals to live their best life – according to how they see it – and ensuring that individual choice is at the core of what we do. In order to accomplish this goal, Beth is also passionate about hiring, training, and maintaining teams that strive for excellence and creativity, and work with integrity.
Beth studied Psychology at The University of Akron and lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband, John where she enjoys her most important role as mom and grandma.
