Donald G. Schoen

Donald G. Schoen,  West Des Moines, IA, has a natural entrepreneurial style, which has pushed him to excel in the growth and management of several businesses in multiple industries.  Don began his business career in 1975 as an Audiologist. He then moved into the soft serve yogurt business as his first business venture in 1977. He later moved back to Des Moines to manage the family owned supermarket business. While involved in the supermarket industry, he perceived a need to automate inventory control and started a software company called Retail Management Systems (RMS) in 1984.  RMS rose to Inc. 500 status and Don was chosen in 1992 as Emerging Business Entrepreneur of the Year for Iowa and Nebraska. Don sold the company shortly thereafter and worked for 3 years with Telxon, an RMS hardware partner and leader in inventory collection hardware.  Don was responsible for strategic planning and business development through the Telxon dealer/reseller network during his employment. 

In 1995, Don met a doctor who was developing an electronic charting system and the two began working together and eventually formed MediNotes Corporation.  MediNotes had established key strategic alliances with major industry players including: Per-Se, McKesson, Cerner, Fujitsu, Motion Computing, Allscripts, Quest Laboratories and LabCorp Laboratories.  Since 1995 MediNotes has installed software in over 5,000 medical clinics and services more than 25,000 users nationwide.  Don has received the Sybase Innovator award, been selected as a Computerworld Honor Laureate award twice, and participated as a finalist in the TEPR (Toward Electronic Patient Records) Clinical Documentation Challenge.  Don was once again awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year award by Ernst and Young in 2004 and MediNotes Corporation was selected for the Inc. 500 status in both 2005 and 2006, the company also recently debuted on the Inc 5,000 list for 2007.  Don in 2008 raised $4.4 million in venture funding to purchase another Electronic Health Record company to advance MediNotes using this product as the next generation for their clients.  Within 8 weeks of the purchase MediNotes was approached by Eclipsys Corporation (ECLP) with an interest to purchase.  In October 2008 a deal was consummated and Don moved into two different job roles with the new company until leaving  Eclipsys in July of 2009.

In March 2007, the Technology Association of Iowa bestowed MediNotes with two of its highest honors, Technology Company of the Year and naming Don CEO of the Year, a distinction he received again in 2008.   In addition, MediNotes received national recognition when the company was named to the Red Herring 100, an annual listing of the top 100 privately held technology companies, and the Healthcare Informatics 100, a listing of the top health IT providers in the country.

He holds a BA degree from Northwestern University and a Masters of Science Degree from Michigan State University. Don is one of the founding members of the HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association and has represented the organization as Chairman from November 2006 until July 2008.  He also has served on the Advisory Committee of HL7 which is a healthcare standards organization.  He currently sits on the board for Palisades Systems, an internet Data Loss Prevention (DLP) software company, advising many early stage startup companies, sitting on the Marketing Advisory Council at the University of Iowa