Rich Pierce

Rich joined the original KeyLink Solutions in 2001 as a software developer for the Visual Claims application and now serves as the CTO responsible for architecture decisions, technology growth and product strategy of all VBA systems.

Rich began his career with the US Air Force in 1995 where he earned the Honor Graduate commendation which is awarded to only 7% of basic training graduates. After basic, he was stationed in Biloxi MS where he received his initial training in software development and design at the AETC (Air Education Training Center). Once assigned to his permanent duty station, he became the Team Lead for the maintenance and development of several critical systems including PDOS (Publishing and Distribution), RIMS (Records Management), and RAMS (Reprographics Automation).

Upon honorably exiting the Air Force in 1999, he took a role with GlyThor Consulting where he developed inventory tracking systems and websites for several clients. It was during this time, as a consultant for GlyThor, that he was awarded a contract with American Whole Health Networks (AWHN). This was the start of his career in healthcare software development. While at AWHN Rich designed and developed a Provider Network application used for the credentialing of Doctors and Physicians according to NCQA requirements.

In early 2001, he left AWHN for a software developer position at Keylink Solutions and by 2004 Rich was promoted to the Director of Product Development where he was responsible for the architecture, design and development of their in-house application, Visual Claims. Over the next several years Rich grew the core functionality of the Visual Claims application, which primarily focused on medical administration, to include a fully functioning Life & Disability system.

In 2009, Rich completed the development of the next-generation software solution, VBA. It was at this time that Rich became a partner and owner of VBA. Over the next several years Rich would be responsible for the development of a robust Flex administration platform, process automation, offline remote perpetual adjudication and real-time claims payment, all while VBA experienced tremendous growth.

In 2013, a new leadership team was formed and Rich was promoted to CTO where he would be responsible for identifying the company’s technology stack and roadmap for both VBA and VBAGateway. In this role, he has continued to oversee the growth of the core products (VBA and VBAGateway) while working with the Microsoft Azure team on developing a new services platform that will continue VBA’s role as a technology leader in the healthcare space.