By Trey Cook, Chief Executive Officer
Earlier this month, SpendMend publicly announced my appointment as Chief Executive Officer. I have now been in the role for seven weeks, and I’ve spent much of that time doing exactly what I said I would do: listening.
I’ve met with employees across the organization. I’ve spent time with clients and partners. I’ve asked questions, gathered perspectives, and tried to better understand what has made SpendMend successful for more than three decades.
What I’ve learned has only reinforced my conviction that I joined this company at an important moment.
Healthcare is one of the largest sectors of our economy, but more importantly, it is one of the most critical.
Every day, healthcare organizations are asked to balance financial realities with an unwavering commitment to patient care. That’s not getting easier.
Reimbursement pressures continue to mount. Labor costs remain elevated. Supply chain challenges persist. Regulatory requirements continue to evolve. At the same time, health systems are expected to invest in technology, expand access, improve outcomes, and meet the growing needs of the communities they serve.
Despite all of that, the mission remains unchanged: Deliver exceptional patient care.
Helping hospitals and health systems maintain the financial strength they need to serve patients and communities is meaningful work. It’s one of the reasons I was drawn to SpendMend, and one of the reasons I’m excited about the opportunity ahead.
Throughout my career, I’ve been drawn to organizations that solve meaningful problems and build lasting relationships. What attracted me to SpendMend was the opportunity to do both. This is a company built around helping healthcare organizations succeed, and a culture grounded in trust, expertise, and partnership. Those are values I believe in deeply.
Of course, none of that happens without a strong foundation.
Before I accepted this role, I knew of SpendMend’s reputation. What I’ve come to appreciate over the past several weeks is how much of that reputation is rooted in trust.
Dan Geelhoed built this company around the idea that healthcare organizations deserve better visibility into their financial operations and greater confidence in the decisions they make. Over the past 30-plus years, that vision has evolved into a company trusted by many of the nation’s leading health systems.
That trust is not something we take for granted.
In my conversations with clients, one theme has surfaced again and again: partnership.
Clients consistently describe SpendMend as an extension of their team. They value the expertise we bring, but they also value the fact that we listen. Many of our solutions have been shaped directly by client feedback, client challenges, and client ideas. In many ways, the evolution of SpendMend reflects the evolution of the healthcare organizations we serve.
I believe that partnership is one of our greatest strengths.
It’s also one of the reasons I believe this is such an important moment for our company.
What makes this moment different is the growing complexity healthcare leaders face every day. Organizations are under increasing financial pressure while being asked to make faster decisions across more departments, more systems, and more data sources than ever before. The challenge is no longer collecting information. The challenge is knowing what matters, understanding what it means, and acting on it with confidence.
Historically, many organizations have known SpendMend for individual solutions that solve specific problems and deliver measurable value. Those solutions remain incredibly important today.
But what excites me is what happens when those capabilities come together.
Healthcare leaders are surrounded by data. Dashboards, reports, benchmarks, analytics platforms, and AI-generated insights are becoming increasingly common. Yet many organizations still struggle to gain the visibility they need across finance, supply chain, pharmacy, and clinical operations.
The challenge is no longer access to information.
The challenge is turning information into insight.
That is where I believe SpendMend is uniquely positioned.
What I see is a company evolving from a collection of highly effective solutions into something even more powerful: a connected platform that helps healthcare leaders see across the entire cost cycle.
But here is what I think separates us from the broader market of tools and technology: we don’t just deliver insight and walk away. We have people. Experienced teams who work alongside our clients, helping them understand what they’re seeing, act on what matters, and capture value they wouldn’t have found on their own. That is a meaningful distinction in a world where too many vendors hand hospitals a dashboard and call it a solution.
For decades, we’ve helped clients solve specific financial and operational challenges. Our opportunity now is to connect those capabilities in a way that provides broader visibility, deeper insight, and greater confidence in decision-making.
Healthcare doesn’t need more data.
As I look ahead, I see tremendous opportunity for SpendMend. Not because healthcare system challenges are getting easier, but because they are becoming more complex. The need for trusted partners, meaningful insight, and connected solutions has never been greater.
Our future will continue to be built on the same principles that have guided this company for more than three decades: trust, partnership, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to help healthcare organizations succeed.
That is why SpendMend.
And that is why now.