Bob Cravens
About
Innovative professional with a dynamic background in software engineering and application architecture. Seasoned leader adept at spearheading teams to develop and maintain cutting-edge full-stack solutions.
Technology Leadership | Innovation | Product Development
- Teaching and Mentorship: I naturally gravitate toward helping others learn, whether it is through my videos or a thoughtful approach to coding. I enjoy breaking down complex concepts to make them accessible to others.
- Passion for Clean Code: Beyond technical proficiency, I emphasize the art of writing maintainable and good code. I have a strong internal drive towards craftsmanship in software development. I am not just looking to solve problems, I am aiming for elegance and sustainability in solutions.
- Balancing Vision with Pragmatism: I have a knack for balancing high-level vision with the practicalities of execution. I thrive on bridging the gap between strategic goals and the day-to-day work of software development.
- Commitment to Lifelong Learning: From exploring new leadership opportunities to creating educational content, I am continuously seeking growth, not just for others but also for myself. I have a constant curiosity and a drive to stay relevant in both technical and leadership domains.
- Empathy and Adaptability: From my experience in the healthcare technology industry and leadership roles, I deeply understand the value of empathy in technical and organizational contexts. Balancing the needs of users, especially in healthcare, with engineering realities requires emotional intelligence. I am highly adaptable and sensitive to these nuanced needs.
- Strong Attention to Detail: My emphasis on maintainable and clean code reflects a keen attention to detail. This quality not only applies to coding but extends to other areas, such as project management, leadership, and event other content I create. I focus on getting things right from the ground up, ensuring long-term stability rather than quick fixes.
- A Thoughtful Approach to Leadership: While I hold senior or leadership positions, I think about leadership in terms of empowerment rather than control. I lead with a focus on fostering talent, encouraging autonomy, and nurturing my team's growth.
- Strategic Thinker with a Practical Core: I think long-term and am drawn to roles that allow me to shape an organization's technical direction. I am not purely a visionary, but am also practical. My experience has me grounded in understanding of the constraints of timelines, team dynamics, and organizational goals. This balance makes me a steadying influence in high-pressure environments.
- Desire for Impact: Regardless of my role, I have a desire to make tangible impact. I am not satisfied with just technical success or financial metrics; there is a deeper drive to create meaningful change, be it in the lives of patients, end-users, team members, or learners engaging in my content.
- Innovative Problem Solver: I am driven by solving complex, impactful problems. I don't just focus on the technical challenge; I look for innovative, efficient ways to approach solutions. I am someone who thrives in the creative process of problem-solving, especially in high-stakes environments.
- Balanced Risk-Taker: I am not afraid to take calculated risks. However, my technical background and experience allows me to carefully weigh those risks, considering long-term outcomes rather than rushing into decisions. This balance of ambition and caution helps me make sound strategic choices.
- Desire for Continuous Improvement: I have a desire to refine skills, whether by learning new technologies or expanding my leadership capabilities. I am not just interested in personal growth, but also in uplifting others along my journey.
- Connector of Ideas and People: I naturally bridge gaps - whether it's between engineers and leadership, technology and vision, or between people at different stages of their learning journey. I excel at synthesizing ideas from diverse domains and using them to foster collaboration, create innovative solutions, or even help teams see the bigger picture.
- Patience and Persistence: I take a patient, long-term mindset in my approach to mentoring and communicating complex subjects. Whether it's guiding others through difficult learning processes or steering projects that require endurance, I am comfortable playing the long game, building lasting value rather than seeking quick wins.
- Grounded in Values: A sense of integrity is central to how I operate - whether it's maintaining high coding standards, seeking roles that align with my values, or showing concern for the lasting impact of our work. I am someone others trust, both as a leader and as a peer.
Skills
Over the years, I have refined and developed the following traits that have consistently contributed to my professional growth and success, enabling me to effectively lead teams and drive the development of innovative products:
Technology does not stand still, and neither should our skills. As innovations continue to shape the landscape of our industries, it's imperative that we embrace lifelong learning and adaptability to stay relevant and effective in our roles. My extensive experience across various domains equips me with a versatile skill set, enabling me to rapidly grasp and apply new skills as needed. Here is a snapshot of technologies where I am experienced:
Resume
Professional Experience
Chief Technology Officer
April 2024 - Present
Let's Go Trail
- Full ownership of defining and executing the technology vision and strategy, ensuring it aligns with the company’s goals.
- Handle every aspect of product development, from designing scalable and secure systems to writing the code, testing, and deploying solutions.
- Prioritize cost-efficient technology decisions and manage all technical resources to maximize value.
- Adapt strategies to ensure the product meets user expectations and stands out in the market.
- Take responsibility for maintaining compliance, security, and performance standards
- Laying the groundwork for future team expansion.
Founder
January 2011 - Present
- Build and manage the following products / services:
- 💥 Zapl - Easiest HTML Forms
- ▶️ TekCasts - Screencasts for Professionals
- ▶️ Technology Sandbox
- 💥 MemberOwl - Martial Arts Membership Solutions
- 💥 Bids - Simple Auction Solution
- 💥 Secure Pay - Invoice and Donation Collection
Senior Manager Software Engineering
August 2015 - February 2024
GenesisCare (formerly 21st Century Oncology)
- Directed a team of engineers in the development of custom solutions.
- Enhance operational management and improve patient care quality.
- Collaborated closely with the CTO and executive leadership to translate business objectives into technical requirements.
- Spearheaded the architecture, development, and production pipeline of 2 products developed by the team for 9+ years.
- Directly added $15M+ annual billing to organization.
- Established relationships with stakeholders and sponsors to ensure the team delivered products that 100% passed user acceptance.
- Championed the company-wide adoption of products and processes released by the team leading to 5000+ daily users.
- Learned operational aspects of 5+ roles (e.g., RT, Physics, Dosimetry) to better understand needs and offer technical solutions.
- Architected resilient and scalable solutions providing 99.99% uptime.
- Operated the CI/CD pipeline for all products with zero downtime deployments.
- Ensured products met 100% of regulatory (e.g., HIPAA) and security requirements.
Senior Manager System Analytics
January 2014 - August 2015
- Founded and directed a team dedicated to the quasi-realtime (<15 sec) data collection and analysis for radiation oncology products.
- Created a strategic plan and collaborated with the Executive team to create a budget exceeding $500,000.
- Led the architecture and development of robust data collection agents leading to 0% data loss.
- Integrated data collection agents into 90+% of the radiation oncology products that were deployed around the world.
- Architected and created a scalable data processing pipeline ensuring 0% data loss.
- Defined the architecture, design, and development of a web-based, user-friendly analytics / reporting platform.
- Collaborated cross-functionally to ensure product passed 100% of user acceptance tests.
- Empowered end-users to make informed decisions by delivering real-time tailored insights.
- Enabled proactive service opportunities that led to timely interventions.
- Facilitated remote service solutions (<15 minute), significantly improving operational effectiveness and customer satisfaction.
Research Software Manager
2011 - January 2014
- Managed a team of developers and physicists tasked to cultivate research concepts and innovate solutions.
- Pioneered a user-friendly web-based quality assurance application used by Medical Physicists licensed at $100k per year.
- Automated collection of data and analysis of key machine quality assurance metrics.
- Transformed the medical physics daily, monthly, and annual testing processes, significantly enhancing operational efficiency.
- Improved patient care quality by enabling informed decision-making for medical physics teams.
- Automated the collection of system data to a central data warehouse providing essential proactive troubleshooting insights.
- Enhanced overall system reliability by creating a top 10 errors report per version allowing Engineering to target improvements.
Lead Applied Physicist
2005 - 2011
- Spearheaded development and research initiatives focused on innovating solutions and processes.
- Elevated operational efficiency by reducing Manufacturing bunker time from 30 days to 1 day.
- Engineered the design and development of a user-friendly application that streamlines quality assurance processes.
- Revolutionized daily, monthly, annual, and ad-hoc testing processes for medical physics teams. (5 hours to 5 minutes)
- Trending and analytics enabled more efficient and informed decision-making.
- Led the technical development of an innovative application designed to facilitate remote diagnostics.
- Guided essential proactive troubleshooting by developing insights and metrics.
Physicist
2003 - 2005
- Enhanced quality assurance processes for a novel radiotherapy treatment machine.
- Automated CT image commissioning within the manufacturing workflow and eliminated the need for on-site specialists.
- Reduced resource constraints and cut costs, which improved process efficiency.
- Streamlined the treatment planning commissioning process and reduced time from 30 days to 2-3 days.
- Innovated dosimetric twinning to standardized models and further reduced time from 2-3 days to 1-2 hours.
- Boosted production efficiency and reduced the need for specialized experts in the Manufacturing process.
- Played a pivotal role in enhancing the Quality Assurance processes for the TomoTherapy radiotherapy machine.
Education
PhD (all but dissertation) Electrical Engineering, Minor Physics
University of Wisconsin - Madison
MSEE, Electrical Engineering
University of Wisconsin - Madison
BSEE, Electrical Engineering
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Testimonials
I would like to extend my sincere recommendation on behalf of Robert Cravens. Robert is a remarkable individual who has made significant contributions to Genesiscare. As Robert’s teammate at Genesiscare for the last 2 years, I’ve benefited from his extensive knowledge, endless ability to problem solve, and his tireless work ethic. Robert’s expert-level knowledge quickly stood out and is something that I have come to count on tremendously.
What is particularly noteworthy is Robert’s creation of and maintaining the Reconciliation Work Tool that my medical coding team uses daily to track potential missed codes, coding errors, and is a communication tool between the coders and the offices. Robert seamlessly created an option to have superusers so that processes could be more streamlined within the tool. He is consistently called upon to make changes at the last minute and always answers the call swiftly and efficiently. He has been a vital part of our team.
Robert’s dedication, professionalism, and results-driven mindset make him an invaluable asset, and I am confident he will continue to make significant contributions in his professional journey. He has an excellent rapport with many employees within our organization and I wholeheartedly recommend him for any endeavor he chooses to pursue.
Jessica Vanhooser
GenesisCare - Director Revenue Integrity
Bob Cravens has my highest recommendation, and any future collaborator, employer, or teammate will find that they are lucky to have him on board. Not only is Bob a master at his craft, but he has the rare ability to understand the user, interpret and translate the languages of IT and Operations (both terms used very broadly) and bridge the gap seamlessly. I worked with Bob as a business partner/customer requesting tools to provide visibility to leaders on operational efficiencies, rostering, and business metrics. Despite challenging data quality, he translated those business requests into easy to use dashboards. He is professional and solution focused, methodical and meticulous, accessible and responsive. I cannot recommend him enough.
Amber Smith
GenesisCare - Head of Radiation Therapy Clinical Operations and Transformation
Bob has an outstanding work ethic and was a key contributor to a major program rollout we were assigned. This project involved working with leaders from several departments and a tight timeline. Bob was able to take input from multiple trade groups and make appropriate updates efficiently. He was an excellent communicator throughout the process and an invaluable team member. This project wouldn't have succeeded without his efforts. Bob would be an excellent addition to any team you have, or a new team that is being assembled.
Gary Burns
GenesisCare - Director of Engineering Services
I had the privilege of supervising Bob during my tenure as the VP of Research at TomoTherapy and later as the CTO at GenesisCare (formerly 21st Century Oncology). Throughout our time working together, Bob consistently demonstrated an exceptional talent for dissecting intricate business and technical processes. His ability to meticulously map out these complexities and devise innovative solutions significantly enhanced our operational efficiency and effectiveness.
One of Bob's most remarkable qualities is his knack for identifying areas of improvement and implementing strategies that not only streamline workflows but also yield cost savings for the organization. His forward-thinking approach and dedication to excellence have undoubtedly made a lasting impact on our team and the broader scope of our projects.
I wholeheartedly endorse Bob for any role that demands a blend of strategic thinking, technical acumen, and a passion for driving positive change. He is a valuable asset to any organization and a pleasure to work alongside.
Gustavo Olivera
21st Century Oncology - CTO and acting COO
During my tenure as the Executive Director of Regulatory Affairs at GenesisCare, Bob led the development of an integrated solution designed to efficiently manage regulatory and quality data crucial for our clinics. This comprehensive system effectively streamlined the oversight of accreditation, licenses, and audit data, playing a pivotal role in ensuring clinics' compliance with both local and federal requirements.
Leandro Barreca
GenesisCare - Executive Director Regulatory Affairs
It is my pleasure to endorse Bob Cravens for employment in your organization.
I have known Bob for over 3 years, during which he worked as a Senior Software Engineering Manager.
Bob partnered with my team on over 14 projects during the last 3 years. These projects
involved Bob leveraging technology to enhance our business performance. Including
automated integration of our clinical data to be used to manage operational and clinical
excellence metrics. Building rostering web applications. Designing and implementing
operational dashboards to improve clinical workflows.
Bobs contribution to these projects was exemplary. He was agile and adaptable to the
changing needs of the business throughout our work together. He was results driven
and was exceptional at bridging the gap between strategy and reality. I am confident
that he will display a high degree of commitment and discharge his job duties and
responsibilities with diligence in your organization.
I recommend Bob without reservations.
Trish Rasmus
GenesisCare - Chief Operating Officer
I highly recommend Bob Cravens, for his understanding of application development and innovation in the healthcare industry. He creates strong relationships and mentors team members to obtain strong results.He has delivered solutions that positively impact each team in the company. He has a unique collaboration approach to get business users engaged in their solution making it usable and adaptable in a short timeframe. It is a pleasure to work with him.
