Return to Virginia Business - January 2005

Technology


Newstrom’s back

Virginia Business
January 2005

George Newstrom is back in business. The state’s former secretary of technology — who stepped down in October after two and a half years — has taken a job as president and CEO of the newly created WiSPER Technologies, a spin-off of Reston-based IMC Inc., a privately held software and systems company.

Newstrom had planned to retire but was lured by the chance to take to the market a new technology that IMC developers have created. WiSPER stands for wireless standardized portable electronic records. Its potential is in cutting the expense of record keeping that many industries haven’t been able to escape.

Newstrom says a physician using WiSPER software during an office visit, for example, could simply dictate notes or instructions and the data would go directly to the lab or pharmacy or billing department. Plus, the software can be customized to understand the technical language of any industry. “We think we have a secret sauce that will create a new market space for us,” Newstrom says.

This is new turf for Newstrom, who was president of EDS Asia Pacific before joining IMC. CEO Sudhakar Shenoy says Newstrom had been on IMC’s board of directors before joining Gov. Mark R. Warner’s cabinet in 2002 and returned after resigning. Newstrom saw a demonstration of the WiSPER technology at a fall board meeting and “asked a zillion questions. He was fascinated by it,” Shenoy says.

Return to Virginia Business - January 2005