PathGroup's experienced team is led by Ben W. Davis, MD, chairman, president, and chief executive officer. He is a pathologist with extensive experience in the leadership and management of large, integrated regional pathology practices. Louis D. Suttle joined PathGroup, Inc. in 1998 as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. He has more than 20 years of leadership and management skills with large clinical and anatomical laboratories. PathGroup's executive vice president and chief financial officer, Russell F. Tonnies, has been with PathGroup since its founding in 1997. Russ has extensive public company financial and accounting experience and has worked in health care for more than 20 years. John P. Finney is PathGroup's senior vice president and chief information officer. Since 1982, John has worked on developing software and computer systems for laboratory and medical management.


Ben W. Davis, MD Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, currently serves as President of Associated Pathologists, PLC in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Davis is Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and School of Medicine, and is Chairman of the Columbia/HCA Healthcare Network Institutional Review Board. Dr. Davis received his undergraduate degree with a B.A. in molecular biology at Vanderbilt University in 1973 and his M.D. at the University of Arkansas School of Medicine in 1977. He was Assistant Professor in the School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center from July 1981 until joining Associated Pathologists, in September 1986. Dr. Davis also served as Group Leader of the Experimental Pathology Unit, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Molecular Biology Branch, Bern Switzerland, from September 1981 to December 1983.


Louis D. Suttle Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of PathGroup, Inc., Mr. Suttle joined the Company in February, 1998. He was formerly Chief Executive Officer of Columbia/HCA Nashville Regional Laboratory Services from 1995 to 1998. Prior to his affiliation with Columbia/HCA, he was a member of the management team of Allied Clinical Laboratories, Inc. from 1983 through 1994 with his last responsibility as Senior Vice President of Operations of Northern Operations. He was a member of the senior management team responsible for taking Allied Public in July 1989. Allied Clinical was sold in 1994 and became part of Laboratory Corporation of America.


Russell F. Tonnies Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Tonnies joined the Company in August, 1997. From 1992 until 1997, Mr. Tonnies served as Vice President and Treasurer of OrNda Healthcorp, which was the third largest for-profit hospital company in the country with approximately $3 billion in revenue prior to its acquisition by Tenet Healthcare. Mr. Tonnies negotiated and arranged over $2.1 billion of various types of high leverage financing including $1.4 billion of senior debt, $525 million of public subordinated debt, and $155 million of off-balance sheet REIT financing. Mr. Tonnies also negotiated various hospital acquisitions and supervised OrNda's treasury operations, risk management, construction, and investor relations. From 1989 to 1992, Mr. Tonnies held the same title with Republic Health Corporation, the predecessor to OrNda, and from 1984 to 1989, he served as Director of Corporate Tax for the same company. Mr. Tonnies is a certified public accountant formerly with Ernst & Young, and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.


John P. Finney Director of Information Systems and Chief Information Officer, Mr. Finney has an extensive background in computer and information systems. From 1986 through 1997, Mr. Finney was President of Aurora Software, which developed software for anatomic pathology and cytopathology systems, a church information and management system, a clinical laboratory interpretive system, a radiology reporting system, and multiple system interfaces. From 1995 to 1997, he also served as Vice president for Software Development of Medical Information Management Systems, Inc., where he was responsible for developing a multi-facility electronic patient record system based on client-server architecture for a national market. Mr. Finney's other experience includes 5 years with the U.S. Army, as an Engineer Company Commander and an Instructor of Mathematics, Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Belmont University in Nashville, and Vice President and General Manager of System Development for Health Development, Inc. for 4 years, where his projects included development of a laboratory management system, and nutritional analysis.