The People of Qliance.
Management Team
Erika Bliss, MD
President & CEOread bio
Robert Nakahara
Chief Financial Officerread bio
Clarence Williams
Vice President of Membership Developmentread bio
Garrison Bliss, MD
Executive Vice President of Medical Affairsread bio
W. Norman Wu
Executive Vice President of Strategic Affairsread bio
Erika Bliss, MD
President & CEO
Qliance Medical Management Inc.
Dr. Erika Bliss is a board-certified Seattle-based family physician, and a founding member of the management team at Qliance Medical Management. Prior to becoming President & CEO, she served as Chief Quality Officer, overseeing medical operations and quality improvement, in addition to her primary care practice at Qliance’s downtown clinic. She has also held numerous leadership positions in the industry, including serving on commissions for both the Washington Academy of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians. She is a founding member of the Direct Primary Care Coalition and a national Pisacano Scholar, an award given to five family medicine leaders per year. She serves on the American Board of Family Medicine Board of Directors. Dr. Bliss attended UC San Diego medical school and trained at Swedish Family Medicine in Seattle. While in medical school she co-founded and led the Student-Run Free Clinic Project of San Diego, which serves the homeless and indigent at multiple sites in the county. She also developed an international medical educational exchange program between UC San Diego and Hospital Tela Integrado in Honduras. Prior to her medical career, Dr. Bliss received her undergraduate degree in History at San Francisco State University and an MA in Latin American Studies at Stanford University. After graduating, she organized and led an international women’s human rights program for women leaders from 27 countries at the UN World Conference on Women, and produced an educational video in Spanish on domestic violence, which is now in use throughout Latin America.
Robert Nakahara
Chief Financial Officer
Qliance Medical Management Inc.
Robert Nakahara brings extensive expertise in the health care and financial industries to Qliance. Serving as Partner at Tatum LLC, a national financial consulting firm, Mr. Nakahara was responsible for the technology and health care industry practices of the Seattle office. From 2003-2009 Mr. Nakahara acted as the Chief Financial Officer at MedManage Systems Inc. where he managed legal, investments, finance, treasury and more. During his time there, he successfully raised $20M in Preferred Shares with top-tier venture capital funds and led successful contract negotiations with industry leaders such as WebMD, Dendrite International and AllScripts. Mr. Nakahara has also held numerous executive and financial positions with companies such as Alliance Health Technologies, Advanced Research Systems and PREMERA/Blue Cross of Washington & Alaska. He holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Puget Sound and a BA in Accounting/Finance/International Business from the University of Washington.
Clarence Williams
Vice President of Membership Development
Qliance Medical Management Inc.
Clarence Williams brings over 20 years of management experience in the health care industry to Qliance. Mr. Williams served as Vice President of the National Accounts Division of Principal Financial Group, one of the nation's largest benefit administrators. Clarence spent six years as a Regional Sales Director at Lumenos, an employee benefits start-up company and pioneer in consumer driven health care which is responsible for the development and introduction of Health Reimbursement Arrangements and Health Savings Accounts. Following the acquisition of Lumenos by WellPoint, Mr. Williams acted as the Western Regional Sales Director. Mr. Williams has also served as the Northwest Sales Manager for Aetna.
Garrison Bliss, MD
Executive Vice President of Medical Affairs
Qliance Medical Management Inc.
Dr. Garrison Bliss is a board certified Seattle-based physician with 30 years of experience as a primary care doctor. He is widely regarded as a pioneer in changing the way quality health care services are provided and financed. Frustrated with the poor performance and low service inherent in traditional insurance-based medicine, Dr. Bliss helped reinvent Seattle Medical Associates in 1997 to offer high quality, patient centered primary care services for an affordable fixed monthly fee. Dr. Bliss has also been active nationally in the Society for Innovative Medical Practice design, serving a tenure as President and Chairman of the Board. His expertise has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Medical Economics and many other news and trade publications. He has been rated by his peers as one top physicians in Washington on numerous occasions. He was named as one of the 25 top entrepreneurs and innovators by the Seattle Business Monthly in 2006. Dr. Bliss received his BA in Biology from Harvard University and his MD from the University of Utah. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Washington. He has been passionate about medical ethical issues for many years and has served as chairman of the King County Medical Practice and Ethics Committee, King County Grievance Committee and the Judicial Counsel of the Washington State Medical Association.
W. Norman Wu
Executive Vice President of Strategic Affairs
Qliance Medical Management Inc.
Norm Wu is an entrepreneur, operating executive and business strategist with over 30 years of experience. He has founded or co-founded three prior start-ups including Avantos Performance Systems, a venture-backed pioneer in software for management and organizational effectiveness where he was President and CEO for seven years. Prior to Avantos, he spent ten years with the management consulting firm Bain & Company where, as Vice President, he oversaw a wide variety of high technology and health care client consulting teams, internal West Coast professional development and human resources. Mr. Wu also acted as corporate Chief Strategy Officer and SVP/General Manager of two divisions of a $250 million semiconductor turnaround and LBO. Mr. Wu is known for his acumen in developing and implementing high growth strategies and is well-regarded for his management and organizational leadership abilities. Mr. Wu received his MBA from Harvard University and his MS (specializing in medical applications of electronics) and BS in electrical engineering with distinction from Stanford University.
