An Interview with Jorge Gaspar

Tell us about your decision to get your MBA at CSUSM.

 A friend/co-worker was enrolled in the MBA program at CSUSM. She told me about her experiences and how beneficial it was for her. At that time, I was COO of the health center where we worked. I felt that even though I was able to do a good job, I could do an excellent one if I had a more business focused background, rather than a medical one. I was going to pursue a Master's in Healthcare Administration, but the then CEO of where I worked convinced me that an MBA was better suited for future opportunities. 

 

Where has you career path taken you since graduating?

During the MBA program, I re-discovered my love for statistics and data modeling. Instead of focusing on operations, I decided to re-focus my career in medical informatics. Upon finishing the program, I was contacted by a healthcare software company and joined their ranks as the Director of Clinical Data. After i2i, I became the Chief Medical Information Officer of a different health center, focusing on bringing innovative technological solution to healthcare. Unfortunately, the health center had financial woes, and everyone was let go about a year into the job. During this time, I co-founded a new company, Vicarious PR, which focuses on marketing and PR for video games. In between jobs, I worked tirelessly alongside my business partner to create a successful business. Soon after, I was tapped to become the Director of Clinical Informatics at Foresee Medical. A company that is on the forefront of artificial intelligence and machine learning as it related to clinical natural language processing. Also, at this time, we started a new business called V Publishing. Whose focus is the publishing of video games. We've released three games this year, with three more to be released in 2021. Vicarious PR is also about to be four years old, and we've broken the million-dollar mark for the first time! 

 

Tell us about your current organization/or your current business.

Currently, I am the Director of Clinical Informatics at Foresee Medical, and the CFO of both Vicarious PR, and V Publishing. 

 

Tell us about your role and your favorite part of the job.

At Foresee, the best part is that I helped developed an amazing clinical natural language processing product. I also get to work with clinical data, and that's incredibly fun. At Vicarious, I get to work with video games! I've been a gamer all my life, and I still can't believe at times that I get to work in this amazing field every day. Granted I do finances, but all that is just data anyway. So I like working with it.  

 

What are the important lessons you have learned in management/leadership roles?

The most important one is to communicate your vision clearly. Secondly, every opportunity is a learning opportunity. There's no need to blame or be punitive. If you communicate the vision properly, then it must be presumed that employees are acting in good faith. Thirdly, give back to your employees. Vicarious has adopted an unprecedented PTO and healthcare policy. We provide 21 days of PTO to all our employees; we have multiple holidays throughout the year that aren't standard like "Election Day", and we are very generous when it comes to that PTO being taken. We want folks to want to work here, and we want them to stay. We don't place profits before employees. We're also extremely mindful of salaries. Executive salaries are close to employee salaries, we're all in this together.  

 

Have you recently received any business community awards or recognition?

I was nominated for the Top Tech Executive San Diego in 2018 for my role as the Chief Medical Information Officer. Our company, Vicarious PR, has been nominated for and won multiple awards since its inception. 

 

Do you have any advice for MBA students or alumni?

The biggest one is that every single class they take will be useful in one way or another. Just because you don't like a particular topic, doesn't mean that you shouldn't try your hardest to understand it. Anything worth doing, is worth doing right. 

 

What is your favorite memory from CSUSM MBA?

I don't have a particular stand out memory from the MBA. But I made some good friends and learned a ton, both of which are fond memories for me.